Author: SM Staff

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch may have won the last four Sprint Cup Series races at the Dover International Speedway but they weren’t the ones who stole the show. Keeping in their tire tracks has been Los Gatos, California native AJ Allmendinger in his Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion. And had it not been for one too many mistakes Allmendinger, not Johnson or Busch, could have been the driver in victory lane.

Costly mistakes like running in the top five last year then having a loose lug nut and subsequent vibration force Allmendinger down pit road for an unscheduled stop. It resulted in a 14th place finish for a car that could have ended up at least third.

Last fall Allmendinger led 143 laps and at one time had a six second lead on Johnson but only finished 10th. This time a cut tire the culprit. As the series again heads north to do battle with the Monster Mile, Allmendinger said he’s pumped up about it.

“For me, I really enjoy Dover,” he said last weekend. “It’s a place that I’ve liked as soon as I got there. Obviously, it’s high-banked and fast. It’s just really a fun place to drive each lap that you’re on it and, relatively, we’ve had really fast racecars there, so I was excited.”

His average finish of 23.6 at the track comes from his performance in his first five showings. He best start was seventh but his best finish was 16th. His other finishes were 29th or worse. In the three races since then Allmendinger has started no worse than 19th and started outside pole last fall. In that span he’s also finished no worse than 14th, his best being a seventh in the fall of 2009.

In his eight starts Allmendinger has done everything but win. The difference this year could be the added practice and familiarity he’ll have with an important factor on Sunday after participating in the Dover tire test. Allmendinger hopes history repeats itself after seeing what Johnson and Juan Pablo Montoya accomplished after participating in the 2009 tire test. When race weekend rolled around they qualified first and second then finished first and fourth respectively.

“We did the Goodyear tire test there and it went really well,” said Allmendinger. “So, for me, I’m trying to get through Darlington and have a good run and, hopefully, be consistent here and keep ourselves up in the points, and then I’m really looking forward to Dover.”

Allmendinger did indeed get through Darlington. He finished 20th and brought the car home in one piece, which was good enough to hold onto 11th place in the point standings, just outside a Chase position with the new format in 2011.

New is what Allmendinger is hoping for. Well aware of the biggest storylines and new winners the series has already seen from Cinderella stories Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith, the young 2011 season is already one to remember and has led to talk of who could be next.

Dover, for its monster reputation, can be quite nice. Especially to those looking for their first career win. Take Martin Truex Jr. in 2007 in the Sprint Cup Series. Or Scott Speed, 2008, Brian Scott, 2009 and Aric Almirola, 2010, in the Camping World Truck Series. Allmendinger should already have a win on his resume, not just at Dover. But Dover, maybe more so than anywhere else, is where he knows he can run with big boys. And it gives him confidence heading into this weekend’s FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks.

“I know I can make it happen and hopefully take home the win,” said Allmendinger. “I see these guys this year that are winning for the first time and I’m happy for them, but I want to be that guy so badly. Dover is a great track and I hope it happens for us this weekend.”

Bayne and Smith, who won two of NASCAR’s most prestigious races, also took home two of the most coveted trophies in the sport. Dover isn’t considered one of NASCAR’s crown jewels, but should Allmendinger win on Sunday, he says he’ll be taking home something coveted too.

“Dover has one of the greatest trophies of the season, so it’s one I really want to take home.”

By the time last weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ visit to Darlington-South Carolina was concluded, NASCAR officials must have felt they were standing on a very slippery slope. At the conclusion of last Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500, it was very apparent that their “have at it boys” policy had just been severely tested and we were all wondering if that policy would be altered in some way to establish crystal clear boundary lines. In turned out that NASCAR did a very good job during the process of handling the Darlington situation.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”258″][/media-credit]The NASCAR “have at it boys” situation at Darlington actually began last Friday when they called drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman to their official trailer to further discuss their incident from the week before during the Richmond race. Officials were simply taking the driver’s temperature and reminded them that their actions would be closely monitored during the Darlington race.

What NASCAR wanted from this Friday meeting was a clear understanding with these two drivers based on open communication. What they received instead was a reported physical confrontation inside of their trailer.

Despite NASCAR’s disappointment from that meeting, the worst was yet to come and did exactly that Saturday night. We all saw the final laps of the Darlington race when drivers Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch began beating and banging on each other. We saw the inevitable crash on the front stretch. Then we witnessed the two of them oh so close on pit road and wondered what they were going to do next. The fact that Harvick felt compelled to climb out of his race car and attempt to land a left hook on Busch’s face should not come as a surprise. We all saw that coming. The unexpected part of the incident came when Busch used his front bumper to shove Harvick’s car out of his way. The result was Harvick’s now unmanned car making a sharp ninety degree left turn nose first into the pit wall.

That’s was the breaking point for NASCAR officials. The following Tuesday they announced that both drivers were fined $25,000 and placed on probation for the next four Sprint Cup championship points races.

In the aftermath of this announcement, Kerry Tharp, NASCAR Senior Director of Communications, made it clear that the penalties had nothing to do with the on track contact between the two drivers. That part of the incident fell within the parameters of “have at boys.”

Tharp did make it clear that the decision to penalize these two drivers was based on what happened on pit road and the safety issues that came with it. Harvick’s unmanned car bounced off of the wall in the midst of NASCAR officials, crew members and the media who had already gathered on pit road.

Last Wednesday Tharp made an appearance on the Sirius/XM’s Radio program “Sirius Speedway”, hosted by Dave Moody, to further clarify NASCAR’s position on the penalties. He made it clear that NASCAR has to, and absolutely will, maintain a safe environment on pit road.

Tharp also explained that the two drivers were fined equally because each of them had a level of responsibility while parked on pit road. He also pointed out that both drivers had enough time, while sitting inside of their cars, to calm down and drive away from each other which would have been a far better judgment call.

During the course of that radio interview, Tharp indicated that there would be no changes to the policy of “have at it boys” and further pointed out that NASCAR felt the drivers have done a good job in policing their own matters. “We’ve seen some terrific, hard racing over the last couple of years and I think the policy is alive and well,” he added. That’s certainly true.

Regarding the status of drivers Montoya and Newman, Tharp indicated that he didn’t feel there would be any penalty coming their way. Despite the alleged intensity of last Friday’s meeting, Tharp said it was clear that they eventually got the message and their respective Darlington performances reflected very hard, but very clean, racing. This is also a good call. Montoya versus Newman easily falls within the parameters of the “have at it boys” policy.

There’s is, however, one intriguing element with last Tuesday’s penalty announcement, regarding Harvick and Busch.It lies within the carefully worded semantics of the press release. The wording specifically states “probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events.”

Every NASCAR fan in the world is well aware of what’s on the schedule during the evening of May 21st. It’s the annual Sprint Cup Showdown and All Star events. This particular evening is the perfect example of a non championship points event. It’ also well known that this event is famous for no holes barred, winner take all racing.

This is not to imply that anyone of these four drivers will intentionally be out on the track looking for their rivals May 21st. However, I’m thinking that many of you have already considered the possibility and can’t wait for the All Star evening at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Over the years we have all had a tendency to occasionally point a critical finger at some of NASCAR’s policies and decisions. However, in this case, last Tuesday’s announced decision regarding these four drivers was spot on and NASCAR deserves to be congratulated. Their sense of justice from Darlington was both well thought out and fair.

[media-credit name=”Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]”Thunder In Carolina” is the name of a 1960 movie starring actor Rory Calhoun. The majority of the film was shot at Darlington Raceway and depicted an underdog race team trying to make it to the NASCAR limelight. The sentiment from that old movie certainly rang true last Saturday night at the conclusion of the Showtime Southern 500 when victory lane was emotionally charged by the presence of a first time winner.

Unfortunately this magic moment was overshadowed by the arrival of NASCAR’s latest feud after the race which came on the heels of round two of the feud that stemmed from the Richmond race the week before.

But first let’s accent the positive:

HOORAH to driver Regan Smith for accomplishing the one goal every NASCAR dreams of: the first ever win in a national touring series. The fact that his first ever win came at a historic race track that helped create the Hall Of Fame heroes of the sport didn’t escape Smith’s attention. “Legends win this race,” he said “I’m not supposed to win this race, I’ve never even had a top five.”

HOORAH to Pete Rondeau, the race winning crew chief, who made the gutsy ‘all in” call to keep his driver on the track, during the next to the last caution flag late in the race. That call gave Smith the track position he needed to set up the winning move over runner up Carl Edwards.

HOORAH to Edwards, for showing a great deal of class, by being the first to congratulate NASCAR’s newest first time winner. There were quite a few Sprint Cup drivers who visited victory lane to offer their congratulations and Smith admitted that he was overwhelmed by the respect from his peers.

HOORAH to Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser who first put this organization together back in 2006. At a time when nearly all of the Sprint Cup teams are headquartered in the general area of Charlotte-North Carolina, Visser chose to keep his team close to his home of Denver-Colorado and that alone presents a challenge for this small, single car, team that only has 64 employees.

Visser gets another HOORAH for enhancing his team with the presence of sub contractors. The team receives their chassis and race parts from Richard Childress Racing, the power plants from Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines and their pit road crew is supplied by Stewart-Haas Racing. That’s some very heavy back up.

A special HOORAH goes out to the race winner’s mom who had a very special reason for not being in victory lane with her son during Mother’s Day weekend. Lee Smith, who normally attends all of her son’s races, is an animal rights activist. She was in Tuscaloosa-Alabama helping to rescue lost animals who were separated from their families in the wake of the devastating tornadoes that landed in that area.

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From one of her greatest hits, legendary singer Bonnie Raitt sang “let’s give them something to talk about.” HOORAH to Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch for giving us something to talk about. Who’s to bless and who’s to blame in NASCAR’s latest driver feud is a debate that will rage on for the next several days.

However, WAZZUP with the collateral damage that came from all of the beating and banging between these two drivers? In addition to placing their fellow competitors in dire straits, the real victim was Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing team mate Clint Bowyer who suffered a hard hit into the inside front stretch wall.

WAZZUP with the extended contact, after the yellow caution flag was thrown, when Busch hooked Harvick’s car and sent him head on into the outside front stretch wall in front of oncoming traffic? It was a very dangerous situation.

Then there was the matter of the extra curricular activity between these two drivers on pit road after the race. Whether or not that’s a WAZZUP or a HOORAH I suppose depends on how you feel about pit road contact or how you feel about the individual driver. Harvick climbed out of his car and threw a left hook past Busch’s window net. Whether or not the punch connected is uncertain. It was hard to tell from the camera angle.

Busch does deserve a WAZZUP for pushing Harvick’s unmanned race car out of his way. The car rolled to the left and bounced off of the pit road wall. The problem here was the fact that there were a lot of people, especially media photographers, standing there when the Harvick car was launched.

Then there was the matter of the members from the two team’s pit crew squaring off against each other in the garage area. A genuine HOORAH goes to that NASCAR official who placed himself between the two groups and ordered them to stand down. I wish I had that gentleman’s name. He was standing in the midst of angry people considerably larger than he was. He deserves a lot a credit for a job well done.

Needless to say both drivers were summoned to the NASCAR trailer after the race. Afterwards, both drivers had smiles on their faces but had very little to say about what was discussed inside of the trailer. Has NASCAR’s latest driver feud been resolved? I hardly think so.

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Even the “Twitter” comments were rather sparse regarding this incident. It seems everyone was being rather careful regarding how they approached this controversial topic. But HOORAHS goes out to a few “Twitter” accounts that provided some entertaining reading.

There were two comments from Kevin Harvick himself who tweeted “great car and it got a little exciting at the end. I love racing.” In his second tweet Harvick, during the course of wishing everyone happy Mother’s day, took a chocolate covered opportunity to endorse one of his sponsors while slamming one of Busch’s sponsors. In that message Harvick wrote: “if we get our moms candy make sure it’s Reese’s Pieces and not M&M’s. Right?”

However Mrs Harvick was a little more forthcoming in her “Twitter” messages. Right after the on track incident she wrote “are you freaking kidding me?” She followed that message with a second comment that read “good way to hurt somebody #18, (Busch). Nice hook on the front straightaway, A-hole.”

When it comes to candid, and often hilarious, comments you can always count on Kenny Wallace. Calling the incident great for the sport, Wallace wrote “my friends do not over analyze the Harvick-Busch fun. It’s two great drivers going at it. I have seen this movie before.” He backed that message up with a second tweet that read “my favorite part was when Harvick’s crew ran after Kyle Busch’s car like the “Keystone Cops.” ha ha ha hilarious.” This is why everyone loves “Herman The German.”

The most unique “Twitter” message of all came from “Queers 4 Gears Dot Com.” Yes, you read that right. This is a website for racing fans from the gay and lesbian community that, over the past two years, seems to be picking up a lot of avid readership. Their message stated “call your Congressman and ask him to pressure President Obama to release the photos of Kyle and Kevin in the NASCAR hauler.” You just have to love that.

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If you think that drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman are thinking HOORAH to Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch for diverting the attention away from them you’re probably right. Montoya and Newman are of course the principals in NASCAR’s other driver’s feud that stems from the Richmond race.

On Friday NASCAR officials called the drivers to their trailer where they were informed that this was their final warning and their on track activities during the Darlington race would be closely monitored. This was followed by published reports, led by “Fox Sports Dot Com”, that said there was actually a physical confrontation between these two drivers. When asked about it after the meeting, a surly Montoya reportedly said “I’m not going to tell you s***, let’s leave it at that.”

WAZZUP with Montoya allegedly saying “Newman hits like a girl?” Considering Newman’s overall size and shape, I find that very had to imagine.

On Friday Kerry Tharpe calmly said “the meeting did not go as well as we had hoped it would.” However, the issues of these two driver feuds are far from over. Early Monday morning Tharpe announced that NASCAR plans to take a very close look at both of these off track incidents to determine if any further action is required.

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In some final thoughts this week WAZZUP with the horrible circumstances that plagued Richard Childress Racing during the Darlington weekend? In addition to the aforementioned crash damage to the Harvick and Bowyer cars, there was also a late race blown engine in Jeff Burton’s Chevrolet. This is a driver and team whose bad racing luck defies believability.

Even the organization’s fourth team, the #27 Chevrolet of Paul Menard, had some tough moments on, of all places, pit road. Following some contact from another car, Menard spun on pit road and entered his pit stall sideways with the nose of car facing the pit wall. Fortunately all four tires were inside the lines of the pit box so the team was allowed to complete the stop without a penalty.

Then, later in the race, a Menard crew member was attempting to remove a piece of tape from the front grill of the car. The jack man released the car, Menard hit the gas to leave the pit box and came very close to running over the crew member. You can bet “RC” was more than happy to leave South Carolina Saturday night.

WAZZUP with that unusual race accident between the cars of David Ragan and Brian Vickers? Following some contact Ragan’s Ford slid sideways and hit Vicker’s Toyota. The nose of the Ford ran down the left side of the Toyota and, like a giant can opener, literally peeled the sheet metal off from the front to the rear bumper. The contact also destroyed the energy absorbing safety foam installed in the driver’s door. There were multiple pieces of blue foam flying through the air and landing on the track. Even by Darlington Raceway standards this was a rather bizarre set of circumstances.

We close this week with a GOD BLESS to Kate and Carl Edwards who welcomed their second child. Michael Edwards became the newest member of the NASCAR nation last Wednesday weighing in a eight pounds and six ounces. All members of the family are reported to be just fine.

“And there’s a fight in the infield between Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough…”

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]It’s been over thirty years since that historic day in Daytona Beach, Florida, and seemingly since then NASCAR has been attempting to recapture that entertaining magic of the 1979 Daytona 500. The larger the sport grew, the more blasé it became to long time fans, eventually culminating with NASCAR’s 2010 proclamation of the “Have At It” philosophy.

Ardent purist racing fans applauded, happy that drivers would finally have the chance to once again settle their problems on the track. Excitement grew with the knowledge that their favorite driver will once again be able to carry their emotions on their sleeve for all to see.

Now, a little over a year after NASCAR’s announcement, we as the followers of the sport have to step back and question if the spirit of this statement is being followed.

In the past year we have had a driver feud escalate to point of sending a car careening into the catch fence at 180 miles per hour. Those same drivers were involved in an altercation in which one was spun, driver’s side, directly into the path of the entire field merely out of spite and the thirst for victory. Tonight, we had one driver purposefully send a driver-less car down a pit road full of people.

Entertaining? Perhaps. But there comes a point when enough is enough. NASCAR’s attitude on enforcing this policy is eerily similar to their stance on driver safety fifteen years ago. The thought that “As long as the product is entertaining, why should we intervene?” seems to be the driving force behind what exactly is too much emotion.

Eventually, if this continues, someone will be injured. It could be another driver, a team member or even a fan. Is that small injection of entertainment truly worth that price?

By all means, let the drivers show their emotions both on and off the track. Let them duke it out at 170 miles per hour or out back behind the haulers. There needs to be limits, however, to make sure events like tonight do not have a more tragic result.

So please, for the sake of the sport, and all of those in it, let the boys “Have At It”…  just not at the risk to others safety.