Scott Speed Sues Red Bull After Team Releases Him

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A NASCAR driver usually don't sue his car owner after parting ways, since taking legal action could dissuade potential future car owners from getting involved with the driver.

But after more than seven years with Red Bull in both Formula One and NASCAR, Scott Speed has made that move, suing his former team for alleged breach of contract in a complaint asking the court to award him $6.5 million, SceneDaily.com reported late Friday.

Red Bull "significantly reduced its financial commitment to Speed's race team and was unable and/or unwilling to provide [Speed] with 'supporting equipment' satisfactory for a driver of [his] skill to [be] effective [to] compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series," Speed's complaint states, according to SceneDaily.

Speed's complaint also provides a rare, inside look at the money being paid in the Sprint Cup series for a driver at his level.

According to SceneDaily, the lawsuit says Speed signed a three-year deal in September 2007 for a salary of $300,000 in 2008, $500,000 in 2009 and $1 million in 2010. He was to receive 50 percent of his purse winnings for each top-10 finish, 45 percent for finishing 11th through 20th and 40 percent for finishes of 21st or worse.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/12/11/scott-speed-sues-red-bull-after-team-releases-him/

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Are Red Bull prepared to hand the title to Alonso?

Red Bull appear to be having a bit of fun with the watching world ahead of the deciding race of the 2010 Formula 1 world championship.

With their drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel both trying to chase down the championship leader, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, the big question heading into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend is whether Vettel will help Webber win the championship if the German cannot do it himself.

This is quite a likely scenario, given the positions of the three drivers in the championship standings.

Alonso leads Webber by eight points and Vettel by 15. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is still mathematically in contention 24 points behind the Spaniard but is realistically out of the running, with only 25 points available on Sunday.

There are any number of potential permutations and if you want to explore them all fully, Spain's Marca newspaper has produced a fun tool that does the job nicely.

On pure performance, Vettel, Webber and Alonso are likely to occupy the top three positions in Abu Dhabi, just as they did in Brazil last Sunday. If that happens, the permutations are relatively simple.

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If Webber wins the race, Alonso must be second to win the championship; if Vettel does, the Ferrari man need only finish fourth.

But what if Vettel is leading going into the last lap and Webber is behind him and Alonso third or fourth? Would Vettel hand the lead to the Australian?

Given the fractious relationship between the two men at times this season, it would not be an easy thing for Vettel to do. But both he and team principal Christian Horner hinted after the Brazilian Grand Prix that he would.

"In that scenario, it is something you will think of," said Vettel. "I think it's clear."

Horner added: "Of course, if we find ourselves in a position where one of the drivers can win the world championship, then the drivers will do whatever's necessary to ensure as a team we achieve the best result."

Since then, though, Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, the man who founded the drinks company and has since made billions from it, has thrown in a curve ball.

The Austrian told Gerhard Kuntschick, a reporter from the Salzburger Nachtrichten to whom he is close, that if they cannot win he would prefer his drivers to lose out to Alonso "in the correct circumstances".

That is a reference to Ferrari's actions at the German Grand Prix, when the team gave Felipe Massa a coded message to let Alonso by into the lead so he could maximise his points in the championship.

Team orders are banned in F1. Ferrari's punishment, at the race and later confirmed at a hearing of the sport's governing body the FIA in September, was a $100,000 fine.

Without the extra seven points he gained at Hockenheim, Alonso would be leading Webber by only one point and Vettel by eight. That would have made the Abu Dhabi race a winner-takes-all scenario for Webber and Alonso, and for Vettel if he headed a Red Bull one-two with Alonso third.

Mateschitz continued: "To interfere with the drivers was never a possibility for us. The whole world condemned Ferrari after what they did in Hockenheim, but we have turned out as idiots because we did not act in this way."

Mateschitz said Red Bull had never considered getting one driver to back the other "as long as both our drivers remain in the hunt for the championship".

He added: "A second place under correct circumstances might be better than a win on grounds of orders and confirmations."

What does this mean?

Will Red Bull really refuse to intercede and risk losing the championship to Alonso? Will they leave it up to Vettel's conscience?

Does the phrase "as long as both our drivers remain in the running for the championship" mean that Vettel will let Webber by to prevent Alonso winning the title (on the basis that Vettel, at that point, would no longer be in the running for the championship)? Apparently not.

Could Horner's "best result for the team" conceivably mean what Mateschitz says - that it is better to lose the title because they have not resorted to team tactics, rather than win it because they have?

If Red Bull will not use team tactics, why not?

Is that a decision based purely on wanting to be seen to be competing in the right way - following the old adage that it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game?

If so, this is not, shall we say, a philosophy that is universally shared in the "piranha club" of the F1 paddock.

Or is there more going on here than meets the eye?

The cynics in the F1 paddock - and there are a lot - will have a field day with these conflicting messages from the leading figures at Red Bull.

Mark Webber takes a quiet moment to prepare for the Brazilian Grand Prix

Just how alone is Webber at Red Bull this weekend? Photo: Darren Heath

If Vettel is in a position to help Webber and does not, some will wonder if that is because Red Bull simply do not want Webber to win the title, and would rather wait another year for Vettel to become their first champion. If that is the case, why would they not want Webber to win? Is Webber, as was speculated in Brazil last weekend, leaving the team at the end of the year following his complaints of favouritism?

All of this adds an intriguing extra dimension to an already absorbing climax to one of the best F1 seasons there has ever been. And it seems fitting to be discussing it at the end of a season in which Red Bull's perceived preference for Vettel over Webber has caused so much heartache within the team, and drawn so much attention from outside.

There was the fall-out from losing a one-two in the Turkish Grand Prix following a collision between the two drivers, when the team initially appeared to pin the blame on Webber, when most of the watching world felt Vettel was at fault. And three races later, there was the decision to take the only remaining example of a new front wing off Webber's car at Silverstone and give it to Vettel.

What else has been going on behind the scenes that the outside world does not know about?

Horner has continued to insist throughout that the team have supported both drivers equally - he reiterated that view to me in Brazil last weekend - but it has not always looked that way. I have spoken to a number of people in F1 this season who believe there is evidence that some kind of team tactics have been employed behind the scenes at Red Bull.

After inflicting so much damage on themselves in Turkey, did Red Bull dictate that once a driver was ahead, the other was not allowed to race him? If not, what - to bring up just one example - did Webber mean after following Vettel home in the Japanese Grand Prix last month? "It was fun to bring the gap back down to Seb and after that track position is king," said the Australian. "I know the rules and that's how it is."

If there have been tactics to control Webber, though, there is no hope of them happening in Abu Dhabi. With the title on the line, there will be no dutiful holding of position from whichever Red Bull driver is behind.

Of course, F1 would not be what it is without this added dimension of intrigue and politics - it's part of what makes it so fascinating. Yet it is easy to forget that before any team tactics can come into play, there is a race to be run.

Red Bull enter it as favourites, for the race if not the championship. But Alonso - who has beaten them three times in the last five races - can never be discounted. Of the three main title contenders, he is the only one with the experience of being in this situation before - when he won his back-to-back titles in 2005-6 with Renault.

With the pressure on all the title contenders so intense, will that be a deciding factor? Or, with all the contenders worried about engine mileage under F1's eight-engines-a-year rule, will it be reliability that wins the day?

One thing seems certain - it is hard to believe, after such an extraordinary year of shifting fortunes, that there will not be one final twist in the tale.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/11/are_red_bull_prepared_to_hand.html

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Di Resta and Hulkenberg fight for Force India seat

As the winter nights have shortened so too have the prospects of finding a Formula 1 drive for two of the sport's brightest prospects.

Nico Hulkenberg - rated as the best rookie of 2010 - and Paul di Resta - Britain's third driver in Formula 1 alongside Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button - find themselves fighting for a drive.

At the end of the season, Williams released Hulkenberg in favour of cash-rich GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado.

Hulkenberg's sudden unemployment has complicated matters for Di Resta as the German is now closing in on the Force India seat the Scot has been warming all season as the team's reserve.

To add to the dilemma, Force India's incumbent drivers, Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Luizzi, still have ties to the team with Italian Liuzzi contracted for 2011 and German Sutil sitting on a one-year option to continue.

Formula 1 insiders believe the hearts and minds of Force India are with Di Resta and the team want to give him one of the two seats that are listed as 'TBA' on the official entry list.

After joining the Silverstone-based team as a reserve for 2010, the Scot drove capably in eight first practice sessions on grand prix weekends.

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The auburn-haired Di Resta, a laidback and likeable addition to the paddock, quietly impressed the team with his technical feedback and commitment.

At the same time, the 24-year-old proved he was a winner by clinching the German Touring Car championship (DTM) for Mercedes on his weekends away from F1.

His manager Anthony Hamilton - father of McLaren driver Lewis - says: "There hasn't been one bit of negative information from the team about Paul.

"He has done a great job, the team love him. He's a champion and a leader. Nothing has changed; he is still a contender for a race seat. We are very positive."

Hulkenberg, however, is also an intriguing prospect for any F1 team.

The 23-year-old stole the headlines in the midst of the dramatic championship battle by snatching a blistering pole at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Yes, Hulkenberg had benefited from some tactical groundwork by team-mate Rubens Barrichello on his previous qualifying lap but the German's feat was still far beyond that of any of the other four F1 newcomers.

Humorous and straight-talking, Hulkenberg came into F1 on the back of a glittering junior career - where he won titles in karting, Formula BMW, Formula Three and the 2009 GP2 Series - and is now a highly-rated F1 prospect

Both Hulkenberg and Di Resta are gifted drivers - but in F1 money often talks louder than talent.

Despite being impressed by Hulkenberg's "exceptional" skills, Sir Frank Williams let him go in favour of Maldonado simply because he could bring in a reputed 10m euros - largely from Venezuela's state oil company - at a time when the Williams team had lost several key business partners.

When it comes to securing their own future, the problem for both Hulkenberg and Di Resta is that they don't bring any cash to the table.

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Hulkenberg himself says: "It has become much, much harder to open doors if your application does not come with a serious sponsor package and you really only rely on your talent as the sole 'sales argument'."

The complex situation at Force India means the team need to find the cash to buy Liuzzi out of his existing contract - so contributions from a replacement would be welcome.

And of all those in the frame only Sutil, who is understood to have bought around 2m euros to the team in 2010, has the immediate funds to strike that deal.

Force India's engine partner Mercedes-Benz could also influence the team's decision.

What if its own-brand Mercedes Grand Prix team wanted to scout out potential replacements for Michael Schumacher or Nico Rosberg by paying to place a driver in another team?

Di Resta is already well-connected and well-liked by Mercedes, especially after his DTM win, but Hulkenberg, as a rising German star, could be a perfect future fit for the Silver Arrows.

For now, Di Resta and Hulkenberg are playing the waiting game.

Hulkenberg's management company, whose founder Willi Weber also plotted Schumacher's career, opened talks at the final race in Abu Dhabi and said they had expected Force India to have made their decision by now.

Di Resta is sitting down with the team this week to discuss his future role.

Although nine cockpits are still to be filled on the 2011 grid, options elsewhere remain squeezed.

Hulkenberg's team have already approached Toro Rosso and Renault but found no room at the inn.

Toro Rosso will stick with Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi, with newly-signed third driver Daniel Ricciardo waiting in the wings. The renamed Lotus Renault team are widely expected to retain Russian rookie Vitaly Petrov alongside star driver Robert Kubica.

Timo Glock has confirmed he is staying at Marussia Virgin, with Brazilian Lucas di Grassi and Belgian Jerome D'Ambrosio - both of whom come with sponsorship - the favourites to join him. Back-of-the-grid Hispania first need to find someone to build their 2011 car before confirming drivers.

Di Resta already has a contract to continue as Force India's third driver in 2011, while Hulkenberg has been linked to the same role at Mercedes and Ferrari.

In the fickle world of Formula 1, it is never a bad idea to have a Plan B.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2010/12/as_the_winter_nights_have.html

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Could F1 2011 be even better?

The final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi summed up why the 2010 season will go down in Formula 1 history as a classic year.

There were super-fast Red Bulls, world champion drivers in the thick of the action, strategic errors, raw emotion and a final twist in an epic tale as Sebastian Vettel won his first world title.

Before the race was run, the sun-soaked paddock was buzzing with talk of "the greatest season ever" and debate about the highlight of the season swelled.

In fact, as the dust settles on Abu Dhabi, the teams' attentions are already turning to 2011 - all the teams and most of the race drivers get their first run on next year's new Pirelli tyres at the Yas Marina track at the weekend.

With just 118 days to go until the cars and drivers return to the desert in Bahrain to rejoin battle, expectations are already building that 2011 could be another classic year, matching events this season.

As BBC pundit Eddie Jordan exclaimed on Sunday: "We have five world champions competing next year, what are we in for?!"

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Jordan is right to be excited.

The men who defined this season remain in situ - Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at McLaren, Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, and Vettel and Mark Webber at Red Bull.

All of them know they have things to improve in 2010 - particularly the number of errors they have made. And the long winter will give each of the 24 drivers on the grid time to analyse and agonise over crucial mistakes and frittered points that ultimately defined their seasons.

"Every one of us made too many errors and that is why we found ourselves in a position with five guys fighting it out," reflected Button, who saw his title defence end in Brazil.

Though he was the first to bow out, Button had the cleanest season of all the five contenders but found himself let down by a lack of pace - particularly in qualifying - as he got to grips with a McLaren in his first season with the team.

Alonso will rue his uncharacteristic errors in Australia and China, his crash in Monaco and, most of all, the fatal call from Ferrari to bring him in early for fresh tyres in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton will reflect on his ill-judged passing moves in Monza and Singapore, which effectively ended his hopes, while Webber will relive his frightening somersault in Valencia and his costly crash in Korea.

Vettel, too, made more than his fair share of errors. He must take the blame for crashes with his team-mate Webber in Turkey and an unwitting Button in Spa, while his attempt to go around the outside of Webber at the start in Silverstone earned him a puncture.

For Red Bull, though, one of the biggest areas of focus will be the poor early-season reliability, from spark plugs to wheel nuts, that prevented Vettel bursting into an early lead.

When Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko was asked on Sunday what his next goal was after his team captured both championships, he said they intended to cut out the errors so they could win the titles sooner.

All the top teams will be adding grease to their usually slick operations over the winter at the same time as building their cars to a set of regulations that have been tweaked again.

Gone will be the double-diffusers which caused so much controversy at the start of 2009, as well as the F-duct that McLaren pioneered at the start of 2010, forcing everyone else to follow suit.

Blown diffusers - 2010's other defining technical tweak - will stay to an extent, though.

In come those Pirelli tyres, while Kers energy storage and power-boost systems return after a year away. There will also be a new technical trick in the form of moveable rear wings, an attempt to solve F1's perennial problem even in a season as great as this - the difficulty of overtaking.

The success of the teams' research into the effects of these changes will shape next year's title chase - and it is by no means a given that this year's big three will be the ones who get it most right.

There have been concerned whispers that the efforts of waging a season-long campaign have diverted attention away from 2011 development programmes at Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.

The strain of winning the 2009 championships certainly drained Brawn Grand Prix, which had a debilitating effect on them this season in their new guise as Mercedes.

However, with no championship to fight for, teams such as Mercedes and Renault, who stopped developing their 2010 car in September so they concentrate on next season, could make it a five-way battle for honours next year.

"It has been a special year," mused McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh. "Can there be more?

"We have to keep the focus on brave, fantastic drivers in great machinery; an even-handed regulator, stability and clear rules that are administered properly.

"We can't guarantee it but there is no reason the championship next year can't be as good - or even better."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2010/11/could_f1_2011_be_even_better.html

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Canadian Grand Prix 2010 Qualifying gallery


Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole for the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. Mark Webber claimed second and his team mate Sebastian Vettel took third. Michael Schumacher had a disappointing exit from Q2.

Here are a few pictures from today's qualifying sessionhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBU2pSETAWI/AAAAAAAAGU0/TikVOL6oQ7E/s1600/Canadian+Grand+Prix+2010+Qualifying+gallery.jpg


Credit : Daylife, F1Fanatic

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/F1InsightAFormula1Blog/~3/hEQl3ODC7zc/canadian-grand-prix-2010-qualifying.html

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F1 gurus lead a revolution in car design

Formula 1 is undergoing a quiet revolution.

In two years' time, the cars that line up on the grid for the start of the 2013 season will be vastly different from those that raced in 2010.

Governing body the FIA has already announced that the current 2.4-litre normally aspirated V8 engines will be replaced by 1.6-litre turbocharged versions with integrated energy recovery systems.

Now, BBC Sport can reveal that, driven by this big change to the engine regulations, the cars will also undergo their own huge revisions.

To the casual observer, they will still look like F1 cars and, importantly, will still go like them. But within the limitations of an open-cockpit, single-seater racing car with exposed wheels, they will be very different from current machines.

Gone will be the huge, snowplough front wings that have been required since the last major change of rules. Gone will be the high, chunky rear wings. Gone, too, will be the high-revving shriek of the engines.

In their place will be a car with much smaller front and rear wings and the much flatter, lower-pitched sound of a lower-revving turbo.

And critically - although largely invisible - there will be a shaped underfloor, replacing the flat bottoms that have been on F1 cars since 1983.

The 1982 Ferrari - a 126C2 - also possessed a small front wing

The 1982 Ferrari - a 126C2 - also possessed a small front wing

These external changes reflect a major change in the philosophy behind the cars and, as with the turbo engines, it is a case of back to the future. As the 1980s dominate the latest High Street fashions, so F1 is borrowing from technologies last seen then and updating them for the 21st century.

F1 last saw turbo engines in 1988. The last time cars had shaped underbodies was 1982. Those were the days of 'ground effect', when designers created huge amounts of aerodynamic downforce - and high cornering speeds - by accelerating the air under the car through the use of curved underfloors to create a 'venturi effect'. This was enhanced by the use of 'skirts', which sealed the underbody and prevented air leaking out of the sides.

We are not talking about a return to those days but the general principle is the same. Just as the cars in the 1979-82 period had small front and rear wings, so will the cars of 2013 and beyond.

The difference now is that whereas in the late 1970s and early '80s aerodynamics in F1 cars were still relatively in their infancy and designers were simply chasing as much as they could, now they are highly refined. And the men behind the proposed new rules are using the underfloor of the car to create efficient - but strictly limited - downforce.

The FIA recognised that if it was to make such a major change to the cars, it needed to be done as effectively and credibly as possible. So to help draw up the new rules they asked two of the most respected and experienced designers they could find - Patrick Head and Rory Byrne.

Between them, Head, the engineering director of Williams, and Byrne, now retired but formerly of Benetton and Ferrari, have won a total of 17 constructors' titles and 15 drivers' titles. They were first approached by FIA president Jean Todt in March 2010.

Among the provisos Head and Byrne were given were: a) at the very least, make sure the changes did not make overtaking any harder than it already is; and b) make the cars a bit harder to drive - the target being for a driver to be able to be on full throttle for only about 50% of the lap, as opposed to the current average of 70%.

The new regulations are being fine-tuned by FIA race director Charlie Whiting this week before being sent to the 12 F1 teams for analysis. In the new year, they will be critiqued at the sport's Technical Working Group, a group of leading engineers who effectively define the technical rules.

Head says "sure as hell there'll be some small changes" there. The basic philosophy, though, is expected to stay the same, while Head says the shaped underfloor is "inevitable".

"It all starts with the fact that we are only going to have roughly 65% of the amount of fuel, and a (limited) fuel flow rate," he explains. "When you're very limited on fuel, it's very clear you've got to reduce drag enormously. OK, the tyres are a very high proportion of the drag but we decided not to put tiny skinny tyres on it because it's still required to go around corners quickly.

"So the next thing you turn to is the massive rear wing we're running at the moment and as soon as you replace that with a much smaller one, it's 'Oh, we've lost all our downforce, so what can we do?' So inevitably you end up with a shaped underside."

This idea has been around for a long time - as long ago as 1998, when another working group, led by the late Dr Harvey Postlethwaite, also suggested reducing the sizes of front and rear wings and re-introducing shaped underfloors. The idea was canned by then FIA president Max Mosley.

Back then, the motivating factor was to improve the racing. In theory, cars designed this way can follow each other more closely than modern F1 cars.

Currently, drivers experience a severe lack of grip when they get to within about a second of a car in front because the airflow to their cars, particularly over the critical front wing, is badly disturbed.

In theory, with smaller wings and a greater proportion of the total downforce coming from under the car, there is less disturbance in the wake of the car in front, so a following car loses less aerodynamic downforce. It therefore retains more grip, allowing drivers to get closer to the car they want to overtake, making passing easier.

Under these new rules, any benefit to the racing will be secondary. The first goal is improving the cars' efficiency.

But it's just possible that, in chasing a goal that is all about keeping F1 in step with a world of diminishing fossil fuels, the effect will be to make overtaking easier.

Chastened by years of rule changes aimed at making cars more raceable that made no discernible difference, those involved are cagey about that for now. But one senior figure will at least admit the thought is on their minds.

"One of the fundamental parts of this," he said, "was that it wouldn't make it worse. But we do believe that if you can ensure there's less disturbance in the wake, that's good."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/12/formula_1_is_undergoing_a_quie.html

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NASCAR Tickets - 50 Years of Firsts at Lowe's Motor Speedway

2009 marks the 50th year of the running of the Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina, and to celebrate this NASCAR half-centennial event Lower's Motor Speedway has pulled all stops to bring 50 Years of Firsts to the racetrack. The Speedway recently unveiled the plan of attack for this May madness, and the festivities will all kick off with the help of the Coca-Cola 600 defending champion Kasey Kahne.

Opening on May 4, Kahne will stand alongside Lowe's Motor Speedway officials in opening the gigantic 50 Years of Firsts display outside the racetrack. The exhibit will run through May 24 and will feature all kinds of racing memorabilia from the Coca-Cola 600 through its five decades at the Carolina racetrack. From Bobby Allison's race-winning 1969 No. 12 Mercury to David Pearson's 1971 No. 21 Mercury and several other pieces of NASCAR history, the 50 Years of Firsts display will be decked out in every aspect of stock car racing.

Marcus Smith, president and general manager of the Speedway, said that "for our 50th year, we're inviting every race fan to relive the good times that got us here and make new memories to last a lifetime at the Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600. The 50 Years of Firsts display is our way to honor our fans by giving them the chance to stroll down memory lane and see the things most have never seen before. This will be an exceptional added attraction for fans coming to Charlotte in May."

This year's Coca-Cola 600 will take place at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte on May 24 and will follow the Sprint All-Star Race, which will be held on May 16. This year's Charlotte race will undoubtedly be a battle for first place in series standings, and NASCAR tickets are available now, with racing fans already lining up to reserve a seat in the grandstands for this NASCAR milestone. So far in the Sprint Cup Series in 2009, names like Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and the Busch brothers have been the most prevalent on the NASCAR scene, and races leading up to May's Coca-Cola 600 are sure to shape the season even more.

If this year's Charlotte race turns out to be anything like last year's, be sure to get racing tickets online and early, as the 2008 Coca-Cola 600 was an absolute thriller. Richard Petty Motorsports' Kasey Kahne swept the race last year, snagging first place after leading 66 laps and coming in ahead of Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Carl Edwards and David Reutimann, respectively. Kahne took first place after Jimmie Johnson exited the race with an engine failure and both Earnhardt and Tony Stewart fell to tire cuts. All of these drivers and more are vying for a rematch to last year's Coca-Cola 600, and now with Lowe's Motor Speedway's 50th year anniversary, this is one NASCAR Sprint Cup race that is sure to draw in crowds by the thousands.

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling NASCAR tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

Article Source: NASCAR Tickets - 50 Years of Firsts at Lowe's Motor Speedway

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/250668/nascar-tickets-50-years-of-firsts-at-lowes-motor-speedway

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Spotter's Stand: Carl Edwards Has Offseason Momentum in His Back Pocket

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He may have won the two races that dole out the least amount of recognition of the entire season, but Carl Edwards doesn't much care.

"For our team, to finish like this and to be on the upswing that we are, this is as good as it gets," Edwards said after winning Sunday at Homestead, his second in a row.

Of course, Edwards was overshadowed by an incredibly dramatic championship fight that he watched from the outside looking in Sunday, largely in his rear-view mirror.

Jimmie Johnson overcame Denny Hamlin and held off Kevin Harvick to win the 2010 title, and proceeded to spin through a burnout as Edwards celebrated with his traditional backflip.

"I tell you, it's a lot more frustrating to not be in victory lane and watching somebody out there doing their donuts and all that stuff," Edwards said.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/11/23/spotters-stand-carl-edwards-has-offseason-momentum-in-his-back/

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F1: Newey: 2011 form impossible to predict

Newey: 2011 form impossible to predict By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Sunday, December 26th 2010, 12:12 GMT Red Bull Racing's technical chief Adrian Newey says it is impossible to say whether his team will continue to be the dominant force in 2011 following this year's titles. The Milton Keynes squad took both the drivers' and the constructors' championships for the first time in 2010, as the Newey-designed RB6 car proved to be the car to beat for most of the season. Sebastian Vettel became the youngest ever world champion, while team-mate Mark Webber finished in third place in the standings. Related posts:
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Source: http://doxcar.com/f1-newey-2011-form-impossible-to-predict/

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