Winegard teams with Gordon
Winegard Company will sponsor its first Nextel Cup car this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
The Winegard Co. logo will be on the hood of Robbie Gordon’s No. 7 Ford.
“It’s another quick opportunity through Camping World to continue with their race program,” said Aaron Engberg, manager of Winegard’s mobile products division.
Winegard Co. has sponsored Clint Bowyer’s Busch Series car three times this season. Bowyer won his first Busch race at Phoenix International Raceway, the first race he drove with the Winegard logo on his hood.
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WAITING FOR BUSCH SERIES: The Iowa Speedway will host the IndyCar Series and NASCAR’s Grand National Division in 2008, but fans must wait until at least 2009 to see a NASCAR Busch Series.
Track officials hope to lure the NASCAR Busch Series as well as a Craftsman Truck Series event to Newton, but neither event will expand next season, said Craig Armstrong, the speedway’s vice president and general manager.
“They are certainly looking at us as a prospect for 2009 and beyond,” Armstrong said. “But I think our patience and our good works will be rewarded in time.”
Armstrong said NASCAR knows of the Iowa Speedway’s hopes of hosting Busch and Truck races. He said an estimated paid crowd of 24,741 for this year’s Grand National race helped that effort.
“I know it far exceeded (Grand National’s) expectations,” Armstrong said.
The track’s season ended Saturday with the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Soy Biodiesel 225.
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IRL TESTING AT IOWA: The Indy Racing League has scheduled its first offseason tests for Oct. 3-4 at Iowa Speedway.
Drivers from the Penske, Andretti Green and Ganassi teams will work with IRL officials on refinements of the aerodynamic package used for the .875-mile oval track in Newton, Iowa, league president Brian Barnhart said Wednesday.
Series champion Dario Franchitti won the inaugural race at Iowa in June.
“Iowa Speedway is like nothing else currently on our circuit,” Barnhart said. “It combines the characteristics of a short oval with those of a banked superspeedway. We want to make sure we’re providing the best possible on-track product for our drivers and our fans when we return to Iowa Speedway next season.”
The 16-race IndyCar season begins March 29 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. The Iowa Corn Indy 250 is scheduled June 22.
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