Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Hendrick

  • Hendrick Bending the Rules? Keselowski Thinks So

    Hendrick Bending the Rules? Keselowski Thinks So

    [media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”249″][/media-credit]Is Hendrick Motorsports bending the rules? Brad Keselowski thinks so. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility. Of course you remember all those times Crew Chief Chad Knaus was suspended and fined? Certainly, like when you were in school, once guilty and always suspected was the rule. That may be part of it but Jimmie Johnson coming from the back of the pack to leading the race  until his engine expired has lots of folks wondering.

    Keselowski commented during the race on how Hendrick cars used what he called “tricks” with their cars. Jack Roush and winner Greg Biffle mentioned at Michigan how they “fell behind” on some things, especially on Carl Edwards’ cars and had to get up to speed on certain things. It has opened up a new can of worms, but is it sour grapes or is it a legitimate gripe? Maybe the Hendrick Motorsports cars have people who just are smarter than other team’s engineers and technicians. No, do not shoot the messenger.

    “There’s parts and pieces that move on the car after inspection that make the (Hendrick) cars more competitive,” Keselowski said. “Some guys have it and some don’t. There’s a question as to the interpretation of the rule.”

    One thing is certain, Keselowski is outspoken and doesn’t pull any punches. He has been watching the HMS cars all season long, and his inability to compete with them over the last few races has him frustrated. Remember this is the same man I wrote about last week after a battle with Marcos Ambrose at Watkins Glen. He doesn’t mind getting beat, but he wants to be on an even playing field. He pointed a finger at his own organization, Penske Racing for racing fairly without pushing the envelope between getting by with something and getting caught.

    “As a group at Penske racing, we have not felt comfortable enough to risk that name and reputation that roger has over those parts and pieces. Others have, which is their prerogative,” Keselowski said. “Living in the gray area …We’re going to have to make a re-evaluation of that internally to decide if that’s the right way to go.”

    I found it interesting that after the race, NASCAR took six or seven cars back to their R&D center to inspect them. “Sometimes, it’s easier to take the whole car than just the engine,” Robin Pemberton said in an interview with Sirius-XM radio. What cars they took was a mystery at the time of this column.

  • The Void Left by the Death of David Poole

    The Void Left by the Death of David Poole

    [media-credit name=”The Charlotte Observer” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]Today marks the third anniversary of the death of David Poole. For you younger fans, David was the NASCAR reporter for the Charlotte Observer, as well as one of the hosts of SiriusXM’s morning show. Many read his columns in their local newspapers and heard him on the radio. He was NASCAR’s greatest critic, but also one of the press’s most knowledgeable writers.

    My first encounter with David was at Rockingham in 1998. I had just started writing for Racing Information Systems (now Racing Information Service) that season. Mike Hollander had given me a shot at covering races on the recommendation of our editor, Mike Snow. I was a rookie and forgot I was still as fan. As the cars of Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth were coming to the finish, I forgot I was reporting and stood up in front of David. The press box at Rockingham is tiered, but David was short and I blocked his view. He yelled at me, “Sit down dammit.” That booming voice always heard in the press box was the voice of authority. I quickly sat down. Since I knew who he was, I was embarrassed. Afterwards, he walked up to me and gave me some lessons on how to act as a member of the press. That began about 11 years of acquaintance. No, I wasn’t his friend, but we often talked, and I learned a lot about the business. I miss him.

    My beat has always been Rockingham (when it was still on the circuit), Bristol, Martinsville, and Charlotte. Each time, David was always there. I usually saw him in the press box, except at Charlotte and Bristol where most of us internet types are exiled to the infield media center. Luckily at Rockingham and Martinsville, I always had a press box seat in those days, usually sitting in the row below David and other star reporters like David, Monte Dutton, Lee Spencer and others. I got to hear his opinions on most stuff, racing or not, and he always talked to me. He often was the loudest and most opinionated voice in the press box. You knew he was there. He hated restrictor plate racing and what he considered the failings of the sanctioning body.

    I have lots of Poole stories. There are too many to tell, but one time we arrived at the track at Rockingham at the same time. It was the November after 9-11 and security was really tight. I watched as they took out nearly everything in David’s bag, put it on a table, and looked at every item. Expecting a firestorm of comments, he said nothing, which surprised me. Finally I said, “Why are they doing this to you? Don’t they know who you are?” He laughed and said it was a NASCAR plot to get back at him.

    As Monte Dutton tweeted to me today, a common thought in press areas is the following: What would Poole do? I’d like to hear his take on Hendrick Motorsports getting favorable treatment in an appeal by a former GM executive who had more than a passing relationship with the car owner. I’d love to hear what he thinks about Bruton Smith tearing up the track at Bristol. I’d love to hear his thoughts on Danica and Junior, but I can’t. When David left us, the anti-sanctioning body element was reduced by maybe 50%. Most of what the public gets is a large range of PR about how wonderful the racing is and why fans are all wrong about what they think. Never mind there are things wrong that need to be addresses, life is wonderful and if you don’t think that, there is something wrong with you. A half house at Bristol? It had to be the economy or some other reason because it wasn’t the racing. What about super secret fines? A lack of cautions or a boring race? David would have told it as he saw it. No excuses. Just reporting what he saw and felt. Too many times, the public gets PR, and that is not the purpose of the reporter.

    There will probably never be another David Poole, and he left a void as big as the state of North Carolina in the way folks interpret this sport. And that’s why, on this third anniversary of his death, I’m missing him. Rest in peace, David.

  • Problems and Solutions – NASCAR’s Bad Start

    Problems and Solutions – NASCAR’s Bad Start

    Never let it be said that I don’t have an opinion. The events of the past week have been monumental for NASCAR. I think a lot of folks don’t realize that what has happened will change the way things are done inside the sanctioning body in Daytona Beach for a long time. Can you imagine that the day would come where a track owner would poll the fans to see what they wanted? Can you imagine the day when the sanctioning body would be embarrassed by its own hand-picked appellate officer? Lots of questions and more surprise and confusion.

    NASCAR, though they are a dictatorship, has always prided itself as being fair. It doesn’t always appear that way, but that is the intention. Early on, they appointed an appeals committee made up of respected industry insiders. Teams also had the right to appeal to a one-man judge who could overturn any penalties somewhat like the United States Supreme Court of Appeals, except in this case, it’s not seven judges, but only one. NASCAR has always appointed former industry officials for this office. I can remember it was once Bunky Knudson, the former Pontiac and Ford CEO, and since it didn’t seem to matter over the years, I didn’t pay much attention after that. It seems that no matter how fair CAO John Middleton was in his decision in the Hendrick Motorsports/Chad Knaus vs. NASCAR case, some things were not well thought out.

    Fans will immediately take sides because that is their nature, but NASCAR left some holes in their thinking. Why in the world would you name an executive from a manufacturer as your CAO? Further, why would you name an officer who had a personal relationship with some of the principals? Apparently Rick Hendrick spoke at Middlebrook’s retirement dinner. I’m not saying that this had anything to do with the decision, but it opens up a lot of questions in the minds of fans, other teams, and the media. What were they thinking? The fallout will be huge. Every penalty will be appealed to the CAO and the minute that someone, anyone, doesn’t get a “get out of jail free card” like the Hendrick team did, it will inevitably be because they weren’t John Middlebrook’s friend.

    The boys in Daytona Beach have a lot of thinking to do over the next few months. What did they do wrong? Why did a panel of many decide the penalty should stand while the appellate officer decided that the penalty should be reduced? Why was the fine allowed and the points penalties and suspensions be waived, given the reputation of the principals involved? Complicating all of this is the fact that we’ll never know. If one appeals to the US Supreme Court (in the example I used earlier), there is a paper trail that reveals the thinking of the court. In this case, I don’t imagine anything else will come to light as to the thinking of the CAO. Game over and maybe game on.

    This brings us to the whole Bristol Motor Speedway situation. The half full racetrack over the weekend, which I have commented on earlier, apparently struck a nerve with Speedway Motorsports owner Bruton Smith. After earlier statements that the low crowd, about half capacity regardless of what the “official” estimates were, was caused by bad weather (it rained in the morning, but cleared up for the race), the attendance at Saturday’s Nationwide race should have given the brain trust a clue. The near empty campgrounds should have been another clue. Smith has his underlings conduct a Twitter and email poll on what the fans wanted. The result was over 70% of fans not only didn’t like what they saw, but demanded that the track be put back in the configuration it was before the 2007 reconfiguration of the track. Always wanting to give the fans what they want, Smith declared last night that it would be done. How refreshing was that? But the media and some drivers protested. Smith was firm. “The fans are always right,” Smith said. We’ll see if it really happens, but I applaud Smith for listening to fans and not the competitors. Fans pay the bills, and over the weekend, not many were there. Yes, a crowd of 80,000 is pretty good, but in a place built for twice that, it had to hurt.

    So for a year that started with a rain out, a big Monday night prime time race that had great ratings, and finally a great facility that appears to be decline. Lots of problems everywhere.

    In my opinion, it’s a cop-out to blame everything on the economy as has been done for so long over these last four years. It’s time for the sanctioning body to take the bull by the horns. Bruton Smith reacted swiftly and decidedly, as he always does. It’s time for NASCAR to do the same I hope they do. I think they will, but all is not rosy.

  • Appeal Denied As Expected

    Appeal Denied As Expected

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”222″][/media-credit]It must have been a full moon. I didn’t go because it’s a long way from West Virginia to the R&D Center and mostly because I knew what the verdict was before they announced it. Rarely does the NASCAR Appeal Board, or whatever they call it these days, overturn anything, especially when the defendants are caught red-handed. The circus continued regardless.

    Reports I heard said reporters arrived at the designated place as early as 7:00 AM. When it got past noon, people bought food for the reporters, with Landon Cassill bringing Burger King (his sponsor) bringing treats to the faithful. Later on Lugnut, the Charlotte Motor Speedway mascot showed up to entertain. Never in the history of a hearing was so much done for so many. In the end, the penalty to Chad Knaus and the No. 48 team stayed the same, just as I expected. Rick Hendrick declared his disbelief at the verdict and vowed to take it to the next level. In the meantime, if the hearing with the head man is taken next week, it means Knaus would miss Fontana through Talladega, but the big issue is whether or not it would make a difference in the team.

    Knaus would be able to set up the car, discuss changes to the car through cellular phone conversations, and everyone knows the team is so talented, it really won’t make a difference—not much anyway. The big issue is the points penalty. There is not a chance in hades that that will go away, so you have to wonder what in the world Rick Hendrick is thinking. The best that can happen, if history is any indication (and many think that the fact that the head officer is a former GM employee think this is probably what will happen), is a reduction of the suspensions of Knaus and the car chief. Why drag this out? Only Rick, the top owner in the series, knows. The penalty could be reduced, but it’s not likely, and it probably doesn’t matter anyway. The No. 48 team will make up the deficit, land in the top 10 and do its usual thing in the Chase. And yet, it was made into a circus maybe because it was Rick Hendrick and the five-time champ. Or maybe it was because it was an event and NASCAR has never avoided an event. We will know soon what the verdict is, but why all the drama?

    Finally, Chevrolet kind of announced today that they won’t show their stock car for 2013 until later. Ford and Dodge, even though Dodge doesn’t know who will be campaigning the car, have already shown their car. Toyota and Chevrolet have not. Chevrolet said it will be a new nameplate—many think it will be the new Chevelle, built in Australia by Holden. I have to wonder how red-blooded American fans will react to their favorite, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and other Chevy drivers driving a foreign car. It probably won’t make any difference. Fusions are made in Mexico and many Chargers are made in Canada. If they indeed run the Chevelle, people will accept the foreign car just like they did the Camry.

    So, we’re not even at midweek and everyone’s all excited. In a couple of days, we head to Bristol, once the highlight of March. The change in the track configuration has lessened that some, but still a great to watch a race. Chad will be on the pit box for now and Trevor Bayne will not be there at his home track, but I have to hope that the circus over one team will not take away from the others and we see a great race. It’s going to be a tough act to follow, you know. I mean, Lugnut and a horde of reporters are hard to beat. But, for now, we have a race to win and the lawyers and protests are in the background. Until next week.

  • A Harmless Interview With Jeff Gordon

    A Harmless Interview With Jeff Gordon

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”256″][/media-credit]Jeff Gordon let the cat out of the bag, so to speak this week. Well, it was no secret, for that matter. For a long time, it has been said that Stewart-Haas Motorsports Racing got parts and supplies from Rick Hendrick’s organization, but the denials were sharp that the two teams were separate. A telling interview with Gordon this week muddied the water somewhat.

    It seems that Gordon has been asked by several teams to get on his radio channel for drafting purposes and Gordon was not good with that at all. The list of teams that Gordon is willing to talk with includes teammates Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Mark Martin, but he added Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman to the mix. Interesting, isn’t it?

    “We had people coming to us last week wanting our radio approval, and we’re like, ‘No,’” Gordon said. “We’re not ready to do that. Having somebody be able to get on your channel is more complicated than some people are making it out to be. I’m not for that. We want to stay in control of what’s said and be able to talk to the crew chief. I have one of the best spotters, so I want my spotter to be leading the way as much as possible. So we’re very hesitant when it comes to that.”

    Back long ago, Jack Roush was told he could only have four teams. At the time, he had five, so one had to go. He was grandfathered in for a time, but on a date certain, he had to reduce to four teams. So, Roush did exactly that, which left Jamie McMurray’s No. 26 entry out in the cold. Roush sold that team to another owner, as he was told to do.

    He developed alliances with Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates Racing, but never denied that he was supplying cars to those teams. On NASCAR radio and in other places, people were led to believe that Stewart-Haas was totally independent of Hendrick Motorsports except that HMS supplied engines and chassis to Stewart-Haas. Seems that there is more to it than that.

    Roush pretty much is the Ford Racing program, supplying engines and chassis to his own Roush-Fenway racing team as well as Front Row Motorsports, the Wood Brothers, Richard Petty Motorsports, and now the TRG team. Formerly, he supplied the same services to Yates Racing, the team left behind when Robert Yates left the business to son Doug Yates. Chevrolet, on the other hand, has strong teams in HMS, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, and Richard Childress Racing, who operate as separate entities, except for the fact that engines from EGR are supplied to several teams. They always find a way around the rules, don’t they?

    The difference is that it appears there is more to it than that. The fact that Gordon (and maybe other Hendrick teammates) are going to work with Stewart-Haas means that maybe Stewart-Hass is Hendrick Motorsports in kind of a disguised way. Seems that way.

    I find it interesting that all this came about. Despite NASCAR’s rule, a little interview with the former champ showed us what we all knew. Rick Hendrick has six teams. Roush has more than that. Why didn’t they just leave things alone? In the name of competition, they tried to change the domination of one owner over the little guys, and what did they get? More domination. Watch them at Talladega this weekend and see who lines up with whom. That might be more interesting than the race itself.

  • Daytona: Changes, Domination, and a New Star

    Daytona: Changes, Domination, and a New Star

    As the NASCAR Sprint Cup season begins, there has been change after change. The new surface of Daytona International Speedway has given the teams a smoother track with more grip than ever before. It also created the new popular custom of pairing up with another car to gain speed. In practice, the two-car drafts achieved speed in excess of 200 mph, and in the Bud Shootout exhibition race, speeds were recorded as high at 207 mph. You just knew something had to be changed before the Daytona 500.

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Sunday evening, NASCAR introduced what they called two technical changes. Frontal openings that cool the engine were reduced in size and the pressure release valve on the water system is to be set at 33 pounds per square inch. The intent is to make it impossible for cars to stay in prolonged, close drafting. Thus, the high speeds seen in the two-car drafting will be lowered.

    Many fans found the racing in the Budweiser Shootout to be exciting, but it had its drawbacks. It made it nearly impossible for one car to pull out and slingshot past even its drafting partner and it created the necessity for a “dancing partner” to be competitive. That has always been the case, but the practice favored multi-car teams and made the field less competitive from first to last place. Regardless of the praise from the media covering the race, it was less than what people expect from the Daytona experience. Practice and the Gatorade Duels will be the first indication of whether or not the rules change will accomplish what NASCAR is trying to do…

    ***

    I’ve been watching this whole Dale Earnhardt love fest signifying the 10th anniversary of his death at the speedway, and I have to admit I’m a bit perplexed. There is no doubt that Earnhardt was special and I loved to watch him race, but it seems that concentrating on his death a decade later is a little much. I found it interesting that his son is finding it hard to deal with now. On an ESPN interview shown today, he admits that he doesn’t dwell on that sad Sunday in 2001, and that he was sure that his father would have a problem with it. It’s almost like NASCAR, in hard times, is reaching for anything that will create interest in today’s less than attractive product. If you have to use a tragic event to do it, well, why not?

    It was also announced that there will be a “silent lap,” which will be Lap 3 and have asked fans to hold up three fingers during that lap. That’s almost the same scenario we saw ten years ago. Judging by the number of Earnhardt flags and stickers on campers at the tracks today, it will be a popular thing to do, but it cannot take away from what we saw today in qualifying—complete domination from one organization and once manufacturer. If NASCAR wants to boost interest, that’s where to start, but I realize that they can’t do anything about a team being better than everyone else. It’s up to the other teams to catch up.

    ***

    The most pleasant surprise of qualifying today was the performance of Trevor Bayne in the Wood Brothers Ford. Bayne flirted with the pole on his run and initially wound up third before he was bumped back to fourth at the end of the day. Some forget that Bayne is a 19-year old rookie and the Woods have been struggling the last few years. Who knows how he’ll race, but if his performance at Texas last season is any indication, he’s going to only get better. It’s good to see a team that has the longevity of the Wood family perform like this. It’s enough to make me forget that Hendrick and RCR Chevrolets have dominated Speedweeks so far, and anyone in a Toyota is out to lunch in speed.

    ***

    Another driver to watch in the Gatorade Duels is Chevrolet driver Bill Elliott in the No. 09 Phoenix Racing entry. Although he only qualified 17th, he has Hendrick power under the hood and engineering help from the front row owner. Match that with Elliott’s experience at this track, and Awesome Bill might have a really good day. That would be special for everyone.

  • A points system an Alabama mathematician can work out

    A points system an Alabama mathematician can work out

    It has been an interesting off-season in NASCAR, and I’m not just talking about the snow in Dallas. We learned things, like the best mathematicians hail from such places as Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and the Carolinas. For more than 30 years, afficionados in those locales have been able to figure out the sport’s points system, but it was deemed too tough for the newbees to master.

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”189″][/media-credit]So, that brings us to the latest revamp of the way NASCAR determines its season champions. One point to the 43rd placed entry, 43 points for the winner, a 3 point victor bonus, a point for leading a lap, and one more for leading the most. I’m guessing that should be easy enough for those beleaguered Princeton and Harvard types to decipher.

    The top ten make the Chase, have their points rejigged to 2000 to put them out of reach of the mere mortals, with three bonus points for each win up to that point. Among those sitting 11th to 20th, the most wins combined with the most points determines two more wildcard Chasers. If that proves too much for a potential fan to figure out, might I suggest soccer as a sport of choice. I mean, all one needs to is a field, a ball, and two pairs of rubber boots to play and the point count is usually so low anybody can calculate the winner.

    In case you are wondering, according to my calculator, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick would have tied for the most points in the Chase using the new system, with Johnson getting the nod based on wins. You can’t get much closer than that. In a perfect world, wins should be worth more, but fans would quit watching if the final events merely led to a coronation. Too bad they can’t promote each race based on its own merits, but this is not a perfect world.

    In a perfect world, Tony Stewart could take a working holiday to Australian and not get into a dust up. A flying helmet followed by some flying fists highlighted a trip that apparently also involved some actual racing, but no one is too interested in that aspect of the story. If that did not provide enough gossip, then surely the court ruling that makes the details of the Brian and Megan France divorce public should. Hey, it is not that I don’t love hearing things that are none of my damn business. I mean, I am human after all.

    Crew Chief Frank Stoddard has a new racing team. That should give us another contender for that single point for each race, provided they qualify, before parking due to handling or vibration issues, or just not having enough money to buy tires or fuel to run an entire event. At least we won’t see anymore catch cans leaving the pits, as the new fuelling system eliminates that can and the guy holding it. No doubt another example of technology eliminating American jobs.

    We hear Mark Martin will keep racing beyond 2011 and his tenure with Hendrick. Hopefully he really will get a chance to actually race, and not be just a part of the not-ready-for-prime timers. You just don’t tie a race horse, even an aging one, up to a beer wagon.

    Sometimes the champagne set isn’t worth getting tied up with. Richard Petty Motorsports lives again, but no thanks to former partner George Gillett. After taking over Ray Evernham’s operation, merging it with Petty’s, Gillett is now long gone. It only took him three years to hit the bricks in NASCAR, only four years before losing his Liverpool soccer ownership, and just over nine before walking away from the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. Anyone else notice a trend here?

    Yet, some things last. Like a big track at Daytona, engines roaring to life, and a multitude of drivers, owners, crews, sponsors, and fans getting together to open yet another NASCAR season. The track is the same, but new asphalt now covers it which should make things very interesting when action resumes in a few short days.

    There are questions that we seek answers to. Is Jimmie Johnson going to raise the hardware again come November, or is it Jeff Gordon’s turn for five. Maybe Tony Stewart, or a Busch brother has a date with destiny, or a fairy tale finish for Mark Martin? Will we see a return of Dale Earnhardt Jr to prominence? Will we notice a difference in the cars with a more streamlined splitter and factory inspired noses? One thing is for certain, with the curtain dropped on football and baseball still a few months away, the time for the cars to return has returned. You don’t have to be an Alabama mathematician to figure out that this is a good thing.