03.31.11: Peter Rondeau, crew chief for the No. 78 team (driven by Regan Smith) in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has been penalized for a rule violation committed last week at Auto Club Speedway. Rondeau has been fined $25,000 for violating sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 20-2.3A (improperly attached weight) of the 2011 NASCAR rule book. The violation occurred during practice on March 25...

03.31.11: Hermie Sadler, an Emporia, Virginia native, will be back behind the wheel of the No. 71 Eco Fuel Saver Chevrolet in this weekend's Goody's Fast Relief 500. This will mark Sadler's 11th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway and his second start for TRG Motorsports. Sadler, who will be making his 61st career start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, has one prior start in the No. 71 machine for TRG Motorsports...

03.30.11: With less than two weeks to go before 'The Race' at North Wilkesboro several teams were at the historic North Carolina track Tuesday testing - including John Flemming, Maine's Johnny Clark, and retired NASCAR racer Sterling Marlin. Flemming will be at the track again today, weather permitting - the forecast calls for light rain. We've got a call in for results, so stay tuned...[click for slideshow]

03.30.11: Patrick Sheltra, the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards champion, finished atop Tuesday's open testing chart at Talladega Superspeedway with a best lap of 50.575 seconds (189.343 mph) in the No. 63 Sheltra Motorsports Toyota. Sheltra, who drove 28 laps, was at the test to assist Milka Duno, who plans to make her first Talladega Superspeedway start on Friday, April 15 in the ARCA Racing Series 250. Sheltra owns the No. 63 Sheltra Motorsports entry and also secured the owner championship in the series last season...

03.29.11: Talked to owners of Petty International Raceway yesterday...In spite of a hard winter in the area they are "on track" with renovations and upgrades necessary before their grand opening June 4. They say the snow is about half-gone, not necessarily in depth, but with half the track bare and the other half still covered with about 18 inches of the white stuff. They have continued to work in the tower over the last couple months and are nearing completion with exterior painting the biggest task left there. They hope to be able to move the workers outside in the next few weeks...

03.28.11: Nominations for the 2011 class of Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame inductions need to be submitted by April 1. The ceremony will be held November 5 in Moncton at the Crystal Palace. Nominations forms can be found [here]...

03.27.11: Dale Earnhardt Jr. won't be joining the social media revolution anytime soon. While he understands its usefullness from a business perspective, he is of the opinion that it would more responsibility than he wants to take on to 'tweet' or 'post' - that it would be fun for about a month, and then would feel too much like work...

03.26.11: CENTRE for Speed has announced four additional sportsman dates on the 2011 schedule. The additional races are a result of responses from 18 teams to the speedways Super Sportsman questionaire on the subject of points championship racing. Fourteen of the teams indicated that they would prefer, on average, four more sportsman races. These are in addition to the CENTRES currently scheduled longer distance races. The average preferred length of the race was 40 laps with the majority of teams preferring the points fund to be included in the purse each week for those who are consistently regular competitors in the races. The speedway says it will try to accomodate the drivers requests with four more 40 lap events and will add the points fund to the purse for regulars at the second through fourth events. The speedway expects to release its schedule during the first weeks of April...

03.24.11: Management for the "new" Petty Raceway in New Brunswick are seeking registrations for four-cylinder races on June 4 and July 1; only the first 20 to register will race! More [here]...

03.24.11: Talladega Superspeedway and the NASCAR Hall of Fame are offering an exclusive ticket package to commemorate Bobby Allison's 2011 Induction to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The $69 package includes seating in the Allison Grandstands at Talladega Superspeedway for the Aaron's 312 and Aaron's 499 (April 15-17), access to a Q&A with Allison on Saturday and Sunday of race weekend, admission to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega Superspeedway and an admission to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. To purchase or for more information please visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com or call 1-877-Go2-DEGA...

03.23.11: An update on the Lake Doucette Motor Speedway website shows more than 15 cars as under construction for the new four cylinder division. Track management are pleased with the support...

03.22.11: Management at Riverside Int'l Speedway are looking to guage interest in a reserved camping area where fans with self-contained RV's would have the opportunity to reserve their parking spot in advance. The area would be located just outside the pit entrance behind the backstretch. Interested? Let them know. Map and email link [here]...

03.21.11: Jennifer Joe Cobb made a moral decision Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway; she decided to quit her ride just minutes before the start of the Nationwide Series race at Bristol after her car owner told her they would start and park. Cobb announced Monday she will drive for Rick Ware Racing in this Saturday's NNS race in California - a one-race deal with future race possibilities. In the mean time she will continue to explore options for the remainder of the 2011 season...

03.19.11: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series & Nationwide Series teams that practiced Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway will be starting fresh Saturday after NASCAR and Goodyear announced a mid-weekend tire change. Tire wear seemed excessive during Friday practice so the tire company ordered harder compound right side tires from its Charlotte warehouse - to replace the right sides teams had practiced with and, for the Cup Series, qualified with. The new tires will be available when the garage opens to teams early Saturday morning. Cup teams will get one set of replacement tires for Saturday practice before using them in Sunday's race, while Nationwide teams will start Saturday's race on the old compound tires then swith to the new ones during a competition caution on lap 25...

03.16.11: Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) has joined the effort to find better treatments and eventually a cure for type 1 diabetes by partnering with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in raising funds and awareness for the disease through its Motorcraft / Quick Lane motorsports program. Children with type 1 diabetes have the chance to design the paint scheme of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion, driven by Trevor Bayne, that will race at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) in August.

03.15.11: As part of its ongoing effort to enhance the ticket buying experience for race fans, International Speedway Corporation ("ISC") announced today that it will now offer PayPal payments to fans on its ticket sales websites for its 13 major motorsports facilities including Daytona International Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Martinsville Speedway. In addition, ISC is introducing a new interactive chat feature that allows purchasers to communicate directly with a live sales agent during the online purchase process.

03.15.11: Members of the NASCAR community are mourning the death of Rick Ware Racing crewmember Dean Shaut, killed in a traffic accident this past Friday near Thomasville, NC. Another crewmember, Stephen Masch, remains in hospital with spinal cord and head injuries. Both Shaut and Masch started with RWR this year helping with their Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series efforts. Team members learned of the tragedy on their return from Saturday's truck race at Darlington...

03.14.11: If you think the stands look more full at NASCAR events this year, they may....but not necessarily because there are more people there...Some tracks are eliminating seats by adding fans zones or making seats wider, i.e. Richmond had 112,029 seats last year and this year list seating as 97,912...

03.14.11: A date has been set for the benefit dance and auction to help PEI racer Wayde Lewis in his effort to raise finds for stem cell therapy. It will be held April 23 at Mavor's Bistro and Bar in the Confederation Centre of the Arts. Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased via Paypal by using [this link].

03.14.11: Kurt Busch lost in the first round of eliminations at Sunday's NHRA Gatornationals. He met Erica Enders and narrowly lost with her run at 6.538 seconds (211.69 mph) and Busch's at 6.541 seconds (211.59 mph)...

03.13.11: PASS South kicked off its 2011 Season Saturday night at Anderson Speedway (SC). The unofficial top five finishers were: 1)Jay Fogleman, 2)Preston Peltier, 3)Grant Davidson, 4)Roger Lee Newton, and 5)Dylan Kwashiewski...

03.13.11: Kurt Busch did better Saturday at the NHRA Gatornationals - Q4 6.554 at 211 mph - making it to Sunday's runs...

Kurt Busch does a pre-run burnout at the NHRA Gatornationals...

03.12.11: NASCAR's Kurt Busch is spending his off-weekend in Florida making his professional drag racing debut at the NHRA Gatornationals, and he expected somewhat of a learning curve - but after botching two qualifying passes Friday he's got little room for error in his two Saturday runs. Busch smoked the tires in his first run, and timed in slowest of 21 cars; and after failing to stage his dragster in the 7-second time allowed his second run time was disallowed. Busch tweeted he had a tire shake in the first run and was ready for the second pass - but was twitter-silent after the second run...

03.11.11: Time is getting short to get your ticket for the annual Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame ATV raffle. The draw will take place March 25. Tickets are $100 each or 3/$200 and can be purchased directly from the Hall by calling 506.756.2110...

03.10.11: The format for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race will not change, according to an announcement yesterday in Charlotte, NC...

03.10.11: Nova Racing has launched a team website featuring driver Donald Chisholm, from Antigonish NS. Looks like a work in progress with most of the links yet to be activated - but you can see it [here]...

03.10.11: Oyster Bed Speedway management has posted a reminder on their website that it is the only official source of information for the facility, and that fans should not rely on what they see on social media sites (ie Facebook). The address for the official Oyster Bed Speedway website is www.oysterbedspeedwaypei.com.

03.09.11: NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his two pilots were involved in a minor incident this morning while landing at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky. A mechanical failure during the landing caused the airplane to skid to a stop on the runway. No one on board the aircraft was injured...

03.09.11: CFS banquet update... Admission is $20 when registered in advance or $25 at the door. Please RSVP to gm@centreforspeed.com with the total number in your party for the discounted price at the door. Per the CFS rule book's "General Rules" Only Drivers in attendance will be eliglible to receive their points fund money. The banquet will be held March 19 at China House Buffet in Moncton...

03.09.11: More on the Robby Gordon/Kevin Conway incident...NASCAR announced Tuesday that Robby Gordon, driver of the No. 7 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has been placed on probation until Dec. 31 for a rule infraction he committed March 4 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gordon was penalized for violating Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing; involved in an altercation in the garage area with another competitor) of the 2011 NASCAR rule book.

03.09.11: Details for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race will be announced today at a mid-afternoon press conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The race is set for May 21 at Charlotte Motor Speedway...

03.08.11: More on the Robby Gordon/Kevin Conway altercation at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past weekend, this time in the form of a statement from Kevin Conway that was released Monday: "First and foremost, I love being a part of NASCAR and have worked very hard to earn the privilege of competing in the Sprint Cup Series. On Friday night, Robby Gordon, who has a long history of issues in NASCAR decided to ambush me in the garage area at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, completely unprovoked. Robby even confronted Joe Nemechek, my car owner, on pit road during Cup Series qualifying shoving him and telling him that he was looking for me and going to assault me. We have many witnesses including a crew chief that signed a police report documenting the truth of his physical attack on me. Situations like this are not good for our sport. It's one thing if we were racing each other and I wrecked him or he wrecked me, that's an entirely different situation. It's very unfortunate that he chose to physically attack me to address his rage. Our fans, sponsors and NASCAR expect and deserve more from our competitors than this bullish, illegal behavior that was displayed by Robby against me."

03.08.11: In the better late then never category...we are pleased to report that Lonnie Somemrville had a successful test at North Wilkesboro Speedway the last week of February, according the the Mulkern Racing Facebook page. The test session was rained out on day one, but Mother Nature co-operated for day two. More testing is apparently scheduled for later this month as the team prepares for 'The Race' on April 7-9. ...

03.07.11: This past Saturday in Las Vegas Brad Keselowski received his biggest trophy yet for winning the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. Dodge presented him with a 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392, a BKR (Brad Keselowski Racing) Commemorative Edition high-performance street vehicle custom built by the "Mopar Underground" team at Chrysler Group LLC in Auburn Hills, Mich...

03.07.11: Centre for Speed's 2010 banquet is March 19; track management are asking for an RSVP by calling 506.388.2415...

03.07.11: The PASS South SLM series is ready to kick off its 2011 season this Saturday at Anderson Motor Speedway in South Carolina. The last time PASS raced Anderson was in 2007; this weekends event is expected to attract top name short track stars including 2010 series champion Preston Peltier, runner-up Ryan Blaney, and more...

03.06.11: NASCAR driver Robby Gordon was placed on probation by NASCAR Friday evening after an altercation in the Las Vegas garage area with Kevin Conway. The two are also involved in a legal dispute; Conway drove for Gordon in six races last year...

03.05.11: SAD NEWS - Belated condolences to the family of Reg Tozer, co-owner of Miramichi City Speedway (NB), who passed away February 13. Reg, along with his wife Lois, and their children, provided hospitality second-to-none whenever we visited the facility with the MASCAR Tour "back-in-the-day." Maritime super late model/pro stock veteran fans will remember Reg and Lois' son Brad driving in the MASCAR series. The track operated until the end of 2009 when Reg became ill. Besides the track, Reg owned and operated R. Tozer Construction in Lyttleton. Reg was 62...

03.04.11: We talked to two-time and defending Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour champion Shawn Tucker earlier this week. Seems the has sold his 2010 championship car, is putting a new car he had for backup last year into primary service, and will have a new backup car on standby as he chases the PST title this season...

03.04.11: Talladega Superspeedway is opening the gates to all 2011 Aaron's Dream Weekend ticket holders to drive their personal vehicles around the historic track on March 12, 2011. Track rides will begin at approximately 9 a.m. and end at 2 p.m. All vehicles must be street legal and equipped with enough seatbelts for all passengers. RV's, motorcycles - and bump-drafting - will not be permitted...

03.03.11: PASS has updated the tire change and pit stop rules for 'The Race' at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina April 7-9. The overview reads: "4 Tires as qualified on to start the Race Event. 4 Tires for change at lap 100 competition caution. 4 Tires for change at lap 200 competition caution. The final 2 (two) tires may be utilized by teams at ANY time during the final 100 laps of the event at their own discretion. No competition stop will be allotted for the final two tires." Complete details on the PASS website - click here...

03.03.11: Sixty-nine-year-old Morgan Shepherd, a NASCAR driving veteran, was at a Wal-Mart in Las Vegas earlier this week when he saw three men burst from the store entrance with security guards running after them. Shepherd, a daily jogger, sprang into action and went after the men; catching one of them at the end of the parking lot. "I pulled him down and sat on top of him," said Shepherd, adding that within seconds a police officer appeared and tossed him a set of handcuffs. "I cuffed him, said Shepherd. While the officers pursued the others Shepherd stayed on top of the youth and used the time to lecture him about his porr choices.

03.03.11: Tickets for Atlanta Motor Speedway's Labor Day NASCAR night racing weekend will go on sale on Wednesday, March 9 and the on-sale date will coincide with an announcement regarding the Speedway's pre-race concert for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, Sept. 4. Tickets will start at just $39 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series night race, the pinnacle of the biggest Labor Day party in the USA at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sept. 2-4. Frontstretch seats for the Sprint Cup Series race start at just $59 and student tickets in the Turn 3 Elliott Grandstand cost just $19. For more information, call the Atlanta Motor Speedway Ticket Office at (877) 9-AMS-TIX, (770) 946-4211 or visit www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.

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03.03.11: Trevor Bayne was in New York City yesterday filming a segment for Good Morning America. It will air March 7...

03.02.11: Watch for Jeff Gordon on the Wednesday night edition of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Gordon wil make the appearance after his victory at Phoenix this past Sunday. The show airs at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC...

03.02.11: Riverside International Speedway management is giving their website a facelift. It is a work in progress for speedway manager Paul McLean - but looking good. Check it out at www.riversidespeedway.ca...

03.01.11: SAD NEWS - Brian Miller, a longtime supporter of Maritime motorsports, passed away Monday (Feb 28). Brian Miller and his father Roy started Miller Tire in 1978. Miller Tire remains a family business with Brian's wife Janet, his sons, and other family members actively involved in running 10 locations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Visitation will be held in Atlantic Funeral Home (Dartmouth) Thursday from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. A funeral service will be held Friday March 4 at 2 p.m. in the Woodlawn United Chruch in Dartmouth. Our most sincere condolences to the Miller family...

03.01.11: The "new" Petty International Raceway (River Glade, NB) has launched a website - find it at www.pettyinternationalraceway.com...

03.01.11: Kyle & Samantha Busch's lavish New Year's Eve wedding will air on The Style Network this Saturday March 5 at 8 pm ET. Produced by Emmy Award-winning NASCAR Media Group, "Fast and Fabulous: A NASCAR Wedding" puts the pedal to the metal in an hour-long special that follows Samantha and Kyle from planning to wedding. Check your local listings for broadcast information...