NASCAR NOTEBOOK

Bayne likely to drive No. 21 in Daytona 500

Wood Brothers Racing will compete in 17 races in 2011—four more than it did in 2010—and hopes to start the year with Trevor Bayne behind the wheel.
Bayne tested for the team at Daytona International Speedway in December and will test for the team again next week at DIS, making him the likely driver for the season-opening Daytona 500.
Team co-owner Eddie Wood said Tuesday that he has no driver deals signed for 2011 and only confirmed Bayne for the test at Daytona, but it appears the team is working on several more races for the 19-year-old, and he possibly will be its primary driver for the season.
Last year, former Cup champion Bill Elliott competed in 12 races; Bayne made his debut with the team at Texas and finished 17th.
The organization is working on running the first five races in 2011, but even if it didn't run each of those five, its 2011 schedule will include 17 races.
HALL OF FAME BUDGET CUT
The NASCAR Hall of Fame had its budget cut by nearly $4.8 million on Wednesday as the board that oversees its performance opted to base its budget on a worst-case scenario of 250,000 visitors from July 2010 to June 2011.
In the last month, executives from the Hall had presented budgets to the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority proposing cuts of $4 million based on 350,000 visitors to the one adopted, which includes $4,784,041 in cuts based on attendance of 250,000. For the first five months of the July-June fiscal year, the Hall of Fame has had 119,576 attendees and is running a deficit of $509,703, $342,871 from royalties due to NASCAR that NASCAR agreed to defer until the Hall turns a profit.
For the full year, the new budget projects a deficit of $1,288,383, which will be covered by the reserves of the CRVA, the city board that operates the Hall with a license from NASCAR. Originally, the Hall was projected to make $792,839—making the new bottom line more than $2 million less than the original budget.
'PERFORMANCE' ISSUE
Automotive companies obviously will pay a lot of money to put the NASCAR logo on their products.
How much?
In the case of Advanced Fluids Solutions, which wanted to market its new EXP4 fuel and oil performance additive through the "NASCAR Performance" program, it had agreed to pay $6.295 million over seven years, according to the contract that is now part of a lawsuit between Advanced Fluids and NASCAR. The lawsuit originally was filed last month in Volusia County ( Fla. ) Circuit Court, and NASCAR had the case moved Friday to United States District Court in Orlando .
The program was scheduled to start in 2010 but never began because Advanced Fluids, according to its lawsuit complaint, had not paid its original $500,000 payment due at the execution of the contract in October 2009, and NASCAR terminated the deal in December 2009.
Advanced Fluids alleges in its complaint that NASCAR illegally terminated the agreement because NASCAR did not give proper written notice that Advanced Fluids was in default and continued to talk to the company during the time it was trying to get the funding finalized. The company is asking for its sponsorship with NASCAR to be reinstated.
NASCAR denies the claims and has filed a motion to dismiss the case.
"AFS (Advanced Fluids Solutions) never performed … any terms of the contract," NASCAR states in its response to the lawsuit.
GREASING THE SKIDS
Fuel treatment and oil lubricant company Lucas Oil Products has acquired the naming rights to what was O'Reilly Raceway Park, according to a news release on the track's website.
The track's name will now be Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis .
The .686-mile short track plays host to a Nationwide Series race and a Camping World Truck Series race the same weekend as the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Lucas Oil provides primary sponsorship to several drag racers and is a primary sponsor of the NHRA drag racing event in Brainerd , Minn.
Based in Indianapolis , the company also holds the naming rights for the NFL football stadium in the city.
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(January 12, 2011)