HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Joe Gibbs Racing will switch to Toyotas in 2008, ending a 16-year relationship with General Motors that produced three NASCAR championships.
JGR had been working on a deal with the Japanese automaker all summer and announced the change Wednesday at a news conference.
This will make Gibbs’ three-car operation the premier Toyota team.
DETROIT — Mission accomplished.The four-driver Andretti Green Racing team had a specific plan for the Detroit Indy Grand Prix on Belle Isle, and it was executed Sunday afternoon.Tony Kanaan won the race, the first in the city since 2001, but more importantly his teammate, Dario Franchitti, regained the series lead with one race remaining.”We came here to take the championship lead away from (Scott) Dixon,” said Kanaan, a five-time winner this season and currently third in a tight points battle.
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FONTANA, Calif. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. does have a couple of numbers in mind for his new ride at Hendrick Motorsports next season. But he isn’t telling — yet.
“I do have one or two that are on the top of the list,” he said at California Speedway, where he will race in Sunday’s Sharp Aquos 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup event. “I don’t think there is a reason to make a big deal out of it.
“The bigger deal to me is the people that we partner with and the sponsorship that we put together.
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DETROIT — The Indy Racing League could be expanding its season by 2009, and if that’s the case, Michigan International Speedway might be back on the schedule.
The IndyCar series will not race at the fast two-mile oval in Brooklyn next year because of a scheduling conflict between the series and the track, marking the first time in 40 years there won’t be an open-wheel race at MIS.
There currently are 17 races on the IndyCar schedule, which begins in March and ends in early September.