Rain forces revision in Talladega schedule

Rain on Thursday at Talladega Superspeedway forced the cancelation of two scheduled practices for the Nationwide Series and a revision of the Friday schedule in preparation for the Aaron's 312.

The 45- and 50-minute sessions erased Thursday will be combined into one 1-hour, 35-minute practice beginning at 12:10 p.m. ET Friday. Nationwide qualifying, originally scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET Friday, has been canceled, with the lineup being set per the rule book. This is only the second time in 21 races at Talladega that qualifying has been canceled.

With no practice prior to the cancelation of time trials, the lineup will be set starting with 2012 owners' points, putting Elliott Sadler (pole position) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the front row. Blake Koch is the only driver who will not make the 43-car field.

* Talladega: Race Lineup | * Nationwide Series: Owner Standings | Driver Standings

The Aaron's 312 is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. ET Saturday.

Friday's Sprint Cup Series events will not be affected by the Nationwide revision. Cup cars are scheduled to be on the track for a 45-minute opening practice at 2 p.m. ET, with a 60-minute Happy Hour session set for 3:30 p.m. ET.

Cup qualifying is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET Saturday with race coverage of the Aaron's 499 beginning at 1 p.m. ET Sunday.

?Racing Resources and Services -- Statistics ?Racing Recall? contributed to this report.

View the original article here

No. 01 hauler catches fire at race shop

GAFFNEY, S.C. -- JD Motorsports, owner of the No. 01 Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series, suffered a total loss to its hauler on Sunday evening when it caught fire at their race shop.

There were no injuries and the tractor was detached and pulled away before suffering any damages. However, their hauler loaded with equipment, some uniforms, back-up parts, engines, shocks and springs for its operation was a total loss.

The only good part was the primary and backup No. 01 Chevrolets for this weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway were not on the hauler. The race shop itself didn't suffer any damage, as well.

"The fire department told me the fire started near the refrigerator on the hauler," team owner Johnny Davis said. "That's powered by propane, like everyone else's is on these haulers. It started around 7 p.m. ET and we were able to detach the tractor before anything happened to it and get that out of the way.

"The hauler itself is a total loss; almost everything on there is burnt beyond use. Luckily, the fine folks at Robby Benton Racing stepped up and will let us use their hauler for this weekend's race. We were also fortunate enough to have Black's Tire help us out to get to race this weekend, too. On behalf of everyone on my team, we'd all like to thank them for their help.

"Our spirits are down here a little bit at JD Motorsports, we just didn't need something like this right now with all we're trying to do to go racing. Our spirits might be down, but not broken -- we're going to be racing at Talladega."

View the original article here

Victory Lane: Kurt Busch

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

In the Draft: Allgaier has two-wheeled adventure

Justin Allgaier and his team were frustrated by a tight-handlind car at Richmond, where he finished 15th. (Autostock) By Justin Allgaier, Special to NASCAR.COM
May 01, 2012 11:33 AM, EDT

Hey there! How's everyone doing? It has been a busy couple of weeks for me since I last checked in. Even with the off-weekend, I still have managed to stay occupied. Last weekend I had an absolute blast going to Road Atlanta with Arai, the folks who make my helmets, to check out the Big Kahuna AMA SuperBike Nationals. While I was there, I even got to hop on the back of one of the bikes with Jason Pridmore for a lap around the track. What an awesome experience! I think we got up close to 170 mph while we were going down that back straightaway. It makes you put a lot of trust in the guy doing the steering. Jason is a great rider and a good guy, so it was a lot of fun. I really appreciate him showing me the ropes. It kind of gave me the itch to start shopping for a motorcycle. Not too sure how Ashley feels about that though ...

* All Access: Allgaier rides motorcycles in Atlanta

Because Richmond is one of the closer race tracks we go to, I decided to drive our motor home to the track instead of flying with the team. I called Blake Koch and his wife, Shannon, and we decided to caravan north to Richmond. It really isn't a bad drive, and we were in no real hurry to get there, which was nice. Thursday morning, I had the awesome opportunity to visit Hanover High School to award one of its students with a night at the race track as a guest of Brandt. The kids participated in a contest on behalf of Nutrients for Life, an organization that joined Brandt on the car for the race, to design a car around the theme "Racing to Feed the World." A few hundred students submitted entries from all around the Richmond area, and I got to pick the winner, which was really cool. It's awesome to see the creativity these kids put into their submissions. The winner, a student named Hunter, was so excited when I announced his name in class that morning. He got to bring his entire family to hang out with the Brandt folks in their suite. He is a great kid, and his family was wonderful. Congratulations again, Hunter. It was great to meet you.

Unfortunately, our race did not turn out as we had hoped it would on Friday night. After qualifying, I felt very confident about our chances to get to get the team into Victory Lane. We just struggled with a tight-handling car all night. I was frustrated, I know [crew chief] Jimmy [Elledge] was frustrated, and the guys were frustrated. Jimmy kept making adjustments every time we came in, trying to get me turning better in the corners. It just seemed like everything we did helped for a few laps, but then the car would just get tight again. The good thing about a race like that though is they are the ones you usually learn the most from. Hopefully, we can do that, and it will help all of our Turner Motorsports teammates as well. The other good news is that we moved up two spots in the points standings, which was definitely encouraging. I want to keep that trend going for sure.

After Ashley and I got back from Richmond on Saturday afternoon, we decided to take it easy the rest of the weekend. I'm actually in Nashville with my team right now doing some testing before we head to Talladega for this weekend's race. I'm excited to get there and do some more superspeedway racing. I'm one of those guys who doesn't mind the two-car tandem, and I think it's something you will see, especially at the end. I certainly will be looking for my teammates out there in the draft and hope we can work together. You just never know what is going to happen at a track like Talladega, especially in the closing laps of the race. James Buescher proved that at Daytona in February.

I hope to see some of you guys at the race track this weekend. I will be taking part in the autograph session on Friday afternoon, so come on out and say hello. Until next time, take care everyone!

In the Draft with Justin Allgaier is a twice-monthly blog and the opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. Follow him and the No. 31 Brandt Racing team on Twitter: @J_Allgaier, @BrandtRacing or @No31TurnerNNS.

View the original article here

All Access with Justin Allgaier: Richmond

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Hamlin misses pit stall under caution

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

Hard hit ends Yeley's night

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here