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Martin, a graduate of Frostburg State University where she majored in Mass Communications, previously worked for WSOC-TV in Charlotte. She also served as an intern for Fox News Channel and was a student reporter at Richmond International Raceway.

NASCAR is adding a half inch on the rear spoiler for Daytona. Thank God, maybe we will see some passing now.

UPS to end NASCAR involvement after 2014: UPS notified NASCAR and Roush Fenway Racing that it plans to end its sponsorship of the sport and team following the '14 Sprint Cup season. The move comes after UPS in 2012 dropped its full-season primary sponsorship of the #6 Cup entry then driven by David Ragan. The company has shifted its focus over the last several years from NASCAR to college sports, signing one of the first national sponsorships with IMG College. UPS signed a four-year, $100M deal with 68 colleges in August '11. UPS is the latest in a series of blue-chip sponsors to end their official NASCAR agreements, including PNG and DirecTV. Meanwhile, NASCAR added HP and Sherwin-Williams as sponsors this year. NASCAR Chief Sales Officer Jim O'Connell in a statement said, "UPS has been a fantastic partner to NASCAR over the last decade-and-a-half. As we celebrate its long and successful tenure, we also welcome seven new companies to the family of Official NASCAR Partners." UPS PR Dir Susan Rosenberg added in a statement, "UPS has enjoyed tremendous success through its partnership with NASCAR, including sponsorships at the league, team and track level. The business-to-business opportunities provided within NASCAR have proven valuable to UPS and have helped achieve desired results and accomplished the goals we set forth. The UPS decision to exit NASCAR is strictly a business decision to align with new business priorities."(Sports Business Daily)(12-24-2013)

TBK Light's 2013 ARCA pick 'ems champion!

For the second year in a row, OldAsphalt takes the ARCA pick 'ems crown!

That's awesome news. The draft will be stronger, and the cars will be a little more stable. Normally I like the cars to be on edge, but they were just a little too on edge at Daytona with the low downforce package so nobody wanted to take risks.

Carl Long forming own Nationwide team: According to a post on his website, Carl Long will operate a Nationwide team in 2014:
"I am putting my own team back on the track in 2014. I This effort will be a combination of people. First is Gregg Mixon and partner, they have purchased two Penske Dodges so far. I have different people who have helped me attain 3 more Penske Dodges. JC Blum owns one car at moment, and plans are being made for him. John Carter, owner of the #37 and #08 cup cars I drove a few years ago, has contributed with parts to help me with Daytona. Chuck Friedel owner of #54 nationwide car I raced at Dover some years ago has made the purchase of Penske Dodges possible. Chuck and his wife Joan have been supporting my racing effort for the last few years. Although limited, we now will be able to put all stuff together. I have a purchase pending of a Toyota team equipment. I have a few drivers that may work through us to on their own car and race under our banner. Otherwise, myself and Matt Carter will do [start and park] to keep payroll while we look for sponsors and develop the team. We will be using Penske engines and looking at different locations for the shop. If a funded driver is available to race, Matt will do the S&P and I will get out of the seat. Hope to give a formal announcement in weeks ahead."(Carl Long)(12-26-2013)

The late Joe Weatherly was NASCAR’s original “Clown Prince,” a driver who loved to have a great time and went to great lengths to make sure everyone around him enjoyed themselves as well.

Delma Cowart was the most recent driver to wear the “Clown” crown. The Savannah, Ga., native ran his first race in the division now known as Sprint Cup at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1981. He ran 21 races over an eight-year span before an incident during the NASCAR All-Star race in the mid-1990s ended his Cup career.

It was a vintage Delma Cowart affair.

He showed up to run the preliminary race now known as the Sprint Showdown.

His engine blew in practice, and his crew spent the whole afternoon trying to make the repairs.

They finished their work just as prayer was said and the National Anthem sung. The only thing missing: the required NASCAR inspection.

“They said, ‘Gentleman, start your engines,’ so I cranked mine up in the garage area,” said Cowart, 67. “I hopped in it and drove by the tech shed, but it was locked up.”

He figured, “What the heck?” so he pulled onto the track and started racing. He ran about four laps before NASCAR officials black-flagged him off the track.

“They were raising cain with my crew chief, and after the race they called me to the trailer for a little conversation,” Cowart said. “It was kind of a warm conversation. … They said I should have known better.

“I told them I didn’t think they’d mind.”

Told he’d be fined $5,000, he paused and said, “Make it $5,000,000 because I ain’t giving you a dime.”

His days as a NASCAR driver were over for Cowart, who now works as a construction contractor, building swimming pools and installing septic tanks in his hometown.

But he’s far from forgotten on the NASCAR circuit. Most of the good Delma Cowart stories carry a dateline of Daytona Beach.

Cowart made four starts in the circuit’s premier race, the Daytona 500, but he was better known for his Speedweeks parties than his performance on the track.

Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark remembers one year at Daytona, when he spent most of Speed Weeks sick in bed with the flu. Unfortunately for him, his bed was right over the hotel bar, where Cowart was spending most of his nights playing the piano and entertaining the audience. “The whole bed was rocking,” Clark said. “I couldn’t sleep.”

After several years away from the track, Cowart was once again allowed to enter the garage. Mostly he comes to reminisce and to line up some Cup drivers for charity events he ram-rods around Savannah. He said the same man who once banned him, NASCAR president Mike Helton, signed the pass that now gets him in the track.

“I asked Mike if he’d gone brain dead when he signed for me,” Cowart said. “He just grinned and said he must have slipped up.”

He said that age 67 he still enjoys himself, whatever he’s doing.

“You hear people say that if they’d known they were going to live that long they’d have taken better care of themselves,” he said. “The way I look at it, if I’d known I was going to live this long I’d have run a little harder into the corner at some of those short tracks.”