Kenny Wallace Voted NASCAR Busch Series Most Popular Driver
December 14

The votes are in and Kenny Wallace has been named the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series Most Popular Driver.

Wallace is the only three-time winner of the award. He also won in 1991 and ’94. The award is determined by a ballot in NASCAR Insider Magazine, the official NASCAR Membership publication and a part of Dick Berggren’s Speedway Illustrated.

The award and trophy were given to a surprised Wallace at the NASCAR Busch Series Awards Banquet on Dec. 8 at the Grand Floridian Hotel in Orlando, Fla. Wallace finished 11th in the 2006 point standings, just missing a place at the banquet reserved for the top 10 finishers in the final rankings. Wallace had finished in the top 10 in points in each of his nine previous full-time seasons in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Although disappointed that he wasn’t in the top 10, Wallace accepted an invitation from NASCAR president Mike Helton to attend the banquet to receive a “special award.” Wallace, who celebrated his 20th year as a racer in NASCAR national series competition in 2006, had no idea he would be named the series’ Most Popular Driver.

“I’m humbled by this award,” he told the capacity crowd during a lively yet serious off-the-cuff speech. “I’m totally surprised. This means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

Wallace, who has 327 career starts in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, will return full-time to that series next season.

Biffle Talks about Vegas crash
December 14

Jimmie Johnson’s golf cart incident may have grabbed the national spotlight this week, but Roush Racing’s Greg Biffle suffered his own injury last week, this one potentially much more serious.

During a Goodyear tire test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the right front tire of Biffle’s Ford exploded sending him careening into the wall. The crash ignited a small fire, knocked him out and left Biffle with a dislocated shoulder.

"I don’t know what happened,” Biffle said on PRN’s Garage Pass. “The guys heard the tire blow in the pits, in the garage. Boom! They heard it. Then four seconds later they heard it hit the fence and I went all the way around the corner unconscious before I woke up. I woke up on the backstretch...I crashed in turn one you know so it was big.”

Ironically the blown tire came during a tire test, but Biffle is quick to point out that the exact cause isn’t know yet.

We don’t know what happened to the tire, they´ re obviously looking at it,” Biffle said. “Did it cut; did we run over something on the racetrack, did the tire fail? You just don’t know. Problem is with issues like that when they blow out and hit the fence and they catch on fire there’s nothing left to inspect. The right rear tire looks fine and all the left side tires look good, so we don’t know. You can’t blame the tire until you really analyze what might have happened."

Edwards: Media should lay off Johnson
December 14

Some in the media raised a few eyebrows when it was reported that Jimmie Johnson broke his wrist while engaged in horseplay. But Roush Racing’s driver Carl Edwards said that those who would be critical of Johnson should think again.

"To be honest with you I’m a little disgusted with the media and some of their reactions to that “Edwards said. “It’s pretty amazing. I tried to get Jimmie to go motorcycle riding with me about three weeks into the Chase and he’s like, Carl, I’m focused on winning this championship, I’m not taking any risks. I thought that said a lot about Jimmie’s focus and his ability to sacrifice.

To me, if the dude wants to go ride around on golf carts...on top of them or underneath of them or skiing on a rope behind them, I mean he’s the champion, he won this thing, it’s his off-season so he can do whatever he wants. I think it’s cool to think Jimmie Johnson was on top of a golf cart goofing around. I mean, you name a person in that garage area that hasn’t goofed around on a golf cart and I’ll give you a hundred dollars."

CASCAR Champ heading to Busch Series
December 14

Canadian J.R. Fitzpatrick, the 2006 CASCAR Super Series champion, will jump to the NASCAR Busch Series for at least three races in 2007; his longtime crew chief told Sun Media yesterday.

The 18-year old became the youngest driver in history to win Canada's top stock car racing series crown on the final race for CASCAR -- the series will become the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series in 2007 -- Sept. 18 at Kawartha Speedway.

But the Fitzpatrick Motorsports team has its sights set on the Busch series for J.R., particularly the inaugural race at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve July 22.

"John Fitzpatrick (J.R.'s dad) and I were down in North Carolina a few weeks ago and we made a deal for a Busch car," Don Thomson Jr., a five-time CASCAR champion and Fitzpatrick Motorsports crew chief, said yesterday.

"I have a pretty good idea -- although I can't announce it officially -- that we'll be in Montreal and we are also looking at Watkins Glen."

Canadian Racers grumble about slow start for new series
By Dean McNultyr
Winnipeg Sun,December 14

TORONTO -- It has been more than three months since the Sept. 12 announcement that racing giant NASCAR had joined with retailing behemoth Canadian Tire to start a series that would launch this country's stock car racing teams into the big time.

But several of those teams are now telling Sun Media that they are struggling to put together a financial plan with prospective sponsors because of a lack of information on how the new NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will work, where the races will be held or even how many races there will be in its inaugural season.

Most teams in the old CASCAR Super Series who are expecting to be part of the NCTS expect they will need a bare minimum budget of $250,000 to field a one car team.