Blogginisracin

Greetings from LVMS

It's a beautiful day here in Las Vegas. Lots of sun and warm temps. We're in between Sprint Cup practices on Saturday. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fastest in the first practice. Greg Biffle was second, Mark Martin was third and pole-sitter Kyle Busch had the fourth fastest speed. Next practice, Happy Hour practice, starts in 15 minutes. 

Friday was fun here at track. We spent the whole day in the Neon Garage where fans watch the teams work on the cars and take pics of the drivers. This year many of the drivers signed autographs through the bottom of the windows. I got autographs from Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, owner Jack Roush, David Reutimann, Joey Logano, Bobby Labonte and Robby Gordon. 

We heard on the radio on the way to the track today that several of the Toyota Cup drivers will have to start at the rear of the field Sunday because of an engine change. That means Brian Vickers will have start way back like last week at California. Pole-sitter Busch is starting at the back too, but because he had an engine problem during practice on Friday. 

That's all for now. Looking forward to the Nationwide Series race later today. 

-- Michele Vincze

Head out to TMS for some dirt track racing

Thinking about going out to the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track for this weekend's Texas World Dirt Track Championships? Go here for more info about the event and ticket prices. Go here for a cool video -- "Dirt Track Drivers Roar into North Texas" -- about dirt track racing and meet Troy Taylor of Fort Worth, one of the drivers competing this weekend. 

-- Michele Vincze

Media day comedy

Texas Motor Speedway had its media day this afternoon, with a good mix of drivers either in attendance or on the satellite feed from Florida. Now if you've never been to a media day of any kind, let me give you a glimpse of what they are: A lot of questions, sometimes with various degrees of repetition, a lot more answers and some comedic moments. I, of course, want to focus on the funny little moments through the day. So here are some snippets:

    Scott Dixon, speaking from Homestead, Fla., chatted about his post-Indianapolis 500 honors he received from his home country of New Zealand. His image was on a postage stamp there, but that was nothing compared to the "lamb for a year" he won:
    "It was a bit of a joke. I thought it was LAND for life, which I was pretty proud of that. But it was lamb so I was a little down. But I've definitely had plenty of it, especially when I went down to New Zealand. We also had some at the Watkins Glen race just after the 500; we had a few people come up and cater that. So I’m all lambed out right now."

    Texas native Colin Braun had a warm welcome from TMS president Eddie Gossage. Then Gossage asked about Braun's suspension for on-track incidents two years ago: "So the first thing you ask me about is being suspended," the youngster said with a laugh. "What a question to ask."

    Ryan Newman had a ball at Tony Stewart's expense while Stewart was in earshot of his on-stage interview. Newman came onto the stage before his name was announced, and Gossage asked how he knew he was talking about him and not Stewart.
    "I heard the 43 poles," Newman said to laughter. "I know that number. Forty-three (poles), 13 (victories), one Daytona 500. That’s pretty much all I’ve got."
    The two were later on stage together. Stewart talked about how frazzling it's been to develop his new Stewart-Haas racing team: "It is stressful. it’s a good weight-loss program so far."
    And as for any Stewart outbursts this season, Newman had the solution: "We have a shock collar for him this year. For whatever reason, my wife is on the button. I just give her a wink, she knocks him down."

-- Tracey Myers

This week's racing schedule

Courtesy of The Associated Press

NASCAR Sprint Cup
Shelby 427
Site: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (D-shaped oval, 1.5 miles, 20 degrees banking in turns)
TV schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 5:30 p.m.); Sunday, race (KDFW/Ch. 4, 2:30 p.m.)
Race distance: 427.5 miles/285 laps
2008 winner: Carl Edwards
Fast facts: Matt Kenseth is the first Cup driver to win the first two races of the season since Jeff Gordon did it in 1997 on the way to the second of his four championships. Kenseth, who has won twice at Las Vegas, will try to become the first driver in Cup history to start 3-0. ... Gordon, who has 81 career victories, hasn’t won a points race since October of 2007 at Charlotte. ... Tony Stewart has started the season with consecutive eighth-place finishes. ... Joey Logano, the 18-year-old rookie who replaced Stewart in the No. 20 Toyota at Joe Gibbs Racing, finished 26th at Fontana after crashing and finishing last in the Daytona 500. ... Jeff Burton is expected to make his 450th consecutive Cup start this weekend.
www.nascar.com

NASCAR Nationwide
Sam’s Town 300
Site: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (D-shaped oval, 1.5 miles, 20 degrees banking in turns)
TV schedule: Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 11 a.m.), race (ESPN2, 3 p.m.)
Race distance: 300 miles/200 laps
2008 winner: Mark Martin
Fast facts: Carl Edwards has finished second and fourth in the first two Nationwide races. ... Four of the last five Nationwide races at Las Vegas had a margin of victory of a half a second or less. ... Kyle Busch finished second in the 2007 event, but has had an average finish of 19th in his other four Nationwide starts at Las Vegas. ... Chevrolets won the last two Nationwide races at Las Vegas and seven times at the track overall.
www.nascar.com

Stewart extends "Smoke Show" at TMS to two days

When NASCAR Sprint Cup star Tony Stewart held his "Smoke Show" fantasy racing camp at Texas Motor Speedway last year, it raised a single-day record $262,000 for the Speedway Children's Charities-Texas Chapter.

Stewart was so excited about the amount that he decided to aim for twice that amount this year. Instead of a one-day camp, the event will be two days and is scheduled for Aug. 4-5. Fans will be able to select either day for their racing experience, which includes pre-race ceremonies, driving Team Texas stock cars, riding with Stewart in his No. 14 Chevy and a Victory Lane celebration. The camp also includes a dinner and auction with Stewart on Aug. 4. Prices for the camp have not been set. Check back at the SCC Texas web site or www.texasmotorspeedway.com.

-- Michele Vincze

Service fees dropped for Texas Motor Speedway tickets

Texas Motor Speedway Media Day was chock fun of news for fans attending races at the track this season. The scoop:

Ticket savings
Starting Wednesday (Feb. 25) service fees for all TMS tickets purchased via the Internet, Ticketmaster outlets and Ticketmaster phone centers have been suspended. Fans can expect savings up to $9.50 per seat depending on the location. The TMS ticket office also continues to work with fans to create a personalized payment plan. Call 817-215-8500 for more information. Visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com to check for ticket availability.

Pat Green, Foreigner set to perform
Texas native Pat Green and legendary rock bandForeigner will entertain fans during the Samsung 500 weekend in April. Green is scheduled to perform on April 3 after the completion of Sprint Cup qualifying. Tickets for the entire day's festivities are $25. Foreigner will perform during the Amdro FireStrike Pre-Race show on April 5.

Coca-Cola continues "Go Green" recycling program
In November, Coca-Cola Recycling placed 250 barrels throughoutthe TMS concourse, midway souvenir area and VIP campground. With the help of 128 volunteers from "Keep Fort Worth Beautiful" walking the grandstands after the Dickies 500, more than 5,900 pounds of cans and bottles were recycled. Coca-Cola will be back in April with the program and this time they have set a goal of collecting 15,000 pounds of recycled items with the help from more than 300 local volunteers. The barrels will be back throughout the speedway grounds and volunteers will pick up bottles and cans Saturday and Sunday.

-- Michele Vincze

Dakar Rally set to return to South America

The Dakar Rally will return to Argentina and Chile in 2010.
A spokesman for the Chilean government said Tuesday that organizers confirmed the race will be held in South America for the second straight year. In 2009, the race was moved from Africa for the first time in 31 years due to terrorist threats in Mauritania.
Presidential spokesman Francisco Vidal said dates and routes of the 2010 race will be announced later. Vidal added that Chile will get more than the five stages it had this year. Nine stages were held in Argentina.
The January race through the Argentine pampas and the Chilean desert, including two crosses of the Andes mountains, was won by South African driver Giniel de Villiers.

-- The Associated Press

Texas Motor Speedway Webcast reminder

Don't forget to check out the live Webcast on Wednesday:

The celebrate the launch of its newly redesigned web site, Texas Motor Speedway is inviting fans to check out its social networking enhancements and take part in a free live Webcast during the track's annual media day on Wednesday (Feb. 25). The Webcast is open to everyone; you do not have to have a TMS log-in to view it.

NASCAR stars Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Colin Braun will be at media event in person and IndyCar stars Danica Patrick, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti will join the festivities via satellite from Homestead, Fla. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at approximately noon (Central) and the 90-minute segment will feature a state of the sport address from TMS president Eddie Gossage and a question and answer session with the drivers.

Fans can post their question for any of the drivers within the discussion forum at the TMS website and TMS officials will select several of the best questions for Gossage to ask the guests during the webcast. For a question to be considered, fans must send in their full name and hometown and designate who the question is for. Only one question per user.

If that's not enough to get you to visit their new site, TMS is offering fans a $10 credit for their next race ticket purchase if they sign up at the site and provide their physical address on their personal profile.

Need more? Go here.

-- Michele Vincze