Nascar

NEW YORK -- A year ago, car owner Rick Hendrick sat at the podium in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel with driver Jeff Gordon and soaked up the delights that come with winning a first Winston Cup championship.It was supposed to be even better the second time around. This year's champion, driver Terry Labonte, and teammate Gordon dominated the 31-race season.Tonight, Hendrick was supposed to celebrate with Labonte at the annual NASCAR Awards Banquet.But that was before a federal grand jury indicted Hendrick on charges of conspiring to bribe Honda executives.

Sports writers and columnists wouldn't be so hard on NASCAR if it would just be a little less secretive. The organization has taken a lot of heat since the terrorist attacks last Sept. 11 because it was so slow to make a major charitable contribution while other major sports organizations made sizable donations. All NASCAR did was promote the generosity of sponsors and individuals within the sport and say, "We'll make a contribution when we know where our money will do the most good." NASCAR said that for nearly a year.

Jimmie Johnson is apologizing, but he's not exactly sorry. There's a big difference. Johnson admits he was out of line for criticizing NASCAR after he was penalized for a speeding penalty at Martinsville on Sunday. Two days later, Johnson admitted "we were wrong" but didn't let NASCAR off the hook completely. He probably isn't the only person in the world who thinks a simple solution to pit road controversy would be for NASCAR to make pit road speeds immediately available for drivers, crew chiefs and fans to see. Johnson got busted for a segment different than the one he thought he was busted for during the race.

NEW YORK -- It may be difficult to get the Japanese to buy American-made cars, but NASCAR president Bill France and Takashi Matsuda, president of Suzuka Circuitland race course, said yesterday that Japan is about to get its first look at the all-American sport of stock car racing.The first of three NASCAR demonstration races scheduled over the next three years will be held Nov. 24, 1996, on the 1.4-mile road course.Honda is building a 1.5-mile oval outside Tokyo, and France said the NASCAR cars expect to race on it in 1998.

Cal's goin' racin'. Major League Baseball, NASCAR and the Orioles are expected to announce before tomorrow's game against the Toronto Blue Jays that third baseman Cal Ripken will serve as honorary starter for the Sept. 23 MBNA-Cal Ripken 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Del. The race date coincides with the celebration surrounding the final home game of Ripken's career. Ripken will attend the race with his family then helicopter back to Baltimore for a 7:05 p.m. game.

PLENTY OF ISSUES must be resolved before Baltimore County clears the way for a NASCAR speedway in Middle River. But the sport's popularity is not one of them. Stock car racing is much like country music. For years it had a devoted but demographically limited following. More recently, it has grown beyond its roots into a mainstream phenomenon. While certainly not the sole consideration in deciding if a new speedway should be built, this is an important one.How significantly has this sport changed?

Like any good partner, NASCAR keeps trying to made amends in a relationship in which passion is waning. It wants to make nice with fans. You know who you are. You are tired of NASCAR going corporate more and more each year, squeezing out the small-town tracks steeped in tradition. You are frustrated with the playoff format that has turned into Dudsville, courtesy of Jimmie Johnson's four consecutive titles. There's hope. We think. CEO Brian France recently said NASCAR is considering a significant overhaul to its championship Chase.

Developers planning a $100 million speedway in Anne Arundel County are trying to build a similar track outside Chicago, a move that puts them in direct competition with NASCAR officials and could hurt their chances of bringing major races to this area.The recently renamed Chesapeake Motor Sports Development Corp., which plans a track on the Solley peninsula that has sparked controversy, also has optioned land in Kankakee, Ill. The company hopes that within 90 days it can begin construction on the Illinois speedway, which would be bigger than the one proposed here.

Oh, for a little peace. NASCAR last week released its six-month, $1 million study of Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash. And that is supposed to be the end of it. It's supposed to bring closure. But even while Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he was satisfied, and "felt like I had already figured it out myself," Earnhardt's car owner, Richard Childress, was deep into an argument with seat belt-maker Bill Simpson over whether Earnhardt had been told on several occasions that his belt was installed improperly.

Short of Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the Daytona 500 — a scenario that would have prompted Tony Kornheiser and others to scream "Shenanigans!" — NASCAR could not have scripted a better way to start the 2011 season. A refreshing new face popped out of the cluster of cars to win the Daytona 500. And a revered old one took a big step toward relevancy the next week in Phoenix. Trevor Bayne and Jeff Gordon represent a nice link to NASCAR's present and past. Bayne is among the new generation of rising, marketable stars.