Kurt Busch wins pole at NASCAR Las Vegas
February 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS (AP)—Kurt Busch has won the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by shattering his brother’s track record.
Busch turned a lap of 188.719 mph to claim the top starting spot for Sunday’s race. Jeff Gordon is second with a lap at 188.646.
Ryan Newman has qualified third and was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch.
Kyle Busch held the previous track record of 185.995 mph. In all, 18 drivers bettered that speed.
Kyle Busch is the defending race winner, and the victory created pangs of jealousy for his big brother. Las Vegas is their home track, and the Busch brothers treat it as the biggest race of the year.
Patrick sad to step away from NASCAR
February 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS (AP)—Danica Patrick has one more NASCAR race before a four-month hiatus to return to the IndyCar Series, and she’s admittedly going to miss being away from her new team.
“I was telling the boys today I was kind of sad, this is the last weekend for awhile,” she said Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I really enjoy all of them and I like driving the cars.”
Patrick is running a 13-race Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports, and has enjoyed the crash course in stock cars despite her disappointing results.
Patrick made her Nationwide debut at Daytona, where she was collected in a mid-race accident and finished 35th. She struggled last week at California to a 31st-place finish.
Next up is Saturday’s race at Las Vegas, then she’s back to IndyCar and, after a four-month break, back to NASCAR with the Nationwide race at New Hampshire in June.
She was pleased with her practice sessions Friday at Las Vegas, as well as with the communication with crew chief Tony Eury Jr. As the team continues to get to know her, it’s easier for Patrick at the track. She was 23rd fastest in the first practice session, and 25th in the final session.
“I think Tony Jr. is beginning to learn my style and the things that I need when I arrive at a track for the very first time,” she said. “I think what I learned last weekend with not having goals, I think that’s a problem. Just thinking I want to go as fast as I can and run up front—that’s probably not going to happen in the beginning, there are too many good drivers here.
“There’s too much to learn. After last weekend, we finished up and said `We need to finish in the top 25.’ When I finished the practice sessions, we were in the top 25, so there you go.”
Patrick has had a busy week, going from California to Alabama for the first IndyCar test of the season. Then it was on to Las Vegas and back to a stock car. She called any difficulties in the back-and-forth transition “circumstantial.”
“Getting into the IndyCar again, getting comfortable with how fast they are and the acceleration and the downforce,” she said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have a very good car, so I didn’t feel very comfortable and that’s why I didn’t like it. There were times we made it better and I was able to feel comfortable again, but that didn’t last maybe one run.
“I come back here and we lower the steering wheel and bring it toward me and we’re trying to make it look more like how all the other drivers have it. Then I went out there and I was freaking out. It was like I was driving on top of the car. I was so uncomfortable, so we came back in and made some changes. I think it’s a little circumstantial. I’m sure there will be that first couple of laps where I say, `What do I got here?’ and I need to settle in. It will hopefully be more and more like riding a bicycle.”
Biffle buys dirt track and forms late model series
February 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS (AP)—NASCAR driver Greg Biffle says he has become part owner of a dirt track in Oregon and formed a late model series to help budding racers in the Northwest.
The DAA Spec Motor Series will run 22 events on six tracks with a $25,000 season points fund.
The race track Biffle is now part owner of is Sunset Speedway in Banks, Ore. It’s a 3/4-mile clay dirt track located outside Portland. Biffle says the track will host 35 events this season, which begins April 10.
Biffle is hardly the first NASCAR star to purchase a dirt track. Tony Stewart owns Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, where he holds a charity late model event each year that attracts several NASCAR regulars.
It’s a bird … it’s a plane … it’s Skydive Las Vegas (NASCAR.com)
February 26, 2010
No. Absolutely not. No way, no how. Not going to happen. Never. Not in a million years.
Jump out of a perfectly good airplane, as if there were such a thing? Uhhhhhhhhhhhh … let's put this as delicately as possible: you've got to be out of your ever-lovin' mind. When it comes to sane ways of having fun, there are a lot of options that come to mind before skydiving.
Like jumping into a pool of hungry piranha, for instance. Yeah, that would do the trick. That's bound to be better than skydiving. Way better.
Yet for 8,000 people or so a year at Skydive Las Vegas, that's exactly what they do. Based at Boulder City Airport, they willingly allow complete strangers to fly them to 15,000 feet above sea level. That's one thing, but then they … well … jump. Out of the plane. Intentionally.
Crazy, just plain crazy.
Brent Buckner, the manager at Skydive Las Vegas, has made approximately 4,000 jumps. If that seems like a lot, his chief instructor, Mike Burgess, has nearly 14,000 jumps to his credit. The company specializes in what's called tandem jumping, where customers are literally strapped to an instructor as they hurtle out the door of the aircraft.
What's more, they're 15,000 feet above sea level when they take the plunge. Considering that the area is a couple of hundred feet above sea level, that's maybe 13,000 feet above the ground. Two miles up … and they jump.
"Most people are anxious when they come in here," Buckner began. "They're a little bit frightened, which is, I guess, part of the fun. It's the same reason people go to scary movies. We try to instill confidence in what we're doing—our staff, the training, the equipment.
"This is what we do as a profession. It's not something we take light-heartedly. It's something we take very, very seriously. We've never had a tandem or student fatality in 17 years out here."
Incredibly, Buckner says that it's rare for someone to back out once they've made the commitment to jump. One of the only ones Buckner could remember was ready to rock and roll and do this thing, gung-ho and macho. You know the type.
Once the plane left the runway, however, Rambo got cold feet.
"Every thousand feet we climbed in that airplane, he got more and more scared," Bucker remembered. "We were strapped up, ready to go. We were [supposed to be] third out of the airplane, and when that first one disappeared out the door, he proceeded to yell and scream, 'No way … no blankin' way!!!' He did not jump. He changed his mind."
So what, exactly, is the allure of leaping out of a perfectly good airplane? Buckner begins to answer the question, but what he says isn't exactly comforting.
"There's no perfect airplane," he joked.
Then, he turns very nearly poetic.
"It's truly flying," Bucker continued. "It's a feeling of exhilaration that's hard to describe. … From that altitude, you can see as far as the eye can see. You can see all the way through the Las Vegas Valley.
"Going the other direction, you have a bird's-eye shot of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Colorado River runs right through here. It's a spectacular sight. It's really beautiful. It's a view you don't get many other places."
After egress, there's a free-fall of 45 to 60 seconds before the parachute opens. In all, it's five to eight minutes to the ground. Amazing, simply amazing.
"Tandem skydiving is the way to go, especially for people who aren't quite sure about it," Buckner concluded. "It has opened skydiving up to people that never, ever would've considered skydiving before because they don't have to do it on their own.
"People should realize something, too. If you're not scared, something's wrong. It's perfectly normal to come in and be nervous. Upwards of 99 percent of the time, people say that they were scared up until they jumped out. Once they jumped out the door with the instructor, all the fear went away and they were skydiving."
Schumacher: Mercedes win unlikely in Bahrain (PA SportsTicker)
February 26, 2010
BARCELONA, SPAIN(AP) —Michael Schumacher says his Mercedes GP team is not likely to win Formula One’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Schumacher says the former Brawn GP team is “not perfectly in the position we would like to be, probably to be competing to win the first races straight away.”
The seven-time F1 champion spoke Friday at the Circuit de Catalunya after finishing seventh in a preseason testing session. He was more than one second off the best lap of pacesetter Nico Hulkenberg of Williams.
Schumacher says the team’s objective is “not to be far off” the leading teams, which are expected to be Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.
Nationwide rookie Scott looking to ride momentum (NASCAR.com)
February 26, 2010
Nationwide Series rookie Brian Scott was apologetic to a reporter, having been late for a scheduled interview. But he had good reason.
Scott suffered a broken bone in his right wrist during a crash in a Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan this past June, and he is undecided whether to have surgery after this weekend's Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2).
"Right now, we're just debating on whether or not I can have surgery after Vegas or I'll have to wait until the end of the year," Scott said. "There's a lot of discussion about what exactly is the procedure that we'd be going through and what the recovery time is."
Scott, 22, still doesn't know for sure, though he has been in constant contact with doctors.
"You're always cognizant of it, but for the most part, it doesn't really bother me or interfere with anything until after the race," Scott said. "Then it's normally pretty sore or in some pain."
The injury hasn't slowed him—he finished 10th last weekend at Auto Club Speedway. That's his best finish in nine career Nationwide races, and it could've been better. Scott was running sixth on the final restart, but he was a sitting duck when other cars on the lead lap pitted for tires.
Still, it was a solid showing for Scott, who qualified third and ran as high as second in the No. 11 Braun Racing Toyota. The week before he finished 19th at Daytona.
"I don't think a lot of people expected us to come out of the gate so well," said Scott, who is 11th in the point standings. "Actually, I'm not really sure what people expected out of our team. I definitely know that there were a lot of people who didn't expect us to be as good as we were. That's always a good feeling in racing when you open minds and shock the world."
Scott hopes he and crew chief Bill Wilburn will continue to be a surprise, though the expectations they set for themselves before the season haven't changed—yet.
"I firmly believe that we can be a consistent top-15 team right now, top-10 team," Scott said. "We showed that at California. But we don't want to adjust too quickly. We want to show that we belong in the top 10 before we believe that we're in a position to go for wins. It's just not about having a good run one week; it's about putting together consistent good runs."
Burton goes to Las Vegas, and ideally so, on a roll (NASCAR.com)
February 26, 2010
Jeff Burton is smiling again after a season of frowns a year ago.
The talk about the fate of Jeff Burton's career began to seep into racing conversations early last season and it picked up serious steam during the summer. It was the kind of talk that affixes itself to all athletes whose fortunes waver around that arbitrary point where they start being labeled as "aging."
And in the fall, after Burton had missed the Chase for the first time since 2005, his first full season with Richard Childress Racing, even Burton's most loyal fans had to be wondering.
It's just the way it goes.
Today, as the Sprint Cup teams prepare for Sunday's Shelby American at (3 p.m. ET on FOX), even Burton's most loyal fans have to be feeling a bit foolish because in conversations about his fate, he's being labeled a "championship contender."
The 2010 season is just two races old, but Burton is 2-for-2 in the impressive-starts column, looking fast enough to win at Daytona and again last weekend at Auto Club Speedway.
Burton sits fifth in points this week, and adding to the titillation factor is the fact he is heading to Las Vegas, where he has been a consistent top-10 finisher.
Burton, who will turn 43 in June, took a deep breath this week when asked about his early season mood and then said, "I'm a lot more confident today than I was last year."
Ah, yes, last year.
Heading into Las Vegas in 2009, Burton had settled into a Russian winter. He finished 28th at Daytona and then 32nd at Auto Club. He was 31st in points and dang wary when he stepped off the airplane in Vegas.
"I was concerned going into last year because I knew we had worked hard, but we didn't finish the previous year off strong," Burton said. "We did a tire test in January [2009], and we were pretty far off on speed. I was really sick and not feeling good and I kept saying that I am still fast when I'm sick, so it's not that. Then, it showed itself pretty quickly that we weren't very good."
Thus started the season of aging-laced conversations by onlookers and of concerned frowns by Burton.
"It's a lot of pressure for those who got off to a bad start," he said.
This winter? Well, it's off to a warm start because, as Russian playwright Anton Chekhov said, "People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."
The No. 31 RCR team seemed to embark on happier times at the end of the 2009 season. The team's engines appeared be cranking out more power during the final 10 or so races last year, and improvement continued in the offseason.
When the team arrived in Daytona for Speedweeks, it just seemed to be a lot more prepared, Burton said.
"We felt good about what happened in the fall, over the winter," Burton said. "Until you start racing, you don't know where you are honestly. You feel good about it. I had quite a bit of confidence coming in.
"But until everybody gets out here and they're going to give somebody a trophy, you don't really know where you stand. I expected to run well."
Burton should expect to run well again this weekend. Las Vegas is a Burton track.
His average finish in Cup races at Las Vegas is 9.8. That is his best average finish of the 24 tracks he has competed on since his first Cup race in 1993. Burton has two wins among his eight top-10s in 12 starts.
Both victories came when Burton was in a Roush Ford and before the track was rebanked, but he also has done well in an RCR Chevy on the new configuration. Last year, for example, one of his best runs came at Vegas when he finished third and led a season-high 61 laps.
"Las Vegas is a track I'm comfortable racing on," Burton said. "I think we have learned a lot from previous races that has helped us have good starting points every time we unload there. So, based on the data we gathered from last year's event and offseason preparation, I know we'll have a competitive Caterpillar Chevrolet."
And if he does, his casual winter mood will continue on for at least one more week.
"I've had good starts, and I've not had good starts," Burton said. "When you have a good start, it enables you to just relax a little bit."
Related: • • •
Sprint Cup Series Standings Pos.+/-DriverPointsBehind 1.+4Kevin Harvick331Leader2.+2Clint Bowyer312-193.—Greg Biffle304-274.-3Jamie McMurray302-295.+7Jeff Burton300-316.+5Mark Martin297-347.+1Matt Kenseth288-438.-2David Reutimann273-589.+11Joey Logano263-6810.—Carl Edwards262-6911.+11Kurt Busch254-7712.+23Jimmie Johnson253-78
Kahne taking time looking at 2011 options
February 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS (AP)—Kasey Kahne says he has no timetable for deciding where he will drive next season.
The free agent heads into Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a disappointing 33rd in points. His low standing is because he’s wrecked in the first two races of the year, ruining strong cars from Richard Petty Motorsports.
Kahne says even though his Ford was good at Daytona and California, it’s still not capable of running in the top three.
He says he’s going to want to see that RPM can keep pace with the top teams in NASCAR before deciding if he’ll re-sign with the race team. In the meantime, he’s got his eye on all the top teams in the garage.
NASCAR suspends crewman for failed drug test
February 26, 2010
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)—NASCAR has suspended a crewman from the NationwideSeries for violating the substance abuse policy.
Kenneth Luna is suspended indefinitely. He is a gasman and fuel runner forR3 Motorsports.
Luna is the second crewman suspended this season.
Edwards’ wife gives birth to girl
February 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS (AP)—Carl Edwards is finally a father.
Edwards’ wife gave birth to a girl on Wednesday, one full week after her due date. Anne Edwards was born in Columbia, Mo.
Edwards had been nervously awaiting the birth of his first child since the season opened earlier this month at Daytona. Wife Kate stayed in Missouri, and Edwards was prepared to miss the birth if it occurred on a race day.
Anne’s weekday birth means Edwards is in Las Vegas for Sunday’s NASCAR race.
