ON THE MOVE: It seems likely that three-time IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish Jr. will move to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series next season. Hornish will not change teams, simply move from Penske Racing’s Indy-car operation to its stock-car team. All Penske Racing teams are housed in the same North Carolina facility. “The league has not said two words to me about it,” Hornish said. “You feel like they don’t need you sometimes.”
FIRST TIMER: Robert Doornbos won his first Champ Car World Series race Sunday at Mont Tremblant, Quebec. In the process he may have started a new rivalry, something the series could definitely use, between himself and three-time champion Sebastien Bourdais.
DIED: Longtime NHRA official Bob Daniels, who is credited with returning O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, to prominence during the '80s and ’90s, died following an extended illness. Daniels was 76.
HONORED: IndyCar Series point-leader Dario Franchitti was recognized with the second quarter Driver off the Year. Franchitti outdistanced NASCAR Nextel Cup Series point-leader Jeff Gordon for the award.
TEAM CHANGE: Tony Eury Sr., a longtime friend of Dale Earnhardt, and the man responsible for much of the success of Dale Earnhardt, Inc., has left the team and gone to work for Dale Earnhardt Jr., as director of competition for JR Motorsports, which fields Busch Series and Hooters Pro Cup Series teams.
A FIRST: Dale Blaney gave Toyota its first Nextel Cup Series pole Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway.
NEW SITE: National Speed Sport News will debut its redesigned website July 25. While the site will still offer the same password-protected information for subscribers that is offered in the hard copy of the nation’s oldest auto-racing publication, it will also offer daily news stories and features, along with reader interaction.
TOP RUNG: Indy Racing League IndyCar Series point leader Dario Franchitti won his third race of the season Saturday at Richmond International Raceway and jumped to the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings. The IndyCar Series visits Watkins Glen (New York) International this weekend.
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