Charlotte NC — The final day of the 2013 Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway featured Fords racing through the streets of downtown, Roush-Fenway Racing showing off a driver who will no doubt add a splash of color to an otherwise monochrome sport and the folks from Joe Gibbs Racing doing it Gingham style.
After breakfast with drivers from the Ford camp, those who weren’t with Roush-Fenway the team we would see later and those with Penske who we’d seen the night before, we loaded up the busses one final time for the trip downtown and a return to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Roush-Fenway Racing presented their lineup for 2013. The biggest change on the Sprint Cup side is of course is the addition of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who will take over the No. 17 Ford from recently departed driver Matt Kenseth. Trevor Bayne joins the team on the Nationwide side along with Travis Pastrana. Pastrana will be colorful addition to the sport as evidenced by his entrance. While the other drivers came out wearing matching gray suits, Pastrana sported a very loud checkered suit coat with the familiar Red Bull cap perched atop his head. The entrance brought chuckles from all. Pastrana joked that he didn’t get the memo as he took his seat. Perhaps the best media gift of the tour was revealed shortly after. The meeting was being held in the spacious theater and each seats cupholder held a RFR key chain; two of these had a special dogtag attached. The media members who got those will get to enjoy a full week’s use of a Roush Stage 3 Ford Mustang. No, I didn’t get one, yes I wish I had. MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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