Author: SM Staff

Brett Moffitt Heads to Bristol with Former Mentor and New Race Team

[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: hometracks.nascar.com” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Young up and coming racer Brett Moffitt has had an interesting journey, from his racing start under the tutelage of four-time K&N Pro Series champion Andy Santerre to racing for some of the biggest teams in the sport, including Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing.

But as he kicks off his 2012 K&N Pro Series East season in Bristol, Moffitt is back where he belongs, under the familiar wing of Santerre and with a whole new race team Hattori Racing Enterprises. Moffitt will pilot the No. 11 Toyota Camry and will join teammate Sergio Pena in the Shigeaki Hattori stable.

“Ever since I drove for Andy (Santerre) in 2009, Andy and my dad have been in constant communication,” Moffitt said. “Andy’s been a big help to my career over the past three years.”

“So, when this opportunity came up, Andy told Shigeaki Hattori that he knew should drive his second car and luckily that was me.”

While Moffitt may seem a bit devoted to his old mentor, he knows that Santerre not only has the experience behind him but also has the strength of the new HRE race team with him as well.

“Working for Andy Santerre is just really great,” Moffitt said. “He’s been there. He’s driven race cars, he’s won races and he’s won championships.”

“So, he knows what it takes,” Moffitt continued. “Being able to work for him is really great for a driver because he understands everything you say. He’s always looking out for your best interests as a driver.”

Moffitt has had an eventful three years since debuting as a 16 year old with Andy Santerre in the K&N East Series. Since then, he has had seven wins, four pole positions, 20 top-5 and 25 top-10 finishes and has never finished worse than 3^rd in the championship standings.

“After I left Andy last time, I went to Joe Gibbs Racing for a year,” Moffitt said. “I ran in the K&N East Series for them. We were really competitive for them and ended up second in the points.”

“After that, I went to Michael Waltrip Racing,” Moffitt continued. “That was a huge step for my career.”

“MWR made me feel important as a driver,” Moffitt said. “I came in every day and worked on the cars and in the shop.”

“They put a big emphasis on my physical training and I’m still associated with them,” Moffitt continued. “I still have a trainer with them so I go there every day and still work out. That’s always a good connection to still maintain.”

With his return to his mentor Andy Santerre, as well as his new assignment with Hattori Racing Enterprises, Moffitt is excited to get his 2012 race season underway. He just recently finished up testing at Bristol, the first race of the season for the K&N Pro Series East.

“The test went really well,” Moffitt said. “From the first time we unloaded, we had to work on them a little bit but by the end of the day, we were pretty comfortable.”

“We have a couple things we are working with back at the shop and hopefully when we come back to the track, we will be ready to have a good race,” Moffitt continued. “The car was real fast and I’m really looking forward to the race.”

Moffitt has been only been guaranteed eight races with HRE Racing. The remainder of the season’s racing will be dependent on sponsorship, as is so often the case.

“This year Hattori approached me as a driver,” Moffitt said. “They weren’t looking for a driver with a lot of money, just one that they could win races and win championships with.”

“Right now, I’m only guaranteed eight races, with the first race at Bristol on March 17^th,” Moffitt said.” That’s where the sponsorship comes into play.”

“We’re still out there searching so hopefully we’re able to find something by then,” Moffitt continued. “But we’re just going to take the first eight and try to be the best we can. Hopefully we’ll find a sponsor and be able to finish it out.”

Moffitt is also looking forward to working with his new teammate at Hattori Racing Enterprises. He will be paired with fellow Santerre protégé Sergio Pena.

“Me and Sergio have always gotten along real well,” Moffitt said. “So, it’s going to be a really fun year. We’re both obviously proven race winners so I think it will be a good year for the team this year.”

In addition to mentor Santerre and teammate Pena, Moffitt is also looking forward to working with Dave McCarty, his new crew chief. McCarty has over 20 years experience in all kinds of racing, from the Nationwide Series to Trucks, ARCA, ASA and the K&N Pro Series East.

“Me and my new crew chief Dave McCarty have spent time getting to know each other,” Moffitt said. “Dave was Darrell Wallace’s crew chief last year at Revolution Racing. Andy felt like he would be a good match up for me so he brought him over.”

Moffitt has been working intensely on establishing that all important chemistry with his new crew chief, as well as their bond on and off the track.

“We’ve just been working together in the shop,” Moffitt said of his new crew chief. “He’s been bossing me around telling me what to do. I say ‘yes sir’ and do it. We have a lot of fun but when it’s time to get things done, we get things done.”

Owner Shigeaki Hattori, as well as HRE General Manager Andy Santerre are equally as excited about having Moffitt with their team as he is to race with them.

“People in an organization are the key to the organization’s success,” Hattori said. “If you hire the right people with knowledge and experience, success will follow.”

“I am excited to have Brett at HRE,” Santerre said. “He is an incredible driving talent and has matured behind the wheel in the last few years. He is more than capable of winning the championship.”

With the confidence of his owner and manager firmly in his corner, Moffitt simply cannot wait to get back to the race track, beginning at Bristol

“I feel like I’ve proven myself as being able to win races and be up front,” Moffitt said. “I’m just looking forward to racing. I love racing and being competitive.”

“That’s what drives me.”

March 11, 2012
Mark Martin ‘It Wasn’t Even Close’ on Saturday

[media-credit name=”Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]For much of the second half of Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas it appeared veteran Mark Martin had things under control and was heading toward a likely victory.

Martin led for a total of 44 laps and was leading when the race’s sixth yellow flag flew. The leaders all came down pit road for their final stops and by just inches Martin was beaten to the exist by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., would end up being the difference.

Stenhouse went on to lead the final 55 laps and drove away from Martin at one point for a five second lead. He went on to win his third career race as Martin cruised home behind him.

“That was one serious beat down he put on me that last run, just a beat down,” Martin said afterwards.

“I kept up with him for while and about wrecked five times and that’s it. The run before that was no problem, I could stay ahead of him. And anytime he would close in on me I could get up on the wheel and pull back out. But that last run he seemed to be stronger, I didn’t feel my car was off he just had that thing rolling. I’m not ashamed to say it wasn’t even close.”

Last season Martin lost the title he had held for so long, being the Nationwide Series all-time win leader. The man who took it, Kyle Busch, did so in the car that Martin drove on Saturday, the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Had Martin won on Saturday it would have been his 50th career NNS victory. It also would have been his second straight at Las Vegas, he won the race last year while driving for Turner Motorsports.

“Thanks to Joe Gibbs and everybody at JGR and Interstate Batteries,” Martin said. “This Toyota was awesome and they were awesome. I needed to run a race to see if I could find a few things that maybe we could work on to improve. I got a few ideas, but that was one serious beat down Ricky Stenhouse just put on me there at the end. It was just like I can’t do it – man he was gone.”

It’s well known the 2012 season isn’t about championship of any kind for Martin; he’s not running a full schedule in Sprint Cup and would like to do more NNS races. He just wants to have fun and win, accomplishing one of the two goals on Saturday.

“I did, I’d like to start by saying what a special treat it was to be able to join the Joe Gibbs organization, JGR, it’s something that we’ve wanted to do for a long time and the stars didn’t line up until now to do it,” Martin said about having fun.

“J.D. [Gibbs] and I had a little fun with it for sure. It’s a real privilege – I would like to do more of it, but there’s no sponsorship for that right now. I have six more on the schedule, if we could stir something up. It sure was fun to work with Adam [Stevens, crew chief] and all those guys.”

Yet, for as dominant and easy as Martin made things seem, he wasn’t completely satisfied on Saturday. Not because it hadn’t won but with the car he was driving. Going from the NNS from the NSCS garage threw him for a loop.

“I’m going to tell you something, my Cup car drives way better than this car,” he said. “I – whew, I don’t know – you saw me almost wreck I don’t know how many times. Man I can’t wait to get back in that Cup car. I didn’t think it was so slick [Friday], but today it was a handful. I never was real comfortable out there.”

Being behind the wheel of an accomplished JGR car though, will have any driver wanting to come back. Martin is no different and will wait for the call for the next time that he’ll get to take a nice Saturday drive.

“This was so much fun – it was such a great racecar,” Martin said. “It’s so fun to be a part of Joe Gibbs Racing. I’d like to do some more of these. We have some on the schedule, but no sponsorship so far.

“Heck, I don’t know, I enjoy watching these things on TV, but that was a good view I had right there. I enjoyed it.”

March 11, 2012
Mark Dilley: Racecar Driver, Track Owner, Co-Owner of Wide Open Motorsports

[media-credit id=4 align=”alignright” width=”266″][/media-credit]Mark Dilley had a plan in his mind as he knew what he wanted the track to look like. However, explaining it to the construction engineers was another story. They wanted it explained in percentages while Dilley only knew the degrees of banking he wanted.

With just over 12 hours to put together a plan, it was time to hit a deadline. Everything came together that night after drawing at the kitchen table using his kids’ crayons, a dinner plate and tea cup, along with a call to a friend who had a computer program.

Flash forward two race seasons and Sunset International Speedway has gone from a track that was down in the dumps into a track that drivers want to race at.

“First off, the staff they all seem to take pride in their jobs at the speedway and they do it with a sense of professionalism,” 2011 Limited Late Model (LLM) Champion Kevin Cornelius says. “The facility is second to none, in my opinion. I think the new ownership group has done an outstanding job bringing Sunset Speedway back to life and generating a lot of excitement at the speedway. Also, the competition last year was the some of the best in Ontario and it showed with close hard racing every night, and the competitors, I’m proud to race door to door with them.”

Dilley got on the ownership side of Sunset after hearing about the status of track. Dilley himself grew up racing at Sunset and the track still meant a lot to him. He also had enjoyed the time that he spent in charge of Barrie Speedway with Brad Moran. So when it came to this situation, everything just came together.

“When we got involved in this, they put a team of owners together that had money to back it and really wanted to make a difference,” he explains. “They’ve done that by the investment they’ve made into the track, redoing the track. Just whatever they said they’d do, they’ve done and it’s been good to work with partners like that where they have the money to repave the track, redo it and a real fast and exciting place to be.”

For drivers that race at Sunset, they note it’s because of his understanding with them.

“Mark has made Sunset International Speedway one of Canada’s top oval tracks by being a promoter who understands what it takes to make a track work,” Mike Bentley, Sunset LLM Competitor, explains. “Being a driver himself, he understands what the weekly racers at Sunset go through and makes sure their opinions and concerns are heard.”

Becoming in charge of Sunset Speedway came out of a business venture already started with business partner Linda Jones – Wide Open Motorsports. They started Wide Open Motorsports in 2007 because there was a need for race teams to someone to organize the marketing.

“When NASCAR started, there was a need for teams to have organization from the side of corporate representation,” he explains. “As far as organizing things at the race track, activation of sponsorships, and really where the teams are on demand to that, that’s really how it got started. Whether we came in and managed an existing sponsorship or brought in a new sponsorship and did it that way. Basically to organize and do everything under one umbrella.”

One of the keys to the organization is finding sponsorship, which isn’t always easy. Due to that, most businesses, as Dilley explains, ask for money up front.

“A lot of times there are companies and agencies that will do things, but they take a big retainer,” he explains. “So what that means is basically if I was going to get you a sponsorship, you’d give me $40,000-$50,000 up front to hunt that sponsorship down. I guess if I find something, that’s good. If I don’t, well, that’s part of the business.”

However, Dilley and Jones do it differently to make it easier.

“Basically, Linda and I put whatever to some degree – I mean, we’ll come back and ask for some money if its getting real crazy – but generally speaking, we do everything upfront,” he says. “We work on a street permission basis.”

So far in the five years the company has been open, they’ve put together some good sizable sponsorship packages for drivers. One of the biggest was getting Canadian Tire to sponsor Scott Steckly.

“Early on, to get Canadian Tire was huge for us,” he says. “They were basically going to get out of motorsports – we managed to get them back in, so that was huge.”

Finding the sponsorships hasn’t been easy due to the economy as Dilley says when the economy goes down, a lot of companies cut advertising business first. However, it’s still possible to find sponsorship as it’s all about being prepared to give back to the sponsor.

“Make sure to be prepared to give back 30% minimum of what you’re going for,” he advises. “So if you’re basically if you need $10,000 to race, if that’s your race budget, then you really need to get $13-$14,000 cause you’re going to spend $4,000 on activating that $10,000. So what that means – so if you get $10,000, you’re only going to spend on race program about $7,000 cause you’re going to be spending $3,000 on tickets, buildboards, shirts, lettering, shows, whatever it may be to get them involved.”

Dilley adds that most people don’t do that and end up using the full $10,000 they get on the race car and doing their own thing. Dilley says that because drivers are forgetting to give back to the sponsor, sponsors are leaving due to no return investment.

Beyond Wide Open Motorsports and running Sunset Speedway, Dilley is also a driver in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. This past season, Dilley finished sixth in points with a win on the season coming at his home track, Barrie Speedway. Keep everything balanced at times isn’t quite easy, he admits.

“There’s a lot of stuff that goes on at the same time; that’s the biggest thing,” he explains.

There was the one weekend during the season in July where Dilley made multiple trips back and forth from Sunset Speedway to Exhibition Place for the Canadian Tire Series race weekend so he could race, while keeping an eye on the double-header show.

When he can’t be there, he depends a lot on his staff to keep things under control.

“We do have good staff that works for us at Sunset that can take up a lot of slack,” he says.

Most notably, he brought Steve Slaughter on board to be part of the management team. Slaughter has experience running race tracks himself as he was in charge of Sunset during the last 1990s.

[media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”266″][/media-credit]Despite all the positives noted, there are some issues that some drivers note about the track.

“Sunset Speedway thinks that they need to have one late model driver to what they call headline the show which I think is a slap in the face to the rest of us other drivers that race at sunset speedway,” Cornelius explains. “It’s my opinion that this do called headliner hurts our car counts and the quality of the show that we try to put on every Saturday night.”

There are also those who feel that there are issues within technical inspection and drivers getting away with breaking the rules.

“They need to stick with the rules when it comes to teching,” Tara Case, Sunset Super Stock driver, says. “They let too many people away with stuff and makes it harder for others to make it anywhere.”

Though overall, everybody says that things with the track are quite positive from their perspective.

“His team has done a great job and you can see this by all the people in the stands,” Evan Towle, who is in charge of CanadianRacingOnline.com. “Every time I go, I notice a new improvement.

“The things I notice is the staff is really friendly and the people in the stands are talking about how much they like the track and what Mark and his team has done.

“Never had anything that I can complain about since Mark took over. I have followed Mark Dilley since his CASCAR days and he loves racing and he is a no bs type guy. I brought my daughter to NASCAR Speedpark and Mark was there with his car. He talked to her and you can really see he enjoys racing and his fans and you can see this with everything he has done for Sunset Speedway.”

March 11, 2012
KV Racing Technology Partners with Mouser Electronics

KV Racing Technology announced that Mouser Electronics will be the primary sponsor on the No. 11 driven by Tony Kanaan for four IZOD IndyCar Series races. Those four races being Long Beach, Texas, Sonoma and China. Mouser will also be a co-primary sponsor with GEICO for the Indianapolis 500.

Last season, Kanann finished fifth in the IZOD IndyCar Series Championship standings.

“There’s no better feeling than having a solid company behind you — the kind of excitement for motorsports we share with Mouser makes it a great experience,” Kanaan said. “When Jimmy (KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser) and I were taking a tour of their facilities and saw all the products that they potentially supply to the sport of IndyCar, we were extremely impressed.”

Mouser Electronics designs and distributes semiconductors and electronic components.

“Last year, Mouser attached its name to the high-speed, high-tech world of INDYCAR as an innovative way to promote our supplier partners and gain broad exposure as we continue to expand our operations worldwide,” Larry Johannes, Mouser VP of strategic marketing, said. “Since every advanced, sophisticated component that’s built to go inside an IndyCar is about delivering a speed and performance edge on the track, INDYCAR was a natural fit.”

Johannes said they chose to sponsor Kanaan due to his skill and experience.

“At Mouser, we’re constantly communicating how using the most advanced technology for design delivers a speed-to-market advantage,” Johannes continued. “INDYCAR provides us the perfect vehicle to build top-of-mind awareness for Mouser and our valued supplier and manufacturer rep partnerships.”

Along with Mouser, Kanaan will have continued support from GEICO.

“One of things I am especially happy about is that GEICO is back as one of my sponsors,” he said. “They are a tremendous company and have really supported me. Let’s be honest, without GEICO I don’t know if I would have been in the car last year. I want to thank the entire GEICO executive staff. I am proud to be associated with them.”

KV Racing took part in the four-day test at Sebring, which saw Kannan ranked 20^th after the final day.

“The start of the season is coming up very soon. I think we have just this test and one more before St. Petersburg and I am excited to get the new season started,” Kanaan said during the test. “There have been a lot of changes in the series. New cars, new engines, new races, new sponsors and some new faces in the driver field which all should make the new season exciting for both the fans and the drivers.”

March 11, 2012
Hometown Hero Cale Gale wins Mobile ARCA 200

[media-credit name=”ARCA Racing Network” align=”alignleft” width=”287″][/media-credit]Hometown Hero Cale Gale would come home the winner of the Mobile ARCA 200 at Mobile International Speedway after holding off Chad Hackenbracht. Gale was able to take the lead from fellow Alabama native Grant Enfinger on lap 176 and held the lead, even through the four cautions that followed.

“This worked out better than we ever could have expected it to,” the 28-year-old said in victory lane.

Gale had spent his time cutting his teeth, learning how to race at Mobile before moving up to the higher ranks. He will now forever hold the honor of winning the first ARCA race ever at the half-mile located in Mobile, Alabama during ARCA Racing Series presented by Meanrds’ 60^th Anniversary Season. The win marks his first ARCA victory since winning in 2006 at Gateway.

“We came here with intentions to win but actually being able to pull it off is awesome and it comes at a good time,” he said. “What a packed house today. (Promoter) Rick (Crawford) has done an awesome job promoting this thing, and Tommy Praytor too. It’s especially special, because my grandfather passed away last year and we spent many a night down here on Saturday nights and it’s my first race to win since he passed away.”

The victory also marked the first ARCA win for Eddie Sharp Racing since Craig Goess’ victory last year at Pocono in 2010.

Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell winner Alex Bowman would finished third, followed by Mikey Kile and Clint King. Chris Buescher would finish sixth, followed by Brennan Poole, Jared Marks, Tom Hessert and Chase Elliott.

Southern short track star Bubba Pollard would finish 11^th, followed by Ryan Reed, Grant Enfinger, Sean Corr and Tyler Reddick.

Alex Bowman would lead the first 28 laps, before Chase Elliott would take the lead at lap 29. Making his first ever ARCA start, Elliott would lead

[media-credit name=”ARCA Racing Network” align=”alignright” width=”266″][/media-credit]all the way till the third caution of the race, choosing to make a pit stop. This would hand the lead over to Bowman on the lap 56 restart. Bowman would pit under the next caution, handing the lead to 15-year-old Erik Jones, who became the youngest driver to start an ARCA race. Jones would lead for 15 laps, before Gale took the lead on lap 77.

At the halfway point, Gale led followed by Elliott, Matt Lofton, Grant Enfinger and Bowman.

After the restart, Enfinger quickly moved up to second and was able to pass Gale for the lead on lap 127. Enfinger would continue to lead the field, even beating Gale off pit road during a lap 168 caution. Gale would be able to get by Enfinger a couple laps after the restart, before a caution after Mason Mingus lost control of his car and drove over the turn three and four hill.

Four cautions would follow, extending the race beyond it’s scheduled distance and a final green-white-checkered on laps 202 and 203 would decide the race. Hackenbracht would try to get under Gale on the inside in turn two of the final lap, but would not be able to get by.

Unofficially, Gale leads the point standings, 15 points over Poole. Hackenbracht sits third followed by Mikey Kile and Ryan Reed.

The next race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will take place Sunday, April 29 at Salem Speedway. The 200-lap, 111-mile Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 is scheduled to start at 2:15 p.m. Salem will host practice and Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell on Saturday, April 28.

March 11, 2012
Matty’s Picks 2012 – Race No. 3 – March 11, 2012

[media-credit name=”lvms.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Kobalt Tools 400

Some people just can’t handle Vegas…

We stay out west this week in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and where else to hang out for a week than Sin City…

If you’ve been following some of the drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week on Twitter, you may have noticed that many of them have chosen to stay west this week, rather than make the trek back to North Carolina. 5-time Sprint Cup Series Champ Jimmie Johnson chose to spend his week in Aspen, Colorado skiing with his family, tweeting on Wednesday; “I was back on skis over the last three days and had a blast. Thanks to @aspensnowmass for the fun today. #NoBrokenBones.” Kyle Busch, wife Samantha, and Greg Biffle all tweeted about spending their week in the western sand dunes. And, Paul Menard took his own off-road ride with Regan Smith on Wednesday near Evergreen, Colorado when Smith lost control of his truck on patch of ice and crashed into a bank of trees. Smith later tweeted “Thank you to everybody for the well wishes, everybody is doing fine, shaken up but healthy. Had somebody looking out for us this morning.”

So just like many college students this week, it seems like many NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers chose to take a bit of a Spring Break this week. I know if it was on me, I would have no trouble showing up a bit early for work this week…

Phoenix Recap

Due to technical difficulties and my lack of success last week in Phoenix, this will be a rather quick recap and pick this week.

My winner pick last week lasted 24 laps before he ended my hopes last week of a strong finish. Kasey Kahne started 10th and quickly moved to the runner-up spot, but couldn’t keep his No.5 Farmers Insurance Chevy under control on lap 24, hitting the wall and putting the kaibash on my hopes of a strong pick. Kahne came come 34th.

As for my Dark Horse pick, he ran more than 250 laps in the top 15 last week but also ran into some misfortune late in the 312 lap stanza. Jeff Burton stared juat behind Kahne in the 11th spot and hung around the 10th spot all day before he radioed in that his engine was about to expire. Burton lasted 3 more laps before retiring to the garage in 33rd place.

Vegas Picks

Because my laptop happens to be about 200 miles away from me right now, the research is rather shotty for this week of Matty’s Picks.

My winner pick this week currently has 12 to 1 odds to win Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 (according to Vegasinsider.com). He had a rather shotty qualifying effort, but is an absolute beast on the intermediate tracks. “Showtime” Carl Edwards is my guy this week, despite Jimmie Johnson being a 4 to 1 favorite to win on Sunday.

Sticking with the Vegas theme, my Dark Horse is a ling shot at 30 to 1 this week. He was fastest in Happy Hour earlier today, and his followers are desperate for a W ASAP. Dale Earnhardt Jr may have been looked past coming into the weekend, but has shown over the course of the past two days that he may have the car to beat on Sunday.

Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead tonight, and until next time….You stay classy NASCAR NATION!

March 10, 2012

Stenhouse wins the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”276″][/media-credit]Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held off veteran driver Mark Martin by 4.785 seconds to win Saturday’s Nationwide Series Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Stenhouse Jr. led the final 54 laps in route to his first victory of the season.

“It was really cool. Looking at all the fans in the stands that came out was pretty cool before the race and to win here was fun. I got here Sunday, so I’ve been here a while and it paid off.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

Martin, making his first Nationwide Series race for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 18 Toyota led 44 laps and finished second.

“That was one serious beatdown he put on me that last run. I mean just a beatdown. I kept up with for a while and about wrecked five times, and that’s it. I’m not ashamed to say, it wasn’t even close.” Martin said. “Thanks to Joe Gibbs and everybody at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Interstate Batteries. This Toyota was awesome and they were awesome. I needed to run a race to see if I could find a few things that maybe we could work on to improve.”

Polesitter and series points leader Elliott Sadler finished third after pitting for a vibration problem.

“We showed a lot of guts and effort today. We had a good race car and anytime you can go through what we did today and get a third-place finish, we’ve very happy with that.” Sadler said.

Sadler has a 15 point lead in the series standings over Austin Dillon.

Trevor Bayne finished fourth and Brendan Gaughan finished fifth.

“It’s good when you can say a top five is disappointing. We want to be in Victory Lane every week and there for a while I thought we had a shot at it. We just got too tight at the end when the sun went down, so it’s a decent run.” Bayne said.

Unofficial Race Results
Sam’s Town 300, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=3
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	–	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	48
2	–	18	Mark Martin	Toyota	0
3	–	2	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	42
4	–	60	Trevor Bayne	Ford	40
5	–	33	Brendan Gaughan	Chevrolet	0
6	–	88	Cole Whitt *	Chevrolet	38
7	–	3	Austin Dillon *	Chevrolet	37
8	–	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	36
9	–	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	35
10	–	38	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	0
11	–	9	Kenny Wallace	Toyota	33
12	–	7	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	32
13	–	43	Michael Annett	Ford	31
14	–	30	James Buescher	Chevrolet	0
15	–	44	Mike Bliss	Toyota	29
16	–	19	Tayler Malsam	Toyota	28
17	–	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	28
18	–	41	Blake Koch	Ford	26
19	–	70	Johanna Long *	Chevrolet	25
20	–	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	24
21	–	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	23
22	–	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	22
23	–	22	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	0
24	–	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	20
25	–	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	19
26	–	4	Daryl Harr	Chevrolet	18
27	–	81	Jason Bowles *	Toyota	17
28	–	108	Kyle Fowler	Ford	16
29	–	52	Tim Schendel	Chevrolet	15
30	–	124	Benny Gordon	Chevrolet	14
31	–	50	T.J. Bell	Ford	13
32	–	28	Derrike Cope	Dodge	12
33	–	54	Kyle Busch	Toyota	0
34	–	11	Brian Scott	Toyota	11
35	–	40	Erik Darnell	Chevrolet	9
36	–	113	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Dodge	0
37	–	39	Joey Gase *	Ford	7
38	–	27	J.J. Yeley	Ford	0
39	–	46	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	5
40	–	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	4
41	–	42	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	0
42	–	47	Scott Speed	Chevrolet	0
43	–	174	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	1

March 10, 2012

There’s No Place like Home for Kyle Busch in Las Vegas

[media-credit name=”lvms.com” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Winning at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2009 for Kyle Busch was the feeling of a lifetime.

Busch grew up racing just a stones throw from were the speedways stands and he watched it be built. Dreaming of the day that he and older brother Kurt would get to race in at their home track.

Having done so and then being able to win in Vegas was more than Busch imagined. Sunday he’ll attempt to do it again, starting from the outside of the front row in his No. 18 M&M’s Brown Toyota.

“It’s always great to get back to Las Vegas,” Busch said on Friday. “Just growing up racing outside turn one here at the ‘Bullring’ but to come back to the big track is always an exciting part of our year. For the 18 team we look forward to this race and trying to see how well we can run and of course we always try to put as much emphasis on every race as much as we can, but we certainly like running well here and trying to win this one.”

Busch says he’s expecting good things from his team this weekend. Yet, he’ll be expecting the most from himself. Every year when he drives through the tunnel for race weekend in Las Vegas he does with a lot of pressure on himself.

Pressure to either win or perform very well. It’s a special track, a special place and one that Busch enjoys coming to. His 2009 win at the time was one of the biggest in his career, joined now by the “triple” he pulled off in 2010 at Bristol and winning last year’s inaugural Kentucky race.

There’s only one hometown track though. And for Busch nothing can beat its atmosphere or knowing his way around town better than any other he’ll visit on the Sprint Cup circuit. It’s always a cool race, says Busch and that’s where his focus is this weekend.

Coming off a sixth place finish a week ago in Phoenix, where he led laps and was in contention until a late race pit stop miscue, Busch sits ninth in points. Vegas as always been a decent track for him but last year he finished 38^th following a blown engine.

His win though, has been Busch’s only top five finish since the track was reconfigured prior to the 2007 season. In the five races on its new surface Busch has been all across the finishing board: 9, 11, won, 15 and 38^th.

A new surface brings new racing, which drivers are still trying to figure out. Busch expects more of the same on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s very different from what it was with the flat surface,” Busch said. “I always enjoyed running on the flat surface. When we brought these new cars out, that’s kind of when they changed the track over too and were looking to make it a multi-grooved racetrack and you can run two, three-wide around the place.

“Which you can do, just the first time here the tires were so hard, the track was so slick and now that we’ve kind of seasoned the asphalt a little bit the tires are able to get a little bit better and we’re able to make those last. The racing’s been getting a little bit better. It’s kind of a crapshoot race if you will.”

From Busch’s seat it seemed that drivers who were good on the old track had a harder time getting accustomed to the new one. Although Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards have remained a constant and Busch feels he’s been right there too.

“It’s certainly made for an interesting racetrack once it was all said and done,” said Busch. “For me I was used to the old surface, so I come out here thinking, ‘Okay, we’re going to Vegas.’ Well, it’s not Vegas anymore. It’s essentially somewhere different, so you’ve just got to get used to all that.”

Busch and JGR shouldn’t be fazed. The company is off to a hot start with all three drivers sitting in the top 10 in points and already visiting victory lane. Hamlin won last weekend in Phoenix and Busch took home the season’s first exhibition race in Daytona, the Budweiser Shootout.

Following his win Hamlin said the company was beginning to get back to being the JGR of old. Dominating races, having drivers in victory lane on a regular basis, just putting together the whole package on raceweekend and stealing the headlines. So far, Busch said he has not been surprised by the organizations early season success.

“I thought that there would be big things that could come out of JGR this year and we’re already seeing some of the fruits from that with Denny’s win at Phoenix last week,” he said.

“That was pretty cool. We ran strong and actually all the Joe Gibbs Racing cars finished in the top 10, including two [Michael Waltrip Racing] cars, which made five Toyotas in the top 10, so we were proud of that effort.”

Busch looks forward to the continued success this year and with he and crew chief Dave Rogers working with the new crew chiefs of their teammates, Jason Ratcliff for Joey Logano and Darian Grubb with Denny Hamlin. A key, he says, will be having all three working closely together in order to benefit all.

Appears so far so good and the fruits of their labor will most likely be shown the next few weeks as the season starts to roll forward with teams getting ready to grade themselves against the competition. For Busch and his JGR team the hope that a little home cooking will send them in a championship direction.

March 10, 2012
Jeff Gordon Celebrates 20 Years of Racing with Dupont

[media-credit name=”sambass.com” align=”alignright” width=”169″][/media-credit]Jeff Gordon has been racing in NASCAR for 20 years now and has kept a solid partnership with sponsor, Dupont, through that time. To honor that partnership, Gordon is running a special paint scheme this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I’m very proud of it –that’s for sure,” Gordon said. “Just the fact that I’ve been driving in this series for 20 years is one thing, but to know that we’ve had a sponsor be there with us the entire way as well as Pepsi. We’ve obviously put a great combination together that’s worked out very well for us as well as the business for DuPont and other sponsors. It’s something that we’re definitely very, very proud of. I think it’s awesome that they’re celebrating in the way that they are this year by the 20th anniversary paint scheme and logo and we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

Gordon added that he still remembers when he first signed with Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports and they were going to talk to Dupont about being an associate sponsor. That meeting turned into Dupont becoming a full-time sponsor and seeing four championships and over 80 career victories.

In his career in NASCAR, Gordon has seen a lot of changes in the sport, with this year marking the biggest change with the electronic fuel injection.

“This car was probably the biggest number one change or anything that I’ve ever had to deal with was just completely adapting over to a new car with a splitter, bump stops — completely different aero package,” he added. “Some of the highlights that stick out in the mind throughout the years is just aero in general, mainly just aerodynamics and tires have been the biggest change. I look back to some shots of the car from ’94 and ’95 on the race track and our air dam is this high off the ground in the corners and the skirts on the right side aren’t sealed off. I just think, ‘Gosh, just think how fast we would have gone if we would have known what we know now.’”

Gordon went on to say that he remembered when big sway bars and big rear springs came into effect.

“It used to that you would use all the mechanical grip of the springs and the shocks to make the cars last over a long run and the cars gave up a lot of speed throughout a run so you could manage that,” he continued. “The way we set the cars up were more about tire management and now it’s just all about aerodynamics. I remember that time when it came and that definitely took me a while to adapt to that. We finally did adapt to it and then we won the championship in 2001.”

One of the places that Gordon says hasn’t seen a lot of change is Martinsville, and that’s one track that he has had a lot of success at.

“I feel like Martinsville is that one place that I can go to every time and give good information back to the team to keep us fast throughout the race,” he said. “To me, of all the tracks, the least amount of changes and that’s where experience can really pay off.”

At Martinsville in his career, he has seven wins, 25 top fives and 31 top 10s in 38 starts.

Most recently, Gordon’s life has changed outside of racing with the birth of his two kids, Ella and Leo. Gordon is glad to have had both his children at the current age of 41, instead of when he was younger.

“I got married the first time very young and if I had children at 25 or 26, I don’t think I would have been ready for it,” he explained. “I don’t know if I would have been able to stay as focused on my career. Or one would have suffered more than the other and so I think now I’m able to balance it out, I feel like, pretty well and enjoy both.”

Gordon hasn’t had it all easy off the track either, as with the divorce from Brooke Sealy. However, he says he’s fortunate to have had things go the way they have.

“In my life I have been so fortunate that when things didn’t go exactly as planned, I’ve been very fortunate to bounce back,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to meet my wife Ingrid that she and I at that time wanted to have children. We felt like it was the right time in our lives. There’s no doubt that I’m very thankful it happened when it did and that it happened with her.”

In looking back at everything, Gordon says that he feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with the different people he has worked with.

“I’ve just been a part of great teams that have allowed me to be consistent with having that type of success,” he said. “To me, you always hear that success breeds success — to me, as things started going well on the track it allowed me to start thinking about things off the track and trying to come up with the best plan if things go this way. You hope that they go in a positive way and for me they have.”

Gordon will start the race this weekend at Las Vegas in the 16^th position while teammate Kasey Kahne leads the field to the green flag.

March 10, 2012
Target Chip Ganassi Racing Leads IndyCar Spring Training at Sebring

[media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”266″][/media-credit]It may be a new chassis, but the dominance of Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske will look to continue in the IZOD IndyCar Series following testing. At the end of the four day test, the two teams shared the top of the chart with Target Chip Ganassi having the upperhand.

After all four days, it was Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon leading the field with a time of 51.7932 seconds at a speed of 116.077 mph.

“Overall it was a good day for Team Target,” Dixon said. “We got started late because of some issues, and probably didn’t get accomplished what we needed to in the first part of the day. We made a big suspension change at lunch time, and I actually didn’t like all of that stuff, but we came out around 3 p.m., and didn’t have time to go back on those things, so we stuck with it. We made steering changes and damper changes and seem to find a bit of a compromise for what we had. Today was more a day of learning about the new car and trying to soak up as much as we can before St. Pete.”

Dixon’s quick lap, which saw him be the only driver under 52 seconds, came near the end of the last practice session.

“We did the work on the car and as the sun went down a bit and the clouds came in, the track picked up some time,” he said. “We definitely worked to make the car better as well. I was good to do something for the lads at the end and it worked out.”

Dixon’s teammate Dario Franchitti would be second on the charts with a time of 52.0157 seconds.

“The team always does a good job, they’re very, very good,” Franchitti said. “We’re trying to learn these new cars. We’re trying to learn the new car, what might break on them, where the weak spots are, how to make them go fast. Honda is learning very quickly too so we’re just trying to get through all of this stuff just now. I’m very happy with the two days we’ve had, obviously the first two days for me right from break-in, we had a lot of questions coming in to this test and we got answers to most of them, so hopefully we can put the pieces together for St. Pete and onwards.”

Penske Racing driver Helio Castroneves would end the session in third at a time of 52.1413 seconds.

“Overall it was a good day for the Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet,” he said. “Chevy did an incredible job. We are still developing the car. Still making little bits here and there. But, for Spring Training, I thought all of the Chevys are in good shape. Overall Team Penske is in good shape. We have to just keep pushing each other. Hopefully we can get what we want for the first race of the season.”

Castroneves is one of the drivers driving a Chevrolet powered car this season, and commends Chevrolet on their efforts so far.

“Chevy is on-board,” he said. “Took the bull by the horns as they say. It is a very good commitment from everyone. Right now we are still working; still developing.”

Ruben Barrichello of KV Racing Technology ranked fourth with a lap of 52.1615 seconds. Barrichello is trying to learn as much as he can as he makes the transition from Formula 1 to IndyCar.

“We were able to run a good amount of laps again today and look at some different setups,” he said. “We also practiced pit stops which will served me well. I was able to see how the car reacts coming in on warm tires and leaving on cold tires and seeing where to position the car, all things that are very different to what I am used to. Overall though we have had a very good two days of testing.”

Team Penske’s Will Power rounded out the top five with a lap of 52.2059 seconds.

“It is clear that it is pretty even so far,” Power said. “The moment of truth is going to be St. Pete. Everyone is going to have what they’ve got. There is no sandbagging or anything. We shall see there.”

Power added though that it’s hard to see where everybody is at due to how unique Sebring is.

“It is so hard to tell this track, to be honest,” he said. “It is a very strange circuit for testing, because I don’t think there is any place we go that is like it. Turn 4 is probably the most representative corner of a street course. Everywhere else has way too much grip, so the car always feels pretty good. I’m not sure what we get out of these tests, but we certainly push the car to the limit I would say.”

JR Hilderbrand was sixth, followed by Ryan Briscoe, Mike Conway, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takuma Sato.

March 10, 2012