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Amanda Speed Juggles Racing Husband and New Motherhood

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: Ashley Wise” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Amanda Speed is not only juggling the role of wife to NASCAR racer Scott Speed, but also being a new mom to their daughter Juliet.

And while she misses being as consistently present at the race track and as involved in Scott’s career, she is enjoying all the challenges of having a little one in the house and, in fact, looking forward to planning for another.

“It has changed everything, let me tell you,” Amanda Speed said. “You think you remember, but you don’t. You can’t even take a shower unless you have her occupied somehow.  But it’s fun.”

“She is not sleeping at night so we’re not getting any sleep,” Speed continued. “She likes to eat a lot so she eats every two hours at night.”

While Speed loves being a new mom, she has indeed missed going to the race track with her husband. Yet, traveling with a baby has brought its own set of challenges.

“Not being able to go to the track as much has also been an adjustment,” Speed said. “I went to Texas earlier this year with her and, man that was a handful.”

“Since we don’t have the motor home anymore, when she took a nap we had to go sit in the car,” Speed continued. “She loves the noise and thinks it’s cool, but it’s just more of a hassle now.”

“Between the plane ride and the time change, it’s just a lot different now that she’s here,” Speed said. “You don’t realize how difficult it is taking her to the track until I did it.”

As if the Speed family did not have enough stress in their lives, they also recently moved to another home, closer to family.

“That was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done,” Speed said. “We’ve been looking to move closer to family and found the deal we wanted.”

“So, we ended up moving,” Speed continued. “Jules cannot crawl yet and I’m glad she can’t, especially as we moved.”

“I don’t recommend moving with a baby to anyone.”

Although Juliet is Amanda and Scott’s first child together, Amanda is also mom to son Rex. And she admits that she couldn’t handle new motherhood without the help of Juliet’s big brother.

“Rex loves being a big brother,” Speed said. “If I need help, he is like taken her under his wing. He is so good with her I can’t even explain.”

While Rex may be the doting big brother, husband Scott has definitely embraced the new daddy role as well.

“It was funny because when I was pregnant, Scott was always real squeamish,” Amanda Speed said. “He loved me being pregnant but he thought he would be the one passing out during the birth. But he pulled her out and changed her first diaper.”

“This morning she looked at him and said ‘Da da’ and he just melted,” Speed said. “When she can really start talking and say ‘I want, I want’, we’re going to be really broke.  He won’t be able to say ‘no.’

“He’s a big kid too,” Speed continued. “I always say I have three kids.”

While keeping extremely busy juggling the new home and the new baby, Amanda Speed has also tried to stay as involved as possible in husband Scott’s racing career. And she admits that has had many ups and downs, from the not so easy parting of the ways with Red Bull Racing to now running part-time with Leavine Family Racing in the No. 95 race car.

“I try to be involved as much as we can,” Speed said. “We have more people helping us now but I still do his schedule and communicate with the team.”

“In the beginning, it was hard,” Speed continued. “Running part-time and with a new team, there’s a lot of unknowns and a lot of ‘what ifs’.”

“But they have figured each other out and are running really well now together,” Speed said. “Things are much better now.”

“The team believes in him and he believes in the team,” Speed continued. “It was definitely a struggle at first but now things are starting to click. Everyone is excited and pumped up every weekend.”

The couple has also learned many lessons together as they have endured the ups and downs of NASCAR racing. They have a sense of closure now that the Red Bull lawsuit has been settled and is in their rear view mirror.

“Obviously we can’t go into detail about that, but the fact that the lawsuit was closed gave Scott closure,” Speed said. “That’s what he needed because he was pretty pissed off at the way it ended.”

“But in the end, they came to terms with each other and that brought a ton of closure and a weight off his shoulders,” Speed continued. “The whole process wore on both of us, so much. It was the most difficult thing we’ve gone through together for sure.”

“We’ve learned you can never fully put your trust in anyone, so you have to just back each other,” Speed continued. “Scott and I are our own best friends.”

“Certain friends we have had out there, we also didn’t expect the things to have happened that have happened,” Speed said. “So, I guess to say to just trust and believe in each other and not put your trust in anyone else is the biggest lesson learned.”

While Amanda Speed has been taking it one day at a time with juggling her role as racing wife and new mom, she also is very much looking forward to the future, personally and from a racing perspective.

“In my crystal ball, we are getting pregnant again quickly,” Speed said. “If it were up to Scott, he would probably be pregnant right now and have a whole litter.”

“And I’m pretty sure things are going better with the team and I hope we can find more sponsorship to run more races,” Speed continued. “This team really, really wants to run the whole season.”

“So, hopefully the crystal ball brings sponsorship and a full season of racing.”

“We’re in a good place right now,” Speed said. “Everyone believes in each other right now.”

“It’s good that Scott’s getting his fire back in his belly,” Speed continued. “He felt like he lost a lot of that and he’s up for proving himself again.”

“So, hopefully we’ll be back racing competitively and have lots of children around us.”

As Amanda Speed continues her juggling act, she has just a few words for the Amanda and Scott Speed fans.

“I’d like to say thank you for supporting us, especially through everything we’ve been through,” Speed said. “There are some die-hard fans and they still believe in us.”

“Thanks for sticking with us and for understanding us.”

Roulo Teammates Battle For Bill France Four Crown Award

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”ARCARacing.com” align=”alignright” width=”345″][/media-credit]While everybody wants to win the overall ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards points championship, there’s also another award that every drivers wants and that’s the Bill France Four Crown Award.

The Bill France Four Crown Award is a four-race series that comprises of a superspeedway (Michigan International Speedway), a road course (New Jersey Motorsports Park), a dirt oval (Illinois State Fairgrounds) and a short track (Salem Speedway). The driver who earns the most points in those four races is crowned the Bill France Four Crown Award winner.

So far this year two races down out of the four, Roulo Brothers Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Brandon Davis lead the standings.  Both teammates posted top five finishes at Michigan before finishing third and fourth at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

“It was a lot of fun,” Buescher said after New Jersey. “The Roulo Brothers did a nice job, coming home third and fourth with Brandon. It was a lot of fun racing with him. I knew he’d be really quick there. I always love coming to New Jersey. Each year, it’s something different. It’s like the dirt. We get to break it up and try something different. You know, we ran really well again. We’ve had good runs every year.”

Buescher now leads with 390 points while Davis has 365 points. Frank Kimmel sits third with 340 points while Alex Bowman is fourth with 335 points. Buescher likes his chances moving forward as he says they’ve got some good cars ready for the next two races.

“We’ve got a good piece for Iowa and Brandon is going to come run with us as well, at the first two of those,” Buescher says. “I’m looking forward to them. We’ll be really competitive at all three. I’ll take this off week and try to relax and catch up a little bit and go enjoy the Fourth of July.”

Meanwhile, Davis is riding a wave of momentum as he posted a career-high fifth-place at Michigan before posting a fourth on Sunday at New Jersey. It was a hard fought finish for Davis with how hot it was on Sunday.

“It got real hot,” he said. “My feet were burning and it was kind of hard to see straight there. These guys made a call, and it didn’t quite work out. We had too many yellows for it to work, but that’s racing and we took a shot at it. It was a good day. Obviously, we would have liked to come away with a win. It didn’t work out and we’ll move on to the next one.”

The race also meant for a late race battle with teammate Buescher as Buescher passed him with five laps to go, though Davis couldn’t find a way back by him.

“Chris was coming hard,” Davis said. “They told me he was on fresh tires and I tried to hold him off as long as I could. These cars, you just work so much and I gave everything I had left but he was able to go past me. He’s a great teammate. I’m happy for him and I know he’s got to be close to the points lead. Overall, it’s a good day.”

Richard Petty Motorsports Nationwide Race Preview – Daytona

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Bobby Labonte, JTG Daugherty Racing, Daytona International Speedway Preview

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SRT Motorsports – Nationwide Advance – Daytona

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TMone Outsources Company’s Marketing to Tommy Baldwin Racing at Daytona to Promote American Call Centers

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Aric Almirola looks for success at Daytona with the Air Force

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll” align=”alignright” width=”296″][/media-credit]July 4th marks an important day as it is Independence Day, and in typical NASCAR tradition, NASCAR is headed to Daytona International Speedway. In celebration, NASCAR has embarked on an initiative called NASCAR Unites an American Initiative. One of the drivers taking part is Tampa, Florida native Aric Almirola, who will be running a U.S. Air Force paint scheme on his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford.

“It always means a lot to me whether it’s 4th of July weekend or any other weekend, to represent the U.S. Air Force,” he says. “It’s a big deal to represent our military and to basically represent the people that fight for our freedom on a daily basis.  So, you know, it means a lot to me to represent them.”

Almirola grew up on an Air Force base as he was born in Elgin Air Force base.

“I realize and know the sacrifices that the families make for us to be free and to live in a free country.  So it means a lot to me to be able to represent them and drive the U.S. Air Force car,” he adds. “Last time I drove the Air Force car, we qualified on the pole for the Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte for the Coke 600.  So hopefully we can carry that momentum into this weekend, and we’ll go down to Daytona and have a good weekend.”

The sponsorship with the Air Force has allowed Almirola to see the similarities between the Air Force and NASCAR. He says in speaking with the pilots, he sees all of the trust that they put into the mechanics that build the airplanes and make them safe.

“They’re putting their lives in other people’s hands to make sure the plane or the jet is put together properly and maintenance properly and all that stuff,” he says. “It’s a team effort.  It’s more than just a pilot.  And that’s kind of the same thing that we have in NASCAR.

“I get in the race car, and it’s my name above the door, but there is a lot that goes on that has to happen correctly for us to go out and perform and perform at a high level.  So without good people, good results don’t come. You have to have people you trust and are willing to work hard and to sacrifice time with their families and stuff like that to put a good product on the racetrack.”

So far this year, Almirola sits 22nd in points with one pole and two top 10 finishes this season. The last restrictor plate race at Talladega Superspeedway marked Almirola’s first race of the season with Mike Ford as his crew chief.

“The last couple of weeks we haven’t gotten the result we’re looking for, but everything leading up to that has been great,” he says. “Working with Mike has been really great.  Mike’s a great crew chief and a great leader, and he’s really smart.”

In the last four weeks, Almirola only has one finish in the top 20 with a 17th place finish at Michigan. The reason has been is that they’ve been trying some new things to try and get better, without having much success.

“Sometimes it’s not fun to run bad, but sometimes you learn kind of what not to do,” he comments. “So the last couple of weeks we’ve learned that and I feel like since he’s come on board at Richard Petty Motorsports our organization as a whole has gotten better — not just the 43, but I feel like the 9’s performance has gotten better too.  I really enjoy working with him.  His experience has helped me a lot.  He helps me a lot more than just being a crew chief.”

Almirola adds that he is leaning on Ford’s experience with showing up to some of the tracks for the first time in a Sprint Cup Series car and not knowing what to expect.

“I think as we build our notebook together and go back to racetracks together, and I’ll get to go back to a racetrack for a second time, I think we’ll be a lot better,” he continues. “Right now we just kind of feel like we’re filling our notebook with notes.  Some are good notes, some are bad notes, but you need notes.  Right now every time we show up to a racetrack, we have a blank sheet of paper.”

When they return to the race tracks, not only will they have notes to look back on, but Almirola says he’ll have a better understanding of the track.

“When I go out to practice, rather than learning the racetrack, I will already know the racetrack, but I’ll be working on my race car to figure out what I need to go fast,” he says. “That will be the biggest difference is just going back to these racetracks for a second time.  When I get on the racetrack, I know what I’m looking for.”

This weekend marks the 17th race of the season and Almirola says he is more comfortable now than at the beginning of the year.

“I feel like I show up to the racetrack every weekend, and I know when I walk over to that 43 car, that’s my car, and my group of guys,” he says. “It’s a lot different than what it was at the beginning of the year. In the beginning of the year I was just trying to learn the guys’ names and figure out each week when we show up to the racetrack what to expect.  I feel like I have a lot better understanding of that now.”

Now moving forward, the next thing Almirola wants to do is win a race and put up a good performance. Almirola says he has good moments, such as the pole at Charlotte, and he hopes to have more of those, though he knows it’s not easy to keep doing it

“I didn’t expect to come Cup racing and beat Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards and those guys every weekend,” he says. “I knew it was going to be tough, and I had a lot to learn, and I still do.  I feel like I was right.  It is tough.  It’s extremely hard, extremely competitive.”

NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Kentucky

By
Jeffrey Boswell
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[media-credit name=”Brian Douglas” align=”alignright” width=”237″][/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson led 21 laps at Kentucky and finished sixth in the Quaker State 400, as Hendrick Motorsports drivers claimed four of the top six positions, led by Kasey Kahne’s second. Johnson is now third in the Sprint Cup point standings, 23 out of first.

“Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge was the car to beat,” Johnson said. “Would I go so far as to say Keselowski is a legitimate threat for the championship? Let me put it this way: despite my five Sprint Cup championships, I don’t necessarily ‘champion’ that belief.

“Try as we might, no Hendrick cars could catch Brad Keselowski. He was just too fast, and beat the field by such a margin that he was able to Tweet his win before it happened, which is the perfect argument for banning texting while driving.”

2. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth, who announced his departure from Roush Fenway Racing last week, posted a seventh in the Quaker State 400, his 12th top 10 of the year. He remained on top of the point standings with an 11-point lead over Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

“Jack Roush said he wished he had done more to keep me at Roush Fenway,” Kenseth said. “But Carl Edwards did plenty to make me want to leave. Anyway, the money was just too good not to leave. You could say I was ‘high-Jacked.’

“I’ve won only one Sprint Cup title with Roush. I felt I could reach my full potential at another team. So, this was not a case of good riddance, but a case of great riddance.”

3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt surged closer to the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings with a fourth at Kentucky, his seventh top-5 result of the year. He now trails points leader Matt Kenseth by 11.

“I’ve moved on from Michigan,” Earnhardt said. “That’s more than I can say for Junior Nation—some of them are still camped out in the MIS infield.

“But thank goodness I finally got that elusive win out of the way. A win is much like a flask of warm liquor secreted away in an Earnhardt fan’s waistband: it’s good to know I’ve got one under my belt.”

4. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin led 58 laps at Kentucky, and was chasing Brad Keselowski to the finish before an uncertain fuel situation forced him to lay off the throttle. He still finished third, his eighth top-5 finish of the year, and is fifth in the point standings, 68 out of first.

“As you know,” Hamlin said, “I announced my contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing on Twitter just before Saturday’s race. So, literally and figuratively, no one ‘heard’ it.”

5. Tony Stewart: Stewart’s electronic fuel injection failed just 28 laps in on Saturday night’s race, forcing his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil Chevy to the garage. He eventually finished 32nd, 36 laps down, and tumbled four places to ninth in the point standings.

“Saturday also saw another run-in between Ryan Newman and Joey Logano,” Stewart said. “My money’s on Newman, not only because he’s my teammate, but also because his neck is thicker than Logano’s waist. Ryan’s college-educated, so he’s more than able to knock some sense into Logano. Let’s just call Ryan ‘The Intimidator,’ because Logano’s too young to know the real one.”

6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski, forced to a backup car, took charge late in the Quaker State 400 and ran away to a convincing victory, his series-best third of the year. Keselowski’s No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge was wrecked by Juan Montoya in Friday’s practice, forcing his team to scramble to prepare the backup.

“Before I could say ‘That’s three,’” Keselowski said, “I had to say ‘That’s Juan.’ Montoya obviously mistook me for a jet dryer. He drive’s like I’ve got ‘Target’ on my car.”

7. Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished 11th at Kentucky as his winless season continued. He is fifth in the Sprint Cup point standings, but has only three top-5 finishes on the year.

“Richard Childress Racing is struggling so far this year,” Harvick said. “Will an RCR driver play a role in the Chase? It’s doubtful. This year, it seems you can’t spell ‘irrelevant’ without ‘RCR.’

“That begs the question: how does an RCR driver make an impact in the Chase? He leaves the team. That’s a Clint Bowyer joke, but, as they say, the jokes on us.”

8. Greg Biffle: Biffle had a top-10 finish in his sights before a late green-flag pit stop relegated him to a finish of 21st. He fell two places to fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, and is now 25 out of first.

“I spent a lot of time atop the point standings,” Biffle said. “But I’ve found it’s hard to stay there. I, much like Card Edwards on Saturday, found that you can’t ‘coast’ to victory. With Matt Kenseth’s impending departure and Edwards’ struggled, it seems we have two ‘lame ducks’ at Roush Fenway.”

9. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex posted his ninth top-10 finish of the year, coming home eighth in the Quaker State 400. He is now eighth in the point standings, 77 out of first.

“Michael Waltrip really wanted a win in Kentucky,” Truex said. “Waltrip is a lot like Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari. He’s a great recruiter, and he finances his own team.”

10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished 16th in the Quaker State 400, ending a streak of four consecutive top-10 results. He remained seventh in the point standings, 76 out of first.

“The No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota was good,” Bowyer said, “but not good enough. Last year at Kentucky, fans needed ‘five hours of energy’ just to leave the track.”

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