SceneDaily.com

With driver Dario Franchitti still on the mend, the unsponsored No. 40 Chip Ganassi Racing team will withdraw from the NASCAR Sprint Showdown non-points event, which is scheduled for Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, a Chip Ganassi spokesman confirmed.

Franchitti, the defending Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion, broke his left ankle in a crash during the Nationwide Series race April 26 at Talladega Superspeedway. The team has used David Stremme, Ken Schrader and Sterling Marlin in his place.

Press Release

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — GoDaddy.com is enriching its motorsports commitment with a brand new sponsorship in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series. The domain name titan is now sponsoring rookie Landon Cassill to drive the GoDaddy.com No. 46 Chevrolet truck.

Cassill debuts behind the wheel of the GoDaddy.com sponsored truck for Team Morgan Dollar Friday at the track known as "The Beast of the Southeast," or Lowe's Motor Speedway Charlotte, in North Carolina.

Press Release

NASCAR champions Ned and Dale Jarrett were inducted into Lowe's Motor Speedway's Court of Legends Tuesday afternoon as part of the week-long festivities leading up to Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

The Jarretts are the first father and son to be enshrined in the speedway's Court of Legends and the induction ceremony included having their signatures, footprints and handprints immortalized in concrete near the track's main entrance.

BY MIKE BRUDENELL, Detroit Free Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- If Kyle Busch ever gets sick of the NASCAR boo-birds, he'd be welcome to come on over to Indy.
 
Busch, the "Wild Thing" of Sprint Cup, has been the talk of the media center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this month.

Some of us watched Busch dominate Darlington at a local watering hole Saturday night, when he got plenty of abuse from the crowd in the stands in South Carolina.

By Jenna Fryer, Associated Press

CHARLOTTE — Greg Biffle certainly didn't sound like a guy committed to Roush Fenway Racing when he blasted the faulty equipment that led to his last-place finish at Darlington Raceway.

"All I want is equipment to drive that stays together," said Biffle, who started from the pole and led 95 laps Saturday night before loose wheels, a bad vibration and a broken timing belt ended his race early.

Jeff Gluck, Scenedaily

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Dario Franchitti continues to heal from the broken left ankle he sustained during a Nationwide Series race at Talladega last month, with no firm timetable for his return.

“There’s not really been any change,” Franchitti said Saturday. “I’m just waiting for the swelling to go down and the pain to go away, and for the fracture to heal. When those things go away, I’ll be able to drive the car again.”

David Newton, ESPN.com

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon would like NASCAR to look into the way Sprint Cup teams are adjusting the rear housing to create a competitive advantage.

The housing has been an issue mainly with Carl Edwards' team at Roush Fenway Racing. Edwards has won three times on 1.5-mile tracks this season and was in position to win a fourth race before late engine woes.

Duston Long, hamptonroads.com

Terry Labonte will be a teammate to his brother Bobby at Petty Enterprises starting next month, pending sponsor approval.

Terry (and Chad McCumbee) will drive the No. 45 when Kyle Petty gets out for the summer. Petty is scheduled to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 and then miss the next seven races (one for his daughter's wedding and the other six to work as an analyst for TNT).

Jenna Fryer, Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- The crowd booed him. He called his car pathetic. His crew missed a lug nut, and he couldn't stay off Darlington Raceway's wall. Despite it all, Kyle Busch found Victory Lane once again.

NASCAR's least popular driver raced to his third Sprint Cup Series victory of the season Saturday night, winning a battle of attrition at the track "Too Tough to Tame."

"How many times did I hit the wall? I don't know, one, two, three, four, probably five or six," Busch said. "I've got to thank my team, they build them as strong as they can for me, 'cause I like to knock the walls down with them."

By PETE IACOBELLI, AP Sports
 
DARLINGTON, S.C. --All it took was his first Darlington Raceway victory to bring out Tony Stewart's softer side. Only two months ago, Stewart angrily blasted Goodyear after the Atlanta race, saying the company had given him "the most pathetic racing tire I've ever been on in my professional career."

But it was a joyful, smiling Stewart who praised Goodyear for its research and hard work in delivering tires that helped the Joe Gibbs Racing star to his first win Friday night on NASCAR's oldest superspeedway.

Jenna Fryer, Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- On a fast new surface, 41 of 44 drivers broke the qualifying record at Darlington Raceway.

But it was Greg Biffle who set the pace, turning a blistering lap of 179.442 mph Friday night to win the pole at Darlington. He shattered the previous record of 173.797 mph set by Ward Burton in 1996.

FOXSports.com

AJ Allmendinger made noise late Thursday afternoon at Darlington Raceway, jumping to the top of the charts during the second Sprint Cup practice session for Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500.

The Team Red Bull driver jumped to the top of the charts at the newly repaved 1.366-mile venue, setting a blistering lap of 178.679 mph, a mark that would best the qualifying record of 173.797 mph.

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- Tony Stewart hasn't lost his passion to win the Indy 500.

But he may never get that chance racing stock cars.

The two-time NASCAR champion returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday to help Chevrolet unveil its new midget-car engine, an appearance that prompted another round of questions about Stewart's plans and whether they might include IndyCars.

Canadian Press

CONCORD, N.C. — As gas prices soar across the North America, the thought of paying $1.65 a litre would make any consumer cringe.

Yet that's what it costs in NASCAR, where race teams use a special Sunoco 260 GTX unleaded fuel to fill their cars. Although the gas is free - part of Sunoco's agreement as NASCAR's official fuel supplier - it doesn't mean car owners and drivers aren't feeling the pain at the pump.

David Newton, ESPN.com

CONCORD, N.C.-- Crew chiefs and engineers are taking the yawn out of Sprint Cup testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway and putting in the yaw.

The hope is to close the gap between Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards and the rest of the field at 1.5-mile tracks such as LMS.

Edwards' car, according to several crew chiefs and drivers, has been dominant in part because he has been able to handle a setup in which the rear housing is turned to the right, making it appear the car is going sideways down the straightaways.