Auto Racing Capsules: Indy shows Childress team back on top in NASCAR

"We're all stakeholders in this thing, and we all want to know 'What can we do to make this better? How can we save some money and help the show?' " team owner Rick Hendrick told The Associated Press on Wednesday, the day after representatives from about 10 race teams gathered at Hendrick Motorsports to discuss ideas.

The meeting was an offshoot of the "town hall" style sessions NASCAR has been holding with competitors since early last season to give drivers and teams an opportunity to discuss the issues facing America's No. 1 racing series. Unable to shake the slide in both attendance and TV ratings, NASCAR and its participants have been working together to re-energize the sport.

"I really like the new attitude in NASCAR," Hendrick said. "I really like the way we're all just kicking around something, talking it out and coming to agreements on how to move this sport forward."

NASCAR has historically been run by the founding France family as a dictatorship, and although participants could offer opinions, the ruling family made all the decisions. It was somewhat benevolent, though, and the late Bill France Jr. traditionally hosted an annual fishing trip following the July race in Daytona in which drivers and owners could raise questions and concerns away from the race track.

Current NASCAR chairman Brian France has continued the post-Daytona trip, and owners in attendance earlier this month decided to call a meeting for further discussion among a larger group of participants.

NASCAR approved of the idea, and an agenda was set to discuss ideas ranging from restrictions on traveling crew members, tires used in a weekend, the current testing ban and shortening the length of the races.

"NASCAR has become a very different business model," said Walt Czarnecki, president of Penske Racing, who attended the meeting with owner Roger Penske. "And we all need to figure out a way, like all business today, to cut costs without impacting the integrity of the product. How do we become more efficient, better business managers?

"We have to face this from the business context, as all businesses have had to do over the last 18 months, and motorsports is no different."

NASCAR has made several steps over the past few years to alleviate rising costs to team owners, from implementing a single-engine rule, eliminating testing at sanctioned tracks and starting a tire leasing program. Even the current model car was designed by NASCAR as a cost-cutting measure.

The sanctioning body is open to listening to more ideas from the owners, and was hopeful Tuesday night's meeting produced some unified thoughts.

"Cost containment is a key issue in our sport (and) we are always open to additional ideas," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said. "Hopefully, the owners will find common ground on some ideas to present to NASCAR for consideration."

Hendrick said the conversation Tuesday night remained cordial, and the hot-button topics didn't receive the same attention as issues that the group could unanimously agree upon.

"If we didn't really agree on something, there were things some people had reservations on, we moved on," he said. "If it was something that was a no-brainer, we said OK, that's a fine idea, we all like that one."

The next step will be presenting the results of the meeting to NASCAR and seeing if the sanctioning body is in agreement on any of the ideas. That it's even going that far pleased Earnhardt Ganassi Racing co-owner Felix Sabates, who praised NASCAR's "open-minded approach to the needs of the fans, owners and drivers.

"It is very refreshing to see the approach NASCAR has embraced," Sabates said.

-- Jenna Fryer

Roush still hospitalized, stable after plane crash

Hendrick Motorsports hired Jeff Dickerson on Wednesday, moving quickly to grab the spotter after he unexpectedly parted ways last week with Kyle Busch. Dickerson had been with Busch since his early days at HMS, and the driver often credited Dickerson for guiding him on the track to several victories.

Crew chief Steve Letarte said after listening to tapes of Dickerson, he believed the spotter could be the key to helping Gordon close out races. Gordon is winless since Texas in April, 2009, a span of 49 races.

Gordon has eight runner-up finishes in that span, and five third-place finishes.

"The sport has changed a lot over the last few years, with double-file restarts, the wave-by, the very aggressive finishes and the way races are ending," Letarte said. "The weaker side to the 24 (team) — we had very good cars — but we've been short in winning races. All that stuff, Kyle has been great on and some of it has been his spotter.

"I think Jeff Dickerson suits the style of racing that we see now."

Dickerson replaces Shannon McGlamery, who began spotting for Gordon at the start of the 2007 season. McGlamery will still be a mechanic at Hendrick Motorsports, building the cars for Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson.

"Shannon is a very good spotter, but I think Jeff Dickerson is one of the best," Letarte said. "The spotter is the third musketeer on the radio, and when he became available, I listened to a lot of tapes, I did a lot of research, and although the timing was short, I recognized his style will help us build upon our continued communication improvements."

Dickerson and Busch have not discussed why they split. Dickerson became Busch's business manager and agent following his 2007 firing at Hendrick Motorsports, negotiated Busch's deal with Joe Gibbs Racing, and continued to represent Busch until this past winter.

Since the start of this season, his only duty had been spotting for Busch.

-- Jenna Fryer

Hendrick promotes Carlson to president and COO

Labonte hired to replace Ambrose at JTG in 2011

HARRISBURG, N.C. (AP) — JTG Daugherty Racing has hired Bobby Labonte to replace Marcos Ambrose next season.

Labonte's hiring to drive the No. 47 Toyota was made Wednesday, a day after the team said Ambrose was moving on.

Labonte won NASCAR's top championship in 2000 for Joe Gibbs Racing. His last victory in the Sprint Cup Series was in 2003 for JGR, and he's moved around a good bit since then.

He started this year with TRG Motorsports but terminated the contract in June. He drove a few races for Robby Gordon, made his 600th career start for Phoenix Racing earlier this month at Daytona, and is now temporarily back with TRG.

Gateway not seeking NASCAR events in 2011

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Count two-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart among those who think NASCAR's decision to clamp down on public criticism of the sport is OK.

NASCAR warned teams during the offseason that critical comments would no longer be tolerated, and in an appearance Wednesday with Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim, Stewart said he didn't think the policy was necessarily a bad thing.

Stewart says in the heat of the moment drivers say a lot of things, and it transfers to the media and the people.

At least two star drivers have been fined for comments that were deemed destructive to the industry. Stewart, who once compared NASCAR's officiating to professional wrestling, says he doesn't know who was fined, but says he wasn't.

When the No. 48 of Ricky Byers Racing rolls out onto the track, it won't be sporting the usual array of auto parts or alcoholic beverage stickers. Byers' red-and-black Ford Fusion will decorated for those who have made his dream a reality, the 90 or so people who have given the two-time throat cancer survivor a chance to fight back at the disease that nearly cost him his life.

"It's the greatest feeling of my life," Byers said. "Those are the people who support what I'm doing, believe in what I'm doing and they've given me a chance to go out there and race for cancer."

Byers has been around motorsports long as he can remember. His dad was a lifelong racer and little Ricky spent his early days racing motocross and go-carts before moving on to full-sized cars. The Birmingham, Ala., native went on to race for 20 years, winning five different track championships in Pony, Super Pony, Dwarf and Late Model cars.

But when Byers was 33, his career took a back seat to something much bigger: a race for his life.

Byers had lost his voice and wasn't able to get it back for weeks, but six different doctors told him it just was a sinus infection, that he had nothing to worry about. Then came the real diagnosis: stage one squamous cell carcinoma.

The good news was Byers' throat cancer was in the early stages and treatable. And, after 35 radiation treatments over seven weeks, Byers was told he was cancer-free.

Not long afterward, however, Byers started feeling weak. Doctors told him the cancer was gone and he was making himself sick by worrying. But Byers kept getting worse, eventually so bad he could barely eat or get out of bed.

Eventually, doctors discovered the problem. The cancer was back, this time in stage four.

"I was physically going downhill when they found it again," Byers said. "In a couple of months, I was going to be dead."

Faced with the same disease that had recently killed 49-year-old NASCAR driver Bobby Hamilton Sr., Byers was terrified but not ready to give in.

At first, the doctors said he'd need a laryngectomy, meaning he'd spend the rest of his life with a tube in his throat, speaking through a handheld device. Unwilling to accept the loss of his voice, Byers did some research and found a specialist in Philadelphia who said he could remove the cancer with a less drastic procedure.

Byers lost his left vocal chord, part of the right and had his voice box reconstructed. He was cut from ear to ear, had a tracheostomy tube in his throat for two months, a feeding tube stuck in his side for three. He had to learn how eat, swallow, talk all over again.

A harrowing ordeal, but Byers was alive — and still had a voice.

"I don't talk the best, but I do talk," he said.

Now that voice, gravelly and barely above a whisper, has been spreading the message for cancer patients across the country.

Byers returned to work about six months after surgery and later rode in the Lance Armstrong Tour of Hope in Washington, D.C. Not long after that, Byers' story got attention and people from all over the country started contacting him, looking for help in finding cancer treatments and better doctors, with finances and travel.

Pretty soon, Byers was spending nearly every non-working, non-sleeping hour helping people, often at his own expense.

"I paid it out of my pocket and I couldn't afford to do that anymore," said Byers, who's in the swimming pool business.

That's when he decided to go back to racing. Not for himself. For all the people he's trying to help.

Byers created his own racing team last year with a purpose of donating all of its winnings to cancer research. So, despite the limitations of his voice, Byers hit the pavement, the phone and the Web, spreading the word of his cause, convincing sponsors to join in.

Just as when he was fighting for his life, Byers never gave up.

"One of the things that impressed me the most when I met Ricky for the first time was that I knew he was genuine in what he was going to do," said Charles Robinson, the host of Burning Rubber Radio in southeastern Kentucky who has helped Byers promote his program. "He was going to do it regardless. He was going to use any means to get the word out."

Still, it hasn't been easy.

The 40-year-old Byers had a deal lined up to race the entire season, but the sponsor died of a stroke just days before the opener at Daytona in February and the money fell through. He's spent the five months since working on deals — from donated products to sponsorship money — trying to convince people his cause is worthwhile.

Byers finally pulled enough together, getting just enough money to run at Pocono. So on Saturday, the driver who's helped so many cancer patients will hit the pavement for the first time in seven years, the support of those 90 decals pushing him along to help so many more.

"We're about $6,000 short, but we're going," he said. "If we can get the word out, get a sponsor to come on full-time, we could raise millions of dollars for cancer research."

He's already off to a good start.

-- John Marshall

Formula One

Massa back at Hungarian GP after last year's drama

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Ferrari's Felipe Massa says he is preparing for a "very special weekend" when he returns to the Hungarian Grand Prix and a circuit where he nearly lost his life last year.