Daily Trackside Report - Friday, July 23
July 23, 2010 | By
Welcome to the 2010 Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Brickyard 400 is the 20th race of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Notes, quotes, trivia, historical information and other items will appear on these pages through Sunday, July 25. Our Media Center staff, headed by Indianapolis Motor Speedway Manager of Public Relations Eric Powell, is here to assist you and answer your questions during this event.
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TODAY’S ON-TRACK SCHEDULE (all times local):
8 a.m. Indianapolis Motor Speedway public gates open
2-3 p.m. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice
3:30-4:30 p.m. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice
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Timing and scoring monitors are located throughout the Media Center with up-to-the-minute times and speeds.
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Brickyard 400 information is available on the World Wide Web this week on the official Indianapolis Motor Speedway site, http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com, and the official NASCAR site, http://www.nascar.com. Included in the information will be practice summaries and performance histories, qualifying results, Daily Trackside Reports, driver quotes, race lineups and results.
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Tracy Hines won the J.D. Byrider 100 USAC Silver Crown Championship race Thursday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standout and former USAC Silver Crown National Champion Ryan Newman finished 24th after qualifying second.
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Jeff Gordon could become just the second five-time winner of a major race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a victory Sunday in the Brickyard 400.
Michael Schumacher became the first five-time winner when he captured the 2006 United States Grand Prix. Schumacher has won the USGP in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Gordon is tied with four-time Indianapolis 500 winners A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears on the IMS win list. Gordon won the Brickyard 400 in 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2004. Foyt won the Indy 500 in 1961, 1964, 1967 and 1977; Unser won the “500” in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987. Mears won the “500” in 1979, 1984, 1988 and 1991.
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Jimmie Johnson will attempt to become the first driver to win a major oval race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for three consecutive years.
Five drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 for two consecutive years: Wilbur Shaw (1939-40), Mauri Rose (1947-48), Bill Vukovich (1953-54), Al Unser (1970-71) and Helio Castroneves (2001-02).
Michael Schumacher won the United States Grand Prix Formula One race for four consecutive years, from 2003-06, on the IMS road course.
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Indianapolis Colts tight end Dallas Clark, selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time after the 2009 season, will serve as the grand marshal of the Brickyard 400.
Clark will wave the green flag to send the field of 43 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers at speed into Turn 1 at IMS. The race starts at 1 p.m. (ET).
DALLAS CLARK: “Being a NASCAR fan, it is an honor to be grand marshal for the Brickyard 400. We were at training camp for so many years prior to this, so it will be my first opportunity to see a race at the Brickyard. I am really excited.”
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Thousands of worldwide members of iRacing.com will participate Saturday, July 24 in a virtual version of the Brickyard 400 and also help raise funds for the fight against cancer.
iRacing.com will contribute 5 cents for every one of the 160 scheduled laps completed by each driver participating in the online race. The proceeds will be donated to LIVESTRONG, the organization founded by cancer survivor and Tour de France champion cyclist Lance Armstrong. iRacing members and their friends also are encouraged to make pledges supporting drivers competing in the event.
The iRacing.com Brickyard 400 benefiting LIVESTRONG will start at 8:30 p.m. (ET) July 24. The race participants will be split into a series of 34-car iterations, all of which will run simultaneously. Fans can view the race of the top 34-car split on the Web at http://www.iracing.com/multimedia/live-broadcasts/. Included in the list of prizes that will be awarded to top fundraisers are tickets to the 2011 Brickyard 400, a NASCAR Racing Experience, and five $100 NASCAR Superstore Gift Cards.
Individuals wishing to support the fundraising element of the iRacing.com Brickyard 400 Benefiting LIVESTRONG will find instructions for pledging a donation at http://www.inracingnews.com/iracing-news/iracingcom-brickyard-400-%E2%80%93-benefiting-livestrong/.
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Marty Reid of ESPN will have the rare role of serving as the lead announcer for television broadcasts of the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year.
Reid called the play-by-play for ESPN on ABC’s broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 on May 30 and will do the same for the Brickyard 400 on July 25, ESPN’s first Sprint Cup Series broadcast of 2010.
ESPN’s broadcast of the Brickyard 400 starts at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday, July 25.
MARTY REID: “To be able to do the Indianapolis 500 and now the Brickyard 400 in the same year is pretty special. And to top it off with 16 more races, including the Chase, is going to be just phenomenal. It will be a great year, and I’m looking forward to it. The truth, I'm living a dream. Years ago, 28 of them to be exact, if you had told me some day I’d be lucky enough to broadcast the Brickyard 400, the Indianapolis 500, the final 10 races of the championship for NASCAR, oh, and along the way get to do drag racing for six years and every other motorsport that I've loved and enjoyed. Because you know me, if it’s got wheels and a motor, count me in.”
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Penske Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Sam Hornish Jr. and Brad Keselowski participated in a media availability this morning at the IMS Hall of Fame Museum.
2006 Indianapolis 500 winner Hornish and Keselowski viewed the Sunoco McLaren that Mark Donohue drove to victory in the 1972 Indianapolis 500, which is on display at the Museum. That was the first of team owner Roger Penske’s record 15 Indianapolis 500 victories.
SAM HORNISH JR.: “Roger (Penske) cares a lot about the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid and just having the opportunity to drive for Roger in IndyCar and NASCAR has been an honor. Being a former Indy 500 winner, you want to come back and win here again. Having the opportunity to be the first person to win in both IndyCar and the Cup car here would be really neat to do. Juan Pablo (Montoya) was pretty close last year. A lot of people say if you run well at Pocono, you ought to be able to run well here. We ran pretty well at Pocono earlier this year, so I’m really looking forward to getting out there. I look forward to being at the Speedway, coming to the Museum and checking out the old cars and see how much different they did it 30 or 40 years ago. It was pretty advanced when these cars were built, but they look a little scary now. It’s definitely a good time to be a race car driver, and I’m sure that 30 or 40 years from now they will look back at our cars and think they are a little bit sketchy too. This is the first of the Penske heritage here (the Mark Donohue No. 66 Sunoco car). It’s neat to see how things have changed. It’s pretty cool to drive for somebody (Penske) that racing means that much to him. I can see everything else he has done. He does what he enjoys doing. These old Indy cars are a little bit closer to what I am driving