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Pocono NASCAR Cup Series winner Denny Hamlin and second-place finisher Kyle Busch were disqualified Sunday after their cars failed post-race inspections. "There was some issues discovered that affect aero in the vehicle," said Brad Moran, managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series, widely considered the top auto race league. "There really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere it shouldn't have been. And that does basically come down to a DQ." Hamlin was the first Cup winner to be disqualified since April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis' victory at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina was thrown...

NASCAR CHEVY ROCK & ROLL 400 ***Richmond Int'l Raceway***

Dale Earnhardt Day BY KIM GIBSON EDITOR The Mecklenburg Times May 4, 2004 Mooresville, N.C. -- Dale Earnhardt’s 76 race wins and seven Winston Cup championships may give his fans lots of bragging rights, but it’s more than statistics that continue to draw huge crowds to Dale Earnhardt, Inc. every April 29. The third-annual Dale Earnhardt Day was held last week on what would have been the racing legend’s 53rd birthday. The theme to this year’s event was “Dale’s Legacy at Daytona.” Earnhardt’s Daytona wins and near-wins were played on a Jumbotron screen outside. Inside fans waited in long lines...

Change is good for NASCAR Commentary by CARY ESTES BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD Dale Jarrett calls himself "a traditionalist" in explaining why he dislikes the changes NASCAR has made this year to the circuit's points system. Funny, I think that is the same reason some auto-racing snobs gave for not wanting NASCAR to invade the hallowed ground of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. According to tradition, the home of the Indy 500 was a place for open-wheel cars only. Why should anybody want things to change? Of course, that argument seems silly now, considering the huge success of NASCAR's annual Brickyard 400 at the...

Change is good for NASCARCommentary by CARY ESTES BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALDDale Jarrett calls himself "a traditionalist" in explaining why he dislikes the changes NASCAR has made this year to the circuit's points system. Funny, I think that is the same reason some auto-racing snobs gave for not wanting NASCAR to invade the hallowed ground of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. According to tradition, the home of the Indy 500 was a place for open-wheel cars only. Why should anybody want things to change? Of course, that argument seems silly now, considering the huge success of NASCAR's annual Brickyard 400 at the track. NASCAR...

NEW YORK -- The NASCAR Top 10 will join NASCAR president Mike Helton and the league's founding family, the Frances, Tuesday at a White House reception with President George W. Bush. During the reception, President Bush will hold an outdoor luncheon, weather permitting, and five Winston Cup Series show cars will be parked on the South Lawn of the White House. President Bush will also receive gifts from NASCAR and 2003 champion Matt Kenseth. Many of Kenseth's colleagues will join him Tuesday, including NASCAR Top 10 finishers Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte,...

COMMENTARY By MIKEMULHERN Diversity is not only a social issue in stock-car racing, but it's also a major business issue, in Daytona and Charlotte and in New York's TV canyons. And Dodge's decision to drop sponsorship for Bill Lester has NASCAR executives scrambling again on the diversity front. George Pyne said NASCAR "will help put four minorities in race cars and 12 minorities in a crew-development program" next year, although Pyne and other NASCAR officials aren't offering any specifics. The issue looks deceptively simple: Golf has Tiger Woods, so where is NASCAR's Tiger? It's not that simple. But to say...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Winston Cup driver Kurt Busch disparaged Jimmy Spencer and acknowledged he tried to "flatten the fender" of Spencer's car during Sunday's race at Michigan, according to a transcript of Busch's radio conversations with his team. The transcript, obtained by That's Racin.com, and the radio version obtained by Speed Channel cover an exchange Busch made with his team during a caution on Lap 135 of the 200-lap race. Busch: "See, I'm not very good at being bad. I was trying to flatten the 7 car fender and I got mine. I needed to be further forward on his...

Infineon Raceway is one of the premier road racing venues in the country, and one of the few on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series circuit. The facility first opened in 1968 and serves as the gateway to the beautiful and scenic Sonoma Valley, which serves as one of the top wine-producing regions in the world. God Bless our Armed Forces and their families and those who have paid for our freedoms with their lives. God Bless America

Nextel to sponsor NASCAR's top division By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive June 19, 2003 3:18 PM EDT (1918 GMT) NEW YORK -- Say goodbye to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. And say hello to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. The world of stock-car racing changed quickly and dramatically Thursday morning with the announcement that Nextel Communications Inc. of Reston, Va. will back NASCAR's top series for 10 years, starting in 2004. The deal was announced amid smoke and laser lights in the NASDAQ building in Times Square. And it took less than an hour for NASCAR to proclaim that...

NASCAR Heeds Call of a New SponsorNextel Replaces Winston in No. 1 Position By Liz ClarkeWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, June 18, 2003; Page D01 For 33 years, NASCAR and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company have been so closely linked that race fans exhale them in a single breath: NASCAR's Winston Cup series.That long association is coming to an end as Reston-based Nextel Communications Inc. assumes sponsorship of NASCAR's elite division, which since 1971 has been known as the Winston Cup.NASCAR officials yesterday confirmed that company chairman and CEO Bill France Jr. will be in New York Thursday for a "major news...

Reportedly, NASCAR is ready to stop smoking. And, instead, take up talking on the cell phone while driving at very high speeds. So, not to worry, big-time stock car racing fan. Supporting your sport's title sponsor still will come with certain health risks. For 31 years, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco -- and specifically its Winston brand -- has been racing. For three decades the corporation forged a powerful relationship with race fans, promising that they would never have to be without breath-taking speed, clothes that smelled like they were used to wipe down a crematorium smokestack, and a persistent, Les Miserables-quality...

Monday, June 16 Nextel deal to be announced Thursday ESPN.com news services Winston is on the way out and Nextel will be next. ESPN.com has confirmed various reports that NASCAR has reached an agreement with Nextel for the Virginia-based wireless communication services company to become title sponsor of NASCAR's top racing series. ESPN's Mike Massaro reported two weeks ago on ESPN Radio that Nextel was being considered as a replacement for Winston. Unnamed sources confirmed that the deal was in fact done -- though an additional source said there are still a few details to be ironed out -- and...

Elliott on pole for the WinstonBill Elliott put his fear of speeding down pit road aside Friday night and earned the pole for NASCAR's all-star race a record fifth time. Under the unique qualifying format for The Winston, drivers race two laps around Lowe's Motor Speedway then pit to change four tires before running a third and final lap. The speed limit coming on to pit road is 45 mph, but there is no limit exiting.

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) -- Elliott Sadler put up a fast lap early, then waited nervously as driver after driver came up short in qualifying for the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400. The result Friday was Sadler's first pole in 146 Winston Cup races. ``It was pretty exciting to wait through all those cars,'' said Sadler, the 16th of 43 drivers qualifying at Darlington Raceway's demanding 1.366-mile oval. Sadler, in only his fifth race with Robert Yates Racing, was the man to beat all day, leading practice in his No. 38 Ford despite running only five laps. He then backed it up...

Cup Bud Pole Qualifying FSN Fri. SPEED Fri. 4:30 p.m. Cup Bud Pole Qualifying FSN Fri. 6 p.m. PRN Fri. 5:45 p.m. Sam's Town 300 FX Sat. 3:30 p.m. PRN Sat. 3:30 p.m. Happy Hour Practice FX Sat. 6:30 p.m. UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 FOX Sun. 2:30 p.m. PRN Sun. 2:15 p.m. * All times are EST 6 p.m. PRN Fri. 5:45 p.m. Sam's Town 300 FX Sat. 3:30 p.m. PRN Sat. 3:30 p.m. Happy Hour Practice FX Sat. 6:30 p.m. UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 FOX Sun. 2:30 p.m. PRN Sun. 2:15 p.m. * All times are EST

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Jeff Gordon hopes his first pole of the season might temporarily silence his critics. Gordon took the top qualifying spot Friday, setting a track record by running a lap at 127.216 mph at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was the 40th pole of his career, first since August, and showed he could be back to his old form. Gordon, who won his fourth Winston Cup championship last season, is off to a slow start this year by his standards, with a seventh at Rockingham being his highest finish. He's sixth in the points standings and has been dogged...