James Finch finds buyer for Phoenix Racing

Posted on June 28, 2013 by

Sprint Cup, Nationwide owner hopes to complete transaction by mid-July

SPARTA, Ky. — James Finch may not be a NASCAR team owner for very much longer, but that doesn’t mean the organization he founded is going away.

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Phoenix Racing general manager Steve Barkdoll on Friday confirmed a report in a Florida newspaper that said Finch has found a prospective buyer for his race team, and hopes to have the transaction complete by mid-July. Finch has fielded cars in NASCAR’s top two divisions since 1989, winning one Sprint Cup Series race in 2009 with Brad Keselowski at Talladega Superspeedway and going to Victory Lane 13 times on the Nationwide tour, most recently with Kurt Busch last July at Daytona International Speedway.

“We’ve got a buyer, and we’re working on the final details to try and get everything buttoned up,” Barkdoll said at Kentucky Speedway, “and we hope to have something by the middle of July that will keep Phoenix Racing going forward.”

The single-car team has often struggled to find sponsorship, forcing Finch to fund the outfit from his own pocket. He said late last year that he might not continue into 2013, and he indicated earlier this season that he might get out after the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late July. Phoenix has used five different drivers so far this season, including Jacques Villeneuve last Sunday at Sonoma Raceway and Austin Dillon this weekend at Kentucky.

Barkdoll said he couldn’t specify who the buyer is, or whether they’re from inside or outside the sport. “He’s somebody who’s got money,” Finch told his hometown paper, the Panama City (Fla.) News Herald.

“I’m in negotiations with an individual to buy the team, and if he does that, I’ll let him finish out the year,” Finch added. “He’s a qualified buyer so hopefully we can make everything work.”

Finch told the newspaper that employees at the team’s shop in Spartanburg, S.C., would be notified of details next week. Meanwhile, the team continues to plan for the near-term, with Barkdoll saying AJ Allmendinger would be in the organization’s No. 51 car next month for races at Daytona, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Indianapolis.

“James told us to hang in there and believe, and James and I have been working on this,” Barkdoll said. “And I feel very optimistic.”

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Posted on June 28, 2013 by

Rain halts NASCAR Nationwide Series race after 170 laps

Related: Feed the Children 300 results

SPARTA, Ky. — When you win a rain-shortened race, you can’t do a burnout — but Brad Keselowski certainly tried.

After being declared the winner of Friday night’s Feed the Children 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway, 30 laps short of the scheduled finish, Keselowski did donuts on the frontstretch, minus the usual smoke because of the wet, slippery asphalt.

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The win was by no means a fluke, because as the race progressed, Keselowski’s car identified itself as the clear class of the field. He took the lead for good on Lap 156, seven laps before NASCAR called the final caution for rain.

The victory was Keselowski’s second of the season and the 22nd of his career.

“I didn’t want it to end this way, but we had a great car,” Keselowski said. “This is the type of car you get like once a year — if you’re lucky. In driving this car I felt like Jimmie Johnson. This is a rocket.”

Elliott Sadler finished second, followed by Matt Crafton, who was making his Nationwide debut. Brian Vickers ran fourth, with Kyle Busch finishing fifth.

A caution on Lap 141 for Carl Long’s spin in Turn 4 gave the lead-lap cars a chance to pit for enough fuel to finish the race, but varying tire strategies scrambled the field for a restart on Lap 146. Crafton, who took fuel only, led the field to green but quickly yielded to Sadler, who took right-side tires only on pit road.

Eleven laps into the run, Keselowski, on four fresh tires, passed Sadler for the top spot. By then he had already put significant distance between his No. 22 Ford and the No. 54 Toyota of Busch, who lost 10 positions on pit road after sliding through his pit stall under the caution.

On Lap 163, NASCAR threw the fifth caution of the race when a brief rain shower hit the track. After seven laps under caution, the rain intensified, and NASCAR ordered the cars to pit road and red-flagged the race after Lap 170 — 30 laps short of the scheduled finish — at 9:44 p.m.

“I don’t want to win a rain race — I want to race!” Keselowski asserted under the stoppage. Keselowski didn’t get his wish, but he got the win.

Notes: Series points leader Regan Smith had suspension issues and lost 18 laps in the garage during repairs. That gave Smith’s closest pursuers in the standings — Justin Allgaier, Sam Hornish Jr. and Vickers — a chance to narrow the gap … Sadler, Vickers, polesitter Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson, the top finishing NNS regulars, qualified for the Nationwide Dash 4 Cash, which starts next week at Daytona.

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