From The Track To The Pits

2003 South Putnam High School Graduate Jonathan Hassler focuses on his job as a racing engineer for NASCAR Nationwide Series Driver Justin Allgaier.

At age 8, Jonathan Hassler knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. He wanted to always pursue his career in racing. He loved racing go karts at a little race track the Putnam/Clay County line.

When Hassler was 13, his whole family stopped racing, but he didn't. He wanted to keep going and hopefully one day make it into a career.

Hassler then took his racing career to the next level. He started racing 600cc modified sprint cars along with his go karts. Then he ended up finding himself in a situation that he had the inability to move up.

When Hassler couldn't afford to race anymore, he didn't give up on his dream of racing. He told himself to stay with it. He did not want to give up hope yet. Then by a stroke of good luck, Hassler ran into someone who changed his life.

Jonathan ended up attending Purdue University to study automotive engineering. That's when he met the person who he said changed his life. Hassler used to race go karts with this guy and then he helped Hassler get to the position that he is in now.

Hassler now works on the number 12 Penske Dodge of driver Justin Allgaier in the Nationwide Series. He is a mechanical engineer for the team.

Now instead of racing lap after lap in a race car, he goes through computer simulations each weekend and tries to get the race car running its best for the race. Hassler's job is basically telling people what to do.

One thing Hassler would tell you it is not that easy to get into NASCAR. It takes a lot of hard work and skill.

Durring Hassler's Junior year at Purdue University, Hassler had to make the decision to make the jump from late model racing to NASCAR. He ended up packing his bags on spring break and flying to Charlotte, N.C.

Hassler and some of his friends went to Charlotte to meet with some race teams and they told them what they wanted to do. Then one of the teams offered Hassler an internship for his last year at Purdue.

After the 18 months had passed, Hassler found out that his friend worked for Penske Racing. He ended up getting his job as a race engineer.

Justin Allgaier and the No. 12 team will be in action this weekend at O'Rielly Raceway Park. The race begins on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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Ryan Newman Visits Dixie Chopper Employees in Fillmore, Ind.

Fillmore, IN - From the race track to the small town of Fillmore, Ryan Newman takes time off to visit some Dixie Chopper employees down in Fillmore, Ind. He came down here not only to visit, but to film a promotional piece or commercial for Dixie Chopper.

Newman had spent the day at Dixie Chopper by having lunch with the workers and a question-and-answer session. Questions varied from "boxers or briefs?" to "who are your best friends in NASCAR?" Ryan preferred boxers, and his very close friends he said were Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick. Newman says he bonds really close to his race team and he likes to go hunting and fishing with his teammate/team owner Tony Stewart.

Newman surprised everyone at Dixie Chopper by eating lunch with them. My dad and his best friend Kevin were in the lunch line behind Ryan Newman, and Newman let them go ahead of him. That's how nice of a guy Newman seemed to them.

Another question that was asked was about when Newman starred in the TV show "American Pickers." One of them asked, "Do you still have the Phillips 66 sign?" Newman replied back "Yes, still do, and in fact we just hung it up and it was so big and heavy."

Newman said that "the Indy 500 is cool but the Brickyard 400 is way cooler."

The native South Bend transplanted to North Carolina was very glad to be back in his home state of Indiana.

Since the session was repetitively short, Newman explained what it was like to go 200 miles per hour and how it is being a NASCAR driver. He said that on the race track all of the drivers tolerate each other. It's just a whole different game.

The real reason why Newman was in town was because he wanted to tell Dixie Chopper how tough their lawnmowers were and that he had already put them to the test by hitting rocks where he lives at.

After visiting and filming, Newman was shipped to the Dixie Chopper Center for a two-hour autograph session for his fans, before jetting back to North Carolina.

Newman will be in action in the Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series at Daytona this weekend.

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Johnson Wins, Rough Day For JGR

Jimmie Johnson has officially grabbed his first road course victory at Infineon Raceway, after a late-race mistake by Marcos Ambrose. Ambrose did not maintain his pace during the very last caution so NASCAR ordered him back to seventh position for the restart. Then Jimmie Johnson sailed his way to victory.

Joe Gibbs Racing has been so far a very dominant team thus far in the 2010 NASCAR season, with Denny Hamlin pulling off back-to back-wins. Trouble started early for this team when Kyle Busch spun earlier in the race, leaving some damage to his car.


Denny Hamlin also had some trouble early on by getting shuffled back in the pack and getting his car beaten and banged up. It all started for him when he made contact with some cars, sustaining damage. Then the hood of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota flew up in the middle of the race, blocking Hamlin's view of the racetrack. Hamlin was also involved in a big pileup at the start/finish line causing a red flag. The drivers involved were Hamlin, Max Papis, Sam Hornish Jr. and Martin Truex Jr.

The day also grew worse when Joey Logano spun, bringing out the caution later in the race.

JGR finished the race with Denny Hamlin in 33rd, Joey Logano in 34th and Kyle Busch in 29th.

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Denny Hamlin Wins At Darlington

Denny Hamlin became the first driver in 17 years to sweep at Darlington Raceway. He began by winning the NASCAR Nationwide race Friday night, and by winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race Saturday night after some mistakes made by Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon at the end of the race.

Hamlin lead 104 of the 367 laps Saturday night, but he knew that he had to stay around Jeff Gordon all night.

David Reutimann's spin brought out the last caution of the night, causing Gordon to make a pit stop on pit road and trying to not go a lap down. Jeff Burton also had to make a stop on pit road. That allowed Hamlin to take the lead in the final laps of the race. Burton had to make another stop in the pits and serve a penalty by running over an air hose. He then lost a lot of track position.

Then Hamlin got a very good restart against teammate Kyle Busch for the final laps of the race. This restart allowed Hamlin to sail to his third victory of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Jamie McMurray got a great finish of 2nd place. This win ties Hamlin with Jimmie Johnson for most races won this season.

Results: Showtime Southern 500

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Jamie McMurray

3. Kurt Busch

4. Jeff Gordon

5. Juan Pablo Montoya

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Kyle Busch

8. Jeff Burton

9. Ryan Newman

10. Brian Vickers

11. David Reutimann

12. Brad Keselowski

13. Matt Kenseth

14. David Ragan

15. Carl Edwards

16. Mark Martin

17. Regan Smith

18. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

19. Martin Truex Jr.

20. Kasey Kahne

21. Elliott Sadler

22. Greg Biffle

23. Tony Stewart

24. David Stremme

25. Marcos Ambrose

26. Travis Kvapil

27. Joey Logano

28. Scott Speed

29. Max Papis

30. Paul Menard

31. Sam Hornish Jr.

32. Clint Bowyer

33. Kevin Conway

34. Bobby Labonte

35. David Gilliland

36. Jimmie Johnson

37. A.J. Allmendinger

38. Robby Gordon

39. Todd Bodine

40. Michael McDowell

41. J.J. Yeley

42. Dave Blaney

43. Reed Sorenson

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Exciting Nationwide Race at Darlington

They call Darlington Raceway "The Lady in Black." It is a very difficult racetrack that many drivers say is too tough to tame.

Last night's Nationwide race at Darlington was exciting from start to finish. It lead with a lot of cautions and interesting racing. The pole sitter for last night's race at Darlington was Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin lead a total of 111 laps and his teammate Kyle Busch lead 17.

Hamlin lead the final 63 laps of the race. He was also battling Busch for the race win. Busch had a strong car all night but couldn't pass Hamlin for the race win. On the final lap Hamlin took the checkers and won the race.

Hamlin and Busch were racing Friday night for charities: Hamlin for Operation Helmet and Busch for Racing 4 Kids. They ended up donating money to both charities. Hamlin posted his third victory at Darlington in his first five starts and all three came from the pole.

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