NASCAR News

As Dodge's preparations for their all-new Intrepid model continue apace, the first team to commit to the project, Ray Evernham Racing will start their own 2001 campaign some five months early when the team runs it's rookie starlet Casey Atwood in three late season events at Richmond, Martinsville

The most popular driver in the Winston Cup, Bill Elliott, could be denied the opportunity to score one last win for his self-owned team after severely fracturing his kneecap whilst working at his Blairsville home earlier this week.

With the 2000 Winston Cup now well into its second half, many teams are moving to settle their plans for the 2001 campaign and talk of various driver/sponsor/chassis and personnel changes are rife in the NASCAR garage.

As the Winston Cup season progresses many team-owners try to evaluate their plans for the following season by giving various opportunities to drivers to see if they can make the grade with their team for a full year.

Despite the limited track time available to the Winston Cup drivers during the opening day of practice at Watkins Glen, both Boris Said and Brett Bodine believed that they had a great chance of success in Sunday's Global Crossing @ the Glen.

Ron Hornaday and Tom Hubert are both hoping to make their seasonal Winston Cup debut in Sunday's Global Crossing @ the Glen for the Hendrick and Penske teams respectively.

Just a week before the Brickyard 400 Johnny Benson and the crew of the #10 Pontiac thought that they had just one race left before financial restrictions would force the team to close down until the start of next year.

Jeremy Mayfield's head wound was serious enough to keep him out of Saturday's Brickyard 400 despite qualifying in fourth place.

Four-time CART Champion team owner Chip Ganassi will partner with Felix Sabates to field a two-car Dodge Intrepid NASCAR Winston Cup team, starting now in preparation for next season, when Dodge will debut ten cars.

Junie Donlavey, who parted company with regular driver Ed Berrier last week has gone for experience in the short term by signing up Hut Stricklin and Brian Simo to drive his Hills Bros. Coffee sponsored Ford Taurus at two of the most revered events of the season.

With more and more Winston Cup outfits turning their attention to running two or more cars within the same team, it was no real surprise to see that two of the less successful single car outfits have decided to combine resources in an effort to push to the front of the grid.

Fifteen year NASCAR veteran Michael Waltrip and his Ultra Motorsports team have announced that as of October's Winston 500 at Talladega the team will run Ford chassis with Penske engines in place of their current Chevrolet package.

Kyle Petty made one of the boldest moves of his long career on Tuesday afternoon when he announced that he would be handing his Winston Cup seat over to Steve Grissom at the Southern 500 at Darlington in early September , allowing him to race his late son Adam's Busch Grand National Sprint PCS

After over a week of deliberation, SABCO/Ganassi patron Felix Sabates announced on Monday that the space in the team left by the late Kenny Irwin will be filled by ex-Roush man Ted Musgrave in the upcoming races at Pocono and Indianapolis until a permanent successor can be found.

NASCAR star Kenny Irwin today became the second driver to be killed at the New Hampshire International Raceway in a matter of months.

On May 12th this year, the NASCAR world was plunged into a state of shock when 19 year old Adam Petty lost his life in a testing crash at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Just weeks after announcing that Valvoline would be discontinuing their sponsorship of Mark Martin after many years of success, Jack Roush named Pfizer Inc as the replacement for the outgoing oil company.

Multi car Winston Cup outfit Jack Roush Racing have announced that one of its five WC drivers, Chad Little, would not be continuing with the team next year.

Winston Cup rookie Scott Pruett and his fledgling team, PPI Motorsports, have been handed a $50,000 fine and penalised 50 points after their Tide sponsored Ford Taurus was found to have an illegal braking system on their car after the Save Mart/Kragen 350 at Sears Point last weekend.

The Save Mart/Kragen 350 at Sears Point is one race where you can truly throw the form book out of the window. Of the 34 Winston Cup events held each year, only two are held on road courses which requires a completely new approach to oval racing.

Not many people are brave (or stupid) enough to mess with Dale Earnhardt on the final lap of a Winston Cup event. Earnhardt is THE toughest driver in Winston Cup racing and has earned the respect and admiration of all his racing peers.

1. Bobby Labonte Pontiac Joe Gibbs 37.918 secs. 2. Ricky Rudd Ford Robert Yates 38.091 secs. 3. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Rick Hendrick 38.174 secs.

Last season Kevin Lepage produced some of his best NASCAR Winston Cup performances to date in the #16 TV Guide Ford Taurus. This year, without the backing of the media and communication's company, Lepage has been in a slump.

One of the longest standing team's in the NASCAR Winston Cup, Melling Racing is to swap its current squad of Ford Taurus' for a team of Dodge Intrepid's next season.