Martin Truex Jr. officially introduced as driver of the No. 78 in 2014

Martin Truex's arrival at Furniture Row Racing is now official.

The Colorado-based team announced Friday that Truex would be its driver on a "multi-year deal," putting the official stamp on a move that had been talked about for some time. (Truex opened his remarks by joking by how much of a secret the announcement was.)

Truex is leaving Michael Waltrip Racing after the team scaled back to two cars for 2014 in the wake of NAPA's departure. NAPA left the team after race manipulation penalties were handed down by NASCAR after Richmond. At Richmond, after teammate Clint Bowyer spun, both Bowyer and Vickers slowed down to ensure that Joey Logano would finish ahead of them. That meant that Truex would make the Chase via the final Wild Card spot.

[Watch: Kevin Harvick trivia]

And he did, until NASCAR penalized each team 50 points, which knocked Truex out of the Chase. However, with the departure of Kurt Busch from Furniture Row and the team's undecided status on a driver for 2014, when Truex was allowed to explore other options at MWR, the Furniture Row seat was open.

"As unlucky as I got at Richmond, I got lucky when this deal came up," Truex said.

Furniture Row general manager Joe Garone said that in addition to Truex, the team had hired his current pit crew at the No. 56 to serve as his pit crew for next year.

Busch moved to Furniture Row in 2013 and will drive for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. The team will continue its technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. NAPA has not announced any future plans in NASCAR.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/martin-truex-jr-officially-introduced-driver-no-78-151309875--nascar.html

Louis Chiron Joie Chitwood Bob Christie Johnny Claes

Nissan Bladeglider Concept

Posted on 11.8.2013 17:00 by Tushar

The Tokyo Motor Show opens its doors for the public in two weeks time. As we know, Nissan will make an exciting announcement at the show. Yes, it is the Nissan GT-R Nismo that debuts on November 19th, 2013. The company will also disclose the Nurburgring lap time set by the Nismo GT-R. But that’s not all, as Nissan will also showcase the Bladeglider concept.

Along with the concept car, Nissan will also reveal a concept prototype based on the Bladeglider, but toned down for actual production. The production version will have its sights set on attacking rival cars, like the Toyota GT 86 and Subaru BRZ. Andy Palmer- VP at Nissan told Motortrend that the Bladeglider will be the car for the young generation.

The origins of the Bladeglider concept can be traced back to the Nissan ZEOD RC racer, and that’s where the unconventionality begins. The designers of the Bladeglider concept describe it as "an extreme interpretation" of what a car can be. The thought behind the concept is to offer an affordable and appealing sports car to young people, according to Andy Palmer of Nissan.

Click past the jump for more on the Nissan Bladeglider Concept

Nissan Bladeglider Concept originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 8 November 2013 17:00 EST.

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Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/nissan/2013-nissan-bladeglider-concept-ar161155.html

Allen Berg Georges Berger Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard

HRC Press Release: Casey Stoner Concludes Testing At Sugo, Does Not Test Production Racer

Casey Stoner has concluded three days of testing at the Sugo circuit in Japan. The retired champion managed to put in a lot of laps in dry conditions, after previous tests he has participated in have been rained off. Stoner tested both the 2013 and 2014 Honda RC213V, but the Australian ran out of time to do further testing on Honda's RCV1000R production racer. 

HRC issued a press release after the test was completed, which appears below:

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Casey Stoner completes productive three day test at Sugo Circuit

HRC test rider and two time World Champion Casey Stoner has completed a gruelling three day test at Sportsland Sugo, Miyagi Prefecture. On this occasion the testing was held in good conditions with rain arriving only after lunch on day three, when the test programme was completed.

The 3.737 km facility played host to the HRC test team as Casey worked on the 2013 and 2014 RC213V prototype machine. He tested various items including a new frame and new engine. However, he did not have time to complete more test time on the Production Racer, instead these duties were left to Takumi Takahsahi.

Casey Stoner

Year: 

2013

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/GXALgx9991Y/hrc_press_release_casey_stoner_concludes.html

Gino Bianco Hans Binder Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger

INDYCAR: The Friday Setup (Fontana)

Source: http://www.popoffvalve.com/2012/9/14/3330856/indycar-the-friday-setup-fontana

Walt Brown Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes Martin Brundle

Who Will Be Second Best?

Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull have already wrapped up both titles, and with just two races left has left fans wondering what there is left to race for. The truth is that there is plenty to get excited about, with many battles down the order as drivers jostle for higher places. Second place has been [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/0GeSuNlxhvY/who-will-be-second-best

Chris Bristow Peter Broeker Tony Brooks Alan Brown

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finishes second behind that pesky Jimmie Johnson

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The national crisis that would be a winless 2013 Sprint Cup Series season for Dale Earnhardt Jr. almost came to an end once again Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson just got in the way. Again.

For the third time this season, Junior finished second to Johnson. It happened in the first race of the season at Daytona, at Dover in September and Sunday, as Junior, nor anyone else, could come close to the speed that Johnson and his team had.

Johnson led 255 of the race's 334 laps. But Junior, who started seventh, was also up front for nearly the entire day.

"The Chicago deal is regrettable," Junior said. "We'd love to go back and do that over again, but as soon as that happened, we really changed our aproach and it was more about trying to win a race."

"Winning a race would really lift all the team's spirits. You work all season long not to go winless and not getting to go to victory lane. So I know how much the guys want the win on the team, so that's what we're working for now."

The Chicago deal that he refers to is when he blew an engine in the Chase's opening race, which left him 53 points out of the lead. Now, with two races remaining, Junior's only lost nine additional points to the lead, thanks to six top 10s in the succeeding seven races.

But there's still that win lingering. After winning at Michigan last year to break a four year winless drought, Junior's too close to have another streak like that, right?

"I think it's a matter of being close. You know, it's not -- we're not running second by making mistakes," he said. "We're not giving away wins. So I feel like we're just really getting close to cracking through and just trying to maintain the momentum with two races to go is going to be tough. But that's what we're focusing on."

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/dale-earnhardt-jr-finishes-second-behind-pesky-jimmie-005823455--nascar.html

Gerry Ashmore Bill Aston Richard Attwood Manny Ayulo

Iowa Rain Out Causes Pit Crew Problems

On a normal NASCAR weekend when the Truck Series and/or Nationwide Series run companion to the Cup cars, there are a lot of pit crew members who double or triple dip. Crew members make some extra cash and get more reps, and the teams get top talent pitting their cars. But this last weekend presented [...]

TheNASCARInsiders.com

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/R3FUmt0CNcQ/

Giulio Cabianca Phil Cade Alex Caffi John CampbellJones

Blown left front tire ends Jeff Gordon?s remote chances at a championship

FORT WORTH, Texas -- We can stop any and all charades that the battle for the Sprint Cup involves anyone else outside of Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth.

Jeff Gordon made sure of that during Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway after he crashed on lap 75. The left front tire on Gordon's car blew as he was in turn one, and he couldn't do anything to prevent it from hitting the wall.

"It didn't give me enough of a warning, that is for sure," Gordon said while his team made repairs to his car. "I was going down the front straightaway and I felt the car move around a little bit. That was odd. But the wind was buffeting and blowing so strong, the cars are moving around anyway.

"Just before I got to turn one, I felt it go down. I did everything I could to slow it down. I even had time to come on the radio and say 'Uh oh'. Well, I might have not said that, I said something else. I knew I was going to hit the wall."

After winning last Sunday's race at Martinsville, Gordon was 27 points back of Johnson and Kenseth. Now he's 69 points back of the two in sixth place in the points standings.

The duo's nearest pursuer with two races to go is Kevin Harvick, who is 40 points back, a deficit that's eight points fewer than what Johnson earned for winning and leading the most laps in Sunday's race.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/blown-left-front-tire-ends-jeff-gordon-remote-003845822--nascar.html

Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mбrio de Araъjo Cabral Frank Armi

A question of good governance?

David Ward has launched another attack on FIA governance, arguing that the federation is failing to meet good governance standards required by the International Olympic Committee, which recently gave the FIA official recognition. Ward has sent a document to the FIA clubs comparing the IOC and FIA governance practices. He claims that this shows that […]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/a-question-of-good-governance/

Martin Donnelly Carlo Abate George Abecassis Kenny Acheson