Source: http://www.16thandgeorgetown.com/2013/05/kanaan-winners-photo-shoot.html
Saturday
Friday
Phoenix is Bobby Labonte?s final race of 2013
Could Sunday be the final race of Bobby Labonte's Sprint Cup Series career?
The 2000 Cup champion hasn't announced plans for next season, and with almost every full-time team set for next season, unless Labonte can snag a part-time role or hitch on with a new team, Phoenix may be his 718th and last start. (Though don't be surprised if a team puts Labonte in its car for the Daytona 500 for the use of the Past Champion's Provisional.)
It's been a trying season for Labonte and JTG-Daugherty Racing. The team brought AJ Allmendinger on board for what it deemed to be a second opinion earlier this season. Allmendinger's first race was at Michigan in June, while Labonte was able to catch a ride with Phoenix Racing to keep his consecutive starts streak intact.
However, two weeks later at Kentucky, Allmendinger was in the No. 47 again and Labonte didn't have a ride and the streak ended at 704 races. Allmendinger is scheduled to drive the No. 47 at Homestead and signed with the team to drive in 2014.
Over Labor Day weekend, Labonte was scheduled to drive for Phoenix again at Atlanta, but broke his ribs in a cycling accident and missed three weeks.
Labonte hasn't won since 2003, so for many newer NASCAR fans, his past accomplishments may be overlooked. However, whenever he is eligible for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, his career will serve as a fascinating barometer for how voters will consider the standards for drivers.
Through his 717 starts to date, Labonte has 21 wins, 115 top fives and that 2000 championship. Is that enough to be in the Hall of Fame? For reference, Dale Jarrett, a 2013 inductee, finished with 32 wins and a Cup title, but Jarrett also won the Daytona 500 three times.
Is any driver who wins a Cup title a Hall of Famer? Labonte's inclusion or exclusion may answer that question. What do you think?
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Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday
The Iceman leaveth: Raikkonen?s Lotus career in pictures | F1 pictures
Kimi Raikkonen's Formula One comeback with Lotus has come to a disappointing end two races early. Here's a look back on his time with the team in pictures.
Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/11/12/the-iceman-leaveth-raikkonens-lotus-career-in-pictures/
Monday
Sunday
Raikkonen to miss final two races | 2013 F1 season
Kimi Raikkonen will not participate in the final two rounds of the 2013 season, his management team have confirmed.
Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/11/10/raikkonen-to-miss-final-two-races/
Saturday
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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Nissan Bladeglider Concept
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.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/nissan/2013-nissan-bladeglider-concept-ar161155.html
Friday
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:
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 
Thursday
Wednesday
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
Tuesday
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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Monday
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 [...] 
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/R3FUmt0CNcQ/
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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Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mбrio de Araъjo Cabral Frank Armi
Sunday
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/
Saturday
Friday
Yamaha Video: Kazutoshi Seki, The Man Behind Valentino Rossi's Electronics
The role that electronics plays in MotoGP cannot be underestimated. Every aspect of bike performance depends on how well the the systems monitoring the bikes read the data, interpret it and then modulate the power as it is applied to the road through the rear tire. Despite their performance, the systems which provide that control are kept carefully hidden from the public, and the people behind those systems remain anonymous.
Yamaha has sought to change this, producing a video spotlighting the work of Kazutoshi Seki, the engine control engineer for Valentino Rossi. The two have worked together at Yamaha since 2004, when Rossi first joined the factory, and again since Rossi's return after his two-year hiatus at Ducati. The video provides an insight into the role which Seki plays in helping to set up the bike for Rossi, and puts the passion and commitment the Japanese engineer pours into the sport. Despite being produced by Yamaha's global marketing department, it is a beautifully produced 14-minute portrait of one of the men so crucial to racing at this level. For more background on Seki and Yamaha, see the story behind the video on the Yamaha corporate website.
Thursday
Enter smog
The third practice session for the Indian GP has been delayed because of visibility problems that mean that the medical helicopter cannot operate. The primary discussion here in the Media Centre is whether one terms the problem: fog, smog or mist. It is not really fog and mists generally burn off during the day and […]
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/enter-smog/
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