Daily NASCAR

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Formula One

When the announcement came this summer that Austin, Texas, was going to host a Formula One race in 2012 there was a collective “whaaaaaat?” from the racing world. No one was more shocked than the promoter of the last U.S. Grand Prix, Joie Chitwood.

“I was as surprised as anyone,” Chitwood (pictured right) told FanHouse.com. “Everything I had heard was that it would be somewhere on the East Coast or the West Coast in some waterfront location.

“Austin is about the same size and scope as Indianapolis and there’s not even a facility built. It’s still hard to believe, and to be honest, I’m not even sure it’s really going to happen.”

Chitwood, now president of Daytona International Speedway, oversaw the USGP from 2000-2007 as Indianapolis Motor Speedway President. And he isn’t alone in his doubts about the project, even as the state of Texas has already agreed to a controversial, $25 million-a-year, kick-in for the race’s 10-year contract to help fund and sustain the event.

If a Formula One grand prix didn’t work in America’s greatest racing town Indianapolis — or in a dozen other previous locales — how’s it going to play out in a city there’s never even hosted a major auto race?

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Kevin Harvick, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Richard Childress Racing, NASCAR

It’s been a big week for Kevin Harvick; actually, a big year.

Months removed from what looked like a certain parting with a struggling 2009 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) organization, “Happy” Harvick has both himself and RCR comfortably atop the Sprint Cup championship standings.

On Sunday he won his third race of the season and became the first driver to lock into NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship playoffs. On Tuesday, he and RCR welcomed a prized, major sponsor for 2011, Budweiser.

So what changed in the last 10 months?

“It would be easier to tell you what didn’t change, to be honest with you,” Harvick said Tuesday.

“I think everything (changed) from top to bottom. All the things we had here, we’re just using them correctly and more often.

“It’s still the same people; just working in a different direction.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Carl Edwards, NASCAR

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Smiling and cordial, Brad Keselowski met with reporters in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and Museum Friday and said he wasn’t too surprised that NASCAR penalized Carl Edwards and himself for rough driving in the Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Speedway last weekend.

In fact, he considers the drivers’ season-long probation a blessing in disguise.

“To me what that says is that NASCAR didn’t want me intentionally retaliating and wrecking Carl, which is great, now they’ve taken that away from me,” said Keselowski, noting that everyone would have expected him to escalate the season-long feud.

He said he and Edwards, who intentionally wrecked him out on the final lap of the race have not spoken since the Saturday night’s accident.

“If I thought it would be productive,” Keselowski said of his willingness to meet with Edwards and clear the air.

“But obviously, whatever talk we had at Bristol (Tenn.) earlier wasn’t productive.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR

There was a time not so long ago that NASCAR made its rules, set its format and prioritized its decisions for the garage, not the grandstands.

There was a time when the feedback from its drivers and owners counted at least as much as an anonymous and fickle group of survey respondents fancifully titled, “the fan council.”

There is change for the sake of progress. And change for the sake of change. And somewhere NASCAR’s best intentions have been derailed.

When NASCAR chairman Brian France met with reporters in Daytona Beach two weeks ago, he implied more changes were on the way — particularly for the Sprint Cup Series and its Chase for the Championship playoff.

One of the most exciting sports in the world feels this overwhelming need to manufacture excitement.

Is it possible NASCAR is trying too hard?

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Daytona Int’l Speedway, Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a nearly hour-long news conference Friday morning, NASCAR Chairman Brian France suggested, among other things, that major changes may be coming to the Sprint Cup Series’ Chase for the Championship.

France said he’s still happy with the 10-race format and re-setting the points for the final playoff push, but, “if there are some high impact changes we can make, we’re in a position to do that.”

He wouldn’t divulge what exactly is being considered.

“We like having a playoff moment when there’s a lot on the line in any one moment,” France said. “But you have to balance that with the body of the work.”

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