Ford Racing Director Jamie Allison Statement on 2013 NASCAR Approval
NASCAR announced earlier today (July 30) that all four manufacturer submitted 2013 car models have been approved by the series to begin racing next season, and that the OEMs may now start building parts for those cars. The 2013 Ford Fusion, which was first unveiled in January of this year, was one of the four designs officially approved to go NASCAR racing beginning at the 2013 Daytona 500. Ford Racing Director Jamie Allison commented on what the approval means for Ford and the sport going forward.
JAMIE ALLISON, director, Ford Racing — “This is a monumental moment for the sport, for the fans and for us as a company with our participation in NASCAR. The fans have clamored for the return of cars that look like cars in their driveways and NASCAR, alongside us as manufacturers, have listened to that request. We are very proud of all the hard work and collaboration between NASCAR and the OEMs that was completed with the submission test, and now we are ready to go forward with the new face of NASCAR that is the 2013 Fusion. I can tell you that the completion of the submission test would not have been possible without the trust that has developed between NASCAR and the OEMs together. Ultimately, we all wanted to make sure that although the cars would all look different that on the track, we retained the competitiveness that exists today. Consequently that required trust, collaboration, and adhering to a specified target set by NASCAR. While we are focused on the rest of the season, we are very excited about what is upon us for 2013.”
Schatz rebounds with Cornwall victory
The World of Outlaws made their first visit to Cornwall Motor Speedway this evening. The high banked 4/10 mile track would hold many surprises for the drivers of the Greatest Show on Dirt; some would be pleasant and some would be not so pleasant. But at the end of the night all would leave with a new respect not only for the track but for the winner as well.
On Saturday Night during the A Main, teammates Donny Schatz and Steve Kinser got into a vicious tangle that would send Donny head on into the end of an inside retaining wall. The impact would send his winged sprint car into a series of wild and vicious flips leaving him in the infield. Schatz who climbed from the car under his own power took a few steps and then went down to his knees on the ground a short distance from the car. Although Schatz would be released by paramedics the impact and the flips were incredibly hard and bone jarring. Late Saturday night Schatz’s True Speed Communications representative would give the following update on his condition, “Donny is a little sore. But he is racing tonight.” During the broadcast by the World of Outlaws it would be reported that Schatz was competing with a shoulder injury. His performance through out the night would not give any indication that 4 time Outlaws Champion Donny Schatz was anything but on his A game.
Qualifying went quickly with the 22 cars turning 10 and 11 second laps. With this being a debut date the quick time would be the new track record and that time would be set by Lucas Wolfe with a lap of 10.246. The top 13 cars would all turn laps within the 10 second range with only .633 seconds separating first from 13th.
The Qualifying would prove eventful for the two female drivers in the field Jessica Zemken and April Wilson. Zemken would experience engine difficulties and have to change engines over to a 360 cu in rather than the 410 cu in engine she began the night with. April Wilson would scratch for the evening before even taking a lap on the track.
The three heat races were exciting and brought surprises of their own. With everyone transferring to the A Main the need to finish as far up as possible became critical to try to capture one of the 4 remaining dash positions to get in that precious top 10 starting spots of the A.
The first heat race was won by Joey Saldana but not without a hard fight from Australian Sprint Car Champion James McFadden. It would be a hard fought race that Saldana would win with no breathing room. McFadden didn’t have any either as he had 20 time World of Outlaws Champion Steve Kinser on his heels. The first big surprise came on lap 6 of the heat. Cody Darrah and McFadden would get together when McFadden would attempt a poorly timed slide job sending Darrah flipping wildly and coming to rest on the top of the back stretch retaining wall. Darrah would walk away but the car would not be so lucky. With massive front and rear damage the team went to the tree house for the back up. Pulling the back up would mean surrendering Darrah’s Dash spot and relegate him to the last starting spot in the A main. McFadden would somehow never come to a stop and continue on putting him back in the second spot that he was challenging Darrah for at the time of the wreck. When the checkers flew, it would be Joey Saldana holding off McFadden and Kinser but Saldana would hurt the engine on the final restart and have to change engines going into the dash his second such surprise of the day.
The second heat would start 4 time Champion Donny Schatz on the front row with Bill Rose. Schatz would pull to the lead and never look back. He would be challenged late in the heat by points leader Craig Dollansky but would hang on for the win. Finishing in third was Sammy Swindell.
The third heat would be the hardest fought of the heat battles. With Kraig Kinser holding off a hard charging Kerry Madsen and Chad Kemenah. Jessica Zemken would start the heat but would pull off at half way with more engine difficulties.
The Dash inversion draw was an 8. This started Schatz and Kraig Kinser on the front row with Kinser taking the pole. Schatz was on a mission and took the lead going into 3 on lap 2. Kinser would have his hands full with a hard charging Kerry Madsen for the entire 8 laps. Joey Saldana whose engine was changed in time to start the dash would pull off the track before half way with a broken rear end. Schatz would win the Dash to start on the pole and set up one of the hardest fought battles of the year with Kraig Kinser.
The A Main was a 40 lap hold your breath sit on the edge of your seat and yell for your favorite kind of race. Donny Schatz took the early lead but Kraig Kinser wasn’t going quietly. He charged at Schatz from the high side and Schatz held him off. He went to the bottom and slid up on Schatz but Schatz turned back under him. He got side by side. He tried everything short of contact to get around Donny Schatz to no avail. Schatz held on in traffic, on clear race track on the straights in the corners. With 8 laps to go Kerry Madsen would spin in 4 and Sammy Swindell would spin in 2 bringing out the only yellow flag of the evening. But not before Kraig Kinser would do a perfect 360 and drop to 5th. On the restart it would be Schatz and Dollansky with a hungry Steve Kinser in third. The green would be a drag race to 1 with Schatz going to the cushion and Dollansky to the inside Kinser would slide high and challenge Dollansky for the second spot and Dollansky would hold him off. All the while Schatz was getting away. Finally coming out of the 4th turn Steve Kinser pulled a perfect slider onto the straight to pass Dollansky and clear him at the line. The game had just changed. Schatz and his teammate would settle this feature. Who would it be, The King or his 4 time champion teammate. It didn’t take long to find out with 2 laps to go Schatz put a lapped car between he and Kinser and pulled out to a second lead. When the checkers fell Kinser would be just 3 car lengths off his bumper with Dollansky right on his and Sammy Swindell looking to Dollansky’s inside. . After the worst possible night on Saturday, Donny Schatz came back to win the debut appearance at Cornwall with the Outlaws. Shoulder pain is no laughing matter for a race car driver no matter what kind of car you drive but for a sprint car driver it’s twice as difficult. But Donny Schatz was there to win. He had the wing pulled all the way back and he was ready to fly. And fly he did. Schatz won every race he drove tonight and won it in convincing style. Proof that heroes are those among us that do what the rest of us don’t believe can be done no matter how bad it hurts or what the risks are.
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Qualifying Results 1) Lucas Wolfe 10.246 New Track Record, 2) Craig Dollansky, 3) Kerry Madsen, 4) James McFadden, 5) Sammy Swindell, 6) Chad Kemenah, 7) Cody Darrah, 8) Donny Schatz, 9) Kraig Kinser, 10) Joey Saldana 11) Bill Rose, 12) Michael Parent, 13) Steve Kinser, 14) Devin Caron, 15) Kayle Robidoux, 16) Mike Stetler, 17) Lee Ladouceur, 18) Warren Mahoney, 19) Tyler Rand, 20) Curtis Bradshaw, 21) Jessica Zemken No time posted, 22) April Wilson No time posted.
Heat 1 Results: 1) Joey Saldana 2) James McFadden 3) Steve Kinser 4) Lucas Wolfe 5) James Stelter 6) Tyler Rand 7) Cody Darrah
Heat 2 Results: 1) Donny Schatz 2) Craig Dollansky 3) Sammy Swindell 4) Devin Caron 5) Lee Ladourceur 6) Bill Rose 7) Curtis Bradshaw
Heat 3 Results: 1) Kraig Kinser 2) Kerry Madsen 3) Chad Kemenah 4) Michael Parent 5) Warren Mahoney 6) Jessica Zemken 7) Kayle Robidoux
Dash Results: 1) Donny Schatz 2) Kraig Kinser 3) Kerry Madsen 4) Chad Kemenah 5) Lucas Wolfe 6) Craig Dollansky 7) Sammy Swindell 8) James McFadden 9) Bill Rose 10) Joey Saldana
A Main Results: 1) Donny Schatz 2) Steve Kinser 3) Craig Dollansky 4) Sammy Swindell 5) Lucas Wolfe 6) Chad Kemenah 7) Kraig Kinser 8) Joey Saldana 9) Michael Parent 10) Cody Darrah 11) James McFadden 12) Bill Rose 13) Kerry Madsen 14) Lee Ladouceur 15) Devin Caron 16) Jim Stelter 17) Warren Mahoney 18) Tyler Rand 19) Jessica Zemken 20) Kayle Robidoux 21) Curtis Bradshaw
KSE Hardcharger of the Race was Cody Darrah coming from 21st to 10th.
World of Outlaw Points standings as of Cornwall.
| Pos. | Driver | Total | Diff | Wins | Top 5’s | Top 10’s | QT |
| 1 | Craig Dollansky | 6059 | 0 | 6 | 22 | 32 | 8 |
| 2 | Steve Kinser | 6045 | -14 | 3 | 20 | 33 | 0 |
| 3 | Sammy Swindell | 6020 | -39 | 8 | 19 | 30 | 7 |
| 4 | Joey Saldana | 6018 | -41 | 5 | 16 | 32 | 6 |
| 5 | Donny Schatz | 6010 | -49 | 4 | 16 | 35 | 0 |
| 6 | Kraig Kinser | 5912 | -147 | 4 | 16 | 31 | 4 |
| 7 | Cody Darrah | 5633 | -426 | 1 | 13 | 21 | 2 |
| 8 | Kerry Madsen | 5601 | -458 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 1 |
| 9 | Chad Kemenah | 5549 | -510 | 2 | 8 | 21 | 2 |
| 10 | Lucas Wolfe | 5267 | -792 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 1 |
| 11 | Bill Rose | 4816 | -1243 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 12 | Jason Sides | 4006 | -2053 | 0 | 11 | 18 | 0 |
| 13 | Daryn Pittman | 2462 | -3597 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 1 |
| 14 | Danny Lasoski | 2356 | -3703 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| 15 | David Gravel | 2310 | -3749 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 4 |
| 16 | Tim Kaeding | 2301 | -3758 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| 17 | Paul McMahan | 2221 | -3838 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 18 | Jac Haudenschild | 2054 | -4005 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | Austen Wheatley | 1818 | -4241 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 20 | Brad Sweet | 1779 | -4280 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 1 |
Earnhardt Jr. takes point lead but will ‘have to wait until next year’ to win Indianapolis
[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”224″]
[/media-credit]Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to accomplish firsts in the 2012 season. Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway he added another, becoming the point leader for the first time since September of 2004.
Finishing fourth in the Crown Royal presents the Curtiss Shaver 400 at the Brickyard – with Matt Kenseth being caught up in an accident and finishing 35th – the new man on top is the most popular one. The standings now reverse as Earnhardt Jr. holds a 14-point advantage.
Just a month ago he won a points paying race for the first time in four years. With six races before the Chase begins at Chicago, the No. 88 AMP Energy / National Guard team has both momentum and plenty confidence on their side as they look for their first championship. And they firmly believe they can accomplish that feat.
“We were really excited about our car the first run,” said Earnhardt Jr. afterwards. “Happy with how it was driving. Don’t know how fast the leaders were, but I thought the car had excellent speed and drive-ability. We messed with the balance a little bit throughout the race.
“It wasn’t perfect at the end. I think we got the best we could with the car, and the speed we had. I’m happy about that. My teammate got the win. We had a good run. I would like to win here but I’m going to have to wait until next year.”
Before the green flag flew crew chief Steve Letarte felt they could win the race if they played their strategy right. Strategy a recurring theme and race side note as many teams attempted to play the right hand. One that would get them to the front as Earnhardt Jr. needed to starting 20th.
But as they’ve done many times this year the team slowly worked their way towards the front. Knocking down the door to the top 10 and soon the top five, where he remained for the second half of the event. Indianapolis has never been a statistically great track for Earnhardt Jr. but he performs well at the speedway. Something he was plenty confident would happen again on Sunday.
Fourth would be as high as he would get, a career best finish at Indianapolis with teammate Jimmie Johnson dominating the event and appearing untouchable to the competition. Knowing he wasn’t going to gain much, Earnhardt Jr. told himself to stay smooth and bring the car home in once piece.
He was then one of the first to congratulate his teammate on his historic fourth win at the Brickyard.
As he congratulated Johnson many sent some his way as well. September 19, 2004 was the last time he held the point lead. A year that seemed to be shaping up to be Earnhardt Jr.’s He won six races, made the Chase and had his own destiny in his hands.
He let it slip through his fingers late in the Chase. First came a 25 point penalty after uttering a four-letter word in Talladega’s Victory Lane, then a wreck in Atlanta as he tried to take third place. He eventually finished fifth in the standings and hasn’t had a solid Chase since.
But those times are far-gone. Now Earnhardt Jr. leads the series in top 10s and has finished on the lead lap in the last 21 races, dating back to Homestead last November. He’s tied with another teammate, Jeff Gordon, for that record.
Something he holds to himself: having completed every one of the 5,648 laps in the 2012 season. It’s all enough to have Earnhardt Jr. thinking about what could be in terms of the championship, saying he wouldn’t mind having it come down to himself and Johnson.
Pocono next weekend comes first, the newly repaved triangle, which hosted a race earlier this season. As Earnhardt Jr. looks for more wins, something he and many others want, Pocono wouldn’t be a surprise. He led 36 laps on the way to an eighth place finish – a finished considered unacceptable but necessary as the team pitted for fuel instead of taking a gamble.
Those days may have pasted the team says. With a win in the bank, a Chase spot nearly locked up, it’s about maximum points. Speaking before Sunday’s race, Earnhardt Jr. said he was looking forward to heading back to Pocono, where he’s never won before. But his consistency might again lead to another first.
“I’m proud of that because it says a lot about our body of work,” Earnhardt Jr. said about the first 19 races of the season. “All season long we’ve been working hard and finishing well. That is symbolic of how well we’ve done. I’m proud of that.
“I have felt that way about our position in points all season long. We need to win more races. If we want to win the championship, we have to. I imagine we can win a couple races in the Chase. I don’t know if finishing fourth or fifth is going to do it. We’ll just have to see. We’d like to step it up just a little bit more.”
