Martinsville fans to get October race started

Most of the time, the crowd at NASCAR races waits impatiently for the traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines" announcement that gets things going on track.

This fall at Martinsville Speedway, it will be the fans that get things started at the TUMS Fast Relief 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

Clay Campbell, president of the Virginia track, and Darren Singer, vice president of marketing for TUMS, said earlier this week that all of the fans who attend the Oct. 25 race will act as Grand Marshal for the event.

"Fans have been our top priority since Martinsville Speedway opened more than 60 years ago," Campbell said. "Fans have always come first with us and what better way to show that than making them all the Grand Marshal."

He said the track and the NASCAR community will recognize the fans throughout the prerace ceremonies.

The Martinsville race will be the sixth of the 10 races that make up NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

------

NEW CLASS: There will be a new class of sports cars on track at Watkins Glen International in August.

SCCA Pro Racing and WC Vision have announced the introduction of Touring Car 2 (TC2), which will run as a separate class within SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car races.

The new class is intended to provide a more cost-effective point of entry into the series.

TC2 vehicles will have fewer modifications than the current Touring Cars, including tight limitations on engine and drive-train modifications and the prohibition of non-factory aerodynamic devices such as wings and splitters.

"We recognize that not everyone is in the position to develop a car to the same level as our front-running World Challenge Touring Car teams," said Bob Wildberger, president and CEO of SCCA Pro Racing. "The rules being developed will include a number of cars that can race with World Challenge as soon as Round Five at Watkins Glen next month."

TC2 will retain the same basic premise of Touring Car, a class designed for four-seat automobiles. The overall power-to-weight ratio of the class will be lower than the current World Challenge Touring Car series and, while the cars are expected to have outstanding handling with aftermarket racing shocks, sway bars and springs, they will lack the overall aerodynamic grip created by the devices permitted in Touring Car.

Eligible cars include, but are not limited to, the Acura RSX, BMW 328 and 330 (E36, 46), Chevrolet Cobalt SS, Dodge SRT-4, Honda Civic Si, Lexus IS, Mazda RX-8, MINI Cooper S, Saturn Ion, Scion tC, Subaru Legacy, and Volkswagen GTI and Jetta.

Grubb enjoying time at top with Stewart

AP Graphic CAR LIFELOCK 400

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) -- Darian Grubb made his first good move when he decided to leave the Hendrick Motorsports powerhouse to join Tony Stewart's first-year team.

His decisions as Stewart's crew chief have been just about as good.

Once seemingly content to work behind the scenes at Hendrick, Grubb has helped boost Stewart-Haas Racing into an instant Cup contender.

Grubb was on top of his game at Pocono Raceway, directing Stewart to his first win as driver/owner with a series of instructions designed to help the points leader conserve fuel and show just how much faith they had in each other.

"You have to trust the guy that's on that box making the calls for you," Stewart said.

He believes in no one right now more than Grubb.

"We didn't know how we were going to work together at Daytona when we got there," Stewart said. "It was literally a week-to-week deal, and that's the approach we've had from Day 1."

Grubb had only limited experience as a crew chief working for Hendrick, but a pretty good winning percentage when he was running the show. He was crew chief for Casey Mears in 2007 and led him to his only career Cup victory with a win in the marquee Coca-Cola 600. Grubb also ably filled in for Chad Knaus, leading Jimmie Johnson to two wins during his crew chief's four-race suspension.

When Grubb moved back to an engineering job with Hendrick last season, he believed his days of sitting atop the pit box were numbered.

Hendrick dominated the series with its drivers at least a threat to win every week, and he played a role in Johnson's third straight Cup title.

"I was not planning to be a crew chief at all," Grubb said. "I was very happy where I was at with Hendrick Motorsports. We were on top of the game."

Stewart, a two-time Cup champion, took notice.

When Stewart was assembling his team, he wanted to hire some of the best people he knew to make it a title contender. So he went after Grubb with a simple sales pitch: Come join me and build a contending team and a lasting program from the ground up. That piqued Grubb's interest enough to discuss the job with Stewart.

"It's kind of hard not to get chill bumps from that and say, 'Hmm, do I really want to do that?"' Grubb said. "He wanted to go out and he wanted to build a team to win races and championships."

Grubb liked what he heard. The shot at facilitating the Stewart-Haas Racing team from the outset was enough for him to give up his comfortable job at Hendrick.

"It's just one of those things that when you can read it in somebody's eyes and you know how much it means to them, that you just want to be a part of it," Grubb said. "You want to take that ride. It might be good, it might be bad. But you know at that point you have to make a change and try it."

So far, it's been all good.

Stewart has the points lead, a victory and a spot in the Chase for the championship all but secured. Not only was Stewart able to pluck Grubb away from Hendrick, but Rick Hendrick agreed to share engines with Stewart's team.

"We have to give credit to the Hendrick engine department making great power, but at the same time giving us good fuel mileage," Stewart said. "Without those guys, we couldn't do this."

The smooth working relationship between Grubb and Stewart has played just as big a role in the team's fast development. Stewart had a sometimes strained relationship with crew chief Greg Zipadelli over their 10 years together at Joe Gibbs Racing, but they put their differences aside to win 32 races and two championships together. Grubb hasn't yet run into any rough patches with the fiery Stewart -- just nothing but success.

"There's something to be said when Tony walks into the shop and he has that confidence," Grubb said. "He pats everybody on the back. They know he's back and putting everything he's got into it."

Having the right crew chief in Grubb hasn't hurt either.

20-year-old Braun targets Roush truck milestone

Colin Braun figures there couldn't be a better time for his first victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series than in Saturday's race at Michigan International Speedway.

The 20-year-old Braun, in his second full season driving trucks for Roush Fenway Racing, would love to be the driver to give team co-owner Jack Roush his 50th truck series victory.

"Not only is Michigan Jack's backyard, it's Ford's and our sponsor Con-way Freight's backyards, as well," said Braun, last year's top truck rookie. "Just to get a win for them at Michigan, not to mention it being the 50th, would be pretty awesome."

Roush Fenway Racing has four truck wins and 11 Sprint Cup victories at Michigan, more than any other venue in either series. And Roush was able to celebrate last June at the Brooklyn, Mich., track after Erik Darnell -- now racing in the Nationwide Series -- gave the team its most recent truck win.

That's a long victory drought for Roush and his team, but Braun could be on the verge of changing that. He is coming off a third-place finish at Texas, matching his career best last season at Kansas. Now, heading into his 35th truck start, Braun would love to get to Victory Lane.

"Fifty wins in the truck series would really be keeping in concert with what our goal is: to set a lot of standards, to set a lot of high marks for ourselves, and to enjoy the celebration of those milestones with Ford Motor Company," Roush said.

Roush, whose team won the 2000 truck series championship with Greg Biffle -- as well as two Sprint Cup and two Nationwide Series titles -- is the only high-profile Cup owner still fielding entries in the truck series. Names such as Gibbs, Hendrick and Childress have pulled out.

"Having a name like Jack Roush in the Truck Series is pretty significant," said Patrick DiMarco, Ford's NASCAR brand manager. "... When I started in NASCAR, I was working in the truck series and you had Hendrick, Childress, DEI and Roush and they went at it -- all the big names -- and Jack stuck around, and that is important to us that he's still there and going for his 50th win."

Braun, who finished sixth at Michigan last June, said a big part of Roush's success is that his team is a big family.

"Everyone wants to see everyone else do well," he explained. "Everyone has the same goals and there is no question that goes unanswered.

"I feel like Jack Roush has made it clear to the older drivers that they need to help out the young rookies, and I think that's a big part of it."

Roush views the truck series as a teaching tool for younger drivers and the lessons imparted extend beyond maneuvering the truck around a speedway.

"It's the first stop for a rookie driver coming into NASCAR, coming into stock car racing," Roush said. "Historically, since the onset of the truck series more than 10 years ago, we've enjoyed taking our rookies there first and getting them started and improving their race craft -- improving judgments on the racetrack, establishing their code, which is the thing that keeps them out of harm's way.

"It establishes expectations among the competitors of what (young drivers) will and won't do on the racetrack. It's important that a driver have a good code, a defensible and admirable code, so he can really have the racing room he needs when it comes time and he's able to close the deal to win his races and compete for championships."

Braun agrees with his boss, and he just wants to keep learning and moving up the racing ladder.

"I don't really feel any pressure to get that win," Braun said. "I think that's one of the coolest things about driving for Jack and this team. They just put good trucks under me and we always have fast vehicles and good pit stops.

"We've got to keep putting ourselves in the position to win a race here. I know it will happen."