After winning the Southern 500 at Darlington the other week, Jimmie Johnson backed it up and bounced back with a vengeance after he won the NASCAR All Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway along with another $1 million prize!

All that means that the other contenders on the Sprint Cup circuit have to be concerned about his prowess. [...]]]>

After winning the Southern 500 at Darlington the other week, Jimmie Johnson backed it up and bounced back with a vengeance after he won the NASCAR All Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway along with another $1 million prize!

All that means that the other contenders on the Sprint Cup circuit have to be concerned about his prowess. Also, the “Anybody But Jimmie” crowd better watch out because this could all be the beginning of hot streak for the former off-road driver from the left coast.

The All Star win was the results of some careful strategy between himself and crew chief Chad Knaus who made adjustments turned out to be the right combination. He ended up leading the last ten laps. Second place went to Brad Keselowski who got the leftovers.  Other notables worth mentioning saw Earnhardt, Jr., finish fifth, Kurt Busch eighth and Jeff Gordon 15th. Kyle Busch was the pole winner.

A night earlier, Justin Loftin won the Camping World Truck race beating Keselowski and Todd Bodine for the top three. Lofton leads the division’s point chase, and It was his first visit to Victory Lane. The NASCAR Nationwide Series was performing at the Iowa Speedway where Rick Stenhouse, Jr., won that one, while Danica Patrick crashed after a good qualifying run.

Elsewhere, Ryan Briscoe won the Indy 500 pole at IMS for team owner Roger Penske. Steve Kinser won the World of Outlaw race at Orange County Speedway in NY. Bobby Santos of Franklin passed up the Valenti Modified Racing Series event at Connecticut’s Thompson International Speedway. Instead, he raced at the Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indy where he won the USAC Silver Crown feature event. Alan Johnson won the Pro Stock final at the Topeka Dragway in Kansas during the NHRA Full Throttle National. In the opening round of the AMA National MotoX Series in Sacramento, CA, Bubba Stewart ran away with that event.

With major cutbacks hitting the Pentagon from Congress, all of the US military sponsorships could go “bye bye”, say those in the know. Andretti Racing, a pillar of the IZOD Indy Car Series, is said to be looking very carefully at fielding a NASCAR team with Dodge power and livery for the 2013 season.

Are the NASCAR Sprint Cup races too long?  Rhode Island born Humpy Wheeler, former President of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, thinks so. “I’ve promoted many of the Coca Cola 600′s over the years, and I think that many of the NASCAR Sprint Cup races need to have the distances pared,” he said on the Speed Channel.  Larry McReynolds and Robin Miller, Speed’s resident experts, concur. It wasn’t that long ago that JR said that these long races have to be shortened up.

McReynolds was also vocal about the the top 35 point finishers locking in guaranteed starts the following season. “It has to be looked at.”

Our lead paragraph in last week’s column got the attention of the Speed Network front office. PR rep for that cable channel, Erik Arneson, gave his explanation of what happened following Speed’s broadcast of the F1 GP from Barcelona Spain when the channel  began airing a Premier Soccer game. It also pre-empted the post race press interview of the top three finishers which has always been a tradition of Speed’s F1 telecasts.

That event, coupled with all the rumors of the Speed Channel becoming an all sports network for some time, triggered our slant on the situation.  “Believe me, not saying it isn’t something that’s floated around out there since about 2009 … but at this point … my only point is that this one-off event that crossed over ALL of the FOX Sports properties is not part of that process at all … since FOX does not label their networks Fox1, Fox2, Fox3 like ESPN, I believe one of the goals was simply to showcase the FOX family of sports networks … just wanted to make sure you had all the background – certainly (your) welcome to your opinion,” wrote Arneson.

We sent a reply to Erik’s e-mail which pretty much stated that “My story will stand until I see a (Speed Channel) news release that states that the Speed Channel will remain intact with most all motorsports programming.”  We also wrote to Arneson that “in my limited time covering motorsports since 1964, that most times those persistent rumors, over time, eventually came true.”

This weekend is the biggest of the motor racing season with the premier Indy 500 at IMS and the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Check Jayski.com for all of the details plus what else is going on this very busy weekend.

Note: Information for this story came from press releases and indicated sources as well as personal notes.

The rumors that abounded recently about the Speed Channel’s change to an all-sports channel came true.  Following the F1 race this past Sunday morning, its usual motorhead programming was replaced by a game of the English Premier Soccer League.  That eliminated the F1 post race coverage which used to comprise of traditional interviews with drivers who were able to make the podium.  Bet that didn’t [...]]]>

The rumors that abounded recently about the Speed Channel’s change to an all-sports channel came true.  Following the F1 race this past Sunday morning, its usual motorhead programming was replaced by a game of the English Premier Soccer League.  That eliminated the F1 post race coverage which used to comprise of traditional interviews with drivers who were able to make the podium.  Bet that didn’t make USA followers of F1 very pleased.

We surmise that Fox Sports, owners of the Speed Channel, is making a transition from all motorsports to a sports buffet similar to the old Versus Channel renamed the NBC Sports Channel.  Comcast bought NBC last year, hence the change.  ESPN and ESPN2 have the same all-sports format as well.

The old Speed Vision channel, predecessor to the Speed Channel, made a major effort to encourage gearheads to put pressure on their cable carrier to carry that unique motorsports channel.  That continued even after Fox Sports purchased Speed Vision, and the entire operation was moved from Stamford, Conn., to the Carolinas.  At this time, we think it’s safe to predict that, when it’s all over, Speed will be renamed the Fox Sports Channel.

You don’t have to be a genius to predict that the gearheads, that supported the Speed Channel, are not going to be very happy. They are not very forgiving and the Speed Channel, or whatever they will be known as in the future, may regret making the change when the ratings take a major dip. In the process of all this Speed, or whatever they will be called, may never recover what they had for racefan loyalty. Take NASCAR as an example, of all this, who made changes that chased away many of their core fans who have not returned.

Jimmie Johnson finally made it back to the winner’s circle of the Darlington 500, and in the process gave his team owner, Rick Hendrick, his 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup win.  An agressive JJ managed to hold off Denny Hamlin, with Tony Stewart coming in next, then Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr., rounding out the top five.  “I can’t believe I won 200 of these things, and it took this long after we won 199!” exclaimed Hendrick.  It appears that JJ’s perfect timing of his pit stops may have been key to the win.

Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch got into a dust-up on pit road, and considering that Busch is already on thin ice with NASCAR, it remains to be seen what may now happen to him.  Jeff Gordon had a rough day and finished way back, while a consistent Greg Biffle, who won pole position in qualifying, still leads the Sprint Cup point chase.  From what we saw as the cameras panned the Darlington grandstands, it was a good crowd.

A night earlier in the Nationwide race, Denny Hamlin looked like he was to be the winner, but his teammate, Joey Logano, ended up making the trip to Victory Lane.  Logano took the lead on the last caution flag, and that’s all it took to pull it off.  It was Logano’s second win in the Nationwide Series in two weeks.  Hamlin had to settle for the runner-up spot with Brad Kaselowski coming in third, then Sam Hornish and Austin Dillon.  Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., leads the Nationwide point standings after this event.

Elsewhere, at Indy Sabastian Saavedera and Bryan Clauson were the two top drivers during practice.  They both ran in a pack chasing speeds close to 225 mph.  That was a big surprise, as we don’t know much about either driver.  ”This coming weekend, the Indy 500 grid will be set, and with just close to 33 cars, don’t expect any suspense on Bump Day.  If they’re running by themselves, we think that they’ll turn the track at 218,” predicts Speed’s Robin Miller who covers Indy Car action for that cable channel.

Across the pond in Barcelona, Spain, Pastor Moldonado of Venezuela won his first Formula 1 race for the Williams Team who hadn’t won since a long ago 2004!  Fernando Alonso came in second, while Kimi Rikonnin comprised the podium.  Sabastian Vettle holds the lead in the F1 series.

The following is the latest from ESPN of next weekend’s racing coverage:

NASCAR Nationwide Series at Iowa on ESPN  

The NASCAR Nationwide Series races this weekend at Iowa Speedway near Des Moines and the race airs live on ESPN on Sunday, May 20. NASCAR Countdown airs at 1:30 p.m. ET with the race’s green flag at 2:24 p.m.

Announcers:

Booth: Lap-by-Lap announcer Allen Bestwick; analysts Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree.

Pit reporters: Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Shannon Spake.

NHRA Topeka Action on ESPN2, ESPN3

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series will compete in the Dollar General NHRA Summernationals at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas, this weekend and drag racing fans can watch action on both ESPN2 and ESPN3. All NHRA programming on ESPN2 and ESPN3 is also available on computers, smartphones and tablets through WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app.

The schedule:

Announcers:

Booth: Paul Page (anchor); Mike Dunn (analyst)

Pit reporters: Gary Gerould, Dave Rieff, Jamie Howe.

NASCAR Now Schedule

The one-hour weekend edition of ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program NASCAR Now will air on Saturday, May 19, at 11 a.m. ET with a preview of that night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Lindsay Czarniak will host, joined from the track by analyst Ricky Craven and reporters Marty Smith and Ryan McGee. NASCAR Now will review the race at 3 p.m. on Monday, May 21.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star, Carl Edwards, will move from the cockpit of his race car to the broadcast booth as he becomes an analyst for ESPN on two telecasts of NASCAR Nationwide Series races.  Edwards made his debut during ESPN2’s live telecast of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Darlington Raceway last week.  He also will serve as an analyst for the June 29 event at Kentucky Speedway.  “I am humbled by this opportunity to broadcast for ESPN and be part of their team,” said Edwards..

Edwards, who drives for Roush Fenway Racing, stopped competing in NASCAR Nationwide Series races this season after racing fulltime in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series the past seven years.  He was the Nationwide Series driving champion in 2007, and earned the 2011 series owner’s championship for Roush Fenway Racing, but decided to concentrate his efforts on the Sprint Cup Series this season.

“Having a past NASCAR Nationwide Series champion and active NASCAR Sprint Cup driver in the booth will certainly bring some unique perspective to our viewers,” said Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president, motorsports, production.  “We have a very strong on-air team for NASCAR and this addition makes it even stronger.”   

Check Jayski.com to see what else is  happening in the world of  motrosports this weekend.

Note: Information for this story came from press releases and personal notes.

“I knew that I was going to get him (Jimmie Johnson) and I had to go sideways,” said Biffle. He pulled that off and kept Johnson from winning which resulted in JJ picking up second place. In the process [...]]]>

The Biff is back! Greg Biffle that is-after his impressive win at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend.

“I knew that I was going to get him (Jimmie Johnson) and I had to go sideways,” said Biffle. He pulled that off and kept Johnson from winning which resulted in JJ picking up second place. In the process of all that Biffle still sits atop of the Sprint Cup point standings. Third went to Mark Martin while fourth place went to Jeff Gordon who said, ” I needed this momentum builder.” The other notables were pole winner Martin Truex who ended the day in sixth, Carl Edwards came up eighth who quipped “Texas is a fun track.” while JR cracked the top ten.

There were lots of empty seats at Texas while that race was run in very windy conditions of 40 mph and gusts up to 60! That impacted the drivers on the track in a big way. On the undercard Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. took the Nationwide event at Texas. On top of the point standings for that division is Elliott Sadler.

Kasey Kahne came out on top as the Camping World Trucks were in action at Rockingham, NC. “It was a great day for us and it was awesome to get the win here,” said Kahne.  Tim Peters leads the point standings for that series.

Out on the left coast in Long Beach, CA the Indy Cars did its annual performance on the street course which went to Will Power who held off Simon Pagnoude’s challenges while on fuel fumes. It was Power’s second win of the season. On the minus side Marco Andretti was 25th after he crashed while Dario Franchitti also had troubles and ended his bad day in 26th.

Nico Rossburg won the F1 GP of China. It was the first F1 win for Rossburg as well as for Mercedes-Benz since 1955!  It wasn’t so good though for Michael Schumacher who suffered engine failure. A controversial F1 race moves to Bahrain this weekend amid political strife in that middle eastern country.  There are safety concerns for the both competitors as well as the fans.

At the four-wide ZMAX Dragway in Charlotte Dave Massey took the Top Fuel finale.

Racing legends Derek Bell, Neil Bonnett, Pop Dreyer, Vic Edelbrock, Sr., Ricky Johnson, Ed Pink and Danny Sullivan will be this year’s inductees into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at the organization’s 24th Annual Induction Ceremony that will be held on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit.

Rumors around the internet tell of the Speed Channel disappearing and becoming an all Fox Sports Network like the Versus/NBCSport Channel conversion. The culprit seems to be the lack of strong ratings for the all motorsports Speed Channel. We think that if and when this shoe drops, Speed can expect a lot of flack from the motor heads world-wide who did everything they could to get their cable company to carry the Speed Channel. This change, if and when it comes, will cause a lot of “agita” for the Fox Sports management. They really don’t want to ”tick off” the motorsports crowd.

Check out to see what’s happening in the world of motorsports on Jayski.com. (END)

Note: Items for this column came from various sources and personal notes.