Keep an eye on Neo Sports for Narain Karthikeyan
....And last weekend Karthikeyan's participation opened the door for Neo Sports, a national Indian network, to broadcast the Martinsville race live -- albeit in the middle of the night. But according to Yohann Setna, who after the race said he'd worked with Karthikeyan's Narain Racing group for years, said "we can't help that the earth is round, and it's a different time in India.
"But the race was going to be re-broadcast in prime-time on Sunday [March 28], so that was a really big deal."
If Karthikeyan's plan to compete in more Truck Series events, plus some Nationwide races, comes through "we look forward to working with broadcasters in India for coverage of these events," Villegas said.
"The opportunity to compete in a NASCAR series is a dream come true for me," Karthikeyan said before Martinsville. "I have raced all over the world, but this is a different kind of challenge for me and I look forward to learning everything I can about racing in this environment. NASCAR is known for its passionate fans. I am excited to be introducing India to this sport and hope to help develop an equally passionate fan base there."
Autostock Kendrick and Karthikeyan
... "to get a 13th on the leap lap at Martinsville to have never been in a stock car is almost unbelievable.
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Karthikeyan's only other "stock car" experience included a limited number of laps at an ARCA Series test this past December at Daytona, and a one-day test at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., the week before Martinsville. But even in his opening laps at Motor Mile, Compton and crew chief Chad Kendrick were impressed.
If Karthikeyan's first result is any indication, there's a future in it.
"I think it was completely different than what I'm used to -- a lot of wheel-banging and stuff," Karthikeyan said. "Once I started running, it was good, but the team, Starbeast and everyone did a good job and Stacy was a great spotter for me -- I'm learning a lot from him. I'm very happy to finish the race and I'm lucky 13, I think [laughing].".....
...."Narain said he was going to do 'exactly what Stacy tells me, no matter what,' and that's something that, in single-seater racing, he's not used to someone being in his ear all the time, and he's always been the kind of driver who doesn't like a lot of chit-chat on the radio," Setna said, laughing. "There have been times when he's been quite vociferous with his engineer for talking too much on the radio, so it was a lot for him to accept the differences in this atmosphere."
http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/truck/04/02/scompton.nkarthike...
