Monday
2013 Magny-Cours World Supersport Race Results: Close Racing Throughout
Sam Lowes started the 22 lap race, again declared a dry race, needing just two points to win the title. Kenan Sofuoglu, the only man with a chance of delying him the title, started from pole position.
Sunday
Sponsored Video ? The Jenson Button lifestyle in 90 seconds
Saturday
NAPA ending sponsorship with Michael Waltrip Racing because of Richmond actions
Michael Waltrip Racing has received a bigger shot to the bow than any NASCAR could have given it following the events at Richmond. And it came from a current sponsor.
NAPA announced on its Facebook page Thursday that it would be leaving the team at the end of the season.
After thorough consideration, NAPA has made the difficult decision to end its sponsorship arrangement with Michael Waltrip Racing effective December 31, 2013. NAPA believes in fair play and does not condone actions such as those that led to the penalties assessed by NASCAR. We remain supportive of the millions of NASCAR fans and will evaluate our future position in motorsports.
NAPA stuck by Michael Waltrip Racing at the 2007 Daytona 500, when the team was penalized for having an illegal substance in the intake manifold. In that incident, when Michael Waltrip Racing was in its infancy, Waltrip was docked 100 points and his crew chief David Hyder was fined $100,000 and suspended from the garage.
That was more than six years ago, and MWR eventually recovered to become the three-team stable it is today. And that's in large part to the continued support of the auto parts supplier, who is one of the few full-season sponsors remaining in the sport.
Now that support isn't there. NAPA sponsors the No. 56 of Martin Truex Jr., who was removed from the Chase via a 50 point penalty after NASCAR investigated the finish at Richmond. In the closing laps, teammates Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers made sure to let Joey Logano finish ahead of them so that Truex would make the Chase. (It's worth noting that the jet fuel incident directly involved the actions of the NAPA team while it was the actions of the two-non NAPA teams at Richmond that led to the penalties.)
The decision also means that one of the most prestigious sponsorships in NASCAR is a free agent, and that a Chase-caliber team and driver is suddenly without a sponsor. To say that the future of the No. 56 car is in limbo would not be an overstatement. And the future of another car and driver combination could soon be solidified.
Friday
Thursday
Wednesday
Rufflings feathers
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/rufflings-feathers/
2013 Aragon MotoGP Saturday Round Up: On Championship Turnarounds, Honda's Moto3 Gambit, And The 2014 Calendar
Qualifying at Aragon showed that the fourteenth round of the season could turn out to be a turning point in all three Grand Prix championships. Momentum shifts, sometimes suddenly, sometimes slowly, and before you know it, title races can open up again. Foregone conclusions are shown up for the illusions they are, and the words of every championship leader - 'I won't start thinking about the title until Valencia - are brought into keen focus.
In Moto3, the lead Luis Salom had built up after the summer break has slowly been dissipating, as Alex Rins and Maverick Viñales have clawed points back from the Spanish veteran. On Saturday, Alex Rins took yet another pole - his sixth of the season - crushing the opposition and putting seven tenths of a second into Viñales, the man in second. Luis Salom struggled, ending the session in 8th, over a second slower than Viñales, and 1.7 seconds off the time of Rins. He must attempt to defend his championship lead from the third row of the grid, and with Rins, Viñales and Alex Marquez ahead of him, he will have his work cut out.
Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella
Tuesday
Power Rankings: It?s a Joe Gibbs Racing switcheroo at the top
It's time for Power Rankings! After every race, we'll opine about who we think is at the top of the Sprint Cup heap and how and why they got there. Remember, this isn't scientific, as our formula is the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. So let's get on with it now, shall we?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Because modifying the number of entries into Power Rankings could be damaging to credibility and integrity of the rankings, Yahoo Sports and From the Marbles have elected not to add a bonus 13th spot to Power Rankings. Doing so would set an unstable precedent that could potentially allow for the creation of "the Danica rule" in which we are obligated to put Danica Patrick in Power Rankings every week.
1. Matt Kenseth (LW: 3): The man who entered the Chase atop the standings only extended that lead Sunday night (Monday morning?). What was most impressive about Kenseth's run was that the team was both good during the day and at night. Given the massive change in conditions, it reasoned that some teams who were good before the rain delay would be slower after it. Definitely not in Kenseth's case.
2. Kyle Busch (LW: 1): Busch was perhaps the greatest example of clean air during the Geico 400. When he had the lead he couldn't be touched, and then when he lost the lead, he couldn't touch his teammate. Still, the fact that he was just one spot away from a weekend three-peat should not be lost. That's impressive, even if Busch in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races is unfair to everyone else.
3. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 2): OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS A NASCAR CONSPIRACY TO PREVENT JOHNSON FROM WINNING THE CHASE WHEN THE OFFICIAL ON PIT ROAD TOLD THEM TO CHECK THE LUGNUTS FOR NO REASON. WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO HIM? CAN'T NASCAR EVER BE NICE TO HIM? Signed, no one.
4. Kevin Harvick (LW: 7): That was quite the typical Harvick race, wasn't it? Team adjusts on the car throughout the first part of the race, dials it in in the middle third, and voila, where the heck did Harvick come from in the waning laps? I'm sure this has been written in this space many times already this season, but can you describe Harvick's third place finish any other way?
5. Kasey Kahne (LW: 4): 10 Chasers finished in the top 12 and Kahne was the 10th of those 10. But he's here because that car got pretty beat up on pit road and at one point he was 31st. Survey time: was anyone disappointed that Kenseth wasn't beating Kahne to the line Sunday? That might have broken poor Kasey's soul.
6. Kurt Busch (LW: 9): Juan Pablo Montoya's debris minefield caution was a fortuitous break for Busch who had taken the Lucky Dog when the race resumed after a speeding penalty on pit road during the day portion. Again, the speed is there, it's just that the Kurt Busch Wheel of Destruction keeps feeling the need to be spun. Thankfully for Busch, the wheel of good fortune also gave it a whirl.
7. Clint Bowyer (LW: 8): Should we do what NASCAR could have done and dock Bowyer Power Rankings points in the Chase? No, we're not that mean, but that had to have been the most uncomfortable media week for a driver since when? Should have called Jeremy Mayfield and asked him to come take some pressure off by crashing NASCAR's press conference or something.
8. Carl Edwards (LW: 5): Edwards says he and his team are going to win the Chase and we completely (100 percent, NASCAR) support his efforts to be confident in his team. However, nights like Sunday are why we can't buy in to what Edwards is selling just yet. The 99 car wasn't bad again, but it wasn't great. And it's going to need to be great.
9. Ryan Newman (LW: 10): If you went to Outback on Monday, you got a free Bloomin' Onion because Newman finished in the top 10. Is that a deal you have to ask for when you go, or do a bunch of non-NASCAR fans luck into free appetizers on these Mondays? Inquiring minds that haven't been to an Outback in 10 years want to know.
10. Jeff Gordon (LW: NR): Jeff, you'd be legitimately in our top 12 this week if you weren't in the Chase. That was a nicely timed caution for Gordon to stay on the lead lap, and that car might have been ultimately faster than the 6th place finish showed.
11. Brad Keselowski (LW: NR): This spot ultimately came down to Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Greg Biffle. All three were plagued by engine issues. That'd be no fun, wouldn't it? That's why we'll go with the defending champion. He's not boring. And we also want to
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (LW: NR): Boyfriend! After finishing 8th at Richmond, Stenhouse finished 8th at Chicagoland for the first two top 10s of his career. And yes, this now means that Stenhouse has more top 10s than Patrick. Hope she paid for that Sonic he got during the rain delay.
Lucky Dog: We have to do one of these this week? Let's go Aric Almirola by Morning, because of bacon.
The DNF: Junior and Logano. That was easy.
Dropped out: Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Monday
Sunday
There?s Nothing Wrong With Restarts
TheNASCARInsiders.com
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/UgiEfK_qv7c/
Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mбrio de Araъjo Cabral Frank Armi
Saturday
Friday
2013 Singapore Grand Prix team radio transcript | 2013 Singapore Grand Prix
Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/09/26/2013-singapore-grand-prix-team-radio-transcript/
F1 Babes: Susie Wolff
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/2ATscq7avQI/f1-babes-susie-wolff-2
Thursday
Video: Need for Speed Trailer
Back in 2012, Electronic Arts and Dreamworks announced plans to develop a movie inspired by the "Need For Speed" video game. After much speculation, today we can bring you the first official trailer of the movie, and we have to admit, it looks quite promising.
Muscle car mechanic and street racer Tobey (Aaron Paul) was framed for a crime he did not commit, so he gets out of prison determined to settle the score with the man responsible for his false conviction.
As you can see from the trailer video, he gets to thrash around tons of bad-ass cars, like a heavily modified Shelby GT500, a McLaren P1, the MP4-12C, a Bugatti Veyron, plus a few Koenigsegg and Saleen models. If that’s not enough to get the race fuel running through your veins, we don’t know what to say...
The "Need For Speed" movie will hit theaters on March 14th, 2014.
Video: Need for Speed Trailer originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 25 September 2013 16:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/video-need-for-speed-trailer-ar160495.html
Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco
Wednesday
Alonso: 2013 Gone, 2014 The Focus
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/alweM2q7nko/alonso-2013-gone-2014-the-focus
Tuesday
Datsun Go + Extending the Range with a Familial Variant
Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/562-datsun-go-extending-the-range-with-a-familial-variant.html
Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers
Monday
McLaren and Alonso
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/mclaren-and-alonso/
Sunday
NASCAR outlines new rule requiring teams to compete at 100 percent of ability. But what the heck does that mean?
All 43 teams must drive hard.
That's what NASCAR told the Sprint Cup Series field today in a closed door meeting in response to the race manipulation allegations at Richmond that have sent the sanctioning body retreating and reacting in unprecedented ways.
On Monday, NASCAR penalized the teams of Michael Waltrip Racing 50 points apiece for ensuring that Martin Truex Jr., one of its three drivers, made the Chase for the Sprint Cup. With the penalty, Truex was subsequently eliminated from the Chase. On Wednesday, allegations surfaced that Joey Logano's No. 22 team had worked a deal to get around the No. 38 car and David Gilliland for position late in the race to ensure that Logano made the Chase.
Logano kept his spot in the Chase, and on Friday, NASCAR took the incredible step of adding Jeff Gordon as a 13th driver to its playoffs. As colleague Jay Busbee noted, the revisionist history in an attempt to fix what happened Saturday night was the lowest point in the sport's history. And that's not hyperbole.
And when you're in such a valley, you know that there's got to be higher ground somewhere. But you're also not sure how deep the valley is. NASCAR went wandering around on Saturday, but instead of finding a bluff, it got lost.
The closed door meeting with the Sprint Cup field Saturday lasted 17 minutes. According to NASCAR officials, it was an open dialogue. In a press conference afterwards, Brian France, Mike Helton and Robin Pemberton enforced that all teams must run to "100 percent of their ability" and outlined what is and isn't acceptable.
Asking teams to run as hard as they can to ensure that they finish in the best possible position is an idea that's fantastic in theory. But, this isn't a theory. This is 43 cars, all with varying motives at varying points racing each other at high speeds. Chaos theory is about the only theory that comes close.
There's absolutely no way to track what teams aren't running 100 percent, and then clear it with the list of caveats that NASCAR provided, like "contact with an opponent" or an alternate pit strategy. Because of the thousands of variables within a lap of a NASCAR race, it's akin to measuring intangibles. Which, as we all know, can't be defined.
But wait, here comes the kicker. By France's own admission, this new policy involves subjectivity on the part of NASCAR. And, according to Mike Helton, the enforcement of any violations of the 100 percent rule are up to NASCAR's discretion.
In essence, nothing has changed. The sanctioning body's posturing of the last week is an admitted reaction to help save the credibility of the sport, which it says was challenged at Richmond. That admission is fine, however, the continued action of NASCAR to address said credibility issues only continues to enhance them.
Before Saturday, NASCAR showed subjectivity at its own discretion, first leaving Gordon out of the Chase when penalizing MWR and then suddenly adding him in on Friday simply because France had the authority to do so. The cliche that two wrongs don't make a right may be entirely overused, but man, it's an appropriate analogy.
This latest action, in the form of a rule that will be titled 12.4-L or close to it in the rulebook, is simply ink to point to if the sanctioning body ever deems a penalty is necessary. And while that's a novel step, it's no more than that. The concept of subjectivity at NASCAR's discretion has been a cornerstone of the sport, much like France said Saturday that teams giving their all was. There's just now another rule confirming what we've known all along. It's NASCAR's show, and you better hope that discretion isn't used against you.
Follow Nick Bromberg on Twitter at @NickBromberg. Or email him at NickBromberg@Yahoo.com.
NAPA says it's launching review to determine future of Michael Waltrip Racing sponsorship
While making the Chase is imperative financially for many teams, including Michael Waltrip Racing, even more imperative is a big dollar sponsor.
That's what NAPA has been for Michael Waltrip Racing since the team's inception. They're the sponsor of Martin Truex Jr., who was knocked out of the Chase after the 50-point penalty assessed to his team (as well as the teams of Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers) in the aftermath of the spin and slowdown events of the final few laps at Richmond Saturday night.
On Wednesday, NAPA released a statement on its Facebook page saying that in light of the events Saturday night, it's launching a review to determine the future of the company's partnership with MWR.
The actions taken by Michael Waltrip?s Racing team this past weekend leading to the penalties assessed by NASCAR, are very concerning. We are disappointed that a partner associated with our organization would make such a significant error in judgment. In addition, we have launched our own review to determine the future of our partnership with Michael Waltrip?s Racing team. The NAPA AUTO PARTS organization is proud of its long-standing NASCAR relationship. We share a passion with our customers for high quality racing and seek to determine the best course of action for our customers, NASCAR fans, and the NAPA organization.
Those are strong words, especially when you consider that the company stood by MWR in 2007 when the team had an illegal substance found in its intake manifolds. On Tuesday, 5 Hour Energy, Bowyer's sponsor, issued a similar statement.
We respect NASCAR's penalties against MWR & are addressing our sponsorship relations internally. We appreciate your understanding & patience
? 5-hour ENERGY� (@5hourenergy) September 10, 2013
Could the situation get worse for MWR before it gets better? If any of its major sponsors decide to leave the team because of what happened, it would be a far more crippling blow than a $300,000 fine and three 50 point penalties would be.
Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk