NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR 2012 NASCAR HALL OF FAME CLASS
Earles, Isaac, Owens, Richter and Leonard Wood Join List Of Legends

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 19, 2011) – NASCAR announced today the list of 25 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s third induction class to be enshrined in January 2012. From that list, five inductees will be elected by the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, which includes a nationwide fan vote on NASCAR.COM.
Of the 25 nominees, 20 return from last year’s group. Five are first-timers: H. Clay Earles, Bobby Isaac, Cotton Owens, Les Richter and Leonard Wood.
This round of nominees, which again includes many of the sport’s legendary names, were selected by a 21-person nominating committee consisting of representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and track owners from both major facilities and historic short tracks. The committee’s votes were tabulated by accounting firm Ernst & Young.
The NHOF’s inductees will be determined by the Voting Panel, which has 54 members – the entire Nominating Committee, media members, manufacturer representatives, retired competitors (drivers, owners, crew chiefs) and recognized industry leaders. In addition, the fan vote will result in the Voting Panel’s 55th and final ballot. Fan voting on NASCAR.COM opens on April 28 and closes June 12.
Following are the 25 nominees, listed alphabetically:
§Buck Baker,first driver to win consecutive NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series championships (1956-57)
§Red Byron, first NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion, in 1949
§Richard Childress, 11-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series
§Jerry Cook, six-time NASCAR Modified champion
§H. Clay Earles, founder of Martinsville Speedway
§Richie Evans,nine-time NASCAR Modified champion
§Tim Flock, two-time NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion
§Rick Hendrick, 13-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series
§Jack Ingram, two-time NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) Series champion
§Dale Inman, eight-time NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series championship crew chief
§Bobby Isaac, 1970 NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion
§Fred Lorenzen, 26 wins and winner of the Daytona 500 and World 600
§Cotton Owens, driver-owner, won 1966 owner championship with David Pearson
§Raymond Parks, NASCAR’s first champion car owner
§Benny Parsons, 1973 NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion
§Les Richter, former NASCAR executive; former president of Riverside International Raceway
§Fireball Roberts, won 33 NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series races, including the 1962 Daytona 500
§T. Wayne Robertson, helped raise NASCAR popularity as R.J. Reynolds Senior VP
§Herb Thomas, first two-time NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion, 1951, ’53
§Curtis Turner, early personality, called the “Babe Ruth of stock car racing”
§Darrell Waltrip, 84 wins and three NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series championships
§Joe Weatherly, two-time NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion
§Glen Wood, as driver, laid foundation for Wood Brothers’ future team success
§Leonard Wood, part-owner and former crew chief for Wood Brothers, revolutionized pit stops
§Cale Yarborough, three consecutive NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series titles, 1976-78

The Class of 2012 will be announced live on SPEED on June 14 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C and inducted next January. The 2011 class, which includes David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, Lee Petty, and Bud Moore will be enshrined at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Monday, May 23.

Episode Airs Wednesday, April 20th at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (April 19, 2011) — Five-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will guest-star in an upcoming episode of the new hit FOX comedy series “Breaking In” this Wednesday, April 20th at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT after “American Idol.”

“Breaking In” is an offbeat half-hour workplace comedy about a high-tech security firm that takes extreme – and often questionable – measures to sell its protection services. Created by Adam F. Goldberg and Seth Gordon, the series centers on a team of uniquely skilled oddball geniuses hand-picked to work for a manipulative mastermind. The series stars Christian Slater as larger-than-life Contra Security head honcho Oz, Bret Harrison as computer hacker Cameron, Odette Annable as alluring bad girl Melanie, Alphonso McAuley as fanboy/mad genius Cash.

Johnson, the 35-year-old El Cajon, Calif., native, plays himself in the episode as the storyline is built around his race team needing security assistance.

“It was a very cool experience, and I’m excited to see how this week’s episode turned out,” said Johnson. “Fred Savage was really encouraging and gave me great direction and I had a blast with Christian Slater. I think the hardest part was not laughing at Michael Rosenbaum [who plays character Dutch]. That guy is what you’d call high energy. The whole experience was great. I hope the fans enjoy seeing me do something different, but trust me, I won’t be leaving my day job any time soon.”
Slater, who served last month as the Grand Marshal for the Auto Club 400, was very impressed with Johnson’s acting ability.

“Jimmie was just as smooth on the set as he is on the track. Everyone was excited to have him be part of the episode,” said Slater. “It was even more special for me as he made my son’s birthday by autographing a pair of racing shoes.”

Part of Wednesday’s NASCAR-focused episode was shot at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Johnson, who currently sits second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, was also on the Sony-based set of “Breaking In” to film portions of the episode.

“Breaking In” is produced by Happy Madison Productions, Adam F. Goldberg Productions and Sethsquatch, Inc. in association with Sony Pictures Television. Goldberg, Gordon and Doug Robinson serve as executive producers, while Goldberg serves as writer. Fred Savage is the episode’s director.

Wild, Record-Tying Finish At Talladega
Two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Records Matched In Sunday’s Aaron’s 499

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 17, 2011) – Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway tied two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series records – number of lead changes and closest margin of victory.
There were 88 lead changes at the start/finish line, tying an all-time NASCAR record set in last season’s April event at Talladega. The final lead change occurred on the last lap – eight of the last 12 Talladega races featured a last-lap lead change.

Jimmie Johnson edged Clint Bowyer by .002 seconds, which matches the closest margin of victory since the inception of electronic scoring in May 1993. That mark was originally set at Darlington Raceway on March 16, 2003, with Ricky Craven beating Kurt Busch.

Since 1993, every race at Talladega finishing under green – 29 in all – has had a MOV under .400 seconds.
Johnson, with his 54th-career victory, moved into a tie with NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Lee Petty for ninth on the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins list.
Passing numbers – for the lead and otherwise – also were high.

There were 159 green flag passes for the lead all around the race track, with a total of 11,025 green flag passes throughout the field.

Sunday’s race capped off a record-breaking weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
In Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, there were 56 lead changes, an all-time record since the series’ inception in 1982.

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(April 17, 2011)

TALLADEGA, Ala. — In a wild, three-wide, six-car finish at Talladega Superspeedway, Jimmie Johnson nipped Clint Bowyer by a record-tying .002 seconds to win Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron’s 499 race.

With a push from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., Johnson surged past Bowyer about six inches from the finish line. The finish tied Ricky Craven’s victory over Kurt Busch at Darlington in 2003 for the closest since the introduction of electronic timing and scoring in 1993.

The victory was Johnson’s first of the season and the 54th of his career. Jeff Gordon ran third and Earnhardt was fourth.

Kevin Harvick, who was pushing Richard Childress Racing teammate Bowyer, finished fifth. Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle finished sixth and seventh, and Mark Martin, who spent the afternoon in tandem with Hendrick teammate Gordon, finished eighth.

A wreck on Lap 140 wiped out two of the top championship contenders, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch. Contact between Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Joey Logano and Busch triggered the incident. Pushed by Logano, Busch spun to the inside and wiped out Kenseth in the process.

The cars of AJ Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin also sustained damage but were able to continue.

“I was just going straight on the bottom following Kurt (Busch) and got hit in the right-rear and put me straight in the wall,” Kenseth said. “I don’t really know what happened to cause that. Obviously, something happened beside me that got somebody into my right rear. I didn’t even know it was coming, just driving straight hoping to miss the rest of the bullets and get to the end and just got in a wreck.”

As the lead pack of cars headed into Turn 3 on Lap 90, fire erupted beneath David Ragan’s No. 6 Ford. As the field began to slow, contact from Kurt Busch’s No. 22 Dodge sent the No. 2 of Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski hard into the outside wall.

The Toyota of Kasey Kahne and the Fords of Marcos Ambrose and Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne were collected in the melee.

“That was one of the harder hits I’ve taken, just because it was so much of a frontal impact across the track, off the apron, all the way to the wall,” Bayne said. “I don’t know who got us. I saw the 6 blowing up in front of us, so I keyed up the mic. I’m like, ‘It’s getting crazy in front of me, Greg’—I was on Greg Biffle’s radio at the time. As soon as I said that they blew up, Greg got off of me because I yelled, ‘Blowing up, blowing up.’

“He got off of me and at the same time the 2 car got hooked somehow. I don’t know that they triggered each other; I just saw the 2 get hooked at the same time the 6 was on fire. He (Keselowski) goes across the track, I saw him hit the outside wall, but then I don’t know who caught us in the right rear and sent us. But I thought we were safe. I was like, ‘Man, that was close,’ and about the time I said that I was headed toward the outside wall. So not a fun ride.”