Canadian driver Peter Shepherd didn't win Roush Racing's made-for-TV Driver X competition last year, but he still came out of it a winner.
The 19-year-old Shepherd was one of 25 finalists in the 2005 competition and impressed Jack Roush enough that the team owner signed him to a driver development contract and helped place the youngster on a U.S. Auto Club Silver Crown team owned by Carl Edwards and R.E. Technologies Racing.
Now comes the next step, with Shepherd set to drive Roush Racing's No. 50 Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race this weekend at Memphis Motorsports Park.
"When I saw Peter's performance at Martinsville, it reminded me so much of a young Mark Martin, someone who has the ability to learn and adapt very quickly," Roush said. "He is the most talented 19-year-old I've ever seen."
Shepherd is following in the footsteps of Nextel Cup stars Kurt Busch and Edwards and Busch Series regular Todd Kluever, all of whom were winners in the annual Roush competition, also dubbed the "Gong Show."
"I got to test at Richmond last week with Erik Darnell and Michel Jourdain Jr., I learned a lot there that will really help me this weekend," Shepherd said. "I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to drive for Jack Roush and everyone at Roush Racing, and I'll look forward to making the most of it.
"We've got to make the race on time, so that puts some pressure on us, but I've got a great crew behind me and I really feel good about our chances."
Sold out
The Chevy Rock & Roll 400 on Sept. 9 is the final race before the start of NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.
It also has another distinction: The race is a sellout, marking the 30th consecutive time that Richmond International Raceway, which holds 107,097, has run out of tickets for a Cup event.
The sellout steak began in March 1992 at the Virginia track that hosts two Cup races each season. Track officials said that nearly 2.5 million fans from all 50 states and many foreign countries have attended the races during that period.
As in the first two years of the Chase, the Richmond race will be the final chance for drivers to qualify for the 10-race playoff by finishing in the top 10 in the standings or within 400 points of the leader.
Penske power
Marlboro Team Penske arrives at Nashville Speedway for Saturday night's Firestone Indy 200 in the midst of its best season since joining the Indy Racing League full-time in 2002.
Teammates Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves have combined to win six of eight races, including the last three. That win total is more than the elite Penske team has won in any of its previous IRL seasons.
Hornish, a two-time IRL champion with Panther Racing, is coming off two straight wins and leads Castroneves by 20 points in the season standings. Roger Penske's open-wheel team has yet to win an IRL title after winning nine championships in the rival Champ Car series.
"Nashville is one of the most challenging tracks we run at because the concrete surface makes it difficult to set up the car," Indianapolis 500 champion Hornish said. "The track is different than any other we race on because of the surface.
"We finished second there the last two years so, hopefully, if we work hard and get a good setup on the car, we should be able to get out of there with a third straight win and be able to hold on to our points lead."
Castroneves echoed his teammate.
"While it might seem like Nashville is just another oval for us, it really poses a lot of challenges," Castroneves noted. "This is the only concrete surface we race on all year. It's the same for everyone out there, so the different track surface means more work for the engineers.
"We've had some good runs mixed with a little bad luck so, hopefully, we'll be able to work things out and return to victory lane," added Castroneves, who also has won three times this year.
