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: Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, NASCAR

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Soaked in champagne and still grinning from ear to ear, NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi was walking over to a Corvette convertible for his second victory lap around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the last two months when Tony Stewart stopped him in his tracks.

They shook hands, shared a laugh and Stewart, NASCAR’s only owner-driver, patted Ganassi on the back, offering his congratulations.

“That was a moment between car owners,” Sunday’s fifth-place finisher Stewart said with a smile and a nod. “Can I appreciate what he’s done here? Oh yeah.”

What he’s done is make history as the first team owner in auto racing history to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 at Indy in the same season. But it came with a twist.

One of Ganassi’s drivers, Juan Pablo Montoya, dominated practice, qualifying and most of the early race until crashing with 15 laps to go Sunday while his other driver, Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray beat Kevin Harvick on the ensuing re-start, held the off the field for 11 laps and ultimately delivered the triumph to Ganassi instead.

In all, Ganassi drivers led a race-best 102 of the event’s 160 laps, but McMurray’s 16 laps out front (including five earlier in the day) is the second fewest ever for a winner. Not that it matters.

“To win all those (races) in one year is remarkable,” Harvick said of Ganassi’s organization. “It will probably never happen again.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — NASCAR Chairman Brian France confirmed the sport is moving toward higher technology, is weeks from announcing “impactful changes” for the 2011 Sprint Cup schedule and is still considering changes to the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship that would make “winning at a given moment more important than it is today.”

France addressed a group of the media in an impromptu news conference trackside at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, less than an hour before Sunday’s Brickyard 400 green flag.

He had just spent the previous hour meeting with Speedway Motorsports Inc. Chairman Bruton Smith inside the NASCAR corporate trailer nearby, where Smith said they discussed “many things.”

Smith, however, was coy about any progress that might have been made toward his company receiving a Sprint Cup date for Kentucky Speedway or a second race for Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011.

He also said his company would be making an announcement next week, but declined to give any details.

“It’s not complicated for us,” Smith said, standing alongside his son, Charlotte Motor Speedway President Marcus Smith. “It’s strictly NASCAR’s decision (about the 2011 schedule) and we work with them and are cooperative. Our relationship has never been better than it is now.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Juan Pablo Montoya, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, NASCAR

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — It was of little surprise that Juan Pablo Montoya won the pole position for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This is one of the two biggest events on the NASCAR schedule and when the stakes are highest, Montoya’s team owner, Chip Ganassi, brings the A-game.

A victory by Montoya or his teammate, Jamie McMurray, on Sunday, accompanying Ganassi team wins in the Daytona 500 (McMurray) and the Indianapolis 500 (Dario Franchitti) earlier this year, would give Ganassi one of racing’s most rare and impressive trifectas.

He already is the first owner to win the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 in the same season. No team owner has ever won both the NASCAR and IndyCar races at Indianapolis.

“I wish I could put my finger on it,” Ganassi said this week. “Our drivers get up for big events, they seem to like those places.

“So many times you have drivers who are good a particular type of track. Fortunately, our guys are good at the tracks that have the big races. Believe me, that’s a big help, and it’s no small thing.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Juan Pablo Montoya, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, NASCAR

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — It was of little surprise that Juan Pablo Montoya won the pole position for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This is one of the two biggest events on the NASCAR schedule and when the stakes are highest, Montoya’s team owner, Chip Ganassi, brings the A-game.

A victory by Montoya or his teammate, Jamie McMurray, on Sunday, accompanying Ganassi team wins in the Daytona 500 (McMurray) and the Indianapolis 500 (Dario Franchitti) earlier this year, would give Ganassi one of racing’s most rare and impressive trifectas.

He already is the first owner to win the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 in the same season. No team owner has ever won both the NASCAR and IndyCar races at Indianapolis.

“I wish I could put my finger on it,” Ganassi said this week. “Our drivers get up for big events, they seem to like those places.

“So many times you have drivers who are good a particular type of track. Fortunately, our guys are good at the tracks that have the big races. Believe me, that’s a big help, and it’s no small thing.”

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