Category: Featured Stories

Roush-Fenway Racing will be a very busy place over the next 12 months.

[media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]From contract talks with three of their four drivers – Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and David Ragan – to building a daycare on site. OK, so only the first part is true, but with three drivers adding to their families, it might be needed.

First, comes the business in the unpleasant nature of contract talks. With Edwards and Biffle having made the Chase and won races in the past, the two are not expected to be hard to keep in the RFR family.

It’s Ragan’s contract that could become a top story however.

While team owner Jack Roush acknowledged support for the driver and that he would like to retain him for years to come, the expectations and performance need to be there. Ragan has never won a race or qualified for the Chase, last season he finished 24th in points which is a far cry from his 13th standing in his sophomore year (2008).

It was among the many discussions last week during the preseason media tour where Roush spoke of what was ahead for his organization. Contract talk won’t be the only tasks on the agenda; RFR will be looking to keep a hold on key sponsors.

“All our sponsors agree they continue to see NASCAR as the sport that’s very important to their marketing efforts,” Roush said last Thursday.

“They see Roush-Fenway as an organization that’s a terrific investment and for good reason. For 2011, every Cup program has all new cars built. We have realigned our engineering department and we have new software to run our programs on.”

It was that same software that had Roush was very critical of the team’s performance early last year. It was outdated and inaccurate. He cited it as the reason they had fallen behind other teams and were struggling each week.

But when the turnaround happened it did so in a big way. Through the summer months the RFR that many were used to seeing had arrived on the scene – Edwards, Biffle and Kenseth finished third, fourth and fifth respectfully at Michigan in August.

When they entered the Chase they were no longer the pretenders, they were contenders again. Biffle won his second race of the season in the third race of the Chase and Edwards ended the year with back-to-back wins, ending his nearly two-year winless drought.

“I feel a lot better right now going into 2011 then I did going into 2009,” said Edwards in Homestead where he was already named the 2011 preseason championship favorite.

“That’s because I feel we have a lot of momentum and things are getting better. We have a new engine that we are working on that just keeps getting better.”

Kenseth came close to joining the victory party a few times. Had it not been for an overdriven turn one in the fall Texas race, he was half a lap away from winning his first race since February of 2009.

“I don’t know about just us but all of our cars seem to be faster,” said Kenseth. “It seems like things have been going better. It feels like we’re gaining some momentum and the cars are quicker and we’re understanding each other probably a little better.”

They will enter 2011 as one of the hottest teams in the garage. With new racecars and a new hunger, look for the Roushkateers to loudly proclaim, “We’re back.”

Even more exciting though, comes from the big news released last week. Kenseth, Edwards and Biffle will all be new fathers this season.

“I couldn’t hold back,” said Roush, who broke the news on behalf of his drivers. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

He went on to say, “I’m excited about it.”

Senior driver Kenseth and wife Katie will be welcome their second child, joining older sister Kaylin who was born in 2009 and older brother Ross, Kenseth’s son from a previous relationship.

The expectant due date is anytime after the season-opening Daytona 500. Kenseth even predicted that he expects Katie to go into labor the Monday following the 500.

For Edwards it will also be his second child in about a year. His wife Kate gave birth to daughter Anne before the Las Vegas race last season. The sex of Kenseth and Edward’s expectant ones weren’t revealed.

As for Biffle, he found out the day of the Roush media tour that wife Nicole would be giving birth to a little girl. It will be their first child.

He joked, “We have babies by races. I’m having a Daytona baby. Matt’s having a Phoenix baby.”

The Daytona race will be the July event, with the Biffle saying the due date is July 10. Should that date remain the same it would give Biffle even more reasons to love the month of July and Daytona.

Eight years and five days earlier Biffle celebrated his first career Sprint Cup Series victory in the July Daytona race, July 5, 2003.

“It’s a huge deal. I’m super excited about it. I just can’t wait. Part of me wishes I had done it 10 years ago, but I’m happy. If you’re in the day care business, I think a traveling day care in the NASCAR motor coach lot would be highly popular right now.”

When the day does arrive where the RFR drivers need to hang up their helmets, Jack Roush might not have to go far to find their replacements.

Over the past few days we witnessed NASCAR’s willingness to address some needed changes with the vast majority of them being positive steps in the right direction. We also learned of a rather unusual pit crew platoon system that somewhat rivals the National Football League’s special teams concept and it appears that there’s another NASCAR baby boom in the making. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

[media-credit name=”FMCM” align=”alignleft” width=”223″][/media-credit]An overall HOORAH to NASCAR for their willingness to address and implement changes in their championship points system, for the first time since 1975, and their Chase format. While announcing the changes, last Wednesday night, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said “the fans tell us that winning matters the most with them, so we’re combining the tradition of consistency in our sport with the excitement that comes along with winning.”

HOORAH to the much simpler championship points system. The race winner will receive 43 points with a one point differential between each position all the way to the last place driver who will receive only one point. The new system also awards three bonus points to the race winner, a single bonus point for leading a lap along with another bonus point for leading the most laps. The max point capability for a race winner is 48 compared to the 42 points the runner up driver will receive. The one point differential could lead to some exciting number scenarios when it comes time to determine the Chase for the Championship line up next September.

By the way, I’m going to assume that no pun was intended regarding the fact that the max points number, 48, matches the car number of five time consecutive champion Jimmie Johnson. Probably not, NASCAR officials aren’t exactly noted for “punning around.”

In terms of simple math, there’s really not a huge differential between the old and new systems other than the fact the new mode will be considerably easier for a fan to calculate the points progress of their favorite driver. Last year we needed a points procedure print out from “NASCAR.Com” and a calculator. This year we won’t even need a pencil to calculate points.

Having said that I do feel a need to issue a somewhat reluctant WAZZUP over the three bonus points awarded to race winners. I would have liked to have seen that figure just slightly higher. It has nothing to do with incentive to win. A modern day Sprint Cup driver really doesn’t require an extra incentive to win. In fact I’ve never actually met a driver, from any form of racing, whose primary goal wasn’t to be the first to pass under the checkers. This opinion is based on the fact that the exceptionally high level of competition in NASCAR these days requires an extraordinary special effort to win a Sprint Cup event and that extra effort deserves additional bonus points.

HOORAH to the wild card provisional NASCAR implemented into their Chase For The Championship format. The top ten in the championship standings, after race number 26, will make the Chase line up business as usual. But Chase positions 11 and 12 will be offered to the two drivers, outside of the top ten, who won the most races as long as they are within the top 20 in the standings. This appears to be part of Brian France’s reference to extra incentive for winning and it has the capability of becoming rather interesting later in the season.

HOORAH for plans to eventually reconfigure the front of the modern day NASCAR stock car so it will again resemble what’s actually on the show room floors. The manufacturer decals on the nose of these cars is often the only means for fans had to quickly determine their origin. This move will also return credence to that long time racing adage that states “win a race on Sunday, sell a car on Monday.”

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WAZZUP with the back up pit crew plan at Hendrick Motorsports? This scheme is the handy work of Chad Knaus, the crew chief for Jimmie Johnson’s #48 championship team, that also benefits the HMS #88 team, led by crew chief Steve Letarte, for driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Following some recent shuffling at HMS, these two teams now share a shop building.

The plan calls for the two teams to travel with three complete pit crews, a total of 18 men, for each race weekend. That will allow crew chiefs Knaus and Letarte the luxury of mixing and matching the crew members they feel they need for each race while covering any pit road emergency such as injury or the frustration of slumping job performance levels. It appears at this juncture that there may not actually be any real permanent crew members for either of these teams.

We all saw how Knaus handles performance emergencies. Remember last fall, in the midst of the Chase event at Texas, when a frustrated and angry Knaus exchanged his #48 crew with Jeff Gordon’s #24 team?

On the other side of the HMS complex Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin’s teams will have full time pit crews consisting of six men each, with four extra men representing their back up plan.

After hearing all this one can’t help but ask: why limit the back up plan to just pit crew members? If Chad Knaus or Steve Letarte makes a pit stop call that transforms their car’s handling from bad to worse then send in the back up chief to man the pit box. This procedure would work similar to a National Football League offensive coach who swaps running backs or receivers to suite the need of a particular moment.

How about a back up public relations team? If for some reason the primary PR unit isn’t properly selling a story to the NASCAR media, then send in the second stringers who can cleverly reword the bullet points of the very same theme.

How about a back up team cook? If for some reason the breakfast, served to the #48 and #88 teams, totally sucks then have the back up cook take over the stoves so he can make things right again just in time for lunch.

(Someone should stop me now-I could do this all day!)

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From our GOD BLESS department we urge you to send some thoughts and prayers to NASCAR champion and icon Ned Jarrett who will be taking his rightful place in NASCAR’s Hall Of Fame next May. Some frightening chest pains, late last month, forced a surgical procedure that required a pair of stents to be placed in arteries to open blockages. Jarrett is slowly but surely recovering.

During his career Jarrett was a hard charger that always displayed the spirit of a true racer. That’s what led him to becoming a member of the NASCAR Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2011. Off the track Jarrett is a gentleman, a true class act and one of the nicest people a fan would ever want to have a conversation with. Please get well soon, Mr. Jarrett.

A GOD BLESS also goes out to the families of Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth all, of whom, recently announced that their wives will be delivering babies later this year. Note to team owner Jack Roush: you may want to check the quality of the water at the Roush Fenway race shops.

That leads to a HOORAH to “Mr. Excitement”, Jimmy Spencer, who, during a Thursday night appearance on SPEED, commented on the Roush Fenway driver’s expectant wives by asking “is there anything that David Ragan isn’t left out of over there?”

On the topic of the NASCAR baby boom, HOORAH to Mrs. Jamie McMurray for telling her husband that he’s not allowed to send text messages on his cell phone while their brand new baby is riding in the car with him. Then again, WAZZUP with sending text messages while driving no matter who’s in the car? Note to Jamie McMurray: when you head west, for the Auto Club Speedway race next March, you need to know that texting and driving out here in California will net you a big time, expensive, traffic ticket.

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Finally here’s two HOORAHs for this week’s NASCAR notable quotables. The first goes to DeLana Harvick who sent the following message on “Twitter”: (This) sounds like a bad country song. I’m headed to a town called Welcome,(the official home of Richard Childress Racing), to see a man named Happy, (the official nickname of husband Kevin Harvick).

Then there was the matter of fan favorite Kenny Wallace who wanted to share the good news that his exercise and nutrition program is working and he’s now down to a fit and trim 176 pounds. In a “Tweet” sent on Thursday he wrote: “you know what’s good? When I am on the toilet now, I DO NOT have a little belly hanging over. That’s the s**t! ha ha ha ha !”

Nascar has just announced it will put into place a much simpler points system for all three of its’ premier series. The reasoning? To make it easier for the average race fan to understand this points system and create “more drama” near the end of the season. Nascar also tweaked the process that teams and drivers will use to qualify for the championship chase. After 26 races, the top ten in points are in, 2 wild card entries will be determined by the number of wins a driver has, if they are within the top twenty points position. If there are no drivers in the top twenty that are eligible it will then revert to what Nascar calls the “series standings”. So, it seems that there is a very distinct possibility that the top twelve in points will compete for the championship. Am I missing something here?

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Another Tweak for 2011, revise the qualifying procedure. No more drawing for your qualifying position, but rather you will go out to qualify based on your practice speeds, slowest cars will go out first, fastest cars last. If practice happens to wash out due to rain, the order will be set by point standings, if practice, and qualifying are rained out, the field will be set according to points, Sound Familiar?

It is not a trade secret that attendance and television ratings have declined over the past few seasons, and it is necessary to realize that Nascar is trying to “Right the Ship” so to speak.  All considered, will these changes that Nascar just made bring the fans back to the tracks? Will these changes revive the sagging television ratings? What do you think?

It wasn’t that long ago that Nascar appeared to be paying attention to the people that were buying the tickets, and tuning in on Sunday afternoons by implementing the double wide restarts, and allowing the leader to choose which lane he wanted to restart in. Why did Nascar do this? Because the fans demanded it, fans wanted something done to add more excitement to the race. Maybe Nascar should look at this again, does a complicated points system, or how the cars qualify keep people away from the race tracks, or grabbing the remote to change channels? Not likely. What’s the solution, what needs to be done?

A few ideas, the most obvious problem for the race fan is, of course, cost. It’s nearly impossible for the average working class family to afford a typical three day Nascar week end. Travel to and from the venue, three day ticket packages (Trucks, Nationwide, and Cup series) minimum three nights lodging, it’s just too much. No matter how you shake it out, to get people back in the stands it has to be more affordable. How? A few ideas. Limit the three race weekends; go to a two race, or single race format. Schedule the truck series on more short track venues, one day shows, go back to the roots, Hickory, South Boston, how cool would it be to have a truck race at Bowman-Gray. Maybe run more Nationwide races in combination with other series, IRL, ARCA, even the modifides, how about a few shows with the Rolex Sports cars, the current road course races seem to be popular, why not tap into this fan base? Schedule some stand alone events for the Cup series, reduce them down to 2 day events, Practice one day, qualify, and race on the second day. Just a few ideas. Could these types of changes bring back some of the excitement, could they open new, and different markets, could they bring a totally new fan base, Could they bring races fans back to the tracks? This is a little like Field of Dreams, If you give them more value for their dollar they will come.

Now lets’ talk about Television ratings. This is an entirely different animal. It’s important to understand the basics of broadcast journalism. Networks are dependent on selling air time (advertising space) to keep the doors open. In order to sell this air time, the networks need a product to make this air time more valuable, this is where Nascar comes in. Nascar approaches the network armed with the “Ratings” and presents a viable package for the networks to sell to its’ advertisers, in turn, Nascar will sell the broadcast rights to the network for some undisclosed amount of money, (just how much is this undisclosed amount? It would seem it takes at least three networks to come up with the amount?) Herein lies the problem, the networks are forced to sell nearly 50% of the scheduled air time to cover costs, and as in any other corporation, turn a reasonable profit. This leaves about 50% of the scheduled air time for actual event coverage. This seems to hold true for most television programming, in most cases the viewer will see as many ads, as they see event coverage. With this in mind what can you do to hold the viewers (in our case, Race Fan) interest. Simple, Just take a look at how other networks broadcast motorsport events. There is one network the does a split screen during the race, racing on one side the ads on the other, the race fan does not miss a moment of the action. If this can be done for other forms of motorsport why not Nascar?

Will these ideas, and suggestions cure all, will any of these ideas, and suggestions ever happen? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s a certainty that doing nothing will not elevate this sport back to where it

For a span of 52 races former NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Bill Elliott has been the driver of the #21 Ford fielded by the Wood Brothers one of the most historically significant teams in the sport. However, more than a few eyebrows were raised with the recent announcement that said the Woods Brothers were placing 19 year old racing protégé Trevor Bayne in their car for the 2011 season. The element of surprise here was the fact that the Wood Brothers chose to pave their future with such a young, although very talented, driver. Traditionally, the Wood Brothers have always chosen to place a seasoned veteran in the seat of their race cars.

[media-credit name=”FMCM” align=”alignleft” width=”201″][/media-credit]That announcement was followed by questions regarding the racing future of the 55 year old Bill Elliott. Could he find another ride with any amount of substantial quality? Would the Dawsonville-Georgia native, known to fans as “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville,” seriously consider hanging up the helmet and announce his retirement? The answer came back on January 19th when team owner James Finch, of Phoenix Racing, announced that he had signed Elliott to drive his #09 Chevrolet. The announcement also meant that, after decades of driving Fords plus a two year stint in a Dodge, Elliott would be campaigning a car with a Chevrolet bowtie on its nose for the first time in his career.

The master plan calls for Elliott to drive a minimum 18 races for Finch and Phoenix Racing. They are hopeful that additional sponsorship will come their way so they can race the entire Sprint Cup schedule. Nick Harrison will be on the pit box as crew chief. Finch also announced that the power plants for their Chevrolet will be supplied by Hendrick Motorsports.

This new collaboration will begin with next month’s Daytona 500 and anticipation is already mounting for the team because this is a track that Elliott has enjoyed success at. He has four NASCAR Sprint Cup wins there including two Daytona 500’s. James Finch’s operation has also enjoyed some good runs at Daytona as well. In the recent past they have compiled finishes of third, fourth, ninth and 12th. Their first and only Cup win came at NASCAR’s other high banked restrictor plate track. They won at Talladega in 2009 with Brad Keselowski driving their #09.

The level of anticipation quickly hit a higher level following the recent Sprint Cup pre season test sessions at Daytona. Climbing into a Chevrolet race car for the first time, Elliott seemingly took things easy on the first day of testing. But, by the time the three day session concluded, he moved his new ride from 28th to 14th on the speed charts. It was considered by many to be a very encouraging start.

The enthusiasm was certainly echoed in recent statements from both principals. “It’s big for us, and big for Chevrolet to get Bill Elliott,” Finch said adding “it’s the first time in his career he’s committed to race a Chevrolet. With the right equipment, he’s going to be ready.”

Describing his new ride as a really good deal, Elliott said “James has really good race cars and there’s no doubt about the Hendrick (Motorsports) equipment. After all, look at the championships they’ve won. This may be my last really good chance as a driver. I’m going to give it my best shot. I feel like I’m still in good shape, and I thought I ran pretty good last year.”

Finch and Phoenix Racing finished 39th in the 2010 Sprint Cup owner’s points. That means they will not have a guaranteed starting berth during the first five races of the new season. But Finch will be the first to tell you that his new driver is very good at qualifying noting “he was just a couple of hundredths of a second off of the pole at Homestead last year.” There’s also the availability of Elliott’s provisional starting berths as a past NASCAR champion if needed. Finch is also aware that Elliott has the capability of being a strong race finisher and will likely make quick work of getting his team back into the all important top 35.

Also benefiting Phoenix Racing will be Elliott’s vast amount of racing experience from a career that has spanned 35 years. During his tenure he has compiled some amazing numbers that include 821 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts which has led to 44 wins, 175 top five finishes and 320 top ten finishes. His expertise at qualifying has led to 55 poles. Over the years Elliott has raced 237,304 NASCAR laps, totaling 306,756.3 miles, with 11,413 laps led. His career earnings has topped a whopping $45 million.

With those numbers came impressive, and well deserved, accolades for Elliott. In 1985 “Awesome Bill” became “Million Dollar Bill” after he became the first driver to win the Winston Million. This special program, sponsored by R J Reynolds Tobacco Company, offered one million dollars to any driver who could win at least three of four of NASCAR’s crown jewel races at that time. Elliott pulled off the feat by winning the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega and the Southern 500 at Darlington.

In 1987 Elliot set a NASCAR record for the fastest one lap speed, 212.809 MPH, at Talladega. That record still stands today because NASCAR later implemented the use of restrictor plates to slow the cars down at this super fast speedway. The following year Elliott had another outstanding season and won the coveted NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. 1998 saw him receive the extreme honor of being named as one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers.

Phoenix Racing will need to insure that they have an ample inventory of hats, shirts and souvenirs on hand. That’s because Bill Elliott has been named NASCAR’s most popular driver a whopping 16 times yet another series record he holds.

With career stats of this caliber, it’s no wonder that he’s known as “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville.”