New Petty team signs A.J. Allmendinger

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A.J. Allmendinger will drive the No. 44 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports in the season-opening Budweiser Shootout and at least the first eight NASCAR Sprint Cup races this season.

The team, formed from the merger of Petty Enterprises and Gillett Evernham Motorsports, wants to put together a sponsorship package that would guarantee the 27-year-old Allmendinger's participation in the rest of the 2009 races and the 2010 season.

"This is pretty awesome news for me," said Allmendinger, who also will compete in the July Cup race at Daytona. "I just want to get behind the wheel of a race car and race."

This will be Allmendinger's third NASCAR season. He was part of the GEM team for the last five races of 2008.

Richard Petty said Allmendinger has plenty of potential.

"I went testing with him a few weeks ago," Petty said. "When he climbed out of the car I think he went to everyone working on the car asking them questions and wanting to know what was going on. That's the kind of thing you want out of your driver."

Allmendinger joins RPM teammates Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and Reed Sorenson. Sammy Johns will serve as crew chief on the No. 44.


Barcelona Are The Perfect Team For Me - Dani Alves
Valencia Always Go Out To Win - Unai Emery
Jimmie Johnson slices finger during Rolex 24 race
Preparation, talent and luck all needed at Daytona

Donohue, Porsche stop Ganassi's streak in Rolex 24

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- With the Porsche Riley driven by David Donohue looming large in his mirrors, Juan Pablo Montoya was resigned to the inevitable.

Asked if he believed there was any way to hold off Donohue in the last hour of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, Montoya shrugged and replied, "No."

He was right.

Donohue made a couple of unsuccessful tries to get past Montoya's Lexus Riley before finally making the pass 41 minutes from the end of the twice-around-the-clock event.

"I don't even remember the pass," Donohue said. "There was a lot of passing going on out there."

But the strong move, taking advantage of slower traffic that bogged the leader down, ended the hopes of the Chip Ganassi Racing team for an unprecedented fourth straight Rolex 24 victory as Montoya was unable to challenge Donohue the rest of the way.

The victory came on the 40th anniversary of a victory by Donohue's late father at Daytona.

It was the biggest career win for Donohue, who started from the pole on Saturday afternoon. He combined with former Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice, Antonio Garcia and Darren Law to win by far the closest race in the history of the event.

"We ran hard the whole time" said Donohue, son of Indy 500 winner Mark Donohue, who died in 1975 after a crash during a Formula One test. The son was just eight years old at the time.

"It's a good story line but, to be perfectly honest, he's been gone for quite some time and our guys have done the hard work and putting in the effort to win this race," Donohue added. "I'm certainly really very proud of my father and his accomplishments and what he's done, and just coincidentally we happened to nail it on the 40th anniversary of his win.

"But I feel more of an attachment to the effort my guys have put in and Brumos ... That's where my heart is, to be honest."

Four Daytona Prototypes, including the third-place sister Brumos Porsche -- co-driven by six-time Daytona winner Hurley Haywood, J.C. France, son of NASCAR board member Jim France, Terry Borcheller and Joao Barbosa -- finished on the lead lap in an event that had only once before had two cars on the lead lap.

But the Ganassi drivers insisted that the Porsches had a big power advantage, particularly on the portion of the 3.56-mile road circuit that encompasses about three-fourths of the 21/2-mile NASCAR oval.

"I said before the race that if the Porsches don't have any problems they're going to beat us," said Montoya, who had combined with teammates Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas to win his first two Rolex 24s. "Every stint, apart from the last one, they drove away from us. We did what we could. I gave it 110 percent."

Donohue and his teammates pooh-poohed the supposed power advantage.

"There's no doubt we had good top end, but you really had to know how to use it," Donohue said, crediting former NASCAR driver and IROC test driver Dave Marcis with teaching him the art of passing on Daytona's high banks. "I've done a lot of testing here with the IROC guys.

"It's different cars, but the principles still apply. That's how I was able to do it, to be honest with you. I couldn't just sit there and drive by. You really had to plan it. It wasn't so easy. Juan protected the line so I had to really plan it and seize the opportunity when it surfaced."

Law called the Ganassi team's gripes sour grapes, noting, "They crossed the line 50 feet behind us and it was a fight the whole way through."

The winners completed 735 laps, a total of 2,616.6 miles.

Montoya replaced teammate Pruett in the cockpit of the Ganassi Lexus Riley with about 21/2 hours left and appeared to be in control after he took the lead during the 23rd hour.

A record 25 full-course cautions kept things close and the final yellow of the grueling race came out for debris with just over one hour to go. All four of the lead-lap cars took the opportunity to make their final pit stops.

Donohue replaced Garcia in the driver's seat of the No. 58 car during the stop and somehow managed to stay right behind Montoya as they left the pits.

When the green flag waved with 53 minutes to go, Donohue went after the more experienced Montoya, nearly passing him several times over a period of several laps. They nearly bumped at least once before Donohue finally took advantage of slower GT class traffic to slip past the Lexus into the lead on lap 710.

"It was just a matter of getting into some traffic at some point," Montoya said. "I was actually surprised to stay with them. I drove my butt off to see if they would make a mistake. They made a couple of mistakes, but their car was so comfortable for them there was nothing we could do."

Montoya chased Donohue to the finish but wound up just 0.167-seconds behind, a record, and only about four car-lengths back. The fourth-place Ford Dallara of Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli, Pedro Lamy and Brad Friselle was only 7.589 seconds off the pace and in sight of the winners.

The previous closest 1-2 finish was 30.879 seconds in 2000 when a Dodge Viper held off a Chevrolet Corvette.

The second Ganassi entry, co-driven by IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti -- the fourth member of last year's winning team -- and Alex Lloyd, had problems in the early morning hours Sunday and wound up fifth, four laps behind the winners.


Donohue, Porsche stop Ganassi streak in Rolex 24

Jimmie Johnson undergoes surgery on finger

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Three-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson underwent surgery to repair a tendon and nerve after cutting his left middle finger with a kitchen knife Sunday, while preparing to compete in the final segment of the Rolex 24 sports car race.

A statement released by Johnson on Monday said the injury occurred above the knuckle and happened while the Hendrick Motorsports driver was attempting to cut a small hole in his firesuit in order to feed a tube from a cooling shirt through a pocket.

Johnson, whose GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley finished seventh in the race, flew to Charlotte, N.C., for further evaluation and outpatient treatment with a hand specialist at Carolinas Medical Center.

"That certainly wasn't the way I wanted to end the Rolex race," Johnson said. "I really appreciate all the hard work by the guys this weekend. I'm just sorry I wasn't there at the end with them. The doctors did a great job in Daytona and Charlotte and I can't thank them enough. Everything feels good and I'll be ready to roll for Daytona."

The injury will not keep Johnson from driving in the season's first NASCAR Sprint Cup event, the Budweiser Shootout, Feb. 7 at Daytona International Speedway.

Johnson said he would also appear as scheduled on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" Monday night and will still co-host his Super Skins charity golf tournament and party with Nick Lachey this weekend in Tampa, Fla.


Jimmie Johnson slices finger during Rolex 24 race

'Dr. McDreamy' draws attention at race

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A few years ago it was the late Paul Newman who drew some of the biggest crowds in the garage and on pit road during the running of the Grand-Am Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

The big draw this week is Patrick Dempsey, Dr. McDreamy in TV's "Grey's Anatomy" and a serious, if part-time, sports car racer.

Dempsey, competing in the slower GT class, is co-driving a Mazda RX-8 in the 24-hour endurance event with four other drivers, none of them anywhere near as well known.

Newman, who was part of the winning team at Daytona at age 70, liked to stay away from the crowds and kept a low profile when out of the car. Dempsey, on the other hand, spent long periods Thursday and Friday signing autographs and chatting with fans, smiling the entire time.

"This is a lot of fun for me," he said Saturday, shortly before the start of the twice-around-the-clock race. "I love the atmosphere at this race."

But it isn't all about fun for the actor, who drives for his own Dempsey Racing.

"We've been doing this a number of years now," he said. "The goal is to really be taken seriously and to go out there and really prove myself. Every time I come to the track, I want to be respected and be taken seriously by the other drivers.

"I want to win a race, I want to win a championship, and we'll get there."

Dempsey is combining his racing with another of his favorite activities, raising money for fighting breast cancer.

He and his team have created the Dempsey Racing Challenge, a contest to raise money for the Avon Foundation's Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. The actor's mother is a breast cancer survivor.

The challenge offers the top fundraiser in each of nine walking events this year the opportunity to meet Dempsey and be his team's guest at the 2010 Rolex 24.

------

TOUGH NIGHTS: NASCAR star Juan Pablo Montoya, part of the Chip Ganassi Racing team that has won the Rolex 24 three straight years, is teaming with sports car champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in this year's event.

The Colombian driver, who won an open-wheel championship, an Indianapolis 500 and raced in Formula One before arriving in NASCAR, enjoys racing just about any type of car.

But driving in a 24-hour race does have it's drawbacks for Montoya, who was part of the winning team each of the last two years.

"Driving the (Daytona Prototype) cars is fun, but I really enjoy stock cars, to tell you the truth," Montoya said. "This is fun, but driving the car at 3 o'clock in the morning is not that exciting."

------

NUMBERS GAME: The 24-hour race, which was to begin at 3:30 p.m. -- 21/2 hours later than a year ago -- had 49 cars on the starting grid, with 213 drivers assigned to take part.

Thanks mostly to the worldwide economic crisis, the field has 15 fewer cars than in 2008.

The starting lineup included 19 of the sleek Daytona Prototypes and 30 of the second-tier GT cars.

Just over 13 hours of the grueling race will be run in darkness, but at least the weather appears to be cooperating this year. The forecast called for partly cloudy skies with highs both Saturday and Sunday in the mid-70s and overnight lows in the mid-50s.


Preparation, talent and luck all needed at Daytona
Ganassi team takes aim at another Rolex win

Donohue, Porsche stop Ganassi streak in Rolex 24

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Juan Pablo Montoya said he felt like he had brought a knife to a gunfight.

Montoya and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammates went into the 47th Rolex 24 going for an unprecedented fourth straight victory for their car owner, but it was David Donohue and the long-suffering Brumos Porsche team that came out on top.

Donohue was at the wheel of the winning car in the last hour Sunday, chasing down and passing NASCAR star Montoya just 41 minutes from the finish, then holding the former IndyCar and Formula One driver off by the closest margin in race history.

The victory came on the 40th anniversary of a victory by Donohue's late father at Daytona International Speedway.

It was the biggest win of his career for Donohue, who started from the pole in the team's Porsche Riley on Saturday afternoon. He combined with former Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice, Antonio Garcia and Darren Law to win.

"We ran hard the whole time" said Donohue, son of Indy 500 winner Mark Donohue, who died in 1975 after a crash during a Formula One test. The son was just 8 years old at the time.

"It's a good story line but, to be perfectly honest, he's been gone for quite some time and our guys have done the hard work and putting in the effort to win this race," Donohue added. "I'm certainly really very proud of my father and his accomplishments and what he's done, and just coincidentally we happened to nail it on the 40th anniversary of his win.

"But I feel more of an attachment to the effort my guys have put in and Brumos. ... That's where my heart is, to be honest."

Four Daytona Prototypes, including the third-place sister Brumos Porsche -- co-driven by six-time Daytona winner Hurley Haywood, J.C. France, son of NASCAR board member Jim France, Terry Borcheller and Joao Barbosa -- finished on the lead lap in an event that had only once before had two cars on the lead lap.

The Ganassi drivers insisted that the Porsches had a big advantage on power, particularly on the portion of the 3.56-mile road circuit that encompasses about three-fourths of the 21/2-mile NASCAR oval.

"I said before the race that if the Porsches don't have any problems they're going to beat us," said Montoya, who had combined with teammates Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas to win his first two Rolex 24s. "Every stint, apart from the last one, they drove away from us. We did what we could. I gave it 110 percent."

Donohue and his teammates pooh-poohed the supposed power advantage.

"There's no doubt we had good top end, but you really had to know how to use it," Donohue said, crediting former NASCAR driver and IROC test driver Dave Marcis with teaching him the art of passing on Daytona's high banks. "I've done a lot of testing here with the IROC guys.

"It's different cars, but the principles still apply. That's how I was able to do it, to be honest with you. I couldn't just sit there and drive by. You really had to plan it."

Law called the Ganassi team's gripes sour grapes, noting, "They crossed the line 50 feet behind us and it was a fight the whole way through."

The winners completed 735 laps, a total of 2,616.6 miles.

Montoya replaced teammate Pruett in the cockpit of the Ganassi Lexus Riley with about 21/2 hours left and appeared to be in control after he took the lead during the 23rd hour.

A record 25 full-course cautions kept things close and the final yellow of the grueling race came out for debris with just over one hour to go. All four of the lead-lap cars took the opportunity to make their final pit stops.

Donohue replaced Garcia in the driver's seat of the No. 58 car during the stop and somehow managed to stay right behind Montoya as they left the pits.

When the green flag waved with 53 minutes to go, Donohue went after the more experienced Montoya, nearly passing him several times over a period of several laps. They nearly bumped at least once before Donohue finally took advantage of slower GT class traffic to slip past the Lexus into the lead on lap 710.

"It was just a matter of getting into some traffic at some point," Montoya said. "I was actually surprised to stay with them. I drove my butt off to see if they would make a mistake. They made a couple of mistakes, but their car was so comfortable for them there was nothing we could do."

Montoya chased Donohue to the finish but wound up 0.167-seconds behind, a record, and only about four car lengths back. The fourth-place Ford Dallara of Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli, Pedro Lamy and Brad Friselle was 7.589 seconds off the pace and in sight of the winners.

The previous closest 1-2 finish was 30.879 seconds in 2000 when a Dodge Viper held off a Chevrolet Corvette.

The second Ganassi entry, co-driven by IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti -- the fourth member of last year's winning team -- and Alex Lloyd, had problems in the early morning hours Sunday and wound up fifth, four laps behind the winners.

Roger Penske, who owned the car in which Mark Donohue won the 1969 race, was back at Daytona and racing in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with a new Porsche Riley after winning the last two championships in the rival American Le Mans Series. The trio of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Ryan Briscoe led several times in the early going, but fell to sixth and finished 18 laps off the pace after having to replace a broken rear end Sunday morning.

Jimmie Johnson, the three-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion whose team finished second here a year ago, had some bad luck early in the Pontiac Riley he shares with former CART champion Jimmy Vasser, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty. Johnson stopped Saturday night to have a broken tail light replaced and wound up having the gearbox replaced after he broke the transmission trying to get the car in gear. The team wound up seventh, 21 laps behind.


Ganassi team takes aim at another Rolex win
Four-way battle at Daytona with 5 hours to go

Jimmie Johnson slices finger during Rolex 24 race

Three-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson sliced his left middle finger with a knife, but said the injury will not affect his driving.

Johnson cut himself while in Daytona Beach, Fla., for the Rolex 24 sports car race. He had just woken up from a nap Sunday when a team assistant came to tell him it was his turn to drive in the endurance race.

In a hurry to make a hole in his uniform to insert a cooling tube, Johnson grabbed a knife and tried to cut an opening into the fabric. He said the knife pierced through the uniform and sliced his finger.

"It got me pretty good," Johnson told The Associated Press. "Cut right through the fabric to where my finger was on the other side."

Johnson did not drive his final stint in the race, turning the car over to teammate Jimmy Vasser. The four-man team of Johnson, Vasser, Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney finished seventh in its class for GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing.

Johnson said he received stitches in Daytona, then flew home to Charlotte, N.C., for a further examination Sunday night. He said the injury will not affect his driving and he'll be ready to race when teams report to Daytona in 11 days to begin preparations for the season-opening Daytona 500.

Johnson became just the second driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive titles in November. He tied Cale Yarborough, who won his titles from 1975-78.

This is Johnson's second offseason injury since he began his string of championships: He broke his left wrist following his first title when he fell from the top of a golf cart during a charity tournament. Johnson didn't miss any seat time because of that injury.


Four-way battle at Daytona with 5 hours to go

Preparation, talent and luck all needed at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Winning one 24-hour sports car race takes a combination of a fast reliable car, skilled drivers and a good helping of luck to avoid all the possible pitfalls.

Chip Ganassi Racing is bucking the odds, going for four in a row in this weekend's Grand-Am Rolex 24. But it wouldn't be wise to bet against the elite two-car team.

"Eighty percent is preparation to get you to Victory lane," said Scott Pruett, who has been part of the past two Daytona wins in a Ganassi Lexus Riley.

"A lot of it happens before you even get to the racetrack," the reigning Rolex Series champion said. "We as a team started working three weeks after the end of last season. Literally, our focus has been the Rolex 24 since the first week of November.

"We know all the parts and pieces and everything we would have thought might be a potential weak link from the year before, we'll go through and redo. Anything on those cars that we feel that potentially could cause us grief during the 24, we fix."

That's why Pruett, along with usual Grand-Am driving partner Memo Rojas and NASCAR star Juan Pablo Montoya are favored to battle the other Ganassi team entry co-driven by reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, former IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and former Indy Lights champion Alex Lloyd for the win.

It was Pruett, Montoya, Franchitti and Rojas who combined to win here last year, while Pruett, Montoya and Salvador Duran won it for Ganassi in 2007 and Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Casey Mears started the streak in 2006.

The grueling twice-around-the-clock race will start Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the 3.56-mile road course that snakes through the infield at Daytona International Speedway as well as using about three-fourths of the high-banked NASCAR oval.

David Donohue, son of the late driving great Mark Donohue, won the pole in record fashion on Thursday in a Porsche Riley that will be co-driven by Buddy Rice, Darren Law and Antonio Garcia.

The top 10 qualifiers were separated by just one second -- a distance of about 40 feet over one lap. Pruett qualified the No. 01 Lexus sixth and Dixon was eighth in the No. 02 Ganassi entry. But they moved up the grid when two cars that had qualified ahead of them -- the No. 6 Ford Riley driven by Michael Valiante and the No. 22 BMW Riley driven by Ryan Dalziel -- were disqualified because of technical violations.

Valiante re-qualified Friday in 17th and the other car did not participate in the second round time trials and will be gridded 19th, the back of the prototype field.

Dixon would love to get back to Victory Lane after watching his teammates win the past two years while his team ran into a variety of problems.

"I think in the last two years our car was quick enough to win, but we just didn't keep it together," last year's Indy 500 winner said. "We didn't keep it on the black stuff, which is what you need to do.

"Going for a fourth (in a row) is good, but when you're in the other car that's not winning, it's pretty sad."

Unlike the early years in the 24-hour endurance classic, mechanical problems are not usually the biggest problem in the race.

"Technology has evolved," Montoya said. "You hardly have any engine failures. It's more about people making mistakes than anything else."

What makes this race particularly difficult on a track where the 19 Daytona Prototypes in the field will hit speeds of up to 200 mph, is the presence of 30 slower -- some considerably slower -- GT entries.

"Truthfully, the thing that can take you out of this race is probably a stupid mistake by another driver," Pruett said, pointing out that Alex Gurney's pole-winning Pontiac Riley was slammed out of the race two years ago on the fourth lap when he tangled with a GT car while trying to make a pass.

For the most part, though, it takes a team effort to win here.

"The race we won in 2006 was won more in the pits," Dixon said. "We had mechanical problems, all kinds of problems throughout the race. We even had to go back to the garage, but only for a very small time. They just practice so much at doing brake changes, gearbox changes and all that stuff that they just had it all nailed down.

"In an IndyCar race, that could never happen. As soon as you come in and try to change the brakes or something you're out of it."

Besides Montoya, other NASCAR drivers in this year's 24-hour event include three-time reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Petty, Mears, A.J. Allmendinger and Colin Braun.

Johnson, whose Stallings-Gainsco Pontiac Riley team finished second a year ago, will co-drive with Gurney, son of racing legend Dan Gurney, former IndyCar champion Jimmy Vasser and Jon Fogarty.

Johnson, who will be going for a record four in a row in Cup this season, would love to be part of the team that spoils the Ganassi team's plans of a record-setting fourth straight win.

"We have high expectations; we're here to win the race," Johnson said. "We have a very good driving car and I think we have the right mind-set for a 24-hour race.

"We came awfully close last year, so we ought to be in good shape."


Four-way battle at Daytona with 5 hours to go
Ganassi team takes aim at another Rolex win

Four-way battle at Daytona with 5 hours to go

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Darren Law and the pole-winning Porsche Riley Daytona Prototype were out front Sunday as the clock wound down in one of the closest races in the 47-year history of the Rolex 24.

With five hours remaining in the twice-around-the-clock sports car endurance race, four cars remained on the lead lap, including one of the Lexus Riley's hoping to give Chip Ganassi Racing its unprecedented fourth straight win in the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway.

"The pace has just been incredible," Law said before jumping into the lead car. "And there's still such a long way to go that anything can happen. We're keeping an eye on the water temperature, but everything looks good."

Law is co-driving the car with pole winner David Donohue, Antonio Garcia and Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice.

Just seconds behind was the defending race champion Lexus of seven-time Daytona winner Scott Pruett, NASCAR's Juan Pablo Montoya and Memo Rojas, three of the four drivers who combined for Ganassi's third straight victory a year ago.

"Those Porsches are really fast," Pruett said. "We lack a little top end speed, but we're hanging in there pretty good."

The Ford Dallara of Max Angelelli, Brad Frisselle, Pedro Lamy and Jeff Ward was third, followed by the Porsche Riley of six-time Daytona winner Hurley Haywood, J.C. France, son of NASCAR board member Jim France, Joao Barbosa and Terry Borcheller.

The second Ganassi entry, co-driven by IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti -- the fourth member of last year's winning team -- and Alex Lloyd, had problems in the early morning hours and fell to fifth, four laps behind the leaders.

With Franchitti at the wheel, the brakes failed and the 2007 IndyCar champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was penalized a 30-second stop for driving past the chicane on the backstretch of the 3.56-mile road circuit. After he gave up the seat to Dixon, the hood of the Lexus inexplicably flew off, costing the team more laps.

Roger Penske's Porsche Riley, making its Rolex Grand-Am Series debut with Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Ryan Briscoe co-driving, led several times in the early going, but fell to sixth, 13 laps off the pace after having to replace a broken rear end.

"We thought we had everything covered pretty well, but you never know what's going to jump up and bite you in this race," said Penske Racing president Tim Cindric. "We've still got a fast car, so we'll just try to make up some laps and get a good finish."

Jimmie Johnson, the three-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion whose team finished second here a year ago, had some bad luck early in the Pontiac Riley he shares with former CART champion Jimmy Vasser and Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty. Johnson stopped Saturday night to have a broken tail light replaced and wound up having the gearbox replaced after he broke the transmission trying to get the car in gear. The team was seventh, 22 laps behind at the 19-hour mark.

With plenty of attrition, the leading GT class car, a Porsche GT3 driven by Jorg Bergmeister, Andy Lally, Patrick Long and Justin Marks, was eighth overall, just one lap ahead of the GT3 of Kevin Roush, Dominik Farnbacher, Eric Lux and Matthew Marsh.


Ganassi team takes aim at another Rolex win

Ganassi team takes aim at another Rolex win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype driven by IndyCar stars Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Indy Lights driver Alex Lloyd was out front after nine hours in the Rolex 24 sports car endurance race.

Franchitti was at the wheel of the Chip Ganassi Racing entry when it drove into the lead just past midnight Saturday night.

Ganassi's two-car team was trying to pull off the unprecedented feat of winning the twice-around-the-clock classic at Daytona International Speedway for the fourth straight year.

With four cars on the lead lap and eight within five laps of the leaders, the Porsche Riley shared by JC France, son of NASCAR board member Jim France, six-time Daytona winner Hurley Haywood, Joao Barbosa and Terry Borcheller, was second, followed by the defending champion Ganassi entry of NASCAR's Juan Pablo Montoya and defending Grand-Am Rolex Series champions Scott Pruett, a seven-time Daytona winner, and Memo Rojas.

The latter Ganassi car overcame a broken front splitter that cost it two laps in the garage to surge back into contention, just seconds behind the leaders.

"So far so good at this stage in the race," Dixon said after giving up the seat to Montoya late Saturday night. "We've been hanging around and have been pretty consistent so far.

"Dario, Alex and the team have all done their part as we reach the nine-hour mark, so we are right where we need to be. The Porsches have definitely been fast to this point, but we just need to be in position to race them in the last few hours tomorrow."

The first three hours of the event were cleaner than usual, with no caution flags on the 3.56-mile road circuit that snakes through the infield and also uses about three-fourths of the 21/2-mile NASCAR oval.

But, once Jep Thornton brought out the first caution with a crash in the car entered by actor Patrick Dempsey, there was more yellow than green, with a total of nine full-course cautions in the first nine hours. Dempsey's car got back into the race after a long stop for repairs, trailing the leaders by 81 laps.

Jimmie Johnson, the three-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, also had some back luck as the Pontiac Riley he shares with former CART champion Jimmy Vasser and Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty. He stopped to have a broken tail light replaced and wound up having the gearbox replaced. The entry fell nine laps behind, but had made up four of them and was ninth after nine hours.

"The clutch was creeping real bad and I broke the gearbox trying to get it in gear," Johnson said. "I really feel terrible about that.

"But the car's driving great. We're lightning fast in the infield, but we're missing some straightline speed. We're about a second off, no matter who is in the car. We've got to run a different race and hope we catch some cautions at the right time. But there's still a lot of racing left."

The fourth car on the lead lap at 12:30 a.m. was the new Penske Racing Porsche Riley driven by Tim Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Ryan Briscoe.

The pole-winning Porsche Riley shared by David Donohue, Buddy Rice, Antonio Garcia and Darren Law fell out of the lead in the 10th hour when Garcia spun off track. But the team remained in contention with more than half the grueling event to run, just three laps off the pace in eighth.

The two Ganassi cars struggled a bit in the daylight with grip on the warm track, but Dixon appeared to be right when he said he expected them to be stronger after dark.

"The way these cars are set up, we're going to get more grip on a cooler track and the engines are going to be even stronger at night," said the New Zealander, who won the IndyCar title and the Indy 500 last year.

The race began in sunny conditions in the 70s and good weather was forecast for the entire race, with temperatures dropping only into the mid-50s overnight.

Before the race ends at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, the winning car will cover more than 2,000 miles.


Preparation, talent and luck all needed at Daytona
Four-way battle at Daytona with 5 hours to go

Gordon racking up miles during economic crisis

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Despite more than $100 million in winnings over his career, NASCAR star Jeff Gordon is no different than anyone else in America who is trying to watch the bottom line during the current economic crisis.

Gordon, who like most NASCAR drivers owns his own airplane, has taken to flying commercial this offseason and estimates he's saved more than $100,000 by using US Airways.

"I've always hated spending money on private planes and traveling, that's why I've taken commercial flights and am going to take more of them this year," Gordon said Wednesday during a media visit at Hendrick Motorsports. "You are going to see me on your flight going to some races this year."

Gordon, who spends a good amount of time at his New York City residence, traveled the same LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte route one day before a USAir flight made an emergency landing in the Hudson River.

"That slowed my booking down just a little bit for a couple days," he said. "But the fact they landed safely and everyone got off the plane was an absolute miracle, and that kind of got me right back up again."

His commercial travel has turned a few heads aboard the plane -- Gordon has booked coach tickets, but said he's so far been upgraded to first class on every flight -- and thinks he's made a few new fans by being so common.

Rick Hendrick, his team owner, praised the driver for putting money back into the economy.

"I couldn't believe he did it, but I'm sure it made a lot of people on USAir happy to see him on there," Hendrick said. "I think he really made a statement. That's the mentality you see the whole country in right now: If we can save money, we're going to save money."

Gordon, who will return to chartered flights when traveling on race weekends or with his family, said personal savings weighed heavily in his decision.

"I just don't like wasting money, and I think in these times, it's easy to start looking at where you are spending extravagantly or doing things that are unnecessary," he said.

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WHIPPED INTO SHAPE: Rick Hendrick placed about 1,000 calories in the form of a caramel-coated slice of cheesecake in front of Mark Martin, and the disciplined driver didn't once consider taking a bite.

With a fitness regime likely unrivaled in NASCAR, the 50-year-old Martin has spurred his new team owner to take control of his health.

Hendrick, who successfully beat leukemia in the 1990s, began working with a trainer named "Easy Money" four months ago. Now in the gym three days a week, Hendrick has shed 20 pounds and wants to lose another 20.

"We do a lot of cardio, weights and try to keep me away from the banana pudding, that's the hardest part," Hendrick said. "I fall off the wagon a lot. I'm an ice cream junkie and I like sweets, so I'll dip every now and then and have to work hard. But I feel a ton better."

He credits Martin, who works out between eight and nine hours a week, for spurring the change in lifestyle.

"He came by just to see me one night and he said "I want to talk to you about what you eat and how you work out and how much sleep you get,"' Hendrick recalled. "For about an hour, he was going at me about how I live. So now I try to do better. I had been wanting to do it, but when I was around him and really started listening to him talk about taking care of yourself, I decided as much hell as I've put my body through, I'll try to do better."

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NEW LOOK: Jimmie Johnson, the defending three-time Sprint Cup Series champion, is continuing to show his casual side by sporting a close-cropped beard.

Johnson first debuted the new look last weekend in Daytona, but there was some question as to how long the corporate-minded driver would go before shaving. In addition to his many personal service agreements, Johnson represents conservative Lowe's Home Improvement.

But Jeff Gordon, who debuted a beard during the All-Star race several years ago before shaving it off when he returned to regular competition, said Johnson may be able to pull off the look.

"He's got that thing pretty trimmed up," Gordon said. "There's a way to have a corporate beard. He's got it. You guys always say maybe Jimmie is not showing enough personality. You don't know him away from the track as I do. He's about as relaxed and fun as it gets. It's cool."

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MORE PUNISHMENT: The pair of Joe Gibbs Racing crew chiefs suspended since August will sit out one additional race after NASCAR clears their return.

Dave Rogers, Jason Ratcliff and five other Nationwide Series crewmen were suspended indefinitely when NASCAR discovered magnets under the gas pedals of JGR cars that were designed to manipulate the results of an engine horsepower test.

Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs is hopeful the employees will be cleared to start the season -- the team applied for reinstatement last week -- but Gibbs said they'll still be suspended one additional race by the team.

Ratcliff will be the crew chief of the No. 18 car, which Kyle Busch will driver for the entire season. Rogers will be the crew chief the No. 20 car, which will be shared by drivers Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Brad Coleman.

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NEW TEAM: Bucking the odds and the reeling economy, Chicago businessman Art Shelton has formed Trail M-Sports, a NASCAR team that will field entries in the Nationwide, Camping World Trucks and Camping World East series.

The new team announced two of its drivers Wednesday, saying Jarit Johnson, younger brother of three-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, will drive in the Camping World series, while 19-year-old Chase Austin will be in the team's truck. The Nationwide driver and several sponsors are expected to be announced over the next few weeks.

Shelton's team will be directed by former Nationwide Series team owner Armando Fitz.

Asked why they would choose this difficult time, when other teams are merging, selling out and laying off employees, to get into the sport, Fitz said: "There's a lot of great talent out there right now that wants to go to work. And there's a lot of equipment out there right now really cheap, good equipment. It's the perfect year to go racing."

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NEW LEADERSHIP: Motorsports Authentics announced Wednesday that Mark Dyer has left his role as president and chief executive officer of the merchandise company.

Dyer left his job as vice president of NASCAR licensing in 2007 to take over the company, which specializes in the lucrative business of diecasts and other racing memorabilia. MA is jointly owned by International Speedway Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc.

SMI executive Don Hawk, a member of MA's board of managers, was appointed to oversee the day-to-day operations on an interim basis until a replacement for Dyer can be found.

Hawk previously handled the business affairs of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.

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AP Auto Racing Writer Mike Harris contributed to this report.


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Stewart puts his stamp all over new NASCAR team

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (AP) -- The chrome bumper of a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air is one of the first things visitors notice when they walk through the doors of Stewart-Haas Racing.

Encased in the cashier stand in the gift shop, the bumper is equipped with an authentic Indiana license plate -- AF 3383 -- from the same vintage year.

The light fixtures are all retro, the barn door-like entrance to the shop floor replicates an old garage stall at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the siding on the walls is meant to remind visitors of the kind of place where racers worked on their cars all week then hauled them off to whatever track paid the most that weekend.

Yes, Tony Stewart's stamp is all over his latest acquisition: a Sprint Cup race team that oozes with his passion for the old days, when racing was fun and not big business.

Only Stewart-Haas Racing is very big business, eclipsing the collection of racetracks and sprint car teams he's already assembled. But the chance to run his own organization at the highest level in NASCAR was too great to pass up, so the two-time series champion left the cozy confines of Joe Gibbs Racing after 10 super successful seasons to enter into the maddening world of a driver and a team owner.

"He had an option that we couldn't match," JGR president J.D. Gibbs said. "This was a chance for him to go out there and own a team and do what he wanted to do."

He finalized his decision in July, then spent several months assembling the key personnel needed to reshape the slumping Haas CNC Racing team he inherited.

When he opened the shop doors to the media Wednesday, his leadership flanking him as they sat atop a riser, it was clear he'd assembled a group of racers who share his passion, commitment and ideas on how racing is supposed to be.

"Getting this group of people that are sitting with me up on the stage, that was the hardest part," Stewart said. "Once we got this group hired, it was easy for me to step back and start learning. It goes back to what we've said all along and I've learned from Joe (Gibbs) -- you hire the right people to do the right jobs. You don't sit there and put your hand over their shoulder and look over their shoulder and micromanage."

It starts with Bobby Hutchens, who left his longtime management role with Richard Childress Racing to be Stewart's director of competition.

Too scared to look at budgets and line items, Stewart has given Hutchens full control of the purse strings and the planning.

"I think one reason they brought me in here was they had enough confidence to know I wasn't going to blow a bunch of money," Hutchens said. "You can spend a lot of money, and you can spend a lot of money on the wrong things. Hopefully, where we have spent money, is upgrading some things that when we came in the door we felt needed to be at a little different level."

That included a pair of new crew chiefs and a new driver lineup. Stewart will be paired with Darian Grubb, a longtime fixture at Hendrick Motorsports, while fellow Indiana native Ryan Newman will drive a second car led by former Dale Earnhardt Inc. crew chief Tony Gibson.

Key NASCAR players who represented five different race teams last season, they had the contacts and connections to talk to dozens of crew members about joining their organization. And as the economic crisis led to mass offseason layoffs across the industry, the application pile was deep.

Stewart said he released about 20 inherited employees, but added roughly 50 new hires.

"We've probably been one of the few teams that have actually added people to their organization through the offseason, so that's something we're pretty proud of," he said.

It's those hires that Stewart will depend on to make his new team an instant success.

Hutchens said he'll be disappointed if Stewart and Newman don't both finish this upcoming season inside the top-10 in points, but reaching that goal will take a monumental effort: Scott Riggs' 31st-place finish marked the highest Haas car in the final standings.

And it won't help that Stewart will be spread thin filling both the driver and owner role, something very few have done with much success. Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Rudd and Bill Elliott all eventually folded their race teams, and Robby Gordon has had his struggles in the four years since he left RCR.

The most recent example is Michael Waltrip, who entered the ownership side with lucrative sponsors, high expectations and enormous hype. His first season was a debacle, and although MWR showed slight improvement last year, the team is still a long way away from being a legitimate front-runner.

SHR doesn't want to follow the same path.

"I hope we've built the right platform in here not to let that happen," Hutchens said. "I think our best practice approach here takes us above where everybody else is at right out of the box. From what I've seen in here so far, if we stick to our plan that we laid out here the last two months, our cars will be done on time, we'll be able to get to the racetrack without any issues and everybody will have used their time and ability to make our cars, hopefully, superior."


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Biffle, Montoya encouraged by Atlanta tire tests

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) -- Two days of testing new tires left Greg Biffle optimistic that Atlanta Motor Speedway will be ready for some old-fashioned side-by-side racing in March.

Biffle said he was pushing new Goodyear tires at speeds faster than normal qualifying times on Tuesday and Wednesday, less than one year after Tony Stewart and other drivers were sharply critical of tires provided for the race in Atlanta last March.

Biffle and Juan Pablo Montoya were encouraged that the March 6-8 Kobalt Tools 500 race weekend will produce better racing.

Biffle said the tires "really forced the cars off the race track" at two races in Atlanta last year.

"Most of the cars ran in the middle to the top," Biffle said. "Not many cars ran on the bottom or were that successful on more than five laps."

Biffle, who finished third in the points race last year, said he was able to stay low on turns after 20 laps this week.

"That tire will hook around the bottom of the race track and not just slide off the bottom," he said.

"That's the old Atlanta to me. That's the way it used to be. I really like that. I'm sure there's continued improvement ... but what we've got so far looks very promising for the race in March."

Stewart finished second last year but called the Goodyear product "the most pathetic racing tire I've ever been on in my professional career."

Stewart wasn't the only driver to complain last year about the poor traction on the Atlanta Motor Speedway's 1.54-mile high-banked oval that is notorious for wearing down the rubber faster than most tracks on the Cup circuit.

Even Kyle Busch, the winner of the race last March, said "It's the worst I've ever felt in a race car, and I won the race."

Atlanta Motor Speedway President Ed Clark said Wednesday his track "is not the easiest track surface to develop tires for."

"I don't think it's any secret there were some issues here last March," Clark said.

Testing this week came in unusually cold temperatures which helped the tires grip the track. Biffle said the cold weather helped the cars run faster and "actually produce higher tire wear than normal conditions."

"They've got a left-side compound and construction that puts a lot of drive-ability back in the car," Biffle said.

Biffle said he ran a lap Wednesday morning in 29.50 seconds, about a half-second faster than last year's pole-winning pace.

"So it was very, very fast," he said. "Faster than qualifying speeds. That is a lot of punishment on a tire and this tire seemed like it was holding up very well."

Montoya also was encouraged, though he warned the tires will slip more in warmer weather.

"I think the setup when we come back will be very different," Montoya said, adding in this week's testing "a lot of times we're running stupidly fast, it's like qualifying time with every lap.

"I don't mind. It's a lot of fun, but it's not very realistic. When you get here with the race and the heat, you will be sliding a lot more. We're just trying to find a tire that is a little bit more predictable."

Montoya said Goodyear tested "a lot of different tires" and said "most of them actually are a little bit better, all in a little different way.

"It's pretty encouraging to see they're doing something to help us."

Sam Hornish Jr. and Scott Speed also drove their cars on the test laps.

Biffle said no one wants to see a repeat of last year's race, where fans watch drivers limited on the track and agitated off the track.

"The fans don't want to see a bad race and see the drivers complain about it," he said. "It actually wasn't that bad a race for the fans. NASCAR, Goodyear, Atlanta Motor Speedway, everybody is doing their part to make sure we're going to put on a good race for the fans."


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Post-Stewart era opens at JGR with 3 young drivers

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- Tony Stewart showed up at Joe Gibbs Racing's media day last year in desperate need of a haircut and a shave.

His replacement arrived with a short, conservative cut and a smooth, clean face.

Then again, baby-faced Joey Logano might not even own a razor just yet.

The 10-year Stewart era is officially over at JGR, and the team heads into the 2009 season trying to replace its two-time series champion and team leader. They'll do it with three young drivers who are an average 23 years old and don't have a single NASCAR championship among them.

But if management is stumbling along in a post-Smoke hangover, they aren't letting on.

"I'm excited," team owner Joe Gibbs said Tuesday night. "We're pretty young, so this is going to be a different kind of trip for us. And I haven't had as much a chance to think about Tony, as I'm focused now thinking about all of our guys."

The focus, for now, is on the 18-year-old Logano.

The kid who earned the nickname "Sliced Bread" (as in "He's the greatest thing since ...' ) has the enviable task of jumping into the seat for one of the most dominant teams of the past decade. Stewart drove his No. 20 to 33 victories, championships in 2002 and 2005, and finished outside the top-10 in points just once during his run.

But it's also an unenviable challenge for Logano to match his predecessor's success rate: Stewart won three races as a rookie and never looked back.

Logano knows the expectations are high, but is focused on his own realistic goals. With only three Cup starts from last season under his belt -- and a best finish of 32nd in his debut race in September at New Hampshire -- he knows he's got his work cut out for him.

"I think Rookie of the Year is a realistic goal for us this season," he said. "I'm going to do the best I can. You never know. There's going to be a learning curve. I'm with a great team, but where I lack is not having that seat time in this type of car. But you've got to figure it out one way or the other."

JGR will lean heavily on crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who opted to stay put rather than leave when Stewart decided he wanted to own his own race team. Zipadelli showed a saint-like level of patience in working through Stewart's many trials and tribulations, and that temperament will come in handy this season with the raw rookie.

"I think he's a really smart guy, a really good guy, and I think he's perfect for me," Logano said.

There's still an overall leadership void to fill, and Gibbs thinks the team has a pair of worthy candidates in Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. The only problem is, the two drivers haven't shown tremendous maturity through their first several years in NASCAR's top series.

But Hamlin, now 28 and about to start his fourth full season, appears ready to step into a larger role.

Although he joked during his speech at last year's season-ending awards ceremony that JGR officials must be terrified that he's now the senior driver, Hamlin actually wants the job.

"If you are going to be the senior driver, you can't act like you are 12 years old," he said. "It's not going to be on Joey to make this race team better right now. It's not on his shoulders. It's going to be on me and Kyle to make this team better and make it a championship-caliber team. We're going to focus on the things we need to work on, and get our butts back in the shop the weeks we have issues we need to work on to meet with department heads and tell them.

"I think we leaned a little too much on Tony to do that for us in years past."

Gibbs said Busch and Hamlin are already doing their part, taking time to help Logano while at the race track and speaking to him from experience during a Tuesday team meeting about the things he'll likely experience during his rookie season.

"Denny and Kyle are both guys that, even though they are young, they have some real good experience in winning races. They know what it takes," Gibbs said. "They know that you are not going to win a championship unless all three teams are contributing heavily. I've been impressed with Denny, he's trying to help Joey. Kyle, some of the suggestions he has for Joey. That's where you see it showing up: teamwork, and a lot of it wasn't focused on them."


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Earnhardt Ganassi moves sponsor to Montoya

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates will move longtime sponsor Target from its driverless No. 41 entry to Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 42.

A team spokesman also said an undisclosed number of employees were laid off Tuesday, and added the recently merged team, which had hoped to run four cars for the entire NASCAR Sprint Cup series schedule, will run four in the season-opener next month at Daytona and continue through the season with a three-car effort.

Chip Ganassi, who merged Chip Ganassi Racing with Dale Earnhardt Inc., laid off 71 employees, including driver Dario Franchitti, last June after shutting down his No. 40 Dodge entry. DEI laid off 110 employees just before the merger with Ganassi last November.

Ganassi intended to replace Reed Sorenson, who left the team at the end of last season, in the No. 41 car, but no driver has been named for that ride. The team said the driver and number of the fourth car to be run at Daytona will be announced in the near future.

DEI brought Martin Truex, whose car has full sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops, to the merged team, along with Aric Almirola, who appeared to have only enough sponsorship to run the season-opening Daytona 500. But the team said Tuesday the No. 8 entry will run the full season with a series of sponsorships to be announced at a later date.

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BONUS MONEY: NASCAR's Nationwide Series drivers will get a shot at some extra money this season with the series sponsor's new four-race "Dash for Cash" program.

Eligible drivers include those who race full-time in the second-tier series, including Sprint Cup regulars, as well as drivers who run a partial Nationwide schedule but do not also race in Cup.

If any of the eligible drivers win the Nationwide races at Nashville, Kentucky, Iowa or Memphis, they will collect a $25,000 bonus. The eligible driver with the most points from those four events will receive another $50,000.

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TRUCK NEWS: Kevin Harvick Inc. will field trucks for three-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr. and rookie Ricky Carmichael.

Hornaday, who finished second to champion Johnny Benson in 2008, will drive the full 25-race schedule. Carmichael, a 15-time motocross and supercross champion making the transition to four wheels, will drive in 14 events, with the rest of the races shared by Cup star Harvick and drivers yet to be identified.

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GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY: Lowe's Motor Speedway, which held its first race on June 19, 1960, when it was still Charlotte Motor Speedway, is celebrating its 50th anniversary season in 2009.

The anniversary will begin in May with the 25th all-star race at the track and the 50th Coca-Cola 600, where three-time 600 race winner Bobby Allison will be the grand marshall.


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Nationwide Series forging ahead into 2009

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Despite a reeling economy, NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series is in better shape than many expected and encouraged by what's ahead.

A recent announcement that fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., in his role as owner of JR Motorsports, got sponsorship for a second entry has helped. So has news that Roger Penske found backing to run ARCA champion Justin Allgaier for the entire season.

"At the end of last season, it was all doom and gloom," said former Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace, now a team owner in the Nationwide Series, fielding full-time rides for son Steve Wallace and Brendan Gaughan.

"That was real good news about Junior ... and Roger," he said. "Then you've got Tony Stewart running the Nationwide race at Daytona for Rick Hendrick, and both of my teams are fully funded for the season.

"Things just aren't as bad as they seemed a while back."

The top-tier Cup series has seen changes since last season, with several team mergers and other operations selling out or cutting back. There has been some of the same in the Nationwide series, which struggled with a dearth of sponsorship even before the economic crisis.

But despite dire forecasts that Nationwide fields may fall short of the standard 43-car lineup as the season goes on, series director Joe Balash said Tuesday.

"From what I've seen so far, with the number of teams that are going to run limited schedules, I think our car counts will end up being pretty similar to what they were last year," he said.

"I think there are some Nationwide teams, though, that have run on lower budgets than obviously some of the Cup teams have in the past. So although it does affect them, I don't know that it affects them to a greater percentage than what you would normally see."

Not everybody is so optimistic.

Series regular Mike Bliss said the car count may begin to decline after the first few races if everything doesn't fall into place just right.

"I think there will be a lot of teams going into the new year still trying to court sponsors and, hopefully, something happens," Bliss said. "Halfway through the year is always when you see that guys can't keep on going.

"It's not going to just be the races, it's going to be everything. It all trickles down. I think it'll probably be a tough year for this series and all of racing."

Balash said NASCAR is going ahead with its plan to get a new Car of Tomorrow ready for the 2010 Nationwide series, a move that could add a substantial initial cost to the team budgets.

The sanctioning organization introduced a new car in the Cup series with a part-time schedule in 2007, then raced the car through the entire 2008 season to mixed results.

Drivers have complained that the new Cup cars, bigger and boxier in the name of driver safety, are too heavy for the tires and hard to keep balanced. But most of the initial uproar over the CoT died out as the drivers and teams came to the realization that it was here to stay.

"It is what it is," Cup star Kevin Harvick said.

Harvick drives for Richard Childress Racing. The Kevin Harvick Inc. team also plans to run one car full-time in Nationwide, as well as two trucks in the third-tier Camping World Series.

"Everybody finally came to the conclusion in Cup that the car was here to stay, so just shut up and figure it out," he said. "I'm sure everyone has learned a lot that will help with the new (Nationwide) car."

Balash said NASCAR will work with the Nationwide owners to ensure that the introduction of the new car does not cause undue hardships.

"We're still working very hard on the engineering project to develop the new car," he said. "We have some upcoming (wind tunnel) tests coming later this month on the car and we'll have everything going on as planned for launch in 2010.

"We're going to keep a close watch on what the economy does and talk to the ownership in the Nationwide garage and kind of watch that program throughout the year to see whether we actually do the launch in 2010. A lot of that will have to do with the economics."

Balash said he can hardly wait to get to Daytona next month and get the 2009 season under way.

"Hopefully, we can get to racing and stop talking about the economy and car counts," he said. "I think the competition on the racetrack is going to be better than ever."


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Earnhardt Ganassi Racing moves sponsor to Montoya

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates will move longtime sponsor Target from its driverless No. 41 entry to Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 42.

The shift signals the recently merged team, which had hoped to run four cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, may race only two cars for the full season and additional layoffs could be possible.

Chip Ganassi, who merged Chip Ganassi Racing with Dale Earnhardt Inc., laid off 71 employees, including driver Dario Franchitti, last June after shutting down his No. 40 Dodge entry. DEI laid off 110 employees just before the merger with Ganassi last November.

Ganassi intended to replace Reed Sorenson, who left the team at the end of last season, in the No. 41 car, but no driver has been named for that car.

DEI brought Martin Truex, whose car has full sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops, to the merged team, along with Aric Almirola, who only has enough sponsorship to run the season-opening Daytona 500.

"The moral of the story is we need a sponsor badly," Almirola explained last week during NASCAR's preseason tour at Daytona International Speedway. "We need sponsorship dollars to be able to take our No. 8 Earnhardt-Ganassi with Felix Sabates Chevrolet to every single race that we can. We need sponsorship dollars."

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BONUS MONEY: NASCAR's Nationwide Series drivers will get a shot at some extra money this season with the series sponsor's new four-race "Dash for Cash" program.

Eligible drivers include those who race full-time in the second-tier series, including Sprint Cup regulars, as well as drivers who run a partial Nationwide schedule but do not also race in Cup.

If any of the eligible drivers win the Nationwide races at Nashville, Kentucky, Iowa or Memphis, they will collect a $25,000 bonus. The eligible driver with the most points from those four events will receive another $50,000.

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TRUCK NEWS: Kevin Harvick Inc. will field trucks for three-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr. and rookie Ricky Carmichael.

Hornaday, who finished second to champion Johnny Benson in 2008, will drive the full 25-race schedule. Carmichael, a 15-time motocross and supercross champion making the transition to four wheels, will drive in 14 events, with the rest of the races shared by Cup star Harvick and drivers yet to be named.

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GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY: Lowe's Motor Speedway, which held its first race on June 19, 1960 when it was still Charlotte Motor Speedway, is celebrating its 50th anniversary season in 2009.

The anniversary will begin in May with the 25th all-star race at the track and the 50th Coca-Cola 600, where three-time 600 race winner Bobby Allison will be the grand marshall.


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Gillett Evernham scales back Nationwide team
Earnhardt-Ganassi could be down to two cars
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Notebook: Evernham, Kyle Petty take back seat on merged team

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Ray Evernham and Kyle Petty are unlikely to have significant roles -- if any -- in the newly formed Richard Petty Motorsports.

The team was created earlier this month when Petty Enterprises merged its sponsor-strapped organization with Gillett Evernham Motorsports. The new team name, RPM, was announced Monday.

The elder Petty said Monday that Evernham, who sold controlling interest of Evernham Motorsports to the Gillett family in August 2007 and has acted since as a consultant, will continue in that capacity.

Kyle Petty, who has been cutting back on his driving, will continue to do part-time work on TV and some sports car racing.

"He's been working his way out of the Cup situation," Richard said. "As we go along in our process, from time to time we might want him to run a race or two."

The elder Petty, the seven-time Cup champion and one of the sport's most recognizable names, said his role in the new team won't be much different than what it has been.

"I'm going to basically be doing the same thing I've been doing for the last eight or 10 years; nothing, as much as I can," Petty said, drawing a laugh from the crowd at the NASCAR media tour. "I'll just (be) doing the Richard Petty thing."

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STEWART RIDE: Even with all the work and hassle of getting his own Stewart Haas Racing team running, two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart is branching out.

The longtime Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who left that team at the end of the 2008 season, will try to qualify a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the Nationwide Series race in February at Daytona International Speedway.

Stewart, the defending champion of the Camping World 300, has won the season-opening race in the second-tier series three times -- twice for car owner Kevin Harvick (2005 and 2006) and last year with Gibbs.

"We're going to try and get another one, this time for Rick (Hendrick)," said Stewart, who has seven career Nationwide victories. "Rick and I have been friends for years, so it would mean a lot to me to get a win for him."

Stewart, who drove Toyotas for Gibbs last year, will drive Chevrolets for his new team.

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PENSKE-VERIZON: Details are still being worked out on what exactly Verizon can do this season as a sponsor of David Stremme's car at Penske Racing.

The wireless communications company earlier this month completed its purchase of Alltel, the longtime primary sponsor of the No. 12 Dodge. But Verizon can't display any logos or market itself under the 2004 agreement that made Nextel (now Sprint) the top sponsor of NASCAR's Cup Series.

To meet many of NASCAR's restrictions, the car will be branded as the Penske Racing Dodge Charger.

Existing team and track relationships with wireless communications companies were allowed to continue, but those relationships were not allowed to change teams or companies.

Verizon also will fund a Nationwide Series car for Penske's Justin Allgair, who will run a full Nationwide schedule. Verizon had sponsored a Gillett Evernham Motorsports car in that series for a partial schedule last season.

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POINTS SWITCH: Bobby Labonte will race in the Budweiser Shootout in Daytona thanks to a points switch with David Gilliland that awards Labonte a wild-card spot in the Feb. 7 exhibition race.

Labonte signed last week to drive the No. 96 for Hall of Fame Racing, which partnered with Yates Racing and will rely on that team for technical assistance.

Under a rule change announced by NASCAR last week, a wild-card entry from each of the four manufacturers will be permitted into the Shootout.

Labonte is claiming that spot for Ford in the points grab from Gilliland, who drove for Yates Racing last season. And new Yates driver Paul Menard will receive the points earned by Travis Kvapil last season.

All the swapping means Labonte and Menard are assured a starting spot in the first five races of the season, while Kvapil must qualify for each event on speed.

There was no word on what, if anything, the team plans to do with Gilliland.

------

AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer contributed to this report


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Riggs gets ride with new Cup team

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Scott Riggs will drive for the new Tommy Baldwin Racing team in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

The 38-year-old Riggs, who drove last year with Haas CNC Racing, will be racing in his sixth Cup season.

Baldwin, who announced the formation of the team earlier this month, will also be crew chief for the startup operation.

"I look forward to working with Tommy," Riggs said. "I think we can work together to build something really strong. I feel fortunate to work with someone like Tommy who has so much experience."

Riggs has four top-five finishes, 16 top-10s and three poles in 167 Cup starts since 2004.

No sponsor has yet been named for the car.


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Richard Petty's name will survive team's merger

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Amid all the economic turmoil in NASCAR, fans can take some comfort knowing Richard Petty is still around.

Petty, stock car's king and at 71 still the most recognizable face in racing, will have a presence under a rebranding of the new team created by the merger of his organization with Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

The new team will be called Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM), capitalizing on the seven-time champion's marketability. The announcement was made Monday during the first day of the annual NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Petty and GEM principal owner George Gillett agreed to merge their teams this month in a partnership that keeps the sponsor-strapped Pettys in racing. Reed Sorenson will drive Petty's famed No. 43 Dodge for RPM this season. Petty's No. 44 Dodge will be run by A.J. Allmendinger in at least the first five races of the season as the team attempts to find more sponsorship.

Those two drivers join GEM holdovers Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler, who both have full-time rides.

The Pettys first sold controlling interest in the 60-year-old Petty Enterprises team to the financial company Boston Ventures last summer before working out the merger with GEM.

But that's just one result of the escalating costs of racing combined with a severe shortage of sponsorship money and the ongoing troubles of Detroit's General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, along with Toyota -- the four manufacturers racing in NASCAR.

Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team started by the late Dale Earnhardt, the only other seven-time Cup champion, has merged with Chip Ganassi Racing. Bill Davis, whose team ran two cars in Cup and also won the truck championship last season, has sold his team.

Other teams, including Richard Childress Racing and Roush Fenway Racing, have had to find partners with ready cash to remain competitive.

Meanwhile, teams in both the second- and third-tier series -- Nationwide and Camping World Trucks -- have found it increasingly difficult to find sponsorship, meaning their race fields are likely to shrink this season.

"There have definitely been a lot of major changes," said Robbie Loomis, moving with Petty to become director of racing for RPM. "I think this winter has probably been exhausting for everybody, just trying to keep up with the changes. You have to keep up with the changes minute by minute rather than day by day."

But the GEM-Petty merger was a natural, considering the organizations have worked closely together for several years, with GEM providing engines for the Petty team.

"When it came down to it, the merger itself, on the track and with the race staff, it was a fairly easy process since it had already been working that way for years," explained Foster Gillett, George's son and the team spokesman. "And Richard and George had always had a communication and they remained friends. A few months ago, they had a conversation and this was created from that situation."

In August 2007, the Gilletts bought controlling interest in Evernham Motorsports, begun by former championship crew chief Ray Evernham, who remains a consultant with the merged team. But the deal with the Pettys erases both the Gillett and Evernham names from the title.

"It comes with no sadness from my family," Foster Gillett said. "It comes with a great deal of burden of expectation. We look forward to trying to live up to this great legacy. We look forward to transitioning into this new organization and trying to help Richard and Richard Petty Motorsports be as successful as they can."

He also insisted that putting Petty's name on the team was not just an attempt to use the racing icon to attract sponsorship.

"It's much more about a partnership with Richard himself and having him help us," Gillet said. "We're new in this sport. We're new owners and we have a tremendous amount to learn, and Richard's probably the best to learn from."

Petty noted that the team's new red, white and blue logo is similar to one used for decades by Petty Enterprises. But he said that was no surprise because he knew that George Gillett had not changed the historic logo of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens after he bought that team in 2000.

"They had a footprint in hockey and we've got a little bit of a footprint in racing. ... We've been in this stuff for 60 years now, Petty said.

"I had talked to George a couple of years ago about trying to join up with them and it just didn't work out that time," he added. "But, as the economy and the sponsors and everybody gets to going, we felt this would be better for both of us. George wanted to grow a little bit and we needed someplace to sort of stick."

It appears Petty and Gillett got what they were after, and NASCAR fans still have The King.


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Dakar Rally: De Villiers wins in car, Coma on bike

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Giniel de Villiers held onto his nerves in the last stage to become the first South African to win the Dakar Rally on Saturday.

De Villiers went into the 14th stage with only a two-minute lead over Volkswagen teammate Mark Miller of the United States, and secured the victory by finishing first from Cordoba across the pampas into Buenos Aires, where the first Dakar Rally in South America started two weeks ago.

After more than 48 hours of racing more than 5,600 through Argentina and Chile, over the Andes and through the Atacama Desert, de Villiers and German co-pilot Dirk von Zitzewitz ended up winning by just under 9 minutes ahead of Miller, who placed sixth on the stage.

"This is an incredible feeling," de Villiers said. "Even though I've ended up winning the Dakar that was not staged in Africa, which is home to me, it was definitely a genuine Dakar Rally, and the toughest edition I've ever contested."

NASCAR driver Robby Gordon of the United States, who's Hummer suffered a puncture on Saturday, was third, 1 hour, 47 minutes behind.

Marc Coma of Spain cruised to his second motorbike title in three years. Coma led by more than 20 minutes after the opening stage two weeks ago, and extended it to nearly 90 over previous titleholder Cyril Despres of France.

De Villiers' victory also marked the first by a diesel-powered car, and was VW's second title -- first since 1980 -- ending Mitsubishi rule since 2001.

Of a possible 13 stage wins, VW won 10, with de Villiers claiming four and Carlos Sainz six.

De Villiers regained the overall lead on Thursday after dominating teammate Sainz, the two-time world rally champion, crashed. Winning that 12th stage was the key to victory, the 36-year-old South African said. He took it easy on Friday but covered the 141 miles across the flat and wind-swept pampas in 1:35:43, just 2 seconds better than Leonid Novitskiy of Russia, and 17 seconds ahead of Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland.

"I'm filled with incredible joy and relief," Von Zitzewitz said. "Up to the very end there was enormous pressure on us, and I only believed in our success after we'd completed the last special stage."

After numerous South African championships in the 1990s, de Villiers was an impressive fifth in his Dakar debut in 2003. He followed with a seventh ('04), fourth ('05), second in his first race with Von Zitzewitz ('06) and 11th ('07). In the meantime, he won several Moroccan Rallies, and was competitive in every other event. He was runner-up in the 2007 cross country World Cup.

The 31st Dakar was held in South America after the 2008 race was canceled because of fears of terrorist attacks in Mauritania.


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De Villiers wins Dakar Rally by taking last stage

De Villiers wins Dakar Rally by taking last stage

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Giniel De Villiers of South Africa won the Dakar Rally on Saturday, holding off Mark Miller of the United States and NASCAR driver Robby Gordon.

De Villiers finished in 48:10:57 after driving more than 5,600 miles through Argentina, over the Andes and into Chile.

He won the 14th and final stage from Cordoba to Buenos Aires in 1 hour, 35 minutes, 43 seconds in his Volkswagen. De Villiers defeated Miller, his Volkswagen teammate, by 8:59. Gordon drove a Hummer and finished 1:46:15 off the lead.

De Villiers won four stages en route to his first overall title. He took the lead Thursday after Carlos Sainz of Spain withdrew after a crash. De Villiers led Miller by just over two minutes heading into the final stage.

The Volkswagen win ended several years of Mitsubishi domination.

Marc Coma of Spain won his second motorbike title in 52:14:33, nearly 90 minutes ahead of Cyril Despres of France. David Fretigne of France was third.

The 30th Dakar Rally was held outside Africa for the first time. The 2008 race was canceled because of potential terrorist attacks in Mauritania.


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Earnhardt-Ganassi could be down to two cars

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- When Dale Earnhardt Inc. merged with Chip Ganassi Racing last year, the plan was to run four cars in NASCAR's top series.

It could be down to two.

Driver Martin Truex Jr. said Friday night that Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing is planning to field just three cars for next month's Daytona 500 -- with him, Juan Pablo Montoya and Aric Almirola behind the wheels. And Almirola said he has no guarantee to drive beyond the season-opening race because of sponsorship woes.

"As far as I can tell, I believe three," Truex Jr. said at NASCAR's preseason tour at Daytona International Speedway. "I'm pretty sure that's what's going on. ... I believe that's it. That's about all I've got there. Montoya, me and Aric."

Truex Jr. and Montoya are fully sponsored for 2009, but Almirola conceded his lack of sponsorship could be a problem this season.

"Chip and Teresa (Earnhardt) have to do whatever makes financial sense to them, and hopefully for me that means run 36 races," Almirola said. "For them, I hope that's the case because that means that they'll have been able to afford to do that. Now, saying that, I don't know. I'm not privy to look at their financial statements every week or every month, so I don't know what they're going to be willing to do and not do without a sponsor.

"The moral of the story is we need a sponsor badly. We need sponsorship dollars to be able to take our No. 8 Earnhardt-Ganassi with Felix Sabbatta's Chevrolet to every single race that we can. We need sponsorship dollars."

Teresa Earnhardt and Chip Ganassi combined their sponsorship-strapped teams in November in an effort to stabilize their organizations in a tough economic time.

Both struggled to secure sponsorship last season. Ganassi shuttered his No. 40 team in July when he couldn't find sponsorship for former Indy Racing League champion Dario Franchitti.

That move forced Ganassi to lay off 71 people. DEI reduced its staff with the new venture. Not running a fourth car could mean more cutbacks.

"It's terrible," Truex Jr. said.

Whether EGR runs two or three cars, it could be at a competitive disadvantage in 2009, especially with NASCAR's testing restrictions that force teams to rely more on sharing information.

"We're down to two or three, it makes it more difficult for us for sure," Truex Jr. said. "There's no two ways about it. Can we be successful? Yes, the best year we ever had we were a two-car team, 2007. So it can be done. We can do it. ... I think we've got a good group of guys put together that we can make it work."

The organization also lost Max Siegel this month, when he left to manage the Drive for Diversity program, which aims to develop minority and female drivers in NASCAR.

Siegel spent the last two seasons as head of global operations for DEI. Siegel's role diminished when DEI merged with Chip Ganassi Racing.


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NASCAR kicks off preseason without testing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- More than a dozen NASCAR drivers showed up at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, signing autographs, posing for pictures, meeting with sponsors and answering questions.

They did all the usual stuff for this time of year -- except get behind the wheel.

With NASCAR restricting testing at its tracks, the sport's "Preseason Thunder Fan Fest" had a distinctly different feel.

No roaring engines. No exhaust fumes. No burning rubber. Not a single laps around NASCAR's famed superspeedway.

"We were joking in the car earlier that we've kind of lost the thunder in Preseason Thunder because we're not testing," defending Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman said.

The lack of testing was the hot topic as NASCAR kicked off its monthlong preseason. There was talk about a possible four-peat for Jimmie Johnson and speculation about how all those offseason changes will affect teams this season. But the foundering economy dominated conversation, and it centered on NASCAR's testing restrictions.

NASCAR suspended all testing at its sanctioned tracks in a cost-cutting measure that could help teams save several million dollars in their budgets. It also left drivers not knowing what to expect when they return to Daytona early next month and get on the track for the first time in seven months.

"Nobody really knows where they stack up right now," Carl Edwards said. "It's a little nerve-racking."

There has been plenty of testing, just not where it matters. Drivers have taken laps at places like New Smyrna Beach, Rockingham and General Motors' proving ground in Arizona.

"If NASCAR just said, 'Hey, you can go to Daytona and test,' we're going to be here because that's very effective," Jeff Burton said. "I don't know how effective Rockingham -- which is an extremely rough racetrack, very low grip on tires that we're not going to race anywhere -- I don't know how effective that is other than shaking the rust off.

"New teams can receive benefit from it. But you're not going to fine-tune a California setup at Rockingham, I can promise you that."

New teams weren't thrilled about the new rules, either.

Reed Sorenson, recently signed to drive Richard Petty's famed No. 43 Dodge, said a lack of testing was hurting new teams and teams that underwent significant changes more than the established ones like those at Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Racing.

"It definitely hurts us a bunch," Sorenson said. "I think it helps a lot of the teams that have worked together for a while and obviously helps the teams that were fast all last year, helps them. But it's one of those things you can't do anything about. We're still trying to test anywhere. We tested Rockingham and are going to go back there again, but it's not the same as testing at the tracks you race at. It's a lot different.

"We just have to work extra hard those first 10 races to try to figure out what we need in the cars."

NASCAR used to hold two test sessions at Daytona in January, giving teams an early look at what they had and what they needed to do before the season-opening race. Although some drivers felt like it was least valuable testing session of the season, they conceded it could be missed when they take to the track next month.

"These guys got these cars pretty sorted out now when it comes to superspeedways, and NASCAR has got you in such a small box," Casey Mears said. "There isn't really anything a whole lot you can do to improve your race car. A lot of times we came here to Daytona and made a million changes and picked up probably half a tenth.

"It can be a little bit frustrating. You'd make a change, go out onto pit road and sit there for 30 or 40 minutes before you got to make your run, and then somebody might pull out in front of you and ruin that run. So it was pretty tedious to come here and test at Daytona, although it was valuable, and we probably wish we still had that at times because the proving grounds are not like Daytona. It's a different place."


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De Villiers, Miller minutes apart in Dakar Rally

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Giniel de Villiers of South Africa leads Volkswagen teammate Mark Miller of the United States by just over two minutes heading into the last stage of the Dakar Rally.

The teammates cruised through the next to last stage together on Friday to protect their positions atop the overall standings.

They finished 15 seconds apart in a fast 13th stage won by Nani Roma of Spain. Torrential rain made some of the initial route across hills between La Rioja and Cordoba impassable, and organizers slashed the leg from 339 miles to 137 miles.

Rattled by the crash and exit of rally and team leader Carlos Sainz on Thursday, de Villiers and Miller pulled over on team orders soon after the stage began to allow teammate Dieter Depping of Germany to join them in a convoy.

"I think we can call this a team stage," de Villiers said. "The most important (point) is to reach the finish, particularly after losing a car yesterday. It's important for Volkswagen to finish the Dakar in first and second places. We don't want to take any chances anymore."

De Villiers led Miller by 2 minutes, 20 seconds overall. NASCAR star Robby Gordon of the United States remained third in his Hummer, almost 90 minutes behind.

Either de Villiers or Miller is likely win his first Dakar on Saturday when the rally ends where it began, in Buenos Aires.

De Villiers has had four top-10 finishes in the Dakar, including runner-up in 2006. He was leading in 2007 when his engine broke midway through the race. Miller, a former driver in NASCAR's truck series, was fourth in 2007. Volkswagen hasn't won the Dakar since the second rally in 1980.

While the Volkswagens took a safety-first approach, Gordon took the stage lead then suffered mechanical problems. Guerlain Chicherit of France took over for a time before relinquishing the lead to Roma's Mitsubishi. Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland was second, more than seven minutes back, and Chicherit third.

Depping was fourth, Miller seventh and de Villiers eighth.

Marc Coma of Spain was set to win his second motorbike title in three years, holding onto a lead of nearly 90 minutes on defending champion Cyril Despres of France.

Despres won successive stages and his fourth this year, but Coma was only 1:45 behind. David Fretigne of France was third in the stage and overall.

"There was not a lot of grip so we had to stand on the bike all the time," Coma said. "It was very demanding physically but very entertaining in the final part."

He was wary of Saturday's long, final stage, 141 miles across the flat and wind-swept pampas.

"That's a lot (of miles) and a lot can happen, too," Coma said.

Meanwhile, doctors treating Spanish biker Cristobal Guerrero, who suffered serious injuries after a fall in the Atacama Desert in Chile on Tuesday, were waiting for final approval from rally officials to transfer him to Santiago for additional tests.

Doctor Oscar Lutz, the director of the Copiapo Regional Hospital, told The Associated Press that Guerrero remained in serious condition in an induced coma, but that his vital signs were stable.

------

Associated Press Writer Eva Vergara in Santiago, Chile contributed to this report.


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