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Tag: Indy 500

  • Sato’s two 500 wins places him in legend status at Indy

    Sato’s two 500 wins places him in legend status at Indy

    It’s easy to establish Takuma Sato as a good, but not great NTT IndyCar Series driver. He came into the series in 2010 and floundered a little with KV Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at first. Sure, he earned the respect and admiration of us all in his valiant 2012 Indy 500 effort, attempting to pass eventual winner Dario Franchitti in the first turn of the last lap only to go full send into the wall. But he didn’t find Victory Lane until 2013’s Long Beach event driving for A.J. Foyt Racing.

    He didn’t win again until his brief stay at Andretti Autosport in 2017, when he claimed his first Indy 500, and the next season saw him back at RLL, where he’s finally flourished by winning four more times since. He’s steadily gotten better – not great, but better – and there’s a very real chance he could find himself in title contender territory before too long.

    In a sense, he’s like NASCAR’s Sterling Marlin in that he excels at certain places but has won elsewhere on occasion. However, Indy is to Sato what Daytona was to Marlin – a racetrack where he can truly shine.

    For starters, there’s the two victories in the 500, as well as the 2012 attempt. However, there’s also is spirited 2019 effort, where the results will show that he finished third behind Simon Pagenaud and Alexander Rossi. But what the cards won’t show initially is that a second pace-lap issue forced him to go a lap down, and at one point he was running in dead last. However not only was Sato able to get himself back on the lead lap, he even contended for the lead as late as lap 176 of the 200-lap event.

    These show that he’s acclimated well to the speedway no matter who he is driving for. However, there’s also the fact that not only is he the first non-Caucasian driver to win the 500 and multiple times to boot (one of only 20 drivers to do so), he’s the first driver from the continent of Asia to do so. His victories have been a great way to bring other ethnicities into the sport, and they help shine a positive light on the sport of IndyCar.

    There’s also the matter of how quickly Sato has taken to open wheel racing. On one hand, there’s 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon, who has been winning races and championships since before Sato burst onto the scene in 2010. Graham Rahal earned his first series win in 2008 at St. Petersburg. In contrast, Sato was a champion cyclist before beginning his Formula One career in 2002, with a lukewarm career there before racing full-time in IndyCar in 2010.

    None of these statistics place him in the same category as say, Dixon or Will Power, or for that matter even Rahal, Unser, Foyt, or even Mario Andretti territory. He’s far from that at this point in his career considering he only holds six IndyCar wins and a best points finish of eighth in 2017. But unlike Andretti, Dixon, or Power, Sato is a two-time Indy 500 champion. That puts him in an elite category of open wheel stars over the last 100+ years. Put that together with how much he’s matured over the last 10 years and the far-reaching effects of his wins in the 500, and it’s easy to see that there’s more that goes into a legend than just statistics.

    For all we know Sato may just continue to be a perennial challenger, occasionally making his way to Victory Lane here and there. He’s fearless behind the wheel, there’s no doubt about that. That hasn’t translated into great results, but a win is a win. Those stay in the record books for years to come. The effects of those wins? Those last longer and reach further. There’s no a shadow of a doubt that for the time being, Sato is definitely an Indy 500 legend.

  • Castroneves earns hard-fought 11th at Indy

    Castroneves earns hard-fought 11th at Indy

    Coming into the Indianapolis 500, fan-favorite and three-time winner Helio Castroneves was searching for his fourth career victory in the event’s history. The last time he won the Indy 500 was 11 years ago in 2009. Since then, his best finish at Indy was second back in 2017.

    Castroneves had even more of a reason to perform well in Sunday’s race. It was announced earlier this season that Castroneves and his teammates at Team Penske (Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron, and Ricky Taylor) would be out of a ride after ACURA announced they were ending their partnership in the IMSA program.

    Despite the news, the Brazilian put his focus and efforts on his one-off Indy 500 start in hopes of catching a car owner’s eye for a potential full-time IndyCar ride in 2021 by having a solid run.

    Beginning with last Sunday in qualifying, Castroneves didn’t have the result he wanted after qualifying 28th in the starting field of 33 drivers. He only knew that he could go up from there.

    Once the green flag flew on an unusual Indy 500, Castroneves quietly ran outside the top 10 for most of the day, with it being tough to pass especially back in the pack. Though with the help of cautions, the Team Penske driver slowly but surely worked his way to the top 10 as the race neared its end.

    While Castroneves never could lead any laps, he was up front a couple of times after playing different pit strategies running as high as second and he had a lucky caution come out that could have played in his favor. However, he would have to make a pit stop off balance with the leaders and would be mired in the middle of the pack again.

    Once the checkered flag came under yellow-flag conditions due to Spencer Pigot’s late race wreck with four laps to go, Castroneves wound up finishing 11th after a hard day of work.

    “I miss this thing so much,” Castroneves said. “I know I didn’t finish in the top 10. One spot behind, but let me tell you, what a great group of guys. They did a phenomenal job today. The No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet was not the strongest car out there, but we fought from 28th all the way up to 11th and we did everything we could. Obviously, we tried to take our chances with some of the yellows and it didn’t work out. It was very difficult to pass, however, and we hung on, and a top 11 was the best we could do. Again, I miss everyone. This was awesome, but now on to the next page and on to Road Atlanta (for the IMSA race).”

  • Takuma Sato takes two in Indy 500

    Takuma Sato takes two in Indy 500

    Three years removed from his first Indianapolis 500 win, Takuma Sato and Rahal Letterman Lanigan had hopes of repeating that same victory of what was an unusual Indy 500. Sato was the least talked about heading into Sunday’s race. Most of the talk was centered around last year’s race winner Simon Pagenaud who was looking to repeat, and famous racing star Marco Andretti who qualified on the pole breaking a streak of 30 plus years since the last time an Andretti was on the front row.

    There was one driver that Sato had to beat late in the going and that was New Zealander Scott Dixon, who in the latter stages of the race had the fastest car of anyone. Sato made his move after the last round of green flag pit stops, and passed Dixon on the front straightaway with 15 to go. From there, all he had to do was hold the Chip Ganassi Racing driver off, and make sure there were no mistakes. Despite lap traffic in the way, Sato held the lead for those final 15 laps in what would be his second Indianapolis 500 victory.

    “Obviously, we pitted (a lap) short from (Scott Dixon) Dixie,” Sato said. “The fuel strategy was a bit tight. I saw Scott was coming right through out of Turn 4, and he was screaming coming at me. And I just held him off. Thank you so much.” About winning at age 43, he said, “This was the entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan team. HPD and Honda gave us a lot of power, a lot of fuel mileage, and my boys. They sacrifice a lot. I can’t thank all of the people.”

    The 2020 Indy 500 will be one to remember for a very long time. This was the first time in years that the event was held with no fans due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Originally, Roger Penske (Owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NTT IndyCar Series) had hoped the speedway would host a 50% capacity. However, as the event drew closer, the number dwindled to 25%, and eventually, Mr. Penske was forced to run the race without fans due to Indiana’s state regulations regarding the virus.

    Nonetheless, the Indy 500 carried on and as usual was an exciting 200-lap event.

    Pole sitter Marco Andretti started out front but was quickly passed by Scott Dixon in his No. 9 DHL Honda machine. Dixon was looking for his second Indy 500 victory. There was some tight action on the very first lap as well. Ed Carpenter in his own No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing entry made contact with the Turn 1 wall. Carpenter would have to come down pit road for service and fix the front wing due to a potentially broken a-arm.

    Not too long after the incident, the first yellow flag would fly for James Davison in the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing vehicle. Davison’s right-front tire exploded on the backstretch, causing him to slow dramatically and eventually, his right-front would catch on fire. Fortunately for Davison, he exited out of the car under his own power, but was out early and credited with a last-place finish. Under the caution, multiple drivers were already using differing pit strategies. Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Charlie Kimball, Fernando Alonso, Helio Castroneves, Sage Karam and Max Chilton, among a few others, made a pit stop.

    Back up front, Dixon led the field to the Lap 12 restart and there was a 13 lap green-flag run before the second caution flew on Lap 25. Marcus Ericsson’s No. 8 entry got loose going into Turn 1 and hit one of the SAFER barriers. Like Davison, Ericsson’s race was done early, and he would wind up finishing 32nd in the running order. During that same yellow, the leaders, including Dixon, made their first pit stop of the race. By doing so, this put the drivers who made a pit stop earlier up front. Meaning, rookie of the year contender Oliver Askew was the leader. But, Pagenaud took the top spot and led until his second stop on Lap 45.

    While Pagenaud pitted, Dixon cycled into the lead again and was out in front of Alexander Rossi by less than a second.

    The race seemed as though it would enter a long green-flag run, running approximately 52 laps. Pit stops also took place during that run and almost every driver was on a different type of strategy. However, Dixon continued to set the pace, even after his stop. Before the caution flag on Lap 83, Sato saw his first moments near the leader as Dixon led him by a whopping margin of 11 seconds.

    As mentioned, the yellow on Lap 83 slowed things down a bit, and Dalton Kellett in the No. 41 made contact with the Turn 3 wall. There was also a scary incident between Conor Daly and rookie Oliver Askew that ensued at Lap 92 off the restart. Daly’s car hit the concrete off Turn 4 which made him spin out and damage his No. 47 vehicle. Then Askew took a hard hit on the inside pit lane wall just before the entry off pit road. Despite the hard hit, both drivers were uninjured after the incident. Even so, Askew mentioned in his interview to NBC, that ‘he was a little shaken up from the crash.’

    Then from Lap 106 to Lap 122, an exciting battle for the lead ensued between competitors Rossi and Dixon. The pair of drivers swapped the lead multiple times on each of those laps. Dixon would fall behind Rossi to save fuel in second, while Rossi led the race. The two drivers used the same strategy back and forth until a yellow on Lap 122. The caution was for another rookie Alex Palou. The Spanish native made contact with a SAFER barrier by the end of Turn 1. Palou’s No. 55 received right-side damage and unable to continue the race.

    Meanwhile, things heated up on pit road that impacted Indy 500 winner Sato. Rossi’s Andretti AutoSport entry had an unsafe release and he slightly hit Sato’s car when leaving his pit box. Two other drivers also had issues with the same move, as Ferrucci and Herta had contact with each other as well. Unfortunately for Rossi, he received a penalty from IndyCar Series officials for that unsafe release and was sent to the back of the field.

    On the initial restart, Rossi passed five cars but his momentum and efforts were crushed on Lap 144 when his No. 27 NAPA AutoParts Honda got loose off Turn 2 and hit the backstretch wall. Rossi would be scored out of the race and credited with a 27th place finishing position.

    After the yellow, Sato passed Dixon on Lap 160, a few laps before he made his final green flag pit stop. Sato happened to make his pit stop one lap earlier then Dixon and while Sato had a clean stop, Dixon had a somewhat slow pit stop, which allowed Sato to close in on the back straightaway.

    With Dixon trying to hold off Sato when the laps started to wind down, leaders Zach Veach and Max Chilton were hoping for a caution that would have favored them. Unfortunately, they had to make a pit stop, giving the top two spots to Dixon and Sato. Once Veach pitted, Sato inherited the lead and just had to focus on his race pace.

    There were a few last chance hopes though for Dixon when lap traffic started to get in the way. But, once Sato cleared them he checked out by 1.1 seconds. With four laps to go, Sato’s winning moment came as his teammate Spencer Pigot, unfortunately, hit the tire barriers prior to entering pit road. There were not enough laps or time for IndyCar to display the red flag and therefore, Sato won his second Indy 500 under yellow flag conditions.

    The Japanese driver became the sixth oldest driver to win at 43-years, six months, and 26 days old. In addition, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing achieved their second Indy 500 victory as well. Sato became the 20th different driver to have two race wins of the Indy 500.

    Dixon finished second for the third time in his first Indy 500 outing since 2012.

    “This is a hard one to swallow,” Dixon said. “On fuel mileage, I really can’t see how they were going to make it. We pitted a lap later, and the numbers they had to get, it was going to be very difficult. I thought they were going to throw a red flag, which would have been interesting for the last four or five laps. Huge congrats to Sato. He drove his pants off today. Rahal Letterman Lanigan, they were super fast, obviously 1-3. A good day for Honda. A massive thank you. Proud to be powered by HPD and Honda, and it’s nice to get some points. But it’s hard when it slips away like that.”

    A few other notables, Pigot was transported to a local hospital, and was awake and alert.

    Pato O’ Ward earned the Rookie of the Race award by being the highest finishing rookie placing sixth.

    There were seven cautions for 52 laps and 21 lead changes among 11 different leaders. Sato led twice for 27 laps en route to his sixth career NTT IndyCar Series victory.

    Official Results following the 2020 Indy 500.

    1. Takuma Sato, led 27 laps
    2. Scott Dixon, led 111 laps
    3. Graham Rahal
    4. Santino Ferrccui, led one lap
    5. Josef Newgarden
    6. Pato O’Ward
    7. James Hinchcliffe, led one lap
    8. Colton Herta, led one lap
    9. Jack Harvey
    10. Ryan Hunter-Reay
    11. Helio Castroneves
    12. Felix Rosenqvist, led eight laps
    13. Marco Andretti
    14. Will Power, led two laps
    15. Zach Veach, led 14 laps
    16. JR Hildebrand
    17. Max Chilton
    18. Charlie Kimball
    19. Tony Kanaan, 1 lap down
    20. Rinus VeeKay, 1 lap down
    21. Fernando Alonso, 1 lap down
    22. Simon Pagenaud, 2 laps down, led 14 laps
    23. Ben Hanley 2 laps down
    24. Sage Karam, 2 laps down
    25. Spencer Pigot, OUT, Accident
    26. Ed Carpenter
    27. Alexander Rossi, OUT, Contact, led 17 laps
    28. Alex Palou, OUT, Contact
    29. Conor Daly, OUT, Contact
    30. Oliver Askew, OUT, Contact, led led four laps
    31. Dalton Kellett, OUT, Contact
    32. Marcus Ericsson, OUT, Contact
    33. James Davison, OUT, Mechanical

    Up Next: The NTT IndyCar Series heads to World Wide Technology at Gateway on Saturday, August 29, with NBCSN on the air at 3 p.m. ET.

  • Crossover Stars Help NASCAR’s Fan Appeal

    Crossover Stars Help NASCAR’s Fan Appeal

    NASCAR needs more crossover stars. It’s a time-honored tradition in the sport to bring in drivers from across the pond (mostly on NASCAR’s dime) and put them in our cars not only to perform but to draw in the fans. This is usually met with success more on the fan side of things, although former F1 drivers Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya did find a bit of success in NASCAR.

    Lewis Hamilton’s comments to TMZ regarding a foray in NASCAR have been given a bit of levity considering how his 2018 season has gone without a win, not to mention he has yet to finalize any plans beyond 2018. Hamilton has been vocal in the past regarding his love for American motorsports as well as a possible NASCAR venture, and considering he’s the closest thing to a mainstream A-list celebrity the racing world has, it’s easy to imagine the NASCAR brass salivating at the idea of Hamilton in a competitive car at Daytona. It’s not impossible to imagine NASCAR possibly even footing some of the bill to bring him.

    It’s had its pitfalls before, though. Two-time Formula One champion Jim Clark and Ludovico Scarfiotti were entered in the 1967 American 500 at Rockingham. Although Scarfiotti, winner of the 1966 Italian Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1963, did not compete due to his time being disallowed, Clark was able to bring his Holman-Moody Ford up into the top-15 before mechanical failure knocked him out of the race.

    Another Formula One champion, Kimi Raikkonen, competed at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s May 2011 Speedweeks in the Camping World Truck Series race as well as the Nationwide Series race. Raikkonen, the 2007 World Champion (and arguably one of F1’s most enigmatic personalities), drove for Kyle Busch Motorsports in both events, scoring a 15th-place finish in the truck race while finishing four laps down in 27th during the Nationwide race.

    Both instances had a lot of fanfare from across the racing world, and although they ended in less-than-stellar fashions, that hasn’t always been the case. Montoya won three races across the three national touring divisions in NASCAR. Andretti became a Daytona 500 winner for Holman-Moody in 1967. Nelson Piquet Jr. won two truck races and a Nationwide event.

    It’s been more than just an F1-to-NASCAR crossover. In 2017, two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso made his IndyCar debut at the Indianapolis 500, where he piloted an Andretti-Herta Autosport entry to Rookie-of-the-Race honors. Alonso managed to lead several laps and appeared in contention to win before an engine failure sidelined his Honda. The fanfare was so great it even garnered attention in the NASCAR world, where NASCAR-to-IndyCar and vice versa are not uncommon; NASCAR has seen its own Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, and John Andretti make the Indy 500-Coke 600 double multiple times over the years.

    In 2008, on the heels of Formula One standout and Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya winning the 2007 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year with one win, three top-fives, and six top-10s, IndyCar champions Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti ventured into NASCAR with hopes of success. They dominated the storylines early in the season as part of the “Open-Wheel Invasion” despite struggling, and Franchitti dropped out halfway through the season while Hornish is now a part-time Xfinity Series competitor with a handful of wins.

    Even Danica Patrick’s move from IndyCar to NASCAR was fruitless overall, although she was one of the faces of the sport and spent her entire career in top-caliber equipment.

    It’d be easy to become jaded at the prospect of a crossover star coming to NASCAR, admittedly so. When has one actually set the sport on fire other than Tony Stewart, the 1997 Indy Racing League champion? Even those who have found success have received it in short bursts. Ultimately, it’s a matter of experience – more seat time means more success unless you’re a racing anomaly like Andretti or Montoya. But the buildup, the hype, the suspense of a driver who may be established elsewhere making the dive into another major motorsport, i.e., NASCAR, is noteworthy to the brass. Fans and media get especially excited, PR people go all out and come race day it’s almost certain that the Next Big Thing has arrived.

    Should NASCAR invest into another crossover star (training, seat time, equipment, so on), it could help bolster attendance and ratings issues, same with IndyCar and F1. The day can and will come when a crossover driver is discovered and happens to truly be the Next Big Thing.

  • INDY 500: Bump Day Happened This Week And No One Noticed

    INDY 500: Bump Day Happened This Week And No One Noticed

    Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    As most racing fans know, two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso is slated to run the Indianapolis 500 in a Honda-powered entry from Andretti Autosport.

    Less well known is the fact that my Electric GT Championship competitor, Stefan Wilson, was bumped out of his confirmed seat with Andretti so that Alonso could inherit the ride. In return for quietly stepping away from a confirmed Indy 500 seat, Wilson was promised a grab bag of favors including preferential treatment for a future ride.

    This deal makes sense for everyone on a lot of levels. But why did the deal have to be cut in the first place? Why aren’t there plenty of cars and engines to go around for any qualified driver who wants to enter? This is where it gets ugly.

    Indycar’s adoption of manufacturer-supplied engines has created an artificial shortage of open seats. Both of Indycar’s approved engine suppliers, Honda and Chevrolet, control their costs by placing strict limits on the number of engines they will make available to Indycar teams.

    The series has outlawed independent engine providers, chassis builders, and tire manufacturers. You can only race what Indycar tells you to buy. Honda and Chevy aren’t willing to outfit additional teams, and why should they? With the field roughly divided in half between the two engine builders, providing more motors doesn’t significantly increase their chances of winning the world’s biggest race but it drives their costs through the roof.

    And this is not the first time the situation has occurred. Pippa Mann had full funding for a shot at Indy a couple of years ago, but once again, an engine shortage figured heavily into the equation. Now Stefan Wilson is out of a ride so that Indycar can reap the benefits of drawing an F1 champ to the 500. Engine supply has become a major limiting factor in drawing any new teams or drivers to the Indy 500.

    I’m delighted to see Alonso in the race, but this didn’t have to happen. And it shouldn’t have happened. Bumping drivers out of the race should happen on Bump Day during qualifying, not incorporate boardrooms in April.

    Note to Indycar – people will pay to see this drama if you will put it on the track.

    Can you imagine the racing world’s enthusiasm if Wilson and Alonso had settled this at 230 mph while fighting over the final grid spot on Bump Day? Instead, we have no drama at all. Unless he misses his flight to Indianapolis, Alonso’s spot is virtually guaranteed because we barely have enough cars to hold the race, let alone the newly revamped Bump Day which seems to generate little interest.

    Spec car racing has had 20 years to do something other than fail, yet Indycar can still barely fill its own field each May. The series should open up the formula and allow new chassis builders, engine suppliers, and drivers to compete.

    Stephen Cox
    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions
    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN
    Driver, Electric GT Championship, Super Cup Stock Car Series

  • Thoughts On Bryan Clauson’s Passing

    Thoughts On Bryan Clauson’s Passing

    It’s weird when a racer dies and you look at their birth and death dates. Granted, it’s a given in motorsports that despite our best efforts to ensure the safety of our drivers, no matter how evolved the safety features are, no matter how strong the integrity of the car is, no matter how well everyone did their job making sure the car was the very best it could be, there are going to be freak accidents and drivers will be hurt and on a few tragic occasions killed.

    But still, looking at Bryan Clauson’s birth and death dates, it’s jarring. June 15, 1989 – August 7, 2016. He wasn’t even a year younger than me. At 27, he should still be around, continuing to solidify his status as a racer’s racer, getting behind the wheel of anything and everything and beating the competition senseless. He was an excellent driver and had the fan following, the respect of his peers, and the trophies to prove it. This guy was supposed to be the next Steve Kinser or Danny Lasoski.

    Yet here we are, early in the morning of August 8, 2016, mourning the loss of another fantastic racer. It’s not right. It makes no sense at all.

    I used to be so jealous of this guy when I first heard of him during my sophomore year of college. While I was up to my neck dealing with classes and homework and things of that nature, this guy was taking the green flag at places like Texas and Daytona and doing an excellent job behind the wheel at that. His NASCAR career may not have bloomed, but his resume was pretty impressive.

    He won the Turkey Night Grand Prix in 2009 and 2010. He won the Chili Bowl in 2014. He was a three-time (2010, 2011, 2015) USAC Midget champion. He was a three-time (2010-’12) USAC National Drivers Champion. He was a two-time (2012-’13) USAC National Sprint Car Series champion. He was a prolific Sprint Car and Midget driver, in case you couldn’t tell.

    But there’s much more. Not only did he make three starts in the Indianapolis 500, but he became the first driver to win a feature race the same day as running the Indianapolis 500 this year when he wheeled a Sprint Car to victory at Kokomo Speedway just hours after finishing 23rd in the Indy 500. It’s also pretty neat to point out that he also managed to lead a few laps at Indy as well.

    Of course, can’t forget the 2016 “Circular Insanity” Tour. The gist of it was simple: Compete in 200 races in 2016, including wingless Sprint Cars, Midgets, World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, and the Indianapolis 500. Traveling from track to track in an RV, Clauson’s plan epitomized the old-school racer’s mantra of “race anything, anytime, anywhere.” That’s what was so awesome about him. He loved racing, no matter what, and also happened to be damn good at it.

    Yet now he’s gone.

    You think about the fallout. You think about his family, including his fiancee Lauren. Your heart breaks for them because you can’t even fathom just how great and terrible their loss truly is. You think about his fellow competitors. You think about the Midgets they were racing when he crashed and you can’t help but wonder what, if anything, can be done to prevent another tragedy like this from happening.

    It’s an ugly whirlwind of confusion and emotion and heartbreak. It will never pass over or go away completely. The most it will do is mellow out, maybe subside a bit. But two years, three years down the road our hearts will still be heavy when we think about Clauson and what could have been.

    We’re going to mourn, and there’s no set time on that. All we can do is keep our eyes straight ahead, stay strong, and soldier on until we see the sun rise again. I’m sure it’s what he would have wanted. Until then, my heart goes out to the Clauson family. Race in peace, Bryan.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Coca Cola 600

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Coca Cola 600

    With military tributes abounding and NASCAR patriotism at its best, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 55th annual running of the sport’s longest race, the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    Surprising: In a sport where man so often is at the mercy of machine, the competitive spirit of the drivers surprisingly triumphed over whatever difficulties they were facing in their race cars.

    One such example of perseverance was Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, who triumphed over back spasms that were so severe that he missed final practice to finish the longest race of the season in the seventh spot.

    “It was tough,” Gordon said after the race. “I was aching in there. There was one time when I got on the brakes into (Turn) 1 and it triggered something. I didn’t know what was going to happen after that, but it settled down.”

    “I’m happy that I got through it. It tells me a lot about what kind of threshold I have and I just want to show this team the kind of commitment I have to them because of what they have shown me this year.”

    The driver who triumphed most mightily over his race machines, however, was Kurt Busch, who raced his heart out in the Indianapolis 500, finishing sixth in his rookie effort, and then went on to race in the Coke 600, only to have his engine give up the ghost on Lap 271.

    “To feel the stock car right after driving the Indy car was a day I’ll never forget,” the driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Made in America Chevrolet, said. “I can’t let the mood here with the car dampen what happened up at Indy today. That was very special.”

    “Andretti Autosport gave me a top-five car to try and win the 500 with, and these Stewart-Haas guys gave me a good car too,” Busch continued. “The motor just went, sometimes that happens. All in all I gave it my all.”

    Not Surprising: For Hendrick Motorsports, with their headquarters just up the road from the speedway, there truly is no place like home. And for race winner, Jimmie Johnson, and his team owner Rick Hendrick, Charlotte Motor Speedway is like coming home.

    “I think, number one, Charlotte is kind of home,” Mr. H said after the race. “Won my first NASCAR race here with Sr. in ’83 in the Nationwide or Busch Series. It’s a special place, all the families here.”

    “Winning a race, Jimmie and Chad have been so close this year, and several situations got away,” Mr. Hendrick continued. “To get this one behind us is great.”

    This home track win was Johnson’s first of the season, his 67th victory in 44 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and his seventh win at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet also broke the tie with NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip as the all-time series points wins leader at Charlotte.

    Surprising: Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had surprisingly much in common in the Coke 600, starting out strong and then both going down for the count with engine issues. Junior finished 19th and Patrick finished an even more disappointing 39th.

    “We had a little bit of an engine issue or something cropping up,” the driver of the No. 88 National Guard/Superman Chevrolet said. “But it was very fast. I was very happy with the speed.”

    “We were able to at least finish 19th,” Junior continued. “We could have blowed up and finished in the back. You’re going to have some bad weeks and you’ve got to be able to roll with them. This was one of them and we just have to look at the positives and try not to dwell too much on what happened.”

    “Yeah, it’s really unfortunate,” Patrick said, echoing the words of Dale Earnhardt Jr. “We started off great and started to get tighter and tighter. We couldn’t really figure out how to fix it.”

    “We had a good plan, then dropped a cylinder and lost power, then got rear-ended,” the driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet continued. “That was our day. We’ll just remember the good stuff that happened here at Charlotte and at Kansas last race and build on that for Dover.”

    Not Surprising: Kevin Harvick did not close and was not fast in the pits so therefore it was not surprising that he also was not happy after the race, even though he finished second.

    “We shot ourselves in the foot again,” the driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet said. “We left two wheels loose and played catch up the rest of the night.”

    “We’re just shooting ourselves in the foot on pit road,” Harvick continued. “We have to clean that up because we obviously can’t win races with the fastest car if we make mistakes continuously on pit road. It’s frustrating.”

    Surprising: Jamie Mac is back, backing up his All Star race win with a top-five finish in his No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet.

    “Our car was fast enough that even when we went to the back, we were able to recover and get back to the top-five, which was great,” McMurray said. “We’ve had such good cars all year long and have not been able to capitalize because of tire issues or just some bad luck.”

    “So I’m excited we won last week. We ran really good again this week. Just an all-around good night.”

    Not Surprising: Carl Edwards, one of Ford’s best pitch men, credited his manufacturer’s fuel mileage for getting him a fourth place finish and scoring top honors for Ford in the race.

    “That’s Ford fuel mileage right here,” the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion said. “You talk about Fords getting great fuel mileage and they did today.”

    “Our car finished fourth and that was probably as good as we deserved to finish,” Edwards continued. “We did have a good run.”

    Surprising: This time, rookie Austin Dillon actually finished ahead of ROTY competitor Kyle Larson to tighten up that rookie recognition battle. Dillon scored the 16th finishing spot while Larson finished two behind in 18th.

    “I’m proud of everyone’s effort on this No. 3 Cheerios Chevrolet team this weekend,” Dillon said. “It was not a bad finish considering all of the challenges we battled during the race.”

    Not Surprising:  Pleased but not satisfied was the theme for the top-finishing Toyota drivers. Matt Kenseth finished third in his No. 20 Home Depot Husky Toyota and Brian Vickers had a great run, finishing sixth in his No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota.

    “I thought we had a top-five car — a lot of it was definitely an improvement,” Kenseth said. “Just needed a little more and couldn’t quite run with the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the 4 (Kevin Harvick) and a couple of them other cars. Overall, it was a good night for our Home Depot Husky Tools Camry — we just have to get just a little better.”

    “Our Camry was good all night,” Vickers said. “We were really close to top-five and probably close to a win, we just needed a little more speed.”

    “The guys did a great job and just really proud of them,” Vickers continued. “Pleased but not satisfied.”

    Surprising: Paul Menard had a surprisingly good run in his No. 27 Serta/Menards Chevrolet at Charlotte, finishing in the eighth spot after starting 21st.

    “We had a great finish tonight in Charlotte considering where we started,” Menard said. “It was a hard fought race the for No. 27 Serta/Menards team, but with some strategy and adjustments we were able salvage what could have been a tough night.”

    “This race in Charlotte is a tough one, but we finished strong.”

    Not Surprising: Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, epitomized the spirit of the weekend as he never quit and never gave up in spite of cutting down a tire on Lap 293 and finishing 15th in the Coca Cola 600.

    “This Quicken Loans team persevered this weekend,” Newman declared. “We had quite a bit to overcome, but we never gave up.”

    “We started from the back after an issue in qualifying and had a Chevrolet good enough to race all the way up to ninth position before we had a tire cut down on a restart,” Newman continued. “I have to hand it to this team; we never gave up through all the adversity.”

    “I will never stop fighting and nor will my crew, we’ll be fine.”

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves on next weekend to pay a visit to Miles the Monster in the 45th Annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware.

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 12 Charlotte Motor Speedway – NASCAR Sprint All Star Race – May 19, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 12 Charlotte Motor Speedway – NASCAR Sprint All Star Race – May 19, 2012

    [media-credit name=”charlottemotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]The stars have come home to Charlotte for this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint All Star Race, and this year brings new drivers, a new format, but the same old distinction. A million dollars rides on the driver able to cross the finish line first following 90 or so laps at The Beast of the Southeast. Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All Star Race will be run in 4-20 lap segments, with the four segment-winners staging at the front of the field for the final 10-lap shootout to the wire for the cool million. 90 or more laps will make up the All Star race this year, as only green flag laps count in the final 10-lap shootout.

    Jeff Gordon leads all active drivers in NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race wins, with three under his belt already. Carl Edwards made his mark on Charlotte Motor Speedway last season when he practically ripped the front end of his Ford Fusion off from the rest of the car, following his turn through the front-stretch grass in celebration of his first NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race win.

    Some big names still need to race (or be voted) into the big dance on Saturday Night, namely Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Burton, and Jamie McMurray. The way to earn a ticket to the big dance – finish in the top two of the Sprint Showdown is a surefire way, the other – be at the top of the Sprint Fan Vote. Much like Friday and Saturday night home-track races, there’s an A-main and a B-main tonight in Concord. The Sprint Showdown will be ran in two segments of 20 laps each, with the top two finishers moving onto tonight’s A-main.
    With the absence of NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship points comes an extreme level of action and daring driving. Settling for second is never a thought in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race, making it one of my favorite race weekends of the entire Sprint Cup season.

    Darlington Recap

    The Lady in Black tamed my recent hot streak of winner picks last week, a result of the toughness Darlington Raceway brings to the sport.

    I picked last week’s pole-sitter, Greg Biffle to win the Bojangles’ Southern 500, a move that looked fairly promising for 74 or so laps last Saturday Night. Biffle’s car seemed to go away as the laps ticked away, battling loose conditions through the latter of the laps at Darlington. He ran in the top-10 for the majority of the race, but the late-race caution set the field up for a green-white-checkered finsh. Biffle restarted 10th, but his 3M Ford Fusion was too much of a handful to muscle into the top-10, ultimately crossing the finish line in 12th.

    My Dark Horse last week qualified for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 in the sixth spot, and ended the race one spot better in fifth. Martin Truex Jr. also battled a loose condition throughout the duration of the race and ran as high as first, but only faltered back to 11th last week. He lead a season high 25 laps and managed to hold his 5th place spot in the championship points standings.

    All-Star Picks

    There is so much to pick for tonight’s All-Star festivities, so I will try to keep my picks short and sweet this week…

    Sprint Showdown

    Kicking off tonight’s on-track activities is the B-main or LCQ (if you’re used to motorcycle racing), otherwise known as the Sprint Showdown. The Showdown is packed with guys eager to have a shot at racing for the cool million, but its Martin Truex Jr. and Jeff Burton that will punch their tickets to the big dance by racing their way into the A-main. Both will start in the top-5 for the Showdown and practiced well on Friday.

    Fan Vote

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not race his way into the Sprint All-Star race, but will have a shot at the million via JR Nation. The will vote in droves following his third-place effort in the Sprint Showdown, but JR will start last on the grid for the NASCAR All-Star Race by receiving the 2012 fan vote for the second straight year.

    NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
    Here’s the segment winners first:
    1- Kyle Busch
    2- Jimmie Johnson
    3- Jeff Gordon
    4 – Tony Stewart

    Starting in the top-4 spots of the 10-lap shootout for tonight’s million-dollar purse will be one Toyota and three Chevrolets. In the end, it will be Stewart claiming victory in the All-Star race. He was at Thursday night’s Pit Crew Challenge, and was disappointed when his Stewart-Haas Racing crew was knocked out of the competition in the semi-finals. The defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion is out for revenge tonight and will go home a million dollars richer when the checkered falls.

    That’s all for this week, so until next week’s Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500, and Coke 600…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • NASCAR’s David Ragan and IZOD IndyCar series JR Hildebrand Have One Thing In Common

    NASCAR’s David Ragan and IZOD IndyCar series JR Hildebrand Have One Thing In Common

    When ABC television’s Wide World of Sports first coined the phrase, “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,” some 40 years ago.  You could almost hear the voice of the late Jim McKay, bellowing out that saying when two of motorsports biggest races of the year were lost because of driver error.

    Think back to the last time in the history of motorsports when two young winless drivers in the same year have come so close to victory in the season’s biggest spectacles, but yet were unable to close the deal while millions of fans watched in amazement.

    On one side of the spectrum you have a driver who is in his seventh season racing in NASCAR’s premiere series who has never won a Sprint Cup race, and on the other side a rookie driver who was making only his eighth start in the IZOD IndyCar Series, his fifth this season.

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Roush-Fenway driver David Ragan, could feel the electricity running through his body as he waited patiently for the green flag to drop on the first of what would be two green-white-checkered finishes.

    Ragan who led the 52nd running of the Daytona 500 twice for seven laps, would not be around for the last and final green-white-checkered restart. Instead fate would deal him a different hand, and ultimately take away any chances of him winning his first ever Sprint cup race in 147 career starts.

    In the blink of an eye Ragan threw away his best opportunity at winning not only NASCAR’s biggest race of the season, but also the chance to become Roush-Fenway Racing’s second driver to ever win the 500 behind Matt Kenseth who went to victory in 2009.

    Ragan, who was leading the race at the time took the green flag after a late race caution outside of eventual winner Trevor Bayne, and changed lanes before he reached the start/finish line. Unfortunately for Ragan, he violated section 10-2 of the Sprint Cup Series rule book with the move and was black-flagged.

    Ragan would restart the race in the 15th position after serving his pass through penalty, and would eventually finish a disappointing 14th. “It was tough to swallow,” Ragan said after the race.

    Ragan also added that, “Who knows what would have happened in that next lap? We had a top-five car and we didn’t finish in the top five, so that’s a bummer. We had a car that could’ve won the Daytona 500. We were sitting in position and just didn’t do it.”

    Three months later and the racing gods would strike again, but this time it would involve a driver who was trying to make history as the second rookie to ever win the Indianapolis 500. In 2002 it was Helio Castroneves who became the first Indianapolis 500 rookie driver to win both rookie of the year honors, along with the race.

    On the day of the centennial running of the Great American Race, rookie driver JR Hildebrand was only one corner away from matching Castroneves historical feat, and putting his name in the record books next to one of the series greatest drivers ever.

    Hildebrand just like Ragan could almost feel the thrill of victory, and in a quick instant the agony of defeat slapped him with a dose of reality. Instead Hildebrand’s second place finish would go down as one of the sport’s most heartbreaking finishes, when he crashed on the last corner while leading the race.

    Hildebrand was coming out of turn three and headed into four, when he came behind a slower car and decided to go around it and lost control when hit the marbles and crashed hard into the wall.

    In that split second gone was the Borg-Warner trophy along with the customary drink of milk that every driver dreams of when the month of May comes around, and the only thing left were the remnants of what could have been the biggest motorsports story of the year.

    “I caught him [Charlie Kimball] at just the wrong time,” said Hildebrand when talking about the crash after the race. Hildebrand also added that, “I went to the high side because I didn’t want to slow down too much, I got up in the marbles and that was it.”

    Emotions play a huge role when a victory is on the line, but even more when it includes the biggest and most important race of the season. Along with the victory comes the respect from your fellow competitors, as well as the endorsements and the praise from the fans knowing that on that one special day you had what it took to be victorious.

    Unfortunately for Ragan and Hildebrand, that special day turned into a day of disaster and disappointment. Ragan knew it all too well when he said, “I feel like I know the rules and understand ’em as good as anyone, but I just kind of let my emotions take over and I just didn’t make the right moves when it counted.”

    40 years later and the phrase will be instilled in the minds of Ragan and Hildebrand, “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,”

  • Danica Patrick’s Biggest Fan….Mother Nature

    Danica Patrick’s Biggest Fan….Mother Nature

    It was barely a year ago at this same track, for this same exact race under the same circumstances that Andretti Autosport driver Danica Patrick, was blasting her team for an ill handling car and slow qualifying speeds for the  IZOD IndyCar series biggest race of the season.

    Patrick, who was close to tears after qualifying 23rd for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 , was heard over the public-address system saying that, “This is the worst car I’ve ever had. There’s no stability or grip. It’s just scary, really scary…It’s awful, really awful. I think I’m still shaking.”

    Patrick went on to say that, “I wasn’t flat out the last two laps and I was scared to death flat on the first two. I’ve never been bad here before. I’ve never been outside the top 10 on a finish or qualifying, so, it’s not my fault. The car is not good.”

    Right after her comments were broadcast, the fans began expressing their disapproval by booing her because of her displeasure with the team, even though the team agreed with her evaluation that she wasn’t able to maximize the car’s speed because of how loose it was in the corners.

    Tom Anderson, Andretti Autosport’s senior vice president for racing operations “You take one on the chin, but maybe you had it coming this time.” Anderson finished with, “All you can do is turn the other cheek and just get back to work.”

    One year later and once again Andretti Autosport had their problems finding the speed they needed to qualify up front, while Patrick again became the big story sitting on pit road waiting to qualify her GoDaddy.com Honda powered IndyCar. Patrick was set to qualify second on the day, but was not allowed on the track when her car failed tech inspection, and she was sent to the back of the line once the necessary repairs were made to the rear of the car.

    To make matters worse once the car passed inspection, Patrick’s nerves would once again be tested when the rains came before she was about to make her qualifying run. Patrick was lined up behind Paul Tracy who only just finished qualifying, when the rains began as he was coming out of turn three heading into turn four.

    With a little over two and half hours left before the gun would go off to end the qualifying session, Patrick sat in her car underneath an umbrella with a blank stare on her face watching the rain wash away her hopes in a matter of seconds.

    Unlike last season when Patrick blasted her team for an ill handling car and for the failed tech inspection earlier in the day, Patrick kept her composure knowing that her team was no longer in control over the current situation.

    As the rain continued to fall, Patrick’s chances of qualifying for the 100th running of the Great American Race were now in the hands of Mother Nature. All Patrick could do was look on as now time was of the essence, and frustration had to be running through her mind knowing she might not be on the starting grid for her seventh Indianapolis 500 start.

    “This place is like a person — it reads you when you are nervous or not confident and it reads you when you are,” said Patrick. Patrick also added that, “It throws a lot at you, but that’s why it’s the greatest racetrack in the world. You’d think after seven years here I’d be better off, but this week was my worst ever.”

    With an hour and half left for the final set of drivers to qualify, the rains stopped and the track was dried which also ended the emotional rollercoaster ride Patrick was experiencing at the hands of Mother Nature.

    Patrick would eventually qualify 26th with an average speed of 224.861 mph, and said after exiting her car, “I feel like getting a drink, that’s how I feel right now.”  Patrick was still not happy with her qualifying efforts when she said, “I am mad because I really thought we had a fast car.”

    She also added that, “I’m relieved because I’m in the race. I’m frustrated with some of the process that happened and the things that happened. I’m somewhere between angry and happy,” which is a lot better than her comments last year when she threw her team under the bus.