AUTO RACING REPORT: Gibbs' Hamlin a secret success
Remember Denny Hamlin? The third member of the Joe Gibbs Racing team has taken a back seat publicity-wise to teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch of late, but he's quietly run up a pretty impressive string of performances.
While most of the attention has been on Stewart's contract talks and Busch's seven victories in Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck races, Hamlin has been rock solid in Cup. Going all the way back to Bristol, he hasn't finished worse than sixth and is fourth in points. He heads into Saturday's race at Richmond already having one win in his home state, at Martinsville, and looking for another.
He said being ignored has its advantages.
"It's just motivation when we don't get the press that I feel like we deserve," he said on this week's NASCAR teleconference. "The last five races we've been the hottest team. ... Write about somebody else, because if you're not writing about us, we're able to stay focused [on the] job at hand."
Force's win, IMG raise NHRA profile
The National Hot Rod Association got two boosts last week in its effort to elevate its profile in the motorsports world.
Ashley Force's historic win at Atlanta Dragway on Sunday, the first for a female in professional Funny Car racing, generated a jump in publicity. And earlier in the week, the NHRA announced an alliance with IMG, the giant sports and entertainment company, to serve as its exclusive outside-sponsorship marketing agency.
IMG's president is George Pyne, a former NASCAR vice president who is quite familiar with motorsports marketing.
Top Fuel driver Bob Vandergriff of Alpharetta said the hiring of IMG is a positive but long overdue step.
"I've been a big proponent of the NHRA going outside the organization to do something like that," he said. "It's been a missing link."
Watts earns a 'Wally' trophy
Force wasn't the only big winner at last week's Southern Nationals in Commerce. Bubba Watts, a Super Comp racer from Sharpsburg, scored his first national event win since 1978. He said he almost didn't enter the race, but a couple of sponsors stepped up to back his effort.
"Now I've got my Wally," he said of the cherished trophies, named for NHRA founder Wally Parks, that go to national event winners.
Rockingham back with ARCA event
Racing is returning to the Rock this weekend. The ARCA circuit will run the Carolina 500K at Rockingham Speedway, the track once known as North Carolina Motor Speedway. It's the first race there since 2004, when NASCAR moved the one remaining race to Texas.
Journeyman driver and driving school owner Andy Hillenburg now owns the track and is banking on a strong fan turnout this weekend so that he can continue hosting races.
So far, the signs are encouraging. The track's suites are sold out, and local business owners volunteered to help out on race weekend. Big NASCAR names also are on board.
Sprint Cup star Tony Stewart will drop the green flag, and Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, will drive the pace car. Ricky Rudd, who made his first Cup start at Rockingham in 1975, will chauffeur a lucky fan at the back of the pack during the pace laps.
NEXT FOR SPRINT SERIES
> What: Dan Lowry 400
> When; where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday; Richmond International Raceway
> TV: Fox
NEXT FOR NATIONWIDE SERIES
> What: Lipton Tea 250
> When; where: 7:30 p.m. Friday; Richmond International Raceway
> TV: ESPN2
See more at www.ajc.com
