3M AND GREG BIFFLE SIGN
FOR THREE MORE YEARS WITH ROUSH FENWAY RACING
CONCORD, N.C. (April 16, 2011) – Roush Fenway Racing announced today that both 3M and Greg Biffle have renewed their contracts for three more years. The new contracts will take 3M, Biffle and Roush Fenway Racing through the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. 3M has been a Roush Fenway partner since 2005 and Biffle began his NASCAR career with the team in 1998. Terms of the contracts were not disclosed.

“I am thrilled with the prospect of continuing the relationship we have with 3M and what that, paired with the talent of Greg Biffle, means for the success of the No. 16 team at Roush Fenway Racing,” said team owner Jack Roush. “Our endeavors with 3M have been successful both on and off the track and will ideally culminate with a championship season for Greg and 3M in the near future.”

On February 27th, 2005 3M made its debut on Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 16 Ford with Post-it brand on the hood. That day Biffle led 46 laps on his way to victory lane at Auto Club Speedway. Five weeks later with Post-it on the hood for only the third time Biffle took the victory at Texas Motor Speedway by over three seconds.

“We set the bar pretty high early on with 3M and they have stood by us on our best and worst days over the years,” said Biffle. “The people at 3M have found a way to innovate and make their NASCAR program work for their incredibly diverse businesses and brands in a way that continues to amaze me. I couldn’t ask for a better sponsor relationship as I continue my career at Roush Fenway Racing.”

Following the 2005 season when Biffle drove the Post-it Ford for nine races including two wins and five top-five finishes, 3M signed on in 2006 as a primary sponsor for Roush Fenway in the Nationwide Series. In 2008, 3M took over primary sponsorship of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Ford in the Sprint Cup Series, earning an additional three wins, 28 top-fives and 48 top-10 finishes to date.

“Our relationship with Greg, Jack and the entire Roush Fenway organization has been great for our business,” said Bob MacDonald, 3M senior vice president of sales and marketing. “We’re very excited about taking our NASCAR program to the next level over the next three years.”

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(April 16, 2011)

TALLADEGA, Ala. — In a wild ending that had Mike Wallace’s Chevrolet spinning upside down and landing on its roof, Kyle Busch won Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 Nationwide Series race at Talladega Superspeedway when a caution flag on Lap 124 froze the field.

Busch got the win on the second attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race seven laps past its scheduled distance at the 2.66-mile track. Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, had just pushed Busch to the lead when Wallace’s wreck brought out the record 11th caution of the race.

Logano was credited with second place, followed by Joe Nemechek, Brad Keselowski and polesitter Elliott Sadler.

A huge 21-car chain-reaction crash on the backstretch after a Lap 88 restart thinned the field and collected several of the strongest cars, among them the No. 18 of Busch, the No. 1 of Jamie McMurray and the No. 66 of Steve Wallace.

Contact between Busch and Clint Bowyer started a spin that collected Michael Waltrip and sent half the field sliding and spinning out of control.

Waltrip blamed Sadler and McMurray who were separated on the track but were trying to hook up together in a two-car draft.

“It happened on the radio before the restart,” Waltrip said. “The 2 (Sadler) decided that he would manipulate the restart so that the 1 could get behind him, and they could work together like they had before.

“It’s the way you race, but the 1 and the 2 messing around got me crashed.”

McMurray agreed that he and Sadler were trying to get back together.

“I really don’t know what happened,” McMurray said. “I was obviously trying to get back to Eliiott—we worked together really well all day. Elliott was trying to get away from the 99 (Waltrip) so that I could get hooked up with him.

“I pulled to the inside, and I think the 18 behind me gave me a big shove, and I thought I was just going to have to go with him, because of the momentum we had, and then I just kind of got hit in the right rear.”

After a stoppage of 6 minutes 45 seconds—the second red flag of the afternoon—the race restarted on Lap 93, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the lead.

Earlier, on Lap 69, contact between the Fords of teammates Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sent Stenhouse, the series points leader entering the race, into the outside wall and out of the race.

After the wreck, NASCAR red-flagged the race for 5 minutes, 33 seconds to clean the debris from the racetrack.

1 24 Jeff Gordon Drive to End Hunger / AARP Chevrolet 53.723 178.248
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 53.845 177.844
3 5 Mark Martin CARQUEST / GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 53.856 177.807
4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet 53.869 177.765
5 27 Paul Menard Schrock / Menards Chevrolet 53.888 177.702
6 09 Landon Cassill(i) Security Benefits / Thank A Teacher Chevrolet 53.893 177.685
7 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 53.968 177.438
8 22 Kurt Busch Shell / Pennzoil / AAA Dodge 53.986 177.379
9 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 53.989 177.369
10 33 Clint Bowyer BB&T Chevrolet 53.994 177.353
11 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Good Sam / Camping World Ford 53.994 177.353
12 15 Michael Waltrip Aaron’s / Auburn National Champ Toyota 54.005 177.317
13 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 54.046 177.182
14 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 54.058 177.143
15 47 Bobby Labonte Bush’s Toyota 54.065 177.120
16 43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford 54.075 177.087
17 16 Greg Biffle 3M Scotch Blue Ford 54.079 177.074
18 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 54.083 177.061
19 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge 54.092 177.032
20 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 54.100 177.006
21 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet 54.141 176.872
22 87 Joe Nemechek(i) NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 54.195 176.695
23 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet 54.206 176.659
24 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 54.232 176.575
25 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Black Ford 54.249 176.519
26 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 54.262 176.477
27 31 Jeff Burton Cat Financial Chevrolet 54.267 176.461
28 38 Travis Kvapil(i) Long John Silver’s / TMone Ford 54.278 176.425
29 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 54.295 176.370
30 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot / Mobil 1 Chevrolet 54.302 176.347
31 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota 54.317 176.298
32 97 Kevin Conway(i) ExtenZe Toyota 54.349 176.195
33 35 Steve Park(i) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 54.359 176.162
34 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Pretzel Toyota 54.428 175.939
35 36 Dave Blaney Golden Corral Chevrolet 54.469 175.806
36 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota 54.592 175.410
37 71 Andy Lally # Interstate Moving Services Ford 54.611 175.349
38 29 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet 54.672 175.154
39 34 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford 54.678 175.134
40 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota Owner Points
41 32 Terry Labonte C&J Energy Services Ford Owner Points
42 7 Sam Hornish Jr. Fast Five / Speed Energy Dodge Owner Points
43 46 Bill Elliott Red Line Oil Chevrolet Past Champion

Kerry Murphey chats with NASCAR legend, The King Richard Petty. They discuss the following…

-STP coming back to NASCAR
-Richard Petty Motorsports doing better in 2011
-Can anyone reach the 200 race wins milestone?
-Can Kyle Busch reach that milestone with all 3 series
-His thoughts on the new points system
-Lending his voice to the animated Pixar movies, Cars
-and more!

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CREDITS:
Hosts: Kerry Murphey & Paul Northrop
Production: Kerry Murphey
Music: Radium Sound
Voice Over:

Thomas Moog

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Thursday, April 14, 2011) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. has many titles – driver, owner, entrepreneur, racing enthusiast. And now prankster.

Last month the eight-time NASCAR Most Popular Driver and winner of more than 40 NASCAR-sanctioned races took control of a sponsor video production and steered it a way nobody saw coming. Wanting to liven up the set, he concocted the idea to bring JR Motorsports employees into what they thought was an interview detailing the myriad roles of a racing organization. They soon discovered the boss was creating a comedic moment at their expense, and the end result is a viral video Suave has now tagged on JR Motorsports’ YouTube channel for fans to enjoy.

To create an informal feel to the interview, Earnhardt Jr. encouraged each employee to grab a drink from a nearby cooler and sip it while answering questions about their role at JR Motorsports. What they found when reaching into the cooler, however, was a large snake. The snake was not real, of course, but the reactions very much were.

“Aric Almirola’s reaction was my favorite,” Earnhardt Jr. said with a laugh. “I’ve got some buddies who do this prank at the Charlotte Auto Fair each year. They take a cooler, set it beside the road and post a sign on it that says ‘Free Drinks’. Then they just sit back and watch people scream and run and carry on, and they’ll laugh at ’em all day. It’s a lot of fun, and I appreciate Suave letting me do it.”

Almirola, driver of the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet, was just one of Earnhardt Jr.’s victims. Almirola’s crew chief Tony Eury Sr. also took the bait, as did No. 7 crew chief and JR Motorsports co-owner Tony Eury Jr.

“I knew the Eurys wouldn’t go running out of the building or anything like that, because they’re country boys who’ve probably come across hundreds of snakes in their lifetime,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “But I got ’em to flinch. That’s all I needed. I’ll get mileage out of that.”

Unilever’s Suave Men brand turned to Hammerhead Entertainment, the production company owned by Earnhardt Jr., to edit the footage and produce a viral video 1:37 in length. Aside from promoting its Men’s hair care and body wash brand, which will appear on Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 7 Chevrolet this Saturday in the NASCAR Nationwide race at Talladega Superspeedway, the video also shows a behind-the-scenes look at Earnhardt Jr. that fans don’t often get a chance to see.

Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 at Talladega will mark Earnhardt Jr.’s third Nationwide Series race in 2011. In his first two events, the JR Motorsports driver/owner finished fourth at Daytona on Feb. 19 and third at Bristol on March 19. The Aaron’s 312 will be broadcasted live on ESPN2 at 3 p.m. ET and Motor Racing Network at 2:30 p.m. ET. Tickets to Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races can be purchased through http://www.TalladegaSuperspeedway.com.