Freshrubber Blog

Which brings us back to Danica Patrick and our rankings of who will be the most valuable drivers in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500. Last year, Patrick placed 22nd at the Speedway, but she still pulled in about $15 million for her personal and team sponsors, according to Joyce Julius. The logos for her team and personal sponsors, including Motorola, GoDaddy.com and AirTran, spent so much time on TV that they rivaled that of Target, sponsor of winner Scott Dixon’s team, Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Target was on TV for 14 minutes; sponsors associated with Patrick and her team, Andretti Green Racing, were on for about 38 minutes. This year, Patrick is in much the same position, if not a better one. Not only does she still count GoDaddy.com and Motorola among her sponsors, but she’s also picked up Boost Mobile. Primary sponsorships in the IndyCar Series range from $2.5 million to $7 million, though few companies ever cite exact investment amounts. — Indy Star

After years of having some of the most lax testing standards in major professional sports, the last thing NASCAR needs is a very public questioning of whether or not its new mandatory and random testing procedures for all drivers are even working. And yet the saga that has become the story of Jeremy Mayfield is seemingly doing just that. NASCAR announced May 9 that Mayfield, a team owner and driver in the Sprint Cup Series, was being suspended indefinitely from competition for failing a random drug test. At the time of the announcement NASCAR would not reveal what it was that caused Mayfield’s positive result. Immediately following the announcement Mayfield issued a statement claiming that the positive result was caused by the combination of an over the counter allergy medicine with a prescription medication. And suddenly a twisted game of 20 questions, with vague answers, began. It wasn’t alcohol that caused the failed test, NASCAR made that clear from the start. So what was it? NASCAR’s CIA-like secretive nature about its policies and practices has made that the million dollar question. — Hartford Courant