Michael Waltrip's Dropping The 56

Over a month after attempting to fix the finish of a race to clinch one of his car's Chase spot, then sponsor NAPA leaving over the controversy, and following weeks of blaming Twitter, Michael Waltrip has announced his team will be dropping the 56 car driven by Martin Truex, Jr. Despite being the only car not directly involved in the subterfuge, the 56 has suffered most of the punishment.
MWR was hit with double bad news on Monday, as Brian Vickers announced he will be sidelined once again with blood clots.
Read more at MRN Radio.

Massive Flip In American Le Mans Race In Virginia

With an hour to go in the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway, GTC Porsche driver Eduardo Cisneros was slammed into by a GT Porsche and sent into a tire barrier. His car was damaged not from hitting a concrete wall, but flipping on top of it, before comming to rest on top of a set of tires.
Cisneros is reportedly unhurt. The race can be seen Sunday evening on ESPN2.
Read more at Motorsports Talk.

ESPN and Turner Will Not Be Allowed To Go Home Early

After initial talks of ESPN and Turner handing over their final 2014 NASCAR season rights to NBC and Fox in August, the two tried again last week to dump off their unwanted coverage early. Which NASCAR again said no to.

“While we were humbled by the desire of NBC and FOX to start 12 months early, we now consider this matter closed and look forward to finishing our current agreement in 2014 with our great partners at FOX, Turner and ESPN.”

So, no, you will have to stay till the end of business like everyone else in the office.
Read more at Sports Business Daily.

GoDaddy Might Pull Sponsorship From Driver Who's Actually Won Something

Danica's first season started off with a Top 10, but she's been unspectacular since with an average finish around 25th. Her replacement in IndyCar, James Hinchcliffe, has won three races this year (Danica won only one her whole career), is 8th in points, and even won a popularity contest between he and his predecessor.. Well, an Andretti Autosport exec has said GoDaddy is looking to have a reduced role with the team, assuming they will have one at all.
Read more at Autoweek.

Peter Portante's Rain Dance At The 50th SCCA Runoffs

2013 Formula Continental Class Champion Peter Portante, of Plainville, Connecticut, had this remarkable pratice run in the rain during last weekend's SCCA Runoffs at Road America. His fellow champions:

• Formula Atlantic: Sedat Yelkin, Canfield, OH
• Formula 1000: Lawrence Loshak, Grafton, WI
• Formula Enterprises: Scott Rettich, Camden, OH
• Formula Vee: Michael Varacins, Burlington, WI
• Formula F: Tim Kautz, Geneva, IL
• Formula 500: James Weida, West Lafayette, IN
• Formula Mazda: Darryl Wills, Houston
• GT-1: Cliff Ebben, Appleton, WI
• GT-2: Andrew Aquilante, Chester Springs, PA
• GT-3: Rob Warkocki, Frankfort, IL
• GT-Lite: Chris Bovis, Lawrence, KS
• E Production: Greg Ira, Plantation, FL
• F Production: Mark Carpenter, Charlotte, NC
• H Production: Lawrence Loshak, Grafton, WI
• American Sedan: John Heinricy, Clarkston, MI
• Spec Miata: Jim Drago, Memphis, TN
• C Sports Racing: Lee Alexander, Las Vegas
• D Sports Racing: Chris Farrell, Salt Lake City
• Sports 2000: Mark Mercer, Aurora, CO
• Spec Racer Ford: Brian Schofield, Lakeland, FL
• Touring 1: Andrew Aquilante, Chester Springs, PA
• Touring 2: Andy Wolverton, Papillion, NE
• Touring 3: Chad Gilsinger, Marysville, OH
• Touring 4: Michael Scornavacchi, Matthews, NC
• B-Spec: Charlie James, Joplin, MO
• STU: Elivan Goulart, Shelton, CT
• STL: Rob Huffmaster, Clarkston, MI

Read more at NBC's Motorsports Talk.

Napa Know-How? More Like Napa No-More!

Well, if Michael Waltrip thought time would make the race-fixing scandal from Richmond go away, he got a rude awakening on Thursday. NAPA Auto Parts announced they would end their sponsorship at season's end, citing the incident at Richmond:

After thorough consideration, NAPA has made the difficult decision to end its sponsorship arrangement with Michael Waltrip Racing effective Dec. 31, 2013. NAPA believes in fair play and does not condone actions such as those that led to the penalties assessed by NASCAR. We remain supportive of the millions of NASCAR fans and will evaluate our future position in motor sports.

NAPA, along with 5 Hour Energy, both told the press they were reviewing their sponsorships last week, as Fox Sports reaffirmed they would keep Waltrip on staff. But with his longest relationship now ending, it'll be interesting to see if NAPA has set the bar for 5 Hour and Aaron's.
Read more at Motor Racing Network.

Montoya Headed Back To Open Wheels

Juan Pablo Montoya, the Colombian phenom whose NASCAR career hasn't turned out as spectacular as hoped, will return to IndyCars with Roger Penske next season. Despite winning the championship in his first Champ Car season, the Indy 500 in his first start, and seven Grands Prix, Montoya has only won two Cup races. Montoya's move to NASCAR also inspired numerous open-wheel veterans to hop over to stock cars, with only Sam Hornish continuing in Nationwide.
Read more at Motorsports Talk.

The SCCA Runoffs Begin This Week

The 50th edition of the SCCA National Championship Runoffs begins this week at Road America. The multi-class event features hundreds of club racers getting together to decide the national champion in their class. Practice and time trials have already gotten underway, with racing scheduled for Friday-Sunday.
For updates, go to SCCA.com, or watch the racing on SpeedcastTV.com.

Did Michael Waltrip Racing Fix A Race?

Saturday night was the last race before the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason. With ten laps to go, Ryan Newman was leading and holding on to the final Wild Card spot, Jeff Gordon was in the 10th and final regular spot, and MWR driver Martin Truex, Jr., was outside looking in. On that lap, Truex's teammate Clint Bowyer was told "39's [Newman] going to win the race," "Well, that sucks" the next lap, then "Is your arm starting to hurt? I bet it’s hot. Itch it." The next time in Turn 4, Bowyer spun and the caution came out. The field came to pit road for tires, and Newman was shuffled back to fifth. Then the third MWR car, Brian Vickers, was called to pit road surprisingly at the restart, with the crew telling him "You've got to pit this time. We need that 1 point." With Bowyer pitting a third unexplained time, the two teammates finished well behind in the field. That allowed Joey Logano to finish far enough ahead of Gordon to clinch the 10th spot. Had Gordon finished in the 10th spot, Logano would've clinched the second Wild Card and Truex would've been out; but with Logano ahead and Gordon inelligible, Truex was able to clinch the final spot. Both Gordon and Newman are out of the Chase.
The oddity of the spin, the radio communications, and a NASCAR.com reporter overhearing Michael Waltrip tell Truex "You've got awesome teammates" has fans and media asking if MWR fixed the results. NASCAR announced Sunday they are looking into evidence of tampering with the results. MWR has had issues in NASCAR before: in 2006, they were accused of stealing another team's sway bar, and in 2007 they were penalized for illegal fuel additives in Daytona 500 qualifying.
Read more at the Associated Press.

On pit road after the race: @mw55: "You've got awesome teammates" Truex: "yes, I know" #nascar
— Alan Cavanna (@CopaCavanna) September 8, 2013

ESPN Would Like Out Of The NASCAR Business - Like, Right Now

Last month, ESPN and Turner Sports told NASCAR they didn't want to renew their contracts, which end after the 2014 season, citing stale ratings and aging demographics. NBC bought up most of their Cup races, and they split the Nationwide races with Fox. Now Sports Business Journal reports ESPN and Turner have told NASCAR they don't want to wait until 2015: they want to get out at the end of this year. If the legal wrangling required goes through, it would be an unprecedented move by a network to leave a contract early, especially with five separate groups of sports broadcasters competing for content.
Looks like finishing 20th or worse in 20 out of 24 races killed off Danicamania pretty quick.
Read more at Sports Business Journal.
Image courtesy ESPNW.

Humpy Wheeler: Corporations Ruined NASCAR

H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler was one of NASCAR's pioneering promoters. Whether it was boxing matches, a shark in a tank eating whole chickens while being driven around the track, or full-fledged military battle reenactments, Humpy's pre-race promotions were landmarks in the racing world. Now retired, Humpy took to YouTube to address NASCAR's recent struggles.

"We're not getting all the best drivers, I hate to say that. But because they don't talk right, they don't look right, they don't dress right - they may not be corporately-inclined. And I hate that word. Corporations, to a certain extent, have put us into this and that is big controversy - me saying that. People will say 'They are the people that fed you. They are the people that sponsored Lowes Motor Speedway. All these companies made racing what it is today' - well it is to a certain extent. But what happened is they got some fancy people working for them that did not know what racing was all about. They tried to change it."

Besides the lack of a "working man's driver," Humpy pointed to the emphasis on points over wins, suggesting bigger bonuses for leaders and race winners. Humpy's comments come during declining ratings and attendance, including only 80,000 for a 240,000-capacity Brickyard 400 and both TNT and ESPN declining to renew their television deals.
Read more at WBTV.

AP: Juan Pablo Montoya Not Returning To Ganassi Next Season

The Associated Press is reporting Juan Pablo Montoya will not return to Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR Cup team in 2014. It would end an eight-year run which saw two wins and one postseason appearance, a disappointment for a driver who won the 1999 Champ Car championship in his first year, the 2000 Indy 500 in his first start, and the 2001 Italian Grand Prix in his first F1 season. He would win six more Grands Prix, including Monaco, before leaving for NASCAR in 2006.
Read more at Motorsports Talk.

Red Bull's Slow-Mo Pit Stop

Red Bull's Formula 1 team does an awesome job on the internet, with insider videos and cool stunts like driving a car at speed through the Lincoln Tunnel and running around the Circuit of the America's when it was still dirt. Now they've broken down their record pit stops in slow motion.

Tony Stewart Injured In Sprint Car Crash

3-Time Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart was hospitalized Monday night after a crash in a sprint car race at Southern Iowa Speedway. Stewart, who was leading the 30-lap feature race, required surgery on his broken right tibia and fibula. Stewart-Hass Racing was forced to cancel a test at Atlanta Motor Speedway Tuesday, and no replacement has been named for this weekend's race at Watkins Glen. Stewart's injury comes a week after flipping in a Sprint Car at Ohsweken Speedway in Canada, which Stewart told the media was blown out of proportion.
Read more at Motorsports Talk.

Is NASCAR's New TV Deal A Bad Sign?

Last week, NASCAR announced a new 10-year, $4.4B TV deal with NBC, taking over for ESPN and ending a 26-year relationship with Turner Sports. While it sounds like NASCAR ditched the other two, Sports Business Journal's John Ourand reports it's the other way around. Turner told NASCAR they wouldn't renew after suffering their worst ratings in three decades, and ESPN did the same citing sour ratings and an aging demographic. SBJ's report comes of a poorly attended Brickyard 400, which Autoweek reports was anywhere from 70,000 to 80,000 (260,000 attended the race in 2006). It also comes a month after a Sporting News report that 25% of seating has been removed from ISC-owned tracks.
Read more at Sports Business Journal and Autoweek. 

Brian France Almost Got It

NASCAR CEO Brian France recently spoke with the Indianapolis Star, and was asked about NASCAR's relationship with the IRL:

Q: Is IndyCar a friend or foe to NASCAR?
A: We consider it a friend. We can’t win when other people lose. We would prefer to see a healthy IndyCar Series. I know we’ll help them significantly by moving to NBC and the NBC Sports Network. We’ll give a lot of visibility to that network and that in turn will be good for them. Our hope is that they will get stronger because we run at a number of the same venues and if they can contribute to those venues that need all kinds of capital and improvements, (that) would be a win for us.

Excellent point. That's the kind of talk from someone who understands how your league can benefit by building up the sport and...oh, wait...

Q: Are you willing to pair a Sprint Cup or Nationwide Series race with an IndyCar race at the same track on the same weekend?
A: No. Nationwide is significantly ahead of the Indy Racing League in terms of its television ratings and attendance and everything else with the exception, obviously, of the Indy 500. We wouldn’t want to mix that. They have to stand on their own, and we have to stand on our own.

There's a reason nepotism doesn't always work.
Read more at IndyStar.com.

Fox Sports Tape Delays NASCAR Race Without Warning

On Wednesday night, NASCAR ran it's first national tour race on a dirt track since 1970, with the Truck Series Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway. It was a memorable event that a lot of NASCAR fans were hoping to share on social media - until those who logged onto Twitter saw the results of a race they were watching on TV. Fox's Speed Channel, soon to become Fox Sports 1 next month, had chosen to tape delay their coverage without informing fans.
The decision came within a week of NASCAR announcing they would no longer allow aerial cameras such as CamCat, the system Fox was using until one of its cables broke at the World 600, causing damage to cars (including leader Kyle Busch) and injuring 10 fans.

NHRA Driver Courtney Force Makes ESPN Mag's Body Issue

Courtney Force, daughter of legendary 15-time Funny Car champ John Force, posed for ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue, where sports stars pose nude (with strategically place objects, of course). Courtney is in her second season in Funny Cars, with four event wins and last year's Rookie Of The Year title. And yes, John's OK with it (he actually had photos of his scarred body published in 2011).
Of course, Danica Patrick's posed for magazines and Go Daddy commercials for years, but has been criticized for the perception she's a marketing tool while her results aren't so spectacular. Which is a point brought up by SiriusXM and MRN Radio's Pete Pistone:

So Danica Patrick gets bashed for this kind of stuff but Courtney Force gets a pass? Seems hypocritical pic.twitter.com/Ju3ka1E1Zz #NASCAR
— Pete Pistone (@PPistone) July 11, 2013

Which is actually a good question: Is it unfair to criticize Danica for photo-shoots and not Courtney, or does Courtney deserve a pass because of her on-track success?

Kyle Petty: Danica "Not A Racecar Driver"

After Danica was listed 91st on the Forbes' Celebrity 100 list (the only NASCAR driver), NASCAR on TNT analyst Kyle Petty took her to task, saying she was not a racecar driver:

“I’ve said it from the very beginning; she’s just a marketing machine...She can go fast, and I’ve seen her go fast. She drives the wheels off it when she goes fast. She’s not a racecar driver. There’s a difference. ‘The King’ [Richard Petty] always had that stupid saying, but it’s true, ‘Lots of drivers can drive fast, but very few drivers can race.’ ... I think she’s come a long way, but she’s still not a racecar driver. And I don’t think she’s ever going to be a race car driver. Because I think it’s too late to learn.’’ 

Danica's average finish so far in her rookie year is 25th.
Read more at Motor Racing Network Online.