Archive for January, 2009

NASCAR is at fault for the plane crash that happened in Florida last year.

Investigators on Wednesday blamed NASCAR for a “tragic, unnecessary” plane crash in 2007, saying the racing organization let one of its aircraft take off without checking an electrical problem reported the day before.

NASCAR violated federal aviation rules when it allowed the small corporate plane back in the air on July 10, 2007, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

Not to make light of the situation, but it was probably that inconsistent set of procedures that allowed this to happen.

Richard Petty never would have negotiated further than the second sentence if there was any doubt that the Petty name would be part of the newly formed organization with Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

Richard Petty recognized that times were changing and that NASCAR teams just couldn’t be run the way they once were. He felt the need to merge with another organization, to find a way to return his Petty group to prominence.

But he had one key restriction.

Of course, I think it would have been better if Kyle Petty was also part of the organization, but it is what it is. I am still a Kyle Petty fan, more so than just a Petty fan.

Front Row Joe surprised me today.

Joe Nemechek’s NEMCO Motorsports plans to have Sprint Cup and Nationwide series cars for Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway in less than three weeks — and the most stunning part of the bold plan is “we’ll be at California, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Bristol in both series, too,” Nemechek said on Thursday evening.

“We’re going to run as much as we can for the amount of funding we have,” Nemechek said. “I am truly blessed, because over all the years I put all of my money back into the team. We have a 35,000-square-foot state-of-the-art shop with everything any other Cup team has, except a seven-post machine and a couple of the latest gadgets.

I was wondering what was going to happen to him this year. I’ll be cheering him on from my couch.

I think it was pretty much a given that Richard Petty’s name was going to brand the new team. What else would they have called it? GERM?

Richard Petty’s name will remain active in NASCAR under a rebranding of the new team created by the merger of his organization with Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

The new team will be called Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM), capitalizing on the seven-time champion’s marketability.

When news broke that DEI and Ganassi were merging, everyone though we were going to see another “super team” in NASCAR. It turns out things are not so super, are they?

When Dale Earnhardt Inc. merged with Chip Ganassi Racing last year, the plan was to run four cars in NASCAR’s top series.

It could be down to two.

Driver Martin Truex Jr. said Friday night that Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing is planning to field just three cars for next month’s Daytona 500—with him, Juan Pablo Montoya and Aric Almirola behind the wheels. And Almirola said he has no guarantee to drive beyond the season-opening race because of sponsorship woes.

If they drop down to two cars, wouldn’t it have been better to remain independent and run one car each anyway? Crazy.

NASCAR can change the format of the Bud Shootout, they can change the format of the race season itself, yet they are adamant about making all of the cars exactly the same and boring with the Car of Tomorrow.

NASCAR announced Friday a revision to the Bud Shootout format that provides each manufacturer a “wild card” entry, a move that increases the size of the field from 24 to 28 cars.

The 31st annual season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway will be held on Saturday night, February 7.

As announced in August, the lineup for the race will consist of the top six teams from each manufacturer, based on the final 2008 car owner points.

Weee. More cars in the Shootout. More of the same cars. Weee.

I guess all those media reports that Labonte was going be driving the #8 for Earnhardt-Ganassi were full of shit huh?

Bobby Labonte will drive the No. 96 Ford in 2009, three sources told NASCAR.COM on Tuesday evening.

A formal announcement is to be made Wednesday, according to the sources, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The 2000 Cup Series champion, Labonte will drive for Hall of Fame Racing, which announced an alignment with Yates Racing on Tuesday.

It’s a shame Bobby couldn’t stay with the newly merged Petty team and the #43.

It looks like Sadler’s threat of a lawsuit paid off for him.

The Elliott Sadler Saga took another strange twist Thursday.

Sadler will be returning to the Gillett Evernham Motorsports No. 19 Dodge for the 2009 season, multiple sources have confirmed to FOXSports.com. The news comes only days after Sadler threatened to sue GEM after rumors began circulating that he may be replaced by AJ Allmendinger.

News of Sadler’s return came on the same day that officials with GEM and Petty Holdings announced they had reached a deal to merge.

I wonder where Allmendinger will end up now…

People had doubts and a few times it looked like the deal wasn’t going to go through, but it did. Petty Enterprises is officially no more.

Richard Petty’s famed No. 43 Dodge was rescued from near ruin Thursday when Gillett Evernham Motorsports agreed to merge with Petty’s slumping organization to create a new team.

…

The team will be co-owned by Richard Petty, Petty Holdings—which is owned by majority shareholder Boston Ventures—and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. Ray Evernham, who formed his team in 1999 but sold majority interest to businessman George Gillett Jr. in 2007, will be a minority owner in the venture.

The name of the new team was not released, but it’s believed the parties are leaning toward re-branding the organization Richard Petty Motorsports to capitalize on the seven-time NASCAR champion’s name.

Richard Petty Motorsports has a nice ring to it.

Elliott Sadler isn’t backing down.

Elliott Sadler plans to sue Gillett Evernham Motorsports to stay in the No. 19 Dodge through the end of his contract, which runs through 2010, his attorney told ESPN on Monday.

“Our objective is to get in the car and race for them,” said Sadler’s lawyer, John Buric. “We have a contract with them. We intend to enforce that contract.”

I have no idea how this will turn out for him, but I think he’s right to pursue it.