Suspended NASCAR driver Aaron Fike admitted to reporters this week that he used heroin sometimes on race days. This has led to a nearly unanimous reaction amongst drivers.
The strongest response came from Kevin Harvick, whom Fike raced for in the Nationwide Series for three races in 2006. Harvick says that he never suspected any wrongdoing out of Fike and thinks that there needs to mandatory drug testing for all drivers.
“We haven’t made any headway whatsoever on the drug testing policy. In the 10 years that I’ve raced, I’ve never been drug tested. So to me, that is not a proper professional sports drug policy,” Harvick said.
Harvick also says he knows for sure that he has raced another driver, (who now is suspended for substance abuse), who was under the influence while racing on the track.
The last time that Shane Hmiel got suspended, it was right after he had crashed his race car and some speculated that he was under the influence then.
Other drivers recently suspended for drug use in NASCAR include Kevin Grubb and Tyler Walker.
Mayfield moves on
Jeremy Mayfield can really sympathize with the catch phrase from the show Pinks: “lose your race, lose your ride”.
For the third time in three years, Jeremy Mayfield is looking for a new ride. Hass-CNC and the driver parted ways this past Monday. The #70 Chevy had been just inside the top-35 prior to the Texas race, but a struggle there pushed the team over the safety barrier.
Last year’s driver of the #70, Johnny Sauter, qualified the car for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Texas, on Saturday night. There is no word on if Sauter will remain in the car for the rest of 2008.
More change at Petty
The struggles of the #45 team, including missing the last two races with two drivers, Kyle Petty and Chad McCumbee, have prompted more spins on the perpetual crew chief carousel.
Stewart Cooper, who had been the crew chief of the Nationwide Series #38 Great Clips Toyota, replaces Bill Willburn atop the #45 pit box. Willburn will now head the Petty test team.
Cooper’s first race with the team will not come until Talladega. The team failed to qualify for Phoenix.
McDowell miracle crash makes Aaron’s some money
Rookie driver Michael McDowell’s spectacular, end-over-end qualifying crash at Texas has led to maximum exposure for the previously obscure driver.
McDowell was virtually an unknown outside the racing world, until footage of his crash replayed on news and variety shows nationwide. The crash led appearances on daytime and nighttime talk shows, as well as hundreds of news outlets.
A viewer of This Week in NASCAR on Speed Channel last Monday emailed Michael Waltrip and asked what kind of money the crash meant for McDowell’s sponsor, Aaron’s. Waltrip estimated that the exposure of the Aaron’s logo on so many outlets is worth millions of dollars.
As if the crash wasn’t enough action, McDowell took a ride in a fighter jet later in the week.
Top-35 watch
Texas troubles for the #70 Hass-CNC team bumped them out of the top-35 in owner’s points for the first time this season. The #44 UPS Toyota and driver David Reutimann also could not recover after falling out of the top-35 in Martinsville. Rookie Regan Smith struggled mightily at Texas, but just barely hangs on to a spot in the top-35. Sam Hornish Jr., who fell out of the top-35 last week, raced back in at Texas.
Drivers Dario Franchitti and Kyle Petty failed to make the race, (McCumbee drove Petty’s car), so their teams remain beyond the cutoff. Speaking of Franchitti’s Ganassi teams…
Ganassi fumes over team struggles
On a radio show this past week, Cup owner Chip Ganassi said that if his teams’ struggles continue, there would be major changes. He said this after his driver Dario Franchitti failed to make the Texas.
Besides Reed Sorenson’s top-5 in the Daytona 500, all three Ganassi teams have struggled mightily. Juan Pablo Montoya is the highest ranked Ganassi driver, 19th in the standings. Sorenson is 27th and Franchitti is way back in 38th in the standings.
Because of the lackluster performance of the #41, since its inception in 2002, there are rumors that Target wants to leave the team. Target released a statement denying the rumors.
Georgia boys do the Texas two-step
Again, Unadilla’s David Ragan was the highest finishing Georgia boy in a Cup race. He finished 13th in his #6 AAA Ford. His results have dramatically improved over his sophomore year. He finished 8th in the Nationwide series race at Texas.
Peachtree City’s Reed Sorenson has seen a steady decline in performance since his Daytona 500 run. The #41 Target Dodge finished 24th at Texas.
Dawsonville’s Bill Elliott and the #21 Motorcraft Ford made the Samsung 500, but missing races has hurt the team greatly. He finished seven laps down in 34th.
Signs of expense
At Atlanta Motor Speedway, news broke that Home Depot was willing to relinquish sponsorship for some races on the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy. Subway has decided to fill that void at Phoenix.
The yellow Subway scheme will appear on Stewart’s car at Phoenix this weekend and again at California in August and Talladega in October.
Home Depot has exclusively been the primary sponsor of Stewart in the Sprint Cup Series for ten years. The expense of fully funding a team is obviously large, when a tight-knit sponsor-team relationship as this one is interrupted.
In other sponsorship news, Ford Motor Company sponsors #28 Travis Kvapil and his Yates Racing team at Phoenix this weekend.
For live coverage of the Cup and Nationwide Series at Phoenix, listen to the Bellamy Stirckland 120 with Captain Herb Emory this Saturday, from 2-4 p.m., on News/Talk 750 WSB.
Michael McDowell was virtually unknown in the racing world ????? No , he was virtually unknown by fans and media types who inexplicably only follow one very narrow level of a very big sport . McDowell and his many accomplishments were well known by everyone who realizes that auto racing is much , much , more than NASCAR Cup racing .