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  • Kyle Busch – A Kentucky Thoroughbred?

    Kyle Busch – A Kentucky Thoroughbred?

    Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 marks the third time in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history that the race will be held in the Bluegrass State at Kentucky Motor Speedway.  Over the years the state of Kentucky has developed a reputation for high quality horse racing.  They have produced a myriad of thoroughbreds throughout the years, and this weekend we shift from the idea of thoroughbred horses to thoroughbred NASCAR drivers.

    The inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Motor Speedway was held on July 10, 2011.  Joe Gibbs Racing driver of the No. 18 Doublemint Toyota, Kyle Busch, led six times during the race for a total of 125 laps to become the noteworthy winner of NASCAR’s top series in the state.

    Even though 2011 marked Kentucky’s first Sprint Cup Series first race, Busch’s winning history at Kentucky began eight years earlier when he was 18 years old.

    In 2003, an eighteen year old Kyle Busch, won The Channel  5 205 NASCAR ARCA Series race.  That win marked the beginning of Busch’s stock-car stardom at Kentucky.  Busch has won one race in each of the stock-car divisions at Kentucky Motor Speedway.

    His Kentucky victories consist of the 2003 Channel 5 205 ARCA Series race, the 2004 Meijer 300 Nationwide Series race, the 2011 UNOH 225 Camping World Truck Series race, and the 2011 Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400.

    When asked if he could put his finger on why he has been so good at Kentucky in all divisions, Busch commented, “I can’t actually, but I can remember going there for the first time back in 2003 and it was my second-ever ARCA race and the first time on a 1.5 mile oval.  It was a big deal and it was a fast racetrack and I ended up winning that weekend.  I had to do some maneuvering around Frank Kimmel to win.  It wasn’t easy.  But since then, going there in Nationwide and being fast there every time, and going back to race when Sprint Cup didn’t have a date, yet, just getting your feet wet for when that opportunity came when Sprint Cup did go there.  When we went with the Cup car, we were fast right when we unloaded.  Dave Rogers was my crew chief and he had won there several times as a Nationwide crew chief prior to that and had a lot of notes to understand what it took to get around Kentucky, and we ended up winning the first Cup race there.”

    Reflecting on how it feels to be the Inaugural Sprint Cup winner at Kentucky, Busch said, “I think it’s cool.  You look at some of the new venues we’ve been to over the years and Jeff Gordon got to win a number of inaugural races, like the Brickyard, Fontana, and Kansas.  He was always the guy who was known to figure out places the fastest, but we were able to be the ones to do that at Kentucky.  There aren’t many opportunities these days to go to a new venue, so for us being able to win the first race there was extra special.”

    Hoping to add to his Kentucky legacy, Busch will be running all three NASCAR races this weekend.

    When asked what he enjoys about running races in all three NASCAR divisions, like at Kentucky this weekend, Busch said, “It’s a lot of on-track time.  On Thursday we practice all day, and then there’s the truck race that night.  It’s a busy schedule and you are running back and forth between garages and it’s typically hot there in Kentucky.  The biggest thing you get to work on, and enjoy, is essentially the on-track time and getting to figure out the bumps there, and you get extra track time to figure out if you need to get through them better or if you need to get your guys to give you a better setup to get through the bumps.  I have three divisions worth of chances, and three crew chiefs who have different mindsets that, by the time I get to Saturday, I have a feel for what I need to win the Cup race with our Doublemint Camry.”

    Unfortunately, Busch fell short of a win in Thursday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 3rd Annual UNOH 225 with his No. 51 ToyotaCare Toyota finishing in third place.  However, if Busch’s theory of benefiting from his extra track exposure this weekend pans out and he improves with each race, he is already only two improvements away from victory lane.

    With six Nationwide Series wins and two Sprint Cup Series wins under his belt this season, his impressive history at Kentucky Motor Speedway, including being the inaugural Quaker State 400 winner, is it safe to say that Kyle Busch is a top Kentucky thoroughbred? Can there be any higher accolade in the Blue Grass State?

  • Labonte’s streak to end, JTG/Daugherty under fire

    Labonte’s streak to end, JTG/Daugherty under fire

    You have to go all the way back to the last race of the 1992 season to find a race that Bobby Labonte did not compete in. That is a streak of 704 consecutive starts. Labonte did start two races in 1991 driving an Oldsmobile owned by his father, but did not start again until the 1993 Daytona 500 driving the Maxwell House Ford for Bill Davis. This weekend, however, that streak will come to an end.

    Since 2011, Labonte has driven for JTG/Daugherty racing. Results have been less than stellar, to say the least. In 88 starts with the team, Labonte has only scored one top-5 finish and two top-10’s.

    Recently, team owners Brad Daugherty and Tad Geschickter have decided they need to do something to improve the performance of the team. With five races coming up in the schedule in which the car would be un-sponsored or under-sponsored, the decision was made to take Labonte out of the car in favor of AJ Allmendinger in an effort to get a new perspective and feedback on what the team needs to do to make improvements.

    The decision to remove Labonte from the car was not popular with many fans. On Tuesday, Daugherty and Labonte addressed fans in an online chat session hosted on the team’s website.

    One of the first things announced was that Labonte would not only not be in the 47 car this week, but he also would not be racing at all, thus ending the second longest active consecutive start streak. Labonte was also removed from the car at Michigan two weeks ago, but picked up a one race deal with Phoenix Racing, an effort that kept the streak alive.

    Some fans in the chat session were outraged by this fact and instantly began blaming the team for not supporting their driver. It would seem the fans are more concerned with the streak than Labonte is. Labonte commented, “I have had a couple offers this morning, but have declined them because I don’t want anybody else that has an opportunity to do what I do, what they love, to have to sit on the sideline for my sake.” Removing the possibility of a last minute deal over the weekend, he also pointed out, “I will not be at the track this weekend.”

    Daugherty was asked if the “fan uprising” affects his decision at all. He replied, “No. The fan uprising doesn’t affect me at all. We have to continue to conduct business the way that it will be best for our company. Tremendous amount of respect for Bobby, but we have to remember that his streak would have ended years ago before we gave him the ride. The fan uprising is just a handful of people and that doesn’t direct the way that we do our business. We obviously love our fans and need them to do what we do, but at the end of the day we have to make the decisions that are best for our company.”

    Labonte defended his team and team owners, commenting, “We have great sponsors here at JTG Daugherty, and we have a great race team. There are a lot of committed people that work here. Our sponsors are what keep us funded and racing. Our owners juggle all of the balls in the air at all times. We don’t question how our sponsors run their business.”

    Daugherty re-iterated the team’s support for Labonte saying, “In the end, Bobby is our driver and we hope this process will enhance his ability to get back up front.” He continued later saying, “I’m huge Bobby Labonte fan, have been for a long time. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and his character.  We are very lucky to have Bobby as our driver.”

    Daugherty seemed to be pleased with the results from the first race with Allmendinger. When asked about what the team had learned he said, “The biggest thing we learned was the pickup torque of our engines is not quite where we want it to be. We also learned our car is a lot tighter than we’d like it to be, robbing it of speed. Valuable information that we have stalled out over the past few weeks and he was able to give us great feedback.”

    The team currently purchases engines from Triad Racing Technology. Toyota Racing Development (TRD) supplies engines for the top tier Toyota teams such as Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. Daugherty pointed out, “We believe TRD provides an excellent product and at this point TRD has told us that they don’t have the room to provide us with an engine set.”

    Without the ability to receive engines from TRD, and with little or no support from Toyota, I asked Daugherty if there was a current effort to create an alliance with a larger team. Daugherty replied, “Yes, we have had conversations and we are trying to figure out what would be the best move for us going forward. We came out of the MWR situation simply because we were all struggling. Obviously, they have fixed a lot over at MWR so someone like that may be a suitable partner again. We will have to see.”

    Labonte also commented, when asked what the team needed, “We probably need an alliance with another team. That would be a start.”

    Smaller teams forming alliances with larger teams seems to be the new trend in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Furniture Row Racing has recently found success after forming a strong alliance with Richard Childress Racing.

    It seems that Brad Daugherty and Tad Geschickter are making a legitimate effort to improve their team’s performance. Their support for Labonte has been consistent and direct. This situation is just another example of how NASCAR racing is a business. Race teams have to make decisions based on technical information, facts, budgets and the needs of their sponsors and business partners. Major decisions cannot be based on emotions or the desire to keep streaks alive. No one in this sport would have a bad thing to say about Bobby Labonte. He is a man of proven ability and character. The fact that many fans are upset over him being removed from the car temporarily is evidence of that. Those factors, however, are not enough to be successful when competing against the best of the best.

    The JTG/Daugherty team seems to be committed to their driver and also seriously committed to becoming a better race team.  It is this writer’s opinion that they are doing what they need to do to accomplish their goals.

     

  • Aric Almirola Pushes Patriotism with Petty Partnership

    Aric Almirola Pushes Patriotism with Petty Partnership

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]On the weekend before the Fourth of July, the driver of the famed No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports car, Aric Almirola, is celebrating a new partnership with Eckrich and Operation Homefront at Kentucky Motor Speedway.

    “I’m excited to be sporting the colors of Eckrich at Kentucky for our first of three races for them,” Almirola said. “It’s always fun to have new paint schemes and new partners on our car.”

    Eckrich, part of the John Morrell Food Group, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, specializes in providing premium-quality meat products to families throughout the country. This is the first race of a three-race program where their colors and logo will be on Almirola’s race car.

    “The paint scheme’s really nice,” Almirola said. “It’s hunter green and brings out a lot of the Eckrich colors and logo.”

    “It’s a nice looking car and it will pop out really well on the race track.”

    In addition to his dedicated sponsor, however, the young Petty Motorsports racer is also thrilled with the new patriotic partnership with Operation Homefront,  a national nonprofit that helps over 590,000 military families in need.

    “More importantly is not only our involvement with Eckrich, but also our involvement with Operation Homefront through Eckrich,” Almirola continued. “It’s a neat deal and a great way to give back to our military families.”

    “Anytime you look at the fact that we get to wake up every morning and do whatever we want because of people out there fighting for our freedom is pretty cool,” Almirola said. “The military families make huge sacrifices for us to do that.”

    “For Eckrich to give back to military families and donate money and donate food and product to help out those in need, it’s just a great cause.”

    “I think a lot of people take for granted the sacrifices made so that all of us to not worry about bombs flying over our heads,” Almirola continued. “We live in a protected and free country and it all has to do with the people in our military and their families.”

    “To have a group like Eckrich, who gives back to an organization like Operation Homefront, I’m just glad to be a part of it.”

    Many fans may also not realize that for Almirola, this patriotic partnership is personal.

    “I was actually born in Eglin Air Force base in Panama City,” Almirola said. “My dad was in the Air Force when I was born and when I was growing up.”

    “So, I have lived being in a military family.”

    Almirola is also excited about the promotion at the track as a part of this new partnership between Petty Motorsports, Eckrich and Operation Homefront. He is particularly pleased with the specially designed tire bank to collect change to help military families in need.

    “The people at Richard Petty Motorsports put together a tire bank from the tire we raced over Memorial Day weekend,” Almirola said. “It’s a Goodyear tire that has on the sidewall ‘Support Our Troops.’

    “We took one of those tires and made a bank to put out at the track,” Almirola continued. “Hopefully, when fans are walking by they can put a nickel, a dime or a quarter or anything they have into the bank to help Operation Homefront.”

    “We’re looking to add to the cause.”

    While Eckrich kicked off the campaign with $200,000 in donations from their product sales, both Almirola and Richard Petty put 43 cents into the tire bank to get that effort started.

    “That’s what we’re looking for, that everyone who walks by that tire bank will put in 43 cents,” Almirola said. “43 is a special number to Richard Petty, RPM and me so that’s the key number we’re looking for.”

    “But at the end of the day, if you don’t have 43 cents, if you have a nickel or a dime or three pennies, we hope you stick it in there,” Almirola continued. “Ten cents can really make a difference when you start adding them together.”

    Almirola’s team owner echoed his driver’s sentiments when it came time to share the spare change to benefit Operation Homefront.

    “I’m always looking for a place to throw my spare change and thought this racing bank was just about perfect,” Petty said. “We’ve always been a family and race team that wants to give back to the people who sacrifice so much for us.”

    “Hopefully the fans will keep filling up this bank as a simple way to say, ‘thanks’ to all our military families.”

    Almirola also has another special event planned at the race track this weekend. He will be entertaining one special military family in his pit stall.

    “The family is from right here in Kentucky and we plan on showing them a good time,” Almirola said. “That will be our way of thanking them for all their sacrifices.”

    With patriotism on his mind, Almirola also revealed his plans for the upcoming Independence Day holiday.

    “I think we’re going to be celebrating that day at Richard Petty’s birthday party,” Almirola said. “They’re having a 75th birthday party for him down there at Daytona.”

    “We’re planning on celebrating the Fourth of July with RP so that will be a lot of fun.”

    “Independence Day to me is about truly that,” Almirola continued. “It’s about the fact that we live in a country that is independent and free and that we get to do what we want.”

    “I get to drive a race car for a living,” Almirola said. “It’s incredible to be able to think that is even reality.”

    “I’m just very thankful to live in the United States and I’m proud to be an American citizen.”