Notebook: Owners sketchy on details of recent meeting

By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 31, 2010)

LONG POND, Pa. —You think NASCAR’s secret fines levied on drivers were mysterious?

The clandestine fines to Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman for disparaging remarks about NASCAR racing don’t hold a candle to the lack of specifics about last Tuesday’s meeting of owners and representatives of 10 Sprint Cup teams at Hendrick Motorsports.

Here’s what we know: Held in the aftermath of a recent, more informal get-together of NASCAR stakeholders in Key West , Fla. , Tuesday’s meeting took place with NASCAR’s blessing. Owners were asked to submit agenda ideas before the meeting.

Participants subsequently described the meetings under the general catch-all of cost cutting, but there are precious few details coming from any of the principals. Shorter races and shorter race weekends reportedly were on the table, but owner Richard Childress indicated the meeting dealt more with long-range solutions than with short-term fixes.

Childress also said that, though NASCAR representatives did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, they would be present at a follow-up.

“They wanted us to sit down together and come up with some ideas that are going to improve our sport in the future,” Childress said. “We’re not talking about next week or the end of this year. We’re talking about five years down the road, how to keep the things better and better and have quality race teams and a quality product on the racetrack.”

Though Childress described the meeting as productive, he stopped short of identifying specific ideas that won consensus approval.

“There were a lot of them,” Childress said. “It was amazing how many from that group all of us could agree on. The topics that we had all sent in—it was like we all had sat and talked about them before. It was a great meeting. I’ll leave it at that.”

Contrary to speculation that the owners’ meeting might be the precursor to the formation of some sort of owners association, Childress said no such plan was under consideration.

“We don’t need a formal organization in our sport,” Childress said. “I think it’s worked for over 50 years the way it is, and I don’t see ‘em changing it. I think that it’s a different world with NASCAR today.

“They’ve asked us to meet as a group of owners and come back to them with some ideas how, five years from now, we (can) sustain what we have today and make it even better in the future.”

WHY MESS WITH SUCCESS?

Greg Biffle took a new car to last week’s Brickyard 400. The No. 16 Ford showed consistent speed all weekend and carried Biffle to a third-place finish.

Accordingly, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Biffle will drive the same car Sunday at Pocono.

“With the way we ran last week at Indy, there’s obviously something about that car,” said Greg Erwin, Biffle’s crew chief. “It was a brand new car for us, going to Indy, so it had no history. … Right now, the way I’m looking at it, the most important race is the next one, and by bringing this car to Pocono, it just eliminates one more question mark we have every week.”

SHORT STROKES

Aric Almirola, who is standing by as a relief driver for Jeff Gordon, ran a few laps in the No. 24 Chevrolet during Saturday morning’s first Cup practice. Gordon’s wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, is expecting the couple’s second child. Almirola recently filled the same role for Jimmie Johnson, but never got to run a lap in competition. …

Jeff Burton led Saturday’s final Cup practice with a lap at 166.936 mph, edging Joey Logano (166.852 mph) and Jimmie Johnson (166.769 mph). Johnson posted the fastest 10-lap average at 163.766 mph, followed by Denny Hamlin at 163.700 mph.