Q and A with Ray Evernham - NASCAR on ESPN

  Media Conference Call
Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion crew chief Ray Evernham is returning to ESPN as a NASCAR analyst for the 2012 season. Evernham will join ESPN’s team at Daytona Speedweeks and will be part of NASCAR Countdown before the NASCAR Nationwide Series race that airs on ESPN on Saturday, Feb. 25, at noon ET. He also will appear on NASCAR Now and SportsCenter from Daytona as ESPN’s multimedia platforms surround the opening of the NASCAR season.

IndyCar's new Race Director outlines his changes

  No push to pass for now
Tuesday morning in Indianapolis, IndyCar's new Race Director, Beaux Barfield, reviewed the changes he has planned for the 2012 season.  Besides introducing his new Race Stewards, Barfield reviewed some of the changes that include qualifying heat races for some ovals (instead of boring single car qualifying), better communications between race control and the teams, the elimination of double file restarts on some of the ovals, and the plan for trying standing starts later in the year.

Bernard hosts IndyCar State of the Series Presentation

  At Hilbert Theater in Indianapolis
IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard the introduction to the 2012 American open-wheel season at the Hilbert Theater in Indianapolis on Monday night, stating at the presentation’s conclusion his personal commitment to staying with IndyCar until the Hulman George family asks him to leave and his commitment to making IndyCar a success.

Highlights from Day 1 of IndyCar State of the Union

  Being Held in Indianapolis
IndyCar is holding a two day State of the Series event in Indianapolis with all teams, drivers, media in attendance.  Here are some of the highlights: IndyCar will have an additional network-television race, officials announced on Monday, from 5 the last few years to 6. IndyCar's season will start on ABC on March 25, on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The other ABC races will be the Indianapolis 500 (May 27), the Belle Isle race in Detroit (June 3), the revived race in Milwaukee (June 16), the Toronto street race (July 8) and the Aug. 5 race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Force, Massey, Anderson Top NHRA Winternationals

  by Pete McCole
15-time NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series champion John Force proved that he still knows how to wheel a Funny Car to victory lane, racking up his 134th career victory on Sunday in the season-opening 52nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Showing his hasn’t missed beat since undergoing knee surgery in the off-season, Force opened up his 34th year of competition by watching his daughter Courtney score her first round win and then took down his own driver in the final round, defeating Mike Neff on a holeshot for the his sixth Winternationals victory.

Lucas, Hight, Line Top Winternationals Qualifying

  by Pete McCole
Morgan Lucas, Robert Hight and Jason line raced to the no. 1 qualifier positions in their respective divisions on Saturday in the rain-shortened final qualifying round for Sunday’s season-opening NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.  Lucas nailed down his fifth career Top Fuel no. 1 qualifier position as the last driver to take to the track in the afternoon session before it was cut short by persistent rain showers.

NASCAR Notebook for Feb. 10th

  by Dave Grayson
As we move closer to green flag time for the February 26th Daytona 500, and the start of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, there are still deals being made during the final days. To no surprise, a lot of corporations wants to see their logo on the hood of a car during Daytona Speedweeks. The really bright spot here lies in the fact that some of these eleventh hour deals are for the entire season.

We test the Volkswagen Jetta GLI

  by Ali Arsham
Volkswagen’s GLI was always unique in its offerings.  It was partly economy car yet it offered the performance of its bigger brother, the Audi A4.  Its price was low enough that made it become a great alternative to the more expensive sport sedans. When the Jetta was redesigned for 2011, much of the good stuff from the Jetta was lost due to Volkswagen’s decision to make the car a better fit in the American market.  That meant less content and cheaper price. 

Q and A with Bobby Rahal and Takuma Sato

  On Sato's signing with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Rahal Letterman Lanigan co-owner Bobby Rahal and IZOD IndyCar Series driver Takuma Sato were guests on an INDYCAR conference call today to discuss Sato's signing with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. RAHAL: I had a chance to see Taku not when he first started racing but when he was Europe in England in Formula 3 in 2001 when I was over there with Jaguar Formula One. I managed to watch Takuma win a lot of Formula 3 races.

The Super Bowl-NASCAR connection

  by Dave Grayson
Last February 5th, the National Football League concluded its season with one of the all time great spectacles in sports: Super Bowl 46. On February 26th NASCAR will officially begin its new season with another great spectacle in sports: the Daytona 500, aka "The Great American Race." That contrast has always been in effect for decades. However, this year there was a rather interesting connection between the Super Bowl and NASCAR. Surprisingly, it involved the game plan of the defensive team from the Super Bowl champions; the New York Giants.

Williams launches its 2012 F34 F1 car

  At Jerez circuit ahead of official testing
The Williams F1 Team unveiled its 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship season entry, the Williams Renault FW34, at the Jerez circuit in Spain today. This year marks the team’s 35th year competing in the sport which it will do with a revitalized line-up. The mechanical and aerodynamic design and development direction of the FW34 has been driven by a new technical leadership.

Toro Rosso launches 2012 Car in Jerez

  STR7 also has stepped nose
Toro Rosso followed in the footsteps of Sauber and unveiled the car with which they will contest the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship at Jerez on Monday afternoon. The Ferrari-engined STR7 will make its on-track debut on Tuesday morning, when this week’s opening pre-season test gets underway at the Spanish track. The Italian team’s 2012-spec line-up, Australian Daniel Ricciardo and Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne, were in attendance at the pit-lane launch.