penske racing is going to ford in 2013
Penske Racing will switch from Dodge to Ford in NASCAR competition beginning in 2013, a move the team believes will help Roger Penske finally win a Sprint Cup championship. Penske said Thursday his drivers will compete with Ford Fusions in the Sprint Cup Series, and Ford Mustangs in the Nationwide Series. He said the multi-year deal calls for Penske to field two Cup cars and two Nationwide cars, and he hopes to eventually move one of his Nationwide teams up a level to create a three-car Cup program.
“When we weighed the plusses and minuses of the opportunity, it was apparent we need to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, and we’ve been trying to do it alone,” Penske said in a conference call.
Only Penske and Robby Gordon currently compete with Dodge, which recently rebranded itself to SRT Brand and Motorsports.
Penske fielded his first entry in NASCAR in 1972, but did not launch a full program until 1991 with Rusty Wallace. Although he’s one of the most successful team owners in open-wheel history, his only NASCAR championship came in the second-tier Nationwide Series, with Brad Keselowski in 2010.
Wallace finished second in the 1993 title race. Penske’s highest finishes in the last decade were a fourth from Kurt Busch in 2009 and a fifth last season from Keselowski.
Penske noted that with all four NASCAR manufacturers rolling out new 2013 models next season, the time was right to switch brands. His contract with Dodge ends at the conclusion of this season.
“This was a watershed time to take a good look in the rear-view mirror and also out front,” he said. “It was a tough decision.”
He said the Penske organization will stop development of Dodge’s 2013 car, which is scheduled to be unveiled next weekend at Las Vegas. Penske said his team won’t be part of the announcement.
Ralph Gilles, president and CEO of SRT Brand and Motorsports, said the brand is committed to auto racing.
“Roger has made a business decision to accept an offer with another manufacturer,” Gilles said. “We are committed to work with Penske Racing to compete at the highest level, win races and contend for championships this season.
“Our motorsports involvement isn’t limited to NASCAR. We do value our NASCAR program and will be evaluating the opportunities available moving forward. As those opportunities materialize, we’ll reveal our 2013 plans, not only in NASCAR but in other forms of motorsports.”
Penske first raced with Ford in 1976 and 1977, then re-joined the blue oval brand from 1994 through 2002. Penske teams won 28 races and 42 poles with Ford.
Penske joined Dodge in 2003, and has won 48 races in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series with Dodge, 72 poles and Keselowski’s Nationwide championship.
Penske said he’s not decided yet who will build his engines, and there’s no contingency that he must use Roush Yates engines. The engines were the strongest in Daytona the last two weeks--Carl Edwards won the pole for the Daytona 500, and Matt Kenseth won the race—but Penske noted he has his own in-house engine program.
Penske also said there is no conflict between his new partnership with Ford and his IndyCar Series program, which is the flagship team for Chevrolet. Ford does not compete in the IndyCar Series.
“We’ve been operating with different manufacturers for a number of years,” Penske said. “Obviously, it’s two different series that really don’t compete with each other.”
“When we weighed the plusses and minuses of the opportunity, it was apparent we need to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, and we’ve been trying to do it alone,” Penske said in a conference call.
Only Penske and Robby Gordon currently compete with Dodge, which recently rebranded itself to SRT Brand and Motorsports.
Penske fielded his first entry in NASCAR in 1972, but did not launch a full program until 1991 with Rusty Wallace. Although he’s one of the most successful team owners in open-wheel history, his only NASCAR championship came in the second-tier Nationwide Series, with Brad Keselowski in 2010.
Wallace finished second in the 1993 title race. Penske’s highest finishes in the last decade were a fourth from Kurt Busch in 2009 and a fifth last season from Keselowski.
Penske noted that with all four NASCAR manufacturers rolling out new 2013 models next season, the time was right to switch brands. His contract with Dodge ends at the conclusion of this season.
“This was a watershed time to take a good look in the rear-view mirror and also out front,” he said. “It was a tough decision.”
He said the Penske organization will stop development of Dodge’s 2013 car, which is scheduled to be unveiled next weekend at Las Vegas. Penske said his team won’t be part of the announcement.
Ralph Gilles, president and CEO of SRT Brand and Motorsports, said the brand is committed to auto racing.
“Roger has made a business decision to accept an offer with another manufacturer,” Gilles said. “We are committed to work with Penske Racing to compete at the highest level, win races and contend for championships this season.
“Our motorsports involvement isn’t limited to NASCAR. We do value our NASCAR program and will be evaluating the opportunities available moving forward. As those opportunities materialize, we’ll reveal our 2013 plans, not only in NASCAR but in other forms of motorsports.”
Penske first raced with Ford in 1976 and 1977, then re-joined the blue oval brand from 1994 through 2002. Penske teams won 28 races and 42 poles with Ford.
Penske joined Dodge in 2003, and has won 48 races in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series with Dodge, 72 poles and Keselowski’s Nationwide championship.
Penske said he’s not decided yet who will build his engines, and there’s no contingency that he must use Roush Yates engines. The engines were the strongest in Daytona the last two weeks--Carl Edwards won the pole for the Daytona 500, and Matt Kenseth won the race—but Penske noted he has his own in-house engine program.
Penske also said there is no conflict between his new partnership with Ford and his IndyCar Series program, which is the flagship team for Chevrolet. Ford does not compete in the IndyCar Series.
“We’ve been operating with different manufacturers for a number of years,” Penske said. “Obviously, it’s two different series that really don’t compete with each other.”
rain moves nascar daytona 500 under the lights
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The Daytona 500 is going prime time -- weather permitting.
One day after being postponed by weather for the first time in its long history, NASCAR's biggest race was moved under the lights by more persistent rain that continued in the area Monday morning. The hope had been for the Daytona 500 to go green at 12:13 p.m. ET, but it soon became clear that the elements would not cooperate. Shortly after 10 a.m., series and track officials announced the event had been rescheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
Should the weather clear, it would mark the first time the Daytona 500 has started in prime time. It's ended under the lights before, but never gone green that late. Fox television will broadcast the event.
"We try to make the decision that's good for the entire industry," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. "But certainly, we would have liked for the Daytona 500 to run on schedule [Sunday] on a bright sunny day, but it didn't quite happen that way. So now we're trying to get it done as correctly as we can."
That continued an effort that began Sunday, when soggy conditions forced the Daytona 500 to be pushed back from its original 1:29 p.m. start time, and then to another day for the first time in the event's 54-year history. On both days, jet dryers occasionally ventured out onto the race track to try to take advantage of any potential break in the weather. And as was the case Sunday, NASCAR is prepared to go a little later into the night if necessary.
"The flexibility throughout [Sunday] still exists [Monday]," Helton said. "We're targeting 7 o'clock because we feel like it's realistic. If it takes a little bit longer to get ready to go, I think everybody is willing to do that to accomplish the conclusion of the Daytona 500 within a reasonable amount of time. So 7 o'clock is not a drop-dead, critical moment. It's just the time that we felt like it gave us our best shot right now. But we could go a little bit later if it's necessary."
Helton said the decision was made because of the heavy chance of rain forecast throughout the rest of the day Monday. The exact green flag time is 7:02 p.m.
"The last thing we wanted to do was have our fans wait through another long day of rain delays and jet dryer activity," said Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood III, "so we felt like this gives them some clarity so they can come up with their plans, and hopefully that means stay at home, stay at their hotel, rest, whatever it is they need to do and they can come out and enjoy the event this evening."
It takes between two and three hours to dry the 2.5-mile track surface, an effort Helton said would continue throughout the day. "Based on the weather, based on NASCAR, we think 7 o'clock is realistic," Chitwood said. "We also have some buffer if we had to delay a little longer than that."
And if the rain persists Monday night? "Tuesday is an option," Helton said. "We're focused on [Monday] and [Monday] afternoon right now, but just so everyone knows, Tuesday is an option before we'd have to reconsider packing up and leaving. But [Tuesday] is an option."
Helton added that the Sprint Cup cars were secured in their garage stalls, and that teams would be allowed to start them and get the engines up to temperature before they roll off the grid. Pre-race ceremonies will be reduced to an invocation, the national anthem, and the command to start engines. And then, hopefully, the Great American Race will at last take place.
"Certainly, we like to think that when we do run the Daytona 500," Helton said, "and the trophy is handed to the winner, and there is a Daytona 500 champion for 2012, that sustains and launches us into the 2012 season with all the right efforts and promotions."
One day after being postponed by weather for the first time in its long history, NASCAR's biggest race was moved under the lights by more persistent rain that continued in the area Monday morning. The hope had been for the Daytona 500 to go green at 12:13 p.m. ET, but it soon became clear that the elements would not cooperate. Shortly after 10 a.m., series and track officials announced the event had been rescheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
Should the weather clear, it would mark the first time the Daytona 500 has started in prime time. It's ended under the lights before, but never gone green that late. Fox television will broadcast the event.
"We try to make the decision that's good for the entire industry," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. "But certainly, we would have liked for the Daytona 500 to run on schedule [Sunday] on a bright sunny day, but it didn't quite happen that way. So now we're trying to get it done as correctly as we can."
That continued an effort that began Sunday, when soggy conditions forced the Daytona 500 to be pushed back from its original 1:29 p.m. start time, and then to another day for the first time in the event's 54-year history. On both days, jet dryers occasionally ventured out onto the race track to try to take advantage of any potential break in the weather. And as was the case Sunday, NASCAR is prepared to go a little later into the night if necessary.
"The flexibility throughout [Sunday] still exists [Monday]," Helton said. "We're targeting 7 o'clock because we feel like it's realistic. If it takes a little bit longer to get ready to go, I think everybody is willing to do that to accomplish the conclusion of the Daytona 500 within a reasonable amount of time. So 7 o'clock is not a drop-dead, critical moment. It's just the time that we felt like it gave us our best shot right now. But we could go a little bit later if it's necessary."
Helton said the decision was made because of the heavy chance of rain forecast throughout the rest of the day Monday. The exact green flag time is 7:02 p.m.
"The last thing we wanted to do was have our fans wait through another long day of rain delays and jet dryer activity," said Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood III, "so we felt like this gives them some clarity so they can come up with their plans, and hopefully that means stay at home, stay at their hotel, rest, whatever it is they need to do and they can come out and enjoy the event this evening."
It takes between two and three hours to dry the 2.5-mile track surface, an effort Helton said would continue throughout the day. "Based on the weather, based on NASCAR, we think 7 o'clock is realistic," Chitwood said. "We also have some buffer if we had to delay a little longer than that."
And if the rain persists Monday night? "Tuesday is an option," Helton said. "We're focused on [Monday] and [Monday] afternoon right now, but just so everyone knows, Tuesday is an option before we'd have to reconsider packing up and leaving. But [Tuesday] is an option."
Helton added that the Sprint Cup cars were secured in their garage stalls, and that teams would be allowed to start them and get the engines up to temperature before they roll off the grid. Pre-race ceremonies will be reduced to an invocation, the national anthem, and the command to start engines. And then, hopefully, the Great American Race will at last take place.
"Certainly, we like to think that when we do run the Daytona 500," Helton said, "and the trophy is handed to the winner, and there is a Daytona 500 champion for 2012, that sustains and launches us into the 2012 season with all the right efforts and promotions."
mlb news (drugs involed)
Athletes have a long and hilarious history of excuse-making for the performance-enhancing drugs that somehow materialize in their bodies. Cyclist Tyler Hamilton blamed his positive test on an unborn twin he had absorbed. Tennis player Petr Korda attributed his dirty urine to alleged steroid-laden veal. Runner Dieter Baumann faulted a tube of spiked toothpaste. And, of course, Manny Ramirez’s “personal health issue” necessitated him taking a hormone found most commonly in pregnant women.
When it came his turn to explain his violation of baseball’s drug program, Mike Morse did something novel: He told the truth, and it hurt more every time. Morse was 21 when he used Deca-Durabolin. Distraught over a torn thigh muscle, worried about his fledgling career, desperate to heal, he took the oil-based steroid in late 2003. When he tested positive while in the minor leagues in May 2004, he accepted the 15-game penalty and apologized for an error in judgment. He tested positive two months later for the same substance – and baseball suspended him again. When he arrived in the major leagues the next season, the Deca remained in his system – its nandrolone metabolites are present for up to two years – and he received another suspension for the same cycle of drugs. In baseball, triple jeopardy lived. The focus on the sport’s PED program has sharpened since National League MVP Ryan Braun’s positive test for synthetic testosterone was overturned on a chain-of-custody misstep late last week. Criticism has cast the program as everything from inadequate to unfair to, as Braun suggested in the news conference following his victory, “fatally flawed.” More than perhaps anyone else, Morse has good reason to flay the program. It truly, genuinely wronged him. Even the arbitration panel, in its report after his failed appeal, admitted: “The panel recognizes that this result may be viewed as unfair to Michael Morse.” And Saturday, Morse, a soon-to-be 30-year-old outfielder with the Washington Nationals who slugged 31 home runs in a breakout 2011, still said this of a system he knows stunted his growth and stigmatized him for years: “I think it’s a great program. Everything about it is good.” Of all the crazy aspects of the Braun case – and there are plenty – perhaps the craziest is just how strong he came out against the drug-testing parameters to which he, as a member of the players’ union, agreed. What Braun doesn’t seem to realize is that the flaws he criticized were precisely what saved him from his appeal being about the substance in his urine rather than the journey his urine took. |
nfl combine news
If anybody tells you that any other player did more to increase his stock at the 2012 scouting combine than Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe, you know that person wasn't watching Monday's drills for defensive linemen and linebackers. After putting up a combine-best 44 reps in the 225-pound bench press, Poe went out to the track at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium and ran an unofficial 4.87 40-yard dash ... at 6-foot-4, and 346 pounds. His official best time was 4.98, which is still ridiculous when you consider that Ndamukong Suh ran an official 5.03 at his combine, and he was 40 pounds lighter than Poe.
nhl deadline news
Rick Nash is not a Ranger. He's not a Shark. He's not a Flyer or a Leaf or Predator or anything other than the captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The biggest trade of the NHL Trade Deadline never came to pass, as GM Scott Howson held onto the star winger after the Jackets asked him to waive his no trade clause weeks earlier. There were suitors and there were offers — the New York Rangers made a massive one, according to Darren Dreger — but Nash remains in Columbus. Which is awkward. I've read a lot of missives today from the sympathy brigade for Nash. That the team came to him, asked him to waive his no-trade clause, submit a list of teams and move on from the only organization he's ever known; and since this didn't happen, Nash was somehow wronged. [Related: NHL trade deadline tracker analyzes every deal] There's no question Nash was put in an uncomfortable situation, and he made a difficult choice. But he could have said "no." By saying yes, he agreed to enter into the process; the Blue Jackets, by asking him, didn't guarantee a trade by any means possible. It guaranteed they'd try to move him for the betterment of the franchise. Let's dial it back to when news leaked that Nash was on the block. From Aaron Portzline of the Dispatch: Last week, the Blue Jackets' brass -- owner John P. McConnell, president Mike Priest, Howson, senior advisor Craig Patrick, interim coach Todd Richards and perhaps others -- met to discuss the club's plans as it heads toward the deadline. In that meeting, it was determined that the possibility of trading Nash needed to be explored. In the days that followed, the Blue Jackets met with Nash and/or his agent, Joe Resnick, where the plan was presented. Nash, who has a no-movement clause for this season and the three following seasons, would have to approve any trade. "It was determined that the possibility of trading Nash needed to be explored." Whether the Jackets didn't feel the offers were enough or whether they've made another decision on Nash, it's their decision to make and Nash's to confirm or deny. |
Manny's back: Ramirez agrees to deal with A's
Manny Ramirez told Pedro Gomez on Monday that he has agreed to a deal with theOakland Athletics.
Sources tell Gomez the deal is worth about $500,000. Ramirez is obligated to serve a 50-game suspension without pay before beginning play for the A's due to violating baseball's drug policy for the second time. With no rainouts, the first game Ramirez would be eligible to play is June 2 at Kansas City.
The A's recently agreed to terms on a $36 million, four-year contract with highly sought after outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, a Cuban defector who has expressed interest in playing with Ramirez.
At baseball's winter meetings in December, it was announced that Ramirez had applied for reinstatement. He had his suspension for a second failed drug test cut to 50 because he sat out nearly all of last season. MLB had announced his retirement April 8, saying he was notified "of an issue" under the drug program.
Ramirez, who will be 40 on May 30, ranks 14th on the career list with 555 home runs. He went 1 for 17 (.059) in five games last season for Tampa Bay, which had signed him to a one-year deal worth $2.02 million.
This would be the 20th major league season for Ramirez, a career .312 hitter with 1,831 RBIs. Oakland, which traded away its top three pitchers this offseason including two starters, could use a power bat in the middle of the order in a tough AL West that already has seen the key additions of Albert Pujols on the Los Angeles Angels and star Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish for the two-time reigning AL champion Texas Rangers.
The A's haven't reached the playoffs or had a winning season since being swept by the Tigers in the 2006 AL championship series.
Sources tell Gomez the deal is worth about $500,000. Ramirez is obligated to serve a 50-game suspension without pay before beginning play for the A's due to violating baseball's drug policy for the second time. With no rainouts, the first game Ramirez would be eligible to play is June 2 at Kansas City.
The A's recently agreed to terms on a $36 million, four-year contract with highly sought after outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, a Cuban defector who has expressed interest in playing with Ramirez.
At baseball's winter meetings in December, it was announced that Ramirez had applied for reinstatement. He had his suspension for a second failed drug test cut to 50 because he sat out nearly all of last season. MLB had announced his retirement April 8, saying he was notified "of an issue" under the drug program.
Ramirez, who will be 40 on May 30, ranks 14th on the career list with 555 home runs. He went 1 for 17 (.059) in five games last season for Tampa Bay, which had signed him to a one-year deal worth $2.02 million.
This would be the 20th major league season for Ramirez, a career .312 hitter with 1,831 RBIs. Oakland, which traded away its top three pitchers this offseason including two starters, could use a power bat in the middle of the order in a tough AL West that already has seen the key additions of Albert Pujols on the Los Angeles Angels and star Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish for the two-time reigning AL champion Texas Rangers.
The A's haven't reached the playoffs or had a winning season since being swept by the Tigers in the 2006 AL championship series.