July 2006 Archives

Looks like David Gilliland, the driver from Riverside who has raced his fair share at Irwindale Speedway, is considering driving for Robert Yates Racing in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series next year.
Robert Yates Racing is looking for a driver. Dale Jarrett is leaving RYR for Michael Waltrip's Toyota team. Elliott Sadler has asked to be released from his contract with RYR and is exploring his options.
Word has it that RYR wants Gilliland for one of its cars in 2007.
Gilliland, who has raced at Irwindale Speedway in the NASCAR Elite Division, Southwest Series and the Grand National Division, West Series, as well as at Perris Auto Speedway, has become a popular commodity ever since winning a Busch Series race at Kentucky Speedway earlier this year.
The 30-year-old Gilliland has a couple reported offers on the table. Apparently Richard Childress Racing would like to see him in one of its Busch Series cars as well.
Gilliland has reportedly said he will take his time and consider every offer before he makes a decision.
In the meantime, looks like one of Southern California's own Saturday night racers is knocking on the door of big time stock car racing.

Robert Yates Racing announced today that Elliott Sadler is free to look for another seat in NASCAR. That leaves two empty seats at the struggling Robert Yates Racing. And it makes Sadler the top driver available in a market that has a few teams looking for high-profile drivers for their cars. Toyota teams are still looking for drivers, but it is unlikely that Sadler will end up with a Toyota team. One report has Sadler going to Evernham Motorsports, but for that to happen, one of the Evernham Motorsports guys has to be on his way out.

It was probably only a matter of time, but Tony Stewart found a new enemy in New Hampshire: Ryan Newman.
The two were battling for position at New Hampshire on Sunday when Newman slid up the track and took Stewart out of the race.
Newman contends he had the faster car and Stewart should have given room to pass.
Stewart said Newman has to learn how to share the race track before any driver should be willing to give up anything to him.
So much for the Matt Kenseth vs. Jeff Gordon rematch.

Matt Kenseth's week isn't going well at all. After getting spun out at Chicagoland by Jeff Gordon, and getting knocked from first to 21st, Kenseth got hit by a student driver will going from the airport in Indianapolis to the motor speedway for Monday's test session.
Kenseth said at first he thought it was Greg Biffle, who apparently has a reputation of tapping cars at airports, but it turned out to be a student driver and an instructor.
After Kenseth got that mess straightened out, he went to the speedway. He said he didn't like the first car he tested. Then took out a second car and almost immediately crashed that one.
To end his day, Kenseth got to field questions from the media about his run-in with Gordon at the Chicagoland race.
Doesn't sound like a very fun two days.

Looks like Juan Pablo Montoya and Danica Patrick were the topics of conversation at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday. Mark Martin. Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne were at Indy testing for next month's Brickyard 400. They were all excited to see Montoya want to make the jump from Formula One to NASCAR. What else are they going to say? There's no room in NASCAR for snobby Formula One has-beens? At least Martin had some humorous comments about Montoya's move.
There is specualtion that Patrick will be next to leave the IRL for NASCAR. If she makes the jump, it looks like she won't be received with such enthusiasm. Martin and Kahne said she would draw fans. But it doesn't sound like either of them thinks she would be much of a threat in NASCAR. Kind of like her career in IRL.

As far as I can tell, no driver wants to see any changes made to the Chase. Even Jeff Gordon.
And he's the one who should feel cheated the most by the Chase.

NASCAR loves Dick Cheney.
Steve Spurrier loves Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Don't know where to go from here. I don't have much love for either Cheney or Spurrier. But they were both seen at the Pepsi 400 and expressed their devotion to stock cars.
I have to think Cheney was stumping for votes and got bored waiting for the space shuttle to take off.
Actually, the Pepsi 400 was a scheduled stop in between his time spent waiting for the space shuttle to take off.
And he was still pimping for votes at Daytona. Can't imagine his love for NASCAR was very sincere, but nice of him to show up.
Spurrier's motives appear more genuine. But I suspect it was too hot in Florida to play golf, so he decided to go to the race instead. For the record, the Associated Press reported Spurrier was a Tony Stewart fan, but switched allegiances when he found out Dale Jr. was a South Carolina Gamecocks fan.
I think it has more to do with the fact that Joe Gibbs, who used to be the owner of Stewart's Cup team, is now the coach of the NFL's Washington Redskins, everyone's favorite to win the NFC East and the same team Spurrier coached into NFC oblivion.
Coincidence? I think not.

Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel had a great stat in his Pepsi 400 coveage.
For those who read his stuff, this blog is not sponsored by Pepsi either, but the Pepsi 400 is what it is even if it was the Firecracker 400, which unceremoniously has now become a term to describe a countdown of tired songs on KRTH over the Fourth of July weekend.
But I digress.
Bianchi made reference to NASCAR telecasts and compared the ratings between a rained out NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and an NBA game between the Lakers and Kobe Bryant and the Cavaliers and LeBron James. The rain-delayed race turned in a 3.7 rating while Kobe and LeBron got a 1.7 nationally.
How healthy is the NBA again? I keep reading how great a season it was. Was it on the OLN like the NHL?
Bottom line, NASCAR is fun to watch on TV. Kobe is not.

Tony Stewart said after winning the Pepsi 400 on Saturday night at Daytona that he is done climbing fences.
Thank God.
The whole fence climbing thing was getting old after Helio Castroneves started doing it.
Maybe the rest of the drivers in the world will take a cue from Stewart.
To be honest, it was a little surprising seeing Stewart jump out of his car and start climbing the fence at Daytona. Looks like his broken shoulder is doing all right.
Let's hope he keeps his word and keeps the celebrations to burnouts and donuts from now on.