Category: Featured Stories

Denny Hamlin Avenges 2010 Hiccup; Wins Subway Fresh Fit 500!

[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”238″][/media-credit]Denny Hamlin avenged his 2010 hiccup during the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup and used good pit strategy to win the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway.

“If you would’ve asked me at the beginning of the day, I would’ve taken a top-15 finish.” Hamlin said in victory lane. “Just an amazing job by this FedEx Office team. Just kept working on it. Every time we worked on it, it got better. Can’t thank them enough.”

The race came down to fuel mileage as Hamlin had the 29 of Kevin Harvick breathing down his neck down the stretch, but the 29 was short on fuel by just one lap, but still managed to finish in Second.

“You cut the fuel mileage that close, you’re figuring it right. So I’m proud of all my guys. When they come to a place like this where we struggled so much, and then race for a win, is hopefully what sets the tone for the year.” Harvick said.

Greg Biffle, who was one of the favorites for the race today based off his performance during the first practice session struggled for the first half of the race before finally picking up the pace.

“The guys did a great job with the 3M Ford Fusion. I wish I wouldn’t have tried to save so much gas. I probably would have caught the 29, but you just never know how much gas you’ve got.” Biffle said.

Jimmie Johnson rebounded from last week’s disastrous Daytona 500 to finish in fourth position, but because of the penalty handed out by NASCAR at the beginning of the week, Johnson only has 18 points coming out of Phoenix.

“We were concerned because I rarely get good fuel mileage. We were definitely concerned and once we cleared the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) we just kind of fell into a rhythm at that point and tried to make sure that we got home and made some points. Leaving Daytona in 42nd on the board wasn’t a good way to start the season. But I’m very proud of the effort. We had a very fast Kobalt Tools Chevrolet.” Johnson said.

Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, and Joey Logano rounded out the rest of the top-10.

Kasey Kahne ran into trouble during the very early stages of the race. Kahne got loose and hit the wall coming off turn 4 and didn’t finish better than 34th. It has not been a season to cheer about so far for Kahne and Hendrick Motorsports.

Another driver involved in the silly season was Clint Bowyer. He simply had no luck. The caution flew for him the first time for a cut tire which caused some damage to the right-front fender, but that wasn’t the end of the disaster. Bowyer cut another tire about nine laps later and hit the wall, but no caution was thrown. Bowyer finished in 30th.

Tony Stewart, who started on the outside of the front row, led early on in the race after passing Mark Martin, but fell victim to the new fueling system which was very similar to what Greg Biffle went through at Las Vegas almost a year ago. Stewart turned off his engine during the yellow, but the engine did not come back when he tried re-firing. Stewart ended up losing laps and wound up a disappointing 22nd.

“I just shut the car off like we did at Daytona and turned it back on and it never re-fired. That’s all I can tell you. I don’t know why it didn’t re-fire. I honestly don’t know. It’s not really my department. I just turned the switch back on and it never re-fired. I don’t know why that was; but it definitely cost us a good day.” Stewart said.

I personally witnessed the fate of Marcos Ambrose. Ambrose was inching his way into the top-5, but ran into a problem with his engine. He came down into Turn 1 and it sounded like the engine had farted. I tweeted “Ambrose is in trouble!”. He came around again and his car had begun to smoke and he pulled down off the track. It was sad to see because it looked like he was on his way to a great finish for a lower-funded Richard Petty Motorsports.

“We blew up. We are here trying to run for wins and run for championships and to trip over ourselves like that, it just isn’t going to get it done.” Ambrose said.

The only other incident of the day happened when A.J. Allmendinger got loose and made contact with Paul Menard on the front stretch. Menard was sent to the inside wall while Jamie McMurray, an innocent man with no where to go, suffered damage to the front-end. McMurray tried staying out and lead some laps before developing an engine problem and later went to the garage and was done for the day.

Hamlin, like many drivers, had made a two tire stop to acquire track position and eventually the lead. Harvick led the most laps today, but as stated above, ran out of fuel and finished second. Hamlin now has the point lead as we head into Las Vegas where last year Carl Edwards edged Tony Stewart for his only win of 2010 minus the Sprint All-Star Race. My pick for the race will be Carl Edwards. Last year, the event was plagued with a series of tire failures, including Jeff Gordon and David Gilliland.

What did you guys think of the race today? Let me know! Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/SirRyanTheOHara

On the possibility of a championship: Absolutely. I think we can do it if we continue to run well, but you never know what’s going to happen. Next week we’re going to an entirely different race track and that is what makes the first half of the season difficult. We get a lot of tracks that all have different dimensions for about five weeks during the year. -Hamlin

Unofficial Race Results
Subway Fresh Fit 500, Phoenix International Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=2
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	13	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	47
2	8	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	44
3	7	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	41
4	4	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	41
5	28	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	40
6	12	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	39
7	25	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	38
8	30	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	37
9	1	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	36
10	9	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	34
11	5	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	33
12	18	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	32
13	26	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	32
14	29	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	30
15	19	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	30
16	17	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	28
17	24	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	27
18	15	22	A.J. Allmendinger	Dodge	26
19	41	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	25
20	3	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	24
21	6	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	23
22	2	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	23
23	23	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	21
24	42	32	Mike Bliss	Ford	0
25	34	34	David Ragan	Ford	20
26	35	249	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	18
27	40	33	Brendan Gaughan	Chevrolet	17
28	36	38	David Gilliland	Ford	16
29	43	30	David Stremme	Toyota	15
30	16	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	14
31	20	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	13
32	14	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	12
33	11	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	12
34	10	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	10
35	22	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	9
36	32	10	David Reutimann	Chevrolet	8
37	21	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	8
38	33	26	Josh Wise *	Ford	6
39	31	13	Casey Mears	Ford	5
40	38	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	0
41	39	7	Robby Gordon	Dodge	3
42	27	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	2
43	37	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	1

March 4, 2012

Winning combination: Confident team and team owner has Sadler making waves

[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”207″][/media-credit]A year ago Elliott Sadler felt he was already in a hole when it came to the Nationwide Series championship.

Following a crazy third place finish in Daytona last weekend and after ending a 14-year drought from victory lane in the Nationwide Series though, it’s clear he’s hitting all the right buttons thus far in 2012. He went to victory lane in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon after leading the final 26 laps and holding Brad Keselowski.

“It’s a very emotional win, it’s been a while and we all know how long it’s been since I’ve been to victory lane,” said Sadler.

“Richard [Childress, owner] is such a great owner and when he talks to me he talks to me like he’s got confidence in me and he’s got confidence in our race team and he believes in what we’re doing and he’s giving us the right tools. And as a driver and as a person because I’ve been on the other side of the fence, man that’s all you can ask for.

“Luke [Lambert, crew chief] made some great calls today and it’s funny because I told him yesterday after practice, ‘Man, we’ve got a good car but I don’t know this is not my best track.’ He said ‘It’ll be your best track after tomorrow don’t you worry about it.’ It’s just cool to have that kind of confidence around my team.”

Sadler lined up third on the race’s final restart after having only taken two tires during pit stops. The dominant car, teammate Kevin Harvick, was buried in traffic after he took four. Quickly driving to a comfortable lead Sadler watched the laps clicked down, Keselowski unable to mount a comeback.

The win was the sixth in Sadler’s 166 race NNS career but the first since 1998 when he won at Rockingham. It was his first NASCAR win since 2010 when he won in at Pocono driving a truck for Kevin Harvick Inc.

It was last year that Sadler drove for KHI and came up short in the championship. Something he’s continually hard on himself for, the expectations had been set pretty high. A wreck at Phoenix in November eliminated him from contention but Sadler said on Saturday that was the furthest thing on his mind.

“Honestly that feels three or four years ago because last year was last year,” Sadler said.

“Yes, it probably affected the way the championship could have worked but we’re on a whole new deal, whole new season, whole new outlook with a different team. So honestly what happened here last year just felt like a long time ago, it did not weigh on my mind one second the whole weekend I was here.

“I felt like coming out of Daytona leading the points with a third place finish we just a lot of momentum on our side. It’s a lot different feeling than I had here last year coming out of Daytona 38th.”

Sadler is working hard on not dwelling on what happened last year or what could have been. He wants to learn from what he did wrong and apply it to his 2012 campaign as he chases the championship.

So far so good, he holds on to the point lead, now by 10 over another teammate, Austin Dillon. A week after leaving Daytona ecstatic just to have survived the crapshoot that is a restrictor plate race, the Virginia native heads into the season’s third week a winner and sitting in a position he never had last year.

Childress couldn’t be more pleased with Sadler and the rest of his RCR teams, saying he knew that he and Lambert were going to be good combination. Also saying that he “just knows” they’re going to be contenders for the championship.

“I’ve got all the confidence in our whole Nationwide organization and I knew Elliott could get the job done, I’ve seen him too close too many times last year,” said Childress.

“And have OneMain back with us as a sponsor and get that win early. And Luke, the talent, man he has the talent, he could go to the Cup side but for his career he and I talked about it, to stick in here for a year or so and whenever he’s ready he’ll be a championship Cup crew chief as well. And I’m sure him and our whole bunch will be chasing the championship pretty hard.

“It’s just the second race a lot can happen but I couldn’t be prouder.”

The praise he has for Sadler is given right back by his driver. Sadler feels that as an athlete you want to have someone there to have your back and with constant belief in you.

“Yes sir, 100 percent it makes a big difference, “said Sadler of having a team owner who believes in him.

“And anybody in here who has played any kind of sport in their life, whether it’s middle school basketball or baseball, if you have a team or a coach or somebody that believes in you, it gives you a ton of different outlook or confidence as a player or as an athlete. In my case as a driver.

“I’ve been on the other side of the fence when you feel like you walk into the place and the spotlights on you and they don’t really want you there. And you walk into this place [RCR] and everyone runs up to you and they want to talk about what you just did and where you came from and we’re going to kick their butts this weekend.

“I mean, the team meeting we had in the truck, I was like ‘man these guys believe, this is awesome. These guys believe, hell we’re going to win the race today.’ It’s just neat the attitude that they have and Richard’s had that the whole entire time. Even when I didn’t drive for Richard.”

More importantly for Sadler, it’s neat how far this team has come in just two races.

March 4, 2012
Nationwide Series Bahas’ Supermarkets 200 Lap by Lap

[media-credit name=”www.phoenixraceway.com” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Lap 1 – Pole Sitter Denny Hamlin leads early

Lap 6 – Trevor Bayne passes Denny Hamlin for the lead in turn one

Lap 7 – Brad Keselowski passes Sam Hornish Jr. while Bayne continues to lead Hamlin

Lap 9 – Hamlin takes the lead back in turn three from Bayne as Keselowski chases them

Lap 11 – Hamlin leads Bayne, Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Austin Dillon

Lap 18 – Kahne passes Keselowski for second while Hamlin leads

Lap 20 – Hamlin leads Kahne, Keselowski, Bayne, Harvick, Dillon and Hornish Jr.

Lap 23 – Harvick passes Bayne for fourth as Hamlin leads Kahne

Lap 26 – Morgan Shephard heads to the garage

Lap 35 – Hamlin leads Kahne, Keselowski, Harvick, Bayne, Hornish Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Logano, Sadler and Dillon

Lap 40 – Top five are the same though Stenhouse has passed Hornish for sixth

Lap 42 Caution for debris………pit stops for fuel and tires, Hamlin wins the race off pit road. Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Dillon got two tires while the rest of the field took four

Restart Lap 48

Lap 50 Dillon slid up big time coming out of turn four, kept it off the wall, falls deep in the field

Lap 53 Harvick takes the lead from Hamlin, over Kyle Busch, Logano, Stenhouse, Sadler, Keselowski, Bayne, Justin Allgaier and Kahne

Lap 56 Busch gets into the wall slightly off of turn two while battling Logano for position. Logano and Sadler pass him for position.

Lap 59 Keselowski passes Busch for eighth as Harvick continues to lead

Lap 60 Harvick leads Hamlin, Logano, Stenhouse Jr. and Bayne.

Lap 72 Harvick leads Hamlin, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Logano, Kahne, Bayne, Sadler, Busch and Allgaier.

Lap 82 Harvick leads Hamlin, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Logano, Kahne, Bayne, Sadler, Busch and Dillon

Lap 88 Kahne passes Logano in turn one for fifth

Lap 97 Dillon passes Busch for ninth

HALFWAY Lap 100 Harvick leads Hamlin, Stenhouse, Keselowski, Kahne, Logano, Bayne, Sadler, Dillon, Busch

Caution 104 Kenny Wallace hits the turn three wall after blowing a right front tire…..Everybody pits for fuel and tires: Denny Hamlin leads Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Trevor Bayne, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Kyle Busch off pit road

Restart Lap 111 as Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin run side-by-side for the lead. Harvick gets the lead off of turn four to take the lead

Lap 112 Contact between Bayne and Keselowksi while battling for fourth

Lap 113 Stenhouse makes slight contact with Sadler and Allgaier as they run three-wide

Lap 115 Michael Annett gets into the turn three wall after getting loose off the turn

Lap 117 Harvick leads Hamlin, Logano, Keselowski, Bayne and Kahne

Lap 125 Harvick leads Hamlin, Keselowski, Kahne, Sadler, Logano, Bayne, Allgaier and Dillon while Stenhouse battles with Hornish Jr. for 10^th. Stenhouse gets the position off of turn three.

Lap 137 Harvick leads Hamlin, Keselowski, Kahne, Sadler, Logano, Dillon, Bayne, Stenhouse and Allgaier

Lap 148 Harvick leads Hamlin, Kahne, Keselowski, Sadler, Dillon, Logano, Stenhouse, Bayne and Allgaier

50 laps to go Stenhouse passes Logano for seventh

Caution 38 to go for debris in turn four…….Everybody will come down pit road as they can make it on gas from here, some take two, some take four……..Hamlin leads Keselowski, Stenhouse, Sadler, Dillon, Hornish, Harvick and Bayne off pit road

Restart with 33 to go as Keselowski gets the lead on the restart while Mike Wallace is off the pace.

32 to go Sadler and Hamlin battle for second behind Keselowski

31 to go Kahne gets into the wall hard, making contact with Bayne, sending Harvick for a ride down through the inside paved area but he saves it

30 to go Kahne is off the pace

26 laps to go Sadler takes the lead from Keselowski off of turn three

25 laps to go Harvick passes Dillon for fifth so now Sadler leads Keselowski, Hamlin, Stenhouse, Harvick, Dillon, Hornish, Bayne, Logano and Annett

15 laps to go Sadler leads Keselowski, Stenhouse, Harvick, Dillon, Hornish, Bayne, Logano, Hamlin and Annett

Elliott Sadler leads the final 15 laps and wins

March 4, 2012

Elliott Sadler Wins At Phoenix; Breaks Long Winless Streak!

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photography, Inc.” align=”alignright” width=”231″][/media-credit]Elliott Sadler played pit strategy on the final yellow flag of the day, thwarting a potential blowout victory for Kevin Harvick.

Harvick led the most laps, but decided to go with four tires on the final pit stop and was never able to get up and challenge the front contenders.

This is Sadler’s first NASCAR victory since winning the Pop Secret 500 back in 2004 when he drove the #38 M&M’s Ford for Robert Yates Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. This is Sadler’s first Nationwide Series victory since the 1998 AcDelco 200 at Rockingham.

Brad Keselowski finished second, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished third, Austin Dillon edged Kevin Harvick at the line to take the fourth position, so that rounded out the top-5.

“We just came up short there. Elliott was able to get by us there early in the run. Our car would kind of level back off to his after a few laps, but the first few laps we just couldn’t keep pace with him. They did a great job and my team did a great job.” Keselowski said.

“We just couldn’t get going on restarts. We would get down to turn one and it felt like we were on ice for 15 laps and then once we got going we were really fast. We have to get back to the shop and do our homework. It is pretty disappointing. We wanted to come here and win and felt this was a track we always have run well at, we just couldn’t get it done today.” Stenhouse said.

Sam Hornish Jr. failed to defend his win from last fall, he finished sixth. Hornish admitted later during the race that he struggled with brake issues all race long.

Trevor Bayne, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, and Michael Annett rounded out the top-10.

Hamlin started the race on pole and led some of the early laps, but spent most of the latter stages of the race following Kevin Harvick before Kasey Kahne took the second position. Kahne on the other hand got shuffled back during all of the pit strategy and unfortunately hit the wall off turn 2. He later fell down a lap and finished in 18th despite running in the top-5 for a majority of the event.

During a long green flag run, Kenny Wallace cut a right-front tire and ended his day on the 102nd lap. Wallace, who started the race in the third spot was looking to break his winless streak that dates back to the 2001 Sam’s Club 200 at Rockingham.

“Man, I tell you what — the right front tire blew out like a bomb. It started pushing about four laps before that and I was telling my guys it was starting to push bad.” Wallace said.

Danica Patrick finished the race 3 laps down in the 21st spot.

Congratulations to Elliott Sadler on an awesome win and we hope to see you guys tomorrow for the Subway Fresh Fit 500!

Unofficial Race Results
Bashas’ Supermarkets 200, Phoenix International Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=2
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	8	2	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	47
2	7	22	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	0
3	2	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	41
4	9	3	Austin Dillon *	Chevrolet	40
5	12	33	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	0
6	6	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	38
7	5	60	Trevor Bayne	Ford	38
8	10	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	0
9	1	18	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	0
10	21	43	Michael Annett	Ford	34
11	14	54	Kyle Busch	Toyota	0
12	25	30	James Buescher	Chevrolet	0
13	17	88	Cole Whitt *	Chevrolet	31
14	11	11	Brian Scott	Toyota	30
15	13	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	29
16	19	44	Mike Bliss	Toyota	28
17	22	108	Casey Roderick *	Ford	27
18	4	38	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	0
19	18	81	Jason Bowles *	Dodge	25
20	24	19	Tayler Malsam	Toyota	24
21	30	7	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	23
22	28	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	22
23	32	23	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	21
24	15	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	20
25	31	39	Joey Gase *	Ford	19
26	36	40	Erik Darnell	Chevrolet	18
27	39	124	Benny Gordon	Chevrolet	17
28	37	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	16
29	41	50	T.J. Bell	Ford	15
30	38	52	Tim Schendel	Chevrolet	14
31	34	41	Blake Koch	Ford	13
32	23	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	12
33	40	4	Daryl Harr	Chevrolet	11
34	42	70	Charles Lewandoski	Chevrolet	10
35	35	28	David Green	Dodge	9
36	3	9	Kenny Wallace	Toyota	8
37	16	27	J.J. Yeley	Ford	0
38	29	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	6
39	43	174	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	5
40	33	42	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	0
41	26	46	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	3
42	20	47	Scott Speed	Chevrolet	0
43	27	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	1

March 3, 2012

Matty’s Picks 2012 – Race No. 3 – March 4, 2012 Subway Fresh Fit 500 – Phoenix International Raceway

[media-credit name=”www.phoenixraceway.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Enter Clint Eastwood; I recon so…

After the fiasco in Florida last week, I am happy we’re heading to a place that averages just 12 days of rain the entire year. Not counting my chickens before they hatch here, March, historically has been the wettest out of any month. Between the historical rainfall data, and the absolutely perfect weather forecast for Phoenix this weekend, I am confident we’ll be seeing a race on Sunday afternoon.

This will be the second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on the freshly face-lifted Phoenix International Raceway, and I am hoping a bit of new rubber will have worked its way into the 1-mile tri-oval’ish track in the desert. With the track being re-paved in the summer of 2011, PIR worked its tail off to try and give the cup drivers the absolute best racing conditions possible for the 2011 Kobalt Tools 500. PIR made numerous attempts to foster passing on the new surface including “tons of laps” by driving schools on soft tires.

Before this weekend’s Subway Fresh Fit 500, PIR has taken strides again to foster passing and work in their new racing surface’s upper groove. Phoenix International Raceway hired Colorado-based Bandimere Speedway to have a tire rotator machine work additional rubber into PIR’s upper groove. The program was conducted Feb. 25-27, one week before this weekend’s big event.

“The goal was to present the best possible racing surface to NASCAR and the drivers for this weekend’s races,” said Phoenix International Raceway President, Bryan R. Sperber. “This is a very important race in the NASCAR season and we wanted to make sure that the track was ready to perform.”

I like the races at Phoenix, and am looking forward to what Sunday will bring…

Daytona 500 Recap

Where do I start? Despite Mother Nature not cooperating on my Quarter-Century Birthday last week, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. Between the hype of Danica’s debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the re-birth of “the pack”, and simply the fact that it was the Daytona 500, last weekend’s race had a lot of hoopla surrounding it. The fact that last week’s Daytona 500 would be run in primetime on Monday night, Danica’s crash on lap number two, Brad Keselowski picking up 100,000 followers on Twitter, and the “fire heard round the world” all took the place of FOX’s regularly scheduled dramas on Monday night.

By now, everyone has heard the stories of the fire, Danica’s troubles, Twitter followers and everything other than racing, so I will skip to the recap of my picks. As you may recall, because Daytona tends to be a craps-shoot to pick drivers, my picks last week were determined by the random draw of playing cards.

My Dark Horse pick last week was a rookie in the Great American Race, however he looked like a seasoned veteran as he dodged accidents and hung around the top 15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remained patient in the pack for the majority of the laps on Monday night, but my quest to start the season off with a strong Dark Horse finish came to a halt with just four laps to go in the Daytona 500. Stenhouse was caught up in a multi-car accident with just four laps to go. The No. 6 EcoBoost Ford came home 20th.

Two NASCAR Series Champions got the start last week for Matty’s picks, and two series champions were caught up in the same racing accident.

Tony Stewart was picked via my random card draw last week, and was on pace for a strong finish just like Stenhouse, but couldn’t avoid the final incident of the marathon weekend. I was happy when the cards fell last Friday and I ended up with Smoke as a starter, but again Stewart will come out of Speedweeks without the Harley J. Earl trophy. Smoke found the front of the pack for laps 59 and 60 gaining confidence in his Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, and with a move of an experienced veteran, slipped back into safer waters for the remainder of the laps on Monday night.

It was just that move that may have caused Stewart his troubles at the end of the 500, as he was collected in the mid-pack accident with just three laps to go. Smoke brought his battered Chevy home 16th, and sent me home crying with no points last week.

Phoenix Picks

Winner Pick

Kasey Khane wanted nothing more than sending Red Bull Racing on its way with a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win last fall. When the Chase came down to the wire, Khane was in the hunt in a handful of the last 10 races, just lacked that last extra nudge to put him in Victory Lane. That extra nudge came at Phoenix International Raceway in November when he sent Red Bull Racing out of NASCAR with a victory.

Kasey Khane has this new racing surface at PIR figured out, and his speeds have been great all weekend. If it wasn’t for Khane pushing his Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet just a bit too hard entering turn number 3 on his qualifying lap earlier today, he would be starting P1 tomorrow afternoon. He was 5th fastest in the first practice on Friday and followed up his mishap on his first qualifying lap with a time quick enough for 10th on the starting grid for tomorrow. 10th just happens to be where he started last fall when he claimed victory on the new configuration.

Khane has been under a microscope since his announcement that he would be moving to Hendrick Motorsports last season, and the time has come for him to shine. The No.5 car has to be the favorite for Sunday, so if you’re able to give him a start, DO IT!

Dark Horse Pick

I hate to call a guy with an average finish of 12.0 at PIR a Dark Horse, but with just 312 laps to do business on Sunday, starting positions are critical. He was my Dark Horse for the race in November and he did not let me down, finishing 4th after starting 14th.

Jeff Burton was one of 36 drivers that tested Goodyear tires on PIR’s new racing surface, and he was the fastest driver on the track over the two-day test. He laid down a lap good enough for the 11th spot on the grid earlier today in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying. Its been a while since Burton has visited Victory Lane at PIR (2001), but watch for the No.31 to be close to the front when the dust settles in the desert tomorrow afternoon.

That’s all for this week so until next time, you stay classy NASCAR NATION!

March 3, 2012

Mark Martin Takes Pole For Subway Fresh Fit 500

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photography, Inc.” align=”alignright” width=”247″][/media-credit]53 year old Mark Martin took the pole for Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 away from Regan Smith with just one driver remaining to the applause of the fans at Phoenix International Raceway. This is Martin’s third career pole in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series here in Phoenix. His last pole in Phoenix came back in 2009. He ended up winning that event which turned out to be his first career win with Hendrick Motorsports.

“I can’t say enough for MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing), Aaron’s and my team giving me such great Toyotas. I want to make sure that everybody knows that having an owner for a driver is really, really special. I got this pole because of Michael Waltrip and something that he said to me right before I went to qualify and of course a great race car and a great team and everything else. Thank all the fans for cheering, that’s such a privilege to be still racing — thank you all.” Martin said.

Tony Stewart will start alongside Martin on the front row. We mentioned earlier that Stewart has one career win here which he won during his rookie season back in 1999. Martin also has only one victory here.

Rounding out the top-10 were Regan Smith, Jimmie Johnson, Juan Montoya, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Kasey Kahne.

Other notables include: Kyle Busch (12th), Hamlin (13th), Bowyer (16th), Kurt Busch (19th), Edwards (24th), Truex (25th), Kenseth (26th), Keselowski 28th), Jr. (29th), Gordon (30th).

“It was just awful. We have been way too free since we have been here and the track seems a lot more free than last time. We didn’t get much practice in the backup car with me wrecking the other one and having to put the motor in and all that stuff. That got us behind and we just missed it by a lot there in qualifying.” Kenseth said.

Hendrick Motorsports looks to rebound after losing 3 of their 4 race cars during the big crashes at Daytona. It looked like Jr. and Jeff Gordon are more focused on their race setups than Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne. Kahne looked like he had a pole winning time, but his car bottomed out a lot especially in Turns 3 and 4.

Starting Lineup
Subway Fresh Fit 500, Phoenix International Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=2
===========================================
Pos.	No.	Driver	Make	Speed	Time
===========================================
1	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	136.814	26.313
2	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	136.126	26.446
3	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	135.998	26.471
4	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	135.583	26.552
5	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	135.547	26.559
6	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	135.491	26.57
7	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	135.074	26.652
8	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	135.014	26.664
9	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	134.998	26.667
10	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	134.771	26.712
11	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	134.615	26.743
12	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	134.564	26.753
13	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	134.499	26.766
14	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	134.449	26.776
15	22	A.J. Allmendinger	Dodge	134.278	26.81
16	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	134.268	26.812
17	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	134.058	26.854
18	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	134.048	26.856
19	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	133.939	26.878
20	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	133.814	26.903
21	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	133.764	26.913
22	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	133.665	26.933
23	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	133.63	26.94
24	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	133.615	26.943
25	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	133.417	26.983
26	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	132.871	27.094
27	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	132.743	27.12
28	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	132.709	27.127
29	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	132.597	27.15
30	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	132.441	27.182
31	13	Casey Mears	Ford	132.251	27.221
32	10	David Reutimann	Chevrolet	132.231	27.225
33	26	Josh Wise*	Ford	132.081	27.256
34	34	David Ragan	Ford	132.057	27.261
35	249	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	131.685	27.338
36	38	David Gilliland	Ford	131.516	27.373
37	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	131.502	27.376
38	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	130.596	27.566
39	7	Robby Gordon	Dodge	130.364	27.615
40	33	Brendan Gaughan	Chevrolet	128.824	27.945
41	93	Travis Kvapil+	Toyota	127.845	28.159
42	32	Mike Bliss+	Ford	118.06	30.493
43	30	David Stremme	Toyota	129.092	27.887

The Nationwide Series race begins shortly and the Sprint Cup race will take place tomorrow. Hope to see all of the fans there! Follow me on Twitter for updates! http://www.twitter.com/SirRyanTheOHara

March 3, 2012

Sadler to drive for five with MWR

[media-credit name=”Michael Waltrip Racing” align=”alignright” width=”180″][/media-credit]Elliott Sadler and Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) have agreed to a deal where the Emporia, VA. native will drive five races in the No. 55 Toyota Camry.

As a 12 year veteran in the Sprint Cup Series, Sadler will be competing for the Nationwide Series title once again this season. He signed a two-year deal with Kevin Harvick Incorporated in November of 2010, after struggling to find a competitive ride in NASCAR’s elite series.

KHI merged with Harvick’s Cup Series team, Richard Childress Racing as Sadler was unable to win the a lone race in the 2011 season. Childress gave Sadler the opportunity to run the Daytona 500 in the No. 33 Impala. Sponsorship came from General Mills in a collaboration with Kroger, but Sadler was unable to race for the win as a fuel pressure issue deflated any chance for Sadler to be competitive.

Waltrip has always known that Sadler has it in him to run competitively in the Sprint Cup Series, but Sadler has never been given the right opportunity. With Sadler’s signing, Waltrip signs a driver such as himself.

Though sponsorship has yet to be named, the races Sadler will drive have been announced. The 36 year old will step behind the wheel at both Bristol and Martinsville races with the first New Hampshire race in mid-July.

Rodney Childers will be Sadler’s Crew Chief. Sadler previously worked with Childers at what was Gillett/Evernham Motorsports in 2008. But, Childers left RPM for MWR. Ironically, the two will now work together once again, even though it is on a part-time basis.

“We’ll pair him with Crew Chief Rodney Childers who builds really fast cars. We believe Elliott will do a great job,” said team owner, Michael Waltrip, who will race four more times in the No. 55 this year.

Waltrip and the MWR have an exceeding amount of confidence in Sadler who finished second in the battle for the Nationwide Series championship in 2011.

The signing could mean Sadler will return to the Cup Series for a full-time schedule in 2013. Sadler may drive for RCR, MWR, or even another team. However, for 2012, Sadler’s goal is to win the Nationwide Series championship.

Though the season has yet to get into the midst of the points battle, Sadler will likely battle Ricky Stenhouse Jr. once again for the trophy which can lock up Sadler’s return to the elite series of stock car racing.

March 3, 2012

Denny Hamlin On Pole For Bashas’ Supermarkets 200; Stenhouse Starts Second

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photography, Inc.” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]Denny Hamlin scored his third career pole here at the Phoenix International Raceway in the Nationwide Series and his fourth career front row start. He will start alongside defending NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Kenny Wallace shocked everyone and put his #09 car in the third place followed by the favorite to win the event, the #38 of Kasey Kahne. Trevor Bayne rounded out the Top 5 in fifth.

Sam Hornish Jr. looks to defend his Phoenix title from the 6th position. Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler, Austin Dillon, and Joey Logano rounded out the Top 10. Who is your favorite to win the race? I’m pulling for Sam Hornish Jr. I’ve been a fan of his since he began his career as an IRL racer.

Other notables include: Harvick (12th), Kyle Busch (14th), Yeley (16th), Buescher (25th), Danica (30th), Jennifer Jo Cobb (43rd).

Starting Lineup
Bashas’ Supermarkets 200, Phoenix International Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=2
===========================================
Pos.	No.	Driver	Make	Speed	Time
===========================================
1	18	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	132.979	27.072
2	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	132.92	27.084
3	9	Kenny Wallace	Toyota	132.885	27.091
4	38	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	132.768	27.115
5	60	Trevor Bayne	Ford	132.548	27.16
6	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	132.406	27.189
7	22	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	131.994	27.274
8	2	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	131.941	27.285
9	3	Austin Dillon*	Chevrolet	131.921	27.289
10	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	131.863	27.301
11	11	Brian Scott	Toyota	131.372	27.403
12	33	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	131.253	27.428
13	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	131.047	27.471
14	54	Kyle Busch	Toyota	130.544	27.577
15	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	130.473	27.592
16	27	J.J. Yeley	Ford	130.35	27.618
17	88	Cole Whitt*	Chevrolet	130.331	27.622
18	81	Jason Bowles*	Dodge	129.814	27.732
19	44	Mike Bliss	Toyota	129.613	27.775
20	47	Scott Speed	Chevrolet	129.52	27.795
21	43	Michael Annett	Ford	129.171	27.87
22	108	Casey Roderick*	Ford	128.935	27.921
23	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	128.843	27.941
24	19	Tayler Malsam	Toyota	128.797	27.951
25	30	James Buescher	Chevrolet	128.361	28.046
26	46	Chase Miller	Chevrolet	128.342	28.05
27	10	Jeff Green	Toyota	127.977	28.13
28	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	127.669	28.198
29	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	127.056	28.334
30	7	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	126.998	28.347
31	39	Joey Gase*	Ford	126.859	28.378
32	23	Jamie Dick	Chevrolet	126.725	28.408
33	42	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	126.712	28.411
34	41	Blake Koch	Ford	124.395	28.94
35	28	David Green	Dodge	123.809	29.077
36	40	Erik Darnell	Chevrolet	123.635	29.118
37	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	123.085	29.248
38	52	Tim Schendel	Chevrolet	121.155	29.714
39	124	Benny Gordon	Chevrolet	121	29.752
40	4	Daryl Harr	Chevrolet	118.839	30.293
41	50	T.J. Bell	Ford	118.033	30.5
42	70	Charles Lewandoski+	Chevrolet	115.972	31.042
43	174	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	120.886	29.78

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying will take place in about 15 minutes followed by the Nationwide race at 4PM ET. Stay tuned on ESPN2 or follow me on Twitter. http://www.twitter.com/SirRyanTheOHara

March 3, 2012

Martin Truex Jr. Paces Happy Hour; Kenseth Struggles Badly

[media-credit name=”Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]Happy Hour in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series usually determines who made serious changes on their cars and who didn’t make serious changes on their cars. Take a quick look at how the first practice session ended for these race teams. We didn’t even mention Martin Truex Jr. at all during the first practice and now we definitely are. The #56 NAPA Toyota was 22nd fastest earlier.

Clint Bowyer impressed as well as he was the runner-up in our afternoon session and he was 32nd quickest earlier this morning. Juan Montoya, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top 5.

Jeff Gordon looked pretty bad during Happy Hour until the very end. The #24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet was only 32nd quickest on the track. Gordon went back to the garage and his crew stayed there for about 15 minutes. The time in the garage definitely proved worthwhile as Jeff posted the 4th fastest time before falling to 5th. Gordon ran 59 laps.

Now, what happened to Tony Stewart? Well, he struggled. He ran over 54 laps, but only made it up to 23rd. Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 were Paul Menard, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, and Brad Keselowski.

Ryan Newman found success with his backup car as you can see he posted the ninth quickest time, but unfortunately you don’t see me mentioning Matt Kenseth do you? Kenseth ran one lap with his backup car originally. It was the slowest lap of anyone on the track. He went back to the garage, then ran another lap. It was still terrible. Kenseth went back out and posted the 38th quickest lap of 43 cars.

So, who is the man to beat this weekend? In my opinion, it is going to be a Roush vs. Hendrick weekend! I can’t wait to share the race with you guys. Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/SirRyanTheOHara

March 2, 2012
NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: SOME COMMENTS DESERVE TO BE REPEATED

[media-credit name=”Credit: NBC” align=”alignright” width=”226″][/media-credit]During that gap of NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers and team members trying to leave Daytona to get home just long enough to repack suitcases to leave for Phoenix there were several comments that deserved to be repeated. It was a time when one needed a sense of humor to get through a schedule that had been hopelessly complicated by rain delays in Florida and intense fog in North Carolina.

*************

Let’s start with Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth. Equally as large as winning the Great American Race is the national media tour that comes with it. Kenseth’s travels eventually found him in Los Angeles where he video taped a segment for “The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno.”

Leno had the Daytona champ performing the duties of a stand up comedian. The famed television host played the straight man and set up Kenseth’s comedy lines. The topic was the current price of gasoline. Leno repeatedly yelled “how high are gas prices?” followed by a one line response from Kenseth.

One of my favorites one liners was Kenseth saying “the last time Tim Tebow filled his tank, he fell to both knees.”

I keep hearing and reading about how stoic this driver is while, at the same time, I keep seeing examples supporting the fact that Matt Kenseth is actually very funny.

**************

Mother Nature demolished the Daytona 500’s original Sunday green flag starting time and sent the start to late Monday and the finish into the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It also created havoc with travel and personal appearance schedules. Adding insult to injury was the fact that airline flights bound for Charlotte-North Carolina, the home turf of the majority of the NASCAR teams, were delayed to the presence of intense fog.

That just added to the frustration of getting home but many of the weary travelers still managed to keep a sense of humor. That was evident in a “Tweet” sent by Joey Logano that read “just finally got home, the Daytona hostage crisis 2012 is over.”

However, the Daytona related weather delays weren’t quite done for Logano. The very evening he returned to North Carolina, he had to honor an obligation to have dinner with some Toyota representatives. This was following by repacking his suitcase, a short power nap and then back to the airport to catch a flight to Ohio for a scheduled personal appearance at the Cleveland Car Show. Afterwards, it was back to airport for a flight to Phoenix because it was time to return to the serious business of driving a race car.

Following their extended stay at the Daytona International Raceway, many team members checked out of their hotels completely unaware that airline flights were delayed and even cancelled due to intense fog in Charlotte. Many of the stranded travelers found themselves catching power naps in airport lounges during the long wait.

Taking a more philosophical approach to the situation was driver/team owner/TV broadcaster Michael Waltrip who sent out a tweet that read: “when you own the plane, it’s okay to be late.”

*************

The one group of weary travelers that everyone felt sorry for was, without question, the drivers of the Sprint Cup team’s car haulers. They rolled out of Daytona during the pre-dawn hours and arrived in Charlotte late Tuesday morning. During the process of unloading Daytona cars and equipment, and then replacing them with Phoenix equipment, these drivers managed to catch a little sleep before it was time to make the cross country run to Arizona.

Earl Barban, aka “BigEarl48,” wanted to let his Sprint Cup driver know that everything went just fine. Barban took a picture of the #48 Hendrick Motorsports’ car hauler parked in front of the race track backed with a tweet that read: “Jimmie Johnson, your race winning car has safely arrived at the Phoenix International Raceway.”

**************

There’s more than enough evidence the indicate that the social media has become a way of life in NASCAR. Even the sport’s officials are encouraging the drivers to use “Twitter” and “Facebook” to reach out to their fans. The theory really hit home during the two hour red flag delay, in the Daytona 500, following that now famous accident with the jet dryer.

That’s when we discovered that Brad Keselowski had a smart phone in the pocket of his driver’s uniform that he used to snap a picture of the burning jet dryer. After sharing his pictures and comments on “Twitter,” it was later reported that Keselowski actually tripled his “Twitter” followers who wanted to see his photo gallery.

In the aftermath, Jeff Gordon sent a tweet that read: “just like most of u I was entertained by Keselowski’s tweets during the red flag but always knew NASCAR didn’t approve of Smart Phones in the car.”

Then, later, Gordon changed his mind about telephones inside of a race car and, referencing his wild wreck during the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, wrote “spoke 2 soon about phone in race car. I’ll be sure to have mine w/me in case I’m hanging upside down again so I take a pic and tweet it.”

************

NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr has been offering his racing colleagues elaborate gifts for their help in improving his status with the social media. This was confirmed via a Tweet from Danica Patrick who said: “Stenhouse Jr said he would get me a really nice belt buckle if I could get “any”, (his quote), followers. Please help my friend and me.”

Driver Casey Mears was very happy to get away from the rain and fog from the east coast and found the Arizona weather much more to his liking. He confirmed that in a tweet that read: “gotta like the weather out here in AZ. Anywhere you can wear shorts, a T shirt and flip flops is a good place.”

********************

The down time, albeit brief, between Daytona and Phoenix did provide at least some opportunity for the drivers to enjoy some quality time with their families. When Jimmie Johnson returned home from Daytona, he took his daughter to her swim lesson. Sharing the Dad moment with his “Twitter” followers Johnson wrote: “I just got home from Evie’s swim lesson. It’s always interesting to be the only dad, (in attendance). I’m sure a few husbands will get an ear full tonight.”

Ryan Newman was yet another driver running a tight schedule due to a scheduled appearance at the aforementioned Cleveland Car Show. But, during the airline connections, Newman was able to share some good news with his fans. A “Twitter” message informed us all that he and his lovely wife, Krissie, are expecting a baby girl in July.

On the topic of sharing with the fans, have you read “Delana’s Baby Blog” yet? It’s a chronicle of Delana and Kevin Harvick waiting for the arrival of their baby boy. The blog is a blend of cute, heart warming and often very funny. You can follow the baby’s arrival on www.kevinharvick.com.

In the week 19 blog, Delana talked about being stuck at a Florida airport, due to the Charlotte fog, and not getting home until 630 am. She managed to get a few hours of sleep and, while singing the praises of window covers, wrote: “man, black out shades kick ass! ”

Delana also noted that normally she takes extreme travel issues in her stride but, being five months pregnant, long waits in an airport can now be extremely draining. In fact, she said it took her most of the week to recover from the Daytona schedule and wrote: “I’m pretty sure the black circles under my eyes were a dead give away to Kevin that he should avoid pushing my buttons, (and that can be extremely hard to do). Fortunately he’s gotten good at reading me and he was on his best behavior this week.”

March 2, 2012