Sam Hornish Jr. May Return to Indy 500

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LAS VEGAS -- Three-time IndyCar champ and 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr.'s NASCAR future remains in limbo, but his team owner, Roger Penske, said Thursday that he will likely field Hornish in the Daytona 500 and possibly in the Indianapolis 500, too.

Penske confirmed the news during a sponsorship announcement at his Ferrari dealership in the Wynn Las Vegas Thursday, where the team unveiled Kurt Busch's new No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series and a similar design for the iconic No. 3 Penske car that three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves will drive at Indy next May.

For all his success in open-wheel racing, Hornish has never managed to make a big splash in NASCAR's big leagues, with only a pair of top-five finishes and eight top-10 efforts in 108 starts over three full seasons. And with no primary sponsor signed for his No. 77 Dodge, Penske said Hornish still doesn't have a full schedule set for 2011. Penske said both a limited Cup and Nationwide Series slate were possibilities.

"I told him that, at the end of the day, I'd much rather do a program where we can support you 100 percent than have some pick-up program with not enough sponsors,'' Penske said. "We need to have the continuity. We have a number of opportunities, but we just couldn't get them closed at this point.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/12/03/sam-hornish-jr-may-return-to-indy-500/

Phil Hill Peter Hirt David Hobbs Gary Hocking Ingo Hoffmann

Marcos Ambrose Is NASCAR Crash King With 19 Incidents

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Marcos Ambrose, NASCAR's Aussie driver, did not let a mid-season surge in futility by Elliott Sadler deter him from capturing the season 'championship' in yellow-flag crashes and spins.

Coming on strong during the final eight races with seven spins or crashes, including a final spin (at right) during the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Ambrose easily outdistanced the competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series to post a season-leading 19 incidents and win the title by two.

Sadler, meanwhile, found uncommon consistency in the final stretch, chalking up only a single yellow flag in an incident at Martinsville Speedway during the last eight races. That brought his season total to 15, a number easily surpassed not only by Ambrose, but by hard-luck Sam Hornish Jr., who reached the second-highest total of 17 after the misfortune of four more incidents in the final eight races, including two in the Martinsville race.

Kyle Busch and Joey Logano were tied for fourth in our exclusive FanHouse crash and spin roundup, with 14 incidents apiece.

Drivers involved in 13 spins or crashes in the 36-race schedule, or one every three races, were Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Juan Pablo Montoya.

In our tally, we count an incident on a driver's tally if his car is listed as being involved in a spin or a crash that brings out a yellow flag. Caution periods caused by stalled cars, engine failures or debris do not count, unless a spin or crash was involved and a car number listed.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/11/28/marcos-ambrose-is-nascar-crash-king-with-19-incidents/

Christian Klien Karl Kling Ernst Klodwig Kamui Kobayashi Helmuth Koinigg

Winding Down and Heating Up

The pro sim racers took to the track in Homestead Miami Speedway for Round Fifteen in the eighteen week NASCAR iRacing Pro Series. As the season winds down and the points heat up, the drivers are getting tense and it showed this week in Homestead. HMS is not a track usually associated with trading paint, [...]

Source: http://www.inracingnews.com/iracing-news/winding-down-and-heating-up/

Luca Badoer Giancarlo Baghetti Julian Bailey Mauro Baldi Bobby Ball

Earnhardt Jr. Wins Eighth Consecutive Most Popular Driver Award

Hamburger Helper and Fan Contest Winner Present Trophy at Vegas Ceremony 2010 NASCAR® NMPA Most Popular Driver Award Presented to Dale Earnhardt Jr - Photo by HHP/Harold Hinson Minneapolis, Minn. (December 2, 2010) – And the streak goes on. Dale Earnhardt Jr. today collected his eighth consecutive NASCAR® NMPA Most Popular Driver Award after receiving...more»

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2010/sprintcup/12/02/earnhardt-jr-wins-eighth-consecutive-most-popular-driver-award/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=earnhardt-jr-wins-eighth-consecutive-most-popular-driver-award

Piero Scotti Wolfgang Seidel Gunther Seiffert Ayrton Senna† Bruno Senna

GRAND-AM Homestead

The GRAND-AM iRacing.com Online Sports Car Series headed to the digital replica of the Homestead-Miami Speedway Road Course (B config), for Round Four of its 12 week season. The online racing series, open to PC owners with a subscription to the iRacing Motorsport Simulation service, pits the Riley MkXX Daytona Prototype and Ford Mustang FR500S [...]

Source: http://www.inracingnews.com/iracing-news/grand-am-homestead/

Cal Niday Helmut Niedermayr Brausch Niemann Gunnar Nilsson Hideki Noda

Kobayashi is ?inspirational? - Sauber

Peter Sauber says Kamui Kobayashi has brought a 'refreshing' spirit to his team, and believes there is much more to come from the Japanese driver. Former Toyota protege Kobayashi has already become a fan favourite for his hard-charging driving style and bold overtaking moves. He scored 32 of Sauber's 44 points this season

Source: http://www.inracingnews.com/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/kobayashi-is-inspirational-sauber/

Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick

Jimmie Johnson Wins Fifth Straight NASCAR Title, Carl Edwards Wins Race

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The Jimmie Johnson dynasty in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series stretched to half a decade at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday as the most dominant driver the sport has ever seen won his fifth straight championship with a second-place finish in the Ford 400 season finale.

As Carl Edwards motored to his second straight victory in as many weeks, leading 190 laps, Johnson fought back from early pit problems, settled into his regular routine and came on at the end to seal the title.

For Edwards, the two consecutive victories came after a 70-race winless streak.

"This is unreal," Edwards said in victory lane. "It's a great way to finish the season. I think the way we're going, if we can start like that, our Aflac team will have a shot at them next year.

"To finish like this is unreal. It's just these guys not giving up. We don't give up. We've had just an unbelievable run toward the end of this season. It's just a great way to end the season."

The championship battle was a nail-biting contest whose complexion changed time and time again throughout the 267-lap event.



 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/11/21/jimmie-johnson-wins-fifth-straight-nascar-championship-as-carl-e/

Pedro Diniz Duke Dinsmore Frank Dochnal Jose Dolhem Martin Donnelly

Richard Petty and Investors Take Control of RPM From George Gillett Jr.

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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Richard Petty will once again run his race team and participate in day-to-day operations as chairman of the new ownership group that was announced Monday.

The assets of Richard Petty Motorsports have been sold from George Gillett Jr. to an investment group that consists of Petty, Medallion Financial Corp. and DGP Investments.

"Today is a great day for me, my family, our fans and our wonderful sponsors," Petty said in a statement that listed 10 partners that "have supported me through thick and thin and I thank them from the bottom of my heart."

RPM will field cars for AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose in 2011.

The transfer of assets has been in the works for several weeks because of Gillett's ongoing financial problems. Debt-laden English soccer club Liverpool recently was sold despite the objection of Gillett and business partner Tom Hicks. And a U.S. hedge fund is suing Gillett over what the firm says is more than $117 million in debt he racked up investing in Liverpool.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/11/29/richard-petty-and-investors-take-control-of-rpm-from-george-gill/

Ted Whiteaway Graham Whitehead Peter Whitehead Bill Whitehouse Robin Widdows