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“Our commitment to NASCAR remains very strong,” Dodge official Mike Accavitti said before Sunday’s race. “The only thing that’s changed is some people have retired, but that happens when you’ve been with a company for a while.”
Speculation about Dodge’s future in the stock car series increased when Dodge Motorsports chief John Fernandez announced Friday he was leaving DaimlerChrysler to take over as managing director of Chip Ganassi’s team based in Concord, N.C.
Accavitti said Dodge has picked a replacement and hopes to make that announcement soon.
“We’ve identified a candidate for John’s job and that’s going through the internal approval process now,” he said.
Bob Wildberger, another top executive, also is retiring, and Accavitti said a search for his replacement has begun.
Accavitti tried to brush aside doubts by saying he wanted to focus on this season’s race for the Cup while also putting plans together for next season’s marketing program.
“You’re never satisfied till you win a championship,” Accavitti said. “But we had our chairman on national TV at Daytona proclaiming Dodge’s commitment to NASCAR, and I haven’t seen Bill Ford or Richard Wagoner doing that.”
Ford and Wagoner are chairmen and CEO of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, respectively.
Buoyed up Benny
Benny Parsons, who revealed last week that he is battling lung cancer, was back in the TV booth Sunday as part of NBC’s broadcast crew.
“I appreciate all the people who have called or written to give me their support,” Parsons said. “But I want everybody to know that I’m fine. I feel good. And I’m not going anywhere.”
The 65-year-old Parsons, the 1973 NASCAR champion, was diagnosed with cancer in his left lung and began treatment Wednesday.
The man affectionately known as “BP” said he has been assured by his doctors that this challenge is “winnable.”
Backed up
Three cars were pushed to the back of the 43-car field for Sunday’s race.
Kurt Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, qualified third Saturday but crashed his primary car during practice. When the team couldn’t repair that car, Busch was forced into a backup car and sent to the rear.
Dale Jarrett and Chad Chaffin started from the rear after both teams made engine changes. But it wasn’t a major change for either of them. Jarrett, who made his 400th consecutive Cup start, qualified 37th, while Chaffin qualified 39th.
Celebrity watch
Among the celebrities attending Sunday’s race were Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr., Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and actor Chris Noth, who played “Mr. Big” in the HBO series “Sex and the City.”
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Noth was the race’s grand marshall.
Pit stops
When Michael Waltrip failed to qualify for Sunday’s race, it marked the first time since November 1975 that a Cup race started without either Michael or Darrell Waltrip in the lineup. ... The race drew a crowd close to 300,000, but plenty of empty seats were visible in turn three, continuing a pattern at Indianapolis. There were empty seats in the same turn during the last two Indianapolis 500s, and there were empty seats along the front straightaway during this year’s U.S. Grand Prix, too. ... The pole-sitter has led the first lap of all 13 NASCAR races at Indy, but only Kevin Harvick (in 2003) has won from the pole.
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