NASCAR ROUNDUP | News and notes

Busy man: Talk about a joyride. Memo Gidley spent last Saturday jumping from race car to race car, 300 miles apart, getting the job done in both places. Gidley, who replaced rookie Nelson Philippe in a Rocketsports Racing Champ Car earlier this month in Toronto, had a previous commitment last weekend to drive a Ford Focus touring car as part of the SPEED World Challenge in Portland, Ore. He also was committed to race the Rocketsports car the same weekend in the Vancouver Molson Indy. With the help of a police escort from the Vancouver track to the airport, a small jet and a helicopter to get him to the Portland track -- the latter two supplied by the Air Force Reserve, which sponsored both cars -- Gidley was able to qualify fifth for the Champ Car race and still race that evening at Portland International Raceway. He was strapped into his touring car with 30 seconds to spare, starting at the rear of the field for the 4:15 p.m. race because he was unable to qualify the car the previous day. From 34th on the grid, Gidley worked his way up to an 11th-place finish, earning the award for passing the most cars in the first lap (six) and another award for making the most passes in the race (23). "I love to race, to be out there and compete," Gidley said. "To drive two cars in two series in the same day was awesome. It was very important for me to drive the Champ Car and fulfill my touring car commitment. This was a great challenge, and one of the best days of my life."Second time around: Scott Riggs has eagerly awaited the second half of his rookie season to arrive. The NASCAR Nextel Cup rookie subscribes to the theory that racing at a track for the second time can make a big difference in performance. And Riggs hopes he's right because the former Busch Series star has not had a very good first half. Following a 28th-place finish last Sunday in the first race of the season at New Hampshire, Riggs is 30th in the points -- last among five full-time rookies. His only top 10 finish was in June at Dover. "I've been waiting for the second half of the year to begin for a while," Riggs said as his MB2 Motorsports team prepared his No. 10 Chevrolet for Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono International Raceway, the 20th of 36 races this season. We really struggled the first half of the season but we feel like we'll be able to use what we've learned at a lot of these tracks and apply it to our second visits to get some solid finishes." Riggs pointed out the difference in his performances in the season-opener at Daytona and the return visit to the Florida track earlier this month. He qualified 36th and finished 34th in the Daytona 500, but improved to seventh and 21st in the Pepsi 400. In June, in his first Cup race at Pocono, Riggs started 40th and finished 16th. "We found ourselves two laps down but were able to get the car dialed in and back on the lead lap," he said. "We came away from that weekend with a lot of knowledge that can help us out this Sunday." Riggs also got some valuable seat time that weekend in the ARCA stock car race, which he won. "We spent a lot of time at the beginning of the season having to look for the right combinations instead of just fine-tuning the car," Riggs said.Better deal: Darlington Raceway is reducing some ticket prices for its only 2005 Nextel Cup race. The Carolina Dodge Dealers 500 is scheduled for May 7, the Saturday night before Mother's Day. The track announced this week that seats in the Tyler and Pearson Towers, which usually go for $110 each, will cost $95. Seats in Brasington Grandstand in turn two will be cut to $70 from $80. Prices for Wallace Grandstand ($85) and Colvin Grandstand (either $70 or $45) will remain the same. The falling prices come as NASCAR's oldest superspeedway undergoes many changes. Its fall race, the Southern 500, was moved from Labor Day weekend to November -- under the track's new lights -- for this year, and removed from the track for 2005. Darlington's spring race was shifted from late March to Mother's Day weekend, traditionally an off week for Nextel Cup. That event also will be run at night.
Busy man: Talk about a joyride. Memo Gidley spent last Saturday jumping from race car to race car, 300 miles apart, getting the job done in both places. Gidley, who replaced rookie Nelson Philippe in a Rocketsports Racing Champ Car earlier this month in Toronto, had a previous commitment last weekend to drive a Ford Focus touring car as part of the SPEED World Challenge in Portland, Ore. He also was committed to race the Rocketsports car the same weekend in the Vancouver Molson Indy. With the help of a police escort from the Vancouver track to the airport, a small jet and a helicopter to get him to the Portland track -- the latter two supplied by the Air Force Reserve, which sponsored both cars -- Gidley was able to qualify fifth for the Champ Car race and still race that evening at Portland International Raceway. He was strapped into his touring car with 30 seconds to spare, starting at the rear of the field for the 4:15 p.m. race because he was unable to qualify the car the previous day. From 34th on the grid, Gidley worked his way up to an 11th-place finish, earning the award for passing the most cars in the first lap (six) and another award for making the most passes in the race (23). "I love to race, to be out there and compete," Gidley said. "To drive two cars in two series in the same day was awesome. It was very important for me to drive the Champ Car and fulfill my touring car commitment. This was a great challenge, and one of the best days of my life."Second time around: Scott Riggs has eagerly awaited the second half of his rookie season to arrive. The NASCAR Nextel Cup rookie subscribes to the theory that racing at a track for the second time can make a big difference in performance. And Riggs hopes he's right because the former Busch Series star has not had a very good first half. Following a 28th-place finish last Sunday in the first race of the season at New Hampshire, Riggs is 30th in the points -- last among five full-time rookies. His only top 10 finish was in June at Dover. "I've been waiting for the second half of the year to begin for a while," Riggs said as his MB2 Motorsports team prepared his No. 10 Chevrolet for Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono International Raceway, the 20th of 36 races this season. We really struggled the first half of the season but we feel like we'll be able to use what we've learned at a lot of these tracks and apply it to our second visits to get some solid finishes." Riggs pointed out the difference in his performances in the season-opener at Daytona and the return visit to the Florida track earlier this month. He qualified 36th and finished 34th in the Daytona 500, but improved to seventh and 21st in the Pepsi 400. In June, in his first Cup race at Pocono, Riggs started 40th and finished 16th. "We found ourselves two laps down but were able to get the car dialed in and back on the lead lap," he said. "We came away from that weekend with a lot of knowledge that can help us out this Sunday." Riggs also got some valuable seat time that weekend in the ARCA stock car race, which he won. "We spent a lot of time at the beginning of the season having to look for the right combinations instead of just fine-tuning the car," Riggs said.Better deal: Darlington Raceway is reducing some ticket prices for its only 2005 Nextel Cup race. The Carolina Dodge Dealers 500 is scheduled for May 7, the Saturday night before Mother's Day. The track announced this week that seats in the Tyler and Pearson Towers, which usually go for $110 each, will cost $95. Seats in Brasington Grandstand in turn two will be cut to $70 from $80. Prices for Wallace Grandstand ($85) and Colvin Grandstand (either $70 or $45) will remain the same. The falling prices come as NASCAR's oldest superspeedway undergoes many changes. Its fall race, the Southern 500, was moved from Labor Day weekend to November -- under the track's new lights -- for this year, and removed from the track for 2005. Darlington's spring race was shifted from late March to Mother's Day weekend, traditionally an off week for Nextel Cup. That event also will be run at night.