Patrick makes progress in Nationwide

Danica Patrick looked set for her best finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series until an incident with 10 laps to go put her out of the race on Saturday at Fontana.

On her second visit to Auto Club Speedway, where she raced in the second-tier series last February, the IndyCar star showed good improvement from qualifying where she managed 14th on the grid, her best starting position for a NASCAR event thus far.

Early in the race she was able to stay within the top 20, although before the first third of the distance was completed she had already dropped a lap down. However during the third caution period of the race and while running 18th, she was able to get back on the lead lap through the 'free-pass' rule that allows the first driver a lap down to be waved around by the pace car.

While she was battling to get closer to a top 10 spot with nine laps to go, she squeezed rookie James Buescher at the exit of Turn 2 and he retaliated, clipping the right rear of Patrick's car, sending it into a spin and against the wall.

Her car was massively damaged in the impact and she would eventually drive into the garage to retire from her eighth Nationwide Series outing. Despite being only classified 30th, Patrick took a lot of positives from this weekend's experience.

"There was a lot of positives really," said Patrick. "We had a decent car to start and we were able to sort of hold our ground. We lost a few spots but kind of started to settle in and we made some adjustments that helped the car turn a little bit better.

"The frustrating part is that I feel I had a really good car for those last few restarts and just pushing hard and using all the road I kind of got into the car that ended up turning me the lap before. I didn't mean to. That next time I got pretty close but I was giving him room. I came off [the corner] and gave him room and looking at the replay it looks like maybe it was avoidable."

Patrick said being at Fontana for the second time definitely made a difference in terms of knowing how to set up the car and get a good consistent balance throughout the race. She lamented that there will not be a second visit to another track this year as her coming NASCAR outings will be at ovals which will be new to her in a stock car. Her next race will be in a week's time at Charlotte.

"I was really happy that the car was good on the long run," said Patrick. "It was good at the beginning, settling in the middle and then I came on at the end. I've been really confused as to what it's going to take to be good from the beginning to the end and I think that we're getting closer, I really do.

"[Crew chief] Tony [Eury Jr] did a good job setting the car up today, made good changes, he set the car up for the start so that I had confidence and then we freed it up. A lot of things went really well today so I'm very pleased for that."

"We're having a lot of confidence going into Charlotte I think. It does make a difference to come back [to a track] for a second time. It's a bummer that there won't be any others."

Kyle Busch claimed a record 12th victory in Saturday's Nationwide Series event, where Kevin Harvick looked dominant but lost a possible win due to delayed pitstops in the closing stages.

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Bowyer's Loudon appeal denied

Richard Childress Racing's attempt to get the penalties imposed on Clint Bowyer overturned have failed on a first instance, as their first appeal was denied on Wednesday.

Bowyer was handed a 150-point punishment plus a fine and suspensions to his team after the car he drove to victory in the Chase opener at Loudon failed a throughout inspection carried out at NASCAR's Research and Development facility.

Childress argued that Bowyer's car being pushed by a service vehicle following the race after he ran out of fuel, caused enough damage to the rear end of the #33 Chevy to make it fail measurements, despite the car passing the post-race inspection at the track.

The team exposed its case to the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel with support from Dr. Charles Manning, an accident reconstruction expert, who tried to prove to the panel that the left rear of Bowyer's car was modified after being towed to Victory Lane, moving it 130 thousandths of an inch too high and 60 thousandths beyond the mandated tolerance.

However, following around five hours of deliberation at NASCAR's R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, the panel formed by former IndyCar racer Lyn St. James, former NASCAR crew chief Waddell Wilson and retired USAC chairman Johnny Capels ruled unanimously against RCR's appeal, dismissing the arguments presented and upholding the penalties assessed.

"Claims that the wrecker caused the infraction were negated by the telemetry from the car which did not show a sharp impact spike," read a statement from the appeals panel.

"[Also] by the fact that the rear template still fit snugly across the entire rear of the car; by a visual inspection of the rear of the car which showed nothing of note in the way of damage; and a visual review of the videotape of post race assistance tendered by the wrecker which appeared as relatively gentle pushing."

Childress will now take the case to National Stock Car Racing Chief Appellate Officer John Middlebrook, who retired as a General Motors Executive in 2008, following 49 years working for the car manufacturer. This will be the final instance RCR can take the case to.

Following his points penalty, Bowyer went from second to last in the Sprint Cup series playoff, plus last weekend at Dover the RCR driver finished down in 25th place, dropping further away from title contention, as he now sits 235 points off from Chase leader Denny Hamlin.

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Harvick and Hamlin feud at Dover

Animosity continues to grow between Richard Childress Racing and Denny Hamlin as Kevin Harvick and the Joe Gibbs driver clashed in the opening minutes of NASCAR Sprint Cup practice at Dover on Saturday.

Harvick's #29 Chevrolet and Hamlin's #11 Toyota made contact on the track as the second practice session of the weekend kicked off at Dover, both ending up with bodywork damage on their cars and driving into the garage immediately.

Once they pulled into their adjacent garages both had a face-to-face outburst, with members of both teams also getting involved until NASCAR officials headed by Sprint Cup Series director John Darby intervened on the scene.

Both Hamlin and Harvick lost plenty of practice time while their cars were repaired, the former's apparently getting the most damage as both the right front and right rear of his Toyota were hit by the RCR's Chevy.

On Friday, Clint Bowyer made a spirited defense of his outfit's case after being penalised for irregularities found on the car he drove to victory at Loudon last week but also raised doubts about the legality of Hamlin's and Jimmie Johnson's cars from Loudon.

Later on the same day, Hamlin, who finished second at Loudon, hit out at Bowyer and dismissed his arguments - claiming that his rival's cars had been suspected to be illegal for a long time already.

"This is something that's been going on for months," claimed Hamlin on Friday. "They've been warned for a long time, way before Richmond. This is not something that, 'Oh man, they just told us halfway after Richmond and going into Loudon that our car's wrong.' They knew it was wrong way before that and I felt like they just, they wanted to get everything they could."

Bowyer's team boss Richard Childress hit back at Hamlin following Saturday's clash with Harvick and suggested the Chase leader should back off from the attack on his outfit and the team's general manager Mike Dillon, who was part of the exchange with Hamlin in the garage.

"You're not going to win a p*****g contest with a skunk, and you don't throw rocks if you live in a glass house," said Childress. "I wouldn't even think of going after Mike Dillon because I can tell you what, you're getting a bull if you go after him.

"We're all a good, tight-knit group. We're here to win races. That's all we're here for."

No penalties are expected for either the drivers or team personnel involved, according to NASCAR officials.

The appeal hearing for RCR and Bowyer's penalties from Loudon has been scheduled for next Wednesday.

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Bowyer resigned to appeal outcome

Clint Bowyer has conceded that his NASCAR Sprint Cup championship hopes are gone after two Chase races despite a final appeal pending on his penalties from Loudon.

The Richard Childress racer heads into his home race at Kansas this weekend already 235 points off Chase leader Denny Hamlin, following a 150-point penalty after his winning car from the play-off opener was deemed illegal in a thorough inspection carried out by NASCAR.

Last Wednesday his team appealed the penalties handed to Bowyer but the panel that heard RCR's defence dismissed their arguments, upholding the initial penalties.

Bowyer says he was not expecting a positive outcome from the appeal and now vows to put the issue behind him. He admits that the controversy got to him last week at Dover, where he had an erratic outing that ended with just a 25th place finish.

"I'm very disappointed, not surprised at all," said Bowyer about the negative outcome of his case's appeal. "I'll just leave it at that. I'm looking forward to getting that behind me. This is an important weekend.

"I made some mistakes on the track last week that were uncharacteristic of myself, we made some mistakes as a team that were uncharacteristic and our heads weren't 100 per cent in the game. I don't want this mess to bother us anymore.

"I'm at my home track, I'm having fun and that's what I aim to do."

Bowyer is not holding out any hope for a final appeal that will be heard next Tuesday by National Stock Car Racing chief appellate officer John Middlebrook. He believes his focus now has to shift to helping his RCR team-mates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, who both have better chances of contending for the title.

"I think the championship hopes are done for myself," Bowyer said. "The thing that I have to do is be the best team-mate I can be. We have to bring a championship home.

"We still have two shots at that, but for myself and our race team, I've never finished out of the top-five in the Chase and I want to continue that streak and want to continue that consistency in the Chase and I think that's an attainable goal."

Harvick and Hamlin rank fifth and seventh in the Chase standings after two races, both less than 80 points behind leader Hamlin.

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Kyle Busch critical of Reutimann

Kyle Busch has hit back at David Reutimann after a clash between the two at Kansas ended up being costly for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The current Nationwide Series champion slipped from third to seventh in the championship play-off last weekend at Kansas Speedway after an incident on lap 50 of the third Chase race, in which he made contact with Reutimann, caused the Michael Waltrip Racing driver to retaliate nearly 100 laps later, doing enough damage to the #18 Toyota to put it out of contention for a good finish.

Speaking at Fontana on Friday, Busch insisted that Reutimann, who won at Chicago earlier this year but did not make the Chase, raced him excessively hard and without any consideration for him being a championship contender.

He said there was no point in settling things between the two, but admitted that he, not Reutimann, was at fault for their first contact.

"I race guys how they race me and I've always got raced really, really hard against [by] David Reutimann and I've got no room, no slack, no nothing," said Busch. "I had the opportunity to pass him at lap 30 in the race and he raced me so hard it lost me two spots and I just backed off. I said, 'You know what, not the time in the race to do this, no big deal, I'll get him back later.'

"The next time I got back to him was lap 50 and I didn't cut him any slack. I got into him, which was my fault not meaning to. But why would I apologise to a guy that races me like an ***hole every week? No point."

Busch has said following the clash that NASCAR should act to prevent such actions against a title contender happening. However, one of the series' policies for this year has been letting drivers police themselves, even if sometimes intentional contact is involved.

A much more dangerous payback incident than Busch's with Reutimann took place earlier this season at Atlanta between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski but no penalties were issued, a probation for the Roush Fenway racer being the only word from NASCAR. A second clash between the two in a Nationwide Series event at Gateway led to a points penalty, a fine and a second probation for Edwards, while the Penske racer was also placed under observation.

"I think in the instance in which everybody knew payback was coming, I think that's kind of dumb to let it happen," said Busch. "Before he [Reutimann] ran into me off Turn 2, he brake-checked me 30-miles per hour getting into Turn 1 and so I had an idea of what was coming, but thought that this would be really dumb if this did happen. It did, so it just makes us look like idiots."

The 25-year-old believes his poor finish at Kansas has placed him in catch-up mode for coming races, as he now trails Chase leader Jimmie Johnson by 80 points after three of the play-off's 10 events.

"We've got way too much catching up to do versus where we could have been," Busch said. "If I gave myself a fifth-place finish, which we could have either been better than that or maybe a couple spots worse than that, we'd be - I think - second or third in points right now, 20 points out of the lead.

"I feel like that's legitimately where we could be and instead of trying to come from behind, which is where we are, we could just keep running our own deal and doing what we need to do, finishing fifth, finishing fourth, finishing sixth, but right now we have to step it up and we have to win or finish second or third. We've got a lot more to pick up on."

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Stewart signs new primary sponsor

Stewart Haas Racing announced Wednesday the signing of ExxonMobil with their brand Mobil 1 as a co-primary sponsor of Tony Stewart's car from 2011.

The Sprint Cup series team had been in the hunt for new sponsors for 2011 as the deal with Old Spice, which shares as main sponsor with Office Depot and Burger King on Stewart's car, is due at the end of the season.

The two-time champion, who won last Sunday in the fourth Chase event at Fontana, will now sport the logos of Mobil 1 on his car, featuring as the main sponsor in in 2011.

Mobil 1 is also NASCAR's official motor oil and switches to Stewart's team following many years with Penske Racing. The brand's logos currently feature on the #77 car of Sam Hornish, but the IndyCar and NASCAR squad announced earlier this year the signing of a major deal with Shell Pennzoil.

Stewart says the multi-year deal with ExxonMobil allows his team to complete the bulk of the budget of his two-car outfit for next year.

"We're in good shape on the #14 car now," said Stewart. "This has fulfilled what we're looking for to fill the void for Old Spice next year. It allows us to now put that project behind us. We're still always looking for new partners. You never stop in that category.

"...So the search [for sponsors] necessarily, isn't over. But this does fill the void from the Old Spice brand leaving at the end of the year. On Ryan [Newman's] car, we're still looking for some associate sponsorship also, but we're very happy that Tornados and U.S. Army are coming back again.

"Exciting to have new partners that have come into the sport that are excited and happy with what we're doing and that want to return."

Stewart's deal with ExxonMobil also includes his teams in USAC midgets and World of Outlaws, as well as the Eldora Speedway in Ohio, which he owns.


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NASCAR penalises Bowyer and RCR

Clint Bowyer's title chances have taken a major blow after NASCAR penalised him for irregularities found on his winning car from Sunday's race at Loudon.

The Richard Childress driver has been docked 150 points in the standings, after his #33 Chevrolet failed to pass a detailed inspection at NASCAR's Research and Development facility in Concord, North Carolina, where the car was taken following the initial post-race inspection at the track.

Officials found discrepancies in the "car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis", citing that these "did not meet NASCAR-approved specifications." The NASCAR rulebook states how the bodywork must be placed in reference to the chassis and in the rear of Bowyer's car measurements were found not to comply.

Last week after the final race of the regular season at Richmond, Bowyer's team had already been warned about issues that arose during inspection of the car he ran at the event where he secured his place in the championship play-off. Officials found the Richmond car, which was selected randomly for inspection at the track, was too close to the mandated tolerances.

"Details regarding the #33 car surround the car from a post-race inspection after the Richmond race," said NASCAR's vice president of competition Robin Pemberton.

"We reinforced the fact that they had come exceedingly close to the measurements that we allow for post-race [inspection]. The #33 car that was raced in New Hampshire was brought back to the R&D centre after the race and that car did not meet specifications, as a result these penalties have been issued."

The points penalty has dropped Bowyer from second place in the Chase down to 12th and last among the title contenders, placing him exactly where he was before taking his first win of the season last Sunday, although with a larger gap to leader Denny Hamlin.

While Richard Childress was also docked 150 points in the owners' standings, crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney have been suspended for the next six races, Wilson additionally being fined $150.000.

There was no word from NASCAR regarding the cars run at Loudon by Bowyer's team-mates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, which both passed inspection following Sunday's Chase opener.

Scott Miller, current director of competition at RCR and former crew chief for Bowyer's team-mate Burton, is expected to replace Wilson in his role while he serves his suspension.

The team has announced that it will appeal against the penalties.

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