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Thoughts on Dan Wheldon

October 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As far as motorsports go I’ve never been as big of an Indy Car fan as I am a NASCAR fan for obvious reasons, but I do have a few drivers in the Indy league that I have always liked and admired, Dan Wheldon was one. I wasn’t home watching the race today like I had originally planned and it hit me like a brick that Dan Wheldon had been killed in Vegas. I pulled up YouTube as quick as I could get to my iPad today and watched the footage of the wreck (see below), and couldn’t believe my eyes.

I always thought Wheldon had a cool accent, that’s certainly going to be missed. Just like the NASCAR family, I know the IndyCar family is pretty close knit and I can’t imagine what they are going through right now. I can remember a point years ago after Dan had accomplished pretty much there was to accomplish in the Indy series he approached Ray Evernham about pursuing NASCAR, and I had really hoped to see that deal get worked out but it never did. The guy was 33 years old.

In case you missed the wreck footage, you can see that below:

 

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Thoughts on the Daytona 500

February 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This past weekend I was so excited about the Daytona 500 and the start of the 2010 NASCAR season that I didn’t know what to do w/ myself.  The fact that Mark Martin, my favorite driver, who is also a client, qualified on the pole for the race didn’t help the matter any either.  By the time the pre-race coverage was winding down on Speed and it was time to flip over to Fox to watch the race I was literally chomping at the bit, whatever that means I was doing it.

New Rule Changes for 2010

For the most part I enjoyed the race. The rule changes implemented by NASCAR giving us more opportunities to see Green-White-Checker finishes this year as well as the promise to let drivers be more expressive with their emotions are going to make for a fun season this year.  Some other changes this year was the re-introduction of the tail-wing on the COT’s and larger holes in the restrictor plates for the superspeedways.  I think these two changes to the cars were responsible for a lot of the close racing we witnessed this weekend.

We Have Bigger Potholes than that on I-40…

Honestly the only thing that bothered me about the race this weekend was probably the same thing that aggravated every other racing fan out there, we got to sit there for over 2 hours at 2 different points of the race and literally watch bondo dry on the asphalt while repair crews repaired a pothole in one of the turns.  David Reutiman brought up a good point during one of the long red flags, dirt track racers aren’t strangers to holes on the track, you just remember where these holes are and go around them.  I think NASCAR should have at least inspected the track before hand and noticed this place prior to the race.  It’s hard for me to believe that these cars knocked this hole in the asphalt during the Cup Series race, it had to have at least been started earlier in the week, and somewhat evident during the 24 hour race a few days earlier. 

Congratulations to Jamie McMurray…

All complaining aside, the ending of the race was well worth the wait, even though Mark Martin didn’t win.  The sentimental winner of the race was Jamie McMurray. Here’s a guy who at the end of last season was released by Roush-Fenway Racing due to the limitations mandated by NASCAR as to how many teams an owner could have under one organization, not even sure if he would have a ride or not for 2010, finally secures a position w/ Ganassi-Sabates-Earnhardt Racing on their team, ironically the team that brought him into the series as a rookie, and low and behold he repays them by bringing home the most coveted trophy in NASCAR. 

Emotions Running High in Victory Circle…

When Jamie pulled into the winners circle I knew it was going to be an emotional thing, just given the history of Jamie McMurray.  A lot of people, myself included, had more or less written him off after his less than stellar performance at Roush-Fenway.  When Jamie got out of the car he was greeted by his dad and then interviewed standing in winners circle.  About 30 seconds into the interview he just breaks down and starts balling, a few moments later his wife shows up behind him and they embrace for a few minutes before Jamie returns to the interview.  He was so emotional that even I got choked up watching, and that rarely happens.  This was the type of show that NASCAR needed to put on to kick off the season in my opinion. 

It’s Perfectly Acceptable for a Dude to Cry When He Has Just Won the Daytona 500…

Now, regarding how emotional Jamie was in winners circle, I know that there are a lot of people out there that probably were turned off by that.  I can see where you are coming from.  Back when we all watched Tim Tebow sit on the sideline while Florida was defeated by Alabama, I told a lot of my Twitter friends that there was only two acceptable times for a football player to cry on the field, one was when you can see your own bone sticking through your leg, and the other time is when you are holding the championship trophy up over your head and the season is over.  Well, in that same vein, there’s not a lot of room in NASCAR for men who cry on national television, but given Jamie McMurray’s story I am going to give him a pass on that.  In fact, a few of my tweeps and I had a discussion following the race on Twitter and decided to make an amendment to our man code to also make it acceptable to cry when you are in victory lane at The Daytona 500 too.

Did you see Dale Jr.?

One other thing that I think is worth of mentioning about the last lap of the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr., the guy that everyone likes to speculate and worry about, came from 10th place to finish in 2nd place.  Let’s all hope that the chemistry is right this season for Dale Jr. to have a competitive season.

What did you think of the race? 
I would love to hear your thoughts, be sure to leave comments below…
Be sure to follow @cottonr_nascar on Twitter so we can talk racing…

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Thoughts on Palin at Daytona 500 NASCAR Race

January 18, 2010 By 1 Comment

It takes a brave person to blog about anything remotely tied to politics, of course unless they are just too funny to pass up.  This one is just that.  I might have to reach out to my good friend and political blogger David Kinkade to see if he wants to head down to Daytona w/ me for the 500 and cover this thing from a political perspective. 

It has been widely reported this past week that the former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin plans to attend the Daytona 500 this year.  At first I got no fewer than a dozen emails and tweets w/ links to the stories making the announcement.  I think that this is going to be worth watching.  Do I think Palin has a chance at the presidency?  Um, no.  But, do I like Political Humor?  Yes. 

For the most part, everyone in attendance at that race is there for one reason, NASCAR.  Not to say that I am smarter than your average Joe (no pun intended), but I can totally see what Palins handlers are trying to accomplish. They think that since the South is traditionally conservative, and this is probably the biggest event in the South, they can just parade her down here and all of the “rednecks” in Daytona will get their picture made with her and their votes are in the bag.  It’s a little insulting for those of us who can see how we are being viewed.

But, see what they don’t understand is this, picking a presidential candidate is the furthest thing on the minds of 90% of the people that are at the Daytona 500.  In fact, I would venture to say that half of them won’t remember she was even there the next day, unless of course she loses her top going down the giant slip and slide in the campgrounds area, but hey that would be a story for TMZ to cover!  Heck most of them won’t even remember the slip-n-slide thing if someone puts Dale Jr. in the wall. 

I will say this though, good try Palin camp.  When Palin signed on w/ Fox the other day, that was more or less her trophy, time to move on.  While she might be an awesome cheerleader for the RNC (stop trying to picture her in a cheerleading outfit) she won’t be president.  This might have something to do with it…

But, hey if she’s going to be at the race I hope she has a good time.  I do hope that she realizes that one of the reasons the Daytona 500 is so popular is because that’s the one day that everyone at the race, or watching from home has completely blocked out what’s going on in the world today, healthcare reform, taxes, bailouts, wars, etc., nothing else matters!  So please don’t bring it up while you are there…

Feel free to parade her around though, heck even try to start you up one of those mini tea party / campaign rally things, there are people who will attend I am sure.  After all, they still make Velcro shoes for those that never learned to tie the other kind.  But eventually you are going to have to let your girl go and find yourself another candidate that can be taken seriously.  Please. 

I don’t know who is pulling all of the strings in the Palin camp and leading her around the country, heck she’s been here in the south more lately than she has Alaska, but if they want to get a head start and make things interested during the next election, they need to check out this dude…  Granted, you are not going to agree with any candidate 100% of the time, but when trying to pick one from the group, people usually eliminate the dingbat first.  Oh, and before you comment to call me a Liberal, just know this, I consider myself a conservative and think the world of Mike Huckabee as a person and a politician, just can’t get behind Palin.

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Some Predictions for the 2010 NASCAR Season

January 17, 2010 By 2 Comments

daytona500logo2010 With the Daytona 500 just a few more weeks away I thought I would go ahead and make some predictions for the 2010 season.  While last year was an awesome season, and it was great seeing my favorite driver Mark Martin do so well, I really think that this year has to be different for a few reasons…  By different, I am not implying that anything needs to change in terms of the format, or the venues, or even the cars, I just think that this year someone besides Jimmie Johnson needs to dominate, and there probably needs to be a lot more on and off the track bump drafting between the drivers.

When I say on and off the track bump drafting, I mean that the drivers need to all feel free to conduct themselves like the drivers in the 70’s and 80’s did.  I look at the current NASCAR driver roster and out of the 50-60 drivers that I have followed for a while, a lot of them just don’t have any personalities to them in comparison to some of the old timers like Ricky Rudd, or Junior Johnson.  The point I am trying to make is this, who would you rather see coming back out onto the track after Montoya put them into the wall, David Reutiman or Buddy Baker?  I think you can see where I am going. 

Granted, I love the sport itself, just watching the teams tweak their equipment to win a race by outperforming their competition with something as simple as an air pressure adjustment really does appeal to me, always has.  But the races you remember are the ones where one driver throws his helmet at another driver on the caution lap.  That’s what I am hoping to see a lot more of this year. 

Now, on to my predictions for 2010…

  1. Mark Martin will win the Daytona 500. 
  2. Sam Hornish will continue to wreck each week.
  3. Juan Pablo Montoya will morph from a turd into a butterfly. He will also get along with the other drivers a lot better and I think that he has picked up enough experience in NASCAR and this might be his breakout year.
  4. Danica Patrick will make some awesome television commercials, and probably cook a mean pot roast, but she will not win a race in either of the two major series (she might pull off an ARCA race, or finish in the top 10 but I suspect it’s more about merchandising w/ her than anything else.)
  5. Hendrick Motorsports will continue to lead the pack this year but I suspect that Roush and Ford will close the gap a bit as will Penske and Dodge.
  6. Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman will only continue to get better and better.  I have called the Stewart / Newman thing a dream team since day one.  If Mark Martin doesn’t stand on the stage at the end of the year holding the trophy, I hope it’s Ryan or Tony.
  7. I think Dale Earnhardt Jr. will continue to sell an asinine amount of die-cast cars and t-shirts, but I don’t think he will be very visible in his teammates rear view mirrors again this year.  Something is just not right with Team Junior and it hasn’t been for a while.  Until he gets his mojo back they need to milk the t-shirt and decal sales while they last.
  8. Marcos Ambrose will continue to be awesome and by the end of the season his grass root following will rival that of Ken Shraders people. (Ken Shrader has more fans than you can imagine).
  9. Kevin Harvick will move on or do his own thing after this season.
  10. Jamie McMurray will try a few new hairstyles this year but won’t come up with anything he really likes.
  11. I think the Roush guys will either work together a lot better this year or it will fall apart big time between Edwards and Kenseth or Biffle.  Either way, I see Roush stepping in and making some changes if they aren’t contenders from the start. 
  12. Kyle Busch will have beer cans thrown at him on more than one occasion this year.
  13. Based on the success that he had with having his ears trimmed back a few years ago, Kurt Busch will further explore some more cosmetic surgeries.  Possibly getting lips like Angelina Jolie.
  14. David Ragan will win a race or two this season, or come very close.
  15. Joey Logano will mature a lot more this season and I look for Hamlin to be a big part of that.
  16. Finally, last but not least.  I think that there is a good possibility that after a long grueling race at one of the super speedways, Tony Stewart will lose all control and eat that keselowski kid.  It will all happen during the post race interviews, and while Stewart is able to devour the boy rapidly, the first televised accidental act of cannibalism will be frowned upon by sponsors and it willl be a serious setback for ABC and they will be forced to let FOX cover the entire season.  This chain of events will make NASCAR fans around the world immediately forgive Tony Stewart and look at him now as a hero…

There you have it folks, let’s watch this season and see how close I am.  I would love to hear your predictions for the upcoming season as well.  Shoot me a comment and let me know what you think.

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Let’s Talk NASCAR – Follow @cottonr_nascar on Twitter!

January 16, 2010 By 2 Comments

I mentioned earlier this year that I was going to be adding NASCAR to my list of blog topics for 2010, and the more I think about it, the more excited I am about it.  I was talking to Keith Crawford the other night during the first episode of The Cotton Club Podcast  about the upcoming Daytona race and it got me to thinking that I needed to setup a dedicated Twitter account for all of my NASCAR trash talk during the season.  I went out today and setup @cottonr_nascar (many of my NASCAR friends are already connected since this was an old account linked to a past NASCAR project my partners and I launched last year.)

Something that I am hoping to have locked down very soon is how my blog posts are pushed into my new NASCAR twitter account.  Most of the friends that I am going to make this next season on Twitter related to NASCAR will probably share very little or no interest in some of the other topics I discuss like WordPress, PHP, or Facebook.  I am looking at several methods to filtering this blogs RSS Feed Automation for the @cottonr_nascar twitter account, hopefully I will have this locked down very soon!

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Stay Tuned for NASCAR Posts in 2010

December 20, 2009 By 3 Comments

nascar-blog-link This past year I did a lot of blogging on the topic of NASCAR for a side project that my partners and I launched.  I covered probably half of the season and supplied content on a bi-weekly basis related to the drivers and teams involved with the sport.  While 2009 was an awesome season, I think that 2010 is going to be even better.  With that being said, I just wanted to let all of you that followed my NASCAR posts on other websites that it is my intention to incorporate NASCAR into the list of topics that I blog about here at The Cotton Club.

There is a school of thought that bloggers should stick to one topic and I have to admit I have even bought into this school of thought myself.  Since I primarily blog about my business, Pleth, and the products and services that we provide, which include Email Outsourcing, Managed Web Hosting, Graphic Design, Application Development, and Website Design, it literally flies in the face of reason that I would even consider adding another topic to my blog that is as unrelated as NASCAR to my categories.  I have to admit that I have given it a lot of thought, and even considered launching a NASCAR only blog separate from The Cotton Club but decided against it.

My reasoning for adding NASCAR to The Cotton Club is simple, my readers come to my blog to hear from me, not necessarily about a particular topic.  Occasionally I have blogged about Sports and other topics and for the most part those posts have been all well received.  I have also posted a lot of unrelated viral videos to this blog over the years and they have become very popular as well.  I looked around at what other bloggers in the industry were doing and noticed that a few of them have already broken out of the mindset that they have to stay on topic.  I have seen ShoeMoney blog about UFC fights in the past on his blog and if anything he has picked up readership.

In closing I want to say this, I don’t expect to post near as many NASCAR related posts as I do business posts.  In fact, I bet there will be a 5:1 ratio on my posts, if not more than that, I am just hoping to broaden my horizons in 2010 and have some fun.  If readership picks up, great.  If it drops, oh well.

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Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with NASCAR.  I am merely a fan of the sport and any views that I may express on this blog are solely my views and in no way reflect the views of NASCAR or it’s parent company, ISC (International Speedway Corp.).

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Thoughts on Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR

November 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Okay, so I watched the race yesterday with the hope tucked away in the back of my mind that there might be some off-the-wall chance that Jimmie Johnson and the 48 team would slip up.  Maybe a blow-out or engine failure, something that wouldn’t be serious, but enough to make him finish up in the 30th position, but it wasn’t to be.  And it’s not that I didn’t want to see Jimmie make history by winning 4 straight titles, that’s not the case at all, in fact I am a student of history and was glad to witness it, I just really, really, really, wanted to see Mark Martin win the championship.

Now, in the interest of full-disclosure, Mark Martin is one of my clients and I am probably a little partial when it comes to my favorite driver, keep in mind that he’s also a good ole’ Arkansas boy too!

Over time my partners and I have come to know him as more than a celebrity, a lot more so in the case of my partners in Batesville who work a lot closer on a day to day basis with Mark’s organization than I do, but I have still managed to spend some time with him through the years and I must say, he’s just as awesome of a guy off the track as he is on the track.  I also consider myself to be a pretty good judge of character, and have met a lot of celebrities over the years, and it only takes being around Mark for just a few minutes to know that he genuinely cares about his fans. 

I also know that this is going to be hard to believe too, but I honestly think that the fact Mark didn’t win the championship this year bothers him more that he wasn’t able to deliver this to his fans than it does he won’t have that trophy in his trophy case.  He is that driven by the fans.  I watched an interview that ABC did with Mark prior to the race and in the interview he was talking about how the fans gave him a standing ovation at his 1000th race start and spelled out his name in the bleachers by holding up cards, he literally got choked up talking about this.  That’s just the type of guy that Mark Martin is.  If you are a Mark Martin fan you probably already know what I am saying…

On the topic of Jimmie Johnson, what can you say?  Jimmie and Chad Knaus, his crew chief, have a special relationship, and they have the best equipment on the track, along w/ his teammates Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., not to mention the other drivers out there with Hendrick equipment, but when it all comes down to it, there is still a driver strapped into a car that has to make split second decisions.  With that in the equation, there is no one right now better than Jimmie Johnson, bar none.  There, I have said it.  Jimmie is as good as it gets right now…  And, just like they boo’d Dale Earnhardt, they are going to boo Jimmie Johnson.

Now, let’s all look toward 2010.  I have a couple of things I would love to see coming out of the gate, Mark Martin winning the Daytona 500 is one of them.  I would also like to see Mark competing at the exact same level he competed in this year, but with the end result being a championship.  Let’s all keep looking ahead!! 

For a couple of reasons, that I won’t go into, I didn’t do a lot of blogging at my personal blog this past year on the topic of NASCAR and I missed it, especially during the weeks of the chase.  Earlier in the season I blogged everyday for another entity, and loved it, even showed up on a couple of podcasts with some really great people.  Also, for a long time during the first half of the season I communicated w/ many new friends I made in the social realm on the topic of NASCAR but again, for some reasons that I won’t go into here, I wasn’t able to be as active as I would have liked the second half of the season.  Maybe next year we can do that all over again, I am going to be talking about NASCAR regardless, I may as well blog about it.  So, when 2010 rolls around, be on the lookout for a lot more emphasis on NASCAR here at the Cotton Club…

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Current Projects: Mark Martin Museum Twitter Profile

September 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

My business partner Stephen and I have been going back and forth about how buggy the backend of Twitter can be when you go in to load a new background image or even change the color of your sidebar.  Several times I would try to upload the background image that I had been working on this afternoon and would get notification that my settings had been saved but when I clicked on Profile I would see the same background that my partner had uploaded several hours earlier.  It was a really buggy process!

Fortunately I finally got my photoshop background to line up right on a 1024 resolution monitor, and I think that this will work for now, but at some point I think we will probably add some information for the museum and store to the design.

If you are a NASCAR fan, be sure to follow @diecastcars on Twitter for the best deals on NASCAR merchandise as well as autographed Mark Martin Merchandise.  Here’s a screenshot of what we finally decided on for their background image…

screenshot-markmartinmuseum-twitter

Filed Under: Current Projects, NASCAR™ Tagged With: , ,

Turner to Re-Launch Multi-Platform Race Coverage

June 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

turnerlogojI wanted to post something about Turner’s RaceBuddy because I have had no less than a dozen people email me and ask me my thoughts about how this product was going to be repackaged for the Nascar Community starting this next week when TNT takes over.  There has also been a lot of speculation as to how RaceBuddy was going to incorporate some popular elements like Twitter into their blanket race coverage.  I can say with some certainty that Twitter is going to play a large role in their coverage, and here’s a clue that some other blogs out there are already reporting, be sure to follow @RaceBuddy on twitter…

As a lot of you that follow the industry closely may already be aware, Turner already owns all of the interactive rights to NASCAR, and they have for a while now.  Granted, their products haven’t always lived up to the expectations of the NASCAR fanbase, I am willing to go out on a limb this time and say that I think they will hit the nail a little closer on the head this time around, especially since they (NASCAR) have managed to build such a social following. Here’s a press release posted on Turner Sports corporate website that offers a little bit of insight about RaceBuddy:

When NASCAR fans across the country gather this summer to watch NASCAR on TNT, they’ll have one more way to watch the drama on the track unfold – with RaceBuddy, NASCAR.COM’s live online companion coverage for TNT’s six-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series telecasts, which begin June 8th with the Pocono 500 presented by EA Sports NASCAR ‘09. RaceBuddy is an animated character (click link below for image) who lives on NASCAR.COM, the official site of NASCAR, and also will make appearances on TNT to remind fans of the unprecedented live coverage available on the site during all six of the TNT races, including live feeds from the Pit Road Cam, In-Car Cameras, Battle Cam, Race Robo and Mosaic View. RaceBuddy will ride shotgun with viewers during the race by showing fans how to interact through online chats, answering poll questions and submitting questions to “Ask the Booth” which will be answered during the pre-race coverage and the race telecast by TNT announcers Bill Weber, Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach. From on air to online, RaceBuddy serves as a multiplatform companion designed to bring fans closer to the race action.

“The integration between TNT and NASCAR.COM allows NASCAR fans to become completely engaged in the race before, during and after the television coverage by providing an opportunity to interact with the telecast and with other NASCAR fans online,” said Lenny Daniels, senior vice president of Turner Sports production and new media. “Turner Sports is a leader in utilizing technology to offer fans innovative ways to consume the sports they love via cutting-edge multiplatform experiences.”

    TNT will also have an online presence on NASCAR.COM with a page devoted to TNT’s Summer Series of NASCAR racing that offers on-demand features from TNT announcers, bios, TNT’s schedule and replays of pre-race series such as Pride of NASCAR, NASCAR Future Stars, Wally’s World and Lindsay on Location. For more details, click: http://www.nascar.com/promos/tnt/
    TNT’s NASCAR announcers include pre-race host Marc Fein, play-by-play announcer Bill Weber and analysts Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty. Veteran NASCAR crew chief Larry McReynolds will also join the TNT announcing crew, serving in a specialty role of analyst and reporter.
    Finally, the network’s announcing crew will be rounded out by veteran pit reporters Marty Snider, Matt Yocum, Ralph Sheheen and Lindsay Czarniak. Beginning on June 8th in Pocono, TNT revs up for six consecutive races of exclusive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage including races in Michigan (June 15), Sonoma (June 22), Loudon (June 29), and primetime Saturday night races in Daytona (July 5) and Chicago (July 12). TNT’s widely touted Wide Open Coverage will return for the network’s marquee primetime race, the Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway.
    Turner Sports acquired all of NASCAR’s interactive rights in October 2000 and became the exclusive producer of NASCAR.COM in January 2001. NASCAR.COM is one of the fastest growing sports league sites on the Web, consistently ranking among the top three sport sites on the Internet. In 2003, NASCAR.COM was awarded an Emmy® by the National Television Academy for its TrackPass with PitCommand application and was nominated for an Emmy® in 2007 for TrackPass RaceView.
    Turner Sports, Inc., a Time Warner company, presents some of the best and most popular sporting events worldwide and is a leader in televised sports programming. With events airing on TBS and TNT, Turner Sports’ line-up includes NASCAR and NASCAR.COM, the NBA, Major League Baseball, professional golf, PGATour.com and PGA.com.
    Turner Network Television (TNT), television’s destination for drama and one of cable’s top-rated networks, offers original movies and series, including the acclaimed and highly popular detective drama The Closer, starring Golden Globeâ winner and Emmy® and Screen Actors Guild Awardsâ nominee Kyra Sedgwick, and Saving Grace, a provocative new drama starring Oscar® winner and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Holly Hunter. TNT is also home to powerful one-hour dramas, such as Bones, Law & Order, Without a Trace, Cold Case, ER and Charmed; broadcast premiere movies; compelling prime-time specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is available in high-definition.

Turner Newsroom: NASCAR.COM and TNT Launch ‘RaceBuddy’ to Provide Multiplatform Race Experience

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Martin Running Full Season in 2010

May 6, 2009 By 3 Comments

image Martin to run full Sprint Cup season in 2010: Mark Martin will return to drive the #5 Chevy of Hendrick Motorsports for the entire 36-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season in 2010. It will be the 22nd full-time Cup campaign of Martin’s career and his second with car owner Rick Hendrick. Last July, Martin signed a two-year contract with Hendrick Motorsports covering one full Sprint Cup season in 2009 and one part-time schedule of 26 events in 2010.

The revised agreement was signed this week. "Week in and week out, Mark continues to be one of the best race car drivers in the world," Hendrick said. "He’s already made an incredible contribution to Hendrick Motorsports, and our entire company is excited about running another full season and winning races with him in 2010." With his April 18 victory at Phoenix, Martin became just the fourth driver to record 400 top-10 finishes in Sprint Cup competition. It was his 36th career win in NASCAR’s top series.

"It means a lot to drive the #5 Chevy for Rick and for Hendrick Motorsports," said Martin, 50, of Batesville, Ark. "I’m in the best condition of my life, I’m recharged, and I’m motivated. Going to the racetrack every weekend is still really fun, and that’s the key. There’s more gas in my tank."

Martin will continue to work alongside crew chief Alan Gustafson in 2010. Gustafson has led the #5 team since 2005, recording five wins and two berths in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup. The #5 team’s sponsorship lineup for 2010 has not been determined.

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