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Surprising and Not Surprising: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen

Not to be outdone by the weather at Pocono last weekend, Watkins Glen International took it one step further with a full course, one day rain delay. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Monday matinee Cup race at the Glen.

[media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]Surprising: In a race in which he started from the pole position and clearly dominated, leading three times for a record-high 49 laps, it was surprising that Kyle Busch was not in Victory Lane yet again. The driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota took the checkered flag in the third position, one back from his runner up position at Pocono the weekend before.

Busch lost the lead on the final restart, a green-white-checkered one at that, of the race. Known for his usually stout re-starts, Busch made a surprising mistake in Turn One, taking it just a bit wide enough to allow both Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose through to the lead.

“Just knew exactly what not to do and did it anyway,” Busch said. “I just screwed up.”

“I felt like we were right there and had a shot to win,” Busch continued. “I knew it was going to come down to one corner and I messed it up.”

Surprisingly, although Busch did not score the win, he did re-emerge as the co-leader in the point standings. Busch climbed two spots to tie with Carl Edwards, both atop the Chase leader board with 752 points each.

Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see road course redemption collide with another first time winner, resulting in Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion, being in Victory Lane. With his loss of the win at Sonoma due to his own error firmly behind him, Ambrose redeemed himself to become NASCAR’s fifth first-time winner of the season.

“I’ve fought so much to get here, to finally win and be in Victory Lane is a dream come true,” Ambrose said. “To win in the Cup Series is an incredible feeling and I’m very, very proud.”

Ambrose’s win was Richard Petty Motorsports first since 2009 when Kasey Kahne won on the road course at Infineon. Ambrose’s win officially came on his 105^th Cup start.

“It’s just a dream day,” Ambrose continued. “The sacrifices you make to be a contender in the Cup Series, to finally get to Victory Lane is a dream come true for me.”

Surprising: As surprising as Brad Keselowski’s ‘Iron Man’ performance was at Pocono, with his win there in spite of his broken ankle, the driver of the No. 2 ‘Blue Deuce’ pulled off an ‘Iron Man Redux’, with a runner up score at the Glen.

“I wouldn’t say it got easier,” Keselowski said of racing with his injured ankle. “But when your car is fast, you can put a lot of stuff behind you and make it work.”

“I think that’s about as good as the racing gets right there,” Keselowski continued. “I’m proud to be a part of it. Life is good when you have fast race cars.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that the stars of several other traditionally good road racers shone at the Glen. Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, finished seventh and AJ Allmendinger, who started outside pole in his No. 43 Best Buy Ford, finished eighth.

Allmendinger was particularly proud to not only see his Richard Petty Motorsports teammate in Victory Lane, but also took great pride in his comeback after an altercation with Kurt Busch early in the race.

“It’s great to see Marcos in Victory Lane and it’s great for the team,” Allmendinger said. “I’m proud of my guys and proud of the way we fought back all day. The car was fast.”

“Our Target Chevy was really good,” Juan Pablo Montoya said. “I thought we had a winning car. We were really close but it was all okay. It was a good day for us.”

Surprising: It was most surprising to see Boris Said and Greg Biffle channeling the fighting spirits of two other competitors, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch. This week, instead of Johnson and Busch feuding, it was Said and Biffle who were trading paint on the track and harsh words in the garage as well.

Said, standing in for Landon Cassill in the No. 51 Phoenix Construction/Thank A Teacher Today Security Benefit Chevrolet, was furious with the way Biffle, in his No. 16 Valvoline Ford, raced him in the waning laps, especially since Biffle was a lap down at the time.

Said accused Biffle of ‘flipping him off’ and Biffle countered by accusing Said of causing the last race crash that sent two cars hard into the wall. After the race, the disagreement really heated up into not only harsh words but also some attempted punches.

“He wouldn’t even let me get out of the car and he comes over and throws a few little baby punches,” Said said of Biffle. “Then when I get out, he runs away and hides behind some big guys.”

“But he won’t hide from me long,” Said continued. “I won’t settle it out on the track. It’s not right to wreck cars.”

“But he’ll show up at a race with a black eye one of these days.”

Biffle, for his part, had equally strong reactions.

“Let me tell you something,” Biffle said. “Boris, the ‘road course ringer’ caused that wreck. He did the same thing to me earlier in the race.”

“Then ‘Mr. Class’ pulls in behind my truck after the race today,” Biffle continued. “How unprofessional and disrespectful.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that the aforementioned feud between Johnson and Busch did not continue to percolate at the Glen, especially since the two drivers were nowhere near each other on the race track.

The driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge spun early in the race and then lost his brakes on Lap 49 after a tire failure sent him hard into the wall. Busch did not finish the race, scored in the 38^th position, causing him to fall two positions to sixth in the point standings.

“I had a big problem getting into the braking zones today,” Busch said. “I had to crank eight rounds of front brake into our car just to survive.”

“All that does is generate brake heat and I blew out the left-front tire,” Busch continued. “It was a bummer of a day.”

Johnson, on the other hand, had a top-ten finish in his No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet. The five-time champ currently sits just six points behind Chase co-leaders Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.

“We had a great day,” Johnson said. “To have the pace that we did all day long, even though we weren’t up there leading, we had a very fast race car and that’s what we wanted to have here.”

Surprising: It was a bit surprising that a 15^th place finish left NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his crew chief Steve Letarte feeling so very optimistic. Both agreed that they ‘did what they had to do’ to solidify their place in the Chase, a place where Junior has not been for the past three years.

Dale Junior, admittedly not a lover of road course racing, scored his first top-15 in six years of racing at the Glen. The driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevrolet now sits solidly in the ninth spot in the Chase standings.

“I think we’re a good enough team to make the Chase bar none,” Earnhardt, Jr. said. “We should be able to get in there no problem.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising at all that the calls for safer barriers at Watkins Glen International have intensified after several very hard hits at the road course in the midst of the Finger Lakes.

Not only did Kurt Busch hit hard into the wall, but Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, also lost his brakes and took a nasty lick head on into the tire barrels.

“Something blew out in the left front,” Hamlin said after being checked and released from the infield care center after his hit. “I had no brakes. There was nothing you could do.”

The worst of the hard hits, however, came in the final lap of the race where David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford, wrecked hard himself and then spun into David Reutimann, behind the wheel of the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, sending him into the air and into the wall as well.

Both Davids were rattled but escaped major injuries, exiting gingerly from their mangled race cars as they attempted to catch their collective breaths.

“It’s just a product of close quarters racing at the end,” Ragan said. “I’m sore. That was a hard hit.”

“I looked down at my feet and my pedals and my leg rests were all pushed over,” Ragan continued. “It’s a shame that a race track we go to in 2011 doesn’t have a better wall design all the way around the race track.”

“Hopefully they’ll look at that,” Ragan said. “I’ve been to some dirt tracks that have better walls than that.”

“This is one of the bigger hits I would say, but it’s part of the gig,” Reutimann said. “You sign up to do this stuff every once and awhile and you’re going to hit something.”

“Overall I’m okay,” Reutimann continued. “I’m thinking where I hit would probably be a good place for SAFER barriers.”

“I’m good and will be ready for Michigan next week.”

August 17, 2011
Watkins Glen – A Siren’s Song

If Sonoma is the wicked witch of the west, with her short track tendencies and her hot temper attitude. Then Watkins Glen is the evil witch of the east, with her high speeds and dangerous tempting of drivers to drive in just a little deeper go just a little faster. After a days delay due to rain, she rewarded patience and collected those who gave into her sirens song.

After coming close enough to see the checkers wave. After having fate rip the flag from his hands. Marcos Ambrose finally silenced the reminiscing of his close calls when he took the checkers in very convincing style. Ambrose held off a hard charging Brad Keselowski in the final turns to bring home his first Sprint Cup win.

[media-credit name=”Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]Although the checkers flew with the yellow for two serious wrecks on the final lap both occurred behind the leaders leaving Ambrose, Keselowski and Kyle Busch to bring them all to the finish line wide open and going for broke.

As the wind caught the checkered flag, a sickening stillness spread on the breeze as the carnage of the wreck involving David Ragan and David Reutimann became apparent via the big screen on the front stretch. Reutimann was air born. He hit two walls and the car appeared to disintegrate around him. Ragan hit an oblique wall dead head on after contact from Boris Said and then bounced into Reutimann sending him airborne when they both hit the outside Armco retaining wall.

This was the third serious wreck of the day. The first saw Kurt Busch lose his brakes entering turn 5 and go head on into the tire barrier. “I had a big problem getting into the braking zones today — just rear brakes locking up,” Busch said after the crash. “I had to crank eight rounds of front brake into our [car] just to survive. All that does is generate brake heat, and I blew out the left-front tire.

“It was a bummer of a day and not anything that we expected. It must have been something with the brake package. Whatever Keselowski found at Road Atlanta [during his Aug. 3 testing accident], I had a problem with today.”

The second of the day was Denny Hamlin’s crash in turn 1 on lap 65. Hamlin’s car lost its brakes and hit a tire barrier and guard rail head on at 60mph moving a fence backwards almost 2 feet whose posts were set in concrete.

“This was just terrifying,” Hamlin said, “because you know there’s nothing you can do, and you’re heading straight for the fence. It’s the [most scared] I’ve been, by far.”

“You’re obviously traveling fast. This is obviously the fastest road course,” said David Ragan after his crash, “It’s crazy, though, in this day and age to not have SAFER barriers and a little better design. That guardrail and all has probably been here since the 1900s when this race track was built. It’s kind of absurd. There are dirt tracks that have better SAFER barriers and wall systems.”

Reutimann who was struck in the leg by a piece of flying debris that cut through his uniform, when he became air borne and struck both inside and outside armco guard rails. “This is one of the bigger hits I would say, but it’s part of the gig,” Reutimann said. “You sign up to do this stuff, every once in a while you’re going to hit something. As fast as we’re going, you hit stuff pretty hard. I’m good and will be ready for Michigan next week. I’m thinking where I hit would probably be a good place for SAFER barriers. So, maybe we should look at that next time we come back. Overall, I’m OK and ready to get out of here.”

Jeff Gordon was a victim in the same spot in the track last year and was fortunate enough to walk away from a very nasty crash. Although Gordon finished 13^th and was not involved in the wreck, he certainly sympathized with the drivers who were involved.

“You can’t have walls like that. You’re going to find those places eventually, so they’ve got to fix them. And unfortunately, this one has been found before. And we’ve seen what can happen, and we’re very fortunate we don’t have any injuries coming from that, because obviously it could have been much worse. But anytime you’re in a race car and you’re trying to go fast, accidents are going to happen. And when they do, you have to make sure they have a clear path for cars to exit the race track. In this situation, they’ve got a wall that [produces] not only a big impact, but puts it right back out into traffic.” Stated the four time champion.

In fairness not every driver voiced a concern about the barriers. Race winner Marcos Ambrose had a different perspective on the tracks barriers coming from a road course back ground. “I don’t drive around this place looking at any one spot saying, ‘Ooh, that looks nasty to me.’ I think they’ve done great with what they’ve got,” he said. “If you don’t have a guardrail off Turn 2, you end up going down a bank, so that’s not good, either. So I think the track itself is fine. I think we just have to keep working on safety. All the drivers walked away. I’ve got no complaints about this place. I think it’s a safe race track. We’re just driving these cars flat out, and it creates problems. … I think the track is a classic road-racing circuit. You don’t want to make it too sterile. You’ve got to have bumps and lumps and change of camber and roughness and all that kind of stuff that makes it what it is.”

But the facts remain that one more time NASCAR has taken a wait and see attitude. It took the death of J.D. McDuffie here to create the bus stop chicane to insure that the heavy high powered stock cars could make the turn safely. One would think with the history of serious career and life threatening injuries that Watkins Glen has that NASCAR would want to take a proactive stance and say Ok we need you to look into making changes here and here. But that is simply not the case.

Nascar will review the black box information from all the wrecked cars and see if the G Spikes were high enough to warrant S.A.F.E.R. barriers being placed in the trouble spots. G Spikes occur at impact and are a measurement of the gravitational force that the driver sustains. It takes a certain level for the sanctioning body to mandate the S.A.F.E.R. barrier technology be placed in the area by the track.

For the third week in a row, there were safety concerns for drivers. For the third week in a row lives were at risk. Again it calls into question the Driver Safety First Initative of NASCAR. Obviously this car has incredible safety systems. But is that enough?

If the technology exists to make the enviroment safer to race in why on earth would you not have it in place? If driver safety first is your first priority, so much so that unlike other series, Sprint Cup does not race in the wet, why would you not insist that the technology be in place at tracks where they race?

Spokesman for Watkins Glen International Speedway, Ryan Lake stated post race, “Driver safety is certainly our No. 1 concern, and I think our past shows that we’re more than willing to do what’s necessary — such as two years ago, when we made those changes with the extended runoffs and SAFER barriers,” track spokesman Ryan Lake said. “After this race, we’ll certainly speak with NASCAR, and if they come back and say we need to make changes, we’re certainly going to do that.” The key words here are “if they come back and say we need to make changes, we’re certainly going to do that.”

Why after the crashes we saw this weekend would you need NASCAR to tell you that you have a problem? It’s apparent that there is a problem and it’s not the first time the problem has shown itself. Why? Because S.A.F.E.R. barriers are expensive. Very expensive. It’s in the neighborhood of $500 a foot. That isn’t the only problem. Dr. Dean Sicking, creator of S.A.F.E.R. barriers said, “The truth is, along with the expense, there wasn’t enough steel tubing in the world to do it. [put safer barriers on every wall]

“We would have used it all and still come up short. We had to select the areas where a crash was most likely to occur.”

The S.A.F.E.R. barrier is comprised of hollow rectangular tubes in front of foam padding, which is in front of the concrete walls. S.A.F.E.R. stands for Steel and Foam Energy Reduction.

NASCAR is aware of the risks. “Obviously, we want to have the S.A.F.E.R. walls in the areas where we have the most risk,” NASCAR CEO Brian France said, “I know we’re always looking at it, and every track is a little bit different.

“Some are road courses, so you can’t just say every wall. It may not be practical or it may not be necessary. But clearly in areas of high risk, we have to do better.”

Now, the restrictions are understandable. The outside factors are very apparent. But the fact remains that if NASCAR is going to put driver’s safety first then as a whole the sport should be proactive in the area of driver safety not reactive. It should not take losing a driver or having one seriously injured before we take the steps to prevent it. This is the second consecutive year that this turn and area of the track has been shown to be unsafe. Yet we wait and see what happens. The time is here for NASCAR to say this is what happens and if you want to keep this date, you will fix this area of the track.

The sky was growing dark over the track and teams were hurriedly preparing to finally go home. Some breathed sighs of relief. Some celebrated a victory over the evil witch. Some just sighed happy to be returning home with limited pain. As the thunder rumbled far off more than one looked over their shoulder towards the chicane where the destruction had occurred and wondered out loud, how close did we really come? The slowly falling rain drops seemed to whisper the answer they all knew as they hit the tops of metal trailers and sent a universal shutter down the spines of all present.

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

Congratulations to Kurt Busch and the Ruby Tuesdays/Discount Tire team on their victory in the NNS this weekend. Kudos to Jimmie Johnson on racing to win a race in a series, where he had nothing to gain or lose.

Congratulations to Marcos Ambrose and his Stanley Tools team. It was awesome to see the King and Todd Parrot back in victory lane. It’s been too long. It was also a great thing to watch Marcos finally put to bed all the almosts.

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.

August 16, 2011
Marcos Ambrose Claims First Sprint Cup Series Win at Postponed Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen

The rain held off and 85,000 race fans were treated to an exciting race today at Watkins Glen International. At the start, it looked as if NASCAR was trying to fit a square die in a round hole, but the showers held and all of the scheduled 90 laps (92 actually) were completed today at The Glen. All this action coming today after yesterday’s weather forced a Monday race for the second time in three years.

[media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”239″][/media-credit]The Tasmanian native surged to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup series victory in dramatic fashion, surviving a wild Green-White-Checkered finish that will go down as one of the most epic two laps in The Glen’s storied history. For a second race in a row (the other coming in Saturday’s Zippo 200) the driver who led the most laps at The Glen would not come home with the race win.

Crew Chief Todd Parrott proved his strategy for today’s race would be relatively conservative in comparison to other teams when he called Marcos Ambrose in for his first of three pit stops on the day coming at lap 17. Others like the No. 18 team of Kyle Busch, the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon, and the No. 2 of Brad Keselowski tried to stretch their fuel mileage in exchange for improved track position.

There were really two ‘groups’ of cars today, those going conservatively and those trying to squeeze every drop of fuel from their cars in an effort to come to pit road just twice rather than three times.

The caution flag waived just 5 times today at Watkins Glen International, four of which were created by rather violent crashes across various points on the 2.45 mile road course.

The first caution caused by contact came past the half-way point in the race involving the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger on lap 50 when Kurt Busch’s car blew a left front tire sending him into the outside tire barrier in turn number 5.

Kurt Busch explained the incident after climbing from his wrecked car “I had a big problem getting into the braking zones today, the rear brakes locking up. I had to crank eight rounds of front brake in our Shell/Pennzoil Dodge just to survive. All that does is generate brake heat and I blew out the left-front tire. It was just a bummer of a day and not anything that we expected. It must have been something with the brake package.” This marked Kurt Busch’s first DNF dating back to Michigan in August of 2010.

Kyle Busch was shown as the race leader following the caution lasting for three laps, but would lose the point to limping Brad Keselowski just 5 laps after the restart.

The second bad accident came on lap 67 when Denny Hamlin went for a ride off of the 90 degree turn number 1 at Watkins Glen International. The replay showed Hamlin’s car with the front brakes completely locked up with the rear wheels still going forward, and eventually plowing the wall in the first turn causing the wall to buckle upwards of 15 inches. The Toyota driver would later explain that something felt like it had broke in the front end causing him to drive straight through the hard right hander.

Eventual race winner, Marcos Ambrose along with Juan Montoya had pitted just one lap prior to the caution moving them into 4th and 5th respectively behind leader Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Martin Truex Jr. when the green flag came back out on lap 69.

Marcos Ambrose wasted no time after the third restart in his effort to drive to the front, zipping past Truex on lap 72 for third, and past Keselowski for second on lap 76. Ambrose whittled away at Kyle Busch’s 2.5-second lead throughout the next few laps, forcing Busch to burn more fuel to stay at the point.

Crew Chief for the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Dave Rogers, was asked on lap 83 if the No. 18 had enough fuel to make the 30 laps he needed to take the checkered and responded “Oh, that’s going to be close, I’m more worried about the No. 9 (Ambrose) right now.”

Dave Rogers’ prayers for a caution were answered when the second tire issue of the day caused the No. 27 of Paul Menard to smash the wall exiting the top of the esses. Menard’s car leaked fluid all the way around, almost to the entrance of turn number 10, forcing an imminent Green-White-Checkered finish.

Under caution, the leader Kyle Busch putted around the track, shutting down his engine several times in an effort to conserve fuel for the two lap dash that would make up the finish of the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen. Ambrose had 4 laps more fuel than Busch, so the No. 18 knew Ambrose would be charging hard on the final restart to overtake him.

The stage was set for the final restart with Kyle Busch in the lead, Ambrose starting to his left in second, Brad Keselowski starting inside row 2, Martin Truex Jr. in fourth, and Juan Montoya in fifth.

The race would go green for the final time on lap 91, with Kyle Busch hammering down towards the hard right hand turn number 1. Marcos Ambrose faltered on the restart, spinning his tires just before the start/finish line, giving room for Brad Keselowski and Truex to become a threat in the race. Busch drove his Toyota Camry too hard into turn 1, going sideways at the exit, giving way for Keselowski to sneak by on the inside.

Kyle Busch had this to say about his slip up in turn 1 “Just knew exactly what not to do and did it anyway. Just got in there and didn’t think I got in there too fast, but the car just didn’t slow down the way I needed it to and then it didn’t turn the way I needed it to. Saw sprinkles on the windshield, but everybody else made it fine through there. I just screwed up.”

Keselowski maintained the lead all the way up the esses, down the backstretch, and through the bus stop chicane. Ambrose would make his move on the Blue Deuce in the carousel turn, sneaking past Keselowski on his right. Once Ambrose got to the point halfway through lap 91, there was no turning back. He was absolutely flawless for the next lap through the 11 turns that make up the short course at WGI.

The final caution would come on lap 92, ending the race and putting Marcos Ambrose in Victory Lane for the first time as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. Heavy contact between the No. 6 of David Ragan and No. 00 of David Reutimann caused the caution to fly just as the field made their way through the first part of the esses in turn number 2. The crash was the most vicious one of the day, leaving Reutimann on his roof and Ragan with safety concerns about the track at Watkins Glen.

“That was a hard hit. I looked down at my feet and my pedals and my leg rests were all pushed over. It’s a shame that a race track we go to in 2011 doesn’t have a better wall design all the way around the race track, so hopefully they’ll look at that. I’ve been to some dirt tracks that have better walls than that. It was a hard hit, but our cars are safe.”
Said David Ragan, following his trip to the Infield Care Center.

Race winner Marcos Ambrose has no concerns with the safety at Watkins Glen “The track itself is a first-class facility. It’s a great race track. I think they’ve done an awesome job in some of the safety features they’ve already implemented around this place. I don’t drive around this place looking at any one spot saying, ‘Ooooh, that looks nasty to me.’ I think they’ve done great with what they’ve got. If you don’t have a guard rail off of turn two, you end up going down a bank, so that’s not good either. I think the track itself is fine, I think we just have to keep working on safety…But I think the track is a classic road racing circuit. You don’t want to make it too sterile. You’ve got to have bumps and lumps and change of camber and roughness and all that kind of stuff that makes it what it is.”

Ambrose’s win today marks the 5th different First-Time Winner in the Sprint Cup Series this year, and it’s the first win for Ford at Watkins Glen since Geoff Bodine’s win at The Glen in 1996.

Marcos elaborated on his win in Victory Lane just before 1PM today “I’ve sacrificed so much to get here and to finally win and be here in Victory Lane in the Cup Series is a dream come true. I flew the kids home yesterday. It was the little one’s first day at school. I was desperate to be there for her and this kind of makes up for it. I’ve just got to thank the Richard Petty Motorsports team, Stanley, DeWalt, everybody involved. Mrs. Petty is not doing so well at home. We wish her the best. This win is for her and the whole Petty family. Richard and everyone else who gave me the chance, thank you very much. Winning in the Cup Series for Stanley is just an incredible feeling and I’m very, very proud.”

The rest of the top 5:

battered Brad Kesolowski – 2nd

3rd-Kyle Busch

4th-Martin Truex Jr.

5th-Joey Logano

Kyle Busch leaves Watkins Glen tied for the points lead after a 12th place finish from Carl Edwards. Jimmie Johnson dropped one spot to 3rd following his 10th place finish at The Glen.

August 15, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono

On a weekend where the patriarch of Pocono Raceway, Doc Mattioli, dramatically announced his retirement and sporadic rain made both the NASCAR Camping World Truck race and the ARCA Series race two-day events, it was no wonder that there was drama aplenty in the 38^th Annual Good Sam RV Insurance 500.

[media-credit id=43 align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Long Pond, Pennsylvania track known affectionately as the ‘Tricky Triangle’.

Surprising: Although known for his victory lap celebrations displaying a large American flag, it was surprising how the race winner put aside both the celebration and the pain of his broken ankle to patriotically pay tribute to the lives of the troops lost this weekend.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, climbed gingerly from his race car after taking the checkered flag to pay tribute to the Navy Seals and all who protect the country.

“I’m no hero,” Keselowski said. “The heroes are the guys that died in Afghanistan this weekend. And I want to spend time thinking about them.”

“I have a cousin in the Navy Seals,” Keselowski said. “It was really inspirational to me. That’s what it means to man up.”

“They were my inspiration for this weekend,” Keselowski continued. “I’m glad that we could win today but those are the heroes. I just drive race cars.”

This was Keselowski’s third victory in 74 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and his second victory in the 2011 season. This was also Keselowski’s first victory at Pocono Raceway.

Not Surprising: With Keselowski’s set up in his car, it was no surprise that his teammate Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Dodge, finished third. This was Busch’s 12^th top-10 finish in 22 races at Pocono Raceway.

Although Kurt Busch did everything he could after the race to deflect the attention, it was also not surprising that he had the most significant altercation in the race, on and off the track. Busch got into it with five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, as the two battled for position late in the race.

“Today was definitely a hard fought battle,” Busch said. “We were hanging on to it at the end. And I brought her home third.”

“We had a good battle all day, especially at the end with the 48,” Busch said. “We’ve had our battles and a lot of times I come out on the short end of the stick. But what I saw today was good hard racing.”

“That’s what race fans love to see, that’s what they bought this ticket for, that’s what they’re sitting in the grandstands, rooting on their favorite driver for to see him get out there, mix it up clean, and bring it home, just like what we were third and fourth.”

Surprising: At a track the he admittedly does not do well at and after spinning in the early laps of the race, as well as being penalized for pitting too soon, it was surprising to see the other Busch brother, Kyle, finish in the runner up position. This was the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota driver’s fifth top-10 finish in four races at Pocono but his 13^th top-10 finish in 2011.

“The guys were flawless this weekend,” Busch said. “We worked real hard at it and it was fast.”

“That last caution killed us,” Busch continued. “I was really hoping to see it go green the rest of the way. Our car was fast out front.”

“All in all, it was a great day to come in second at one of my worst tracks.”

This was the second race of the day in which Busch finished second. He was also the bridesmaid to Kevin Harvick in the Camping World Truck Series race, held over due to the rain.

Not Surprising: Speaking of weather, it was not surprising to see it impact the race, which ended up being was halted for a rain delay lasting one hour, 40 minutes and 46 second. Principal among those drivers who suffered the consequences of the precipitation was pole sitter Joey Logano.

The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet not only started the race in front but was in the lead when the rains came pouring down. In spite of doing every rain dance possible, Pocono Raceway got the track dry and the race resumed. Logano, however, did not resume well, struggling after the race restart, cutting a right rear tire down late in the race and finishing 26^th.

“We just had a flat,” Greg Zipadelli, Logano’s crew chief, said. “You can’t predict that.”

Surprising: Teammates Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, and Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota Camry, had their hopes for a good race weekend surprisingly dashed at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’

Vickers suffered an engine failure early in the race and suffered his first DNF since Talladega, officially finishing 39^th.

“We lost an engine,” Vickers said dejectedly. “It was tough. I think we had a good car.”

“We just haven’t had things go our way.”

Teammate Kahne also did not have things go his way. He got into a late race collision with Juan Pablo Montoya and finished 28^th.

“We started the weekend off pretty strong,” Kahne said. “But in the race we just were behind.”

“It definitely wasn’t what I expected, especially for a team that’s run so well here in the past.”

Not Surprising: Since Jeff Gordon won the June 12^th Pocono race, it was not surprising to see him power his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet back from a qualifying encounter with the wall to finish top ten in the August 7^th Pocono race.

“I’m happy with our finish considering were we started, deep in the field,” Gordon said.

It was also not surprising that his fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammates had good finishes as well, with Jimmie Johnson in fourth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 9^th and Mark Martin in 13^th.

“We had a good car all day long and I’m real happy how that worked out,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said.

Surprising: With all the focus on ‘Iron Man’ Keselowski for gutting out his win and the new feud brewing between five-time champion Jimmie Johnson and one-time champion Kurt Busch, the driver of the No. 27 Certain Teed/Menards Chevrolet went surprisingly unnoticed.

Yet Paul Menard followed up his surprising win from last week at the Brickyard with a tenth place finish at Pocono.

“It was a good follow-up to last week’s win,” Menard said. “We fought hard for this top-10 finish.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that the three turns of Pocono wreaked havoc with many drivers, most significantly the driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford. David Ragan brought out the second caution early in the race when he spun, heavily damaging the back end of his car.

“I was probably a little too aggressive this early in the race,” Ragan said. “I ran out of race track and didn’t have enough room to chase it.”

With his 34^th place finish, David Ragan not surprisingly became NASCAR’s biggest loser, plummeting three positions in the point standings to 19^th, all but shattering his Chase hopes.

Surprising: There were a surprising number of lead changes, however, they were primarily due to green flag pit stops and not passing on the track. Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, had the lead four times for 65 laps and yet, in spite of that, still finished a surprisingly poor 15^th at a track where he has excelled in the past.

Not Surprising: Given the intensity of the restarts, especially on the long Pocono straightaway, it was not surprising to see yet another driver get bit by a changing lanes before the start-finish line penalty. Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M/811 Ford, was assessed a pass through penalty, yet was able to learn from his mistakes, overcome it, and rebound to finish 8^th.

August 9, 2011
David Ragan Under Pressure In Spite of Daytona Redemption Win

David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 UPS ‘We Love Logistics’ Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, finally achieved his goal of being a NASCAR Sprint Cup winner, redeeming himself with a victory at Daytona International Speedway.

[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”233″][/media-credit]Even with that win, however, the 25 year old driver is still feeling pressure all around him as he readies for the New Hampshire Motor Speedway race weekend. And that pressure has been with him since his first day at Roush Fenway Racing.

“I’ve said it a lot that I’ve had pressure from day one being at Roush Fenway, being a young guy, not having a lot of experience coming in, having a good year my rookie year and an even better year my sophomore year and then really struggling,” Ragan said.

“Coming into this season, we knew we’d have a lot of pressure to run well,” Ragan continued. “We knew we had to win.”

While Ragan has definitely gotten one monkey off his back with his Daytona race win, he acknowledged that the pressure to now make the Chase is even more heavily on his mind.

“Honestly, that win was big,” Ragan said. “And following it up with a top-10 and leading some laps at Kentucky was a Chase caliber run for our team.”

“Wins are very important to us still and that’s what we come to the race track every weekend to do,” Ragan continued. “But top tens, top fives, and leading laps are what’s going to get us to that top ten in points.”

“We’ve put ourselves in a position to make the Chase and I think that brings up more pressure,” Ragan said. “Now we’re so close to capitalizing on the progress that we’ve made.”

“Being right outside that top-10 with the win, it’s like ‘hey, we’ve got to do something with it’,” Ragan continued. “We can’t turn back now.”

Another major looming pressure for the young driver is his future with Roush Fenway Racing, as well as the team’s continued sponsorship relationship with UPS. And for Ragan, he would like nothing better than to have that pressure relieved with the finalization of both of those deals.

“I’m really happy at Roush and the Fords are running great,” Ragan said. “I think Jack’s happy with the performance of the 6 team in comparison to his other teams.”

“A lot of it depends on what UPS does,” Ragan continued. “So, it’s just a matter of the negotiations between Roush and UPS and working out all the details.”

“I still think we’re four to six weeks out from really having some announcements and look forward to some good runs in between them,” Ragan said. “But you can’t stop with what you’ve done. You’ve got to keep going and that’s what’s important.”

“I’m encouraged by some of the recent conversations we’ve had,” Ragan continued. “Things look to be on the good side.”

For this race weekend, Ragan is also feeling the pressure of being good at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a place where he has admittedly struggled at times. Ragan’s best finish in eight appearances at NHMS was 15^th during his first ever start at the track in the summer of 2007.

The driver, however, is hoping to take some of the pressure off as he is bringing the same UPS Ford race car that he raced last at Richmond, earning him his first top-five finish of the season.

“Coming off our recent success at Martinsville and Richmond, I’m looking forward to another short track.” Ragan said of NHMS. “Our Fords have improved a lot at the flatter short tracks, so I think we’ve got a good shot.”

“Our Fenway tie to the Boston area means a lot to our team,” Ragan continued. “That gives us extra motivation to get a good finish this weekend in Loudon.”

One way that Ragan has relieved his sense of pressure is by racing his Legends car. He even had a win this past week at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I raced my Legends car at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday and won,” Ragan said. “This was in preparation for a big race coming up the first week in August.”

“It’s always fun,” Ragan continued. “I get out there and race three or four times a year and we really enjoy ourselves. So, that win was a good omen for things to come this weekend.”

Although he has had a bit of a pressure release with his Legends win, Ragan knows full well that the pressure will return in force when he gets behind the wheel of his Cup car for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 this Sunday.

“There’s a lot of pressure at this Sprint Cup Series level but that’s what we thrive on,” Ragan sad. “So, it affects us in a good way.”

July 15, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Daytona Coke Zero 400

With firecrackers sparkling, patriotism soaring and flags flying high in celebration of the July 4^th holiday weekend, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 run under the lights at Daytona International Speedway.

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”261″][/media-credit]Surprising: Sentimental favorite Trevor Bayne and points leader Carl Edwards both surprisingly had a world of trouble at the world center of racing.

Bayne, piloting the famed Wood Brothers No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center Ford, was making his triumphant return to the superspeedway after winning the Daytona 500 and then having to get out of the car for a bit as a result of a never-diagnosed illness.

The young driver’s high hopes were dashed early, when he was turned by Brad Keselowski, in the No. 2 Blue Deuce for Penske Racing, on Lap 5 of the race. Bayne and team were unable to repair the car and he finished 41^st.

“I don’t know if I turned down more getting in or if he (Keselowski) kind of came up across our bumper, but, either way, our bumpers caught wrong and it sent us spinning,” Bayne said. “You know that can happen here.”

“It happens all the time, but it’s tough that it was our car,” Bayne continued. “I hate tearing up a good race car. If I didn’t have my faith and everything else right now, that would be a pretty bad blow I can promise you that.”

Bayne was not the only one that had a tough night. Points leader coming into the race Carl Edwards had his hands full as well behind the wheel of the No. 99 Subway Ford for Roush Fenway Racing.

Edwards was running third, being pushed by teammate Greg Biffle, when he hit the wall on lap 23. Edwards’ car was severely damaged, allowing fumes to get into the car and sickening the driver.

While Edwards did get his car back on the track, he finished 37^th, losing the points lead to Kevin Harvick.

“We don’t ever give up and that’s the thing,” Edwards said. “I told my guys to keep their heads up. We’ll take this bad day and keep our pride.”

“We knew coming here we could come out losing a bunch of points and we lost about as many as we could, but that’s OK,” Edwards continued. “We’re still right there. Hopefully we’ll be leading it after next week.”

Not Surprising: There was another Cinderella glass slipper waiting and not surprisingly this one was polished with redemption for one driver who was definitely due one at Daytona.

David Ragan, who had come so close to winning the Daytona 500 but was penalized for changing lanes in the waning laps, was pushed to his first ever Cup victory by teammate Matt Kenseth.

This was Ragan’s first victory in 163 Cup races but his fifth top-10 finish in 2011. The driver of the No. 6 UPS “We Love Logistics” Ford for Roush Fenway Racing scored his fourth top-10 finish in ten races at Daytona.

“It was a tough one in February and coming back here we knew that we’d have a shot to win,” Ragan said. “When we qualified, that’s probably the first time I really felt like we’ve got a car that’s fast enough that we can win this thing, so we made a pact with our teammate Matt Kenseth that we were gonna work together through thick or thin.”

“I just tried to not make any mistakes, tried to put ourselves in good position and we wound up obviously being in the lead on the last restart and that was the winning moment for us,” Ragan said. “I’m happy about the win.”

Surprising: While this year has been one of change on pit road, particularly for the over the wall gang with the new fueling system and the elimination of the catch can man, there was another surprising change on pit road during this race. The gas can man became the grease man as well.

From rags covered in lard to cans of Pam, greasing the bumpers became a part of the pit crew dance. And another pit road command from atop the boxes became “Right side tires and grease the bumpers.”

Not Surprising: With the new style of tandem racing, it was not surprising to see a race record high of 57 lead changes. There was also a track record broken for 25 different leaders, with the previous record being 22 set in this year’s Daytona 500.

It was also not surprising that after all of the racing, the finale came down to the second attempt at a green, white, checkered finish.

Clint Bowyer, who had been at the front of the pack in his No. 33 Wheaties Fuel Chevrolet, ended up finishing 36^th, thanks to that final green, white, checker attempt.

“We got some damage in the beginning of the race and laid back in the field with our RCR teammate Jeff Burton until about 30 to go,” Bowyer said. “That last caution came out at the wrong time as we were making a run at the leaders.”

“Nothing we could have done there at the end,” Bowyer concluded. “That’s just restrictor plate racing for you I guess.”

Surprising: The surprising tandem dubbed ‘Harvard’, comprised of Kevin Harvick, driving the No. 29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet, and Paul Menard, behind the wheel of the No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet, finished strong.

In fact, Harvick’s finish was strong enough to catapult him over Edwards to lead the point standings by five.

“We had a plan to stick with the No. 27 (Menard) all night and I think we ran every lap with him,” Harvick said. “The first green-white-checkered, we had a great run and the timing was perfect.”

“The second one, we just didn’t have quite the timing and got a couple of guys underneath us and then we just got a little bit too far behind,” Harvick continued. “But still, everything worked pretty good.”

Not Surprising: In contrast to the relief of the ‘Harvard’ tandem, it was not surprising to see equal if not more amounts of frustration boil over for many of the traditionally good plate race drivers who did not have the finish they, or their fans, envisioned.

In addition to Jimmie Johnson, who finished 20^th in his No. 48 Lowes Summer Salute, fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also struggled late in the race, finishing 19^th in his camouflaged No. 88 National Guard Heritage/Amp Energy Chevrolet.

“Oh man, I don’t know,” Junior said after the race. “I’m really ticked off. Damnit. I was just trying to get to the finish line.”

“What kind of move can you make in racing like this?” Junior continued. “There ain’t no move you can make.”

“You just hold it on the mat and try not to wreck into each other,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “You see how good we are at that.”

Surprising: In addition to his appearance in the movie ‘Cars 2’, it was a bit surprising to see Jeff Gordon, this week piloting the No. 24 Pepsi Max Chevrolet, starring as the race’s Lucky Dog. Gordon used his veteran skills for an incredible save after a wild spin on lap 157 to finish sixth.

“Somebody got in the back of the No. 4 (Kasey Kahne) and pushed him up into me and I had nowhere to go,” Gordon said. “Then the car came around and luckily I straightened it out somehow and came back and fixed it.”

“Miraculously there on those last two restarts we avoided more wrecks,” Gordon continued. “It was awesome and how we finished sixth is unbelievable.”

Not Surprising: One other driver benefitted greatly from the Lucky Dog phenomenon. AJ Allmendinger, driver of the No. 43 Air Force Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports, got the distinction after the first green, white, checkered attempt and went on to power his way to a top-10 finish.

“I felt kind of bad because Marcos (Ambrose) and I were racing for the lucky dog, but I was happy the yellow came out twice so we both got our laps back,” Allmendinger said. “After that, it was just trying to miss the wreck.”

“We didn’t quite miss it but I stayed wide open and kind of bulled my way through there and finished 10^th.”

July 3, 2011
Fireworks on the track and in the sky

Daytona’s Coke Zero 400 showed promise. Time and experience had improved the Nationwide race immensely so the Cup series should be just as good. Realistic expectation perhaps, but it didn’t come to pass.

[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”219″][/media-credit]All week drivers had been asked about the two car tango. There were many opinions and explanations on how it worked. Some liked it. Some didn’t. One of the biggest detractors of the tandem drafting was Dale Earnhardt Jr. “I’d rather have control of my own destiny and be able to go out there and race and just do my own work and worry about my own self. It’s really weird and kinda wrong on some levels to race that way and to think like you think. You take care of somebody and you feel this obligation to take care of them and then worry about having them take care of you and how that makes them feel. Been growing up all these years racin’ for number one-lookin’ out for number one. Doing my job. This is what I need to do. I need to do this to get up through the pack. This is how my car drives and now you are doing it so different. Your thought process and everything you think about during the race is nothing near that. It is just different and weird. It won’t be like that forever I assume and hopefully I am alive and still racin’ when it goes back to the way it was because I just really enjoy lookin’ out for number one, man. If you had a car that drive up through there and you were smart about drafting and knew what you were doing, you could make some cool things happen and that was pretty fun.”

Elliott Sadler says he likes the two car draft and offered this explanation, “I like the 2 car drafting that we do now and I’ll you the reason behind it. Drafting – restrictor plates – are a tough part of our sport. We hear drivers talk about it all the time. Old drafting where you have 40 cars in one bunch in one pile a lot of the finishes you got are out of your control. A lot of the wrecks you get in, everything really is determined by everyone else around you. We have a lot of those same factors in the 2 car draft. Where things can happen around you and catch in a wreck not of your doing. But with the 2 car tandem if you know what you’re doing as a drafting partner and you make the right decisions as a 2 car tandem you can work your way to the front and actually the pack will split up a little more so actually the big wreck has a little bit less chance of happening and as a driver that’s a good thing. But I do think it’s harder to draft this way.”

Both drivers were involved in huge last lap crashes of their respective races. The Sprint Cup race ended with two crashes on the white flag lap. The crashes took out 15 cars in the first and 18 cars in the final wreck just yards before the start finish line. This is significant when you remember that the starting field is 43 cars. Many of the cars that did finish were damaged from earlier wrecks in the event.

At some point words from the drivers and NASCAR start coming back to you. Words like cost containment measures, no down force, racing for track position, driver safety is a priority. At that point you begin making observations.

Let’s start with cost containment. NASCAR implemented the COT and eliminated testing as cost containment measure for teams. They did so in 2008. Let’s take a good look at this race and ask about the cost containment. 30 cars were involved in the last lap melee. Several more were damaged in the wrecks that happened before the white flag. Let’s break it down to teams. HMS lost 3 cars and damaged the fourth significantly. Joe Gibbs had damage to 2 out of the 3. RCR lost 2 out of 4 with damage to a 3^rd. Roush Fenway, had significant damage to 2 out of the 4 but did win the race with a pristine car. Richard Petty Motorsports lost 1 and damaged a second. Red Bull lost 1 and damaged the other. Penske Racing seriously damaged both cars. Those are just the major teams. How cost effective is the decision to not make changes to the car? But even drivers do not believe there will be changes made. “I don’t think they’re going to address that to be honest with you. I think its goes against what they’re trying to do and we’re not turning each other around, the interface works really well and so well we can push.” Stated five time series champion Jimmie Johnson. But at what cost? How long will it be before a driver is seriously hurt?

NASCAR has stated since 2001, that driver safety is paramount and utmost on their list of priorities. Yet we still have not learned that three lap runs for the checkered flag on super speedways is always disastrous. In was disastrous in 1992 when Rusty Wallace took a wild ride through the tri-oval grass at Talladega. It was disastrous in 2001 when Dale Earnhardt lost his life in a turn 4 crash at Daytona. And it was disastrous in 2011 when 30 cars wrecked on the last lap of the Coke Zero 400. We lost a hero. We hurt another. We destroyed millions of dollars worth of equipment. What does it take for NASCAR to see that Green White Checker finishes don’t belong on restrictor plate tracks?

The COT’s safety systems have been tested and proven for sure. But they are not fail safe. The cage that surrounds the driver in the new car is stiffer and unyielding. This transfers more impact to the driver. “The driver compartment is stiffer and stronger than it has ever been before it’s going to absorb the impact far less even though we have some impact material and foam around the driver side,” stated Jeff Gordon. He did go on to add that he would not trade the safety measures for what they had before.

Injuries are not always obvious. In the case of Carl Edwards he lost a crush panel in front of the right rear wheel on his Subway Ford Fusion in an early race crash. After only a few laps on the track Edwards returned to the pits after becoming ill in the car from Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Edwards, who does not run a Koolbox system which would have provided him with a Carbon monoxide filter, did finish the race but was treated with Oxygen post race.

This race showed the instability in the cars. Numerous times we saw cars in tandem pairs be passed by another tandem and the pair be pulled apart as the side force of the cars was disrupted. The aero dynamic wave, if you will, caused the two cars to become unstable on the track with several cases of spins and wall contact resulting.

There is no doubt that this race was costly to teams. Thankfully there were no injuries. At least not physically but the financial injuries will take some of the smaller teams a great deal of time to recoup.

The cup race did not live up to its sister series race. It was a long fairly uninterrupted affair that saw teams dropping back and waiting to the very end to make a run for the front. Those were runs that simply didn’t happen. Some because the tandem was broken up by needed pit stops after the late caution that took pole sitter Mark Martin out of the race. Some because they had simply fallen too far back to make the run and then were caught in the final melees typical of Restrictor Plate racing. Sadly, there seems to be no hope of returning to the old school racing at Daytona or Talladega. But hopefully we will carry with us as a sport the lessons learned from this years Coke Zero Demolition Derby.

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

Congratulations to TNT on a great broadcast with readable graphics and limited interruptions for commercials. This was definitely the best broadcast of the year.

Kudos to Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty for having the courage to get in to cars and demonstrate and describe what we were about to see even though they themselves had never done it before.

Congratulations to Joey Logano on his win in the Subway Jalapeno 250, and also to Kyle Busch for pushing him to that victory.

Congratulations to Danica Patrick for finally displaying the skills that all of her fans believed her to have in a stock car.

Congratulations to David Ragan on his victory in the Coke Zero 400 and also to Matt Kenseth for pushing him to that victory.

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.

July 3, 2011
David Ragan – Another Freak Winner at Daytona?

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”226″][/media-credit]At Daytona in February, Trevor Bayne, barely out of his teens won NASCAR’s biggest race, the Daytona 500. As the circuit moved back there just last night, it was another surprise winner, David Ragan. Or was it such a big surprise?

The big money was on Dale, Jr. this weekend. We’ve been told by every media outlet and anyone who follows this series that Junior was going to win soon. His record at Daytona and Talladega bear this out. Nowhere is Junior better than at the restrictor plate races. Call it inherited from the family. Yet, I didn’t feel that way. Somehow, it always seems to be a surprise. Oh, I could go into details of all the surprises at those two tracks, but you all know that . Many of us saw David Ragan’s rise from bumbling kid to someone who could drive a racecar. I’ll still remember that debut at Martinsville when he hit everything but the pace car. Jack Roush had faith in him, though, and gave his a primo ride in the fabled No. 6. That was Jack’s first car he seriously ran in the Cup series and the former ride of Mark Martin, Roush’s most successful driver.

Many thought Roush was crazy. The skinny kid from Georgia and the son of Ken Ragan, just didn’t have it. The statistics proved it out. He had only won one Nationwide Series race and had never won a Cup race. He nearly won the Daytona 500 this year, but jumping the start proved to be his downfall and the guy who was pushing him in that weird two-car tandem nonsense went on to win.

UPS is a big sponsor in this series and the talk was Ragan was in trouble. He just hadn’t done the job and UPS was going to demand another driver for 2012 if they were to stay with Roush-Fenway. The pressure was on and Ragan knew it. After the debacle that was the Daytona 500, he looked forward to this race more than any other. He had to win.

There is an opinion that what happens at Daytona and Talladega has little to do with the worth of a driver. Many consider restrictor plate racing a freak of nature in NASCAR terms. Drivers have won here that have won nowhere else in cars that can’t compete in “normal” races. Since the 1987 regulation that required restrictor plates, we’ve seen drivers like Derrike Cope, john Andretti, Michael Waltrip, and Jamie McMurray win. Not that this is a bad list, but they were all surprises. In fact, may drivers have lived on wins at Daytona and Talladega. All four of his victories have been at those two race tracks. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has won 18 times, but 7 of those have come at Daytona and Talladega. Some drivers and teams are just better at those races, but the record shows that a large number of long-time stars have won, not only at the restrictor plates tracks, but lots of other places, too.

So, what does this all mean? Should David Ragan now be considered as a driver who has “made it’ and continue a staple of the Roush-Fenway stable? I do not know. I do know that RFR is in frantic negotiations with Carlo Edwards and Matt Kenseth’s sponsor just announced they were not coming back. Couple that with rising drivers like Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Trevor Bayne and Ragan’s mid=pack finishes most everywhere else, and his job security is less than optimistic. Time will tell, but they can’t take the thrill of a Daytona win away from him. Just like Trevor Bayne, he is king for a day, but will it last?

July 3, 2011
Surprising and Not Surprising: Kansas STP 400

With emotional visits and relief efforts to the tornado-ravaged heartland of the country overshadowed by an altercation between team owner Richard Childress and driver Kyle Busch after the Kansas Truck Series race, the Cup drivers took to the unanimously proclaimed ‘hot and slick’ track in Kansas City.

Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the STP 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Surprising: In spite of all of the reports of Kyle Busch being ‘pummeled’ by Richard Childress after giving RCR’s truck driver Joey Coulter a nudge after the race, Busch arrived at the speedway for the race sans sun glasses and looking surprisingly unscathed.

It was also surprising to see Mike Helton address the media prior to the race, sharing that NASCAR had met with Busch and Childress, as well as Busch’s team owner Joe Gibbs. Helton advised that all were warned to get through the race before any further actions would be taken by the sanctioning body, which is expected on Monday.

“I met with NASCAR,” Busch said. “Whatever they feel best to protect their sport and to protect what we have going on here is to their best discretion. I’m all for whatever they decide to do.”

Not Surprising: It was not surprising that, in addition to the heat between Busch and Childress, the heat on the track, in the cars and in the grandstands was the other major topic of conversation.

“It’s hot today,” Dale Earnhardt, Jr., driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet said. “Did you notice that?”

“You sit in a sauna for four hours,” Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, said. “That’s pretty much what you’ve got.”

The only one who found amusement in the heat was iron man driver of the No. 99 Aflac ‘Now Hiring’ Ford, Carl Edwards. During the race the driver quipped that he was a little chilly and would appreciate either some coffee or some hot chocolate.

Surprising: In spite of the heat for most everyone else other than Edwards, it was surprising how calm, cool and collected Brad Keselowski was behind the wheel of the Miller Lite Blue Deuce. With the threat of running out of fuel, Keselowski reduced his speed, stayed strategically ahead of his competitors, feathered his throttle, kicked in the clutch and coasted through the corners for most of the final laps of the race.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”237″][/media-credit]Keselowski, who started 25^th, also coasted to the checkered flag, winning his first race of the season and giving his crew chief Paul Wolfe his first ever Cup Series victory. This was Keselowski’s first win since Talladega in April of 2009.

“You can only put yourself in that position so many times before you’re going to catch the right break,” Keselowski said. “We caught a great break today because of all the hard work by the Miller Lite team. We got great gas mileage and that didn’t hurt either.”

“It was because of the struggles and bad finishes that I really appreciate this.”

Not Surprising: Yet again, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was good in a fuel mileage race yet still came up short at the finish line. Junior, who came in second, posted his seventh top-10 finish in 2011 and his fifth top-10 finish in seven races at Kansas Speedway.

“We shouldn’t have run second today but we have fast cars,” Junior said. “I had a good car, you know.”

Surprising: It was a bit surprising that the Roush Fenway Racing bunch were not quite as stellar as expected, particularly given the driver ratings headed into the race. It was also surprising that Missouri native Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth, with his new sponsor Affliction Clothing on his No. 17 Ford, topped the RFR camp, with fifth and sixth place finishes respectively.

Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Walgreen’s Ford, who was expected to take home a victory, finished tenth instead, and the driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford David Ragan finished 13^th. In spite of not bringing home the trophy, all four of the Roush Fenway Racing team members finished in the top 15.

Edwards managed to lead 29 laps of the race and his finish ratcheted his points lead to 40 over second place Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, who finished seventh. Kenseth held serve as seventh in points, Biffle lost one position to 12^th and Ragan moved up one place to the 17^th spot.

“I really wanted to win,” Edwards said, most likely speaking for the entire Roush Fenway Racing crew. “I had a good time though and it is my new favorite race track.”

Not Surprising: With the season officially at halfway to the Chase, it was not surprising that two drivers, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon, this week behind the wheel of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, were determined to have good days at the track that would move them back into Chase contention.

Hamlin, who came in third, moved up to 11^th in points.

“I’m proud of our whole FedEx Freight team,” Hamlin said. “We’re battling back and getting ourselves back into position.”

Jeff Gordon brought his car to the checkered flag in the fourth position, moving him up to 13^th in the points as the only driver with a win eligible for the wild card at present.

“Well, it was an awesome run for our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet,” Gordon said. “We had a great race car all weekend long. All in all, a great top-five.”

Surprising: It was also a bit surprising that pole sitter Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 22 AAA Dodge for Penske Racing who dominated much of the race, and outside pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, did not have better finishes.

After some fuel mileage struggles, Busch was able to bring his car home in the ninth position. JPM, on the other hand, hit one of the seams in the track and then the wall, relegating him to a 17^th place finish.

“To have a car to lead laps today and be very competitive, I was all smiles,” Busch said. “It’s just one of those days where you’re on the right side and sometimes you’re not. For all my guys, we’ll take this one.”

Not Surprising: After a hot and sticky day on the track, it was not surprising that one driver in particular was still smoking, at least in a positive way. Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 The Glades/Office Depot Chevrolet, not only secured a top ten finish but now has his eyes and his heart set on The Prelude to the Dream at his race track, Eldora Speedway.

“Our guys did a great job and we really had a good car today,” Smoke said. “The good news is we get to get out of here and go work at Eldora tomorrow.”

June 6, 2011
Matty’s Picks – Vol. 4 – STP 400 at Kansas Speedway

Matty’s Picks

Vol. 4 – Kansas – June 5, 2011

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves to a track that I hate to say, but I have very limited knowledge about. I sent out a Tweet this morning looking for some help with making my picks for this week’s STP 400, and unfortunately got no help.

After a couple of absolutely amazing finishes last week, I am fairly excited to see what this week will bring.

Last Week’s Recap

For last week’s Coke 600, I was on the Roush Fenway bandwagon that dominated the All-Star Race the week before. As my Dark Horse, I rode the Sprint Showdown winner, David Ragan to another Top 5 pick for myself. Ragan came in second following a pit on lap 397 for four tires and fuel, after receiving the free pass just a lap prior.

Ragan was running well all night, and as it turned out, ended up on the right end of the pit strategy gamble. The fresh tires and fuel made the difference in the end, as it did for race-winner Kevin Harvick and last-lap loser Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kudos to me for winning the pit-strategy pick of the week, and Kudos to Ragan for a career best second place finish.

After starting 3rd on Sunday Night, my Winner pick, Carl Edwards looked like the favorite to win. He jumped out front while the sun shined, and slowly moved backwards as darkness fell in Charlotte. Edwards lead 61 laps while the sun was up, but failed to reach the point in the last half of the race. Edwards finished right in line with his other two Roush Fenway teammates who found the front for numerous laps on Sunday – Biffle in 13th, Kenseth in 14th, Edwards in 16th. No points for me on the back to back backflips.

As for the bonus pick last week, the 100th Annual Indianapolis 500 was another race that came down to who could stay on track the longest. I didn’t think we could see two heartbreak finishes in the same day, but last Sunday proved me wrong again. I won’t bore you with the details that you all know about already so… I picked Dario Franchitti who lead 51 laps Sunday afternoon, had to pit late and finished the race in 12th as the last car on the lead lap. No double points for me for the bonus pick.

STP 400 Picks

Against by better judgment, I’m off the Roush Fenway bandwagon for this week. My winner pick this week already has a win this year, and swept the first two races at Kansas. Jeff Gordon is my Winner pick for this week. As I write this column, he is currently 4th on the speed chart. On top of the two wins, he has seven Top 5’s and eight Top 10’s at Kansas, with an average finishing position of 8.5. I think Gordon is a sure-fire Top 10 for this week.

I did do a bit of research for this week, and found out that the winner of the past two races at Kansas have come from the 5th starting spot on Sunday afternoon. Since qualifying isn’t until tomorrow for the Sprint Cup Series, I do not have the luxury of jumping on the 5th starting spot superstition.

Dark Horse Pick

As for my dark horse this week, I am going with a guy that impressed me over the two weeks at Charlotte. A.J. Allmendinger has put his Ford Fusion towards the front countless times this season. At a track where the asphalt is beginning to wear (resurfacing is an item of discussion at Kansas), starting positions are critical. Allmendinger has started 2nd, 2nd, and 7th in the past three points races. He is a driver who knows how to lay down a qualifying lap, and on top of that has two Top 10’s at Kansas during his Sprint Cup career.

I’m looking forward to learning more about Kansas Speedway throughout the weekend and am looking for a solid couple of picks this week.

As always, please lend me some advice with my picks for next week via email; riotwvu@yahoo.com or you can always send me comments via Twitter @ML_B_lo

Until Next Time….You stay classy NASCAR NATION!

June 3, 2011