NASCAR Talk

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and the Nextel Cup teams are using their cars to get the message out to fans. Now the color pink is probably not the first thing that comes to mind for gearheads and race car drivers, but several popular drivers are doing their part for the cause with special paint schemes throughout the month of October.

To go along with their Pink Promise M&Ms, the #38 M&Ms Ford of Robert Yates Racing driven by David Gilliland bore a special pink paint scheme at Lowe’s Motorspeedway in Charlotte to help promote Breast Cancer Awareness and the search for the cure. Bobby Labonte also drove a special Pink Cheerios scheme on the #43 Petty Dodge in Charlotte.

Chip Gnassi Racing’s #41 Target Dodge driven by Reed Sorenson will be going pink this weekend at Martinsville and again the following weekend in Atlanta in order to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer research. Sorenson will put up his own money, donating $12.62 for each lap he completes at the Atlanta race, which will then be matched by Target. His helmet and firesuit will also be auctioned off after the race and the proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Project Pink House.

I, personally, really like the pink cars and that these drivers and teams are doing their part to help spread the message about Breast Cancer. I think it’s great their sponsors would share their coveted space on the cars with such a worthy cause and do their part to help beat the disease. What do you think? Do you like the different paint schemes or would you rather the cars always look the same? Let me know in the comments section below.

NASCAR, Nextel Cup, Nextel Cup Special Paint Schemes, NASCAR Breast Cancer Awareness

My interest was piqued this morning, being the Elliott Sadler fan I am, when I was watching Kyle Petty on the Speed Channel. He mentioned that it was pretty much a done deal with Gillett Evernham Motorsports (GEM) and Petty Enterprises for a sort of merger for the 2008 season. Both teams already run Dodges and share an engine program, so the next natural step will be a merger. Petty said that they will each continue to have their own shops and teams, but will consolidate information on the racing side and marketing efforts on the business front much like the new Yates-Rousch Fenway agreement.

SceneDaily quotes Petty Enterprises Vice President of Operations Robbie Loomis:

“It just makes sense from my side,” Loomis said. “For the crew chiefs, if we had the same chassis and the same engineering program, then when we’re at the track sharing and talking about trying to get the cars to drive better, it goes forward.

This seems to be the loophole in the new NASCAR rule about having only 4 cars maximum per team. It won’t be too long until it will be manufacturers’ teams instead of owners’ teams. What do you think about this type of agreement? Will it work? Will the teams improve, or is it just a way to complicate things even more? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.