There will not be just one IRWIN Industrial Tools driver at Martinsville Speedway this weekend, but two. Roush Fenway Racing driver, Jamie McMurray, who will pilot the No. 26 IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford Fusion at Martinsville this weekend, will be joined by his Australian counterpart, Marcus Marshall. Marshall drives the No. 26 IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford Falcon in the V8 Supercars Series in Australia.
The two IRWIN Industrial Tools drivers have a lot more in common than what they may think. The pair are both sponsored by IRWIN Industrial Tools, both pilot the No. 26, both drive for Ford Racing, and both won Rookie of the Year in their respective series in 2003. Marshall won 2003 Rookie of the Year in the Australian Carrera Cup Championship, while McMurray was honored with the 2003 Sprint Cup Series award. This weekend, the two will get a chance to compare notes.
Both McMurray and Marshall will help promote IRWIN Industrial Tools “Ultimate Tradesman Challenge” which has gone international in 2008. This year, participants from the United States, as well as Australia and New Zealand will compete for a chance to win $1.26 million dollars and a Roush Performance Ford F-150 truck. More information on the challenge can be found at www.irwinchallenge.com.
Earl Sadler in 1998 gave Bobby Hamilton Jr. his first opportunity to drive a Nationwide car. Ten years later Hamilton has joined Sadler's racing team again — as a co-owner. Hamilton said he has purchased 50 percent of the team, which will now be Sadler Hamilton Racing. The team plans on running a limited schedule of Nationwide, ARCA and Camping World races.
"It's a pretty good deal," Hamilton said. "Everything is just sort of falling into place.
Tennessee's Willie Allen has been signed for the Feb. 16 Camping World 300 — the Nationwide Series season opener at Daytona. Allen also will compete in the Camping World 150 race at the Music City Motorplex on July 19 for Sadler Hamilton Racing.
Allen will team up with crew chief Danny Gill at Daytona. Gill was a crew chief for two races with Allen last year at Thorsport Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series. He also was the team's competition director. Allen won the series' rookie of the year in 2007.
In his first start at Talladega Superspeedway, Rookie of the Year contender, Kyle Krisiloff scored his career best Busch Series finish. He started the Haas-Carter Motorsports #14 Clabber Girl Ford 23rd in the lineup and finished the Aaron's 312 in 5th place. This was his best finish in 13 Busch Series starts since his 16th in the March 2007 Mexico City race. Former NASCAR Cup team owner Travis Carter is back in racing as the team manager for rookie Krisiloff's Busch Series team after a three-year layoff. Krisiloff is 20th in the series standings.
Carter still has his sense of humor intact, describing his role as "general manager, chief flunky and all that." Still, Carter seems to be enjoying his return to NASCAR. Carter last appeared in the sport in 2003, running the National Guard program with driver Todd Bodine. He went Hooters Pro Cup racing with his son for a while and says that he wouldn't mind doing that for a living. "If I had the money and didn't need to work, that's what I'd do is just race and have fun."
Paul Tracy found himself in mid-pack running 9th fastest in today's qualifying and only very slightly improving on his time from Friday. Because of his performance yesterday he will start tomorrows race on the front row along side todays Pole winner Will Power. Team Australia's Power, born and bred in Toowoomba Queensland, beat his nearest rival today by an amazing 0.886 of a second. Today's result supports Power's maiden pole at his home race at the Lexmark Indy 300 on the streets of Queensland's Gold Coast last October. Power then went on to claim his first podium in the final race of the year in Mexico and clinch the "Rookie of the Year" title as a result.
Will Power #5 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone -"I think it's going to be important for everybody to get through the first corner and go racing. I think this is the start of a new era for Champ Car. You've got a bunch of new young drivers that are in the series, obviously showing that they're quick. It's not the scenario that everybody thought it was going to be where everybody was saying in the off-season, Sebastien is going to run away with everything. He's starting near the back.
Paul Tracy #3 INDECK Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "It was a little tougher for us today. Obviously we made some changes from yesterday. But it just seemed like my car suited going over that big jump in the chicane. We just never really got a chance to capitalize on the tires. We seemed to either catch a red at the end of the first set of tires, then the second set of tires I had some traffic with Pagenaud, which didn't help. That kind of just killed our qualifying effort.
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