Nascar and Racing Dodge

RICHMOND, Va. -- Tthere was mixed reaction in the Richmond International Raceway garage Friday morning to the news that Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) and Yates Racing plans to merge for the 2010 NASCAR season and will field a four-car Ford team under the RPM name.

RPM currently fields Dodges and the move to Ford would leave Dodge only the three-car Penske Racing stable in the Sprint Cup Series.

Dodge Motorsports President and CEO Mike Accavitti issued a statement saying, "Richard (Petty) has made a business decision to merge with Yates Racing. We wish Richard and RPM luck the rest of the season and in the future.''

Holding off Tony Stewart on multiple late-race, double-file restarts on a road course may turn out to be the easier proposition for Sunday's race winner Kasey Kahne.

Capitalizing on the momentum from the victory and avoiding drama in the final days that set the Chase for the Championship 12-driver field ... that's another story.

Kahne said Tuesday he's up for the challenge.

"That might be one of the reasons I like racing ... all the pressure and the excitement,'' Kahne said. "I don't mind it, I enjoy trying to perform under pressure.''

Good thing.

Fans have just voted Kasey Kahne's win in last year's Sprint All-Star Race the greatest moment in Lowe's Motor Speedway's storied history. After failing to qualify for the race, Kahne lined up on the starting grid thanks to the fans' popular vote, then promptly went out and snapped a 19-month winless streak.

Kahne's amazing effort that night, followed by a win a week later in the Coca-Cola 600, marked one of the best weeks of his Sprint Cup Series career.

The highlight reel has been considerably shorter for him since.

Roger Penske is the most successful team owner in Indy car history with driver Ryan Briscoe earning Penske's 139th victory two weeks ago in the IndyCar Series opener at St. Petersburg. Penske has won the Indy 500 a staggering 14 times. His NASCAR team has 63 victories, including the 2008 Daytona 500. His sports car team won the historic 12 Hours of Sebring last year.

Penske sat down in his motor coach for a wide-ranging interview on topics as diverse as what keeps him motivated to Danica Patrick's flirt with NASCAR to the future of his NASCAR driver Sam Hornish Jr.

Excerpts from my interview with Penske after the jump.

NASCAR fans, the point has been taken: April Fool's Day jokes just don't fly.

A day after many fans thought the NASCAR world as a whole was crumbling to the ground, we've learned that NASCAR fans just don't take kindly to false news reports in an attempt to be irreverent and humorous. The violator of the NASCAR people's trust was automobile magazine Car and Driver, and everywhere you looked on April 1, there was a reminder of their egregious error.

Hidden beneath the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and even under the Nationwide Series, sits NASCAR's third-most prestigious national racing series -- the Craftsman Truck Series.

Though next season it's currently in position to take on simply the name of "NASCAR Truck Series" as the Craftsman, the corporate sponsor sits the series began in 1995, will depart. No new sponsor has been found.

Combine that with other factors influencing NASCAR's Double-A league, and the outlook is less than rosy.

Just last Saturday in Richmond, word spread through the garage area that Dodge would be dropping its factory support money of the entire series -- though it only affects one team, Bobby Hamilton Racing. As a result, the team suspended operations of its No. 4 truck and will focus solely on the No. 18 for the rest of 2008.

Dodge's support has been dwindling in recent years, but pulling out entirely truly signifies that the manufacturer feels it can't compete and that it is simply losing money on the attempt to sell more pick-up trucks via NASCAR truck racing.

Penske Racing made a solid choice Wednesday by selecting, officially, David Stremme to drive the No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge in 2009.

From the team's press release:

"We're pleased to have David join Penske Racing as the driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge," said Roger Penske. "His past accomplishments and current experience as our NASCAR test driver, as well as his character and desire for success, make him a good fit into our culture."

And I certainly couldn't agree more.

Penske could have easily gone with one of the two trends in the NASCAR garage of recent years by hiring in either 1) a young guy with limited experience or 2) an open-wheel driver. Of course, the latter seems to not be working out so well.

But by hiring Stremme, they are putting a driver behind the steering wheel that not only has NASCAR experience (he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing before getting canned after 2007), but also has plenty of experience behind the wheel of a Penske Racing car.

FanHouse's Geoffrey Miller is on-location at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday's 15th Running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

It's a good day to be a driver from Australia or Canada in Indianapolis.

Both drivers representing their respective countries managed to qualify for their first Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Saturday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the session's go-or-go-home finale.

Australian Marcus Ambrose, who announced just last week that he would be jumping from the Nationwide Series to the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2009 with the creation of JTG Daughtery Racing, qualified for his first oval race. Needless to say, he was excited:

"I've never been so anxious and nervous and apprenhensive all my life. Two laps on the race track here at the Brickyard, which is so famous and so intimidating as well, I just had to suck all that up and let her rip," said Ambrose.

"We're racing against the big boys and we qualified ourselves in on merit. It means an awful lot to me. I feel like today I've made it. I feel like we're in the Brickyard."

Now isn't refreshing to hear a guy who is that excited to make the race? Ambrose's run is all that more impressive because his team had just two laps in practice on Friday thanks to NASCAR rules that allow Top-35 cars to go through technical inspection first.

UPDATE: Team owner Chip Ganassi said that Franchitti is currently undergoing X-rays on his ankle. Larry Gunselman was also later transported to the hospital.

Original: Sprint Cup Series driver and 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti was helped to a waiting ambulance after being involved in a drivers-side impact Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway during the Aaron's 312 Nationwide Race.

The impact occurred after Franchitti cut down a rear tire on his No. 40 Chip Ganassi Dodge entering turn 3 on lap 10. Franchitti's Dodge snapped sideways and brushed the nose into the side of Nationwide point leader Clint Bowyer.

The No. 40 then slid down the track -- nearly to a stop -- when Larry Gunselman plowed into his left side.

From video replays, I can't understand how Gunselman didn't slow down any more than he did. There was no tire smoke and no last second attempt to swerve out of the way.

Had Gunselman missed Franchitti, Dario's car likely could have continued in the race. Instead, he hobbled to the ambulance in obvious pain.

With qualifying and all on-track activities canceled at Auto Club Speedway on Friday, Robby Gordon got plenty of face time with the NASCAR media concerning his penalty stemming from Daytona.

In review, Gordon switched from Ford to Dodge a week before practice began, built the cars, went to Daytona, failed inspection because of parts that were sent to him from Dodge in error, and was fined $100,000, docked 100 owner and driver points, and his crew chief was suspended for six weeks.

Gordon, naturally is appealing.

One of his sponsors, Jim Beam, is taking a swing at the situation by trying to start a petition for Robby in his effort.

Representatives from Jim Beam, which sponsors Gordon's No. 7 car, will canvas the Auto Club Speedway grandstands on Saturday gathering signatures for a petition demanding NASCAR reverse its "unfair" decision to dock Gordon 100 points. Crew chief Frank Kerr also was fined $100,000, suspended for the next six Sprint Cup Series events until April 9 and placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Along with the petition, "Rally for Robby" T-shirts are being made for Gordon fans to wear during this weekend's Cup events, said Sofia Lombardo, spokesperson for Jim Beam.

Also, Thomas Flocco, president and CEO of Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc., has sent a letter addressed to NASCAR president Mike Helton, as well as other top officials, voicing the company's frustrations.

It's good to see that Robby has some support in this issue, because you do feel bad for the guy. It wouldn't be right for Gordon to lose sponsorship or race opportunities because of a part sent to him in error.

That though, is my opinion, and not NASCAR's. His car was out of spec for a NASCAR race car, and he was penalized, says the sanctioning body.

I see both sides, but come on, it truly was an honest mistake. What say you?