Danica Patrick to team with Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Danica Patrick's NASCAR future could be linked up with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s, according to Sports Illustrated. SI.com quotes NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick as saying that Patrick is in discussions with Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports to run a series of NASCAR Nationwide Series and ARCA RE/MAX Series races for the team. JR Motorsports recently concluded a sponsorship arrangement with Patrick's longtime personal sponsor, GoDaddy.com. "We have no deal but she has spoke with Kelley Earnhardt [Dale Jr.'s sister, who handles that teams business affairs] about a limited number of NASCAR races in that car," Hendrick told SI.com. "I have had some conversation and Kelley Earnhardt has had some conversation with that, but Kelly is heading that up." Late last month, Patrick reportedly signed a new three-year contract with Andretti Green Racing to remain in the IndyCar Series, although neither she nor the team has yet confirmed that.
JRM exploring limited deal with Danica
By David Newton ESPN.com Archive CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The darling of the IndyCar Series and NASCAR's most popular driver could be joining forces in 2010.
Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, the president of JR Motorsports that is co-owned by Sprint Cup star Dale Earnhardt Jr., said on Monday she is exploring options that could put Danica Patrick in a limited number of Nationwide Series races next year.
"There is a natural fit at JRM with Dale Jr. and Danica both serving as spokespersons for GoDaddy.com," Elledge said. "As a female managing one of the top Nationwide Series teams in the sport, I would be excited to have Danica within the JR Motorsports fold if she decides to enter the world of NASCAR."
Rick Hendrick, who co-owns JR Motorsports with Earnhardt, told SI.com on Sunday about the potential deal. The owner of Hendrick Motorsports told the Web site that they are trying to work around Patrick's IndyCar schedule for a limited number of Nationwide and ARCA races.
It was reported two weeks ago that Patrick signed a three-year extension to remain in the IndyCar Series with Andretti Green Racing. Team officials said they were unable to comment at this time. Sources close to the situation said the official announcement will be made when the sponsor is ready.
Elledge said Patrick would split time with Earnhardt and several other drivers in the No. 5. Kelly Bires recently was signed to replace Brad Keselowski in the No. 88 car next season.
"Kelly bires will run 88 full time," Elledge said in a text. "So she will be part time in 2nd car."
GoDaddy.com, which sponsors Keselowski in the Nationwide Series this season, recently announced it would be the primary sponsor on Mark Martin's No. 5 Sprint Cup car next year.
Waltrip meets with Patrick on 2010
By David Newton ESPN.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Add Michael Waltrip Racing to the list of NASCAR suitors for IndyCar Series star Danica Patrick for 2010.
Team owner Michael Waltrip said on Tuesday he's met with Patrick and given her a tour of the team facility. He is willing to put her in a limited number of races in the Nationwide and Truck Series. "Whatever she wants," he said. "We've certainly talked to her and are interested in what she's going to do," Waltrip said. "We have sort of done that without a whole lot of people knowing. She knows we're interested when she knows what she's going to do."
“ She knows we're interested when she knows what she's going to do. ” -- Michael Waltrip, on Danica Patrick Waltrip doesn't believe the rivalry between Japanese car manufacturers will be a stumbling block. Patrick drives a Honda in the IndyCar Series; Waltrip's team fields Toyotas. "There's not a Honda over here [in NASCAR], so she's going to drive something besides that," he said. Waltrip's chief competition appears to be JR Motorsports, which has discussed fielding Patrick in a limited number of Nationwide and ARCA races next season.
JR Motorsports, which is co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick, may have one advantage in that it already has a relationship with GoDaddy.com. "There is a natural fit at JRM with Dale Jr. and Danica both serving as spokespersons for GoDaddy.com," JRM president Kelley Earnhardt Elledge said on Monday. "As a female managing one of the top Nationwide Series teams in the sport, I would be excited to have Danica within the JR Motorsports fold if she decides to enter the world of NASCAR."
Patrick would split time with Earnhardt and several other drivers in the No. 5 at JRM. Kelly Bires recently was signed to replace Brad Keselowski in the No. 88 that currently is sponsored by GoDaddy.com
GoDaddy.com recently announced it would be the primary sponsor of Mark Martin in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Sprint Cup car next season. Whatever direction Patrick takes, she will have to work it around her IndyCar schedule. It was reported two weeks ago that Patrick signed a three-year extension to remain with Andretti Green Racing. Team officials said they were unable to comment at this time. Sources close to the situation said the official announcement will be made when the sponsor is ready. But Patrick has made it clear she wants to pursue driving in NASCAR, so that if she decides to one day make the switch, she'll be ready. "I don't know where we stand," Waltrip said. "I've enjoyed talking with her and peeking inside her world a little bit. We welcome the opportunity. I'm not into who the frontrunner is. I just know we could offer her a real good program."
Tony Stewart has said Patrick will eventually make the jump from IndyCars to stock cars and that they have talked about making that transition. He said last month he does not expect Patrick to jump straight into the Sprint Cup Series. "You've got to learn," Stewart said. "You've got to get used to the heavier race car, less downforce, smaller tires. There's a lot of learning, a lot of race tracks you've got to get used to. It's sensory overload."
The year-old zMax Dragway located on the grounds of Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., was shaken to its core by the first four-wide Top Fuel and Funny Car exhibition races on Sunday as part of the NHRA's weekend event.
Top Fuel professionals Antron Brown, Morgan Lucas, Brandon Bernstein and Spencer Massey thundered down the track in one exhibition with Massey winning, while Mike Neff, John Force, Tim Wilkerson and Del Worsham took part in the Funny Car race. Neff crossed the line first in that one.
"I haven't had this much fun since I played high school football and we rushed the cheerleader showers," Force said in his typical blunt yet enthusiastic fashion.
The race was the highlight of the weekend, and the crowd ate up every run.
"You saw the fans on their feet before the cars even came out here, just waiting for it," NHRA president Tom Compton said. "One of our own workers said he had chills. It was fantastic. It was great to utilize what we have here. It's such a gorgeous place with four-lane capability. I was just as excited as anyone else."
No word yet on whether and when the NHRA will stage another four-wide show or if such a format will ever be used in actual points-paying competition.
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Bonhomme wins Red Bull Air Race Porto
Britain’s Paul Bonhomme won a thrilling Red Bull Air Race today in front of a record-breaking crowd of 720,000 in Porto to widen his lead to 4 points over defending champion Hannes Arch of Austria. Australian rookie Matt Hall took a sensational 3rd place, the first podium of his career, and jumped from 5th to 3rd in the overall championship.
Bonhomme stopped the clock in 1:09.23 on his final run through the 6.6-km course set up through 17 Air Gates on the Douro River under brilliant blue skies in the coastal Portuguese city to beat Arch by 0.94 seconds and Hall by 2.00 seconds. It was the second 2009 win for Bonhomme, who now has 55 championship points compared to 51 for Arch. Hall has 33 points and has overtaken both Nicolas Ivanoff of France and Mike Mangold of the United States on the strength of his stirring performance.
“Thank you Porto,” said a delighted Bonhomme upon hearing over the radio that he had won the tight battle. “It’s a beautiful city and we love it here,” he added. The British ace also became the first pilot to win more than one race this year but quickly warned the championship was far from over – he saw it slip out of his hands in the final race of 2007 and 2008. “I’ve been in this situation before. Four points is not a lot when there are 13 points available to the winner. It will be ‘all-guns-blazing’ for Barcelona.”
Arch had been leading this year’s championship until the fourth round in Budapest, when the Austrian failed to get on the podium for the first time in over a year with a disappointing fourth place. Arch came to Porto looking to grab the lead back from Bonhomme. He stumbled in Qualifying on Saturday in front of a crowd of 200,000, finishing ninth after hitting a pylon and had to watch Bonhomme win an extra point awarded to the fastest Qualifier. But Arch bounced back in style on Sunday despite the intense pressure, putting in one brilliant run after another to advance to a Final 4 showdown against Bonhomme, Hall and Hungary’s Peter Besenyei.
“After qualifying yesterday I nearly gave up and said ‘okay I have to fly cautious’,” said Arch. “But that doesn’t fit my style. I have to try to be the fastest. I’ll go to the final race in Barcelona with the same mindset: attacking and giving Paul a hard time. I think Paul is already feeling the pressure he’ll be under. The Barcelona track is better suited to my plane.”
Hall, a former RAAF fighter pilot, was thrilled to become the first rookie to win a spot on the podium after he had come so close in his first two races, taking 5th place in Abu Dhabi and San Diego. After slipping to 7th in both Windsor and Budapest, Hall was determined to focus on flying clean and eliminating errors and it showed on Sunday. “It’s something I didn’t expect,” he said. “People had been saying I’d get on the podium here. But to actually follow through and do it is amazing.”
Porto was a disappointing race for Americans Kirby Chambliss and Michael Goulian. Chambliss was forced to retire with engine problems despite posting the fastest time of the day in the Top 12 placing him 8th. Goulian, who won the first race of his career in Budapest last time out, fell to 9th place. Mangold, the 2007 champion having a remarkably consistent year, salvaged some U.S. pride by taking 5th place, which leaves him 4th overall.
Two other rookies had promising results in Porto. Matthias Dolderer of Germany took a solid sixth place and Japan’s Yoshi Muroya got 10th place after taking a career-high 4th in Qualifying on Saturday.
The 2009 Red Bull Air Race World Champion will be decided at the season finale in Barcelona, Spain on 3/4 October.
After several days of searing heat, the Georgian weather took a turn for the worse on Saturday. A cocktail of showers, storms and flooding caused the race to be interrupted shortly before the halfway point, with the N°08 Peugeot of Montagny and Sarrazin lapping ahead of the N°07 machine of Minassian and Lamy. In the end, the organisers chose not to send the cars back out, handing Peugeot its second one-two finish of the year following its triumph in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.
Not once in the past 11 years has the 10-hour Petit Le Mans endurance race unfolded and ended in such appalling conditions. Following the intense heat that marked qualifying, the heavens opened early on race day, prompting the warm-up session to be delayed, and the cars were forced to line up on the grid immediately after the handful of warm-up laps that were actually completed. This situation didn't make life easy for Peugeot which was unable to fine-tune its wet weather set-up prior to the start, especially since the 908 HDi FAP had never previously competed in such conditions.
The early part of the race soon saw the two French cars lose their lead and they were unable to match the pace of the Audis which took control of proceedings. The track then dried out a little on a couple of occasions in the course of the first hour, however, and that gave first Pedro Lamy and Nicolas Minassian in the N°07 car a chance to close to within a handful of seconds of McNish's pace-setting Audi. Meanwhile, the N°08 sister car of Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin – which had trailed the leaders by as much as two laps at one point – succeeded in making up ground thanks to a carefully thought through strategy.
The displays of the two 908 HDi FAPs under the seven safety cars and the return of dry conditions then enabled the two Peugeot crews to take the battle to the McNish/Capello Audi, which led to a thrilling scrap and some breathtaking passing. A further safety-car intervention, the return of torrential rain and a spin by McNish put the seal on the final positions when the race was red flagged for safety reasons after 4 hours and 48 minutes.
The teams remained in the starting blocks for almost four hours as they waited for the re-start, but in the end the organisers chose not to send the cars back out...
Bruno Famin "Following the delayed warm-up, we had just five laps to set up the cars, and we started the N°07 car in a predominantly wet weather set-up, with the N°08 running dry weather settings. Intermediate tyres are not permitted in the United States, so we had to make do with full wets before we were able to switch directly to slicks. When the track eventually dried out, both cars proved very quick and we were able to run a double-stint strategy thanks to the consistency and performance of our tyres. At the same time, we coped very well with the safety car periods to catch and ultimately pass the Audis."
Stephane Sarrazin "We started the race with a low downforce set-up which made my first stint very difficult indeed. However, as soon as we switched to slicks, we were able to revert to a qualifying pace. It's nice to win after finishing second so often!"
Franck Montagny "It's great to have won the mini Le Mans! It all feels very weird, but I think the organisers were right to stop the race, because the conditions really were dangerous. We had an excellent strategy and our car was very fast once we were able to run on slick tyres."
Olivier Quesnel "We came here with the aim of using this race as a work session, while at the same time endeavouring to win. The entire team functioned very well and our drivers didn't make a single mistake despite the awesome conditions. We really made a big effort to win today and we can now look back at a great record in 2009 thanks to our one-two at Le Mans, our win at Spa, our second place at Sebring and our performance here at Road Atlanta today. Not to mention the all-Peugeot podium on January's Rallye Monte-Carlo and the Drivers' and Manufacturers' titles we have just secured in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge thanks to subsidiary-run programmes."
Petit Le Mans – final positions 1, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 08 (Sarrazin/Montagny) 2, Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 07 (Minassian/Lamy), +2.011s 3, Audi (Capello/McNish), +3.465s 4, Audi (Luhr/Werner), +1 lap 5, Oreca (Panis/Dumas/Lapierre), +3 laps.
