Wednesday
AJ Allmendinger tested positive for stimulant, rep reveals
Tara Ragan, vice president of Walldinger Racing, released the following statement, presented in full:
"In an effort to help our colleagues in the media report on this in a timely and accurate manner, we wanted to provide some additional details regarding AJ's sample 'A' test results. AJ tested positive for a stimulant. He has no idea why the first test was positive, and he has never knowingly taken any prohibited substance. AJ is collecting his medicines and supplements for testing to determine whether an over-the-counter product caused his positive test.
"AJ and all of us at Walldinger Racing respect NASCAR's testing program, and he has requested that his 'B' sample be tested as part of the process of getting to the bottom of this. We will have the opportunity to review all of the scientific data surrounding the test following the 'B' sample test, but our understanding is that AJ's test was slightly above the threshold. As of this morning, we have not been given notice of when the testing of the 'B' sample will take place. Thanks again for all of the support of our fans, team, and sponsors as we continue working through the process."
This shuts down several possibilities (hard narcotics, for instance) and opens up several others, most notably the possibility that Allmendinger may have unknowingly taken some sort of stimulant that triggered the positive result. Allmendinger recently signed a sponsorship with an energy shot compound called "Fuel in a Bottle," but there is no indication as yet that any specific substance contributed to the positive result.
USA Today notes that NASCAR's rule book defines stimulants as including "amphetamine, methamphetamine, Ecstasy (MDMA), Eve (MDEA), MDA, PMA, Phentermine and other amphetamine derivatives and related compounds."
There has, as yet, been no scheduled testing of the B sample. If that sample was found to be in violation, Allmendinger would be suspended indefinitely and not even considered for reinstatement until he completed a treatment program.
Sam Hornish Jr. will be driving the 22 this weekend at Loudon.
Toyota Hybrid Vehicle Range
Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/261-toyota-hybrid-vehicle-range.html
Tuesday
Clint Bowyer wins relatively bumper-car free race at Sonoma
The beating and banging that was widely expected Sunday afternoon at Sonoma really didn't materialize and the driver who dominated the race and ended up in victory lane wasn't one of the ones widely considered a favorite.
Using a two-stop strategy, Clint Bowyer assumed early control of the race after polesitter Marcos Ambrose faded from the lead 13 laps into the race and stayed there as pit stops cycled through and hung on to the lead on a green-white-checker finish, holding off Tony Stewart to win the Toyota/SaveMart 350K. The win was Bowyer's first on a road course and he became the eighth winner in the last eight races at Sonoma.
[Related: Danica Patrick spun out on final lap in Nationwide Series]
Believe it or not, the strongest threat to Bowyer's dominance in the waning laps of the race was Kurt Busch in his second race back from his one-week NASCAR suspension. Busch, the race's defending champion, closed onto Bowyer's back bumper with his underfunded and sponsorless red Chevy with 12 laps to go, but never was able to outbrake Bowyer on corner entry. After an apparent rear-suspension issue over the final few laps, Busch finished third.
There's no disputing that Bowyer and his car were king on Sunday. But part of the reason that he was able to lead, and lead large, for a race-high 71 laps was because of the lack of contact that we've become accustomed to at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, the two yearly road course visits on the Sprint Cup schedule.
In each of the previous five Sonoma races, there were at least five cautions. This year's race produced just two cautions, one for Tomy Drissi's crash into the tire barrier and another for an incident between Paul Menard and Kyle Busch with four laps to go. That's the fewest number of cautions in the track's history.
Why? Well, there weren't any cautions because there weren't any cautions. Because of the difficulty to pass with the current car and configuration (and parity) in the Sprint Cup Series, the usage of the chrome horn to complete a pass had almost gone from an "only when necessary" proposition to a necessity. That was especially true on the laps following double-file restarts, when multiple positions could be made up in the course of a single corner. That led to paybacks (see Vickers v. Stewart) and flaring tempers. (Said v. Biffle)
But at the beginning of Sunday's race, drivers seemed hellbent on exercising patience, getting strung out fairly quickly and easily making and conceding passes when the opportunities presented themselves. The first 82 of the race's scheduled 110 laps were run under green, which meant that thanks to the proliferation of green-flag pit stops and differing pit stop cycles, there were entire seconds of space between cars instead of mere tenths. The race's only real madness came on the penultimate lap ? immediately after the final restart ?�when a handful of cars got together and went off-track. (The big loser in that affair was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who went from a potential top 10 to a 23rd-place finish.)
Will we see this kind of patience at the Glen in seven weeks? The early guess here is no. That race is just the fourth before the Chase begins and in the next six races the battle for the wild card could be clearer. Or, if we continue at our current pace ?�four drivers between 11th and 20th have a win and no one has two ?�it could be a lot murkier. No matter the situation, there's likely to be more urgency, whether it's for Chase seeding or a Chase berth altogether. At this point, Sunday's relative lack of carnage seems like an outlier. But we'll have to see if it was, or this was a preview of a newer, cleaner brand of road course racing.
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Danica Patrick spun by Jacques Villeneuve on final lap at Road America
Danica Patrick was heading to tie her career-best NASCAR finish during Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Road America when she was spun on the final lap by Jacques Villeneuve in Turn 5 of the four-mile Wisconsin road course.
Patrick had just gotten by Max Papis for fourth and was ahead of Villeneuve as the two headed toward Turn 5. Villeneuve, a former Formula 1 champion, followed Patrick on the inside, but as he tried to move around Papis, he got into Patrick's rear bumper and turned her around.
"Look, I'm going to start off with a positive. I ran top five all day. I took the lead for a brief moment until I learned my lesson down into Turn 5 when you try to get a little bit more out of the brake zone," Patrick said. "So, that's the bummer is that we weren't able to finish that off and finish off with a top five like I feel that we all deserved. ... And it just would have been good to get a good result ?�people sort of say I don't get good results but today I ran well and we just can't ? I feel like lately we've been running much better but we just haven't sort of finished the deal and gotten the results."
And about the incident with Villeneuve?
"I don't know, you all can make a decision for yourself about what you think happened there," Patrick said with a concluding eye roll.
Villeneuve finished fourth. Patrick was able to get out out of the gravel trap to finish 12th.
Villeneuve said that Papis pushed him into the dirt while he was under braking and when he got his left side tires back on the track he wasn't able to gain traction before he hit Patrick.
"We had nothing to do together. When I was behind Danica and Papis was on the outside, maybe he didn't know I was there, but down the straight he pushed me in the grass just where we hit he brakes," Villeneuve said. "So when I jumped in the brakes I was in the grass because of that, I wasn't right next to him so no idea. Couldn't slow down after that."
While Villeneuve did get off course ?�the dust cloud behind his car doesn't dispute that ? it is interesting to note that while under braking after he got back on the track fully, the interval between his car and Patrick's was fairly constant until Patrick was in the corner. That's when it closed rapidly. (It's also worth noting that in eight Nationwide Series races, Villeneuve has become widely known for his propensity to make contact with others.)
During her tenure in the Izod IndyCar Series before she made the full-time move to NASCAR in 2012, Patrick wasn't known for her road racing prowess ?�just one of her seven podium finishes came on a road or street course. And in her first 38 NASCAR starts, her lone top five was last year at Las Vegas when she finished fourth thanks to fuel mileage.
Saturday was Patrick's second start on a road course in the Nationwide Series and after qualifying in the top 10, she was near the front all day. Her performance, and yes, her brief lead, weren't a fluke. She hung consistently with the leaders and eventual winner Nelson Piquet Jr. for most of the race, and traded fourth with Papis, a noted road course racer, multiple times over the last 10 laps.
But like at Michigan last week, where Patrick ran in the top 10 before crashing late, the results didn't match the performance. It's not pandering to say she is improving; while a win isn't immediately around the corner ?�that would be a stretch ?�it won't be much longer before her improvement is noted in the final results and she strings together some top 10s.
Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mбrio de Araъjo Cabral
FIA takes no action against Red Bull
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/07/22/fia-takes-no-action-against-red-bull/
Will Power breaks out the double middle finger salute again; this time towards EJ Viso
Very rarely is a sequel more subtle than its precursor. Very rarely is a sequel organic. And Will Power, yours was both during Saturday night's Izod IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway and we thank you for it.
Last summer at New Hampshire, Power became somewhat of a sensation for his double middle finger salute towards IndyCar officials after the series tried to finish the race under green on a damp track, causing a major pileup. Power flipped them again on Saturday, giving E.J. Viso the treatment in response to Viso's gesture towards him.
Power and Viso had just made contact in turn one, as Viso was on the inside of Power. The contact sent Power around and both drivers into the wall, with Viso's car ahead of Power's. As TV cameras were focused on Power, he flipped up his visor, unhooked his steering wheel and BAM, the double barrel salute subtly appeared. And then it disappeared. In fact, if you rewound your DVR, you may have had a hard time finding it. It existed for just a couple frames.
Viso's car ended up ahead of Power's on the track. It wasn't visible in the initial camera shot, but on replay, when Viso climbed from his car he gestured toward Power while pointing at his helmet, intimating that Power needed to use his head. Power responded with his trademark, and then Viso got the last motion with a gesture towards, uh, down there. (After he emerged from the infield care center, Power said he had simply lost the car, and then after looking at replays, apologized to Viso for not seeing him on the inside.)
Will, you're now the master of the exuberant and the low-key double bird flipping, perhaps the best road racer in the IndyCar Series and you can extinguish your own engine fire. Don't stop being you.
(Uncensored version below)
Monday
Furniture Row Continues To Progress
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Continued Performance, Not One Win, Will Save Logano
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Sunday
Vettel drops to fifth
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/vettel-drops-to-fifth/
2012 Brno World Superbike FP1 Result: Giugliano Leads Ducati Duo
Davide Giugliano has snatched the fastest time in the first session of free practice for the World Superbike class at Brno. The Althea Ducati rider led a late charge to take over from Max Biaggi, who had in turn deposed Tom Sykes, the Kawasaki rider having led for a large part of the session. Jakub Smrz of the troubled Liberty Ducati squad ended the session in 2nd, at his home race of the season, while Eugene Laverty just edged his factory Aprilia teammate Max Biaggi. Early leader Tom Sykes was dropped into 5th place, ahead of BMW's Marco Melandri and Giugliano's Althea teammate Carlos Checa.
Results:
More Information About The Future BMW M1
Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/242-more-information-about-the-future-bmw-m1.html