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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eldora has dirt racing buzzing

Associated Press

The NASCAR Truck Series stop at Eldora Speedway this week created a lot of buzz that still hasn’t died down.

The Ohio race was the first for NASCAR on a dirt track since Sept. 30 1970. Some drivers in Indianapolis for this weekend’s Brickyard race were talking Friday about a possible Sprint Cup series race at the track – someday.

Clint Bowyer, who is second in the Sprint Cup Series standings, was part of the broadcast of Wednesday night’s event on Speed TV.

“Everywhere I’ve gone this week I’ve had people that are huge NASCAR fans and people that aren’t big NASCAR fans at all that watched it,” Jeff Gordon said. “And they were blown away. They did not expect it to go the way that it did.”

And with the excitement that surrounded the race brings up a question: Is there a future at Eldora with NASCAR?

NASCAR officials say they’re hopeful. Tony Stewart, who owns the half-mile dirt track, was on hand for the race and wouldn’t mind seeing a future at his track with the series.

“The logical thing is, NASCAR will go back and evaluate how the two days went,” Stewart said after the race. “We, as a company, will do the same thing.”

Pit stops

Ryan Dalziel inherited the lead when Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello was forced to make a late pit stop and held off hard-charging Scott Pruett by 3.438 seconds Friday night in the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Alex Gurney, the son of former IndyCar and Formula One driver Dan Gurney, was third in the Grand-Am Daytona prototype race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.534-mile, 13-turn road circuit. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still on the hunt for major sponsorship for 12 Sprint Cup races. Earnhardt says he’s not worried about locking up a sponsor, a sign that perhaps Hendrick Motorsports has a deal on the horizon. … Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing will partner with RW Motorsports to add a second car for the IndyCar Series race at Sonoma. … Formula One leader Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest times in both practice runs for the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. Red Bull teammate Mark Webber finished second. Vettel, who has never won in Hungary, is looking to extend his overall lead over Fernando Alonso.