By Jordan Kuehne
The Rockford Speedway opened its doors to new drivers and welcomed back old friends for the 63rd time as the Rookie and Driver’s Orientations took place on Friday, March 5th at the Forest Hills Lodge adjacent to the legendary track. General Manager Gregg McKarns announced rules changes and spoke of exciting divisions that will make their way to the high banks during the 2010 season.

Owner Jody Deery had warm words for the contingent of drivers, crew members, fans and family in attendance. “We’re real excited about our 2010 season,” Deery proclaimed."I've asked Mother Nature to stay away this year," she humorously added. The upcoming season will feature a couple of rules changes, including the new Gentleman’s Tapout Rule. The rule, which will go into effect at a plethora of Midwest short tracks this season, will allow drivers that were caught up in incidents to receive their spot back. However, the rule only goes into effect if the driver at fault pulls to the bottom of the start-finish line and taps the roof of their car. A full rulebook is available online at the track website.

The Rockford Speedway will feature double-file restarts in 2010 and will once again require scanners for all divisions. The track also reserves the right to impound a car at anytime for any reason, particularly if there was an injury on the track.

Doug Hornickel PhotoSuper Late Model event featuring Matt Kenseth & Tony Stewart added. Hawkeye Downs Event moved to Friday, June 11th.

ASA MIDWEST TOUR PR
BURLINGTON, WI (Monday, March 22, 2010) - RK Race Promotions and American Speed Association® Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment and Grandstay® Residential Suites Hotels officials are proud to announce that they will be working together for the Sixth Annual All-Star Challenge event scheduled for Tuesday, June 29th at Madison International Speedway, an ASA Member Track in Oregon, WI. The event will star Sprint Cup Champions Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart competing with the ASAMT Touring Stars and competitors in a 100-lap feature event.

“After doing this event for the last four years as an independent event, I felt it was time to invite the ASA Midwest Tour to come and help run it,” Roy Kenseth, Owner of RK Race Promotions said. “We worked an event together two years ago at the Milwaukee Mile and I felt that everything ran smoothly and the fans saw some great racing by the competitors who compete in their series. Plus, my grandson Ross will be running for Rookie of the Year this year in the ASAMT, so I felt this was the best time to have them on board for this event.”

“We are excited to be working with Roy Kenseth again especially with his signature event,” Tim Olson, ASAMT President said. “We are also looking forward to having two premiere drivers in Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart compete with our ASAMT Touring Stars and competitors. I think short track fans will enjoy this event.”

Jimmie Johnson does a burnout for his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet pit crew after earning his 50th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. (Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)By Reid Spencer (Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)
In a milestone race Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson—the last driver third-place finisher Kurt Busch wanted to see win the race—took the checkered flag for the 50th time in his NASCAR Sprint Cup career in the Food City 500.

Taking four tires on his final pit stop on Lap 484 of 500, and fortuitously drawing the outside lane for a restart on Lap 491, Johnson surged past four cars that had taken only right-side tires and passed runner-up Tony Stewart for the lead on Lap 494.

Busch, who had led 278 laps and restarted fifth after a four-tire call, was bottled up in the inside lane behind Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards and watched in frustration as Johnson worked past fourth-place finisher Greg Biffle and Stewart for the lead.

“We did it, boys—finally,” Johnson exclaimed after crossing the finish line.

The win was the first at the .533-mile high-banked short track for the four-time defending Cup champion and his third in five races this season. With 50 Cup victories, Johnson is tied Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett for 10th on the all-time list.

“Man, we have worked so hard for this,” Johnson said in victory lane. “I thought we were in trouble there, but those four tires were everything, and I was in the outside lane (for the restart), which was helpful. About time, man. I’m so proud of this team. I am so proud of us setting a mark and going at it and accomplishing what we wanted to.

“We’ve been off here over the years. We focused on what we needed to do and got it done today."

Johnson also fired a shot across the bow of fellow competitors who might think the No. 48 Chevrolet team is peaking early.

American Speed Association PR
DAYTONA BEACH, FL (Friday, March 19, 2010) - Illiana Motor Speedway, an ASA Member Track in Schererville, IN, continues to be one of the more popular destinations for race fans in the Chicagoland area. Last season, they stepped up to become an ASA Member Track and the results they saw made it an easy decision to renew in 2010.

"It has been a positive experience since joining the ASA member track program," Mike Mikuly, Promoter said. "It has also been very beneficial to the drivers who compete at the speedway. ASA really gets the word out. Anyone who knows me personally, can tell you if it wasn't a great deal I wouldn't be interested."

Illiana Motor Speedway has a 1/2-mile asphalt oval with semi-banked sweeping turns that provides some of the best side-by-side racing around. Along with an infield quarter-mile oval it provides a great variety of Saturday night racing action with Super Late Models, Limited Late Models, Turbo Stox, Legends and Pure Stock.

"We are looking forward to the 2010 season. We hear of new cars being built, drivers changing divisions and hopefully increased crowds," Mikuly said. "I feel the economy is turning a little, by no means is it great, but seems to be getting better."

They will have a busy 2010 season with the ASA Midwest Tour making its second visit to Illiana on Saturday, June 19th for the 9th Annual Elmer Musgrave Memorial 100.

Also on their 2010 schedule, the Molenaar Classic with fireworks by the Mad Bomber on July 3rd, The USAC Silver Crown Series on July 8th, Crashfest with school bus and trailer figure races on July 10th and September 25th, Old Timers Night featuring Midwest Vintage Cars on August 14th, and the 49th Annual Tony Bettenhausen 100 on September 11th.

CRA Racing Press
After five months of waiting there is life again at the historic Nashville Fairgrounds racetrack with the announcement that Nashville native Tony Formosa has an agreement to promote events at the famous high-banked facility for the 2010 season. Formosa announced during the CRA drivers meeting at Gresham Motorsports Park on Saturday that he will promote the All American 400 Weekend that will be sanctioned by the CRA Super Series.

“We were very happy to hear there would be racing at the Nashville Fairgrounds track again in 2010,” remarked R.J. Scott, Managing Partner of Champion Racing Association. “We have been holding the October 2nd and 3rd date open on our schedule with hopes of working out a date for the All American event. When Tony reached out to us, we offered CRA’s support in any way to help continue the legendary All-American Weekend at its traditional home in Nashville. It is really exciting news for us that this event is going to happen!”

When racing at the Nashville Fairgrounds was in doubt, Montgomery Motor Speedway officials announced their intentions to bring the All-American 400 to Montgomery, a traditional racing home for event founder, the late Bob Harmon. With the news that Nashville would be hosting the event again, track owner Bobby Knox and his officials backed away from their plans for 2010. According to Knox, “As long as the track at Nashville Fairgrounds is open and hosting an All-American event, we want to support that event and its history there. In the unfortunate situation that racing at the Fairgrounds would ever end, we plan to bring the All-American 400 to Bob Harmon’s long time home at Montgomery Motor Speedway.”