NASCAR Honored: The fans are making their voices heard. NASCAR is listening. And experts in the field of social media now rank NASCAR No. 1. When NASCAR formed a Fan Council for fan input and advice on important topics related to the sport, the last thing anyone expected was an award – let alone two awards. But in recent weeks, this unique “advisory board” of the sport’s most avid fans has earned national acclaim by winning the Forrester Groundswell Award in the Business-to-Consumer Listening category and the Vision Critical 2009 Panel of the Year Award.(NASCAR)(11-3-2009)

NASCAR will crack down on aggressive driving: UPDATE 2: NASCAR plans to crack down on aggressive driving and bump drafting beginning with Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway, particularly regarding two-car breakaways that have become commonplace with the new car. Track officials hope they got the attention of drivers when they parked #55-Michael Waltrip for pushing #48-Jimmie Johnson's car through the corners during Friday's second practice. "It at least sent a good point of conversation out there in the Motorhome 500 lot,'' series director John Darby said after Saturday's qualifying was rained out. The new car has presented a problem because two cars that match up well are able to pull away from the pack.(ESPN.com)(11-1-2009)
UPDATE: At the drivers meeting Sunday morning in Talladega, NASCAR President Mike Helton warned drivers that there would be no pushing or bump drafting allowed in the turns through the entire race, including the last lap. The penalty for a first offense will be a drive through; on the last lap it will be a time or position penalty. Any offenses beyond the first will be NASCAR's discretion. See Helton's quotes at Hampton Roads.(11-1-2009)
UPDATE: NASCAR's change in the rules to forbid bump-drafting in the turns worked as planned for the most part and should not be blamed for the single-file racing fans saw for much of the first half of the Sprint Cup Amp Energy 500 Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said. "A lot of 500-mile races, when you listen to the teams, they work on their cars, they get their cars to handle and then they log laps during a small portion or the middle third of the race in order to have their equipment ready for the end of the race," Pemberton said in the garage after the event. "It's not uncommon of any 500-mile race that you see that. … [The accidents that] happened today, we didn't have any major incidents in the corner. "The two wrecks that happened, they happened in the free zone where we weren't monitoring the bump-drafting or anything like that." NASCAR never issued a penalty in Sunday's race. There were times when Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby said something to a crew chief. "If it was something that was a warning that was like the final warning, we would have put it out on the main channel and we didn't do that," Pemberton said. "These guys are very good at what they do. It takes them a very short period of time to figure out the best way around these race tracks.(SceneDaily)(11-2-2009)

NASCAR holds "town hall"; plans changes to car in 2011: NASCAR held invitation-only meetings at their Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. this week to discuss the future of the sport. On Tuesday, the meeting focused primarily on competition with drivers Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle joining crew chiefs, engineers and technical directors. A second meeting was held on Wednesday with team owners and principals as a follow-up to the discussions held in May. The primary focus of the meetings: How can NASCAR help the competitors to make the sport stronger? Participation was encouraged according to three principals that spoke on the grounds of anonymity. Some of the high points included:
# How can we make the overall product better?
# While there won't be any sizeable changes in the rules package for 2010, NASCAR wanted to make sure that competitors understood that an open door policy exists.
# What can the sport do to make participation more cost effective for the competitors?
# How do the cars maintain product identification for the manufacturers and remain racy. And once the new Nationwide Series cars come to fruition, how does the sport keep the sportier model from overshadowing the less sexy Cup car. (FoxSports)
AND NASCAR will make modifications to the Sprint Cup Series car for the 2011 season. At a meeting on Oct. 19, following the races at Lowe's Motor Speedway, manufacturers were told changes would be made "from the centerline to the bumper on down," a source familiar with the situation told FOXSports.com. The alterations will be made to the front fascia - the upper and lower nose of the car. Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said "there was a good open dialog" with manufacturer representatives to discuss what aesthetic changes could be made to the car to improve brand identity. The current car has come under scrutiny from competitors and fans alike for having less resemblance to a showroom model than previous editions. Pemberton said styling changes are almost anticipated given that the car will soon meet the four-year mark. NASCAR is also concerned the sportiness of the new Nationwide Series Car of Tomorrow will have a tendency to overshadow the current Cup car [see images of the Nationwide COT cars on my 2010 Nationwide paint schemes page]. The new Nationwide Series car will be run in four races starting next season. Certainly, the Nationwide COT will provide ideas for future generations of the Cup car. (FoxSports)(10-31-2009)

NASCAR tweaks wave-around rule for Cup, Nationwide: NASCAR has tweaked its rule on wave-around cars under caution. The new rule now dictates that cars under penalty at the time of the caution are ineligible for the wave around. The change began last week with the Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway after a situation came up in the Nationwide Series race that was new to the double-file restart system instituted in June. In the Nationwide race, Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards was penalized for speeding under green, and then the caution came out. He stayed out and didn't pit and then was among those cars on the end of the lead lap. He then got the "wave around" the caution car (along with the rest of the cars that had stayed out and were on the end of the lead lap) to get to the rear of the line of lead-lap cars. Edwards then went to the end of the line to serve his penalty. That move would not be allowed anymore. The driver would not get the wave around and would start a lap down at the rear of the field on the restart, the penalty for a driver who had a speeding penalty under green but never served it before the caution came out. The new rule in general is any driver under penalty is no longer eligible for the wave around.(SceneDaily)(10-11-2009)

NASCAR shrinks restrictor plates at Talladega: NASCAR will reduce the size of the restrictor plate and allow teams an optional change as a way to slow the cars and try to keep them from getting airborne at Talladega. Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby [said] Friday at Auto Club Speedway that the restrictor plate will be reduced 1/64 of an inch. The new size will be 59/64 of an inch. Darby estimates it will shave 12 horsepower off the engines. Teams also have been given an option on side wickers, something they hadn't been allowed to use before at Talladega. Darby said that teams "will be able to add the same little side wicker to the end plate (on the rear wing) much like they do at the downforce tracks. If you look at all the cars in the garage right now on that end plate, all the way out on the back edge they've got a little half by half piece of aluminum. That's eight inches long. It helps in yaw or when the cars are turned. It kind of settles the back of the car down a little bit."(Virginian Pilot)(10-10-2009)

Federal rules could affect NASCAR endorsements: When #99-Carl Edwards broke his foot playing Frisbee last month there were jokes about how fortunate he was to be sponsored by AFLAC, which sells disability insurance. Edwards even made reference to the obvious irony and talked about filing a claim and getting a check. NASCAR fans are so used to drivers hawking their sponsors' products - and dropping the sponsor's name in every TV interview - that they rarely think twice about it. That's what drivers do when they aren't driving. But pretty soon drivers might have to do something else if they find themselves endorsing a sponsor's product. They might have to disclose that the sponsor is paying them to do it. The Federal Trade Commission this week issued new guidelines for those who endorse products. There is a new requirement that endorsers - whether it's a lowly blogger or a high-profile actor or athlete - must say if they are being paid by that company. So, how would this affect NASCAR, the most blatantly commercial sport around? Depends on the context. So says David Zetoony, an attorney specializing in consumer product-liability cases with the firm Bryan Cave. For instance, when Edwards does a commercial for AFLAC, it is understood by not only NASCAR fans, but also by the public at large that he's being paid to do so or that it's part of his obligation to his sponsor. And when he gives an interview standing in front of his AFLAC Ford, wearing his AFLAC driver suit and says something like "the #99 AFLAC Ford Fusion was awfully fast today," he's also in the clear. That's considered product placement, Zetoony said, and it won't get a driver in hot water with the FTC. What will cause trouble is when an athlete takes it a step further and endorses a product. But again, context is important. So if Tony Stewart gives a TV interview and is asked to name his favorite hamburger and he says "I never eat anything but flame-broiled Burger King Whoppers," he'd be required to disclose his relationship to BK. If he said, "I never eat anything but those juicy Whoppers my sponsor Burger King makes," he'd be OK. Confused? You aren't alone. It's going to take time and probably litigation to sort out where the lines will be drawn.(Alabama Live)

NASCAR not interested in moving chase races to Saturday nights:
From Wednesday's NASCAR teleconference on standardized start times:
Q. We've seen the ratings have dipped a little bit here, and I think the blame, obviously, can be levied against the competition. It's tough to go up against the NFL. We can make great ideas of maybe moving some races during the Chase to this Saturday night. Have you guys talked about that idea? The possibility of more races on Saturday nights into the Chase? And I guess for John [Skipper], the difficulty that that would be for you guys to balance all your other programming?
BRIAN FRANCE: Of course we talked about it. There are lots of issues. Saturday night from a level standpoint, I think it's the lowest night on television. It comes with other issues and you would still have college football which is pretty strong programming. So there's that. Then you have the host track who may not want to run it at night. So David Hill [Fox Sports] said traditions, and we have a lot of traditional things that happen in terms of Sunday afternoons that worked quite well. So we're not, obviously, when the ratings go up or down, you're taking note of that. We are, but we're not going to make any big, rash changes to try to chase that. We'll just keep building our story lines and try to look at good racing.
JOHN SKIPPER [ESPN]: We could find times. We do have some nationwide races Saturday night, the Richmond races. We have multiple networks. But I don't think there are any plans to move to more Saturday night races, but we talk about everything.(NASCAR PR)(10-8-2009)

NASCAR announces uniform start times for 2010: NASCAR will conduct a special teleconference at 3:00pm/et this afternoon with NASCAR CEO Brian France, FOX Sports Chair David Hill, David Levy of Turner, and John Skipper of ESPN. Speculation is that they will announce more uniform race start times for next season.(10-7-2009)
UPDATE: NASCAR and its television broadcast partners announced earlier, uniform start times for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in 2010. NASCAR worked closely with FOX, Turner, ESPN/ABC and the tracks on this project for the fans. The race start times for NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2010 in the Eastern and Central regions of the country will begin at 1 p.m. ET, West Coast events will begin at 3 p.m. ET, and night races will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET. (The one exception is NASCAR’s longest night race, the Coca-Cola 600, which will have the same 5:45 p.m. ET start time.) Following the invocation and national anthem, the green flag will drop at approximately 15-20 minutes past the hour after each listed race start time. A total of 28 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2010 will be held at an earlier time compared to 2009, with 20 races moved to 1 p.m. ET, including the Daytona 500. Moving up the start of “The Great American Race” two-and-a-half hours will produce the earliest start time for the Daytona 500 since 2003, when the race was also scheduled for 1 p.m. Five races move earlier to a 3 p.m. ET start and three races start earlier at 7:30 p.m. ET. In making the decision for earlier, more uniform start times, NASCAR consulted its Fan Council, comprised of 12,000 avid fans who serve as a sounding board on important topics. Half of NASCAR avid fans said they are often unclear about what time NASCAR races actually start. When given the chance to choose a start time, more than two-thirds of avid NASCAR fans preferred early Sunday afternoon.(NASCAR PR), see the complete list of start times on my 2010 Cup Schedule page.(10-7-2009)

'Regular Season' Award being considered? Jim Hunter, Vice President of Communications for NASCAR was interviewed today on the 'Bubba The Love Sponge Show'. Hunter spoke about the possibility of awarding the 'regular season' champion an award of some sort. Currently, NASCAR does not award points, money, or a trophy to the regular season champ. 'Bubba the Love Sponge' asked Hunter about the lack of recognition for the regular season champ and Hunter said NASCAR is looking in to it. Hunter's did acknowledge that in recent weeks NASCAR has talked about a regular season award of some sort but they have not decided on what that award should be. Hunter said, "That's something we are looking at doing for next year, we just haven't decided what it will be."(Captain Thunder)(10-7-2009)

Four cars taken back to R&D Center...including... As per NASCAR protocol, Tony Stewart's race winning #14 Chevy along with a random car, this week it is Kurt Busch's #2 Dodge ride, were selected for postrace inspection and further analysis back at the Research and Development Center in Concord, NC. But as an added wrinkle, officials also requested that Mark Martin's #5 and Jimmie Johnson's #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy be added to the inspection list. "When you've won and run well, and Jimmie and Chad are always going to know they are under the microscope - that's (going to be) part of it," said team owner Rick Hendrick. "We actually don't mind that. NASCAR is fair and if they want to check us every week, that's OK. I understand. I really do." No problems were found on the cars during the at-track inspection.(FoxSports)(10-5-2009)
UPDATE: The cars of championship leaders Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson have passed a second NASCAR inspection. NASCAR inspected both the Hendrick Motorsports-owned cars after Sunday's race in Kansas for a thorough inspection after the Chevys squeaked through a week earlier. The teams were warned they had nearly failed and were to not bring the cars to the track again. NASCAR also examined the car of race winner Tony Stewart, as is standard procedure. In addition, Kurt Busch's car was randomly selected for inspection.(Associated Press)(10-6-2009)

Latest on standard times for races: Word is that NASCAR is eyeing two future schedule changes which would affect television viewers and would affect viewers in the grandstands. Grant Lynch, chairman of Talladega Superspeedway and International Speedway Corporation’s vice president of strategic operations, has heard about both and talked about both on Saturday. The first is standardization of the starting times of Sprint Cup races. “From what we’ve been hearing from fans, that move would be real positive,” Lynch said. Currently starting times vary. This year, there have been 16 races starting at 2:00pm, five at 3:25-3:30pm, six from 7:20-7:30pm, two at 8:00pm, as well as other races starting at 1:00pm, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 5:00pm, 5:45pm, 6:00pm and 8:30pm. The standardized starting time being talked about most for Sunday races is 1 p.m. Eastern.
Also getting attention are reports that NASCAR may try to insert more two-day shows onto the schedule [like was used at Atlanta in Sept]. That is, cut out action on the tracks on Fridays and have the Cup cars qualify on Saturday and race on Sunday.(Racin' Today)(10-4-2009)

NASCAR considering more 2-day weekends: NASCAR is exploring the possibility of more two-day weekends for 2010 in an effort to help organizations save money. Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, said such scenarios typically are considered every year, but with tough economic times there is more support from organizations than in the past. Pemberton didn't know what the savings would be, but it has been estimated that it costs $300,000 to $600,000 per car for an average three-day weekend. Cutting a small portion of that would result in millions for some organization over the course of a 36-race season. Pemberton said the response from organizations and fans over cutting the Atlanta race on Labor Day weekend from three to two days has been positive. He added that changing the length of the weekend depends on the number of events scheduled at the track. For instance, last weekend's race at New Hampshire would have been tough with the number of smaller series competing in addition to Sprint Cup and Trucks and no lights. NASCAR also is finalizing plans to move to more consistent start times -- 1 p.m. for most East Coast races, 3 or 4 p.m. for West Coast -- as the NFL has. Pemberton said that not only will make it easier for fans, but save money if teams get home earlier on Sunday night and shorten the work week. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the governing body is focused on getting start times finalized before changing the length of the weekend.(ESPN.com)(9-26-2009)

Could be minor tweaks to testing 'ban': UPDATE: At NASCAR's crew chiefs meeting here [NHMS] Saturday morning, Sprint Cup teams were given a few tweaks on the car-of-tomorrow and on testing for 2010, but it's unclear if more might be coming. NASCAR officials are apparently leaning toward okaying Greenville-Pickens Speedway [SC] for Cup testing next season, to give teams a less expensive testing venue – a track closer to their Mooresville, NC, shops. But some teams say they would continue flying/driving down to places like New Smyrna in Florida for testing anyway.
Teams report that Texas World Speedway in College Station, TX, may be ground smoother, to eliminate bumps. And if softwalls are installed there, the track could be a good testing venue too, since it's not on the NASCAR tour. Greg Biffle ran a few laps at Texas World in testing earlier this year, but he said at 218 mph, the bumps and the lack of soft walls, the track was too dangerous.(MikeMulhern.net)(9-21-2009)
UPDATE: NASCAR announced its 2010 testing policy for its three national and two regional touring series. The policy will again prohibit testing at tracks which host NASCAR national series events, by teams in the following series: NASCAR Sprint Cup; NASCAR Nationwide; NASCAR Camping World Truck; NASCAR Camping World East; and NASCAR Camping World West. In 2010, however, testing will be allowed at NASCAR-sanctioned tracks that host a regional touring event but do not host a national series event. Based on this season’s regional tour schedules, the following tracks would be eligible to host tests next year: Greenville-Pickens Speedway; Tri-County Motor Speedway; South Boston Speedway; Thompson International Speedway; Music City Motorplex; Adirondack International Speedway; Lime Rock Park; Thunder Hill Raceway; All American Speedway; Madera Speedway; Douglas County Speedway; Toyota Speedway at Irwindale; Portland International Raceway; Miller Motorsports Park; Colorado National Speedway.(NASCAR PR)(9-23-2009)

NASCAR says no major rules changes for 2010: NASCAR officials told Sprint Cup crew chiefs Saturday morning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that the moratorium on testing at sanctioned tracks is expected to extend through the 2010 season. In an attempt to cut costs, NASCAR announced last November that instead of having official NASCAR scheduled tests throughout the year, there would be a one-year moratorium on series-wide testing and teams also would be prohibited from testing at any track that sanctioned a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World Truck and East and West series. Previously, teams could not test on their own at tracks of the series they competed in. In a meeting with crew chiefs Saturday morning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NASCAR officials said teams should not expect any major rule changes for 2010, including no change to the current testing moratorium, sources familiar with the meeting said.(SceneDaily)(9-20-2009)

Morris Claims Third National Championship In Four Years: Every time Philip Morris thinks he’s reached the pinnacle of his racing career, he goes out and tops himself. The Ruckersville, Va., driver did it again this year as he claimed the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship for the third time in four years. The 44-year-old Morris finished the season with his seventh Late Model championship at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va. Combined with his performance at South Boston Speedway, Morris collected nine wins, 20 top fives and 23 top 10s in 28 starts to outdistance runner-up Keith Rocco of Wallingford, Conn., and Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills, Calif., for NASCAR’s top short-track honor. Morris previously won the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship in 2006 and 2008. Morris finished with 841 points, pulling away from Rocco (816 points) and Joanides (813) over the final month of the season. Track, state and province, and the top three finishers in the national standings earn invitations to the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet in Concord, N.C., Friday, Nov. 13. By virtue of his national championship, Morris also earned a secure spot in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, to be held at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Jan. 29-30, 2010. Morris is just the second driver in the history of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, which dates back to 1982, to win multiple championships. The late Larry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., won five titles between 1989-1996.(NASCAR)(9-18-2009)

NASCAR lowers age for some series: NASCAR announced it was implementing a Learner’s Permit License for its NASCAR Whelen All-American Series tracks beginning in 2010. The license will lower the age-limit for NASCAR-sanctioned tracks’ entry-level division from 16-years-old to 14. The change provides an intermediate step for young drivers looking to make the move from non-NASCAR beginner-level racing series to running at their NASCAR home track. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR’s national championship program for its more than 55 sanctioned short tracks across North America. More than 10,000 drivers compete in the series annually.(NASCAR)(9-3-2009)

NASCAR takes engines to R&D Center: NASCAR has taken the engines of 11 cars in Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway to test at its Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. NASCAR periodically takes engines so it can see how much horsepower they produce.
The engines taken were from the Chevy's of #24-Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports), #14-Tony Stewart (Hendrick), #33-Clint Bowyer (Earnhardt Childress Racing Technologies), #42-Juan Pablo Montoya (ECRT); Toyota's of: #83-Brian Vickers (Toyota Racing Development), #00-David Reutimann (TRD), #11-Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing); Ford's of #99-Carl Edwards (Roush-Yates Engines), #16-Greg Biffle (Roush-Yates) and Dodge's of: #77-Sam Hornish Jr. (Penske Racing), #19-Elliott Sadler (Richard Petty Motorsports).(SceneDaily)(8-16-2009)

No major changes seen for CoT: NASCAR President Mike Helton said on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway that the governing body is pleased with the progress of the new car and that there is strong support for leaving it alone. "As you talk to the principals in the garage area -- the team owners, the crew chiefs, the car chiefs -- there seems to be in all these conversations a consensus around 'don't make any major changes right now because we don't want to tackle those, we've spent a long time now understanding this car and don't throw a wrench in all of that by making us start over,''' Helton said. His comments came less than 24 hours after Dale Earnhardt Jr. urged the governing body to take a more urgent look at letting the car evolve move freely to improve competition. Helton also indicated he doesn't anticipate a change in the suspension of testing for next season. He said the ban was implemented as a cost-saving measure during tough economic times and there are no indications that those times are over. "The first thing we do is say, 'Why change it right now or do we need to change it right now?''' Helton said. As for the car, Helton believes Earnhardt's comments were more broad-based about improvements that need to be made for the sport in general. He said comments aimed specifically at the car had more to do with "frustration'' over being 25th in points. "So there's a frustration there that I think attributes to his comments and I think people see those,'' Helton said. "When he landed on the car itself being more specific about that, it's more like his dad would comment when he was having a bad stretch. Helton said minor tweaks are being considered, many around weight distribution that teams have complained about. He said NASCAR is less inclined to make tweaks that would give teams more room to adjust the cars. "One of the reasons there is less adjustability on the car, and a lot of it comes from aerodynamic adjustability, is in order to keep control of the cost teams have,'' Helton said. "There is as much support -- actually there is more support -- of keeping it that way than it is to letting it creep back out.''(in part from ESPN)(8-15-2009)

No speedometers planned for NASCAR: Some drivers would like a speedometer added to their cars, or have NASCAR's electronic timing system that records the pit row speeds refined to cut down on possible error. "I have wondered why we don't have speedometers," veteran driver Mark Martin said Friday. "The tachs are not quite as accurate as a speedometer might be. But the system works. It's just really devastating when you have one of the races of your life slip through your fingers." Could NASCAR make the switch from RPM to mph on the dash? Not so fast. Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said the tachometer was the most reliable factor in determining pit row speeds. "They get multiple usages out of a tachometer as an engine meter as well, without having to bother with the expense and the troubles of adding another piece of equipment to the car," Darby said at Pocono Raceway. "The tachometers today are so sophisticated that teams can actually program their pit road speed into the tachometer." Most teams have even added a lighting system to the tachometer. A green light means a driver's speed is in the clear, yellow signifies he is pushing the limit and red means the speed is over the limit. "In NASCAR's defense, the system that they have, you can't dispute it," four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon said. "I would dispute the person that feels like they're in the wrong, because their system is very accurate." There have been 75 speeding violations in 20 Cup races this season, Darby said. NASCAR does not warn teams when they're on the edge of speeding or give them a chance to plead their case. Speed once coming in or out of the pits, and a penalty is instantly assessed. "The teams know exactly where they're supposed to be," Darby said. "They know where the threshold is." Darby also said there are no plans to reveal pit road speeds to fans or the rest of the field during a race. "If you have put your combination together and you're real confident in your driver and you've got him set to where you think he can run 3˝ miles over all day long without getting caught, that's their business," he said. "We shouldn't display that to the other 42 competitors to let them figure out how they did it." NASCAR switched from a stopwatch system to electric timing in 2005 to provide a more legitimate way of assessing pit road speeders.(Associated Press)(8-4-2009)

Brian France talks about many NASCAR things (a Large Post): Monday, July 27th on “Sirius Speedway” on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, host Dave Moody spoke with NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, who called in to the show unannounced.
Host, Dave Moody: “Nice surprise. We weren’t expecting you today.”
Brian France: “Well, I listen to you guys, like most of the NASCAR community does, frequently and I love just calling in once in awhile to check in and say hello. And, obviously, we had a lot of exciting things happen over the weekend so it’s good to be with you.”
On Juan Pablo Montoya’s pit road speeding penalty Sunday at Indianapolis:
Brian France: “There’s nothing that dropped our hearts more than to see that speeding violation flash up on the computer which is in the television booth which is in our booth. Everybody has access to it, which they should. And it is what it is. It’s sort of like a team that’s dominated a football game or something and they step out of bounds on the crucial play that would have gotten them in the end zone. That’s just the way it is. Now, that’s the bad news for Juan Pablo and Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates. The good news is they’re going to be a contender, I think as it’s turning out, for the whole thing. I think they’re going to make the Chase. At least that’s how they’re running. But nothing would have made us happier had he earned - and he definitely had the best car and he was driving the wheels off – to have [had Montoya] won that race and made a little history with the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400. But the rules are rules.”
France: “There are some rules, as you know, that have some subjectivity to it. This just happens to be one that there isn’t any subjectivity to it. You either do or you don’t. And he understands that. I’m sure it was disappointing as it could have been but there’s no position that we can take on that. When you get past the frustration of watching somebody that should’ve won the race, earned it and it would have been great for everyone, but didn’t, well sure, there’s frustration that happens.”
On the Jeremy Mayfield situation:
France: “Where we are is we’re going through the process of the legal system, which was not our choice but we will deal with that. And we have not made any comments at all other than, ‘We’re pleased with the ruling,’ or something like that since I went on back around the Coke Zero [400] and discussed our policy, and I didn’t discuss that particular ruling. The judge has respectfully done what he needed to do and the appellate court has done what they need to do. That’s just really in the hands of the courts. We wish everybody well. As anything, you can appreciate that we have to defend our policy but we’re zeroed in on running great events and that’s where we are.”
Host, Dave Moody: “Is it frustrating that the racing has been so good and the Race for the Chase has been so captivating and yet people like me spend a lot of our time here lately talking about methamphetamine and urine tests and things that we never really had to know that much about before?”
France: “Well, sure, it’s a distraction for everybody. Our preference is to never have anybody test positive for anything and the world would be perfect, right? That would be our best case scenario. But random tests pick up what they pick up and we’ll deal with the rest of it, if there’s ever a rest of it, like we are in this situation. It is unfortunate but on the other hand we understand that it is important. It’s important for the other competitors to recognize that they’re in a safe environment as much as humanly possible. And it’s important to have a policy that works for everyone, not just a few people. So we understand the kind of reviews that go on when these topics hit at a high level but, look, I think at this point we just have to go down the legal process. We’re dealing with that. That’s really not anything that affects anything on the racetrack today. And, actually, we wish, I wish, anybody who has an issue the best. I mean, look, we’re all at the end of the day human so we’re pulling for anybody that has some issue, even somebody who is battling with us. In the end, we want to see people get better, rejoin the program and race clean in front and put their best foot forward. That’s our goal.”
On the new double-file restarts:
France: “The net of it is the drivers - beginning, middle, late in the race - it has really, really put people in contention that would typically, under the old format, would have had a tough time passing lapped cars and battling for the lead. I mean, Chicago was electric [with] what happened in that whole situation, having Denny Hamlin, as an example, who got an opportunity to mix it up. In the old situation he would have been too far back to even be a contender for that race win. You bet. And, look, the fans really, really weighed in before we did that and the drivers, in our town hall meeting, recognized that there were some definite challenges for them and we’ve tried to help them with them with respect to letting them pick a lane and so on. They realized that this as going to create a different dynamic but they’re also very, very supportive and we’re getting a great result. The racing’s never been better in a long time.”
On the Nationwide Series “Car of Tomorrow”:
Moody: “Have you got a line yet on what each of the four manufacturers want to do as far as the look of this car, the body style of this car, and how devoted is NASCAR to making this division look a whole lot different than the Cup car?”
France: “We’re always looking to distinguish one series from another while giving it the obvious flavor of NASCAR, which is close, competitive, reasonable costs for the teams, so that we can field more competitive cars on any given Saturday or Sunday. That remains the case. With the new car potentially, we are certainly talking to the manufacturers but we’re zeroed in also on how do we make sure, from a timing standpoint, that we don’t burden the team owners with an enormous amount of cost into the system that we’ve been talking for quite a while, for good reason, about getting cost out of the system because the teams are going through, as everybody in this economy is, lots of difficulties trying to figure out a new business model in some cases. So we’re having to balance all this along with trying to make some progress. But we’ll get there. We’ve got really, really smart people working on it.”
France: “The other thing we do now – I think we do it better than we ever have and I think we were always pretty good – that’s buy-in from the industry on any significant thing that we would do. And we listen with our fan council, as an example. A lot of our dedicated fans are terrific in responding to our questions every week. We’ve got tens of thousands of fans on our fan council. For all the talk that we kind of cruise along and don’t necessarily think about everything, I understand where that might be a perception but the reality of it is any significant issue that we are going to put forward with NASCAR, we will do a lot of work with anybody that is affected, starting with our fans - which are the most affected with anything we do – all the way down to the drivers, the team owners, the sponsors, manufacturers and the tracks and so on. And that’s a lot to try to get input and a whole bunch of different opinions, to kind of get all that information in a way that really will be good for everyone. That’s one of our biggest tasks but that’s what we do.” “SIRIUS Speedway” airs every weekday (3-7pm/etT) exclusively on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio (SIRIUS channel 128 and XM channel 128 with the “Best of SIRIUS” programming package).(SIRIUS NASCAR Radio)(7-28-2009)