Aric Almirola

Aric A. Almirola (born March 14, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently drives the No. 43 Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and he also drives the No. 98 Ford Mustang for Biagi-DenBeste Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on a part-time basis. Almirola attended the University of Central Florida to work on a degree in mechanical engineering before leaving to pursue a career in racing. He is nicknamed "The Cuban Missile" due to his Cuban heritage.

Racing career

Early career

Almirola was born on Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, of Cuban descent. He began racing when he was eight years old, racing go-karts. At 14, he began racing nationally. He won the pole position in his debut in the World Karting Association race and finished fourth in the standings that year. Two years later, he moved up into modifieds and won several Rookie of the Year awards.

NASCAR

In 2002, Almirola moved to the NASCAR Sun Belt Weekly Racing Division and finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings. He followed that up with five pole positions in 2003. In 2004, he became one of the first drivers to participate in NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. He also signed with Joe Gibbs Racing as a development driver under a partnership with former NFL player Reggie White. Almirola ran the season at Ace Speedway, and won two races before finishing 11th in the points standings. He won five more races at the track in 2005, and made his Truck Series debut with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports and had two top-tens in four races.

Danica Patrick

Danica Sue Patrick (first name pronounced /ˈdænɪkə/, born March 25, 1982) is an American auto racing driver, model, and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing—her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only women's victory in an IndyCar Series race and her third place in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 the highest finish there ever by a woman. She competed in the series from 2005 to 2011. In 2012, she competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and occasionally in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Since the 2013 season, Patrick has driven the No. 10 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. In 2013, she became the first female NASCAR driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole, turning in the fastest qualifying lap since 1990—qualifying for the Daytona 500. Her eighth place in the 2013 Daytona 500 is the highest finish for a woman in the Daytona 500.

Patrick started in kart racing and later raced in Formula Ford in the United Kingdom before returning to the United States and moving up to IndyCars. She was named the Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season. She holds the IRL record for most consecutive races running at the finish: as of October 2, 2011, she had completed 50 consecutive in the running (besting the record by 18). During her time in IndyCar, Patrick drove for Rahal Letterman Racing from 2005 to 2006, and Andretti Autosport from 2007 to 2011.

Fox Sports (United States)

Fox Sports is the programming division of the Fox Broadcasting Company, owned by 21st Century Fox, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated regional and national sports cable channels. The flagship entity of 21st Century Fox's Fox Sports Media Group division, it was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League (NFL) games. In subsequent years, it has televised the National Hockey League (1994–1999), Major League Baseball (1996–present), NASCAR (2001–present), Bowl Championship Series (2007–2010), the USGA Championships (2015–present), and the FIFA World Cup (starting in 2018).

History

When the Fox Broadcasting Company launched in October 1986, the network's management, having seen how sports programming (in particular, soccer events) played a critical role in the growth of the British satellite service BSkyB, determined that sports would be the type of programming that would ascend Fox to a major network status the quickest; as a result, Fox tried to attract a professional football package to the network. In 1987, after ABC initially hedged on renewing its contract with the National Football League (NFL) for the television rights to Monday Night Football, Fox made an offer for the package at the same price that ABC had been paying at the time – about $13 million per game. However, partly due to the fact that Fox had yet to establish itself as a major network, the NFL decided to resume negotiations with ABC, with the two parties eventually agreeing to a new contract, keeping what was the crown jewel of the league's television broadcasts on that network (where it remained until 2006, when MNF moved to sister network ESPN as part of a contract that also saw NBC gain the Sunday Night Football package).

Joey Logano

Joseph Thomas "Joey" Logano (born May 24, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently drives the No. 22 Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Team Penske. He also drives the No. 22 Ford Mustang in the Xfinity Series for Team Penske on a part-time basis. He previously drove the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing from 2008 to 2012, collecting two wins and 41 Top 10 finishes. In 2015, he became the second-youngest Daytona 500 Champion.

Logano's first major NASCAR win came during the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway in just his third start in the 2008 Nationwide Series. Logano became the youngest driver to win a Nationwide Series race at 7008569851200000000♠18 years, 21 days old. The previous youngest was Casey Atwood in 1999 at 7008595080000000000♠18 years, 313 days. Logano became the youngest winner in Sprint Cup Series history when he won the 2009 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at 7008602618400000000♠19 years, 35 days. The previous youngest was Kyle Busch in 2005 at 7008641952000000000♠20 years, 125 days. Logano is now the youngest winner in two of NASCAR's three top divisions. Logano was also the first NASCAR driver born in the 1990s that has competed in NASCAR's three major divisions. On September 25, 2014 it was announced that Logano had signed a multi-year contract extension with Team Penske that extends his tenure with the team through the 2018 season.

Kansas Speedway

Kansas Speedway is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) tri-oval race track in Kansas City, Kansas. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The Verizon IndyCar Series also raced at here until 2011. The speedway is owned and operated by the International Speedway Corporation.

History

International Speedway Corporation began exploring the idea of building a racing facility in the midwest in 1996. Attention was turned towards the Kansas City area in 1997. Officials considered both the Missouri and Kansas side of the city but eventually settled with the Kansas side because of better funding. Architecture firm HNTB, which also designed Chicagoland Speedway, was selected to design the facility, and firm Turner Construction was selected to provide construction management. Construction began on the 1,200 acres (490 ha), 1.5 miles (2.4 km) speedway in May 1999, and in July, preferred tickets went on sale. The demand at the ticket sales prompted ISC officials to expand the planned 32 by an additional 36, expanding capacity from 75,000 to 82,000. Speedway officials were hopeful to have the track completed sometime in 2000, and possibly host a race, but construction was delayed by weather and further complicated by lawsuits from nearby land owners. In May 2000, both IndyCar and NASCAR announced events to be held at the speedway for the 2001 season. Track paving began in September 2000, and construction of the speedway was completed in early 2001.