January 2010

on

Wing vs. spoiler

NASCAR is set to begin testing an aluminum spoiler instead of a wing on its new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car this week at Texas Motor Speedway, and several competitors expressed an opinion on the spoiler.

NASCAR will also test at Charlotte Motor Speedway on March 23-24 with the spoiler.

POLE POSITION QUESTION: WHICH DO YOU PREFER, WING OR SPOILER? VOTE NOW ON THE RIGHT

“What NASCAR is going to spend a lot of time doing – whether it’s in the Charlotte test or a Goodyear tire test – is figure out what balance is good for our cars in clean air,” Ryan Newman said. “This car has been a challenge at times because of the frontal surface area and the fact that it’s got a taller roof and a little bit ‘squarer’ in reference to the whole that it punches in the air.
“It’s become a little more challenging running 15th than with the older-style car. It’s going to open up a new can of worms in respect to a spoiler on this type of race car.”

Newman was involved in a grinding crash at Talladega Superspeedway last year, flipping down the backstretch. He said then he hoped NASCAR would make changes to the car to help it stay on the ground in case of an accident.

“NASCAR has done a lot of testing, and I think that is a definite part of why they’re making some changes in respect to spoiler vs. wing,”
Newman said.

“The fans, ultimately, are what brought these changes along,” Kyle Busch said. “They should be appreciative to NASCAR for listening and to following some of their direction.”

Said Newman, “Is it a better looking car? I like the looks of a spoiler over a wing, for sure. I’ve always thought that a stock car or a full-fendered race car, as in dirt late models or late models or even a street stock at your local race tracks, they have spoilers. That’s just my preference.”

How will a spoiler affect the handling of the car? Time will tell.
“It’s going to have some different effects with the cars side-drafting,” Newman said. “In the end, I hope it keeps the aerodynamic balance the same front to rear because I think we have a good balance with respect to that. I don’t know what it’s going to do for the racing, what it’s going to be like with the aero push and the things we’ve talked about.”

Busch said he doesn’t think the cars will be any easier to drive.
“It certainly can, depending on how big they go on the spoiler,”
Busch said. “They’re talking of keeping the same downforce level in the car, which is only like an inch spoiler. It’s still going to make the cars hard to drive.”

on

Kyle Busch Contract Extension

Joe Gibbs Racing announced it has signed driver Kyle Busch to a “multi-year” contract that will keep the defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion with the team for the next several seasons.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for a while,” said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing. “We probably could’ve announced this earlier.

We were just getting some of the details ironed out and finalized. Watching him grow off the track as well as on the track has been exciting for us. We look forward to many years together racing up front.” Busch said there “wasn’t much convincing needed” to come back to the team after the 2010 season, when his first contract was set to expire.
“We struggled a little bit through 2008 and unfortunately missed the Chase [in 2009]. But I see the organization is strong, I see the way Joey [Logano] really came along toward the end of the year and got a lot better.

I see the way Denny [Hamlin] ran. I mean, shoot, he had a shot to win the championship.
“Our stuff is there. It’s all about having the right people in the right place. Hopefully, [crew chief] Dave [Rogers] is that guy, and he and I can really develop a great relationship like Denny and [crew chief] Mike Ford have.”

The team wouldn’t say how many years the contract is, though Gibbs said they could announce that in the future.

“What does multi-year deal mean to me?” Busch said. “It means a secure future. Joe and J.D. were very receptive to my ideas, I was receptive to their ideas on how to further along our relationship and our commitment to each other, and to do that was to get the deal done, show our sponsors that we’re committed to each other and the people in the shop worried, ‘Well,is Kyle Busch going to be here or not?’ We put all that to rest.”

All of Joe Gibbs Racing’s drivers made an appearance at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Nationwide Series garage, filling up eight of the track’s new frontstretch seats.

In addition to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Busch, Logano and Hamlin, NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers Matt DiBenedetto and Brad Coleman were there, as were NASCAR Camping World East Series drivers Darrell Wallace Jr., Brent Moffitt and Max Gresham.a

on

Buenos Aires, Argentina (January 16, 2010) – Saturday marked the 14th and final stage of the 32nd edition of the Dakar Rally. The rally came full circle as competitors drove 707 kilometers from Santa Rosa to the finish line in Buenos Aires, where the Dakar Rally began nearly two weeks ago. The key to the final stage was staying focused for the duration of the 206 kilometers timed special. The 14th special was composed of a series of very fast track that forced competitors to navigate their way through the Argentinean landscape with precision. After reaching the finish line in the village of San Carlos de Bolivar, drivers had to travel another 335 kilometers to the official finish line of the 2010 Dakar Rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Team HUMMER was “wide open” for the final stage as they tried to gain as much ground as they could before the conclusion of the race. Robby Gordon piloted his Monster Energy / Toy Tires HUMMER to a seventh place finish while his Vanguard teammate finished ninth. When the dust had settled from this year’s Dakar Rally, the Monster HUMMER came home in eighth place overall roughly six hours behind this year’s winner Carlos Sainz. The Vanguard HUMMER was 21st. As much as Robby Gordon and his team would have liked another podium finish, they are happy with a top-10 finish.

“Today was another good, consistent day for the Monster Energy / Toyo Tires HUMMER. We were wide open for miles and miles. In fact, it is the longest I’ve ever held the throttle open in the Monster HUMMER during the Rally. I really hoped that we could have brought home another stage win before the Rally concluded,” commented Gordon on the final day of competition.

“We’ll have to go back and go through all of our notes from this year so that we can be better for next year’s Dakar Rally. A top-10 finish is still impressive considering just how difficult this race is – both on people and equipment. I am just disappointed that we didn’t get another podium finish this year, but we will come back next year and be that much stronger because of it. We won’t give up, and I’m confident in our race team that we have what it takes to be competitive against the world’s best. We’ve proven that time and time again. We build great race cars and have a good team; we’ll be back next year looking for a Dakar Rally overall win.”

on

Michael Waltrip along with Marcos Ambrose raced in the 24 hour’s in Dubai. “I love racing cars,” said Waltrip. “The Daytona 500 is the ultimate race for a NASCAR driver to win. But how cool is it to go to Dubai on the other side of the globe and race a Ferrari? I never thought I’d have a chance to be part of such a unique experience.”
The Ferrari Waltrip refers to is a Ferrari F430 GT2 of the AF Corse team co-owned by Rob Kauffman who will be sharing driving duties with Waltrip, Marcos Ambrose, Rui Aguas and Niki Cadei.