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  • NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: THE NATIONWIDE SERIES TAKES THE TEXAS CHALLENGE

    NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: THE NATIONWIDE SERIES TAKES THE TEXAS CHALLENGE

    Make no bones about it the Texas Motor Speedway with its high banks, long straights and that sometimes wicked little dog leg can indeed be a serious challenge for even the most seasoned NASCAR veteran. Their latest test from this speedway will be Friday night when the Nationwide Series takes the green flag for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.

    [media-credit name=”Patrick McBride” align=”alignright” width=”262″][/media-credit]THE STORY BREAKDOWN

    What a difference a year makes. It was this time last year that Nationwide Series rookie driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was wondering if he had a NASCAR career left to hang on to. Now, for the first time in his career, he’s leading the championship points and is considered a true candidate for the Nationwide Series title.

    Stenhouse began last year full of hope and excitement. He was a Nationwide Series development driver for Roush Fenway Racing and everyone agreed he had a very bright future. But, after the first five races of the 2010 season, Stenhouse was tearing up equipment. He had two DNF’s, did not finish, along with an extremely high average finish ratio of 32.2. Making matters worse was the fact that he dropped out of the top 30 in the series’ owner’s points which placed him in the “knock out qualifying” group.

    Everyone, including the young driver himself, was truly convinced that the golden opportunity was over and he was going to be released from the ride. But team owner Jack Roush felt that the spark that drew his attention to Stenhouse to begin with was still there. He benched his driver, for a very brief time, to settle him down a little bit. The ploy worked. Stenhouse finished the 2010 season with three top five finishes, eight top tens and won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title.

    He carried that momentum into the new season as well. In the first five Nationwide Series events he has a top five, four top tens and one pole. His NASCAR driver rating has been placed at 108.0 which is 48.2 points higher than this time last year. Jack Roush has never struck me as being the type of person to run around yelling “I told you so.” But I bet that’s what he’s thinking.

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

    When Kyle Busch enters a NASCAR Nationwide Series race there are three factors that are automatically assumed. First, his Toyota ride from Joe Gibbs Racing is going to be strong. Second, it’s expected that he will drive his way to the front and if he doesn’t win the race he will at least dominate the event. Third, he’s going to be in a position to create some new numbers that will lead to new series records. Once again all three apply to Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas.

    Busch is the defending race champion and he will be bringing enough Texas sized stats with him to fill the trunk of a Toyota. In 12 starts there he has a record tying five consecutive wins that runs from the 2008 to the 2010 seasons. He also has ten top five finishes, 11 top tens and he’s won the pole two times.

    Busch has already won three of the last five Nationwide Series races this year. A win at Texas would elevate that number to four wins in six starts which would allow him to break the record for the best season start in the series history. The current record is held by Mark Martin who had four wins in seven starts back in 2000. Kyle Busch knows a lot about chasing down Mark Martin’s Nationwide Series numbers. He could also pass the 20,000th NNS laps led mark during the Texas race. He needs to lead 117 laps Friday night to accomplish that milestone.

    In 2005 the NASCAR records management system created what is now known as loop scoring data. They used mathematical formulas to determine new racing categories such as driver rating, average finish ratio and even the number of fastest laps run during all of their races. Under this system a perfect driver rating is 150.0. Since 2005 a perfect driver rating, in the Nationwide Series, has been achieved a total of 27 times. 14 of them were accomplished by Busch with four them occurring at Texas.

    At the Texas Motor Speedway Busch leads the series stats in driver rating, 127.4, fastest lap run, 518 laps, and he has an amazing average finish ratio there of 4.9. If you’re thinking Kyle Busch is the clear cut favorite to win Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300, you’re right.

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

    There are a handful of special guest seat assignments associated with Friday night’s Nationwide Series race at Texas that will bear some scrutiny. Joey Logano will join Joe Gibbs Racing team mate Kyle Busch in the line up.

    Sam Hornish Jr. returns to the series in the #12 Dodge owned by Roger Penske.

    Kasey Kahne makes another visitor’s appearance driving the fourth Chevrolet team entered by Turner Motorsports.

    Texas native and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular David Starr is also moonlighting in this race driving the #05 Chevrolet for owner Wayne Day.

    Paul Menard will be making his first series start for 2011 driving the #33 Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc and we’ve all seen what that car is capable of.

    David Reutimann will be doing double as well during the Texas weekend and will do a fill in stint for driver Ryan Truex in the #99 Pastrana Waltrip Racing Toyota. Truex is recovering from recent hand surgery. He sustained a fractured right wrist and a broken bone in his right hand quite some time ago but only here recently did the injury start to bother him to the point where he needed surgery.

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

    THE RACE BREAKDOWN

    The O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 is 200 laps/300 miles around the Texas Motor Speedway’s 1.5 mile quad oval.

    The race has 45 entries vying for the 43 starting positions. 13 of those entries are on the go or go home list meaning these teams do not have a guaranteed start in the race because they are currently outside of the NASCAR’s top 30 in owner’s points. These teams will have to rely on qualifying speeds to make the race. One of those drivers, Jeff Green, is guaranteed a start because he’s eligible to use a past champion’s provisional.

    The Nationwide Series new car will be making its official debut at the Texas Motor Speedway Friday night. Because of that factor NASCAR has granted the teams some extra practice sessions. Texas is one of four tracks selected for extra practice to accommodate the new race car.

    The O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 will be broadcast live by the ESPN2 Network with the pre race show beginning at 8 pm eastern time.

  • Putting Up a Fight: Jeff Gordon Ready for Second Texas Victory

    Putting Up a Fight: Jeff Gordon Ready for Second Texas Victory

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”233″][/media-credit]Among the races Jeff Gordon could have, should have or would have won in 2010 was Texas Motor Speedway. Instead Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet ended up on a wrecker in the garage. Entering this Saturday night’s Samsung Mobile 500 though, he’ll be atop many lists of ones to watch.

    After winning earlier this season in Phoenix, his Drive To End Hunger team hit a rough patch. A wreck in Las Vegas sent him to a 36th place finish, an ill-handling car in Bristol resulted in a 14th place finish and California was no different when he finished 18th.

    Last weekend in Martinsville Gordon was back up front and leading laps. He’ll take a fifth place finish into the Lone Star State where he won for the first time in the spring of 2009.

    “We haven’t always run well at Texas, but I am cautiously optimistic heading into the weekend,” said Gordon. “The difference in our performance in the spring and the fall races recently is probably just different weather and track conditions at that time of year.”

    The most recent Texas race, last November, Gordon and Jeff Burton engaged in a shoving match on the backstretch following a wreck. This week Gordon is in no fighting mood as he has had plenty to be happy about since leaving Virginia.

    On Monday he passed 50,000 Twitter followers and rewarded his fans by giving away 24-signed items. Tuesday he was with daughter Ella at cooking class when wife Ingrid informed him that son eight-month-old son Leo was starting to crawl. Gordon immediately tweeted he couldn’t wait to get home to see for himself.

    After the family fun is over, Gordon will leave for Texas and a race that he led 124 of 334 laps last year before being collected in a big wreck on the frontstretch. He had already knocked doors and fenders in what would be the start of a series of run-ins with teammate Jimmie Johnson.

    And while he’s had plenty of controversy at Texas, he’s also found plenty of success. The past two spring races Gordon has led 229 of a possible 668 laps. Add to those numbers on Gordon’s resume two poles, seven top-fives, nine top-10s and 581 laps led in 20 starts and Texas, while not statistically, has become one of his better tracks.

    It’s also one that he speaks fondly of when thinking about all the racing he’s done there and how much the track has changed since it’s first NASCAR race in 1997. Gordon finished 30th that day.

    “This track has always been one of the premier facilities – if not the premier facility,” he said. “There is no other place like this and it has really turned into a fantastic track. When we first came here, it was a really, really challenging racetrack. It was fast and the transitions were really abrupt and it was hard just to stay out of the wall.”

    For his aforementioned success, Gordon hasn’t been immune to the bad luck bug. Texas has been rough on the four-time champion, which is why it took until 2009 for him to finally find victory lane. Hard crashes and hard luck made Texas a track he didn’t enjoy racing on and it was where for the first time in his career he finished 43rd back in 2008. Those days are long gone and as the racing has gotten better, so has Gordon.

    “As the surface has worn and as we’ve gotten the cars handling better, it’s become one of the premier tracks,” Gordon said. “The racetrack itself has come into its own and made great racing with the groove widening out. It seems like it gets better every time we come here.”

    Should Gordon win on Saturday night he will have done so with a different crew chief than the one he did so with in 2009. Alan Gustafson now leads the No. 24 team who sits 12th in points entering the weekend.

    “Alan, the team I have talked about this weekend’s race,” said Gordon. “And we’ll have more discussions before this weekend. But, right now, I feel good about our plan for Texas.”

  • Chase Elliott, Johanna Long and Dakoda Armstrong Prove Racing is a Family Affair

    Chase Elliott, Johanna Long and Dakoda Armstrong Prove Racing is a Family Affair

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”250″][/media-credit]Up and coming NASCAR racers like Chase Elliott, Johanna Long and Dakoda Armstrong may have loads of talent but they also have one other thing in common, the love and support of their family. And each one of them has proven that racing is truly a family affair.

    Thanks to the coaching of his NASCAR champion father Awesome Bill Elliott and the unfailing support of mom Cindy, Chase Elliott is already proving that racing for him is filled with family. The young racer also recently signed with one of NASCAR’s most famous team families, Hendrick Motorsports.

    Elliott raced this past weekend at Greenville Pickens Speedway in one of NASCAR’s developmental series under the banner of HMS. With that start, Chase officially became the youngest driver ever to start a K&N Pro Series East race at the tender age of 15 years.

    Elliott followed in his most popular father’s footsteps from the moment he pulled into the historic race track in South Carolina. Fans lined up well into Turn Four to get the youngster’s autograph and the line remained until the session finally had to be ended so the race could start.

    Elliott, in his No. 9 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, qualified for the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 in the 26th position. His qualifying lap, at a speed of 85.531 miles per hour, was a definite improvement over his practice time but he still started the race deep within the field.

    Elliott had to not only pick his way through the field gradually but also had to overcome a spin on lap 97 to soldier forward. With 23 laps to go, the young driver, with his father in his ear as spotter, manhandled his way to eighth, eventually finishing the race in the fourth spot.

    Ever the competitor, just like his father, Chase Elliott had this to say after his debut.

    “The weekend wasn’t quite what we wanted it to be,” Elliott said. “But it ended up being a pretty good night for the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet.”

    “Having the support of your family and friends for any first time event in your life is always special,” Elliott continued. “I have been fortunate to have the support of a lot of family and friends that have been with me each step of the way.”   

    Just as family has been critical to Chase Elliott’s rise in the sport, so has the family of Johanna Long been instrumental in her move up as a rookie in the Camping World Truck Series this year. She too is following in the steps of her racing father, Donald, who raced in the NASCAR All-Pro Division back in the day.

    Long, at age 18, admits that she is struggling a bit to get that handle on her No. 20 Panhandle Grading and Paving Toyota Tundra truck. In the first three Truck races, she has finished 32nd, 20th and 31st respectively.

    “It’s going,” Long said of her Truck run to date. “We’ve had a lot of bad luck but every time we go to the race track we’ve been learning a lot.”

    “I’m learning and learning and learning.”

    Long was very excited to race this past weekend at Martinsville in the Kroger 250 this past weekend. She was able to harness her excitement to get her best finish to date, bringing her truck to the finish line in one piece and in the 18th position.

    But she still goes back to crediting her family for putting her in the position to pursue her racing dreams.

    “My mom and my dad and my grandparents and my uncle, they all own my team,” Long said. “They are a big part of my career.”

    “They have given me a great opportunity and I can’t thank them enough,” Long continued. “My mom and dad come to every single race and they would not miss it for the world. It’s really neat for them to come and experience this with me.”

    At age 19, Dakoda Armstrong may be the eldest of this group of up and coming racers, but he too got to where he is today thanks to the nurturing of his family, in his case from down on the farm. Thanks to his family’s support, Armstrong recently signed with ThorSport Racing to run a third team to current powerhouse Truck racers Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton.

    Armstrong will run the No. 98 Chevy Silverado for a select number of races this year. Armstrong will also continue his ARCA racing, where last year he won the Rookie of the Year honors.

    Armstrong credits his family with jump starting his racing career. He grew up on a farm in the Midwest, born in New Castle, Indiana.

    “When I was younger, we had cattle and we actually had to sell them so we could go racing,” Armstrong said.

    The investment paid off and this racer’s family farming avocation has even led him to several sponsorship deals, specifically with ethanol coming into the sport and the greening of NASCAR.

    “It’s kind of funny how it worked out,” Armstrong said. “My dad’s farming career and my racing career are starting to mesh right now.”

    “It’s been really neat and it’s a great experience for my family,” Armstrong said of his racing. “They really love it.”

    Regardless of their ages or current racing series, there is no doubt that all three of these up and coming NASCAR future stars have succeeded in moving forward in their young careers thanks to the love, support and nurturing of their families.

    And there is also no doubt that the parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles of Chase Elliott, Johanna Long and Dakoda Armstrong could not be more proud.

  • Martinsville May Be the New Bristol

    Martinsville May Be the New Bristol

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”263″][/media-credit]Martinsville is the new Bristol. Why? I could see it on the fans’ faces. Two weeks ago, a very low crowd came to Bristol to see some short track racing and what did they get? Racing that just wasn’t Bristol. Apparently, the word has gotten around that Bristol no longer offers the short track “rubbing is racing” experience that fans crave. So the fans stayed away. The 160,000+ seat stadium crowd was about half that. Enter Martinsville Speedway.

    Martinsville Speedway doesn’t offer the high speeds of Richmond and Bristol, but “the paper clip” offers lots of action and some of that “rubbing” that the fans seem to love. And boy did they get that on Sunday. The intimate venue gave us the best racing of 2011 complete with an exciting finish. The stands were nearly full (the official estimate was 60,000) and the fans were enthusiastic, especially when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took the lead late in the race. Old Junior even moved Kyle Busch out of the way with his bumper to make the pass. The crowd loved it. And they could clearly see it because there isn’t a bad seat in the house.

    At nearly the halfway mark, the bad crash that involved Martin Truex, Jr. and Kasey Kahne caused the race to be red-flagged. It was such a beautiful day that I ventured outside the friendly confines of the press box and into the concourse and the grassy area on the backstretch. My son, attending his first race at Martinsville, something my father and I did long ago, was sitting there and he made the most prolific statement of the day. “Dad,” he said, “this is a lot better than Charlotte.” Indeed.

    The race had it all. We saw close racing, a most popular driver finally lead a race, and action on every lap. Where else could you see this? Well, earlier you might have seen it at places like Bristol, but the popular thing to do is to configure tracks so that the drivers can race without touching. I’m here to tell you that the fans do not want that. They want what they saw on Sunday.

    For whatever reason, Goodyear brought a tire that didn’t last very long and didn’t rubber up the track, leaving one groove for the drivers to go fast. That’s pretty much always been the case at Martinsville, but it was really extreme on Sunday. Double-file restarts were an exercise in futility. If you were on the outside, you were toast. So, if you wanted to go low, you had to do something to get there and that meant contact. The fans loved it. And for all the hand-wringing about the tires, they were hardly a concern during the race. It was as if the multitudes came to the mecca of short track racing to see just that since they can’t find it anywhere else.

    Martinsville Speedway may very well become the favorite of short track fans in the future. Tickets prices are reasonable, the venue takes you back in time when racing came down to who could make the moves to get a win in a small space. And while the high dollar speculators built palaces for these gladiators of speed to perform in, Martinsville has stayed essentially the same. The new improvements were noticeable, but they didn’t take away from the charm of the track built in 1947—the oldest track on the Sprint Cup circuit. From the exhilaration on the talk shows to the comments of the people on the street, it seems this is what the fans want. I hope everyone in the NASCAR world is listening.

  • Pit Road Discussion: Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Timing Speeds

    Pit Road Discussion: Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Timing Speeds

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”235″][/media-credit]Pit road is sometimes the worst place for a driver as they can lose a lot of time, and sometimes it can be the best place. This past Sunday, during the final round of the stops, it didn’t pan out  in Johnson’s favor as he was caught speeding the final round of pit stops.

    According to what NASCAR has told Johnson, he was speeding in the segment right before his pit stall. The explanation as to why he was trying to gain time resides in his closest competitor at that point – Kyle Busch.

    On every round of pit stops, Busch had it perfectly figured out where he could speed up and where he had to slow down to gain the most time. He marked his segment well and did it every time, always gaining time.

    When Johnson came down pit road on that final round of pit stops, he was set to get the edge on Busch so he could start in the preferred line on the restart. He tried to push the boundaries, though pushed a segment too early and got busted.

    A lot of questions have always surrounded pit road times and whether NASCAR is fair across the board. Johnson suggested that posting the times for all of the media and fans to see would be the best way to get rid of these questions.

    “If NASCAR wanted to eliminate speeding controversy, they would post the times for the world to see,” Johnson said during a teleconference on Tuesday. “Just let the facts be out there. If pit road segment times were broadcast live to review, it would eliminate the finger pointing.

    “We have this kind of controversy once a month, every couple of races. To have the data would be cool for fans to see and eliminate people like myself making comments and harming the credibility of the sport.”

    Though the negative side of that is it shows the type of strategy plainly that drivers like Busch are using. As Johnson said, it would de-emphasize the importance of specific stalls on pit road and secrets surrounding them. A large of winning races is about the strategy played out on pit road to get in position to win.

    As spotter for Brett Griffin says, “Picking pits is extremely important when strategizing how to maximize speed on pit road as it pertains to timing zones.”

    Do you we want to eliminate part of that for our own gain? Some critics say that it’d be a wise step to make as it’d allow for fan education and allow the fans to find another avenue in where they feel more connected to the sport.

    Another part of the discussions is if speeds should be judged on segment time or speed. Currently, they are judged on segment time, which allows drivers to push the envelope in the segment their pit stall in in. Johnson notes that he does like the flexibility that segment timing does bring. However, if they changed it to speed, no pushing of the envelope would be allowed. Is that fair to the strategy or is it better to do that to eliminate the questions?

    In the end, it’s all about pushing the envelope for most drivers. They are given a pit road speed and then 5 mph leeway on top of that. Instead of sticking to the speed given, they try to hit the leeway mark and sometimes that gets them in trouble. Looks like Johnson tried to find another advantage and it bit him.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Kyle Busch: After leading 151 laps and finishing third at Fontana last week, Busch duplicated the feat at Martinsville, leading 151 of 500 laps and coming home third. It was the third time this year Busch has lost a lead late in a race, and although he assumed the points lead after his Martinsville finish, many are left wondering if Busch’s killer instinct disappeared along with his “bad boy” persona.

     “Hey,” Busch said, “they said the same thing about the ‘new’ Kyle Busch as they have recently about a late Kyle Busch lead in a race: ‘It’ll never last.’      

     “They call Kevin Harvick ‘The Closer.’ I guess that makes me the ‘Close(r) But No Cigar.’ It’s amazing. The more things change, the more they stay the same. After winning at Bristol, I was considered the ‘one to beat.’ Now, I’m still considered the ‘one to beat.’”

     2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick was floundering in 27th before a red flag for Martin Truex, Jr.’s wreck allowed the No. 29 Budweiser team time to regroup. With a strategy established, Harvick methodically climbed to the front, and slipped by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with four laps to go, then cruised to the win. It was Harvick’s second-straight win, and boosted him four places in the point standings to fifth, 15 out of first.

     “That’s right, Junior Nation,” Harvick said. “Kevin Harvick sucks…. the wind out of a potential Junior Nation-wide celebration. But I realize passing Junior doesn’t make you the most popular driver. Being Junior makes you the most popular driver. But racing is not a popularity contest. You don’t win races by collecting the most votes. Junior fans should realize there’s no shame in losing to Kevin Harvick, just as there’s no glory in being named ‘Mr. Congeniality’ at season’s end.  

     “Early in the season, we were little more than mediocre. In fact, many of my competitors were calling me ‘Happy Medium.’ Now, the 29 car is the one to beat, and I, along with crew chief Gil Martin, have raised our expectations. Collectively, we’re known as ‘Happy Gil More.’” 

     3. Jimmie Johnson: After a caution on lap 465 brought the field into the pits, Johnson emerged as he entered, in second behind Kyle Busch, and a seventh Martinsville win was a distinct possibility for the No. 48 Lowe’s team. However, Johnson was nabbed for speeding entering pit road, and forced to restart at the end of the longest line. Restarting 15th, he picked off four positions, and finished a disappointing 11th.

    “I’ve won here like clockwork,” Johnson said. “Now I can say I’ve lost here by clockwork. I was shafted. There’s no way I was speeding. Obviously, there’s a vast, rite-wing conspiracy at work against yet another season’s-end ceremony honoring the champ, and there’s bias at play. NASCAR doesn’t want to see another Jimmie Johnson championship. It’s called getting ‘five-timed,’ and as was the case when Brooke Gordon got ‘two-timed,’ it’s costing a Hendrick driver dearly.”

    4. Carl Edwards: Edwards struggled at Martinsville, finishing one lap down in 18th and falling out of the top spot in the Sprint Cup point standings. He holds the second spot, five points behind Kyle Busch.

    “By no means am I a short-track expert,” Edwards said. “I’m no ‘ringer,’ but some, Kevin Harvick included, have called me a ‘wringer.’ When people think of Carl Edwards, they don’t think ‘short track;’ they think ‘short fuse.’”

    5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt led 17 laps in the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500, turning in his best performance of the year with a second at Martinsville. After a 24th to start the season at Daytona, Earnhardt hasn’t finished worse than 12th since, and has climbed the point standings to eighth.

    “I’m disappointed I didn’t get the win,” Earnhardt said. “But I’ll say the same thing countless fans have said many times over at the No. 88 merchandise tents: ‘I’ll take it.’ 

    “Now, should I fail to win at Texas, I’ll be the owner of a 100-race winless streak. Sure it looks bad, but I’m finally doing something my daddy never could.”

    6. Ryan Newman: Newman saw a promising day at Martinsville deteriorate quickly when a broken header pipe on lap 328 left his No. 39 Haas Automation Chevy with compromised horsepower. A subsequent flat tire and spin sent him further back in the field, and Newman eventually hobbled home with a 20th-place finish, two laps adrift of the lead lap.

    “A broken pipe, a flat tire, and a spin,” said Newman. “That’s bad for Ryan Newman, but even worse for Jeremy Mayfield.”

    7. Kurt Busch: Busch survived an eventful day at Martinsville, overcoming right-front damage sustained when he clipped Bobby Labonte midway through the race to salvage a 16th-place finish. After four-straight top-10’s to open the season, Busch has finished 17th and 16th in the last two weeks, and after holding the points lead after Bristol, he’s now down to fourth, 14 behind younger brother Kyle.

    “There’s good news and there’s bad news,” Busch said. “The bad news is I’m down to fourth in the point standings. The good news? Kyle’s in the lead, so I like my chances to improve. Brother Kyle holds a Sunday lead about as well as Greg Norman at the Masters.”

    8. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth was penalized on the first lap of the race for changing lanes before the start/finish line, putting him in a hole early. But the No. 17 Crown Royal Black team patiently battled back, and Kenseth regained the lead lap on lap 221. He eventually finished sixth, joining Roush Fenway teammate David Ragan in the top 10. Kenseth is now ninth in the points, 24 out of first.

    “I qualified 24th,” Kenseth said. “As such, you can never underestimate the importance of taking the 23rd position less than a lap into the race. NASCAR officials foiled my master plan. But that’s par for the course in the life of Matt Kenseth. Even my efforts to cheat are just as unspectacular as the rest of me.” 

    9. Jeff Gordon: Gordon posted his first top-5 result since winning at Phoenix in February with a fifth at Martinsville. He led 37 laps on the day, and vaulted four places in the Sprint Cup point standings to 12th, 49 behind Kyle Busch.

    “Hendrick Motorsports placed four cars in the top 11,” Gordon said. “Things are looking up for HMS. Or are they? I haven’t won in four races, Mark Martin hasn’t won in 51, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in winless in his last 99, and Jimmie Johnson’s hasn’t won a championship in well over 130 days!”

    10. Juan Montoya: Montoya finished fourth in the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500, charging late with several key passes to forge his fourth top-10 result of the year. He moved up one spot in the point standings, and is now seventh, 18 out of first.

    “I hear that my former Formula 1 teammate Kimi Raikkonen has signed to drive trucks in the Camping World series. It’s good to see F1 stars gravitating towards NASCAR. Years on the F1 circuit will prepare you for the rigors of any racing series, and Kimi’s vast open-cockpit experience qualifies him not only for a seat with Kyle Busch Motorsports, but as a Southwest Airlines pilot as well. Kimi will be the first native of Finland to race in NASCAR. I’d say that’s a good omen for him, as he’s already crossed the ‘Finnish’ line even before his first race.”

  • NASCAR Sprint Cup Point Standings Analytics – After Race 6

    NASCAR Sprint Cup Point Standings Analytics – After Race 6

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”266″][/media-credit]The announcement of a change to the distribution of points across NASCAR national series sparked debate among even the most conservative NASCAR fans.  One of the explanations behind the change was to develop a more dramatic points battle to increase fan interest.

    A debate arose over the fact that a quick calculation would show that very little, if anything, would change in the final championship standings. In fact, even among the more common point distributions across all major racing series, by the end of the season there did not appear to be much of a difference in the order of the final standings.

    Here, I shall contend that debate with weekly comparisons across the three most commonly mentioned distributions, plus my own personal points schedule designed to reward both race winners and consistent high finishes.

    On the left side of the standings is the difference between where they stand in actual Sprint Cup Standings and their position in the respective system.

    Classic Points System – Standings After Race 6

    Kyle Busch would jump to the top of the standings by 28 points over former leader Carl Edwards. His victory at Martinsville would jump Kevin Harvick up to third in the standings, 57 points  back, with Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman bringing up the tail end of the top five.

    Notable changes in position compared to current system: None really… as we move forward in the season it is becoming apparent that there is little, if any difference, between the two point distributions.

    F1 System – Standings After Race 6

    Last week’s leader Edwards drops two spots to third, while Kyle Busch holds a 7 point advantage over Kevin Harvick. Jimmie Johnson is a distant 29 points back and Juan Pablo Montoya makes his first appearance in the top five this season.

    Drivers without points: David Reutimann,  Jeff Burton, Joey Logano

    Notable changes in position compared to current system: David Gilliand (+16), Regan Smith (+8), Jeff Gordon (+6), Kurt Busch (-8), A.J. Allmendinger (-13), Mark Martin (-16)

    IndyCar System – Standings After Race 6

    Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards once again chase Kyle Busch, this time by 15 and 16 points respectively, with Jimmie Johnson and Juan Pablo Montoya rounding out the top five.

    Notable changes in position compared to current system: David Gilliand (+6), Kevin Harvick (+3), Matt Kenseth (+3), Greg Biffle (-5), Mark Martin (-5), Kurt Busch (-6), Brad Keselowski (-7)

    Phat’s System – Standings After Race 6

    For an explanation of the points distribution, please see consult table below standings. This distribution is designed to reward race winners, while also rewarding those who run well every week.

    For the third straight system, the top three consist of Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards. Jimmie Johnson is still a distant fourth, with Matt Kenseth jumping up into the fifth position.

    Notable changes in position compared to current system: David Gilliand (+5), Matt Kenseth (+4), Brian Vickers (+4), Mark Martin (-5), Martin Truex, Jr. (-5), Kurt Busch (-6)

  • HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: WHERE DID HE COME FROM? THE SEQUEL

    HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: WHERE DID HE COME FROM? THE SEQUEL

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”216″][/media-credit]Make no point about it, last weekend’s action at the “paper clip,” aka Martinsville Speedway. had a lot of interesting story lines. For the second time in seven days, Kevin Harvick spent a Sunday afternoon turning some seemingly ineffective laps around a race track only to surface at the end of the event to steal the show. Meanwhile the members of the Junior Nation, Dale Earnhardt Jr’s fan club, practically needed oxygen because we all thought their favorite driver was finally going back to victory lane. Then there was the matter of Kyle Busch who, by his own admission, “gave away” two races at Martinsville within 24 hours. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin this week with:

    HOORAH for Kevin “Happy” Harvick for winning Sunday’s Goodys Fast Relief 500 by, once again, showing up, during the final laps, to claim the race. Harvick’s excellent seven days began at the Auto Club Speedway in California, where he stole the show on the final lap, and moved on to Martinsville where he lead a grand total of six laps. During both of these events Harvick spent much of the afternoon driving an ill handling car. At the conclusion of both races we were all asking: “where did he come from?”

    That leads to a HOORAH to crew chief Gil Martin and his Richard Childress Racing team whose refusal to lay down and quit attitude played a major role in getting their driver to the front of the field when it counted the most. After they left Daytona 37th in points, the #29 squad has moved up to fifth in the points standings and are definitely looking like a championship team.

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

    HOORAH to Dale Earnhardt Jr for whipping the “Junior Nation” into a frenzy and coming this close to ending a win less streak that dates back to June of 2008. Earnhardt passed Kyle Busch, with 20 laps remaining in the race, and the fans went crazy. Unfortunately a loose condition allowed Harvick to pull the “where did he come from” rally during the final four laps to steal the show, but for a few moments there it was like old times and good to see.

    Earnhardt’s charge to the front was largely due to the pit box efforts from crew chief Steve Letarte and the driver was the first to say “Steve did an awesome job on pit strategies, that’s what got us up there.” Their Martinvsille effort was definitely the shot in the arm this team has needed for quite awhile.

    Meanwhile in our living room, the card carrying member of the Junior Nation girlfriend was busy screaming “whoo hoos” that would have made Homer Simpson proud. I actually had to turn up the volume on the television just to hear the broadcast.

    When the Goodys Fast Relief reached its conclusion there were two important points that Harvick was well aware of. The first was obvious” he had just won his second, consecutive, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. The second point was also obvious: there were a lot of fans not very pleased with what he did to their beloved Dale Jr. After the race Harvick said “I could see people going crazy in turn 2 when he took the lead from Kyle, and I was catching him, and I’m like man, I’m going to be the bad guy here. But I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do, we’re in it to win it.”

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

    Prior to the race everyone was sure that drivers Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin were going to be major players in the outcome. After all, the two of them had won the last nine Martinsville races in a row. To a certain extent they were players throughout the race at least for awhile.

    But WAZZUP with Johnson getting caught speeding on pit road? The five time series champion led 65 laps and was a major factor in the race until this point. It’s a very rare miscue for this driver that turned a possible race win into an 11th place finish. To no real surprise, Johnson disputed the call after the race. The video shot of crew chief Chad Knaus hanging his head in despair pretty much told the story for the #48 team.

    WAZZUP with Denny Hamlin’s fuel mileage? This is an element in racing that’s always going to be a concern to teams but it bit Hamlin especially hard. He led the race seven times, for a total of 89 laps, only to have to settle for a disappointing 12th place finish. Prior to that the Virginia driver gave all of the appearances of being capable of winning his third, consecutive, race at his home track.

    WAZZUP with that horrendous accident suffered by Martin Truex Jr? On lap 221, a hung throttle caused his car to slam into Kasey Kahne and then hit the wall with such force that the engine compartment burst into flames. The end result was a red flag, that lasted for approximately 25 minutes, so track crews could clean up the debris and repair the damaged retaining wall.

    That leads to a HOORAH for the NASCAR mandated safety equipment both in the cars and on the track. This is especially true of the SAFER barrier retaining wall. It wasn’t that many years ago when this safety equipment wasn’t it place and the Truex accident would have been a very serious situation. Truex also gets a HOORAH for immediately running over to Kahne’s car to make sure his friend, and fellow Toyota driver, was not hurt.

    This week’s HOORAH for making chicken salad out of chicken do do goes to Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth. At the very beginning of Sunday’s race, Kenseth made a rare mistake and changed racing lanes prior to crossing under the green flag at the start/finish line. That led to a drive through penalty which is often the death knell of a driver’s hope to win the race especially on a short track. Kenseth rejoined the race one and a half laps down. He eventually returned to the lead lap, via the lucky dog policy, but that process took over 220 laps to accomplish. Kenseth turned a guaranteed bad day into a sixth place finish and remains in the coveted top ten of the points standings.

    WAZZUP with Kyle Busch, in his own words, “giving away” a Martinsville sweep? Busch was his usual dominant self during the Martinsville weekend. On Sunday he led the race six times for a race high 151 laps only to lose the lead during the waning laps following a light bump and run from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Busch had to settle for third following Kevin Harvick’s late arrival in the race outcome.

    During Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, Busch led 64 laps of the Kroger 250 only to get the bump and run by race winner Johnny Sauter on the final lap. But Kyle Busch does deserve a HOORAH for gracious interviews following both races and once again displayed what appears to be another moment in personal growth. We’re all well aware that it wasn’t that long ago the “Rowdy One” would have stomped off towards the horizon, with steam spewing from his ears and nostrils, while refusing to speak to anyone especially a live television crew.

    That, in turn leads to a HOORAH to Johnny Sauter for an impressive, race winning, performance at Martinsville. He has the distinction of becoming the first truck series regular to claim a victory this year. The win also moves him to the top of the points just ahead of team mate Matt Crafton which also places Thorsport Racing one-two in the series’ championship standings.

    The celebration for Sauter and company was short lived at Martinsville. The driver had to return home right after the race. The Sauters were expecting the planned arrival of their second child, a baby girl, on Monday morning and we send them a GOD Bless for that joyous occasion.

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

    Our final HOORAHS of the week goes to comments, from the Martinsville weekend, inspired by NASCAR legend, turned Fox Sports broadcaster, Darrell Waltrip. Old school NASCAR fans will recall back in the day when Waltrip won the Daytona 500 and introduced a victory lane dance forever known as “the iggy shuffle.” The effort has been forever branded as one of the silliest moments in NASCAR history.

    During a pre race interview with Kevin Harvick, Waltrip decided to teach his guest that victory lane dance. If you can imagine two contestants from the television show “Dancing With The Stars” after too much Budweiser, that’s pretty much what this dance lesson resembled. After the race was over it was pointed out to Waltrip that Harvick didn’t do the “iggy shuffle” in victory lane. Waltrip quipped “that’s because he can’t dance. The boy can flat drive a race car, but the boy just can’t dance.”

    During the red flag portion of Sunday’s race, Waltrip was doing an in car interview with Kyle Busch. Some of those famous, bright red, Martinvsville hot dogs were delivered to the broadcast booth and Waltrip asked Busch if he wanted him to send him one. Busch declined the offer and said “I’ve got a couple of hours to go before I can get to the restroom so I’d better not.”

    The absolute final HOORAH goes to Budweiser and that marvelous commercial that aired during Sunday’s Martinsville race. It’s the one where the family throws a surprise welcome home party for the young soldier returning from the middle east. The ad ends with the caption “proudly serving those who serve.” It’s a great reminder for us all to say thank you to any member of our armed forces when we see them.

  • Big Things Come In Small Packages

    Big Things Come In Small Packages

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”247″][/media-credit]The oldest track on the circuit is also the smallest. They say big things come in small packages; and this weekend Martinsville delivered in a very big way.

    The weekend was marred by more tire issues. Goodyear brought new right and left side tires. The right,  a softer compound than the fall race of last year and the left a harder compound. They were trying to improve forward bite and add grip to the tire, something every team and driver had asked for. However, with no testing to prove the compound Goodyear was at a decided disadvantage. The new compound proved to be a border line situation with the track not taking rubber and the tire giving up after approximately 12 – 15 laps. Once the tire gave up it began to shred and throw rubber marbles to the second and upper groove of the track making them virtually unusable. Multiple drivers complained about the tires and the lack of grip and forward bite the cars obtained from them. But NASCAR and Goodyear didn’t view it as a concern. They continued to hold out hope that the track would rubber in after qualifying for the trucks and Cup cars and the Truck race.

    It didn’t happen. And although, Kevin Harvick, who finished 4th in the truck race stated, “The tires are just such pieces of crap,’’ and Kyle Busch stated, “There’s no rubber on the race track,’’ after finishing 2nd in the Truck Race, tires were not a major factor.

    The Camping World Truck race was an entertaining display that saw a Camping World Truck series regular in Johnny Sauter take the checkered flag ahead of series dominating, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.

    Sauter who passed Kyle Busch on the next to the last lap held on to record his first victory of the season. Busch who has never won at Martinsville held on to finish second by .453 seconds and was followed by Ron Hornaday and Kevin Harvick who over came a 2 lap deficit early in the race to garner a 4th place finish.

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”215″][/media-credit]Anticipation was high heading in to Sunday or should I say trepidation. The concern over the inadequate tires continued to mount. Everyone from Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon to Dale Earnhardt Jr and Brad Keselowski voiced concerns over the tires. The concerns seemed to loom even larger for fans that had looked forward to the old school bump and run type racing that Martinsville had always delivered. “The poor tire situation is a direct result of not testing.” tweeted Keselowski. “Testing was eliminated in an effort to control costs but the owners just spent even more money on computer simulation programs and equipment that simulates testing.”

    When start time rolled around, Mark Martin was set to make his 800th start in the series and Greg Biffle his 300th series start. Tires or not the cup drivers were ready to run the best race that they could.

    They did not disappoint. The race was a return to the history of the sport. With the bump and run the most prevalent move of the day. The scariest occurrence was not tire related at all and came on lap 222 when the throttle stuck on Martin Truex’s Napa Auto Parts Camry causing him to take out both he and Kasey Kahne. The 56 of Truex momentarily caught fire and Kahne was slow to exit his car. But both drivers were checked and released from the infield care center with a clean bill of health.

    The accident however resulted in a 22 minute red flag period to repair the safer barrier which was damaged when Truex hit it head on at speed.

    Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Busch all lead at different points in the race. But perhaps the feel good story of the race came from the Hendrick Motorsports 88 team. Dale Earnhardt Jr took the lead on lap 480 with a bump and run on Kyle Busch. He would hold that lead until lap 496 when Kevin Harvick would take the lead when the 88 got loose going into turn one. Dale Jr would finish a bumper in front of Kyle Busch who came across the line in 3rd.

    Earnhardt Jr who moved up to 8th in the points with the second place finish, his best points position since last spring at Texas doesn’t believe he is quite where he needs to be yet, “I ain’t really proved it to myself yet,” he said. “I’ll let you know when I feel like I’m back, personally. Anyone that watched that race today knows that we weren’t a second‑place race car or even a third‑place race car all day. We never were up there to prove that point. So there’s no argument: We got some work to do still.”

    “We are faster, we are more competitive than last year. But we still got a little ways to go.”

    But the promise shown by the 88 team has JRNation excited. It has NASCAR excited. Is he back? Maybe not, but his performances are showing all the promise of a young man who came on the scene and won in his rookie season against what was and arguably remains one of the toughest fields in NASCAR history.

    This race was without a doubt the best of the season. It was a race of steps some big and some small. But steps none the less. This race showed us without a doubt that life and racing draw many parallels and if we are to succeed regardless of the quality of our equipment or our history we have to dig down and find the courage to take that step forward, even though the results could be disasterous. Whether you won last week or 98 races ago the champions of NASCAR took that huge step of faith on tires they doubted in cars that they were unsure of. They gritted their teeth put their trust in men on the roof and on the pit box and somewhere in the back of their minds they said, “Boogity Boogity Lets go racin boys.”

    ~~~~~ **** ~~~~~

    Congratulations to Johnny Sauter and Thorsport racing on their first Camping World Truck Series win of the season. Congratulations to Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress racing on their 2nd win in a row.

    That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Goody’s Fast Relief 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville Goody’s Fast Relief 500

    [media-credit name=”Brad Kepel ” align=”alignright” width=”277″][/media-credit]
    Martin Truex Jr. crashes into Kasey Kahne at Martinsville
    At Martinsville’s version of the ‘paper clip’, NASCAR’s elite made their own history at one of the most storied tracks on the circuit.  Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray both made their 300th starts of their careers and iron man Mark Martin made his 800th start of his career.

    Here is what was surprising and not surprising in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500:

    Surprising:  It’s not often when the duel for the second place finish is one of the most surprising, and exciting, moments of the entire race. But this second place competition just happened to be between NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and one of the sport’s rowdiest drivers Kyle Busch. Junior prevailed by the slightest of margins, less than 0.020 of a second.

    Both the driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet and the No. 18 Pedigree Toyota had great points days, with Junior climbing four spots to eighth and Busch taking the points lead.

    Not Surprising:  Now officially able to relinquish his former nicknames of ‘Happy’ and the ‘Bakersfield Basher’, Kevin Harvick, this week in his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, can most decisively claim the nickname ‘The Closer.’ Harvick is the first repeat winner of the season and has now won back to back races in decisive passes late in the race.

    “Just an awesome day,” Harvick said. “I didn’t think we had the car to do that. I had a lot of fun racing with Dale Jr. and I hate to be the bad guy, but we’re in it to win it.”

    Surprising: The two dominant drivers of past Martinsville races were not the ones battling for the lead this year.  With 34 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, made an uncharacteristic mistake, entering the pits too fast. He was forced to the tail end of the field, finishing in the 11th position.

    Denny Hamlin, oft the master of Martinsville, was one of the first to get to pit road, which bit him late in the race. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota had to take a wave around on Lap 473, relegating him to a 12th place finish.

    Not Surprising: To no one’s surprise, four-time Cup champion and seven time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon had a strong day, finishing fifth in the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet. With his good run, Gordon also surpassed the ‘King’ Richard Petty and took the fourth spot in the all-time laps led category.

    “We did have a great day,” Gordon said. “We weren’t great at the beginning but we worked our way up. It was an awesome day to drive to fifth there at the end.”

    Surprising: The number of changing lanes before reaching the start finish line penalties, affectionately known as the ‘David Ragan faux pas’ after his Daytona mistake cost him the win, was definitely surprising. Penalized were Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, and Tony Stewart.

    It took Kenseth almost half the race to right his wrong. At the end of the day, Kenseth was able to salvage a sixth place finish in his No. 17 Crown Royal Ford.

    Martin was also able to redeem himself, finishing 10th in his No. 5 Quaker State/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. Martin is now officially the eighth driver to reach the level of 800 starts in his racing career.

    The driver who came out on the short end of the changing lanes penalty stick was Tony Stewart. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet finished a miserable 34th, several laps down.

    Not Surprising:  Short tracks usually equal short tempers and that was definitely the case at Martinsville.  Several drivers were unhappy with one another for the bumping, beating and grinding that occurred during the hard racing.

    Most notably was Paul Menard, who had been leading the charge for his new Richard Childress Racing team, only to get into it with Robby Gordon.

    Menard said that Gordon brake-checked him “out of apparent retaliation,” putting a hole in the radiator of the No. 27 NIBCO/Menards Chevrolet. Menard finished 38th, falling six spots to 13th in the point standings.

    Another byproduct of the hard racing that had tempers flaring was the usually unflappable Aussie Marcos Ambrose, who was definitely angry with Michael McDowell.

    “I don’t know what McDowell was thinking,” Ambrose said. “I got stuck on the outside and lost 20 positions just trying to get to the bottom and he just jacked me up and put me in the fence around lap 100. It was uncalled for and made for a very long day.”

    Surprising:  At a short track like Martinsville, big wrecks are not the norm. But there was a monster of a hard hit when Martin Truex, Jr. lost his brakes and pummeled himself into the wall, taking innocent bystander Kasey Kahne with him.

    The hit was so intense that the race had to be red flagged while repairs were made to the safer barrier. Thankfully the drivers of both the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota and the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota were able to walk away from the incident.

    “I thought, oh man, this is going to hurt,” Truex said of the wreck. “Thanks to NASCAR and everybody who built the SAFER barriers. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

    Not Surprising: As loud as the Truex/Kahne wreck was, in contrast the quietest mover in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 was Juan Pablo Montoya. The driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet started in the 27th position and, without fanfare, worked his way towards the front to finish fourth. JPM is also quietly working his way up the leader board, advancing one position to seventh in the point standings.