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Even for fans, Daytona’s 24 Hours is a fight to the finish [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 1:31 pm] DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- I swiped my credit card at a McDonald's one and a half miles from the turn one tunnel sometime after 12:30 Sunday morning for an order that I hardly wanted to eat â a number one with extra pickles, an extra cheeseburger and a Dr. Pepper. It was too much food â about 1,220 calories of gluttony plus ketchup â and inane for that time of the morning. But this trip to the Golden Arches wasn't a lesson in false pretenses. Rather, it was a simple case of supply and demand: most of the concession stands in the Daytona infield had closed while race cars continued to drone on. And those race cars had no immediate plans to stop their attack either, driving on and on twice around the clock and apparently straight through our heads. So Chris (a longtime high school buddy) and I headed out, venturing in to the Daytona darkness in search of food and some sort of relief from the audial onslaught of Mazdas, Porsches, BMWs, Audis and more. The non-stop noise of the cars along the straightaways combined with the high pitches associated with downshifting and upshifting in and out corners had finally taken its unexpected toll. My head ached. Bad. The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, in its venerable 50th edition, had taken us bright-eyed rookies by surprise. After all, Chris and I had never tried endurance racing before. Both of us are longtime veterans of 16th and Georgetown in Indianapolis, having sat through our share of shivery-cold Pole Days and scorching practice ones. We aren't racing newbies. But the 24 Hours is a different beast, and 6 p.m. was merely a point in this year's race when everyone could look at a dark green Rolex clock in the middle of pit road and know that a mere 21 and a half hours remained. And thus, Chris and I were fading fast. We sat in the McDonald's in the early Sunday morning hours, hardly tasting the food as the line grew longer nearby. I gazed at local high school kids skirting curfew, fans like us staring distantly in another booth In case you missed it: F1 driver given suspended sentence for row with team co-owner [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 3, 2012, 7:34 am] Earlier this week, Formula 1 driver Adrian Sutil was given an 18 month suspended sentence and fined for a nightclub altercation with Lotus co-owner Eric Lux. And given the circumstances surrounding the sentence, it makes the confrontations that have occurred recently in the Cup Series pretty tame. Sutil and Lux were at a nightclub after the Chinese Grand Prix in April and the two got into an argument. From Reuters via Eurosport: Sutil had told the court on the first day of proceedings on Monday that he had repeatedly apologised to Lux and denied it was his intention to hurt him but rather to throw a drink in his face. The prosecution, however, had asked for a 21-month sentence and a 300,000 euro fine, saying that as a professional athlete Sutil should not have acted that way. The glass hit Lux in the throat, resulting in 24 stitches to close the resulting wound. Sutil has maintained that the incident was an accident. Fellow Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton was also at the nightclub when the incident happened, and didn't testify in the trial, citing previous commitments with his McLaren team. For that, Sutil called Hamilton a "coward." In other F1 news, the week has been filled with the reveals of the 2012 cars, with the most (negative or otherwise) reception given to the 2012 Ferrari. For more pictures of 2012 cars, head over to Yahoo! Eurosport. Big Daytona payout includes bonus for leader at halfway [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 2, 2012, 1:35 pm] NASCAR has announced that the Daytona 500 will have a largest-ever payout of $19 million, with the winner getting at least $1.4 million. That's nice and all, even though you and I probably won't see a nickel of it. However, here's the cool element: there will be a $200,000 bonus for the leader at halfway, lap 100. The idea is that it'll reward drivers who actually race rather than running in the back of the pack until there are 20 laps remaining. This should add another element of life into the traditional ride-around portion of the race, particularly if NASCAR's efforts to disrupt tandem driving don't work as well as hoped. Conspiracy-defusing note: If lap 100 is under caution, the bonus will be deferred until the race goes green, and it'll then go to the driver who's leading the fifth lap after the race goes green. The "Daytona 500 Mid-Race Leader Award" doesn't yet have a sponsor, but you can bet it will by race day. That would be February 26, for those of you keeping score. Happy Hour: Two views of Danica Patrick [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: February 1, 2012, 10:42 am] Welcome to the latest Happy Hour mailbag! You know how these work: You write us with your best rant/ joke/one-liner at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com (note new address) or on Twitter at @jaybusbee, we respond to your messages, everyone goes away with a smile on their face. We're getting geared up for the season, and that'll bring us plenty of material, but until then: hit us with your best questions, NASCAR or no. Sure, we can talk about Chase scenarios and qualifying, but let's open it up a bit. Music? TV? Movies? Books? Fine dining? Religion? Philosophy? Politics? Hit us with it all. NASCAR will always lead the show, but let's get a little more variety in the lower reaches of the lettercol. And now, let's begin with a highly noncontroversial topic: Miss Danica Patrick. Hi Jay, how do you handle this conundrum? I have supported Danica Patrick for a while and look forward to the change to the standard in NASCAR. While chatting with my 12 year-old daughter tonight, I asked, "Do you want some fan gear, now that she is running fulltime stock?" Then it hits me. Do I want my daughter walking around in GO DADDY? I think not and dropped the conversation. â AJ Reedville, VA That's a great point, one that I'm not certain the Danica supporters have thought through. For all the advances she makes on behalf of a "woman racing in a man's sport" (an idea which I think is ridiculous; speed knows no gender), she gives back a lot of the goodwill by participating in those goofy Go Daddy ads. Sure, she always seems detached and above it all, but still: the message Go Daddy is pushing isn't exactly a subtle one. For her long-term career, she'd be better served hooking up ... er, aligning with a less sex-obsessed sponsor. (Kudos to Go Daddy, though, for sexing up web hosting, which has to be the unsexiest thing on Earth.) For another view on Ms. Patrick, here we go ... ____________________ NASCAR does a lot to cater to fans. Frankly I feel they do a lot more than other sports do f Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans, don’t say we never did anything for you [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 31, 2012, 2:12 pm] Diet Mountain Dew just passed the $1 billion sales mark, almost all of that coming from college students, truckers and sportswriters on deadline. In gratitude, the Diet Dew folks made this get-'em-rollin' video of a rather familiar car. Have fun, Junior fans. We figure we owe you this one, at least. Points deal guarantees Danica Patrick entry into Daytona 500 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 31, 2012, 1:51 pm] Rest easy, Danica Patrick fans: your lady is going to be driving in the Daytona 500 no matter what. Stewart-Haas Racing, Patrick's team, has arranged to transfer necessary points from Dave Blaney's No. 36 of Tommy Baldwin Racing, meaning Patrick won't have to qualify on speed but Blaney will. Blaney finished inside the top 35 in owner's points last year, 32nd to be exact, which means he's guaranteed entry into the first five races. Blaney does have good experience with qualifying, and fewer race teams on the track (thanks to the departure of Red Bull and the contraction of Roush Fenway, among other moves) means the opportunity to get in on speed isn't quite as difficult as it might have been. If all this leaves a bit of an unsavory taste in your mouth, you're not alone; points-swapping is one of the more oily aspects of the NASCAR race experience. Patrick already has enough problems with the perception that she's been handed opportunities at turn after turn, and this latest move, leapfrogging into the Great American Race, will do nothing to stem that perception. Yes, it's a marketing necessity, given the investment in Patrick, and yes, she's a talented driver in her own right, but the stakes are growing higher with every benefit she receives. Going to be one hell of an interesting race to watch. Patrick locked into Daytona 500, thanks to TBR [NASCAR.com] Here’s a look at David Gilliland’s ride for Front Row Motorsports [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 31, 2012, 8:07 am] Front Row Motorsports has become the Duel of the Davids, with David Gilliland and David Ragan taking the No. 38 and 34 Fords, respectively. And now, they'll share a sponsor too, with ModSpace agreeing to come on board for both cars. ModSpace will serve as primary sponsor for Gilliland on several races, starting with Texas in the spring. It'll be the associate sponsor for the remainder, and will also be an associate sponsor for Ragan for the entire season. ModSpace is a construction services company and is working with Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins in constructing new Taco Bell and Long John Silver's locations. Perhaps they could slap a temporary one up in the Talladega infield. They'd make a killing. Join us for Yahoo! Sports’ NASCAR live chat at its new time, Tuesdays at 1 ET [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 31, 2012, 6:08 am] New season, new day for chat! We're bringing you the live yapping on Tuesdays now at 1 p.m. Eastern. Same ridiculous nonsense shot through with a bit of NASCAR chat, though. Join us, won't you? You can get your Twitter handle on Brad Keselowski’s truck [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 30, 2012, 6:45 pm] Ever dreamed of having your Twitter handle on a NASCAR truck? Here you go. Brad Keselowski is racing in the Camping World Truck Series season opener at Daytonda on Friday, February 24, and through a promotion with his race sponsors Reese Towpower and Cooper Standard, you can be one of 5,000 people to have your Twitter handle on the decklid of the truck. There's a catch of course, but hey, you can get your twitter handle on a truck for the price of a few follows and retweets. That's not bad, right? The details: Retweet this tweet of Keselowski's with your prediction, and follow him, Reese Towpower and Cooper Standard on Twitter. The companies will then draw 5,000 names from the pool of retweets, and those folks will get their Twitter handles on the decklid. And 10 more will get the grand prize, their Twitter names on the side of Keselowski's truck. The 5,000 winners will be drawn February 8th, while the grand prize winners will be drawn February 10th. So if you want to be NASCAR-famous, get Tweeting. But since we're the ones that told you about this, give us a follow on Twitter at @YahooMarbles, @JayBusbee and @NickBromberg too. It's only fair, right? Get your Twitter handle on Brad Keselowski’s truck [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 30, 2012, 6:45 pm] Ever dreamed of having your Twitter handle on a NASCAR truck? Here you go. Brad Keselowski is racing in the Camping World Truck Series season opener at Daytonda on Friday, February 24, and through a promotion with his race sponsors Reese Towpower and Cooper Standard, you can be one of 5,000 people to have your Twitter handle on the decklid of the truck. There's a catch of course, but hey, you can get your twitter handle on a truck for the price of a few follows and retweets. That's not bad, right? The details: Retweet this tweet of Keselowski's with your prediction, and follow him, Reese Towpower and Cooper Standard on Twitter. The companies will then draw 5,000 names from the pool of retweets, and those folks will get their Twitter handles on the decklid. And 10 more will get the grand prize, their Twitter names on the side of Keselowski's truck. The 5,000 winners will be drawn February 8th, while the grand prize winners will be drawn February 10th. So if you want to be NASCAR-famous, get Tweeting. But since we're the ones that told you about this, give us a follow on Twitter at @YahooMarbles, @YahooNASCAR, @JayBusbee and @NickBromberg too. It's only fair, right? Michael Shank Racing No. 60 team wins Rolex 24 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 29, 2012, 1:52 pm] AJ Allmendinger drove the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Ford to victory lane in the Rolex 24 at Daytona Sunday afternoon. Allmendinger, who drove almost three hours on the final stint, shared driving duties with IndyCar's Justin Wilson, Oswaldo Negri and John Pew for Shank's first Rolex 24 win. It was Allmendinger's first Rolex 24 win as well, and his first win since 2006, when he won five times in CART. Allmendinger moved from Richard Petty Motorsports' No. 43 car to the Penske Racing No. 22 in the Sprint Cup Series in the offseason after Kurt Busch and Penske parted ways. It was also the longest Rolex 24 ever, with 761 laps completed. The Starworks Motorsport No. 8 Ford with Ryan Dalziel behind the wheel at the end finished second. Ganassi's No. 01 with Scott Pruett, Joey Hand, Graham Rahal and Memo Rojas, the defending champions of the race, were also in contention for the win until a gear issue put them laps down with approximately two hours left. Shank's No. 6 Ford that included Michael McDowell finished third and the Ganassi Cup and IndyCar team of Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti finished fourth. The Magnus Racing No. 44, with Andy Lally behind the wheel at the finish, won the GT division. It was Magnus Racing's first Grand-Am win and Lally's fourth Rolex 24 class win. Familiar faces to watch in the Rolex 24 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 28, 2012, 7:25 am] Yes, we still have four weeks until the Daytona 500, but the Rolex 24 endurance race, the first race of Daytona Speedweeks, kicks off Saturday afternoon. In the Daytona Prototype category, Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya are again splitting driving duties in Chip Ganassi's No. 02 with IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. They finished second last year to Ganassi's No. 01 team of Joey Hand, Scott Pruett, Graham Rahal and Memo Rojas. All four drivers return to the No. 01 this year. Neither car is on the front row, however. The pole went to Ryan Dalziel driving the No. 8. The No. 10 car that will be driven at times by Ryan Briscoe, starts second. AJ Allmendinger is in the No. 60 and Max Papis is in the No. 9 along with JC France, Brian France's cousin. Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay and E.J. Viso are in the No. 2. In the GT Series, Michael Waltrip and Travis Pastrana are sharing a AF-Waltrip Racing Ferrari with Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Robb Kauffman and Rui Aguas. Boris Said is in the No. 94 for Turner Motorsports and Andy Lally is in the No. 44. And, yes ladies, Dr. McDreamy is back. Actor Patrick Dempsey is in the No. 40, one of the two cars he owns this weekend in the GT Series. Coverage of the race begins at 2:30 PM ET on Speed and concludes Sunday afternoon. OK, here’s your 2012 Danica Patrick Super Bowl ad [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 27, 2012, 7:30 am] Here it is, a week or so early: the latest Danica Patrick Super Bowl ad, this one featuring the Pussycat Dolls. Ads are going for $3.5 million for 30 seconds during the game, scheduled for next Sunday on NBC. Danica has now appeared in 10 Super Bowl ads, which makes her the all-time Super Bowl champion, and ... you're not even reading this any more, are you? Babies! Crew chiefs! Promises! A roundup of news from Media Week [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 27, 2012, 6:57 am] NASCAR Media Week concluded Thursday, and while there wasn't a whole lot of earthshattering news, there's plenty that will have an effect on NASCAR in the 2012 season and beyond. If you missed any of it, clip and save this handy post. ⢠NASCAR ended its policy of secret fines. We'd tell you what we think about that policy in general, but we don't want to get publicly fined. ⢠Ford rolled out the 2013 Fusion, which got everyone excited for 2013 before 2012 even begins. ⢠Kevin Harvick and wife Delana will be adding a new member to their race team. Bad news: their first child is going to have to qualify on speed. ⢠Danica Patrick will be passing up the Indy 500 to run the Coke 600, more evidence of the total career makeover she's undergoing. ⢠Bill Elliott will return to the Sprint Cup series, driving a Wal-Mart car at the July Daytona race. ⢠And another Elliott, Elliott Sadler, will be driving in the Sprint Cup series once again, running for Richard Childress Racing in the Daytona 500. ⢠Chip Ganassi declared his team's 2011 performance "pathetic." Ouch. ⢠Richard Petty Motorsports will be forming a Nationwide team for Michael Annett. ⢠And in sad news, Pocono owner Doc Mattioli passed away. Condolences to his family and friends. Bill Elliott driving a Wal-Mart car at Daytona is pretty much the most NASCAR thing ever [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 26, 2012, 6:52 am] Bit of a splash from the final day of NASCAR Media Day on Thursday, as Bill Elliott announced he'll return to the Sprint Cup series for one race: the July Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. He'll be driving the car you see above, the No. 50 Wal-Mart Chevy Impala, for Turner Motorsports. He'll also be getting some engineering/equipment assistance from Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott claims that the deal just came together and he was only offered the deal on Wednesday. Perhaps true, perhaps not. Believe it or not, this is the first time Wal-Mart has sponsored a car. This season also marks Wal-Mart's 50th year, hence the number on the side. Nice bit of synchronicity, yes? And we can guess that quite a few People of Wal-Mart will be keeping a close eye on this race. Elliott Sadler to drive fourth Childress car at Daytona [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 25, 2012, 8:10 pm] Elliott Sadler will be back in the Sprint Cup Series for the Daytona 500. Sadler, who is driving a full Nationwide Series schedule for Richard Childress Racing, will drive the No. 33 for the team on February 26 with sponsorship from General Mills and Kroger. "It's great to be back in the Daytona 500," Sadler said in a release. "I've had a lot of success in this race in the past and want to thank General Mills, Kroger and Richard Childress for this opportunity." Sadler has five top 10s in his last seven Daytona 500s. The No. 33 is locked into the race because that's the car that Clint Bowyer drove for RCR last year before moving on to Michael Waltrip Racing. With General Mills moving to a reduced role with RCR car Jeff Burton and the No. 31, enough sponsorship couldn't be found to run the car full-time in addition to Burton and Kevin Harvick, who finished third in the points standings. Gil Martin, Harvick's 2o11 crew chief, will be Sadler's crew chief. Shane Wilson, who was crew chief for Bowyer and the No. 33 last year, is Harvick's new crew chief. Elliott Sadler to drive for Childress in Daytona 500 [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 25, 2012, 8:10 pm] Elliott Sadler will be back in the Sprint Cup Series for the Daytona 500. Sadler, who is driving a full Nationwide Series schedule for Richard Childress Racing, will drive the No. 33 for the team on February 26 with sponsorship from General Mills and Kroger. "It's great to be back in the Daytona 500," Sadler said in a release. "I've had a lot of success in this race in the past and want to thank General Mills, Kroger and Richard Childress for this opportunity." Sadler has five top 10s in his last seven Daytona 500s. The No. 33 is locked into the race because that's the car that Clint Bowyer drove for RCR last year before moving on to Michael Waltrip Racing. With General Mills moving to a reduced role with RCR car Jeff Burton and the No. 31, enough sponsorship couldn't be found to run the car full-time in addition to Burton and Kevin Harvick, who finished third in the points standings. Gil Martin, Harvick's 2o11 crew chief, will be Sadler's crew chief. Shane Wilson, who was crew chief for Bowyer and the No. 33 last year, is Harvick's new crew chief. NASCAR announces that it will disclose all fines [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 25, 2012, 3:46 pm] NASCAR announced Wednesday that it will stop the practice of 'secret fines' and publicly announce all monetary punishments. "NASCAR will no longer issue fines that are undisclosed," a NASCAR statement said. "We looked at this issue from every angle and gathered feedback from the industry. While there are always sensitivities related to sponsor relationships and other leagues may continue issuing disclosed and undisclosed fines, NASCAR has decided that all fines moving forward will be made public after the competitor or organization that has been penalized has been informed. Over the past two seasons, the sanctioning body has issued fines in secrecy on multiple occasions, though it's unknown how many times fines have been handed out discretely and for how long. Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were the first known drivers to be secretly fined for comments in 2010, and Newman was secretly fined again after an incident with Juan Pablo Montoya at Richmond that led to an alleged physical altercation. Brad Keselowski was also fined for his comments at a fan forum about electronic fuel injection. We've written at length at how absurd the concept of secret fines is, so this is a common sense move that NASCAR had to make. Fines with all rules violations were already publicly announced, so a dichotomy of some fines being public and some fines shrouded existed. So props to NASCAR for making the right (and only) decision when it comes to fines and preventing us from writing a third column about the ridiculousness of secret fines. Happy Hour: Where will Brian Vickers end up? [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 25, 2012, 2:22 pm] Welcome to the latest Happy Hour mailbag! You know how these work: You write us with your best rant/ joke/one-liner at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com (note new address) or on Twitter at @jaybusbee, we respond to your messages, everyone goes away with a smile on their face. NASCAR is in the middle of its media week, and look, I have to say this: as much as we all complain about NASCAR drivers being vanilla and bland to the media, you have to admit: these guys are more available for more sessions than any other sport anywhere. And most of them will actually treat the process with respect and, dare I say it, a bit of enjoyment in some circumstances. NASCAR fans (and NASCAR media), we get a TON of information straight from the major players. Not all of it, true, and not all of it IS true, but still ... far better than the alternative. (Hey there, NFL.) Anyway, let's start with a guy who, sadly, isn't doing many interviews right now: I am one of those rare under-30 NASCAR fans and I cheer only young drivers (to the point I actually watch the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series on a semi-regular basis #Lame). I started liking NASCAR in college. Brian Vickers was one of my go-to guys as he connected with young fans. Watching him win in Michigan was awesome! As the silly season ends, is he doomed to start/park or nothing? I don't get why no one will pick up Vickers. Nationwide champion, 2x Sprint race winner. Did the Kenseth incidents end his career? I hope not, but it seems like he is a pariah for NASCAR. â Chris Johnson Yeah, there's something up with the Vickers thing that we haven't totally isolated yet. David Ragan took the last available regular Sprint Cup seat, so yes, it's looking like Vickers will be either a Nationwide driver or a start-and-parker. We've put in an inquiry with Vickers but are yet to hear back; most recently on Twitter he told a fan, "When there is news, we will let you know. Until then- sit tight please." (He's also hawking sake to Join us for the latest Yahoo! Sports NASCAR chat, Wednesday at noon ET (new time) [Yahoo! Sports: Blogs: January 24, 2012, 1:46 pm] Time again for another NASCAR chat as the season draws ever closer! We're meeting up on Wednesday at noon Eastern (note: one hour earlier than usual) and we'll talk media tour news and other breaking info. Be here! |