Carmichael again to carry longtime sponsor’s colors (NASCAR.com)

January 28, 2010

The Monster Energy "M" claw will grace the No. 4 Chevrolet of Ricky Carmichael in the 2010 Camping World Truck Series.

Carmichael will compete in the entire 25-race Truck Series schedule for Turner Motorsports. He had 16 starts last season for Kevin Harvick Inc. with two top-10 finishes before moving over to Turner Motorsports for the final two races of the year.

In the history of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), no other rider has won as many championships (15) and races (150) as Carmichael, earning him the nickname the Greatest of All-Time (the GOAT). He was also a record five-time AMA Rider of the Year.

Carmichael also will compete in nine ARCA races, beginning with the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

"Monster has been a sponsor of mine for five years," Carmichael said. "So it's really an honor for them to continue to expand their motorsports efforts with me. I learned so much as a driver working with Kevin last year. He encouraged me to make the jump to Turner Motorsports because of the number of races I was going to be able to compete in.

"I know seat time is the key for me becoming a successful driver. Last season was a great year for me, but I am really looking forward this season."

Mike Fritts, who served as Carmichael's crew chief in his first stock-car endeavor in 2007, will again assume the role as crew chief for the 2010 season. The No. 4 Chevrolet is locked in for the first five races of the season based on last season's owner points.

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Patrick to run at least 12-race NASCAR schedule

January 28, 2010

MOORESVILLE, North Carolina (AP)—IndyCar star Danica Patrick will compete in at least 12 NASCAR races this season and could make her debut in the season opener.

JR Motorsports announced Patrick’s schedule on Thursday. Her first race, though, is still uncertain. Patrick is waiting to decide whether to race in the second-tier Nationwide Series opener at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 13.

The team says it will decide after Patrick makes her stock car debut in the Feb. 6 ARCA race at Daytona. If she feels comfortable, she could race the following week in NASCAR’s second-tier series. It would be a daunting NASCAR start considering more than a dozen Cup regulars, including team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., drive in that one.

“Like I’ve said before, we just want to be smart and calculative about this process,” Patrick said. “The tracks we’ve selected not only compliment the IndyCar schedule, but will give me quality seat time at a variety of facilities.”

If Patrick doesn’t drive the Nationwide race at Daytona, she will make her debut the following week in Fontana, California.

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Top 20 Countdown: No. 7 Mark Martin (Yahoo! Sports)

January 28, 2010

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Editor’s note: Yahoo! Sports is counting down the top 20 drivers of the 2010 season. The order was determined by a survey, which asked five NASCAR journalists – Jay Busbee and Jay Hart (Yahoo! Sports); Jenna Fryer (Associated Press); Dustin Long (Landmark Newspapers); and Nate Ryan (USA Today) – to predict the final standings for the 2010 season. The countdown will conclude on Feb. 5 with the unveiling of the No. 1 driver.

2009 finish: 2nd

Our 2010 predictions:

• Jay Busbee: 8th• Jay Hart: 5th• Jenna Fryer: 3rd• Dustin Long: 10th• Nate Ryan: 4th

2010 outlook: What does Mark Martin do for an encore?

Regardless of age, 2009 was one of the best seasons of the then-50-year-old’s 27-year Cup career. He won five races, or one more than he’d won in his previous nine seasons, collected a career-high seven poles, finished second in the standings for a fifth time and overall was really, really, really happy.

He can’t do better, can he? Well, maybe he can.

“I can’t know what the competition is going to do, but I do know that physically I’m better,” Martin said earlier this month. “I am more ready today than I was a year ago right now. I know that my race team is more ready than they were a year ago right now. I know our pit stops are faster than they were a year ago right now. I know that we have a better understanding of our race cars than where we were a year ago right now.

“So those things I do know. I’m not Mr. Optimistic, I’m not Mr. Pessimistic. I’m Mr. Realistic. And realistically speaking, I can’t tell you what the result will be in 2010. But … we are better than we were a year ago. I just don’t know how much better our competition is.”

The one aspect Martin doesn’t have to worry about is the Chase schedule. Like Jimmie Johnson, the playoff schedule sets up well for Martin, who’s won at nine of the 10 Chase tracks.

Assuming he qualifies for the Chase, which wasn’t a slam dunk in 2009 no thanks to a couple of early season blown engines, Martin figures to test Johnson and whoever else is in the hunt. And if he were to win it, at 51, he’d be the oldest Cup champion – by six years.

What you need to know: This will not be Martin’s last Cup season. Just before the ’09 Chase began, Martin signed a contract extension that will keep him with Hendrick Motorsports through 2011.

Jay Hart is the NASCAR editor for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jay a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

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NASCAR champ Johnson crashes in practice

January 28, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (AP)—Four-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson hascrashed during practice for this weekend’s 24-hour race at Daytona InternationalSpeedway.

A spokeswoman for Johnson says the driver is feeling fine and hoping to getback behind the wheel for another practice on Friday.

Kristine Curley says Johnson is still planning to drive in the Rolex 24 AtDaytona, a daylong race on Daytona’s 3.5-mile (5.7-kilometer) road course.

Johnson damaged the rear end of his Chevrolet Riley Daytona Prototype onThursday trying to avoid a slower car. He hit the brakes, turned sideways, slidbackward and slammed into the wall.

Johnson’s team is planning to rush parts to Daytona and work through thenight in hopes of getting the car back on the track by Friday.

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George’s Vision Racing suspends operations (PA SportsTicker)

January 28, 2010

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS(AP)—Tony George’s IndyCar team has suspended operations for lack of sponsors and is not expected to compete in the series this season.

Vision Racing spokeswoman Pat Caporali says George informed team members Thursday morning. She says 15-20 workers will be laid off.

Caporali says the IRL founder made the decision because he had not secured enough sponsors for the 2010 season. He had formed Vision Racing in 2005 and his stepson, Ed Carpenter, has been its main driver.

George was president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for 20 years and formed the IRL in 1994. The speedway board controlled by his mother and sisters ousted him as CEO and president of the IndyCar series last June amid job cuts at the track and concerns about his spending on track upgrades.

George resigned from the board two weeks ago.

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Ferrari unveils 2010 car: the F10 (PA SportsTicker)

January 28, 2010

MARANELLO, ITALY(AP) —Ferrari launched its car for the upcoming Formula One season Thursday, calling it the F10 in hopes of restoring the team’s winning tradition.

For years Ferrari named its cars with an “F” for Ferrari followed by the year, but last year’s uncompetitive car was called the F60 to honor Ferrari’s 60th year in F1.

“We’re coming off a season that was not competitive for us and this should mark a turning point for the future,” team director Stefano Domenicali said. “We want to win again.”

In another change, the predominantly red car features white wings to showcase the team’s new sponsor, the Spanish bank Santander.

Last season, Ferrari finished fourth in the constructors’ standings and Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella placed sixth, 11th and 15th in the drivers’ ranks.

Fisichella replaced Massa midseason after the Brazilian nearly lost his life in a crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Massa is set to return this season and Fernando Alonso has been hired to replace Raikkonen, while Fisichella will be the team’s reserve driver.

Alonso was a two-time Formula One champion with Renault.

“You can’t have two without three,” Domenicali said of the Spanish star. “The moment is right, for him and for us.”

Massa was scheduled to be behind the wheel for the F10’s first official test in Valencia, Spain, on Monday. A brief spin around Ferrari’s private Fiorano track Thursday was canceled because of icy conditions.

“After a season as dramatic as the last one – but also fantastic for the birth of his son – Felipe can show what type of driver he is,” Domenicali said. “He can restart from that straightaway in Hungary, where destiny stopped him.”

The season begins with the Bahrain GP on March 14.

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McMurray looking at team-building week in Daytona (NASCAR.com)

January 28, 2010

In little more than the last month, Jamie McMurray has twice raced in international-caliber karting events, tested a championship-winning Rolex Series sports car and had his first outing for a new team in his primary role: Cup driver.

But this week McMurray will make his biggest step in a critical process of team building that occurs every season, even more critical for him in 2010 because he's just come back to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, for which he last raced in 2005 when it was Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

McMurray flew to Orlando, Fla., Tuesday morning for a two-day test at Walt Disney World Speedway with his new teammate, Juan Montoya. It was the first stock car test of the new year for both men and Montoya's first time in a Cup car since last fall's Homestead finale.

From Orlando, the pair will head east to Daytona Beach, Fla., where on-track action for the Rolex 24 At Daytona Grand-Am Rolex Series season opener begins Thursday. McMurray, who last raced in the Rolex in 2005, when he was part of a Ganassi Racing team that finished fourth, is part of a four-man ensemble with Montoya, 2009 IndyCar Series champ Dario Franchitti and former IndyCar champ Scott Dixon.

It's enough to put a lesser man in a whirl. But McMurray sat down to offer his thoughts on working with new Cup crew chief Kevin Manion, teaming with the mercurial Montoya and the benefits of diversity, as well as a two-car Cup team.

Q: What's the month been like for you?

McMurray: I joked around with my wife that we should have bought a condominium in Daytona [Beach] because I've spent my entire offseason down here—whether it was in the go-kart or the 24-hour car or testing at New Smyrna [Speedway] in the Cup car.

So it's been busy. But when the season is over, you can't wait to get a weekend off. And then, after you get one or two off, you're ready to go back and actually do something. So it's actually been a lot of fun to do all the kart racing.

Q: You're going to be Montoya's teammate in stock cars, but you get to break in first in sports cars—at the test earlier in January, and then for a four-day race weekend. So what's the teammate experience been like so far?

McMurray: I think it's very valuable to get to do this [sports car race] with Juan because even though you're teammates on the Cup side, you still compete against each other. So this is a really good way to bring you together because you're on the same team and you're racing together, as one.

[Friday of three-day Rolex Series test] was the first day that I'd really gotten to be around Juan since signing the deal, just going out to eat dinner and exchanging phone numbers and everything that goes with that. And it really went well, and I really like Juan.

Q: You tested at New Smyrna Speedway, a half-mile short track down near Daytona Beach, in December. Was that your first test with the new team and how was it, working with your new crew chief?

McMurray: Kevin is completely different than what I expected. I had pitted next to him almost the whole year [2009], because we'd been close in points. And his personality and his humor—everything about him—is a lot different than what I expected. And it's all been good.

Our test at New Smyrna was more an engineering test. It wasn't about us going down there and trying to make the cars faster. It was about developing parts for the short track part of the season. But our test went fine. You know, you go through the steps and certainly when you meet someone and you go do something like that, there are certain people that you're like, 'that guy's a leader and that guy's not.'

And Kevin is a leader.

Q: What else do you have planned before Speedweeks at Daytona?

McMurray: We're doing this test at Walt Disney World, with both the No. 42 and No. 1 car, just to get everybody used to working with each other. Juan and I, [testing the sports car] has helped us tremendously in building our relationship, but it's just to get everybody working together.

We'll probably switch [seat] inserts and drive each other's cars and just listen to the feedback, and it will be interesting also to just look at the data. It's always fun to look at other drivers' [data] traces—throttle inputs, braking pressures and stuff like that. So it'll be valuable for us to do that.

Q: You're with a two-car team this year versus a five-car team last year at Roush Fenway. Is that a case of 'so what,' or something else?

McMurray: There are probably plusses and minuses that go along with all that. The good thing about a five-car team is that you get a lot of ideas and different directions to go. And the bad part about a five-car team is that you get a lot of ideas and different directions to go.

I think it's very hard when you have five drivers to make them all drive alike and all want the same setup. If you have only one to focus on you can say 'he typically likes a little more wedge' or 'he typically likes this.' And you kind of will know the adjustments to make.

But I will say [when] they bring this new rear spoiler out versus the wing, it is going to change the format of all this dramatically.

Q: Were you part of NASCAR's analysis of where to go with the rules, and going back to a spoiler?

McMurray: I wasn't part of it. I read about it on the Internet. I think it's interesting because I've never driven one of these cars without a wing on it, or with a spoiler on it, so I don't know what it'll drive like. Until I have a chance to drive it each way, or see the engineering that will tell me why it will be better, I don't know.

Q: What's your take on the rule changes put in place for Speedweeks and racing at Daytona?

McMurray: I like the yellow line rule. The [relaxing of restrictions on] bump drafting, I don't think that's going to change the racing very much. I know that last year there was a lot made of that and guys were maybe a little more careful. But nobody's going to do, where you get locked-up and shove all the way around the race track until the end anyway—so I don't know that it's all that big a deal.

Q: What's it been like for you to be back at Chip's team after being away for four years, racing at Roush Fenway Racing?

McMurray: There are a lot of new faces at EGR—the management is different. But for the most part [it's the same]. They still build beautiful race cars, and honestly that's the one thing that I remember about being here before was the quality of workmanship.

And they built me all brand new cars this year, to be like what Juan ended the season with. Not only do the cars look good, but obviously they run really well. And I know most of the guys that work there, whether they worked there before, or maybe I've worked with them in the past. I know most everyone that works at EGR and it's been very comforting to have those guys pat me on the back and say that they're glad to have me back.

It's a feeling you can't really explain to someone [but] it's just the confidence that it gives you when you have everyone behind you, and you feel like it's a sincere 'we're glad to have you back' rather than just a formality. So certainly all those guys in the shop and at the offices have been very welcoming and that's been a really good feeling.

Q: After spending the past four years at Roush Fenway, have you come in, looked around and maybe suggested there's something EGR might tweak or look at doing differently?

McMurray: I'll tell you what I've learned in moving to race teams. That's that everybody does stuff a little bit differently and just because they don't do it exactly the way that you are used to, does not mean that's right or wrong.

I think it's good to step back and offer your suggestions, but there's more than one way to skin a cat and sometimes you're just best to sit back and listen.

Q: You've raced karts at Daytona for the past couple years but this year it took another leap with fellow Cup driver A.J. Allmendinger, IndyCar champ Dan Wheldon and motorcycle champion Scott Russell being here. So what was that like?

McMurray: Kart racing probably prepares you better for [racing a sports car] than certainly what it does to do the Cup car, and a lot of the guys that are here racing the 24 hours actually are karters. So it's fun for me to get to see all those guys.

It was a lot of fun to get to race with those guys. I love karting and I'm very passionate about that. I enjoy karting about as much as anything in my life. It's not relaxing—it's stressful because you want to win and you want to do well. But it also gives me something to do at home.

And it's nice to see those other guys come out. I know Dan Wheldon grew up karting and he's really big into that. He's a really good karter on top of everything [else]. And A.J. [Allmendinger] came down this year and he's been a karter forever.

So hopefully the guys will keep coming down. And from what the go-kart guys tell me, they love to have us come down and to get to race against us. And it's just a lot of fun.

Q: Who was the big winner though—I know there were no losers, right?

McMurray: Wheldon actually won a class. The first day he wasn't very fast but the second day he really got his stuff put together and ran really well. He ran the best of any of us [professionals]. I ran second in one of the classes but it was a really good weekend.

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Ferrari unveils 2010 car _ the F10 (PA SportsTicker)

January 28, 2010

MARANELLO, ITALY(AP) —Ferrari has launched its car for the upcoming Formula One season, naming it the F10.

The name marks a return to the years when Ferrari would always name its cars with an F for Ferrari followed by the year, whereas last year’s uncompetitive car was called the F60 to honor Ferrari’s 60th year in F1.

Ferrari has added newly signed driver Fernando Alonso for this season to team with Brazilian Felipe Massa, who is back after severe head injuries suffered in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The new car was unveiled at team headquarters at Maranello on Thursday.

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McMurray looking at team- building week in Daytona (NASCAR.com)

January 27, 2010