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Tag Archive | "Toyota"

AMBROSE QUITS JTG DAUGHERTY: NASCAR FUTURE UNCERTAIN

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

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AMBROSE QUITS JTG DAUGHERTY: NASCAR FUTURE UNCERTAIN

The NASCAR future of Australian Marcos Ambrose is up in the air after the announcement that the Tasmanian will leave JTG Daugherty Racing at the end of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. “It has been a great five year journey for me and JTG Daugherty Racing,” Marcos Ambrose said. “I am proud of being their driver and of what we have been able to accomplish together. " Ambrose said that the decision to leave had been his as “After five years, I personally felt it was time for a change. Ambrose said that he had no firm plans for next year and has not ruled out a return to Australia and V8 Supercar competition. “I would like to continue in NASCAR and finish off what I started, but I have not discounted returning to Australia.

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EDWARDS WINS: BUT WAS IT FAIRLY ?

Sunday, July 18, 2010

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EDWARDS WINS: BUT WAS IT FAIRLY ?

The feud between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski — dormant since Atlanta in March — erupted like an angry volcano at Gateway International Raceway. In a duel to the finish line, Edwards sent Keselowski hard into the outside wall on the way to winning Saturday night's Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Nationwide Series race at the 1.25-mile track. As Edwards took the checkered flag two car lengths ahead of runner-up Reed Sorenson, Keselowski careened into the inside retaining wall and took a vicious shot from Shelby Howard's Chevrolet just short of the finish line. Less than a lap earlier, Keselowski had bumped Edwards in Turn 1 in an attempt to take the lead after a restart on Lap 199 of 200. Edwards' Ford and Keselowski's Dodge raced side-by-side for most of the final lap. With Keselowski edging ahead as the cars approached the stripe, Edwards turned Keselowski's Dodge, igniting a multicar pileup on the frontstretch. "I just couldn't let him take the win from me," said Edwards, who drew a three-race probation in March for unabashedly turning Keselowski in a Sprint Cup race at Atlanta, with the unintended consequence of sending the No. 12 Dodge upside-down into the frontstretch wall. "My guys work way too hard for that.

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JUNIOR WINS AT DAYTONA: “This one’s for Daddy”

Saturday, July 3, 2010

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JUNIOR WINS AT DAYTONA: “This one’s for Daddy”

Dale Earnhardt Jnr. has taken an emotional victory at the Nationwide Cup round at Dayton Speedway. Driving the Number 3 made famous by his late father, who died in an accident at the same track, Earnhardt gave Chevrolet the perfect debut for their next generation Impala. Wearing the original blue & yellow livery of his fathers car, “Junior” held his nerve and his twitchy car to just edge out the Toyota of Joey Logano. Rookie driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was third in the new Ford Mustang. “A win was the only acceptable result.” said an emotional Earnhardt after the race. “if we hadn't of won then everybody would have been saying 'what's the point'.

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NASCAR: BRINGING THE STOCK BACK INTO STOCK CAR RACING

Thursday, July 1, 2010

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NASCAR: BRINGING THE STOCK BACK INTO STOCK CAR RACING

It's ironic that the National Association of Stock Car Racing race a brand of car that is anything but stock. Yet there was once a time when at least the cars had some passing resemblance to the sort of machine that US buyers could find in their showrooms on Monday morning. That all changed when NASCAR adopted it's new regulations rather amusingly dubbed "The Car of Tomorrow". Apart from the fact that anything powered by a six litre carburettor fed pushrod V8 could hardly be looking towards the future, the fact is that they were just plain ugly. It was as if, inspired by their cousins at the Grand-Am, they set out to create a car even less aesthetically pleasant than the awful looking Daytona Prototypes. But this weekend at Daytona all that changes.

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KELLY FIFTH AS EDWARDS WINS FOR FORD

Sunday, June 20, 2010

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KELLY FIFTH AS EDWARDS WINS FOR FORD

Australian Owen Kelly has finished fifth in his NASCAR Nationwide race debut at Road America. Carl Edwards driving a Ford won the race which was marred by a massive 10 car pile-up which brought out the red flag. Robb Brent slammed into the back of Tony Raines’ car as the field scrambled to avoid the incident. 10 cars were damaged causing NASCAR officials to call the red flag. The race was restarted over 30 minutes later. Second place in the race went to veteran road course specialist Ron Fellows in a Chevrolet ahead of the Toyota of Brendan Gaughan.

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AMBROSE ON TOP IN NASCAR PRACTICE. KELLY SHINES ON DEBUT

Saturday, June 19, 2010

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AMBROSE ON TOP IN NASCAR PRACTICE. KELLY SHINES ON DEBUT

Marcos Ambrose has made the early running in this weekend's NASCAR Road Course race at Infinion Raceway, Sonoma. Ambrose took his Toyota to a fastest lap time of 76.375 at 93.800 MPH to edge out the Chevys of Clint Boyer and Ryan Newman. GT driver Jan Magnussen was off the early pace back in 26th place. DTM star Mattias Ekstrom also found his first taste of US stockcars quite a challenge ending the day in 40th place. Meanwhile in the Nationwide Cup at the spectacular Road America circuit, Aussie NASCAR debutante Owen Kelly has done well finishing the day in sixth position. Fastest time at Road America went to former Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. The Nationwide race from Road America can be seen in Australia on ONE HD early Monday morning, with a delayed telecast of Sprint Cup action also on ONE Tuesday night at 8.30 p.m.

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KESELOWSKI CREAMS ‘EM AT RICHMOND

Saturday, May 1, 2010

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KESELOWSKI CREAMS ‘EM AT RICHMOND

RICHMOND, Va.—After a late caution turned a runaway into a challenge for Brad Keselowski, a late four-tire call proved decisive, as Keselowski stormed to the front from fourth place during a green-white-checkered-flag finish to win Friday night's Bubba Burger 250 Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway. Keselowski, who led 189 of 252 laps, had an advantage of almost two seconds when Paul Menard slammed the Turn 2 wall on Lap 245 of a scheduled 250 at the .75-mile short track. "I'm coming," Keselowski radioed to crew chief Paul Wolfe, steering his car toward pit road for a four-tire stop. Kyle Busch and Justin Allgaier stayed out on old tires, while Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle each took two. Busch led the field to green on Lap 251 with Allgaier beside him, McMurray on the inside of the second row and Keselowski alongside in fourth. Biffle surged forward from the fifth spot, and by the time the cars reached Turn 3 on the next-to-last lap, Keselowski and Biffle had separated themselves from the pack. A lap later, Keselowski passed to the inside and ultimately crossed the finish line .261 seconds ahead of Biffle. McMurray finished third, Busch fourth and Carl Edwards fifth. Keselowski extended his series lead to 59 points over seventh-place finisher Kevin Harvick.

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TOYOTA OUT AS JAPAN SAYS SAYONARA F1

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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TOYOTA OUT AS JAPAN SAYS SAYONARA F1

A report in the Japanese English language newspaper "Mainichi Daily" claims that Toyota are about to announce their withdrawal from Formula One effective immediately. The company is due to annouce it's six monthly financial report this Thursday where it is expected to reveal a significant operating loss. Sales have dropped by just over 30 percent in the April to September period compared with the previous year, with exports falling 45.4 percent. The company had already announced it's decision to withdraw from hosting the Japanese Grand Prix at its' Fuji circuit and follows the news that Japanese tyre giant Bridgestone will pull out from F1 at the end of 2010.

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NO SPLIT IN F1, MOSLEY GONE! IT’S GOOD NEWS WEEK!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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NO SPLIT IN F1, MOSLEY GONE! IT’S GOOD NEWS WEEK!

The great Formula One breakaway crisis is apparently over with FIA President Max (hurts so good) Mosley finally falling on his sword and doing what he should have done this time last year. Mosley announced to the World Motorsport Council meeting in Paris today that he would not be standing for re-election. Mosley told reporters after the meeting that there will be no split. "We have agreed to a reduction of costs," he said. "There will be one F1 championship in 2010 but the objective is still to get back to the spending levels of the early nineties within two years." It is believed that Mosley's position became untenable after meeting with long time supporter Bernie Ecclestone and [FOTA] chairman Luca di Montezemolo. It is believed that Ecclestone warned Mosley that if he did not stand aside then Ecclestone would join with FOTA in staging an alternative World Championship. The new agreement means that the teams must call off the breakaway series and sign up to a new Concorde Agreement until 2012. A unified Formula One, and we get rid of Mosley. all in all a job well done. I think Champagne is called for.

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KASEY KAHNES THEM AT SONOMA

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

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KASEY KAHNES THEM AT SONOMA

How strange was it for Kasey Kahne to win a road-course race? The driver of the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge had to ask his crew chief for directions to victory lane after taking the checkered flag in a green-white-checkered finish in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. Kahne held off road-course ace Tony Stewart through a succession of four late-race double-file restarts, the final time after Scott Speed’s spin on Lap 108 caused the seventh caution of the day. After starting from the rear because of an engine change, Marcos Ambrose chased the top two finishers to the line to claim third place, matching the best result of his Sprint Cup Series career. “Awesome—not too bad for a dirt-tracker from Washington!” Kenny Francis, Kahne’s crew chief, radioed after his driver crossed the stripe on Lap 113, three laps beyond the scheduled distance at the 1.99-mile road course. “Unreal,” replied Kahne, who gave owner Richard Petty his first victory since John Andretti in 1999. “Gosh, we had to hold him (Stewart) off for a while. We won a road-course race! Oh, my God, I can’t believe this.” Jimmie Johnson recovered from a pit-road speeding penalty to finish fourth. Denny Hamlin, who led 33 laps—second only to Kahne’s 37—came home fifth. Juan Pablo Montoya, AJ Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon and Elliott Sadler completed the top 10....

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