Author: Ron Thornton

Some watch soap operas, but I once watched wrestling. I understood a rewritten biblical verse because Stone Cold said so, I smelled what the Rock was cooking, and Mick Foley had multiple personalities while making a star out of a sock puppet. While I loved the comedy of their sports entertainment, I loved the behind the scenes stories even more. Who got pushed to be a star, who got screwed, who was doing what to whom? I gave it all up for NASCAR and now I have come full circle.

Instead of talking about Junior’s great run that went for not, or Jimmie’s car that would not go, or Joey’s big win, we got ourselves a full blown soap opera brewing. Coming out of the 2008 season, Tony Stewart got part-ownership of Gene Haas’ race team. He hired his buddy Ryan Newman to join him, and placed Darian Grubb on top of his pit box and a front line operation was born. Both teams made the Chase in 2009, with Stewart picking up four wins that season. In 2010, Newman won once but missed the post-season, while Stewart won two and made the Chase again. Both were in the hunt in 2011, with Newman adding yet another win before Tony claimed a pair to begin the Chase. Then, with six races to go, the soap opera began.

Stewart likes his buddies, but only those buddies know how much they like Smoke in return. Grubb had guided his boss to three Chase appearances and eight wins in 102 starts. Yet, sitting seventh in the Chase, 19 points out, Grubb got notice that he would be gone at the end of the season, to be replaced by Steve Addington. Grubb responded by aiding his soon to be former boss to six straight Top Tens, including three victories in the final four contests, and the 2011 Sprint Cup title.

According to Stewart, the decision had actually been made before the Chase had began, when the team limped into the hunt ninth overall. It was decided at that time that “we needed to go in a different direction.” In fact, even with the five Chase wins, the eight Top Tens, and the great calls from the pit box in the season finale were not going to change things.  “When we decided to make the change, we stuck with what our decision was,” said Stewart. In short, thanks for all you have done to make me a champion, now goodbye and good luck.

Move ahead two years. Danica Patrick comes in with her looks, her gender, her single F-1 victory, and her sponsorship. She claims the Daytona 500 pole, she finishes in the top ten that race, and has done precious little since. Kevin Harvick becomes available, he gets the 2014 ride in the car Newman had been driving. Too bad, as even winning the Brickyard 400 the next race after getting his notice, there was no room at the inn. If only there had been available sponsorship for a fourth car, Newman would have been in it, we were told. He was told.

Unless Kurt Busch wants to join, then word is that Stewart’s partner Gene Haas would magically be able to come up with the sponsorship himself. In house sponsorship for Busch, jack squat for Newman. Maybe Tony likes Ryan, but Gene sees Kurt as the guy he would prefer to spend his own money on. Maybe Tony was being honest with Newman, but more room at the inn comes available only if Gene builds a new wing for Busch. Maybe.

Maybe Steve Austin was the original, but maybe it is Tony Stewart who has gone stone cold, if you smell what ole Smoke is cooking. Maybe, to paraphrase a quote from the Godfather, “Tell Darian and Ryan it was only business, I always liked them.”

Ironically, Newman remains among our hottest drivers but so are Logano and Martin Truex Jr as the trio battle for the final wild card Chase berth. Newman is ten behind Logano, with Truex in command by 17.  None have won at Bristol before, but both Kyle and Kurt Busch have won there five times, along with Jeff Gordon. One doesn’t need the win, but one could come in handy for the other two and Gordon needs to turn up the heat.

Juan Pablo Montoya, winner of the 2000 Indianapolis 500 among eight CART victories, winner of the 2003 Monaco Grand Prix among seven Formula One triumphs, but a winner of a single Cup race at Sonoma and another at the Glen in 239 starts. That, in a nutshell, is why Montoya was hired and why he will soon be fired as the driver of the #42 Target team of Chip Ganassi.

Montoya already had a heady resume to his credit when he arrived in NASCAR’s top division at the end of 2006 as a 31-year old.  I mean, his Monaco win marked the start of eight straight podium finishes and twice he finished third in the season F-1 points standings. Like Tony Stewart before him, he has a CART season title to his credit, but unlike Stewart it is Montoya who owns the biggest Indianapolis victory.

You might get the idea that Juan Pablo Montoya is a damn good driver. He finished fifth last weekend at the Glen. Sadly, his average career finish is 20th and it seems evident that without a few rights on the track, he is left struggling even in this, his seventh full campaign.

So, is it Montoya or is it Earnhardt Ganassi Racing that has the bigger problem? Well, since 2001 Chip Ganassi has been able to celebrate a dozen times in Victory Lane. Sterling Marlin gave him two in 2001 and two more in 2002. Jamie McMurray had his first the same year, while he and Montoya each had one in 2007. Jamie added one more in 2009, then three more in 2010, including the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, while Juan Pablo took Watkins Glen the same season.

There are teams who would be happy with that record, but not if they are owned by folks named Hendrick, Roush, Childress, Gibbs or Penske. I don’t think Stewart or Waltrip would be terribly satisfied, either. So, I guess a winner of four Indianapolis 500 races, 89 CART/IndyCar events, and nine CART/IndyCar season crowns might seek to be better, You might also get the idea that Chip Ganassi is a damn good owner of racing teams.

I expected more from Montoya. I expect more from McMurray. I expect more from Chip Ganassi. I do not know what to expect from any of them in 2014.

Michigan is next on the dance card for this Sunday. It was the track that essentially ended Ganassi’s own driving career in a 1984 wreck. As an owner, he has won there three times, with the last coming in the 2000 Michigan 500 CART race. His driver? Juan Pablo Montoya.

With his win at the Glen, Kyle Busch moves into a close second to Jimmie Johnson among those who have been hot as of late. Brad Keselowski’s runner-up run jumps him six spots on this chart, while Tony Stewart begins his fade to black. Four drivers seeking a Chase place, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, and Jeff Gordon, are all heating up at the right time. Greg Biffle has won the past two races at the venue and he will seek the fifth of his career on the weekend.

Where there is Smoke, there is an ambulance. Three Sprint races, three wrecks. A 19-year old driver got carted away with a back injury after Stewart caused a July 16th crash in New York. He flipped five times in a race July 29th in Ontario. Now we have this one where the flashing lights were for Smoke himself in Iowa. The three-time former champ will be back, but it will not be Sunday at the Glen, it will not be at Michigan or Bristol or probably anytime earlier than October at best.

Bad news for Tony, good news for Ryan Newman. As Stewart sinks in the standings and out of the Top Twenty, Newman sits next in line for his wild card berth in the Chase, as things stand now. Of course, there are five more races to run before the Chase begins, races that could be won by Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, or Joey Logano.

Oh, Logano has been making some noise lately. Over the past ten events, he has seven Top Tens, and only Kevin Harvick has done better. The trouble is, Logano has yet to lead a single lap at the Glen, with a fifth place finish sandwiched between a couple beyond 30th. Newman was second in 2002, but has just a couple of Top Tens since. Maybe the one to watch on Sunday, the one to take advantage of Stewart’s misfortune might be the guy who finished second to Marcos Ambrose each of these past two years at Watkins Glen. That would be one Brad Keselowski.

The defending champ has not done much of anything lately, but he remains poised to get back into contention on Sunday. He has a lapped car on a Sprint track in Iowa to thank for the opportunity.

We have been watching our sports on television for decades. Baseball, football, basketball, and (for Canadians, at least) hockey coverage began in the 1950’s. NASCAR did not arrive as part of the national television consciousness until much later. There were the bits and pieces of major races on Wide World of Sports since 1960, a race from South Carolina’s half mile Greenville-Pickens track was broadcast in its entirety in 1971, and there was the 1979 Daytona 500. By 1985, all the races were being broadcast and we have bitched and complained ever since.

As a former sports broadcaster, I can tell you that the job of the guy in the booth is to describe the action and to entertain the audience. If they care, they’ll tune in, but it is the announcer’s job to keep them tuned in. ESPN did not bother to extend their contract past 2014 because of falling ratings. Might I suggest that, by in large, they have failed to deliver on their job description. If those who call the race come across as bored, we will leave. Many of us record the race, so bumping it to another channel makes us leave. When an announcer opens his mouth and he has nothing to say we do not already know, he has just provided yet another reason for us to leave. Give an audience a reason to leave, and they often will take you up on it. You could say ESPN is the American Idol of NASCAR racing.

Even then, even if you build it, they might not come. In my opinion, TNT delivered, but the ratings did not. To be fair, not everyone shares my high estimation of the trio in the booth or the track side reporters that network boasts. They are what you call wrong, for if I am afraid to change the channel due to what I might miss them saying, they are doing the job. Not every race can have the lead changes of Daytona or Talladega, or the fender bending that is Bristol, In those times, you need folks who keep you watching, as Monday Night Football did back in the day. How bad were TNT’s ratings? Well, they had an average of 4.2 million fans per broadcast in 2007 and 2008, jumping to 5.5 in 2009. Since then, they have steadily dropped, down to an average of 4.68 million viewers this season. Not great, but still better than when they started, and year by year better than the ratings ESPN ever garnered.

Too many commercials, some say. I say, what commercials? I set the PVR and start watching about two hours later, so I do not watch any commercials and I pop past Brad and Rusty. Ten years ago, sponsors at least tried to entertain us in promoting their products. Remember those UPS spots with the big brown truck and Dale Jarrett? How about the NAPA commercials with Michael Waltrip, especially the one with the broken up little model race car from Bristol? It even got me to do some research on that crash. I mean, I learned something. That was then. Since they no longer try, I no longer bother to watch them. Problem solved.

We can follow a race on the Internet, listen to satellite radio, or we can read or run or make out or do all those things one does that trump watching a race on television. Still, as long as they do not drive us away with jacked up prices on re-branded cable networks (that is a hint, Fox Sports), some how forcing me to watch those commercials or listening to Brad and Rusty, or providing more announcers who fail to do the job, or having NASCAR institute a rule change stupid beyond words, a bunch of us will still be watching. However, do not take us for granted. I can always write about baseball.

Until that time, we continue to watch the wheel men every week. Ryan Newman’s replacement of his 32nd place performance at Talladega with the Indianapolis win moves him up seven positions among the hot drivers over the past ten events. Kasey Kahne jumps six, while Kevin Harvick takes over the leaderboard. He might have only picked up 26 points last Sunday, but that was better than the five he replaces from Talladega. In comparison, Jimmie Johnson only picked up four points (2nd at Indy in place of his 4th at Talladega) while Clint Bowyer drops one point. Going the other way, it should be no surprise that by finishing last at Indianapolis Jeff Burton did himself no favours as they head to Pocono this Sunday.

He is fourth in the standings, second on these charts, but Kevin Harvick is the epitome of hot right now as the boys and girl head to New Hampshire for Sunday. In the last ten events, the only race Happy failed to record a top ten finish was Talladega, where he crashed out early. In fact, had he finished 38th instead of 40th that day, he still would have managed to be our hot man.

Once again, Harvick joins Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards (despite a 29th place finish at Daytona), Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth (33rd on Sunday) among those showing the way.  While a bad day can juggle these standings and one’s Chase hopes, and even some can withstand that, these boys are definitely doing the right things at the right time. While both Stewart and Busch are still vulnerable should the furnace go out, the others are pretty safe bets to be running for the title come the fall.

Not so for Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski. Kahne has the second wildcard spot in his hand, but he had better have a firm grip on it. Despite decent showings at Sonoma and Kentucky, Kahne has been outside the top thirty in three of the past five races. Keselowski has not been in the top twenty in any race since Michigan and has had but one top ten result (Dover) over the past ten. Hot he is not.

If last year can be used as an indication, Kahne (win in the summer, 5th in the fall) and Keselowski (5th and 6th) could find some heat to turn things around. If they turn up cold even in New Hampshire, they both truly could be in real trouble. Stewart won there in 2011 and finished no worse than 12th last season, but in 2012 Kurt Busch could not crack the top twenty in either attempt. While Daytona is a bit of a wild card where even the weak can have a strong day (Casey Mears was 9th), Loudon may give us a sign as to whether the Colorado-based outfit has truly arrived or if they are still on the outside knocking on the door.