Bob Pockrass ‏@bobpockrass 1m
Martin Truex Jr. has a broken right wrist from Bristol accident but will race this weekend.

Earnhardt Ganassi set to announce new Cup driver for 2014



PUBLISHED Tuesday, Aug 27, 2013 at 12:57 pm EDT LAST UPDATED 3 hours and 58 minutes ago
Bob Pockrass Sporting News


Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will announce the driver that will replace Juan Pablo Montoya next season on Friday, and it appears that it will bring a new driver to the Sprint Cup Series.

EGR has scheduled a press conference for 2:35 p.m. Eastern Friday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway. EGR confirmed a few weeks ago that Montoya will not return to its No. 42 car next season.

With Sprint Cup Series practice set for 3 p.m. Friday at Atlanta, it would be surprising if a current Sprint Cup driver would be participating in a news conference so close to the start of practice.

That could be a sign that EGR will elevate Kyle Larson from the Nationwide Series to Cup.

Larson, a 21-year-old Nationwide rookie and a standout in sprint cars, is on loan to Turner Scott Motorsports this year while under contract with EGR.

In just his second year of stock-car racing, Larson is eighth in the Nationwide Series standings with six top-five finishes, including two at Bristol, two at Iowa, one at Michigan and one at Charlotte. He also won the truck race at Rockingham earlier this year.

While the common belief in NASCAR circles is that Larson will be the new driver, team owner Chip Ganassi is known to be unconventional, as he was when he brought Montoya from Formula One to NASCAR.

That experiment never produced the results they had hoped as Montoya, the 2000 Indy 500 winner, has just two Cup wins and made the Chase for the Sprint Cup only once in six seasons. Unless he wins the next two races, Montoya will miss the Chase again in 2013. He is 21st in the Cup standings.

I'm really surprised there's not a couple of more powerhouse teams in Nascar. Especially considering the over abundance of revenue that will be pouring into the sport over the next 11 years.

There's got to be some more Rick Hendrick and Gene Haas's out there, no?

There's certainly enough very good drivers out there to form some formidable stables in my estimation.


As far as Danica........she is hot.

Looks like Gene is the one pulling the strings this time around.

The Don is going to be on suicide watch with Burton out of a a ride.

I was thinking the same thing.

I'm declaring a victory without research.

This is not something to be suicidal about. It is sad for me personally as he one of the "younger" drivers that got me interested in Nascar almost 20 years ago. Was in the #99 for Roush when Carl Edwards was still learning to write with a pen and do cartwheels.

It has been 5 years since his last win. A few times been really close to grabbing the checkers the last couple years. Just not enough to cheating or talent or strategery to close the deal. He will now fade further back in the pack driving for a lesser team next season. I will have to go ahead and move on to have a new favorite driver.

As I had anticipated, Cole Whitt (and others) have officially replaced David Stremme at Swan Racing.

I had already wrote it and sent it to Bob Pockrass.

I'm not. But I had thought about that whole scenario back in July.

NASCAR to review Bowyer spin controversy at Richmond


LAST UPDATED 26 minutes and 27 seconds ago
Bob Pockrass Sporting News


NASCAR will review the events that led up to the controversial finish of the race Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.

It is typical procedure for NASCAR officials to review every race the following Monday or Tuesday, but this review will include a discussion on whether Michael Waltrip Racing’s Clint Bowyer spun intentionally to bring out the caution on lap 394 of the 400-lap event.

Bowyer’s spin set off a chain of events that allowed his MWR teammate Martin Truex Jr. to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

If the race had remained green, it was likely Ryan Newman would win the race to knock Truex out of wild-card contention while Jeff Gordon would have earned the final top-10 spot, leaving Joey Logano out of NASCAR’s championship hunt.

Instead, Logano made the top 10 and Truex earned the wild card while Newman and Gordon missed the Chase field.

While NASCAR didn’t penalize Bowyer at the time of the frenetic finish, Bowyer’s in-car audio as well as in-car cameras will make NASCAR take a second look.

NASCAR President Mike Helton, speaking to the Associated Press at the Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway, said NASCAR didn’t see anything that indicated the spin was on purpose.

“It's natural when everything was as close as it was between who was going to get in and not go in to scratch your heads and try to figure out and wonder why,” Helton told the AP.

“But we didn't see anything initially (Saturday) night that indicated that, but certainly we'll go back through all the video and everything to be sure, because we take the responsibility very serious to be sure that it's—that everybody has had a fair chance."

NASCAR could still issue penalties, but it would be unprecedented for it to adjust the Chase field and make any points penalties retroactive.

It is against NASCAR rules to intentionally bring out the caution. When NASCAR penalizes during a race, it often has a driver held in his pit box for at least a few laps.

Bowyer’s in-car audio has him being told: “Is your arm starting to hurt? I bet it’s hot in there. Itch it.”

Bowyer denied that he spun intentionally on the last lap.

“I think we had something going wrong,” Bowyer said, latter adding, “The 88 (of Dale Earnhardt Jr.) got up underneath of me. I had so much wheel (turned) by the time I got to the gas, he was underneath me. I spun out.”

Brian Vickers also pitted as the race went green for the final few laps, with AP reporting that when Vickers asked why he had to pit, spotter and team general manager Ty Norris told him afterward: “I'll see you after the race, Brian. I owe you a kiss."

BREAKING NEWS!!


Lee Spencer ‏@CandiceSpencer 38s
'@RyanNewman39 will have to change his handle. @RCRracing will announce Newman to drive for 31 team today. Presser scheduled for 2

I would love to see them have the balls to Suspend Bowyer and MWR for that crap. Kick Bowyer and Truex from the chase or dock them each 100 pts to basically eliminate them. Let Newman and Gordon get emergency entrance into the chase with 0 pts to start.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

Listening to CSFMB's Very Own Pete Pistone's morning show, the good ol' boys are all pissed off that Jeff Gordon wasn't placed in The Chase.

Wasn't there a point in that race where both Kahne and Junior mysteriously started losing spots.......or am I mis-remembering that? (i.e. to help Gordon)

I like the tomfoolery.

I could probably do without the ruling, to be honest.