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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky Speedway will get a NASCAR Sprint Cup race in 2011, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

The 1.5-mile tri-oval halfway between Louisville and Cincinnati will host NASCAR's top series in early July. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced. A news conference is scheduled at the track Aug. 10.

The website thatsracin.com reported that the Aug. 10 news conference is to announce the event and reported that the track owner, Speedway Motorsports, Inc., will move one of the Sprint Cup dates at one of its other tracks to Kentucky. The site speculated that the race date might come from New Hampshire Motor Speedway or Atlanta Motor Speedway, both of which have two dates.

Speedway Motorsports purchased the speedway from the original ownership group in 2008. SMI owner Bruton Smith said his main goal was to bring the track a long-coveted Cup date.

The original owners filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. in 2005, contending they tried to exclude the track from the Cup Series.

Smith called the court case a major stumbling block and was relieved when it eventually ended this year. Smith had no immediate comment, but said before last week's race at Indianapolis that he'd like to have a Cup race at "all" of SMI's NASCAR sanctioned tracks.

Besides the tracks at New Hampshire and Atlanta, the company also owns Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Infineon Raceway.

The only one that lacks a Cup date right now is Kentucky, though Smith said he's optimistic there would be plenty of time to get the facility ready for a Cup race.

Kentucky already hosts NASCAR Nationwide and Truck Series events, as well as an IndyCar race. Plans are already in place to expand seating from 65,000 to around 100,000.

NASCAR officials had no immediate comment, but CEO Brian France said before last week's race in Indianapolis that the series was mulling "impactful" changes to its 2011 schedule.

"There will be some changes as they look now," France said. "That could not quite materialize, but I sense it will and we'll have some pretty impactful changes to the schedule that I think will be good for NASCAR fans."

SMI will likely have to move a race from one of its other tracks to Kentucky. Smith has consistently played coy about his intentions, but during a Cup visit to New Hampshire in June, he didn't exactly endorse the prospect of continuing to have two Cup races a year in New England.

While the second race traditionally kicks off the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, the June race could easily be bumped off the schedule.

NASCAR is expected to announce its 2011 schedule by Labor Day.

Autobahn I: Series race report


Autobahn Country Club / Joliet, IL (July 31, 2010 ) -- Starting from his second pole of the season, Quebec racer Mikael Grenier drove a flawless race to his first victory in this afternoon's Race 1 / Round 8 of the HARRAH'S Autobahn Grand Prix Presented by MAZDA. Rounding out the top-3 were Brazilian Caio Lara and American Conor Daly. The top-finishing Expert Series driver (ages 30-44) was Texan J.W. Roberts and the first Master Series racer across the finish line was Puerto Rican racer Carlos Conde.

"It may have looked pretty easy for me on TV or in the stands, but in the car it was harder,"[IMAGE] said Grenier, who led every lap of the 45-minute, 17-lap race in his the #17 Andersen Racing / Slow Cow / April Super Flow / NAPA Auto Parts / HS Telecom / Desharnais Mazda. "I built up a little bit of a lead so I could relax, but then we had a safety car come out with about five minutes to go, so when the race went green for the final few laps, it was like starting all over again. The Andersen Racing team gave me a great car and we're working hard to do this again tomorrow."

Unlike the morning qualifying session, which was conducted in the rain, the race itself was dry, resulting in lap times almost 30 seconds quicker around the 3.6-mile Autobahn Country Club circuit. Grenier took the pole with a 2:43.240 and his fastest lap of the race was a 2:14.498. No doubt this contributed in some measure to the topsy-turvy nature of the race in which it seemed front and back of the field were marching in opposite directions on the results sheet.

Lara, one of the season's four race winners with his first-ever victory in Round 6 at New Jersey, qualified 14th in his #19 JDC Motorsports / MLD / ATW Mazda and confirmed his emerging talent with a superb drive. And Daly's effort was all the more impressive for the fact that he was demoted to the rear of the 23-car field; he was 5th in qualifying this morning but in post-race inspection his #22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda was found to have an aerodynamic part that was 'outside the permissible range of adjustment.' And the Autobahn track, comprised mainly of medium and high-speed corners, is widely recognized as being a difficult track on which to pass due to the lack of braking zones.

Other notable drives include both female drivers in the field; Tatiana Calderon of Bogota, Colombia, moved up from 12th on the grid to finish 4th -- her best result of the season so far -- in her #25 Juncos Racing / JAC Motors Mazda. However, she tried a 'hail Mary' pass on Norwegian racer Ander 'The Viking' Krohn and caused his #47 Andersen Racing / Norse Cutting & Abandonment / Trallfa / Colosseum Mazda to spin and drop back to 7th. It also brought out the safety car in the closing stages of the race and, as a result - per the Star Mazda rule book - Calderon was moved back behind Krohn, who then moved up one, placing them 6th and 7th respectively.

Carl Edwards has won the pole for Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International.

Edwards turned a lap of 124.432 mph in 70.882 seconds on Saturday to easily outdistance Jamie McMurray's lap of 123.814 mph in 71.236. It's the first road course pole in Cup competition for Edwards and just a few ticks off Jeff Gordon's 2003 track record of 124.58 mph in 70.7979.

Juan Pablo Montoya will go off third, followed by AJ Allmendinger and Kurt Busch.

Five-time Watkins Glen winner Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Scott Speed, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch round out the top 10.

Marcos Ambrose, who finished second to Stewart in last year's race, will start 11th. Gordon, a four-time Watkins Glen winner, qualified 16th and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 41st.

It was just the fifth pole in 215 starts for Edwards.

8 killed as truck slams into spectators at CA race

LUCERNE VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- An off-road truck sailed off a jump and hurtled into a crowd at a race in the California desert, pinning bodies beneath it and sending others flying into a chaotic cloud of dust in a crash that killed eight people, authorities and witnesses said Sunday.

Twelve people were injured in the crash that came shortly after the twilight start of the California 200 Saturday night in the Mojave Desert, said San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman.

Witnesses said the driver took a jump known as "the rockpile" at high speed, hit his brakes on landing and rolled sideways into a crowd of hundreds of people standing with no barriers next to the course.

"He hit the rock and just lost control and tumbled," said Matt March, 24, of Wildomar, who was standing next to the jump. "Bodies went everywhere."

March said he and several other fans lifted the truck, which came to rest with its oversized wheels pointing toward the sky, and found four people lying unconscious underneath.

John Payne, 20, of Anaheim said he was among the first people to reach the truck. He said the victims included one person who was decapitated.

"It was complete chaos," Payne said.

It took rescue vehicles and helicopters more than half an hour to reach the remote location, and spectators including off-duty police and firefighters helped the injured and placed blankets over the dead.

Six people died at the scene and two others died after being taken to a hospital, authorities said. Seven ambulances and 10 emergency aircraft responded, airlifting most of the 12 injured people from the area to hospitals.

Paramedics brought six people - five adults and a child - to Loma Linda University Medical Center, spokesman Herbert Atienza said Sunday. He had no information on their condition.

Officials said the driver, whose name has not been released, wasn't hurt. It was not clear why he lost control of the truck. Phone and e-mail messages left for the organizer, South El Monte-based Mojave Desert racing, were not immediately returned.

The 200-mile race is part of a series held in the Mojave Desert's Soggy Dry Lake Bed near the city of Lucerne Valley, 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Tens of thousands of people attend the California 200, in which a variety of off-road vehicles take jumps and other obstacles and reach speeds of over 60 mph on the 50-mile off-road course. The race had been scheduled to last through the night.

The crowd, which included children, was standing within 10 feet of the track with no guard rails separating them from the speeding vehicles.

"There were no barriers at all," Jeff Talbott, inland division chief for the California Highway Patrol, told the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

He said that the driver was forced to run from the scene when the crowd grew unruly and some began throwing rocks at him. Several witnesses said they didn't see anyone throwing rocks at the driver.

Fans said there are rarely rails or any other safety guards at the races.

"That's desert racing for you," Payne said. "You're at your own risk out here. You are in the middle off the desert. People were way too close and they should have known. You can't really hold anyone at fault. It's just a horrible, horrible accident."

March said "that's just how everyone plays it, everyone gets real close in these desert races."

The CHP does not normally investigate crashes at organized events, but took the lead on this probe because of its scope and had set up a command center at the starting line of the race.

The federal Bureau of Land Management was assisting in the investigation.

The crash was the latest in a series of race accidents that have proved deadly to spectators.

A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch an illegal drag race on a suburban road in Accokeek, Maryland, in February 2008, killing eight people and injuring five. The two racers were charged with vehicular manslaughter. Darren Bullock, 22, was sentenced to 15 years in prison; Tavon Taylor, 20, is awaiting trial.

In Chandler, Ariz., in February, a female spectator was killed by a tire that flew off a crashing dragster at Chandler's Firebird International Raceway for the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

In Selmer, Tennessee, a dragster went out of control and smashed into spectators during a fundraising festival in June 2007, killing six people and injuring 22. Driver Troy Critchley, 38, was convicted of misdemeanor reckless assault charges and sentenced to 18 months probation.

Derek Laogali, 22, of San Pedro, said Saturday night was the first time he'd ever been to an off-road race, and he witnessed the horror up close.

"I seen people on the floor with broken bones, people with blankets over them. I'm guessing they were dead," Laogali said. "People were crying and screaming. It was a nightmare."

Busch rallies to win caution-marred Bristol race
By Sporting News Wire Service
August 19, 2010

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- In a race where the typical Bristol gremlins came out early and often, Kyle Busch managed to get his out of the way before the green flag waved.

The result was a commanding victory for Busch in Wednesday night's O'Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bristol
Results
Pos. Driver Make
1. Kyle Busch Toyota
2. Aric Almirola Toyota
3. Ron Hornaday Chevrolet
4. Mike Skinner Toyota
5. Justin Lofton Toyota
• Complete Results | Race Video
Consecutive wins
Truck Series tracks
Driver Track No. Years
B. Gaughan Texas 4 '02-03*
J. Benson Milwaukee 3 '06-08
T. Musgrave Fontana 3 '01-03
J. Sprague Phoenix 3 '96-97*
Ky. Busch Bristol 3 '08-10
* Two races per year
After winning the pole but being forced to start at the rear because of pre-race engine repairs under impound rules, Busch moved forward in a hurry. He took the lead when Mike Skinner pitted for the first time on Lap 91 of 206 and survived a green-white-checkered finish for his third triumph of the season in his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.

Busch, whose only pit stop came around Lap 30, overcame a late fuel scare to win his third consecutive series race at Bristol.

"I wasn't 100 percent aggressive on saving fuel, but I was 92 percent," said Busch, who led the final 116 laps. "There was concerns all around. It ran out of fuel on the second-to-last restart and it ran out on the last restart. I was worried."

Aric Almirola finished second, followed by Ron Hornaday, who rallied from a spin and a lost lap. Skinner and rookie Justin Lofton completed the top five. Points leader Todd Bodine finished sixth, and his lead over Almirola took a small hit from 231 to 211 points.

The race was slowed by a record-setting 13 cautions, including eight in the first 85 laps.

But the most vicious came on Lap 198, when Ken Schrader slammed hard into the right side of the spinning truck of David Starr. It brought out a red flag and forced the race to go six laps past its scheduled distance. Both drivers walked away uninjured.

"It was a pretty hard hit," Starr said.

A more consequential incident involved Sprint Cup regular Elliott Sadler and Timothy Peters. Battling for second in the closing laps, Sadler hooked the right rear of Peters' truck on the backstretch, sending the No. 17 Toyota into the wall and to pit road for repairs. Peters, who is third in the standings, recovered to finish eighth.

Sadler moved into second momentarily but hit the wall several laps later when the right-front tire on his Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet let go on Lap 185. He finished 26th.

Rookie Austin Dillon also had a rough night, and his streak of eight consecutive top-10s came to an end. Dillon was involved in multiple accidents.

Soon after Busch crossed the finish line, Matt Crafton and Dillon crashed at the exit of Turn 4, leading to a post-race confrontation between the two drivers' crews.

"They were upset," said Crafton, who finished 10th. "I can understand why they'd be upset. The last thing I wanted to do was to wreck him."

Dillon, who finished 17th, was still upset minutes after the accident.

"Coming off the corner, he kept pushing me and pushing me. I couldn't save it," Dillon said. "There was no need to tear up a bunch of trucks like that."

NNS: Villeneuve, Ambrose Square Off


Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race has a particularly global feel to it, given that the race is being run on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in Montreal.

And, oh by the way, there isn’t an American driver on the front row.

For that matter, nine of the 43 drivers in the race aren’t American-born.

Up front on pole is Tasmanian native Marcos Ambrose, flanked by Jacques Villeneuve, son of Gilles and beloved hero to his native countrymen and women. A Villeneuve victory in front of the Canadian faithful would be huge, kind of the Great White North equivalent of an Earnhardt victory at Talladega.

During qualifying, the Canadian fans cheered with abandon whenever Villeneuve passed by in his No. 32 Braun Racing/Dollar General Toyota, and it’s certain the crowd will be going wild again today.

“Just missed it by a hair,” Villeneuve said of his qualifying run for the pole. “So, of course it’s frustrating. The feel here is amazing. It’s very strong. ... Marcos has been amazing on the road courses, as well. To be on the front row with him is fantastic. I’m very happy about that. I just wish it was the other way around. For the start ... that’s good. It really means we can keep our nose clean and get to racing.”

Indeed. Not only do Ambrose and Villeneuve have fast cars, they should be able to race free of the calamity certain to occur behind them at some point. That could prove crucial.

As for his qualifying run, Ambrose said he was surprised he went as fast as he did, claiming the top spot for JTG Daugherty Racing with his No. 47 Toyota.

“The track was in great condition,” said Ambrose. “It was nice and cool. There was good grip. All of us were in qualifying trim somewhat with high tire pressures. We were always going to go fast, but I didn’t expect to go that fast. ... We’re really excited about it. It’s a good day for us. I didn’t expect to get the pole. I didn’t think my car was good enough in practice. We made a lot of changes to it and it looks like they have all been good ones.”

A couple of other drivers to watch out for on Sunday:

• Defending race winner Carl Edwards, who also won on the Road America road course earlier this season, qualified fourth in his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, one position behind Joey Logano.

• Boris Said, the Brillo-headed road course ace, will roll off fifth in his Zaxby’s-sponsored Ford.

• Patrick Carpentier, another Canadian who grew up road racing, will start 13th in the No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. A Montreal native, Carpentier could be tough today.

Atlanta proves NASCAR wrong for taking away race


Race fans filled the stands at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Saturday's Nationwide race (won by Jamie McMurray) and Sunday's Emory Healthcare 500. (AP photo).

(Folks: Getting ready for some racing here. I’ll be weighing in with comments during the race if you’re up for some live blogging. Then I’ll update this blog later. Thanks, JS.)

It’s not every day that a such monstrously successful enterprise does something so galactically stupid, but NASCAR pulled it off last month.

A race wasn’t just taken away from Atlanta Motor Speedway. A major event was removed from NASCAR’s corporate center and from a track as rich in history as almost any this side of Daytona. Consequently, while AMS will have but one event on the Sprint Cup circuit next season, 13 tracks will have multiple races — including such garden spots as Dover, Delaware (where banners cover empty seats).

If NASCAR ran baseball, there would be one team in New York and two in Cleveland.

Why did Atlanta get dumped on? Because in addition to Sunday’s Labor Day event, the Emory Healthcare 500, the other race fell during the weather-plagued second week of March. Officials will tell you the race had to go because attendance suffered, and it did. But even the weather excuse is somewhat thin.


Atlanta Motor Speedway's Ed Clark wasn't happy with the decision by NASCAR and Bruton Smith (lower left) to take away the track's spring race.

“I guess it’s better to have a smaller track with 65,000 seats and sell 60,000 than it is to have 90,000 and sell 75,000,” AMS president Ed Clark said, his words dripping in sarcasm. “In my opinion, it’s better to sell 15,000 more seats. But evidently not.”

He’s still upset. He should be.

Clark will shoot down NASCAR’s excuses for the decision left and right. He’ll choose his words more carefully when it comes to the role of track owner Bruton Smith because, well, duh.

But in NASCAR’s big picture, how can this be good? As Clark noted, “NASCAR has more corporate players headquartered in Atlanta than any other city.”

Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted two Cup races every year since 1969. “Fireball” Roberts won the first race at then-Atlanta International Raceway on July 31,1960. Fifty years later, that passion for racing was more than evident this weekend.

Atlanta Motor Speedway set a track record for a Nationwide event Saturday, drawing 71,000 fans. Another 85,000 were in attendance for the Cup race. Add Friday’s qualifying and some-170,000 total were on the grounds. There were fans from 50 states and 11 countries.

Take that, Dover.

NASCAR moves Daytona 500 back a week in 2012
By MARK LONG, AP Sports Writer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)—The Daytona 500 is on the move.

NASCAR and track officials announced Sunday that the Great American Race will be a week later in 2012, allowing the sport to shorten its season and avoid any potential conflicts with the NFL’s Super Bowl.

NASCAR’s 2012 season opener will be Sunday, Feb. 26.

The new date allows NASCAR to eliminate a traditional off week following the first three races of the season. It also gets NASCAR ahead of any potential changes to the NFL schedule, including an 18-game schedule or NFL labor strife that might force the Super Bowl in Indianapolis to be delayed a week.


“We’re not going to deny the fact that part of this also is in dealing with the NFL,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s vice president of racing operations. “Who knows where they’ll go with an 18-game schedule. But we want to get ahead of that.

“Either way, we think it’s the right thing to do for our season to kick off. The Super Bowl’s certainly a big event, but so’s the Daytona 500. To give fans an opportunity to go to both of those we think is the right move, it’s a win-win for everybody.”

The Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 5. But Colts owner Jim Irsay and host committee officials have said the NFL asked city officials to keep blocks of hotel rooms and city venues open for that weekend and the next.

The current collective bargaining agreement runs out at the end of the day March 3. The players believe that team owners are preparing to lock them out as soon as the following day, which could threaten the 2011 season. The NFL has not lost games to a work stoppage since 1987.

Nonetheless, NASCAR officials are anticipating changes to the NFL’s schedule. Whether it’s an 18-game schedule and/or an extra bye week thrown in, they certainly don’t want Speedweeks trying to compete with America’s biggest sporting event, the Super Bowl.

They even declined to say that the date for the next Daytona 500—the fourth Sunday in February—would remain the same in future years.

They also stopped short of announcing other races during 2012 Speedweeks, including the exhibition Budweiser Shootout. That could mean NASCAR officials are considering condensing Speedweeks from a two-weekend event spanning 11 days to a weeklong extravaganza.

“I’m not prepared to ask for that,” Daytona International Speedway president Joey Chitwood III said. “I like having the Shootout, I like having the ARCA event and I like having that weekend. It’s a good weekend for our fans.”

NASCAR officials don’t feel the same about the off weekend early in the season. Drivers and owners have complained that the 36-race season is too long already, insisting there’s little need for a bye week in March.

Rookie Loses Indy 500 With Crash on Last Turn

Published: May 29, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS — J. R. Hildebrand, a 23-year-old rookie, had much more on his mind late Sunday afternoon than just completing one smooth turn that would have won the Indianapolis 500. He was low on fuel. He was swooping in on lapped traffic. And Dan Wheldon was closing fast.

So Hildebrand, driving flat out, decided to pass Charlie Kimball, in a slower car, on the high side at the fourth turn at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hildebrand hit the “marbles,” bits of tires that settled near the walls, skidded on his worn tires and thudded into the wall with a flash of fire.

A gasp rose from the estimated crowd of 300,000. Hildebrand, the right side of his car mangled, made it to the finish line — but not before Wheldon, a 32-year-old Briton, passed him to win the Indy 500, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.

It was the second Indy 500 victory for Wheldon, who passed Danica Patrick to win in 2005. That victory was overshadowed by Patrick’s becoming the first woman to lead at Indy, but Wheldon was considered a rising star. He lost his full-time ride after the 2010 season.

On Sunday, Wheldon drove a car owned by Bryan Herta, a former Indy-car driver. Wheldon pointed out at his postrace news conference that his contract with Herta expired at midnight. He said he planned to enjoy the victory as he lay on the beach with his family.

When asked what he was thinking as Hildebrand crashed, Wheldon said: “I was so focused. It was one of those races where it was so competitive that you had to be on your game.”

Wheldon said he smiled when he noticed that Hildebrand was not injured, then he cried as he took a victory lap. He took a large, messy swig from the glass bottle of milk that is handed to the Indy 500 winner and whooped it up as he was paraded around the track.

or did he...