Freshrubber Blog

Owner Michael Andretti is confident Andretti Green Racing will re-sign Danica Patrick beyond this IndyCar season - and perhaps soon. Andretti said the sides are “close” to an agreement and he gave Patrick a big hug and best wishes moments before the start of Sunday’s 75-lap Sonoma Grand Prix at Infineon Raceway, the final road course event of the year. Patrick was part of a multi-car crash in Lap 1 and finished 16th. She couldn’t be reached for comment afterward regarding the potential deal with Andretti. Associated Press

Interview IRL star Danica Patrick

IRL star Danica Patrick was at Stewart Haas racing Monday on a personal shop tour, she even went into the fan zone and signed autographs for a bunch of surprised fans who were visiting the shop. Patrick was a guest of team owner Tony Stewart last fall at Phoenix. But the two-time Cup champion was not available to be a guide Monday because he was at a Goodyear tire test at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  FOX Sports

The legendary Milwaukee Mile racetrack faces an uncertain future with its payments behind for NASCAR and Indy Racing League. The track promoters have not fully paid sanctioning fees owed to NASCAR and the IRL, according to reports in the Charlotte Observer and Indianapolis Star. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that promoters owed NASCAR nearly $1.9 million.

Officials at Roush Fenway Racing and Hendrick Motorsports spent part of Sunday putting down another Danica Patrick rumor. This one, from an Internet blogger, implied that the companies are fighting over the IndyCar driver. The story offered no proof, only that “sources” have said that Rick Hendrick apparently has beaten Jack Roush, and that Patrick will replace Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Geoff Smith, president of Roush Fenway Racing, acknowledged that International Management Group is polling Cup teams, gauging their interest in one of America’s best-known racers. He said IMG hasn’t visited Roush Fenway yet, but it will.

“They’re talking to everybody over here, all the teams in the garage,” Smith said Sunday. “We’re in the loop, but we haven’t scheduled a meeting yet. Maybe we’ll have one pretty soon.” Autoweek

Scott Dixon described the IndyCar Series race at Richmond International Raceway as “a bit of a procession, unfortunately,” and said the 300-lap event was frustrating because the lack of passing made it more closely resemble a parade.

And he made those comments Saturday night after ending up in Victory Lane.

Teammate and runner-up Dario Franchitti apologized to fans for an “awful, awful race,” while Graham Rahal said he only passed two cars all night while finishing third.

One year after a 26-car field produced what Danica Patrick described as a “carnagefest” on the shortest track on the series, with 103 laps of caution and a dozen accidents, the latest visit was quite the opposite. Twenty cars spent the night speeding single file around the D-shaped oval, with none of the drama fans are accustomed to seeing in NASCAR country.

On Tuesday, IndyCar Series officials and those of International Speedway Corp., which owns RIR, will meet to continue discussions about whether the series will return in 2010.  sportsillustrated

The IndyCar series is taking its season-opening race to one of its best training grounds next season — Brazil.

Terry Angstadt, president of Indy Racing League’s commercial division, confirmed Tuesday the series intends to race next March in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, about 200 miles from the capital of Sao Paulo. A date is not expected to be announced until late July, when the entire schedule is released.

Although final details are still being worked out, Angstadt is confident the series, which split from CART in the mid-1990s, will make its first foray into South America next year.

“We thought we were off the radar screen too long when we started in April this year, and that was one of our goals, to start in March,” Angstadt said. “It’s a great economy down there. Has the world economic crisis affected them? Yes, but not as much as the U.S.”  sportsillustrated

Chip Ganassi loves to shock the racing world, as he did by snatching Juan Montoya out of Formula One and bringing him to NASCAR three years ago.

But Ganassi is supposedly working on a deal at the moment that would not only keep open wheel racing’s biggest name away from the clutches of NASCAR, it would likely advance her ascention in Indy cars.

And the ‘ol Chipster would be a hero in the IndyCar marketing, public relations and promotions departments. SpeedTV

You have to wonder: What’s left, theoretically, that could resurrect the Indianapolis 500’s drawing power? The merger of what had been two competing Indy-style circuits, ending a split that had supposedly hampered the sport for years, came last year. Danica Patrick was supposed to bring star power if she could also be a contender on the track — and she finished third in Sunday’s race. But ABC’s coverage drew just 3.9% of U.S. TV households. That’s down 13% from last year, down 40% from coverage four years ago — and the lowest rating since the 500 got live start-to-finish TV coverage in 1986. And if the recession kept some viewers off the roads this Memorial Day weekend, it didn’t mean they wanted to watch cars on TV. Fox’s NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 drew a 3.5 overnight rating — translating to 3.5% of households in 56 urban TV markets — which is off 20% from last year. But the rating not dropping off even more suggests the loyalty of NASCAR fans: After being rained out in Sunday primetime, the race was forced into a noon start Monday — then rained out 223 laps into what was scheduled to be a 400-lap race. — USA Today

When the IndyCar Series season ends and Patrick’s contract expires, series founder Tony George and his good friends need to present Patrick with a giant check that lets her write in as many zeroes as she wants. Because she cannot — never, ever, ever — be allowed to jump from this series to NASCAR or Formula One. Ever. If this was, in fact, Patrick’s last Indy 500 as an open-wheel regular, the sport is back in very deep trouble as a niche sport on a second-tier cable network. … If, in the end, Patrick wants to go to NASCAR because of the higher profile, the challenge of it, the raised platform the sport would give her and her brand, then there’s not much the IRL can do no matter how much money it brings to the table. As much as NASCAR is struggling in this economy — and the IRL seems to be holding steady during tough times — the bottom line is, the stock cars run on Fox while the open-wheelers share time on Versus with my hockey games.– Indy Star