Motorsports

NASCAR leaders defend looming car limits

By BRANT JAMES, Times wires
Published November 12, 2005

AVONDALE, Ariz. - NASCAR CEO Brian France and president Mike Helton on Friday defended the sanctioning body's decision to limit the amount of cars one team can field in the Nextel Cup series beginning in 2006, reiterating their stated desire to secure the future of the sport and asserting "this is not targeted at Jack Roush."

But Roush, the only owner affected by the four-team rule to be phased in through 2009, said he considered the move "personal." Roush fields a five-car Nextel Cup team, and Hendrick Motorsports was scheduled to run 10 races with the semi-retired Terry Labonte in a fifth car next season.

Roush claims the team will lose millions in revenue by having to divest of one team, though France contends it wants to help him have a "soft landing" and thinks a team can be eliminated by attrition when existing sponsor deals end.

Roush and Hendrick have won seven titles since 1995 and 22 of 34 races this season.

NEW PLAN: Petty Enterprises had a plan five years ago: Adam Petty, the 19-year-old grandson of seven-time NASCAR champion Richard and son of Kyle, would develop in the Busch series until the fourth-generation driver could take over as the team's star. But when Adam died during a Busch practice at New Hampshire on May 12, 2000, everything changed, personally and professionally.

Five years, seven drivers and no wins later, the legendary race team turned in a new direction with the announcement that 2000 Nextel Cup champion Bobby Labonte, 41, had signed to replace Jeff Green in the No. 43 Dodge.

Kyle Petty said the decision to pursue Labonte had a lot to do with personal relationships. Labonte lives near team headquarters in Level Cross, N.C., and donated a car given to him by Pontiac for his championship to the Victory Junction Gang Camp, founded by the Pettys in Adam's memory.

Labonte is winding down his worst full-time season in 14 years of Nextel Cup racing and his 11th at Joe Gibbs Racing. JGR released him with three years left on his contract.

Petty Enterprises is winless since John Andretti's victory in the spring race in 1999 at Martinsville.

OOPS: Ryan Newman, seventh in points, will go to a backup car for a second straight week after wrecking in practice after contact with P.J. Jones. And for the second straight week, he'll lose a fast ride.

Last weekend at Texas, he crashed on his second qualifying lap after winning the pole. On Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, he led final practice with a 133.210 mph lap on the 1-mile track before the wreck. Newman and Jones' pit crews jawed at each other in the garage afterward.

Crew chief Matt Borland said Newman will race the No. 12 Dodge in which he finished second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. here last fall and 12th in September at Richmond.

MOVE ON: Jamie McMurray, who gained his release from Chip Ganassi Racing this week to join Roush Racing a year early, said the decision to leave was strictly business. McMurray won in his second Nextel Cup start in 2002, substituting for teammate Sterling Marlin, but never won in the No. 42 Dodge he drove full time since 2003. He is winless in his past 110 Cup races.

"If you did this based on personal feelings, I would still be at Chip Ganassi Racing," he said. "You move on because in this sport you want to win. When you go two or three years and you don't win, you look at that and you have to figure out what's best for you and where you need to try to win."

TRUCKS: Todd Bodine won at Phoenix, giving him consecutive series victories.

A crash involving Bobby East and Deborah Renshaw dropped debris and fluids and forced NASCAR to put out a red flag with 19 laps left in the 150-lap Chevy Silverado 150. Neither was injured.

After a nearly 15-minute delay, Bodine's Toyota Tundra was able to pull away easily from the Chevrolet of runnerup Ron Hornaday after a restart on Lap 135.

Dennis Setzer, second in the standings, passed series leader Ted Musgrave seven laps from the end to take fifth place and cut his points deficit from 63 to 58 with one race left.

Johnny Benson outdueled Rick Crawford for third. David Reutimann of Zephyrhills finished seventh. Brandon Whitt, who earned the pole earlier Friday, was 19th.

SARVER SUICIDE: Bruce Sarver, a former NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car driver, committed suicide on Thursday, the Kern County (Calif.) coroner said. The 43-year-old Sarver died of a gunshot wound, coroner Jim Malouf said. Sarver, a two-time winner in the NHRA's Funny Car class, turned professional in 1996 and finished in the top 10 in the Funny Car standings twice in his five-year career. Sarver is survived a 15-year-old son, Cole.

[Last modified November 12, 2005, 00:55:15]