SPRINT CUP NATIONWIDE SERIES CAMPING WORLD...

Race: Carfax 250 Where: Michigan Intl Speedway When: Saturday, 1 p.m. (ET)TV: ESPN2009 winner: Brad Keselowski

SPRINT CUP CAMPING WORLD TRUCKSNATIONWIDE SERIESRace: Too Tough to Tame 200 Where: Darlington RacewayWhen: Saturday, 7 p.m. (ET)TV: SPEED2009 winner: Tony Stewart

Race: Carfax 400Where: Michigan Intl SpeedwayWhen: Sunday, 1 p.m. (ET)TV: ESPN2009 winner: Brian Vickers

Distributed by Universal Uclick for Cox Newspapers. (800) 255-6734. *For release the week of August 9, 2010.

NOTEBOOKKahne to drive for Red Bull in ‘11

Kasey Kahne, who is leaving Richard PettyMotorsports at the end of this season and will joinHendrick Motorsports and drive the No. 5Chevrolet in 2012, will spend the 2011 seasondriving for Red Bull Racing.

Red Bull’s general manager Jay Frye said on ateleconference that his team will benefit from hav-ing Kahne, even if he is only going to be there forone season.

“Kasey is a proven commodity,” he said. “We hadan opportunity to secure his services for next year,and we were thrilled we could do that … He willhelp be able to point our program in the rightdirection for the future. We will worry about 2012next year.”

Frye said the status of regular Red Bull driverBrian Vickers, who is out of the car for nowbecause of blood clots, is still not certain for nextyear, but Vickers has said that he plans to be inthe car for the season-opening Daytona 500.

Darlington vet Schrader returnsExperience is usu-

ally a plus at trickyold DarlingtonRaceway. If that’sagain the case in thisweekend’s CampingWorld Truck Seriesrace, Ken Schraderought to do well.

He has 55Darlington starts inNASCAR’s top threedivisions, and his bestDarlington run was arunner-up finish inthe truck race in2001.

He’ll drive thisweek for KevinHarvick Inc.

“Some of our experience in the past is definitelygoing to help there, but a lot of the guys have beenthere before, and a lot of the young kids, althoughthey haven’t been there, are driving for good teamsand know what they’re doing, so they’ll pick it upquickly,” Schrader told reporters this week.

Although Schrader has been an infrequentstarter in NASCAR races this season, he’s still beenbusy. He’s run 51 times in his dirt-track car, win-ning 12 times.

Jeff Gordon family grows by oneIt’s a boy for Jeff Gordon and his wife Ingrid

Vandebosch. They announced this week the arrivalof Leo Benjamin, who arrived at 8:52 a.m. onMonday and weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and was19 inches long.

Aflurry of press conferences and pressreleases early this week firmed upthe picture of the 2011 Sprint Cup

schedule.As expected, Kentucky Speedway will be

getting its first Cup race, at the expense ofsister Speedway Motorsports Inc. trackAtlanta Motor Speedway, which is nowdown to one Cup event, on Labor Dayweekend.

The inaugural 400 miler at Kentuckywill be run on Saturday, July 9.

The Sparta, Ky., track will become the23rd motorsports facility on the 36-raceSprint Cup Series schedule and the firstfacility to be added to the Cup schedulesince Chicagoland and Kansas were addedin 2001.

The governor of Kentucky was amongthose celebrating the news on Tuesday atthe track.

“I am thrilled that all the hard work ofmy administration to bring a NASCARSprint Cup race to Kentucky has finallypaid off,” Gov. Steve Beshear said. “Thelegislation we proposed, pushed and Isigned amending our TourismDevelopment Act to attract legacy expan-sion projects to Kentucky was critical inbringing this race to Kentucky. In addi-tion to the excitement this race will bring

to race fans, it will have an unparalleledeconomic impact on the region.”

Track officials in Chicago and KansasCity, Kan., also had news to announce thisweek.

Kansas is adding a second Cup race,made possible by taking one from itsInternational Speedway Corp. sister track,Auto Club Speedway in California.

The Kansas date comes about in largepart because of a casino being built nearthe track.

The Cup weekend at Kansas will be onJune 4-5, and the second will be the fourthrace in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, onOct. 8-9.

Chicagoland Speedway will move its onerace to Sept. 16-18, and it will be the open-ing race in the Chase.

“We could not be more excited,” CraigRust, president of Chicagoland Speedwaysaid in announcing the date change. “Idon’t think there’s a better location to kickoff the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cupthan in Chicago. It’s the best sports townin the country. Every race in the Chaseplays a key role in determining the cham-pionship, and we’re thrilled that our fanscan be part of the excitement.”

Auto Club Speedway will host its oneCup stop on March 25-27.

Like Atlanta Motor Speedway presidentEd Clark did a week ago in announcinghis track’s loss of a race date, Auto Clubpresident Gillian Zucker tried to put a pos-itive spin on the setback at her track.

“Moving our Auto Club 500 event fromFebruary to March provides us the oppor-tunity to show off the area’s beautiful‘Chamber of Commerce’ weather,” Zuckersaid in a statement. “Our staff and thethousands of Southern California’s loyalrace fans look forward to the return ofNASCAR’s most talented drivers in boththe Sprint Cup Series and the NationwideSeries as well as Southern California’sown four-time Sprint Cup Series championJimmie Johnson.

“We remain committed to providingunforgettable experiences to our loyal fans,and we will continue to look at ways todiversify our schedule, working diligentlyto add exciting events for 2011 andbeyond.”

Phoenix International Raceway also willbe part of the schedule realignment. Itsfirst race will move from April to Feb. 27and be the second race of the season. Itssecond race will be on Nov. 13. Both will bedaytime races.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway will returnto its old race weekend, on March 4-6.

Next year’s Sprint Cup schedule brings big changes, new venues

By RICK MINTER / Cox NewspapersBy RICK MINTER / Cox Newspapers

Ken Schrader (NASCAR photo)

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