Hermie Sadler Returns to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Martinsville
Mooresville, NC (March 30, 2011) – Hermie Sadler, an Emporia, Virginia native, will be back behind the wheel of the No. 71 Eco Fuel Saver Chevrolet in this weekend’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500. This will mark Sadler’s 11th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway and his second start for TRG Motorsports.
“I had a lot of fun running for TRG Motorsports last fall at Martinsville,” said Sadler. “Kevin Buckler asked me if I would be willing to do it again, and I jumped at the chance. It’s always fun to get back behind the wheel and it’s an added bonus to do it at Martinsville Speedway, a track that is close to home. It means so much to me to be able to race at one of my favorite tracks in front of my hometown fans. I am truly appreciative of the opportunity.”
Sadler, who will be making his 61st career start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, has one prior start in the No. 71 machine for TRG Motorsports. The 41-year-old driver piloted the Kevin Buckler owned Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway in October 2010, bringing home a 26th-place finish, a career best for Sadler and the TRG Motorsports team at the 0.526-mile oval.
“We are excited to have Hermie back behind the wheel of the No. 71 for TRG Motorsports,” said TRG Motorsports owner, Kevin Buckler. “He did a great job for us last year at Martinsville finishing a strong 26th and helping with our points hunt. I wanted to give him the chance to race in front of his home fans again. He is a strong short track racer that knows this place well. I feel confident in his abilities and know he is capable of helping us get a good finish here.”
Live coverage of the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 from Martinsville Speedway will be televised on FOX, Sunday, April 3 beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET and will also be broadcast worldwide on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the sixth event on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule is slated for Saturday, April 2 at 12:00 p.m. ET on SPEED.
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TRG is a full-service motorsports company offering a total driver ladder approach. This approach starts with track days, goes to club events, up into street stock series and culminates in the ultimate goal of professional motorsports. With sports car focused facilities in Petaluma, California (Infineon Raceway) and Mooresville, North Carolina, the team can offer turn-key support as well as arrive-and-drive programs.
The company’s NASCAR operations are headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina. The team fields a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry and has the capacity to run ARCA, Nationwide and the Camping World Truck Series.
The Racer’s Group was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of motor racing. The team boasts Rolex Series GT championships in 2005 and 2006 and holds the record for the most wins in Grand-Am with 32. The team’s resume is highlighted by five championships, four Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona victories and a Le Mans 24 Hour win.
Detailed team info can be viewed at www.trgmotorsports.com and www.theracersgroup.com.
David Ragan: Record Setter, Shriner and Driver in Search of a Good Finish
Driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford for Roush Fenway Racing David Ragan is a man of many talents, from setting a world record to pursuing the status of Mason and supporting the Shriners Hospitals for Children.
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[/media-credit]But most of all, Ragan is a driver in search of a good finish, one that seems to be so elusive early in his 2011 NASCAR Cup season. Yet in spite of that, he is managing to not only keep the faith, but keep it all in perspective.
Two weeks ago after the race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ragan had the distinction of breaking a world record on the very track on which he had competed in the Cup Series. Ragan scored the fastest lap for a passenger car around the world’s fastest half-mile race track.
Behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang GT 5.0, Ragan scored the fastest time ever at 19.481 seconds, with a speed of 98.497 mph.
“I drove the production Mustang and we broke the world half mile speed record,” Ragan said. “It was pretty cool.”
In addition to being a world record setter, Ragan has also devoted himself to supporting the causes of the Shriners, especially the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Ragan has supported this as his charity of choice since 2008.
Ragan took time out of his hectic schedule prior to the racing at Auto Club Speedway this past weekend to visit the Shriners Hospital for Children in Los Angeles. Ragan toured the facility and also had plenty of time to interact with some of the children recuperating at the hospital.
“Anytime we get to visit a hospital, that’s cool,” Ragan said. “We get to meet a lot of the patients and the families and the whole staff. It’s neat to show them our support.”
“Some of the kids had bandages or prosthetic arms,” Ragan shared. “Just to spend a little bit of time with them was awesome.”
Ragan also has his sights set on becoming a Shriner himself. He has currently completed the first degree of Masonry.
“My uncle is a Shriner and we are close friends with many Shriners,” Ragan said. “The Shriners have just stood out, especially with their treatment of kids for free of charge. It’s just a really good group of people who are passionate about what they do.”
Most of all, however, David Ragan is in search of a good finish to a race in this 2011 season. It all started at the first race of the season, the Daytona 500, where Ragan was black-flagged for changing lanes before crossing the start/finish line during a second green, white, checkered finish.
After serving the stop and go penalty, Ragan restarted 15th and could only rally his car to finish 14th.
At the second race in Phoenix, Ragan again had a fast race car, with the third fastest time in practice and qualifying 11th. The driver first got caught up in a wreck and, after recovering from that, blew a tire and hit the wall, ending his day with a 36th place finish.
At the season’s third race at Vegas, Ragan was once again fast in practice, in fact second fastest. When it came time to qualify, however, Ragan spun on his time trial run, relegating him to start the race from the rear of the field.
Ragan battled a loose race car throughout, ending the race in the 22nd position.
Ragan qualified fifth for the next race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Believing that this was finally a track where he could rebound, the driver was definitely looking forward to a decent finish.
Alas, it was not to be yet again. Tire troubles plagued all of the teams at Bristol, including Ragan’s, who struggled mightily on the new tires.
The UPS Ford team finished the competition at ‘Thunder Valley’ in the 16th spot.
This weekend, buoyed by his visit to the Shriners Hospital for Children, Ragan was ready to take on the big, wide track at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Ragan had a great qualifying run, scoring sixth in the time trials.
Ragan also won final practice and looked to be poised for that elusive good finish. His team kept tuning on his car, yet it kept vacillating between too tight and too loose conditions.
“We just made adjustment after adjustment and never could make it right,” Ragan said. “There at the long part of the race when we had some clean traffic, we were trying to tighten the car up because it was too free.”
“Then when we got into traffic during those last few restarts with all the dirty air, our UPS Ford just got too tight,” Ragan continued. “You know, me and Drew (Blickensderfer) and our team engineer have just got to sit down and take a look at the adjustments we made and see where we can make it better.”
“I think we had an opportunity to finish better than we did.”
David Ragan, record setter, Shriner and driver in search of a good finish plans to take his quest next to the short track in Martinsville. Yet he is still managing to stay upbeat, keeping it all in perspective, especially after his visit to the Shriners Hospital.
“We often think our lives are hard and we have a lot of pressure on us to win races or to make up points, but then you see an eight year old girl who was in a fire and half of her body is burned and she doesn’t have an arm,” Ragan said. “And yet she is there and she is recovering.”
“That puts things in perspective.”
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Fontana
Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
1. Kyle Busch: Busch led 151 of 200 laps at Fontana, but couldn’t hold off the late charges of Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick. Johnson passed Busch with two laps to go, while Harvick slid by the No. 18 Toyota a lap later. Busch finished third, narrowly missing another weekend sweep after taking the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Bristol a week earlier.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t win,” Busch said, “but I can’t complain about a finish. Nor can Denny Hamlin, because he didn’t have one to complain about. I’ll send Denny my condolences via Federal Express, to his new address at the corner of Start and Park. But it’s concerning when engine woes become engine ‘whoa’s.’ Apparently, the engine shop has some bugs to work out. Fans of AMC’s infamous 1970’s subcompact car will be thrilled to hear this, but it seems that Toyota is now making Gremlins.”
I led ¾ of Sunday’s race, so, for 151 laps, I did what everyone expects of Kyle Busch, and that’s to ‘show my behind.’ That’s called giving the rest of the field a view of the ‘tail end of the lap leader.’”
2. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished sixth in the Auto Club 400, posting his fourth top-10 result of the year. It was a solid finish for Edwards, albeit a disappointing one at a track on which he’s consistently been competitive, and gave him the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings. Edwards leads Ryan Newman by nine points.
“Kevin Harvick wasted no time in passing Jimmie Johnson,” Edwards said. “I hear they’re calling it ‘The Pass.’ And, they’re calling my failure to overtake Kyle Busch at Bristol ‘The Passive.’”
I still regret not pushing Kyle a little harder at Bristol. Next time, I won’t ‘beat around the Busch.’ I’ve learned a hard lesson in complacence. Next time, when Carl Edwards ‘sees’ an opportunity, Carl Edwards will ‘seize’ that opportunity.”
3. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson overtook Kyle Busch on lap 199 in the Auto Club 500, only to see Kevin Harvick slip by on the final turn, stealing the win from Johnson, who had won five times previously at Fontana. Johnson’s runner-up finish advanced him two spots in the Sprint Cup point standings to fifth, 14 points behind Carl Edwards.
“I guess Jimmy John’s does deliver,” Johnson said, “because I got ‘served’ by Kevin Harvick in the No. 29 Jimmy John’s Chevy. Harvick gave me something to think about, so I guess that makes it ‘food for thought.’ I wonder if he accepts tips. If he does, I’ve got one for him: It happens, but it won’t happen again.”
But does a last-lap pass make Harvick a contender for the Cup? Not in my eyes. I’ve got five Cup titles propping me up. My lovely wife has one ‘ring’ finger; I’ve got five. My three biggest rivals, Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards, have none. So, until something changes, I’m playing ‘ring around the posers.’ If they want to prove something to me, then they should improve.”
I’ve got the field right where I want them. I’m fifth in the standings, and you know how my competitors hate to hear the words ‘fifth’ and ‘Jimmie Johnson’ used together.”
4. Kevin Harvick: In fifth with nine laps remaining, Harvick blasted to the front in the final two laps, gaining Jimmie Johnson’s bumper before sling-shotting by the No. 48 in turn 4. Harvick posted his first win of the year, beating Johnson by a .144 margin.
“I hope this win reaffirms my commitment to dethroning the five-time defending champion,” Harvick said. “I’d like to think I’m seen as a legitimate threat, and I hope that when the No. 29 Chevrolet with ‘Jimmy John’s’ on the hood appeared in Jimmie Johnson’s rear-view mirror, he saw a little bit of ‘himself’ out there.”
5. Ryan Newman: Newman finished fifth at Fontana, posting his third top-5 and fourth top-10 result of the year, as the Stewart-Haas Racing duo was again strong. Teammate Tony Stewart finished 13th after spending much of the day in the top 10. Newman moved up two spots to second in the point standings, and trails Carl Edwards by only 9.
“I think Stewart-Haas may be the strongest team in NASCAR right now,” Newman said. “Tony and I are talented drivers, and we’re not afraid to say or do whatever necessary to get our point across. You could say Tony and I have and make a formidable pair. And my engineering degree from Purdue University makes me the ‘dynamic’ of the ‘dynamic duo.’ As for Tony, he adamantly disavows any accusations that he’s ever matriculated in his life.”
6. Kurt Busch: Busch started 23rd in the Auto Club 500 and gained little ground throughout the duration of the race. The No. 22 Dodge, bearing Auto Club sponsorship, started tight, and the “Double Deuce” never found a remedy despite multiple adjustments. Busch fell from the lead in the point standings to third, ten points behind Carl Edwards.
“We were stuck in the middle of the pack all day,” Busch said. “Had we been sporting our usual sponsors and paint schemes, it would have been fitting to call us ‘Shell stationary.’”
But leads in the point standings this early in the season can be fleeting. Of all people, I should know. As a veteran of cosmetic surgery, I can tell you that some things are ‘ear today and gone tomorrow.’ And that’s no joke. Trust me, I know importance of being earnest. However, I don’t know the importance of being ear-less, but I do know the importance of having less ear.”
7. Tony Stewart: Stewart ran among the leaders all day at Fontana, chasing front-runner Kyle Busch, who led 151 laps, for much of the race. However, after the final restart, Stewart’s No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet faded, and he finished a disappointing 13th. He dropped two spots in the point standings to sixth, 17 out of first.
“We’ve been fast all year,” Stewart said. “We’ve led laps, and we’ve made the right pit calls. We’ve done everything but win. Someone once said, or some someone once misquoted me in Rolling Stone as saying, “Racing is a lot like a visit to the massage parlor—it’s a lot better when there’s a happy ending.”
8. Paul Menard: Menard scrambled to a 16th-place finish in the Auto Club 400, with tight handling conditions spoiling his chances for a result in the top 10. Menard’s No. 27 Serta/Menard’s Chevrolet stood in ninth for a restart with about 25 laps remaining, but quickly dropped to 16th as the handling deserted him. He fell further back before the race’s last restart,
“Despite a lackluster finish,” Menard said, “I’m still proud of my position in the Sprint Cup point standings. I don’t think anyone expected me to be seventh in the points after five races. And, with Serta sponsorship on my car, you could say I’m a real ‘sleeper.’ Apparently, it was enough to wake up my RCR teammates, who’ve been sleeping on the job.”
9. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished fourth in the Auto Club 400, registering his second top-5 result of the year. He’s charged back from a slow start to the season with two consecutive 4th-place finishes, and is now 10th in the point standings, 30 out of first.
“Carl Edwards has assumed the Sprint Cup points lead,” Kenseth said. “He’s become the unquestioned leader of Roush Fenway Racing, but that doesn’t mean his teammates like it. I like to say he’s the ‘face’ and the ‘ass’ of Roush Fenway.”
Now, as NASCAR’s unofficial spokesman for bland and boring, and the lead singer of the Mötley Crüe cover band ‘Mätt-ley Crüe, a band known for the hit ‘Mild Side,’ I’m compelled to comment on Sunday’s race. It was 197 laps of low drama, followed by three laps of melodrama. For the first 197 laps, the Auto Club 400 should have been called the ‘Auto Pilot 400.’”
10. Kasey Kahne: Kahne posted his third top-10 finish of the year with a ninth at Fontana, backing up an identical ninth at Bristol a week earlier. After a 25th at Daytona, Kahne hasn’t finished outside the top 15, and is now 11th in the points, 30 out of first.
“I guess it’s true what they say,” Kahne said. “Red Bull does give you wings, because I’ll be taking flight from Red Bull to Hendrick Motorsports at season’s end. It’s common knowledge that when I sign a contract, it’s often scored by the sound of the Beatles ‘Hello Goodbye’ playing in the background.”
NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: DALE JR IS A DIE HARD ‘GAMER’ BUT DON’T ASK HIM TO JOIN YOU ON THE ‘SOCIAL NETWORK’
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[/media-credit]For many years now it’s been generally well known that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a “gamer,” or an avid player of video games. In past interviews he’s admitted to often sitting up much of the night honing his expertise with just about any video game on the market.
One would think that Earnhardt’s love of this high tech recreational age would include hanging out with his friends on modern day so called “social networks.” It doesn’t. Believe it or not NASCAR’s most popular driver isn’t that fond of the concept and has actually declined opening a “Twitter” account.
During a recent interview, conducted prior to the start of the NASCAR weekend at the California based Auto Club Speedway, Earnhardt answered the usual questions regarding all aspects of his Hendrick Motorsports racing team. Somehow the topic of video games worked it’s way into the conversation. Earnhardt is one of the Sprint Cup celebrities included in the new racing game “NASCAR, The Video Game 2011.”
“NASCAR: The Video Game 2011” is the first edition of the NASCAR racing simulator series developed by Eutechnyx and published by Activision. It was released for Playstation and Xbox 360 units last March 29th and will be released for Wii machines on May 24th. It will be the first NASCAR game released since the contract between EA Sports and NASCAR expired. The new game will feature on line races for 16 players. All of the 23 Sprint Cup Series race tracks will be featured in the game. 43 Sprint Cup drivers have been added to the game as well as some other drivers from the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series.
When asked for his impression of the new video game and what characteristics did they use for his race team, Earnhardt surprisingly said “I don’t know, I haven’t tried it. I don’t have my copy yet. I’m waiting on those guys to tell me where I can go buy it.”
It seemed a little amazing that Earnhardt would even have to purchase a copy of the new video game especially with his image included in it. Responding to that, he said “well, I was not going to assume that I was going to get a free one but if they wish to send me one, I’ll be glad to try it. I enjoy those kind of things and I’ve got some friends that work at the company in Europe that made it and I was pretty excited to see it. I’m a big longtime EA Sports fan, but I was excited to see a new developer get an opportunity to try the game and try their hand at NASCAR and see what kind of product we could get out there. Hopefully the fans really enjoy it. I’m excited to be a part of it in any way possible. It’s one of my favorite hobbies and I look forward to seeing the job they did.”
As much as Earnhardt Jr. is up for the challenge of a video game, he never has really developed an appreciation of the so called “social networks” that is the electronic rave these days. Most of his NASCAR contemporaries have “Twitter” accounts and spend a lot of time sending and receiving instant messages.
When asked why the leader of the “Junior nation” chose not to participate in the “Twitter nation” Earnhardt said “I used to have a My Space Dot Com page and I used to have a “Face Book Dot Com” page; I don’t anymore because it was just too much responsibility. I felt like you had to plug in and be involved with it so much and I just thought that personally I don’t need to do it. I understand it and we utilize the business side of it and it works for JR Motorsports and it helps us there. But, personally, it would be fun for about a month and then I would start to feel like it was a job, where people expected me to do it. I’ve had some other drivers tell me that some of the people aren’t too nice about it. (Laughing) So that part of it, why do I need to put up with it anyway? But, if I don’t have to put up with it, why do I want to bring that into my life?”
That’s a perfectly logical reason when you’re NASCAR’s most popular driver and you practically live your life in a fish bowl. Despite that Earnhardt hasn’t one hundred percent ruled out using the social network. “I think never say never, but with my experience with “My Space” and “Facebook”, which worked great, I ended up in the end going this isn’t necessary for me. It was fun trying to be cool, and creating your page and being the hipster that you thought you were, but in the end, I needed to get outside and I just needed to get rid of it. It just wasn’t for me, I guess,” he said.
Can you imagine the “Twitter” followers this man would accumulate in a short amount of time if he did open an account?
By the way, attention Activision, send this man a copy of your new video game. If he likes it, and he probably will, then he will become the best thing that has ever happened to your marketing plan.
