Backstretch Motorsports

In the GT class of the Grand-Am Rolex Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, one team has been consistently up front finishing on the podium five times in the last six races. And in the three races since the Rum Bum 250 race at Laguna Seca, the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports BryanMark Financial Pontiac GXP.R has collected 94 team and driver championship points, 9 more than any other team during the same period.

Drivers Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell are currently third in the driver’s championship standings, just a single point out of second place and 32 points behind the leaders. The Stevenson Team holds the same position, and same point’s variance, in the Team Championship standings.

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First it was Danica Patrick and Japan, Now there’s Ashley Force , and there’s Antron Brown following JR Todd from last season.

Diversity is alive and well in racing. At least in the IRL and NHRA.

Scott Speed not only took the Red Bull team to an ARCA win at the Kansas Lottery 150, he scored another top ten finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event there.

Speed is acclerating the learning curve with style. Watch for seat vacancy to both appear and be filled with Speed before Cup seasons’ end over at Red Bull NASCAR. I don’t think there will be a third car.

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ALTON, Va. - Catching Scott Pruett is one thing. Passing him is another.

Pruett and Memo Rojas culminated an eventful weekend by leading the final 20 laps today in their #01 Telmex Lexus on the way to winning the Grand-American Rolex Sports Car Series’ Bosch Engineering 250 at the Virginia International Raceway.

The weekend started off on a high note with Rojas apparently winning his second consecutive pole, only for the car to fail technical inspection and be forced to start from the rear of the field. With a thought toward saving fuel and making up track position, the car started from the pit lane and then made an early pit-stop to top off their fuel tank. The move proved to be the correct one as a full-course yellow came out shortly after and put Rojas into the top-five.

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With a pair of victories and a second-place finish in the season’s first three races, the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus set the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 set qualifying pace at Virginia Interantional Raceway and took pole for the Bosch 250 event.

Memo Rojas won his second career and second consecutive Daytona Prototype pole. The Mexican driver ran a lap of 1:43.329 on the 3.27-mile, 17-turn circuit

Running his fourth race in the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley fielded by SunTrust Racing, Michael Valiante qualified second at 1:43.329 after leading much of the 15-minute session.

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Stevenson Returns To Two Car Effort For VIR

The #57 Stevenson Motorsports / BryanMark Financial Pontiac GXP-R took the win at the most recent round - the Mexico City 250 - of the Grand American Road Racing Rolex Series sponsored by Royal Crown Cask 16. This weekend, the whole team will look to carry that momentum forward as they go for another win at their home track, Virginia International Raceway.

And this weekend will be a homecoming of sorts for some old friends as well.

In the 2007 season, the team campaigned a Crawford-built Chevrolet Corvette. They switched to the potent Pontiac GXP-R for 2008 and the performance of that car has been all they hoped it would be. But old friends are good to have and the Corvette is being rolled out for one more track-attack in pursuit of a podium placing.

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Mexico City — There was plenty of bumping and banging up front in Saturday’s Mexico City 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.Riley Matthews Motorsports teammates Jim Matthews and Marc Goossens bided their time before making their move, leading the final 28 laps to score their second career victory in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16

Pole winner Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett were seeking their third consecutive triumph in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, with both drivers involved in controversial bumping incidents.

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Rojas takes pole by .029 seconds, German Pierre Kaffer takes Rolex GT pole

MEXICO CITY (April 18, 2008) - Memo Rojas will start on the pole for his home race Saturday (SPEED, Live, 4 p.m. ET), the Mexico City 250 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 after setting a track record in his No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley.

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Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team looks for season’s first victory in Mexico City

TAVARES, Fla. - Heading into round three of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, the Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team has shown signs that it is destined to win some races this season.

Could this weekend’s Mexico City 250 be the start of several race wins to come? Drivers Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand are anxious to find out what fortunes await them south of the border when they do battle on the 2.5-mile 14-turn Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course April 17-19.

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MEXICO CITY – For Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor, the historic Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in downtown Mexico City forever will be remembered as the place where they clinched for SunTrust Racing its first Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series championship in 2005.

As the series heads back to the legendary former Formula 1 circuit for Saturday’s Mexico City 250 and the fourth renewal of its annual trek south of the border, the Wayne Taylor Racing driving duo of Angelelli and Michael Valiante would like nothing better than to add to SunTrust’s illustrious list of racing firsts.

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Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas extended their Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 point lead Saturday with their second straight win in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley, the GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The duo, who led every practice session leading up to the race only to qualify third, combined to lead 51 laps overall (Pruett 41 of them) in the 99-lap (two-hour and 45-minute event) and are now two-for-two on the young season. Pruett and Rojas were also part of the quartet that won January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.

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