NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Spoiler Test At Charlotte Motor Speedway Goes Well!

* Teams Ready For Transition From Wing To Spoiler
* Drivers Cite Stability, Good Looks As Spoiler Positives

Wednesday marked the second day of a two-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test session at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and ended with resounding validation as teams prepare to transition from the wing on the rear of their cars to a spoiler.

This Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Martinsville Speedway marks the first with spoilers on NASCAR’s new car. The wing-to-spoiler switch was one of several rule changes announced earlier this year.

“I really like the spoiler,” said Carl Edwards, one of several drivers who visited Charlotte’s infield media center on Wednesday. “I think it looks great. I think it’s a great move. The fans are gonna like it and it doesn’t seem to make the car feel much different.”

The spoiler to be used at all tracks except Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway will be 64.5 inches in length and four inches tall in the center. It will be affixed at a 70- degree angle and is non-adjustable.

Beginning with the April 16-18 race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, a 3.5-inch-tall rear-deck fin will be added to the left side of the car. This fin can either be the full length of the deck-lid or a maximum of eight inches short of the spoiler. With the deck lid fin and its length options, the teams will have some flexibility in adjusting rear side force.

“Overall, this was a very good test for us,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “I think the spoiler, plus the rear deck, are going to make the cars ‘racier.’ ”

The wing replaced the traditional stock-car spoiler on NASCAR’s new car, now in its third fulltime season. NASCAR Sprint Cup teams ran the wing for 93 races, beginning in March 2007 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Last week’s spring race at Bristol was the wing’s final event.

“I think the good thing is that there’s nothing large or big jumping out at us saying the spoiler is a lot different,” said Jimmie Johnson, the reigning and four-time series champion.  “We’ve just been kind of working on our race car and working as if this was just a normal test and there was no change at the back of the car with a wing versus a spoiler.”

Normalcy, in fact, was one of the many positive reactions emerging from the two-day test. Opportunity is another.

“I feel like this is a new opportunity to maybe gain some ground, where before some other teams had an advantage on you,” said David Reutimann. “Now, you got something that’s completely new and it’s kind of a clean sheet of paper for almost everybody.  It’s just going to see who can adapt the quickest.”

Crew chief Jimmy Elledge, who oversees driver Scott Speed’s team, concurred.

“I look at things like this as a new challenge and a clean sheet of paper for everybody,” Elledge said. “No one really has any experience with this and the quicker you adapt and learn it, maybe you can get the jump on everyone.”

“Teams will adjust accordingly,” Pemberton said. “It won’t be the same for everybody, and it’ll definitely be something that they’ll have to work towards to get their handling packages correct around other cars during the race, but the drivers like the spoiler and are more comfortable with it and the fans seem to like it, too.”

“Aesthetically, it makes the cars look better,” said Kurt Busch. “There is some fine-tuning available with the rear-deck fin and that’s pretty cool. We’ll have a couple of races with the spoiler under our belts before we get to Texas and that will be our first big test with it.”

This week’s Charlotte test follows last week’s one-day session at Talladega Superspeedway, where approximately 24 teams worked spoilers along with mechanical issues for the April 25 event at Talladega. The Charlotte test addressed only the spoiler.

Both the Charlotte and Talladega tests are exceptions to the current testing policy. For the second consecutive season, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams may not test at facilities that host national-series events. This year, teams may test at tracks that host regional touring series events, but not national series events.

Let The Chase Begin!

The Chase is on! And, I am thirlled!

Kyle Busch is out, as Brian Vickers bumped out the 4-time 09′ race winner with some amazing driving down the stretch. Jeff Gordon is positioned as a solid contender for his 5th crown. Therefore, the only thing that would have made the race at Richmond International Raceway any better would have been if Juan Pablo Montoya had crashed and missed the chase along with KyBusch.

Now, Twenty-six races into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, it comes down to 12 drivers with a chance to win the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Local native Denny Hamlin from Chesapeake finally won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at his home track after coming “oh, so close” so many times before. He also did it in convincing style, battling door-to-door with Jeff Gordon along the way. It was Hamlin’s second win of the season in his FedEx Toyota. He won earlier this year at Pocono.

Hamlin is one of the 12 Chase participants but his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch didn’t make it. Hamlin had locked in a spot before the race but Kyle needed to finish well ahead of Brian Vickers to make it. Kyle finished fifth but Vickers was seventh and wound up grabbing the 12th spot by eight points over Busch.

Kurt Busch finished second and made the Chase. Jeff Gordon was third and in The Chase.

Everybody’s favorite, Mark Martin, was fourth and secured a Chase spot and there wasn’t a happier man in Virginia on Saturday night when this race ended.

Kyle finished fifth and Clint Bowyer was sixth. Vickers was seventh and former Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish finished eighth. Kevin Harvick was ninth and Ryan Newman 10th, which earned him a slot in the Chase, along with his car owner Tony Stewart, who had a rough night and wound up 17th.

Jimmy Johnson finished 11th and he’s in the Chase, along with 12th-place finisher Kasey Kahne and 13th-place finisher Greg Biffle. Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya also made the Chase. It will be Montoya’s first Chase as well as the first for team owner Chip Ganassi.

Former series champion Matt Kenseth finished 25th and failed to qualify for the Chase for the first time.

The first race in the Chase begins Sunday, Sept. 20 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Go 24 Go!

Road Course Rage is About to Begin!

With road course action taking off this weekend at Infineon Raceway, the timing may be right for the perfect storm for Juan Pablo Montoya. On the outside looking in at NASCAR’s top 12 contenders throughout the 2009 season, Montoya has gained to the point where he is only 43 points away from a berth in NASCAR’s elite top 12.

Now, with only 11 races remaining before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Montoya will be in his element when he gets behind the wheel of the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates No. 42 Target Chevrolet in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

Montoya was one of the world’s premier road racers prior to joining the stock car ranks. He won seven Formula One races, the 1999 Champ Car title and 11 open-wheel races, including the 2000 Indianapolis 500, prior to making his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut for Chip Ganassi in the 2006 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award in 2007, along with winning at Infineon Raceway.

After final finishes of 20th and 25th in his first two NASCAR seasons, Montoya is getting the hang of driving the 3,400-pound machines. He’s coming off back-to-back top-10 finishes, placing eighth at Pocono and sixth in the LifeLock 400 at Michigan, moving to 14th in the series point standings.

Now, he’s looking at a solid run at Infineon to make his move with only 11 races remaining before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. That stretch also includes the road course at Watkins Glen, along with races at the four tracks where he’s had top-10 finishes this season.

Other news and notes:

A shakeup in the Top 12 sees Martin rise, and Reutimann stumble.

Mark Martin’s (No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet) last-lap victory at Michigan vaulted him up the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. After starting last Sunday in 13th place – one point from the top 12 – Martin leapfrogged all the way up to eighth with 10 races remaining before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

David Reutimann (No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) was the loser in the mix, falling from 11th to 13th in the standings after finishing 19th. Now, he trails Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet) by three points in the battle for a share in racing’s elite dozen. Juan Pablo Montoya is now 14th, 43 points out of 12th, while Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge) is also in striking distance, 91 points back.

Once again, four past champions continue to pace the standings.

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet), Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) and Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) continue to hold the top-four positions, respectively, separated by 128 points. Stewart is a two-time (2002 and ‘05) champ, Gordon is a four-time titlist (1995, ‘97-98, 2001), Johnson is a three-timer (2006-08) and Busch has one title (2004).

PIR Offering $25 Reserved Seats to the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500!

Phoenix International Raceway is offering a $25 reserved seat to fans for the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil on November 15 – an unprecedented value to watch the semifinal race in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup. In both 2007 and 2008, three-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson won the race in Phoenix, virtually clinching NASCAR’s highest honor in the Valley of the Sun.

Johnson currently sits fourth in the Sprint Cup standings behind teammate and four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, who won the Sprint Cup in 2002 and 2005, and 2004 Sprint Cup champ Kurt Busch. Those four will be joined in Phoenix by NASCAR’s brightest stars, including Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Carl Edwards.

Beyond the hard-charging Sprint Cup action of the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, fans can secure three full nights of NASCAR action for a mere $47 by purchasing the NASCAR Extreme Value Ticket Package. PIR is offering a $15 reserved seat to its Nationwide Series race on Saturday, November 14 – a series currently topped by Kyle Busch and Edwards – and a $7 reserved seat for the Lucas Oil 150 in the Camping World Truck Series on Friday, November 13. PIR kicks off the November race weekend with grassroots USAC racing as part of the famed Copper World Classic on Thursday, November 12.

Fans at Phoenix International Raceway can see championship-caliber races at the close of the 2009 season in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series for less than the price of many Sprint Cup Series tickets alone at other facilities. Throw in free daily on-site parking – not to mention a wide array of musical entertainment and interactive fun from PIR’s Midway – and fans in the Valley of the Sun have one of sports and entertainment’s best deals at their fingertips.

A full listing of prices for the November NASCAR event weekend is attached to this e-mail.

Tickets for the November NASCAR event weekend at Phoenix International Raceway are available now by calling 1-866-408-RACE (7223) or visiting www.phoenixraceway.com. Be a part of it all at PIR!

NASCAR All-Star Race Preview Video

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers return to their Saturday night racing roots at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and a 10-lap shootout for the fans. Last year’s Fan Vote and race winner, Kasey Kahne, and Jeff Gordon — in search of a record fourth all-star victory — talk about the competition and the fans. Plus, find out why the top racer in Driver Rating will have to race his way into the main event.

And, if you want to watch something really entertaining, check out this video with Ric Flair inviting fans to watch the All-Star Race.

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