Category: Featured Stories

Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, got a little bit country at the Country Music Awards this week after his rock and roll weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon’s rocking and rolling with competitor Jeff Burton even made it into the CMA Awards ceremony, thanks to a Gordon spoof of country singer Brad Paisley.

Gordon, a presenter at country music’s most prestigious awards ceremony, took the stage with CMA co-host Carrie Underwood in a big white cowboy hat and scruffy beard, doing his best Brad Paisley imitation. The real Paisley then appeared, in the same garb as Gordon, challenging Gordon to sing to prove that he was an imposter.

Thankfully, especially for all the baseball fans who remember suffering through Gordon’s mangling of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, Gordon declined to share a tune. Instead, Gordon fell right into Paisley’s trap when the country singer told Gordon that he could stay on stage as long as he gave him the keys to the No. 48 race car, his teammate and competitor Jimmie Johnson’s winning machine.

Paisley then did his own imitation of a prize fighter, ribbing Gordon about his fight with Jeff Burton after the latter drove Gordon hard into the wall under caution. Paisley officially dubbed Gordon “ole scrappy” in honor of his Texas duke out of Burton.

Gordon also had some serious business to do at the CMA awards ceremony. He presented the Vocal Duo of the Year award to Sugarland and then talked about a Chevrolet Camaro, signed by NASCAR drivers and all of the country music stars, to be raffled off to benefit The Wounded Warrior Project.

While the country music stars were busily ribbing Gordon about his scuffle on the race track, his crew chief and team were standing proudly by their man, defending his feistiness.

“I’m proud of him for this,” Steve Letarte, Gordon’s crew chief said. “There are a lot of people in the world and in the media that might question his gumption and how hard he wants to be here.”

“I’m just glad to see he’s upset,” Letarte continued. “I like to see his emotion. Our team likes to see his emotion. It’s great.”

“Anytime you see a guy like him that is so clean-cut and does such a great job, when he really shows his emotion, it fires everybody up and everybody knows how much he really cares.”

Hendrick Motorsports General Manager Marshall Carlson was also impressed with the scrappiness of his veteran driver. He attributed his driver’s willingness to mix it up to Gordon’s ramped up physical training plan, which Gordon began as an answer to his chronic back pain.

“I’m real proud of Jeff Gordon,” Carlson said. “He’s confident in his physical capabilities, and so when he got in a situation where he was being pushed around, he’s going to let the guy know that’s not how he wants to be raced.”

While Gordon was rocking and rolling with Burton during the Texas race, his pit crew was rolling their gear over to pit the No. 48 race car. Unlike Gordon, Johnson is still in the Sprint Cup Championship hunt and the enhanced pit stops completed by Gordon’s crew were vital in keeping Johnson within striking distance of the current points leader Denny Hamlin.

This week, Hendrick Motorsports announced that the No. 24 and No. 48 pit crew swap would be permanent, at least for the final two races in the 2010 season. The change accentuated the HMS philosophy that the 2-4-8 team functions as one team that just happens to have two race cars.

“The shop personnel work on both cars in the shop, and the crew will lend another HMS team a hand at the track,” Gordon said. “We want to do everything possible to bring another championship trophy back to Hendrick Motorsports. But I also plan to do everything possible to get another Phoenix trophy for this DuPont team.”

After being a little bit country at the CMA Awards, Gordon will now rock and roll into Phoenix International Raceway to compete in the next to the last race of the season, the Kobalt Tools 500. Gordon came close to victory at the track earlier in the year, when spinning his tires on a green-white-checkered restart cost the four-time champion the race.

“I love the track even though it’s a very challenging one,” Gordon said. “Both ends of the race track are complete opposites and it’s impossible to get both ends to work perfectly.”

“I like that challenge,” Gordon said. “I’ve driven on the track since I was like 18 years old so I always look forward to coming here because it’s a lot of fun to drive.”

Perhaps at the “Jewel of the Desert” as Phoenix International Raceway is nicknamed, Jeff Gordon will finally find that perfect combination of being a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n roll. Better yet, he may just find that elusive first checkered flag as the 2010 season draws to a close.

The AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday saw some twists and turns surrounding the Chase that will lead us into this weekend.

Denny Hamlin took the win with a pass for the lead with 29 laps to go to take over the point standings.

“What a run!” Hamlin said in victory lane. “Just can’t say enough for this whole FedEx team. I told everyone that I’d wait for three to go, and I felt that was the most aggressive I’ve been on a restart all year.”

With the win, Hamlin went from 14 points back to 33 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson, who finished ninth.

“It was just a long day,” Johnson said afterwards. “We just gave away so much track position at the beginning and it was tough to get back to where we needed to.”

The pit stop issues during the race that lost them that track position promoted an in-race pit crew swap between the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon and Johnson.

“It’s a professional sport, and you see it all the time,” Knaus said after the Texas race, as according to NASCAR.com. “If somebody’s out or somebody’s not getting it done, say in football, you get a different receiver in the game or a different quarterback, or whatever it is.

“Unfortunately, our guys weren’t hitting on all eight cylinders [Sunday], and we had an opportunity with the 24 crashing to bring those guys in. They did a good job. They came in and played relief, and I thought they did a good job [Sunday]. It’s unfortunate. I don’t like doing that stuff, nobody does. But it’s kind of your job.”

“I’m okay with it,” front tire changer Mike Lingerfelt said. “We’re all team players.”

This is a swap that is set to stay in place for the rest of the year as Knaus feels that the No. 24 team is a solid team that will allow him to win the championship for Hendrick Motorsports. It is something that many thought should’ve come sooner via the fact that the No. 48 crew had been struggling all year, specifically in the front tire area.

The last championship contender, Kevin Harvick, finished sixth after battling an ill-handling car and even tapping the wall.

“We had a good car,” Harvick said in the team’s post race report. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t think we’d be anywhere in the hunt after practice, and Gil (Martin) and all the guys did a great job getting the car ready. When it got dark, our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet just went really loose, and we hit the wall. The pit crew was awesome today. We gained a ton of positions on pit road. We are still in this thing, and we are definitely looking forward to Phoenix.”

Harvick now went from 38 points behind to 59 points behind the lead.

The Sprint Cup Series now heads to Phoenix International Raceway for the second last event of the schedule.

Out of the three drivers left in the hunt, Johnson has the best average finish of 4.9 in 14 starts. In his 14 starts, he has four wins, nine top fives and 12 top 10s. Johnson has also won the past three fall races. The No. 48 team is also known for coming back from adversity and dominating so a win would not be a surprise.

Hamlin has an second best average finish at 11.6 in 10 starts. In his 10 starts, he has no wins, five top fives and six top 10s. In the past two fall races there, he has finished third and fifth. Despite this, Hamlin is slightly worried as he feels he didn’t get a good test at it in the spring due to his surgery. Also, despite finishing third last fall, he feels they didn’t have the car to earn that finish.

Harvick has the worst average finish of three at 15th in 15 starts. In his 15 starts, he has two wins, three top fives and six top 10s. Harvick has had mixed results at Phoenix in the past as they’ve been all over the place and in his past three starts there, his best finish is 13th.

Based upon this, Johnson should either close up on Hamlin or take back the points lead while Harvick slowly drifts further out of the hunt. Though we all know that anything and everything is possible (Texas proved that) so that’s why these races are run and sometimes, things don’t play out as we expect. These final two races look to be interesting.

For some people the 1996 Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway is more than just another race. It’s the day reality came back to NASCAR and Petty Enterprises found victory lane once again.

Petty Enterprises was the Hendrick Motorsports of the first 3 decades of NASCAR. Wait, I take that back. Hendrick Motorsports loses every now and then. Petty Enterprises didn’t.

Richard Petty had 198 of his 200 wins at Petty Enterprises and 7 championships with the organization. Richard’s father Lee Petty won 54 races and 3 championships in his 16 years as a driver.

From 1949-1983 Petty Enterprises had won an unprecedented 265 races, including 10 championships and 9 Daytona 500’s.

Yet after the 1983 season Petty Enterprises and Richard Petty would be together no longer after family dispute opted him to move to Mike Curb’s operation and brought the 43 and STP over with him. Petty would win only two races in the two years with Mike Curb and cooler heads prevailed and Petty and his family run team would reunite before the 1986 season.

Yet the same success would never be found again. Petty would go winless in his final 7 seasons at Petty Enterprises before retiring in 1992.

The Randleman, North Carolina ran business would have three drivers from 1993-1995. First it was Rick Wilson, who ran the No. 44 STP Pontiac to one top ten finish in the 1993 season before being replaced by Wally Dallenbach, Jr for the start of the 1994 season. The familiar No. 43 would be back on the car as well.

Dallenbach wasn’t the answer either. He struggled and after missing six races, Petty Enterprises had seen enough and hired John Andretti to finish out the 1994 season.

In 1995 a driver from Nashville, Tennessee became available. That driver was Bobby Hamilton. Hamilton had had an interesting career until that point. He broke into the NASCAR Winston Cup Circuit by driving cars for the movie Days of Thunder. He nearly won the 1988 Autoworks 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, before a blown engine on lap 215 derailed his day to 32nd place finish.

Hamilton had moderate success on the NASCAR circuit. He won a 1989 Busch Series race at Richmond that impressed many people. Everyone thought the man needed a break. When Richard Petty came knocking, Hamliton had finally gotten his break.

Throughout the 1995 season it appeared Hamilton and Petty Enterprises were a good fit. Hamilton was giving Petty Enterprises its best point season since 1987. Hamilton would finish 14th in the standings with 4 top 5’s and ten top tens. All things pointed to a very successful 1996 season.

1996 did get off to a good start for Hamilton. After an 11th place finish at Talladega, Bobby Hamilton was 9th in the standings and had caught everyone’s attention.

Yet a mediocre middle of the season had left Hamilton and Petty Enterprises scratching their heads as to what went wrong.

By the end of the Southern 500 in September, Hamilton had dropped to a dismal 16th in the standings. Bad luck, with a combination of a single car operation may have taken its toll.

Or so we all thought.

However, after the Southern 500, Hamilton went on a tear. In the next four races Hamilton put together four consecutive top ten finishes. By the time we got to Phoenix in late October, Petty Enterprises were feeling pretty good about things.

Yet no one saw this coming. Hamilton had started 17th in the event and no one thought the Petty car would have a chance.

Yet Bobby Hamilton flew. Coming from 17th, he and crew chief Robbie Loomis would fix their racecar and figure out a way to get in front of race leader Dale Jarrett and on lap 153 Hamilton had the lead. The lead would change several times during the event.

Then Geoff Bodine took the lead with 52 laps to go. It looked like it may be Bodine’s day. But slowly creeping closer was Hamilton, who got to Bodine’s bumper with 20 to go, and passed him for the lead.

The fans at Phoenix International Raceway were witnessing something they hadn’t seen in over 13 years. A Petty Enterprise car going to victory lane. Finally the checkered flag fell and Bobby Hamilton added his name to the list of winners in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Tom Higgins covered his last NASCAR race that day and wrote an article about it. He remembers a shocked Bobby Hamilton.

“I couldn’t believe it. Those last laps I thought I felt tires going down. I heard rattles and even thought the battery was shaking. My mind was running wild the last lap. There were three cars smoking and and I was concerned they would put some oil on the track. I’m so happy for Richard and Dale Inman and Robbie Loomis and the other guys on the team. They’ve worked so hard and have gone a lot of years without a win. To be the first to do it in this Pontiac since Richard means a lot to me,” stated Hamilton.

“The boys did good today,” said Petty, who was mobbed on pit road when the checkered flag fell. “I just sat and watched. Today, we had it all together. I thought Bobby had enough to take care of ’em there at the end, but you never know for sure.”

Higgins recalls tears in Hamilton’s eyes that evening in the press box. According to Higgins, most people in the box that day had tears in their eyes, happy for Hamilton and Richard Petty. Among those, Higgins recalls was the king, who under his glasses, Higgins sensed, his eyes were moist too.

Hamilton and Petty Enterprises would find victory lane just one more time before he and the organization parted ways before the 1998 season.

Petty Enterprises would win only one more race from that point on, in 1999 at Martinsville with John Andretti.

The organization would fold, following the 2008 season, but not before leaving countless memories on the sport, including the unforgettable day at Phoenix International Raceway, where Bobby Hamilton made even the King cry.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase has boiled down to a battle of egos as much as a battle of drivers and teams trying to secure wins and points.

Mike Ford, crew chief for Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 FedEx Toyota, threw down the gauntlet at Texas Motor Speedway when he chose the pit stall in front of the Lowe’s No. 48 team.  It was payback for the same thing Chad Knaus had done to him at the Kansas race.

Ford has shown his ability to produce strong race cars and guide his team to eight wins this season and the lead in the point standings for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase. 

Now head games will play a part in the strategy between he and Jimmie Johnson’s team which is now Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 team.

Ford has had to go head to head with Knaus, who is a man possessed by the goal of winning championships for Hendrick Motorsports.  Knaus has done it four years in a row and intends to see Johnson get his fifth title this year regardless of what it takes.

Ford made the comment that the switching of pit crews during the race at Texas was “an act of desperation.”

Ford said, “I think our race team is better than their race team, and I’m not going to tiptoe around them because of where they’re at.”  He added, “I’m going to do what it’s going to require for us to win a championship–beat them…..I stayed focused on what we needed to do.”

Hamlin’s crew chief spoke about the No. 48 team watching them and said, “That means they are chasing and they made mistakes doing so.”

Hendrick Motorsports General Manager, Marshall Carlson, said, “I’m just surprised Mike Ford is thinking and talking about the 48 team so much.”

The battle of egos is very much on the driver level as well.  Jimmie Johnson has the four consecutive championships to boost his confidence and his prima donna status at Hendrick Motorsports.

Despite comments to the contrary at HMS about everything being about getting a championship for Mr. Hendrick, it is obvious getting Johnson’s fifth consecutive title is priority one. 

Hamlin has been coached by Joe Gibbs, his team owner and neighbor.  Gibbs is a master at coaching life skills just as we was at coaching football.

Hamlin has shown maturity and confidence this season.  He has walked the walk which was not easy with his knee surgery and talked the talk through eight wins this season.  Now the Virginia native has snatched the point lead from Johnson in the Chase.

With two races left, Ford has to continue to give Hamlin strong cars and not make  mistakes.  Perhaps the momentum is in his favor because of the shakeup at HMS with the pit crew swapping.

Knaus equated the change of pit crews to, “changing a spring or changing a shock or something like that.  You have to put the best components together to try to win a championship.”

So with two more rounds in the Chase left, we shall see if Mike Ford and his team can deliver the knockout blow to the No. 48 team and their chance to win the title this year.