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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.”

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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.

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The rumors have been flying around that NASCAR planned to swap out the current wing on their Cup Series race car, back to the “older” style spoiler. Cup Series director John Darby sent a memo to teams on Friday that outlines the changes. He said “To help put some of the rumor mills to rest, I am sending you the following facts as they relate to changes for 2010, we will be transitioning from the usage of the current wing to an aluminum spoiler.”

NASCAR plans to hold a meeting with teams in mid-March and run a test with the spoiler at Charlotte Motor Speedway on March 23-24th. At the moment there has not been a race date selected to begin running the spoiler, but the most likely candidate is Martinsville.

The current car, or previously known as The Car of Tomorrow has never run under race conditions using a spoiler. This means teams will need to send this car to the wind tunnel, adjust their set-ups, as well as test the cars on the race track. On thing the spoiler is supposed to do, is create less downforce, putting the control of the car back into the drivers hands. Theoretically this should provide more exciting racing. Only time will tell, and it will be interesting to keep track of.

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NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES POWERHOUSE BRAUN RACING AND DOLLAR GENERAL
TO ENTER SPRINT CUP COMPETITION IN 2010 SEASON

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (January 14, 2010) – Braun Racing is proud to announce its long-awaited entrance into motorsports’ number one series, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Dollar General, which sponsors the team’s No. 32 entry in the Nationwide Series, will serve as primary sponsor for five races throughout the 2010 season, including Daytona International Speedway (February), Atlanta Motor Speedway (March), Chicagoland Speedway (July), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July) and Charlotte Motor Speedway (October). Reed Sorenson, who drives the No. 32 Dollar General Camry on a limited basis in the Nationwide Series, has been named as the driver.

Braun Racing was founded in 2002 by Winamac, Ind., native Todd Braun. A former driver, Braun first fielded a team in the ARCA Racing Series. In 2003, he expanded into the NASCAR Nationwide Series and has since grown his organization into a four-car operation. The largest independent team in the series, Braun Racing was handpicked four years ago by Toyota to help lead their entrance into the series. The team is proud to have claimed Toyota’s first Nationwide Series pole on February 24, 2007 at California Speedway and their first win at O’Reilly Raceway Park on July 28, 2007. In 2009, Jason Leffler captured the fourth spot in the championship driver point standings and led the No. 38 team to an eighth-place finish in the championship owner’s point standings. Brian Vickers shared time with Reed Sorenson, David Reutimann, Jacques Villeneuve and Brian Ickler in the No. 32 entry and finished seventh in the championship owner point standings.

“Fielding a car in the Daytona 500 has been one of my lifelong dreams,” said Braun. “It is incredibly exciting to have the opportunity to realize that dream. I am so proud of every member of this organization. We’re stepping into the top tier of motorsports and it is a direct result of their hard work and the support of our outstanding marketing partners. It is very special to take this step with our good friends at Dollar General.”

Dollar General, which has participated in NASCAR team sponsorships since 2006, joined Braun Racing as a marketing partner in 2008, running a limited number of Nationwide Series races as a primary sponsor. In 2009, Dollar General returned as the full-time sponsor of the No. 32 entry and will continue to sponsor the Toyota Camry this season.

Dollar General Chairman and CEO, Rick Dreiling, agrees with Braun’s sentiments and looks forward to the Dollar General Racing team’s endeavors in NASCAR’s premier series.

“This is an exciting and well-deserved opportunity for Braun, and we are proud to support the team as they enter a new level of racing,” said Rick Dreiling, Dollar General’s chairman and CEO. “Their hard work and drive has prepared them for this new challenge and Dollar General looks forward to being a part of their success in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.”