News for February 26th 2010
Drivers at Barber Motorsports talk about Day 2
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske): “It was a good day. We certainly found some good things. We went through a lot of things during the two days. Today, towards the end of the day, we focused on getting outright speed. You can see how tough the championship is going to be- There are so many good drivers and so many good cars and teams. I think it’s going to be a very exciting year. You’re going to have to really be on your game if you want to win.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske): ““It was a good test for Team Penske. We came here to get back in the groove and get our rhythm going again. We learned some things that will be useful for the race in St. Petersburg and for when we come back here to Barber. I am excited for the team, coming out on the top of the timing chart is great and I hope we do that all season.”
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske): “We had a real good couple of days testing. We found some set-up information that will be helpful in Brazil, St. Pete and for when we return here, to Barber. The test went very smooth. We were able to work through a long list of testing points. It is real nice to see the Team Penske cars 1-2-3 at the end of the test.” (more…)
Edited: February 26th, 2010
Teams working on their wings and spoilers at Talladega
Which team will win the Sprint Cup championship in the coming fall? It just might be the team that is best at multitasking during the current winter.
Teams right now today – the smart ones, at least – are not only working on conquering the challenges at hand, they are also grinding away on a challenge which will present itself early this spring. The challenge of making cars with blade spoilers go fast. (more…)
Edited: February 26th, 2010
Danica Patrick to Return to Indy Racing
Those hoping to see Danica Patrick driving a stock car better do it this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway or wait until late June.Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 Nationwide Series race will end the first phase of Patrick’s NASCAR tutorial before she focuses on her day job as an Izod IndyCar Series driver with Andretti Autosport, with whom she spent testing Wednesday and Thursday at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.
Edited: February 26th, 2010
It’s a Girl! For Carl Edwards
The long-awaited birth of baby Edwards finally has arrived. According to multiple posts on Facebook, Twitter and various NASCAR-related sites, Sprint Cup driver Carl and wife Kate Edwards are now the proud parents of their first baby, Annie.
The Edwards family anticipated Annie’s arrival as early as the week of the Daytona 500, in which Carl made preparations for another driver to take over should he be called to the hospital
Edited: February 26th, 2010
Power Fastest On Final Day Of Testing Barber Motorsports
Toe touches, squats and contortions that will be part of the Olympic women’s ice skating competition were part of the drill on pit lane at Barber Motorsports Park. There’s nothing unusual about that, really, except that it’s only been six months since Power suffered broken vertebrae during a multi-car incident in practice at Infineon Raceway.
(more…)
Edited: February 26th, 2010
Is Michael Waltrip Already Done?
When Michael Waltrip announced last fall that Martin Truex Jr. would take over for him behind the wheel of the Michael Waltrip Racing NAPA-sponsored full-time Sprint Cup Series entry, he also announced that he’d scale back his driving duties, opting to compete on a part-time basis as a driver in 2010. But has he already climbed out of the cockpit of a Cup car for good?
When Waltrip made the announcement to go part-time racing, the only races he specifically mentioned running were the Daytona 500 and the Budweiser Shootout, a non-points paying all-star-type event held at Daytona International Speedway a week prior to the 500. With those races now in the history books, Waltrip still doesn’t have definite plans to compete again in 2010. (more…)
Edited: February 26th, 2010
Patrick works Barber test into busy schedule
Danica Patrick speaks to attendees at Wednesday's luncheon at Barber Motorsports Park.
Don’t bring up the word “balance” to Danica Patrick.
“There’s no balance,” she said. “I work all the time.”
Indeed, Patrick’s schedule seems busier with each passing day, particularly now that she’s racing in both stock cars and Indy cars.
“A few years ago, I didn’t have a schedule like this at all,” she said. “I didn’t have nearly this many endorsements, outside of the car, or as many opportunities, really. And I do now.
“So I keep very busy, not only with the driving these days — because I’m going from 17 to 31 races this year, which is still short of a NASCAR schedule — but also with the other opportunities I have outside of the car, things that I work on: photoshoots and appearances and things like that. I definitely stay busy; I’ve been home for like a couple days in the last month. But it’s fun.”
Wednesday brought Patrick — who’s become the standard-bearer for open-wheel racing even as she dabbles in the NASCAR Nationwide Series — to Barber Motorsports Park for testing. Patrick and 22 others spent the day testing at the road course for the upcoming Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, scheduled to take place in April.
“It’s nice to be able to test at a track that we’re gonna race at,” she said. “That doesn’t happen all the time. A lot of times we go to Homestead and drive the road course on the oval there, and that’s kind of our ‘spring training’ for the season. It’s nice to be at a track that we will come back to, that actually means something.
“It’s a little cold, so what’s the deal with that? I thought Alabama was supposed to be warm.”
Gene Hallman, President of the Bruno Event Team and chief promoter of the Grand Prix at Barber, said Patrick’s involvement in the April race was crucial.
“When we signed our agreement to host a three-year event at Barber Motorsports Park, Danica did not have her contract at that point signed to extend for the next 3 years,” Hallman said. “And Danica, I don’t know if it’s proper to pray for these sort of things, but I prayed. … I don’t know if it’s debatable whether you can pray for you to sign your contract, but our prayers came true. Boy did they come true – and thank you, very much, for being with us at least 3 more years on this wonderful circuit.”
In less than 10 minutes on the podium, Patrick discussed everything from her busy schedule to the differences in open-wheel and stock-car racing. As much as anything else, she says she’s excited to be “somewhere we’re wanted.”
“We want to go places that we’re wanted, and we really felt wanted here,” she said. “So I appreciate everything you guys do. This morning I saw an ad already for the April race. I was happy to see that; I’m happy to see you guys trying to promote the event and sell tickets.
“I think that, amongst all of us in the team, we think this is going to be a big race. So it would be really nice if I could stand on that podium at the April event.”
Edited: February 26th, 2010
Dario Franchitti wads up his car at Barber Motorsports
- The No. 10 of Dario Franchitti is carried back to the paddock.
Dario Franchitti’s No. 10 is a twisted pile of metal this afternoon, suffering severe damage after the Ganassi driver drove off the course at Barber Motorsports Park.Franchitti drove through the grass on the big sweeping turn at the end of the backstretch and the car had to be hauled back to the paddock on a hook. Franchitti had only turned two laps when the wreck happened.
The damage to the car is severe enough that he’s likely done for the day.
Edited: February 26th, 2010
Raphael Matos wrecks at Barber Motorsports
Raphael Matos is the latest to go for a spin off the track. He wrecked the No. 2 Luczo Dragon/de Ferran car coming down the straightaway behind the Barber Motorsports Museum.
With just a coupe hours left in the session Matos is likely done for the day.
Wil Power continues to have the fastest time at 1:10:0307. But Takuma Sato in the No. 5 for KV Racing is a surprise in second.
Edited: February 26th, 2010
Marco Andretti hoping for a breakthrough year
Marco Andretti’s resume reads like that of a seasoned IndyCar Series veteran: 32 top-10 finishes, 18 top-fives and nearly $5 million in career earnings. Yet he will only turn 23 on the eve of the March 14 season opener in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is still waiting for that breakthrough year.
Edited: February 26th, 2010