venues south of the border are being negotiated to get the sixth season of Formula BMW Americas competition started.

Andretti Green Racing/AFS Racing Signs JR HildebrandAndretti Green Racing/AFS Racing announced that it has signed JR Hildebrand to drive one of its cars during the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights season.

Hildebrand finished fifth in the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights championship, earning a victory at Kansas Speedway in addition to eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. Prior to the 2008 season he had just two Firestone Indy Lights starts, both coming at Infineon Raceway in 2007.

In 2007, Hildebrand finished seventh in the Atlantic championship standings with two top fives and seven top 10s. Prior to 2007 Hildebrand competed in the Cooper Tires Formula Ford 2000 Championship where he was the series championwith a record 12 wins in 14 races.

GM and Ford have illusions of staying in NASCAREven though both companies are close to filing for bankruptcy, Ford and GM reps say in this AP article they plan to stay in NASCAR. Of course these are the motorsports bosses talking but the bean counters in the front office may still decide to cut the NASCAR program.

Barrichello rules out switch to IRLUPDATE (GMM) Rubens Barrichello has vowed to retire from competitive motor racing if he fails to secure a race seat on the 2009 formula one grid.

The 36-year-old veteran's Honda ride is in serious doubt, as the Japanese team plans to evaluate alternatives Bruno Senna and Lucas di Grassi - both graduates of the GP2 series - at Barcelona next week.

"If