The News Dump: August 19th

NASCAR- Newman in 39 for 2009: Last night on his radio show Tony Stewart said that his driver Ryan Newman will drive with the number 39 in 2009, not 4. Should make those crybaby Morgan-McClure boys happy. [Scenedaily.com]

NASCAR- 2009 Schedules Announced: NASCAR Announced the schedules for the three big series. The Sprint Cup Series Schedule had a big date swap as Atlanta Motor Speedway will have their second race on Labor Day Weekend. California Speedway will get a date in the chase in October and Talladega Speedway will get a new date in November.

Meanwhile, the Nationwide Series will visit the Iowa Speedway in 2009 and the Truck Series will have the Chicagoland Speedway as a new venue. [Scenedaily.com]

Big changes at Andretti-Green's ALMS team

Andretti-Green Racing on Friday announced that both their American Le Mans Series drivers Bryan Herta and Christian Fittipaldi have been let go and will be replaced by former F1 driver Franck Montagny. Montagny will be partnered with Marco Andretti at the next round of the ALMS championship at Lime Rock in a few weeks, who Montagny will be partnered with after that is unknown. It is also unknown why Herta and Fittipaldi was let go by the team. One may suspect that the duo was let go because they couldn't put together a win something the team hasn't seen since the 2007 12 hours of Sebring.

But owner Michael Andretti wants to show there is no hard feelings towards his former drivers: "Making a change in the middle of the season isn't something you enjoy, and I think it's even tougher in this case because we're talking about Bryan and Christian," said Andretti. "Bryan has done everything we've ever asked him to do since he joined Andretti Green in 2003, including helping us win the 12 Hours of Sebring in our first American Le Mans Series start last year. Christian joined us this year and wanted to win as badly as we did. We will always appreciate the effort that both Bryan and Christian gave to the team." Yeah, okay Michael.

"We're looking forward to seeing what Franck can do in the XM Acura," Andretti continued. "He's got a lot of experience in different types of cars, including prototypes, and that should help him adjust pretty quickly to what we're doing here."

Montagny joins Andretti Green [Autosport.com]

Sportscar preview: Grand-Am in Laguna Seca and ALMS in Salt Lake City

Sportscar Racing in America is back again with the Rolex Grand-Am Series racing in Laguna Seca and the American Le Mans Series in Salt Lake City.

Grand-Am: David Donahue took pole for RumBum.com 250 in his Brumos Porsche Daytona Prototype, the 99 Bob Stallings Gainsco with Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty behind the wheel will start outside pole.
But the big story is the return of Cristiano da Matta. Sidelined from racing after a collsion with a deer in a test at Road America in 2006, Christano will compete in his first race since the crash. Teamed with good friend Jimmy Vasser in a second Gainsco sponsred Bob Stallings Ponitac, Cristano will start 6th in the race. Nick Ham and the Speedsoruce Mazda team are on pole in the GT class. The race will be run later today, but will shown tommrow at noon eastern on Speed Channel.

Grand-Am Starting Lineup

ALMS: In Utah, another racing legend is making his return to racing. Gil de Ferran, in the 66 Panasonic Acura teamed with former Champ Car driver Simon Pagenaud, is making his first competive start since retring from Indycar racing 2003. The former Indy 500 winner is looking forward to the event. "Everyone has put in a lot of hours in creating this team and it is great for all involved to see the fruits of our labors become a reality. We have already completed a test at Miller Motorsports Park and we are as prepared as we could have hoped for, considering the short life span of the team", de Ferran said. "For me, the weekend will be very emotionally charged but after five years out of the seat, it has been a bit like putting on an old comfortable pair of shoes -- in a way this will be an exercise in trying to pretend that the last five years didn't happen."

The race will take place at 3 pm eastern on Speed.

De Ferran Motorsports Preview