Skuttle Tight renews partnership with Go Green Racing: Willmar, MN based company Skuttle Tight renews their partnership with Go Green Racing for the 2015 season starting with this weekend's 47th annual Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. In 2014, Skuttle Tight partnered with Go Green Racing for the August event at MIS. This weekend's event will mark the second occasion that America's premiere manufacturer of insulated attic-entry systems will appear in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.(Go Green Racing)(6-11-2015)
Jill Gregory to lead NASCAR Marketing: NASCAR announced that Senior Vice President Jill Gregory, who currently oversees the company's Industry Services department, will also assume leadership of NASCAR Marketing effective immediately. Gregory replaces Kim Brink who was named Chief Operating Officer of Global Team Ford, the WPP-owned group of agencies dedicated to Ford. In her current role, Gregory oversees a group that includes Driver, Team and Event Marketing Services, as well as Industry Operations. She has led NASCAR's Driver Star Power initiative and spearheaded industry integration on the rollout of numerous marketing initiatives, including the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase format in 2014. With her added responsibilities, she will now lead Brand Marketing, Marketing and Media Research, and NASCAR Creative Design. She also serves as a member of the board of directors for The NASCAR Foundation. Gregory will report to NASCAR Chief Marketing Officer, Steve Phelps on Marketing and continue to report to NASCAR Chief Racing Development Officer, Steve O'Donnell on Industry Services. Gregory joined NASCAR in 2007 after serving as Senior Vice President of Motorsports Marketing at Bank of America and prior to that served as Director of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Marketing at Sprint NEXTEL. Brink has led all marketing initiatives at NASCAR since 2011, spearheading award-winning advertising creative, the launch of NASCAR's current Hispanic outreach efforts, as well as the development of NASCAR's acclaimed youth marketing platform, Acceleration Nation.(NASCAR)(6-11-2015)
Truex, Jr fastest at Darlington test: Twelve drivers took part in an open NASCAR test Wednesday at Darlington Raceway including the most recent Sprint Cup Series winner, #78-Martin Truex Jr. He finished atop the speed chart with a lap of 175.535 mph just three days after driving to victory at Pocono Raceway. #18-Kyle Busch ran a session-high 108 laps, finishing fifth on the speed chart at 174.036 mph. #1-Jamie McMurray (174.646 mph) was second, #41-Kurt Busch (174.196 mph) third and #31-Ryan Newman fourth (174.110 mph). The hot, slick track lived up to its slogan "Too Tough to Tame" during Wednesday's test, with both Busch and Joey Logano making contact with the outside wall. #15-Clint Bowyer approved of the track conditions, saying "This is the fastest repave wear-out ever." The track was resurfaced in 2008. The temperature during the test peaked into the low 90s. Teams can expect it to be similar come race weekend in early September, when the average temperature in Darlington is 85 degrees.(Motor Racing Network)(6-11-2015)
NASCAR considering track-specific aero packages? NASCAR Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell has revealed an interesting new angle in the ongoing discussion about the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series aerodynamic package. In an interview at the American Speedfest event at Brands Hatch, which hosted rounds five and six of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series on June 6th & 7th, O'Donnell told Downforce Radio that NASCAR is considering track-specific aero packages for 2016, and possibly earlier. He said: "I think you'll look at a little bit more of a set race package, so instead of looking at a 2016 package, you'll look at it more in terms of putting some packages around certain tracks - not to have it be 36 individual packages, but potentially look at some lower downforce at some (tracks), look at superspeedway packages, kind of cater it to certain tracks." Fans of the Sprint Cup Series may not have to wait until 2016 for aero changes, as O'Donnell revealed: "You're going to see us probably make some moves as early as this year, so some exciting things are going on as we head into the second half of the series". O'Donnell admitted it can be difficult to take all opinions on board. "You've got a lot of stakeholders to balance; first and foremost the fans, the owners, the tracks, the OEMs, but ultimately we've got to make a decision and stand by that. We try and get as much input as we can, but we've got to make a call that we believe is going to grow the sport in its entirety, and that's our job - not always easy, but we try and make the right decisions to let us all grow in the future."(Downforce)(6-11-2015)
Teams get warnings after Pocono: NASCAR confirmed Wednesday that #48-Jimmie Johnson's team received a warning after failing to get through pre-race inspection three times last weekend at Pocono Raceway. NASCAR also stated that it gave a warning to #10-Danica Patrick's team for failing pre-qualifying inspection multiple times at Pocono. NASCAR also gave a warning to #38-David Gilliland's team for failing pre-qualifying inspection multiple times and to #9-Sam Hornish Jr.'s team for a pre-race inspection issue at Pocono. This marks the fourth warning Johnson's team has received this year.(NBC Sports)(6-11-2015)
Roush questions NASCAR inspection process: Team owner Jack Roush questions the consistency of NASCAR's laser platform, raising issues with an inspection process noteworthy for the numerous warnings issued teams this season. Cars must go through NASCAR's laser platform for inspection at the start of the weekend, before qualifying and before the race. The laser platform logs measurements of various parts, including front and rear wheel camber, wheel base and rear axle location. The laser platform can record measurements within 1/1,000th of an inch in some cases. Controversy has surrounded NASCAR's inspection process and the platform this season. Roush raised issues about the laser platform Wednesday night on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's "Dialed In" show when asked about inspection issues this season. "That laser machine is also a problem because it's recognized and understood by everybody that either operates it or either inspected by it ... it is not consistent, it does not repeat 100 percent of the time," Roush said. "It is off. We don't know why it's off. Sometimes, we think maybe the humidity has something to do with it. The temperature may have something to do with it. It does not always give you the same answer for the same set of circumstances on the car dimensionally. That's caused NASCAR to increase the tolerance sometimes. So if you've got something that varies and they give you a tolerance to take care of the variance and you're a racer, then you try to use the tolerance in your favor to make your car better." NASCAR declined comment.(NBC Sports)(6-12-2015)
RCR adding to engineering department: When Martin Truex Jr. won at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, he didn't get to Victory Lane alone. Certainly, there was the unwavering investment of time and effort of his Furniture Row Racing team. But the engine and the chassis underneath Truex came from a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. JTG Daugherty Racing, Germain Racing and Circle Sport Racing also enjoys similar relationship the Welcome, N.C.-based race shop which has increased technological investment considerably over last year. RCR's Competition Director Dr. Eric Warren wasn't kidding when he referred to RCR's engineering department as the United Nations. In 2015, RCR has bolstered its resources with talent from all over the globe but primarily Formula One.
In January, Amro Karim, Miguel Botella, Travis Slagle, Richard Youden and Ben Siegle were added to RCR's engineering department. Karim most recently was a Vehicle Performance Engineer with Marussia F1 but also worked as a F1 Project Engineer for Wirth Research. Bottella was a Software Engineer at both Caterham F1 and HRT F1 Team. Younden was as an Electronics & Control Systems Engineer at Williams F1. Previously, he worked as an Applications Engineer at Racelogic, an Electronics Design Engineer at Hasford Sensors and a Systems Engineer at Honda Racing F1 and Stack Ltd. Slagle advanced from a Systems Engineer at Moog to Systems Development Lead prior to joining RCR. On June 1, Javier Marcos Padros, a performance engineer from Williams F1 and DIL Simulator Engineer Lawrence Hodge, who also worked as a Trackside Aerodynamicist with Scuderia Ferrari F1 and McLaren Racing, joined the fold.(Motorsport)(6-12-2015)