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Richard Petty and Investors Take Control of RPM From George Gillett Jr.

November 29, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

FanHouse Newswireby FanHouse Newswire

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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Richard Petty will once again run his race team and participate in day-to-day operations as chairman of the new ownership group that was announced Monday.

The assets of Richard Petty Motorsports have been sold from George Gillett Jr. to an investment group that consists of Petty, Medallion Financial Corp. and DGP Investments.

“Today is a great day for me, my family, our fans and our wonderful sponsors,” Petty said in a statement that listed 10 partners that “have supported me through thick and thin and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.”

RPM will field cars for AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose in 2011.

The transfer of assets has been in the works for several weeks because of Gillett’s ongoing financial problems. Debt-laden English soccer club Liverpool recently was sold despite the objection of Gillett and business partner Tom Hicks. And a U.S. hedge fund is suing Gillett over what the firm says is more than $117 million in debt he racked up investing in Liverpool.

Richard Petty and Investors Take Control of RPM From George Gillett Jr. originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:39:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Marcos Ambrose Is NASCAR Crash King With 19 Incidents

November 28, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Bob Zellerby Bob Zeller

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Marcos Ambrose, NASCAR‘s Aussie driver, did not let a mid-season surge in futility by Elliott Sadler deter him from capturing the season ‘championship’ in yellow-flag crashes and spins.

Coming on strong during the final eight races with seven spins or crashes, including a final spin (at right) during the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Ambrose easily outdistanced the competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series to post a season-leading 19 incidents and win the title by two.

Sadler, meanwhile, found uncommon consistency in the final stretch, chalking up only a single yellow flag in an incident at Martinsville Speedway during the last eight races. That brought his season total to 15, a number easily surpassed not only by Ambrose, but by hard-luck Sam Hornish Jr., who reached the second-highest total of 17 after the misfortune of four more incidents in the final eight races, including two in the Martinsville race.

Kyle Busch and Joey Logano were tied for fourth in our exclusive FanHouse crash and spin roundup, with 14 incidents apiece.

Drivers involved in 13 spins or crashes in the 36-race schedule, or one every three races, were Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Juan Pablo Montoya.

In our tally, we count an incident on a driver’s tally if his car is listed as being involved in a spin or a crash that brings out a yellow flag. Caution periods caused by stalled cars, engine failures or debris do not count, unless a spin or crash was involved and a car number listed.

Marcos Ambrose Is NASCAR Crash King With 19 Incidents originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Not the Only Reason for Shakeup, Rick Hendrick Says

November 24, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Bob Zellerby Bob Zeller

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Although Dale Earnhardt Jr., winner of 18 career Sprint Cup races, has now stretched his winless streak at Hendrick Motorsports to 101 races, that’s only part of the reason for the massive shakeup announced Tuesday, team owner Rick Hendrick said Wednesday.

“This was not a Dale Earnhardt … this was not a move that we made — this major a move — because of Dale or his situation,” Hendrick said Wednesday in a teleconference. “I’m excited about making all four teams better. We need to be better across the board. It was a move to make all four better.”

It’s hard to think that a racing juggernaut like Hendrick Motorsports, with five straight Sprint Cup championships in the history books and gunning for six in a row next year, might be going downhill.

But Hendrick said as much Wednesday in describing why he shuffled the drivers and crew chiefs among three of his teams and switched driver partners in the twin pairing arrangement he has for the four teams at the organization’s sprawling Concord, N.C. complex.

“I think we just kind of got complacent and other teams were getting stronger and stronger, and we were just not where we needed to be,” Hendrick said. “We just were off this year. The 48 was off. And we needed to make a lot of things better.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Not the Only Reason for Shakeup, Rick Hendrick Says originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Spotter’s Stand: Carl Edwards Has Offseason Momentum in His Back Pocket

November 23, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Geoffrey Millerby Geoffrey Miller

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He may have won the two races that dole out the least amount of recognition of the entire season, but Carl Edwards doesn’t much care.

“For our team, to finish like this and to be on the upswing that we are, this is as good as it gets,” Edwards said after winning Sunday at Homestead, his second in a row.

Of course, Edwards was overshadowed by an incredibly dramatic championship fight that he watched from the outside looking in Sunday, largely in his rear-view mirror.

Jimmie Johnson overcame Denny Hamlin and held off Kevin Harvick to win the 2010 title, and proceeded to spin through a burnout as Edwards celebrated with his traditional backflip.

“I tell you, it’s a lot more frustrating to not be in victory lane and watching somebody out there doing their donuts and all that stuff,” Edwards said.

Spotter’s Stand: Carl Edwards Has Offseason Momentum in His Back Pocket originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:43:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon Part of Hendrick Crew Chief Swap

November 23, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Geoffrey Millerby Geoffrey Miller

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Hendrick Motorsports may have won its fifth-straight championship just last Sunday, but it took only a matter of days for the organization to make some of its biggest changes in years.

“This will improve us as an organization, across the board,” team owner Rick Hendrick (right) said Tuesday.

Save for champion Jimmie Johnson, each of the three other drivers in the Hendrick stable will have new crew chiefs for the 2011 season.

Steve Letarte, the crew chief on Jeff Gordon‘s No. 24 since the end of the 2005 season, will now oversee Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s No. 88 team. Meanwhile, Gordon will now have Alan Gustafson managing his team in Daytona.

Gustafson leaves the No. 5 team and driver Mark Martin, who will now have Lance McGrew in his ear for the 2011 season. McGrew has spent part of 2009 and all of 2010 as Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon Part of Hendrick Crew Chief Swap originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 18:16:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR Dynasty May Make Him Greatest Champion

November 21, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Holly Cainby Holly Cain

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson joined his team on the crowded stage, hurriedly set up on the Homestead-Miami Speedway front stretch and, with confetti flying in the air, raised NASCAR‘s crown jewel, the Sprint Cup Series championship trophy, for an unprecedented fifth consecutive time.

Only seven-time champions Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt have more hardware. And as the humble, low-key Californian hugged his wife, kissed his infant daughter, embraced his dad and gazed out into the crowd, Johnson was struck by something that helped him realize he had finally made it.

“There was a fan standing right up front with an ‘I Hate the 48′ T-shirt and he gave me the thumbs-up and said, ‘Congratulations,’ ” the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet recalled with a laugh. “I have people tell me they hate me, but they respect me and that’s always cool. If this takes it to the next level, then right on.”

So it is for the most dominant race car driver in NASCAR history. The more he wins, the more trophies he collects, the more people clamor for someone else to step up.

How about, instead, we honor this great accomplishment and appreciate the good fortune to be witnessing sports history.

Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR Dynasty May Make Him Greatest Champion originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:46:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Speeding Penalty Derails Kevin Harvick’s NASCAR Title Run

November 21, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Holly Cainby Holly Cain

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kevin Harvick and his team owner, Richard Childress, were diplomatic in the moments following Sunday’s Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Diplomatic, but not satisfied. Harvick was not happy.

Harvick, who entered the final race in third place in the championship — 46 points behind Denny Hamlin — had positioned himself to make a heroic, if unlikely run at his first title, dethroning four-time champ Jimmie Johnson and capitalizing on Hamlin’s Sunday afternoon of misfortune.

After racing near the front all day, Harvick exited the pits in first place for a restart on lap 188 of the 267-lap race — only to be penalized for speeding on pit road (right).

NASCAR said his No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet was too fast entering the pits and he was sent to rear of the lead-lap cars, dropping him back to 29th place. Harvick was understandably livid on the team radio when he received the news and still maintained after the race that he was directly behind a car — on its bumper — and therefore couldn’t have been speeding.

“I don’t think that penalty will ever settle in my stomach,” Harvick said in a post-race press conference. “When you read me off of my pit road times of 49.6, 49.4 50.8 and then 49.6; and there’s only a handful people that get to see them, I won’t ever settle for that.

“I don’t know how you can be speeding when you’re on the bumper in front of you and if the other guy is not speeding. So that’s about it. ”

Speeding Penalty Derails Kevin Harvick’s NASCAR Title Run originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 21 Nov 2010 18:22:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Denny Hamlin Already Looking Toward 2011

November 21, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Holly Cainby Holly Cain

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Only 25 laps into Sunday’s Ford 400 NASCAR season finale, Denny Hamlin realized his day was going to be long, and his hopes of holding off his two championship challengers diminished as the hot South Florida afternoon wore on.

When the green flag dropped, his 15-point championship lead over four-time defending Sprint Cup series champ Jimmie Johnson technically vanished, based on Hamlin’s 38th-place starting position compared to Johnson’s sixth.

Then on lap 25, Hamlin collided with Greg Biffle, sending Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota spinning on the infield grass — an omen for what would come. Tire problems, pit road miscommunication and then an ill-timed caution period late in the race spelled his ultimate doom. The 30-year-old driver finished 14th in the race and became the first driver in NASCAR’s seven-year Chase playoff format not to win the title when leading the championship with one race remaining.

“It’s tough, trust me, these years don’t come by too often in anyone’s career,” said Hamlin, who finished championship runner-up, 39 points behind the newly crowned five-time champion Johnson.

“I was privileged enough to be part of the closest championship in (Chase) history and give it my best effort, but it wasn’t enough today. Our car got banged up and we just couldn’t overcome it.”

Denny Hamlin Already Looking Toward 2011 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:53:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Jimmie Johnson Wins Fifth Straight NASCAR Title, Carl Edwards Wins Race

November 21, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Bob Zellerby Bob Zeller

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The Jimmie Johnson dynasty in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series stretched to half a decade at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday as the most dominant driver the sport has ever seen won his fifth straight championship with a second-place finish in the Ford 400 season finale.

As Carl Edwards motored to his second straight victory in as many weeks, leading 190 laps, Johnson fought back from early pit problems, settled into his regular routine and came on at the end to seal the title.

For Edwards, the two consecutive victories came after a 70-race winless streak.

“This is unreal,” Edwards said in victory lane. “It’s a great way to finish the season. I think the way we’re going, if we can start like that, our Aflac team will have a shot at them next year.

“To finish like this is unreal. It’s just these guys not giving up. We don’t give up. We’ve had just an unbelievable run toward the end of this season. It’s just a great way to end the season.”

The championship battle was a nail-biting contest whose complexion changed time and time again throughout the 267-lap event.

Jimmie Johnson Wins Fifth Straight NASCAR Title, Carl Edwards Wins Race originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 21 Nov 2010 15:42:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Join Us: Live Ford 400 Race Chat

November 21, 2010   Motorsports FanHouse   No comments

Geoffrey Millerby Geoffrey Miller

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Denny Hamlin Homestead Garage Area 2010NASCAR’s 36-race season culminates today at Homestead-Miami Speedway when Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick battle to take home the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

It’s bound to be a thrilling finish of NASCAR’s closest points battle in the Chase for the Championship era.

Join the FanHouse team as we keep you updated live on the race’s progress. Don’t miss out at 1 p.m./ET.

Join Us: Live Ford 400 Race Chat originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 21 Nov 2010 10:24:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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