Category: NASCAR Cup Series

So, what did we learn at Michigan?

Well, we learned why Kevin Harvick is so darned happy. He is first in the standings, the hottest driver in recent weeks, and the first to lock his way into the Chase. So, why not add his third win of the season to the mix? Those ten Chase bonus points for the victory has him only 20 behind Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin when they re-set the points next month.

We learned it was not a good day to be a Hendrick driver. Johnson looked good early, but found himself slipping back in the second half of the event to finish a fortunate 12th. He was the best of the lot. Mark Martin creased the wall early, and his 28th place result was one behind Jeff Gordon, who had a tire go down at the three-quarter pole. As for Dale Earnhardt Jr, he was 19th on a day we noticed David Ragan a heck of a lot more.

We learned that those who led the first half of the event were not necessarily the guys we saw up there at the end. Harvick, Greg Biffle (4th) and Tony Stewart (6th) proved to be the exceptions. Denny Hamlin came from the outback at the start to be the runner-up, while emerging from somewhere in the twilight zone was Carl Edwards to earn third.

We learned that Ryan Newman was not happy with Joey Logano. We don’t know if their post-race argument, including a shove from the veteran, was about the racing deal that saw Newman go for a spin or if it resulted from Logano trying to criticize the Rocketman’s driving style. If he thought Newman drove aggressively, he now knows the man also argues the same way.

We learned it was a good day for Jack Roush to make his return after his latest plane crash. Biffle and Matt Kenseth finished right behind Edwards, while Ragan was 11th. With Roush now surviving two such accidents in just over eight years, I suggest he might wish to avoid future such landings and take up parachuting. Going up is fine, but he needs a new plan coming down.

We learned that Kurt Busch could have used a different engine. Maybe one that might last more than 60 miles before blowing up. Two DNF’s in his last three is not good, but even though he fell to tenth in the standings, he is in a Chase place by a good 200 points.

We learned that Clint Bowyer would regain the final invitation to the fall ball, though by just 35 points over Martin with three races to go before the deadline. Newman, Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, and Junior are also close enough to grab it if all goes very well for them at Bristol. I suggest, however, that no one hold their breath on that happening.

One of the circuits marquee tracks is next on the schedule, a place Johnson claimed the prize in the spring and where Kyle Busch swept the pair in 2009. It is where legends visit Victory Lane, including three Hall of Famers and seventeen Cup champions since 1961. Bristol is indeed hallowed ground.

One of NASCAR’s most passionate racers is Max Papis, the ebullient driver of the No. 13 Geico Toyota Camry, affectionately nicknamed ‘Mad Max’. But right next to him is his petite yet powerful wife Tatiana.

Tatiana Papis, originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, is no stranger to the world of racing. After all, Tatiana’s maiden name is Fittipaldi and she just happens to be the daughter of famed racer Emerson Fittipaldi and cousin to Formula One and CART racer Christian Fittipaldi.

“That’s how I got into racing,” Papis said. “My parents were divorced but when I would spend summer vacation with my dad, I would go to all the IndyCar races with him and I really liked it.”

“That’s how I met Max,” Papis continued. “He was really good friends with my cousin Christian who raced in Champ car too.”

For Tatiana, it was not necessarily love at first sight. But she admits that “Max was very persistent.”

“I was quite annoyed in the beginning,” Papis said. “But then we fell in love and we’ve been together ever since.”

Although Tatiana and Max have been together for eleven years, they have only been living the NASCAR life for the past two years. Papis moved into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last year, after serving as the “road course test guy” for Hendrick Motorsports.

In the midst of living their NASCAR dream, the couple also is balancing their parenting of two young children, Marco, aged four and Mateo, a precocious one and a half year old. That balancing act, wife as well as mom, has been one of the biggest juggling acts according to Tatiana.

“It’s really hard to balance,” Papis said. “Sometimes we don’t bring the kids so we can have time. It’s hard to balance that. As Max would say, we’re one person and we do everything together. It’s been hard when that hasn’t been possible, especially with the kids. It’s really hard to balance that out.”

Papis does, however, appreciate some of the amenities that come with the NASCAR lifestyle, especially as it relates to being a wife and mother.

“We love it,” Papis said. “We are so fortunate to have a bus. When we traveled with Marco, I had to change him on the grass. We didn’t have a motor home. I would nurse him in a rental car. We didn’t have private planes but we did it. Now, things are a little bit easier.”

While the NASCAR traveling may be a bit easier in comparison to other racing series in which the Papis family has participated, Tatiana admits that the stock car racing world has its own set of challenges.

“This is the hardest racing world,” Papis said. “It’s rough with the competition and the lifestyle. It’s such a competitive sport and everyone’s out there for themselves pretty much.”

Papis credits their success in navigating living the NASCAR lifestyle to the strength of her relationship with her husband, family and friends.

“Max and I are very strong,” Papis said. “My family is in Brazil and his family is in Italy so we rely on each other for support. We have good friends as supports, other NASCAR wives that are good friends. We’re all in the same boat at the end of the day.”

Papis especially appreciates her friendship with several other drivers’ wives and has great admiration for them in their own right. She especially looks up to Krissie Newman, animal champion and soon to be new mom, DeLana Harvick, who partners with her husband on their own race team, Angie Skinner, Mike’s wife and substitute co-host on Sirius NASCAR Radio’s afternoon show, and Lynne Allmendinger, AJ’s wife, who has her own career as a practicing chiropractor.

“I think people underestimate the power of wives and girlfriends in this sport,” Papis said. “It’s not easy for us.”

In addition to her role as wife and mom, Papis too has her own career. She is one of the principals with MOMO, an Italian company specializing in steering wheels for race cars.

In addition to MOMO, Papis has another passion that she hopes to pursue, that of animal therapy with children and adults. She even hopes to pursue her PhD in psychology if possible to help her dream come true.

“One day when all this racing stuff is over, I’d like to use the psychology that I’ve learned,” Papis said passionately. “I love animals, I love kids and I’d love to use animals in therapy with adults and kids. So, one day I think of getting my PhD.”

But for now, Papis is concentrating on pursuing her family’s current dream, racing at the highest level of NASCAR.

“The most fulfilling is living this dream,” Papis said. “Max’s dad passed away in December of 2006 and he promised his dad that he would make it to NASCAR. We look back now and we’re here and we’re doing it. No matter how hard and how many sacrifices, we’re living that dream.”

“So many people dream of this,” Papis continued. “We dreamed it. We made it happen and we did it together.”

“To be able to one day tell our kids what we did, what we’ve been through, it hasn’t all been pretty, but we made it,” Papis said. “And I think that’s what’s fulfilling at the end of the day. Not a lot of people can say they fulfilled their dreams.”

Yet, even with that passion for the sport, Papis understands that this racing will not be forever. And she works very hard to keep it all in perspective.

“This is only one part of our lives – it’s a really big part – but this is just one part of our lives,” Papis said. “It’s not going to last forever. But we’re going to last forever and our kids are. That’s what keeps us going.”

“When we’re 80 or 90 years old, this will be one chapter, a big chapter, but just another chapter in our lives,” Papis said thoughtfully. “There’s nothing like looking at our children and you realize you can go through anything.”

“I think in the end of the day, whatever we do, we’ll do together as a family and that’s really important to us,” Papis said. “Whatever happens, we’re together and that’s what matters.”

It all makes sense – Kevin Harvick needs a sponsor and Budweiser needs a new star driver. It’s a prediction that the majority of NASCAR Nation were predicting earlier this year. Well, this prediction may actually come true.

Harvick was left without a sponsor for 2011 after Shell/Pennzoil made an announcement in April that they’d be leaving RCR for Penske Racing driver Kurt Busch.

On August 7th, Marty Smith revealed in his door-to-door article on ESPN.com that sources were telling him that Harvick would have split sponsorship in 2011, with Budweiser taking the majority of the races.

At the time, Richard Childress Racing and Budweiser both had no comments for Smith.

Though Smith went on to add that his sources did say, “Harvick did himself a huge favor with the way he conducted himself in Victory Lane at the Shootout in February — beer in hand while saying and doing the right things in front of the company’s new management.”

Yesterday, SceneDaily confirmed Smith’s findings as their sources told them that the deal is close to being done and is in it’s final stages with an announcement coming next week.

Currently, Budweiser sponsors the No. 9 Ford driven by Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) driver Kasey Kahne. However, Kahne will be leaving at season’s end to drive for Red Bull Racing in 2011 and Hendrick Motorsports in 2012, replacing Mark Martin. As the deal looks right now, GoDaddy will carry their sponsorship from Martin to Kahne, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Budweiser, meanwhile, decided to also leave RPM after Kahne’s departure.

“Budweiser has decided to go in another direction with regard to its driver/team sponsorship and will announce those plans in the very near future,” Mark Wright, Vice President, Media, Sports & Entertainment Marketing for Anheuser-Busch, Inc., said in a statement provided by the company.

“We enjoyed our three-year relationship with Kasey Kahne and wish him all the best in the future.”

Budweiser has been involved with NASCAR since 1984 when they were paired up with team owner Junior Johnson. They have also spent time at Hendrick Motorsports (1995-1999) and at Dale Earnhardt Incorperated with Dale Earnhardt Jr. from 2000-2007. When Earnhardt Jr. made the move to Hendrick, Budweiser paired up with Kahne and Gillett Evernham Motorsports, which is now known as Richard Petty Motorsports.

This looks to be the perfect partnership, once again, for Budweiser, though one could argue there could be brand identity problems. NASCAR fans like to align brands with drivers, though with Budweiser constantly moving star-to-star, that could cause some issues in the fans eyes.

As far as the current sponsorship situation at RPM, officials haven’t announced any plans yet though co-owners Richard Petty and Foster Gillett said announcements are planned for the future.

So far they’ve announced a contract extention with driver A.J. Allmendinger while both Elliott Sadler and Paul Menard look to be following in Kahne’s footsteps. Sadler told SceneDaily last month that he’s had no talks with team officials and doesn’t expect to be back. Meanwhile, Menard is rumored to be heading over to RCR in a fourth car there.

With regards to who will replace Kahne, which could possibly be Marcos Ambrose, who recently announced that he was leaving JTG-Daughtry Racing.

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick was running sixth before suffering a flat tire on the final lap at Watkins Glen, spoiling a certain top-10 finish. He surrendered five positions on the final lap, and was nipped at the line for tenth by Jeff Gordon, his closest pursuer in the point standings.

“The flat tire cost us several places,” Harvick said. “Had it happened at any other point in the race, I’m sure the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil crew could have quickly remedied it, I’m guessing in well under the four months it took BP to stop their leak.”

“When the Chase starts, I plan to be right in the middle of the mix. I am definitely a legitimate contender for the title. Even my wife DeLana thinks so, and, as you know, what she thinks carries weight in this family. But her support can only do so much for me; the actual winning is up to me. Yes, I’ll concede that she wears the firesuit in this family, but heaven help me if she’s the one fitted for a Cup come November.”

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson was collected in a lap 70 incident involving Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton, who made contact racing into Turn 11. Johnson lit up his tires, and the smoke obscured the view of Denny Hamlin, whose No. 11 Toyota rammed Johnson’s No. 48 Chevy. Johnson eventually finished 29th, and dropped to fifth in the point standings, 328 out of first.

“We may only be fifth in the points,” Johnson said, “but we’ve got everyone right where we want them. When you say ‘Jimmie Johnson’ and ‘fifth,’ people get nervous.”

“That’s now four finishes outside of the top 20 in the last five races. Many have wondered if this team has lost its edge. Maybe, put there’s no need to panic. In the Chase For The Cup format, there’s no urgency to ‘make a stand’ when we’re ‘sitting’ on five wins. Trust me, the cushion is comforting.”

3. Kurt Busch: Busch posted his best-ever finish on a road course, taking second behind Juan Montoya in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen. Busch picked off Marcos Ambrose on the race’s final restart, but the No. 2 Miller Lite Vortex Dodge was no match for Montoya, who won by five seconds. Busch vaulted three spots in the points to fourth, and is 318 out of first.

“You know race sponsorship has reached its saturation point when punctuation appears in the race title,” Busch said. “Not to be confused with ‘punk­-tuation,’ which happens when I get slapped by another driver.”

“Now, you may have heard that I called the Hendrick drivers ‘pretty boys,’ and implied that had I wrecked Jimmie Johnson, and not the other way around, I would have faced an inordinate amount of criticism. It’s clear evidence that ‘looks can be deceiving,’ which, as the wives of many a NASCAR driver can tell you, can be a good reason for marriage.”

“But Johnson knows I owe him for wrecking me at Pocono, and I will have my revenge someday. As Miller Lite pouring through the Vortex bottle is my witness, my vengeance will be ‘liquidated.’”

4. Jeff Gordon: Gordon charged from 15th to tenth on the final green flag run at Watkins Glen, salvaging his seventh top-10 finish in his last eight races on a day marked by handling issues. Gordon maintained the second position in the Sprint Cup point standings, 185 behind Kevin Harvick.

“That’s 51 races without a win,” Gordon said. “That’s a long time, but everyone goes through their own slow times. You have to look at it in perspective—my wife went nearly three years without ‘delivering.’”

5. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin finished 37th after suffering damage in a lap 65 incident when Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota slammed Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48. Johnson lost control after being nudged by Jeff Burton, as Johnson, Burton, and Kyle Busch went three wide into Turn 11. It was Hamlin’s worst finish of the year and dropped him three spots in the Sprint Cup point standings to sixth, 338 out of first.

“I equate some of the racing at that fateful corner to ‘dive-bombing,’” Hamlin explained. “With that in mind, I guess that means if you put Kyle Busch in a Toyota, he becomes a ‘kamikaze.’”

“If it’s not a dent in my car, it’s a dent in my wallet. Now, I’ve had my ups and downs this year. Five wins earlier this year were followed by a $50,000 fine for some derogatory things about NASCAR I said on my Twitter account. So, thus far this year, I’ve experienced the thrill of victory, and the agony of the Tweet.”

“But this won’t deter me from using my Twitter account. In fact, I’ll be paying the fine via Twitter. I’ll simply text ‘K’ to NASCAR fifty times, and my $50,000 fine should be covered.”

6. Tony Stewart: Stewart finished seventh at Watkins Glen, surviving an on-the-track run-in with Boris Said on lap 66 that sent Said into the wall. As the two raced for position in the top 10 off of Turn 1, Said drifted wide. Stewart didn’t budge, held his line, and punted Said into the wall. Said finished a distant 38th, while Stewart’s 12th top 10 of the year kept him eighth in the point standings, 345 out of first.

“Slowly but surely,” Stewart said, “we are making progress. And that’s not surprising given the time of the year. It’s summertime, so one would expect us to improve ‘by degrees.’”

“Now, I may have called Boris and ‘idiot’ after our incident,” Stewart said, “but I have the utmost respect for him, as I do for any white man with an afro. I hear the ‘Said-head’ wigs were popular at Watkins Glen, and when fans don the fake hair, they often look just like Boris. So, I can’t feel too bad about knocking this road course specialist out of the race, thus creating another ‘dead ringer.’”

7. Jeff Burton: Burton posted his 12th top-10 result of the year, finishing ninth at Watkins Glen by employing a conservative approach that kept him free of trouble for the most part. Burton advanced two places in the Sprint Cup point standings to third, and trails Kevin Harvick by 315.

“That was quite a dominating drive by Juan Montoya, the pride of South America,” Burton said. “In the only race in the state of New York, those Yankees had to be taken aback by the audacity of a true ‘Southerner.’

“Of course, Montoya’s win, and standing of 19th in the point standings, begs the question, ‘Should any driver with a win automatically qualify for the Chase, despite his points standing?’ I say ‘yes.’ If there’s one thing Montoya can bring to the Chase, it’s international flavor.”

8. Kyle Busch: Busch faced an early obstacle at Watkins Glen, forced to bring the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota to the pits even before the drop of the green flag. After a spacer was inserted in the right rear, Busch charged through the field, and was in tenth place on lap 75. He finished in eighth, capturing only his second top 10 in the last eight races.

“We dug ourselves a hole early,” Busch said, “which is in stark contrast to our usual strategy in season’s past, digging ourselves a hole late.”

“I hear that I was partly responsible for the incident that wrecked my teammate Denny Hamlin. I heard that through the grapevine, and not through Twitter. Joe Gibbs says teammates should bring out the best in each other. Obviously, that philosophy doesn’t apply to Denny and I. We don’t complement each other, nor will we ever compliment each other.”

9. Carl Edwards: Edwards won the pole at Watkins Glen, and raced to his fifth consecutive top-10 finish with a fifth in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen. He improved one place in the point standings to ninth, 190 ahead of Clint Bowyer in 13th.

“I’m incredibly proud of winning the pole,” said Edwards. “You know what’s so great about starting in the front of the grid? It guarantees that Brad Keselowski won’t be in front of me.”

10. Greg Biffle: After topping both practice sessions and qualifying seventh, Biffle had high hopes at Watkins Glen. Those hopes soured on lap 62, when contact with Boris Said’s No. 83 cost Biffle about 20 positions. With his track position defeated, Biffle could only make up one position the rest of the way, and finished 24th. He now sits 11th in the point standings, 112 ahead of Clint Bowyer in 13th.

“Any momentum we garnered in the last two races has been lost,” Biffle said. “But we can quickly recover it in Michigan, where the 3M Ford will proudly display the ‘3 Eminem’ paint scheme, featuring Michigan’s adopted son and rap hero Marshall Mathers.”

“That’s actually not true, but here at Roush Fenway, we do refer to Carl Edwards, our svelte teammate of questionable character, as ‘Slim Shady.’”

With Four races to go until the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race for the Chase starts I will give you my predictions on who is still alive and who will make the chase, and who just won’t have enough to get there.

To me there are just two slots open for the chase and there are about ten drivers that still have a shot at those last two spots.

The first of those drivers is the man in 11th, Greg Biffle

Biffle won two weeks ago at Pocono Raceway. It has finally looked like that Roush Fenway Racing has finally turned a corner. Although Biffle struggled to a 24th place run on Sunday at the Glen, I believe he will make the chase with some great tracks for him and his team coming up.

The 12th spot is currently held by Mark Martin. It’s hard for me to believe I am listing him as a pretender but let’s take a look at Martin’s year. It’s a struggle for Martin to get into the chase. So you might ask what’s wrong. There are a couple things. Engineers from Martin’s team last year went over to help the 88 and Dale Earnhardt Jr this year to help that team be more competitive. My theory is “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!” and Mark Martin’s team wasn’t broke. However, it seems it is now.

I understand Martin’s in the chase now but to me this team is too far off to make the chase. Look at Sunday. Bowyer has a bad day and Martin has a chance to capitalize and ends up 19th. Not exactly chase material. Martin in my opinion will miss the chase and Rick Hendrick will look to improve this team for 2011. Maybe move some engineers back to his team so Martin can be competitive again.

Clint Bowyer is sitting 13th in the standings just ten points out. Mechanical problems had him finish 32nd Sunday, but fortuatly for Bowyer, Martin didn’t capitalize much. Richard Childress Racing has rebounded from the disaster that was 2009 and Bowyer has had some bad luck this year. However, Bowyer needs to qualify better if he wants to get into the chase.

Sitting 14th and 83 points back is Ryan Newman. Newman has had an up and down year this season. Lately, however Newman has gained some points, with back to back 12th place finishes. Will Newman get in? It’s hard to say. Teammate Tony Stewart has run much better as of late and who will say Newman can’t have the same late regular season surge Stewart has had?

Sitting 15th 94 points out of the chase is Jamie McMurray. McMurray has two big wins this season and is having a surprisingly really good year. Yet, his finishes have been really inconsistent this season. Should be interesting to see what he does with four races to go.

Sitting 16th is Dale Earnhardt Jr, who just continues to fall in the standings. In the last four races Earnhardt has fallen from 11th to 16th in points. In that same span he’s gone from 46 points in the chase to now 121 points out with four races to go. Momentum is huge for drivers this far out of the chase and Earnhardt doesn’t have any right now. I will wonder if Michigan will provide him any luck.

And the last driver who has a chance is Kasey Kahne. I know you may think I am crazy, but I still believe this team has an outside shot at it. Kahne needs to have four great runs to get in. Can he do it? Well fords run great at Michigan, he runs well at Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond. The tracks play in his favor. That’s the only reason why I don’t rule him out.

Looking at all these scenarios it should be interesting to see who makes the chase and who is on the outside looking in. What do you all think?

Four races to go before we lock in our Chase contenders, and ten look good to stay there after Michigan. It is not as clear for both Greg Biffle and Mark Martin who remain on shaky ground. Biffle’s record over the past ten events is only 17th best, not good for one seeking some distance. Martin is only ten to the good over Clint Bowyer coming into this Sunday, with the elder statesman not exactly burning up the track either as of late.

In fact, some boys still seeking a place at the post-season table have been picking them up and laying them down in recent weeks. Kasey Kahne has more than 130 points to make up, but he has been averaging 127 points per race over the past ten. There is still time to get back up there, but barely. David Reutimann, and Jamie McMurray also appear to be not going down without a fight. How they fare on the weekend could go a long way in determining how their stories will end.

Kevin Harvick leads the season standings, but Tony Stewart remains the one who has done the most lately. New daddy Jeff Gordon rounds out the triumvirate of drivers who seem to be peaking at about the right time. For them, wins are the thing, bonus points for which both Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin already have as they limp toward the final round.

Here is a look at our Top 20 drivers over the past ten events.

1 (1) Tony Stewart – 1468 pts
Has big mo, now needs a few big wins

2 (2) Kevin Harvick – 1442 pts
It appears this Bud will be for you, Mr. Harvick

3 (3) Jeff Gordon – 1420 pts
Putting off young Leo’s driving lessons until September

4 (7) Kurt Busch – 1361 pts
When Rusty drove the Blue Deux I didn’t need the mute button

5 (6) Carl Edwards – 1334 pts
One of just six who actually contended at the Glen

6 (4) Jeff Burton – 1326 pts
Got beating and banging with Kyle, but Jimmie paid the price

7 (11) Kasey Kahne – 1271 pts
Does he have enough time to climb all the way back?

8 (5) Denny Hamlin – 1254 pts
Went eyeball to eyeball with Jimmie and stopped fast.

9 (8) Jimmie Johnson – 1245 pts
Was looking for a break through, but that wall wasn’t it

10 (9) Clint Bowyer – 1239 pts
Had an achy breaky part

11 (10) David Reutimann – 1213 pts
Wins just two more and he’d be tied with his boss

12 (20) Jamie McMurray – 1201 pts
The Glen was good, but still too many bad and ugly this season

13 (16) A.J. Allmendinger – 1185 pts
The iconic #43 could be on its way back…next year.

14 (13) Kyle Busch – 1167 pts
Good to make the Chase, but not much good at the moment.

15 (15) Mark Martin – 1166 pts
Ten points isn’t much, but he’ll take it.

16 (14) Matt Kenseth – 1164 pts
Darn roadrunner put rocks in his parachute again

17 (12) Greg Biffle – 1162 pts
His date in the Chase could still wind up with someone else

18 (16) Ryan Newman – 1154 pts
Just needs one good race, but four more would be better

19 (19) Dale Earnhardt Jr – 1129 pts
Hope springs eternal, at least until time runs out

20 (21) Paul Menard – 1124 pts
After the adoption, I’ll be known as Ron Menard and own this site

As one of the originators of the NASCAR baby boom three years ago with the birth of daughter Ella Sofia, Jeff Gordon and Ingrid Vandebosch added to their own brood, as well as the burgeoning baby boom in the garage area, with the birth of Leo Benjamin Gordon.

“He’s happy and healthy and Mom is doing great,” four-time champion and second time dad Jeff Gordon said.

Baby Leo was born on Monday, August 9th at 8:53 AM. The newest Gordon weighed 7 lb. 2 oz. and was 19 inches long.

Gordon may be the most recent NASCAR dad in the garage area, but he is certainly in good company. Gordon’s Hendrick Motor Sports teammate Jimmie Johnson recently welcoming his first daughter Genevieve Marie.

Most recent race winner Juan Pablo Montoya, who celebrated a road course win at the Glen this past weekend, also joined the ranks of fatherhood recently, adding daughter Manuela as the third Montoya in his family.

Gordon notched another top ten finish at Watkins Glen before heading to the hospital for the birth of his son. He will next race at Michigan International Speedway this weekend and intends to participate fully in all race activities.

NASCAR’s two top series just finished a weekend of racing at Watkins Glen International. Twice a year (we’re including Infineon Raceway here), the sport’s top drivers are asked to get out of their comfort zone (if there is such a thing) and do what most of them never do but twice a year. In the meantime, the teams have to build special cars (sometimes two special cars) for these races and even hire “ringers” on occasion. For a group that is continually telling us that they are seeking to cut costs for the race teams, it seems kind of strange that these two events stay on the schedule.

In the half-century plus that NASCAR has existed, they’ve always ran road courses. My first memories are of Riverside, California and the first race of the season in January. As is the case today, some teams hired what I call “ringers,”—drivers from other racing series that had experience on road courses. The Wood Brothers had Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, and A.J. Foyt in their cars there, especially when they weren’t running a full schedule. And guess what? Those guys won regularly. In recent years, though, the regulars have won these races because their equipment is so good. The “ringers” usually end up in second-tier cars and give the regulars fits. Is that fair to the regulars who are running for a championship? You tell me.

I have always maintained that 3,700 pound stock cars have no place on a road course. These cars are too big, too heavy, and don’t handle well enough for the narrow courses at Infineon and Watkins Glen. Couple that with what is usually a non-competitive race and you have to scratch your head. I’m sure the 90,000 folks at the Glen today would dispute this, but you have to remember that most folks watch on television. On the tube, the race looked like a runaway. Sure, it was exciting back in the pack, but Juan Pablo Montoya had them covered with only a little competition from Marcos Ambrose. It was no surprise that both of them have navigated road courses for most of their careers.

With several race tracks wanting a date on the Sprint Cup schedule or even wanting a second date, it would make sense to me to eliminate these two tracks and move the races to these other tracks. This plan would save a race in the place where the circuit began and even up the competition a bit. I am sure that many of the Sprint Cup drivers would give out a sigh of relief.

Word came down this week from Atlanta that they would only have one race next year. Apparently the racing will be done 477 miles north in Sparta, KY. Rumors came out this week that California’s Auto Club Speedway will lose one of its races also, presumably to add a race at Kansas Speedway. A 50-year tradition is gone at AMS and a big experiment has failed at ACS. Will Kentucky Speedway be more successful than Atlanta Motor Speedway? Will Kansas Speedway be able to support two races or will it be the next California Speedway? Time will tell, but I know a lot of fans who are not happy, especially those in the southeast, which lost another track and another tradition.

See, if we got rid of the road courses, races could have been awarded to Kentucky and Kansas without raising the dander of the folks in the south. No one would complain about taking a race from California, especially if they added one at Darlington. That would be a tremendous peace offering to the core fans. But that’s not going to happen. We will continue to have road races and we will lose a great race at Atlanta, but the next time an announcement is made saying they are trying to save the race teams money, I’m going to laugh. To the powers that be, it’s money that matters. Their money. That’s why they call it a business.