Replies

There is a short note on Jayski's about the No. 15 and how DEI is keeping it. At the bottom is something about DEI transferring the No.15 owners points to the No. 1. I thought you couldn't do that. I sent a question to DEI about that and they answered that Martin would have to race his way in next year. I am so confused now, although I would love to see Martin get the 15's owners points. If anyone knows for sure please post.

DeLana Harvick's Dad is very ill with cancer. Kevin and Todd will be flying back after Busch practice to be with them. Yes Todd Berrier is CC pending Childress appeal.

Per Jayski:
Kevin Harvick will be leaving the Kansas Speedway as soon as he qualify's his Busch car later this afternoon to be at his wife's side. Delana Harvick's father, John Linville, is nearing the end of a long battle with cancer. Harvick plans on being back tomorrow. However, if he doesn't come back Jeff Burton will drive the #21 Reese's Chevrolet in the Busch race. RCR Busch Series driver Clint Bowyer will practice a few laps in the #29 GM Goodwrench Chevy this afternoon in case he has to be Harvick's qualifying stand-in tomorrow.(10-7-2005)

There is a short note on Jayski's about the No. 15 and how DEI is keeping it. At the bottom is something about DEI transferring the No.15 owners points to the No. 1. I thought you couldn't do that. I sent a question to DEI about that and they answered that Martin would have to race his way in next year. I am so confused now, although I would love to see Martin get the 15's owners points. If anyone knows for sure please post.

You can bounce around owners' points. My guess is that answer from DEI suggests that Paul Menard is going to be in Cup full-time next year, and that they think he'll need the 5-race guarantee more than Truex. If so, you just scooped Jayski :-)

Oh Goody...

NASCAR And The Rebel Flag

Oct. 6, 2005

NASCAR has grown into a $3 billion business and CEO Brian France hopes to expand it into urban areas. (AP)

(CBS) Brian France oversees America’s fastest-growing sport and is trying to expand the multi-billion franchise to untapped audiences. But in the process, he is trying to shed the stereotype that NASCAR is a "good ole boys" sport from the South.

France can’t get rid of an old bugaboo that stands squarely in his path, the Confederate flag some fans still fly at races, he tells correspondent Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes this Sunday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

“It’s not a flag that I look at with anything favorable. That’s for sure,” CEO France says. “I can’t tell people what flag to fly. I can tell you the flag we get behind: It’s the American flag.”

NASCAR is a third-generation-owned business that now generates more than $3 billion in annual revenue and France is expanding it into America’s urban areas. Along with that, he is trying to make auto racing more appealing to minorities and women.

Formerly a Southern sport with a fan base mostly drawn from people who live below the Mason-Dixon Line, NASCAR now appeals to people all over the country and has the television ratings to prove it.

But NASCAR must appeal to minorities if it wants to become popular in places like Los Angeles, where France moved the important Labor Day NASCAR event last year, or New York, which is soon to have a track.

“(Reaching out to minorities) is something I work on every day. I work on it personally …” France tells Stahl. Among those efforts France counts running a NASCAR event in Mexico and establishing a training program for female and minority drivers.

NASCAR legend, Richard Petty — considered by some the Babe Ruth of drivers — thinks of it another way. He says it's all about the race, where collisions are common and speeds sometimes exceed 200 mph. “I think the old fans look at it as a Southern sport. The new fans in California, they don’t know where it comes from. They don’t care. They want to come see the race!”