NASCAR News 2006

[Unklescott]

Kenseth Inks Multi-year Deal To Remain At Roush
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/head...act/index.html
CONCORD, N.C. -- Roush Racing appears to have its Nextel Cup lineup set in stone for a long time.

The five-car team announced on Friday that Matt Kenseth had signed a long-term extension to remain with the team.

The deal was actually signed last fall, after Kenseth rallied to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was Kenseth's second consecutive Chase appearance.

Kenseth, 33, had a career-high 12 top-fives and 1,001 laps led as Roush Racing placed all five cars in the Chase. Despite the success, the team suffered through the defection of Kurt Busch, who left the team to drive for Penske Racing.

Shortly after Busch's departure, the team re-signed Kenseth.

"We did it awhile ago actually," Kenseth said this week at the Nextel Cup Media Tour. "I plan on being here as long as Jack will keep me, and as long as we're running good.

"It's been fun racing here, and there's really nowhere else I want to race. When you look at it, except for Kurt's deal -- and I don't really know much about it -- I can't imagine wanting to race somewhere else.

"When you look at the record of Roush last year, there are a lot of people that want to be here, and I am one of them. I don't want to be somewhere else."

Terms of Kenseth's deal were not disclosed.

[Google]

 

[Unklescott]

Mears helps Ganassi team win Rolex 24
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
January 29, 2006
05:25 PM EST (22:25 GMT)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Casey Mears and team owner Chip Ganassi celebrated at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday. They hope to be doing likewise in three weeks.

The team of Mears, Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon survived the Rolex 24 to give Ganassi a victory in America's most prestigious sports-car endurance event.

For Mears, the first driver to be part of a winning Rolex team while still racing full time in NASCAR, it was the biggest victory of his career.

"It's always been well known in racing that this is one of the biggest races around,'' said Mears, who would like nothing more than to get his first Nextel Cup victory in the Daytona 500. "It's a big honor to come here and represent NASCAR and win it.''

Mears joined reigning Indy Racing League champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Wheldon and former IRL champ Dixon for the first time and put together a solid effort on the way to victory Sunday.

"We got some quick changes during the night that the other guys couldn't do," Mears said. "We spent the least time in the pits and that's what won us the race."

Most of the biggest names in the star-studded field were far behind or out of the race at the finish.

The Pontiac Crawford shared by Rusty Wallace, IRL sensation Danica Patrick and former Formula One drivers Allan McNish and Jan Lammers got as high as third in the 10th hour before an overheating problem and a blown head gasket retired their Pontiac Crawford.

"We had a really good race car," said Steve Nelson, the team's crew chief. "Jan got out of the car and said man this car is really good. We were just trying to buy our time. We knew we had a problem and it stabilized for about three hours and we thought wed be all right."

Wallace, the retired veteran-turned-rookie, left open the possibility of competing in this event again.

"This is supposed to be my last race and probably will be," Wallace said. "I tell you what, having fun like this makes you want to come back a couple of times."

Reigning Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart, whose team was denied victory the last two years by mechanical problems late in the race, fell out of contention early this time.

Paired with three-time Rolex race winners Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger, Stewart's team had a series of mechanical problems and wound up far off the pace in 30th, 141 laps behind the winners. The two-time NASCAR champion took his scheduled driving stints throughout the race even though his ribs, injured in a sprint-car crash two weeks ago, were throbbing.

"I wish they were teeth so I could have them pulled," Stewart said, wincing as he watched the race from the pits. "The only time they don't hurt is when I'm in the race car.

"It's just too bad we had all those problems because this was a very fast car and Andy and Butch are great drivers. I think we would have had a shot at it."

Other Nextel Cup drivers to participate included Bobby Labonte, whose team finished 35th, Kyle Petty and Boris Said, who teamed together and finished 42nd, and former driver and current TV analyst Wally Dallenbach, who was on the 43rd-place team.

While his teams have struggled the last few years in NASCAR and the Indy Racing League, Ganassi's sports-car team has been prospering.

The IRL team has not won a race since Dixon won in 2003 on the way to an IRL championship. The NASCAR team's last victory was by Jamie McMurray near the end of the 2002 season.

But Ganassi, whose team won an unprecedented four consecutive championships from 1997 to 2000 in the CART series, started his sports-car team two years ago and gained quick success. Two years ago, Scott Pruett and Max Papis combined to win the Grand American Road Racing Daytona Prototype championship, grabbing four race victories. Last year, they won three times and finished second.

"This race is so difficult, so hard to win,'' added Dixon, who along with Wheldon will drive for Ganassi on the IRL circuit in 2006. "I can hardly believe we won it. But Chip gives us a great team and great equipment."

Avoiding major trouble was the key in this grueling twice-around-the-clock battle that saw seven different leaders, all of them among the 31 Daytona Prototypes that started at the front of the 66-car field at 12:10 p.m. ET Saturday.

Not even the winning car was immune to the mechanical problems that plagued many of the top teams.

"We had brake issues to start with, then a gearbox, then brakes again,'' Dixon said. "Then we had some engine belts fall off three or four times. Yeah, and we couldn't select some gears. I thought, eventually, it was going to knock us off the lead, but the team seemed to have an answer every time.''

The winning Lexus Riley covered 734 laps and 2,613.04 miles on Daytona International Speedway's 3.56-mile, 14-turn road circuit. That was good for a one-lap victory against the Lexus Riley of Champ Car teammates A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Wilson and Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson.

Dixon was in the winning car at the end. He was hit by race officials with a drive-through penalty for making unnecessary contact with the third-place car on a pass shortly after his last pit stop.

The 45 mph trip through the pits with 18 minutes to go did allow Allmendinger to cut one lap off the lead, but it was still not close at the end.

It appeared for a while Saturday night that the battle would come down to the two Ganassi entries. They were 1-2, with the Lexus Riley driven by road-racing specialists Pruett, Papis and Luis Diaz close behind the leaders at the halfway point.

That team also came back from an early mechanical problem that put them four laps behind, but they wound up sidelined early Sunday morning when a broken oil line blew their engine.

It was an amazingly close competition for a 24-hour event, with four cars separated by just four laps at the end.

The Porsche Fabcar of Darren Law, David Donohue -- son of the late Indy 500 winner Mark Donohue -- and Sascha Maassen was on its way to third place when a flat tire forced Law to drive nearly a full lap at slow speed. He was able to get the car to the pits for a tire change, but lost third place to the pole-winning Porsche Crawford of Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Patrick Long.

Third place was a great finish for a team that overcame two major problems. They came back from a broken axle and a nine-lap deficit in the early going to charge back into the lead in the early morning darkness and build a three-lap margin. But another broken axle in the 19th hour was the final blow.

Team owner Alex Job, whose teams have won their class at Daytona through the years but never won an overall victory, said, "We obviously had the fastest car in the race, but we didn't have the luck. I'm proud that our guys kept coming back."

That gave the lead back to the eventual winners, who came back themselves from a broken alternator belt that required a quick trip to the garage early Sunday morning and briefly left them three laps behind.

The Pontiac Riley of defending champions Max Angelelli, Wayne Taylor and Emmanuel Collard also challenged early, but left the race Saturday night when Collard was unable to avoid a spinning GT division car. Neither driver was injured, but the Riley was damaged too badly to continue.

The winner among the 400-horsepower GT entries was the Porsche GT3 Cup car driven by Randy Pobst, Michael Levitas, Ian Baas and Spencer Pumpelly, finishing ninth overall.
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/head....ap/index.html

[Unklescott]

I would love to see him picking up trash on the side of the road.

The Associated Press
February 8, 2006
04:11 PM EST (21:11 GMT)

PHOENIX -- Kurt Busch was ordered Wednesday to perform 50 hours of community service as part of a plea agreement over a reckless driving citation he received near Phoenix International Raceway.

His lawyer, Lee Stein, said his client admitted to speeding, a misdemeanor, and two civil citations: following too closely and passing in a no-passing zone. In exchange, the reckless driving charge was dropped. The community service must be completed within a year, Stein said. Busch also paid $580 in court fines.

Busch was stopped in suburban Tolleson in November after allegedly running a stop sign while speeding. A police report said the deputy smelled alcohol on Busch, and the driver became belligerent. A breath test showed Busch was far below the legal limit for DUI.

Busch said he was returning from dinner with his fiancee.

"You're only doing this because you're a Jeff Gordon fan," Busch was quoted as saying to the officer in a police report.

Busch later apologized for being "disrespectful."

The traffic stop came the night before the Checker Auto Parts 500 at the Phoenix track. As a result of his run-in, Busch was suspended from the final two NASCAR races of the season by his former team.
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/head....ap/index.html

[joeguy]

Originally Posted by Unklescott

I would love to see him picking up trash on the side of the road.

going out to buy newspapers all over town and start to tear them into little bits to spread in front of him so he has something to pick up.....

[veejer]

http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/head...ing/index.html

Knaus facing suspension after 48 fails inspection
Johnson, Terry Labonte have Daytona 500 qualifying times nixed
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
February 12, 2006
10:47 PM EST (03:47 GMT)


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Crew chief Chad Knaus faces possible suspension for altering the height of the rear window in driver Jimmie Johnson's car before Sunday's qualifying for the Daytona 500.

Johnson's qualifying speed that ranked fifth was disallowed, which will force him to start from the back in the first of Thursday's two Gatorade 150 qualifying races that set positions 3 through 43 in the 500.

Terry Labonte's car also had its qualifying run thrown out Sunday after the No. 96 Chevrolet failed inspection.

Labonte's car, with a Joe Gibbs Racing engine, was found to have illegal modifications to the carburetor. The two-time NASCAR champion is driving in the inaugural race for Hall of Fame Racing, the team owned by former NFL quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach.

"These were serious infractions," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said. "I don't think we would disallow the times if this was not serious."

The biggest penalty could come as early as Monday against Knaus, according to a NASCAR source.

According to the source, an instrument was placed inside the car that raised the rear window after it went through pre-qualifying inspection to provide an aerodynamic advantage.

The height difference was discovered during a post-qualifying inspection and considered a flagrant attempt to gain a competitive advantage.

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter classified the violation as serious and said additional penalties could follow. Johnson is not expected to be penalized.

Johnson's car was not impounded on Sunday night, but Hunter did not rule out the possibility that could happen Monday, meaning Johnson would have to go to his Hendrick Motorsports team's backup car for the qualifying race.

This is not the first time Knaus has been in hot water with NASCAR. He initially was suspended for two races and fined $35,000, Johnson was penalized 25 driver points and owner Rick Hendrick 25 owner points after it was determined the roof height was too low after last season's race at Las Vegas.

The suspension later was overruled, but the fine and points reductions were not.

The height of Johnson's car also was questioned last fall at Dover, after which NASCAR passed a rule outlawing the shock configuration the team had developed.

Hunter said past violations will not be a factor in considering further punishment. But Hunter left open the possibility of further penalties, including confiscation of the cars, suspension of the crew chiefs, monetary fines and maybe even a points deduction.

"Every situation is different,'' he said. "This is the first event of a new season. We want to start the season off with a very thorough inspection. As far as priors, this is judged on what happened in [Sunday's] qualifying procedure.

"In what happened in the past, we've dealt with those and issued penalties. But one thing we're concentrating on is making sure our guys stay within the framework of the rules.''

Hendrick and Knaus met with NASCAR officials early in the evening. Neither was available for comment after the infraction was announced.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Unklescott]

Knaus Ejected from 2006 Daytona 500 Activities UPDATE Hendrick Responds: NASCAR announced today that NASCAR Nextel Cup Series crew chief Chad Knaus has been ejected from any further participation in 2006 Daytona 500 activities as a result of a rules infraction discovered following pole qualifying runs Sunday. Knaus is the crew chief for the #48 Lowe's Chevy driven by Jimmie Johnson. NASCAR said the #48 car failed post-qualifying template inspection in the rear window area. The qualifying time posted by the #48 was disallowed and Johnson will have to start at the rear of the field in the first of two 150-mile qualifying races Thursday. The qualifying time of the #96 DLP Chevy driven by Terry Labonte was also disallowed. NASCAR officials said an unapproved carburetor was found on the 96 car. Labonte will also have to start from the rear of the field in Thursday’s qualifying races. Additional penalties for both cars will be determined following the Daytona 500.(NASCAR PR)(2-13-2006)
UPDATE: Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick today responded to NASCAR sanctions levied against crew chief Chad Knaus following Sunday's Daytona 500 post-qualifying inspection at Daytona International Speedway. "We understand NASCAR's position," Hendrick said. "Our expectations for the team remain high. It's a deep, championship-caliber group and they'll step up this weekend." Darian Grubb, lead engineer for the #24 and #48 Hendrick Motorsports teams, will immediately assume Knaus' at-track duties in preparation for the Feb. 19 Daytona 500. "It's obviously disappointing to miss the biggest race of the year, but I'm confident in Darian and the rest of my teammates," Knaus said. "There's been a lot of effort put into the Daytona 500 and I know the team will be successful with the support they'll receive from the entire organization."(Hendrick Motorsports PR)(2-13-2006) http://jayski.com/cupnews.htm#knaus

He's been caught enough over the past couple of years. It's about time they do something.

[misskitty]

Paul Tracey hit the wall a couple times and was sent skidding. Didn't place well AT ALL

[joeguy]

Originally Posted by Unklescott

He's been caught enough over the past couple of years. It's about time they do something.

yeah, but he is being caught by the guy who was known as the biggest cheater in nascar before he became the sheriff....Gary Nelson

[Unklescott]

How stupid can you be?

THIRD STRIKE - NASCAR officials confirmed Friday that former NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series driver Shane Hmiel failed a third drug test and has been banned from NASCAR for life.

Hmiel failed two prior tests in 2003 and ’05, and NASCAR officials said Friday that he failed a third within the past week, prompting his banishment.

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/22262/

[Unklescott]

Here's some more info on the above story.

Hmiel banned for life by NASCAR
Racing series USAC NASCAR
Date 2006-02-24

By Linda Przygodski - Motorsport.com

After failing a third substance abuse test, driver Shane Hmiel has been banned for life by the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. Hmiel was first suspended in 2003 for failing a random drug test; he completed a rehabilitation program and was reinstated in 2004.

But his sobriety didn't last long.

Last fall, at Dover, Hmiel was acting erratically, prompting NASCAR to subject him to a random drug test. The 26-year-old son of former crew chief Steve Hmiel was ejected from that race track and suspended after the test came back positive.

Hmiel was working towards a reinstatement in 2007 by following strict guidelines NASCAR had mandated he follow. They included rehab, psychological reviews and random drug tests.

It was during one of those tests that Hmiel's results came back positive, prompting the lifetime ban. The young driver had been running the USAC circuit attempting to revive his struggling racing career.

Hmiel made seven Nextel Cup starts, 83 Busch Series starts and 29 Craftsman Truck Series starts. Despite his promise, he has just one win which came at Las Vegas in the truck series.

Hmiel has long been rumored by garage insiders to have a 'crystal meth' habit - the most powerful form of illegal speed. It is known to cause depression, anxiety, delusions and psychosis with long term use.

Crystal Meth is a very pure, smokeable form of methamphetamine. It is an extremely addictive stimulant and causes excessive anger in its users. It was some of Hmiel's sketchy behavior and outbursts on the race track that raised red flags for people in the NASCAR garage.

After an incident on track last year at Bristol with Dale Jarrett, Hmiel gave a TV interview where he was slurring his speech, stepping on his words and highly erratic.
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=210659

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