Patrick gets new partner in Michael Andretti

Danica Patrick has a new partner on her race team, Michael Andretti.

As in Michael Andretti, strategist.

Patrick's team, which is co-owned by Andretti, announced the move Monday. The decision allows Kyle Moyer, who made the calls for Patrick's No. 7 car last season, to fill the same role for Andretti's son, Marco.

The 26-year-old driver has emerged as one of the biggest draws on the Indy Racing League circuit, especially after her historic win in Japan last April.

But after reaching Victory Lane, Patrick's season unraveled.

She was knocked out of the Indianapolis 500 in a pit road crash with Ryan Briscoe, then stomped through the pits to confront Briscoe before she was led over the wall by track officials.

She also was involved in a confrontation with driver Milka Duno at Mid-Ohio and crashed in Edmonton when Marco Andretti locked up his brakes. After Japan, Patrick didn't finish better than fifth.

So she's hoping the change to Andretti will produce more consistent results in 2009.

It also means two of the series biggest names will be working together on race day.

Andretti, son of former Indy winner Mario Andretti, was a longtime favorite in IndyCars. He won 42 races during his driving career and led more laps at Indianapolis than any other non-winner.

The Illinois native made headlines in 2005 when she became the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500, finished fourth in the race and was the series' rookie of the year.

She left Bobby Rahal's team after the 2006 season, opting instead to run with Andretti.

And now she can use Andretti's experience and knowledge to her advantage, too, even though it will be a new endeavor for the former driver.

Andretti Green Racing has been one of the series' best teams, winning three points titles and two Indianapolis 500s in the past six seasons.

TRG Motorsports to debut at Daytona 500

TRG Motorsports announced today their entry in the 51st running of the Daytona 500. The team is taking its experience garnered at the top levels of professional sports car racing and in the Camping World Truck Series, where they posted their first win in 2008, to NASCAR's biggest stage. The team will have veteran driver Mike Wallace pilot the No. 71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet on Sunday, February 15 at the World Center of Speed.

"This is a huge opportunity for TRG Motorsports,With the group of partners we have and very competitive team and package we decided to put a program together and race at the 500. We have been on a very steep growth curve with our entries in the Truck Series and ARCA. With the economic situation, it is always nice to be able to look for opportunity wherever possible and that what we have done. This will be defining moment in our team's history. The plan we crafted two years ago is in place, objectives are being met and we are trying to reach our goals." said the team principal,Kevin Buckler

With more than 55 entries expected to compete for 43 starting positions in the 200-lap Daytona 500, the biggest goal for TRG Motorsports is to make it in the show. TRG has enlisted one of the most competent super speedway drivers in the world to pilot their entry in "The Great American Race". Mike Wallace, who has often been regarded as a restrictor plate specialist, will drive for TRG in their debut in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Wallace has three wins at Daytona and hopes to secure his first Spring Cup win in the legendary Daytona 500. Wallace has won in the ARCA RE/MAX Series at Daytona and he took the inaugural Truck Series race win in 2000 after he qualified on the outside pole and led 59 laps. Wallace followed that up with a win in the Nationwide Series in July of 2004 after leading only one lap, the final one.

The next 30 days will be a busy for TRG. The company has five cars entered in this weekend's Grand-Am Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona and the finishing touches are going on the company's two Camping World Truck Series entries as well as their two ARCA cars for next month.

Ferrari F60 is "illegal"

Ferrari’s newly launched 2009 single seater, the F60, has been declared “illegal” by a specialist German motoring publication.

The F1 car had been revealed last week at the Mugello circuit in Italy, features rear exhaust outlets that contravene the sweeping new technical regulations.

The magazine said some of the Italian team’s rivals have noted that because of the new rules cracking down on bodywork appendages like aerodynamic winglets, exposing the exhausts in the way the F60 is designed is not allowed.

A glance at the other new cars revealed so far ,Renault, Williams, McLaren and Toyota -shows that their exhausts have all been mounted in-board.

It should not be too much of a problem for Ferrari to redesign the exhaust housing, but it may help to explain the team’s retreat from the Portimao group test this week to Mugello.

Officially, Ferrari decamped to Mugello because of adverse weather forecasts for this week, but the F60 also showed a significant problem with its front wing when tested last week.

It is suggested that, in light of these challenges, Ferrari concluded that it should be conducting the car’s first major test as close as possible to its Maranello base.