Sunday, July 11, 2010
NASCAR: Reutimann scores a victory at Chicagoland
David Reutimann can now see his name in the winners column without an asterisk. Winning the Lifelock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway left Reutimann and his crew chief, Rodney Childers, speechless. It seems that the team is in complete agreement that this marks their first "real" victory since it came ended with the checkered flag waiving instead of a downpour of rain. To top it all off this win comes just 13 days before Ty Norris, General manager for MWR, was to announce the future of both driver and crew chief of the #00 car. The duo has been pretty consistent when compared to so many in the rest of the weekly 43 car field. I'd say that they've just secured themselves a spot on the team for some time to come.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Formula 1: Red Bull one-two on the grid at the British Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton salvaged fourth from a difficult weekend for McLaren as team-mate Jenson Button managed only 14th after struggling for rear grip.
"I think there's something wrong - the car was pretty much undriveable," the world champion told BBC Sport.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was fifth fastest, ahead of Renault's Robert Kubica and Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
Rubens Barrichello was eighth in the improved Williams, ahead of Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton will probably be happy with fourth after McLaren were forced on to the back foot when they had to abandon a major upgrade following problems in Friday practice.
The 'blown diffuser', which the team had hoped would enable them to challenge Red Bull for pure pace, caused instability in the car's handling and overheating of its rear bodywork.
But McLaren are continuing with a new front wing that was intended to work in tandem with the new exhaust and diffuser system.
Red Bull dominated as they were expected to do, and it was Alonso rather than McLaren who was their closest rival.
The Spanish double world champion's best lap was ruined by Schumacher's Mercedes holding him up but he played down the incident, saying it was unlikely he would have beaten either of the Red Bulls.
Vettel said:"We have a lot of races and then we come here and you do the first couple of laps and it's amazing - the combination of corners, the speed we reach here, it's a bit crazy, but it's so much fun.
"I really like this track and fortunately our car works well here. It was a tight session here. In Q2 I was not perfectly happy but I had two very strong laps."
But there may well be another controversy brewing between the two drivers who collided when disputing the lead in Turkey three races ago.
Red Bull came to Silverstone with a new front wing - but they only had two examples of it.
Vettel's was damaged when it fell off the car in morning practice - but it was the German who had it on his car in qualifying.
Team boss Christian Horner said: "We only had one wing after this morning's incident and sometimes I have to make difficult decisions, and based on final practice and championship positions it had to go to the left-hand side of the garage."
He said the performance difference between the two wings was "minimal".
Vettel said: "Fortunately we could continue with the same kind of wing and that was the key for this afternoon."
Webber said: "I think the team were happy with the result today."
Vettel added: "From the outside, it is often quite difficult to judge what is going on. We know what we are doing, I think.
"I don't think it is black and white answer on the wing but I was very happy I could continue with the same kind of wing."
Asked about his prospects of beating the Red Bulls in the race, Alonso said it was more likely that Spain would win the World Cup final against the Netherlands later that day.
NASCAR: Kurt Busch thinks switch to full time will help Danica
JOLIET, Ill. -- Kurt Busch believes Danica Patrick will be better equipped to compete in NASCAR once she makes a full-time switch to stock-car racing.
Busch, the 2004 champion in NASCAR's top series, said Patrick will have a hard time making the most of her talent in NASCAR without making a commitment to the sport.
"Right now, she's very limited because she's still committed to the IRL schedule," Busch said. "This is just a work in progress. We'll have to wait and see the final product when she decides what road she's going to go down."
Patrick, who will be racing in Friday night's Nationwide series race at Chicagoland Speedway, doesn't necessarily disagree.
"If you want to be really good at anything you have to obviously centralize your focus," she said. "But at this point in time, I have a tremendous amount to learn. Even if it was full-time, would it be going better? Maybe. But it wouldn't be some big, dramatic -- I don't think -- difference."
Patrick doesn't expect to deviate from her plan of racing part-time in NASCAR while also running a full IndyCar schedule anytime soon.
"We're going to do the schedule like this for this year and next year, and then we'll sort of assess where we're at and what we want to do in the future," Patrick said.
Patrick has struggled in her first four Nationwide races this season, finishing no better than 30th.
Busch said he expects Patrick to go full-time in NASCAR down the road, joking that such an announcement might be NASCAR's answer to the LeBron James free-agent free-for-all.
"She'll probably have a one-hour ESPN prime-time special when she wants to announce it," Busch said.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
Busch, the 2004 champion in NASCAR's top series, said Patrick will have a hard time making the most of her talent in NASCAR without making a commitment to the sport.
"Right now, she's very limited because she's still committed to the IRL schedule," Busch said. "This is just a work in progress. We'll have to wait and see the final product when she decides what road she's going to go down."
Patrick, who will be racing in Friday night's Nationwide series race at Chicagoland Speedway, doesn't necessarily disagree.
"If you want to be really good at anything you have to obviously centralize your focus," she said. "But at this point in time, I have a tremendous amount to learn. Even if it was full-time, would it be going better? Maybe. But it wouldn't be some big, dramatic -- I don't think -- difference."
Patrick doesn't expect to deviate from her plan of racing part-time in NASCAR while also running a full IndyCar schedule anytime soon.
"We're going to do the schedule like this for this year and next year, and then we'll sort of assess where we're at and what we want to do in the future," Patrick said.
Patrick has struggled in her first four Nationwide races this season, finishing no better than 30th.
Busch said he expects Patrick to go full-time in NASCAR down the road, joking that such an announcement might be NASCAR's answer to the LeBron James free-agent free-for-all.
"She'll probably have a one-hour ESPN prime-time special when she wants to announce it," Busch said.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
NASCAR: Sadler finished at RPM after 2010
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
JOLIET, Ill.—Elliott Sadler said Friday he has no plans to return to Richard Petty Motorsports after the 2010 season and is open to other options.
Sadler indicated he was not a part of RPM's plans going forward, saying he has "no future plans with this race team."
Sadler joins Kasey Kahne in his decision to leave RPM at the end of the season. Kahne will drive the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in 2012 after a year in a ride to be determined.
Sadler joined Evernham Motorsports for 14 races in 2006 after the firing of Jeremy Mayfield. Sadler has remained with the organization through a series of mergers and acquisitions that have installed George Gillett as majority owner and seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty as a partner in the operation.
Sadler signed a two-year contract extension in the spring of 2008. He has three Sprint Cup victories, the last coming in Fontana, Calif., in 2004. Sadler's best finish so far this season was 17th at Sonoma, though he was running consistently in the top 10 last Saturday at Daytona before a late-race wreck involving Sam Hornish Jr. and Kurt Busch took him out.
Sadler acknowledged the importance of running well for the remainder of the season, both from a personal and a team standpoint.
"We need to run good," said Sadler before qualifying for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. "I need to run good to further my career next year. They need to run good because they have great sponsors that they're trying to land and drivers that need to come back. Richard Petty needs to be a part of this sport, I think. So it benefits both of us for this car to run good the rest of this season."
Sadler is trying to win $1 million for the Racing for a Miracle program created by Stanley Tools, Ace Hardware and the Children's Miracle Network. If he wins Saturday's LifeLock.com 400 , his sponsor, Stanley Tools, will donate $1 million to the charity, on top of the $100,000 Stanley donated during a check presentation on Friday.
Saturday's race will be Sadler's first since being reunited with crew chief Todd Parrott, who made the pit calls for his last two wins, at Yates Racing, in 2004.
JOLIET, Ill.—Elliott Sadler said Friday he has no plans to return to Richard Petty Motorsports after the 2010 season and is open to other options.
Sadler indicated he was not a part of RPM's plans going forward, saying he has "no future plans with this race team."
Sadler joins Kasey Kahne in his decision to leave RPM at the end of the season. Kahne will drive the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in 2012 after a year in a ride to be determined.
Sadler joined Evernham Motorsports for 14 races in 2006 after the firing of Jeremy Mayfield. Sadler has remained with the organization through a series of mergers and acquisitions that have installed George Gillett as majority owner and seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty as a partner in the operation.
Sadler signed a two-year contract extension in the spring of 2008. He has three Sprint Cup victories, the last coming in Fontana, Calif., in 2004. Sadler's best finish so far this season was 17th at Sonoma, though he was running consistently in the top 10 last Saturday at Daytona before a late-race wreck involving Sam Hornish Jr. and Kurt Busch took him out.
Sadler acknowledged the importance of running well for the remainder of the season, both from a personal and a team standpoint.
"We need to run good," said Sadler before qualifying for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. "I need to run good to further my career next year. They need to run good because they have great sponsors that they're trying to land and drivers that need to come back. Richard Petty needs to be a part of this sport, I think. So it benefits both of us for this car to run good the rest of this season."
Sadler is trying to win $1 million for the Racing for a Miracle program created by Stanley Tools, Ace Hardware and the Children's Miracle Network. If he wins Saturday's LifeLock.com 400 , his sponsor, Stanley Tools, will donate $1 million to the charity, on top of the $100,000 Stanley donated during a check presentation on Friday.
Saturday's race will be Sadler's first since being reunited with crew chief Todd Parrott, who made the pit calls for his last two wins, at Yates Racing, in 2004.
Friday, July 9, 2010
NASCAR: G-W-C hands Kyle Busch the win
Once again NASCAR's need for entertainment value over real-life race finishes took the win out of Joey Logano's hands and dropped it right into the lap of Kyle Busch. Sorry Joey, maybe next week. Then again, if next week has another Green-White-Checkered finish I wouldn't give Joey a shot any time soon. Poor kid seems to have no luck when it comes to playing with NASCAR's new way to make a race more "exciting" at the end.
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