Tag: NNS

Regan Smith Yearning For More at JR Motorsports

Regan Smith, following a seventh place finish in the History 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, expressed disappointment with his JR Motorsports organization despite being the NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader entering the summer months.

Smith, who won earlier this season in the DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway, was irritated with his team’s failure to adjust the car’s tight-in condition, which loomed over him all race.

“Our race today (at Charlotte) was relatively uneventful,” Smith explained during the post-race press conference. “We were tight-in all day long, I don’t think I’ve had a car (that was) tight-in in about five or six years. So, as good as it felt off my tongue to say tight into the corner, I got kind of aggravated with having to say tight-in.”

Failure to adjust the tight-in problem wasn’t the only circumstance that aggravated Smith; he also was annoyed with the team’s continuous inability to make the car faster.

“Every time we tried to work on it, it just kept getting the back out of the racetrack on exit and it would slow us down,” Smith added. “So, whatever it was, we’ll have to go back to the shop and look at it and decide what we can do different coming back here in the fall when the speeds are up a little bit more to fix that.”

Smith, though, did give credit to his team on a solid run; however, he longed to have a better car on short runs as he lost the majority of his positions on fresh tires.

“But, nonetheless, a solid day, if we could’ve started runs 20 laps in on tires and run from that point on I felt like we were as good as anybody out there,” Smith further commented. “We just gave up too much in the first 20-laps and that was pretty much the story of our day.”

Chase Elliott, victor at Darlington Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway, felt his team (JR Motorsports) made little gains during the weekend, leading Smith to further remarks about his team’s performance.

“Not really,” Smith said after being asked whether he thought his team gained upon their Charlotte program. “I thought we unloaded pretty good, I just felt like we fought the same stuff all weekend long, (especially) with corner entry.”

“We struggled with all three cars,” he continued. “It just seemed like we were a bit off with all three cars and that’s rare, our cars have been unbelievable this season (though).”

Smith ended his media center appearance with positive mentions, explaining the team needed to think about the good rather than the bad from this weekend.

“I think we need to take the positive from this weekend, which is we know we have to work a little bit harder, we have to change some things up,” Smith said. “We are expanding our database, and I guarantee we won’t come back to (Charlotte) and have the same problem twice.”

May 24, 2014
Joey Gase’s Prior Decisions Still Impacting People Today; Excited For ‘Dega This Weekend

Joey Gase finished 31st at Richmond International Raceway in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, despite lacking tires and pit crew members, just one example of how Jimmy Means’ one-car squad is persevering.

”Richmond was really frustrating,” Gase explained to Speedway Media on Saturday. “We were short on tires and crew members, nevertheless, still a decent finish, good points night, huge thanks to Donate For Life Virginia for teaming up with us this weekend, just glad we didn’t lose anything.”

The Nationwide Series and Gase now hit the high and unforgiving banks of Talladega Superspeedway where they are prepared for anything and everything to occur.

“I’m really looking forward to Talladega,” Gase further expressed about anyone being able to win at ‘Dega. “Anything can happen, allowing anyone to win, and it’s kind of a crap shoot.”

Gase, 21, has not experienced a top-10 running, much less a victory, during a four-year tenure within the Nationwide division. However, with Talladega being recognized for its generous attitude towards underfunded organizations, Gase touched on the possibility of an unforgettable and emotional trip to victory lane this weekend.

“If we win this weekend then I’ll be excited for months,” Gase explained with a chuckle. “A victory would really put us on the map.”

Snapping back into expected circumstances, Gase is aiming to avoid damaging the car while producing solid runs each weekend.

“Our goal this season is to finish top-20 in the driver standings, and top-30 in owner standings,” Gase noted about his goals in the No. 52 Jimmy Means machine this season. “Thankfully, we are currently accomplishing those standards.”

The still-developing driver earned his career-best 19th place finish at Kansas Speedway driving for Jimmy Means during the 2012 Nationwide Series season. While his finishes aren’t there – probably due to equipment – he still manages to keep the car in one piece, making him a very respectable driver for an owner.

Gase has always been tagged as underfunded, therefore not a good driver, however that stereotype is slowly but surely starting to be ceased as the Cedar Rapids, Iowa native continues to make headlines not only by his contribution to Donate For Life but also for his on-track capabilities.

Many folks, especially new NASCAR fans, don’t understand the hardships that Gase faced and battled through. His life was flipped upside down three years ago when his mother, Mary Gase, passed way, unexpectedly, from an aneurysm.

Gase, 18-years-old at the time of the tragic death, decided to donate his mother’s organs and tissues which ended up saving 60-people’s lives.

“My mom always loved helping people. She always had a big heart,” Gase said a few years ago. “She was always helping people when she could and we knew if she could help all these people, if she could no longer continue her life, this is what she would want to do.”

Now, the competitor, while not on-track, helps spread newly acquired information about organ and tissue donation. He also visits hospitals during the week to spend time with patients and help cheer them up during the toughest of instances.

While many racers have different backgrounds and hair-raising stories, Gase’s journey and caring decisions are some of the most unbelievable things you’ll encounter, and again, he manages all of this while, still, going 200 MPH every weekend.

May 1, 2014
Daniel Suarez Establishing Career; Making Debut at Richmond International Raceway

Joe Gibbs Racing announced on Tuesday that Daniel Suarez, K&N East and Mexico Toyota Series (MTS) competitor, will make his debut in the No. 20 Toyota at Richmond International Raceway this weekend.

“I think it will be a good weekend for us,” Suarez explained during the press conference held this afternoon. “I’m really looking forward to it.  I’m very excited.  I’m excited to be, you know, (with) strong teams in every single series.”

Suarez, who has already captured four wins in both the K&N East and MTS this season alone, is apart of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program, which ensures that international drivers still receive opportunities that American competitors are guaranteed. He also was inducted into the NASCAR NEXT class last season, and is likely to be re-elected at Richmond this weekend.

This weekend, Suarez will compete in the BlueOx 100 and the ToyotaCare 250 on Friday night at Richmond, and then travel to his hometown, Monterrey, Mexico, for the Regia 240 on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s probably one of the busiest weekends in the year for us, doing our debut in the Nationwide Series,” Suarez expressed about doing triple duty this weekend in two different countries.  “A couple minutes later we need to get ready for the K&N race.  After the race is over, we need to get ready to get in the airport and leave to Monterrey, Mexico, (for the) NASCAR Toyota Series race.”

“So we’ve (decided) to drive away exactly when the race of the K&N is over (back) to Charlotte, take a flight at 6:00 a.m. to get into Monterrey, Mexico for practice and qualify for the NASCAR Toyota Series deal.”

Suarez is also excited to close out the biggest weekend of his career in front of his hometown crowd on Sunday.

“Probably (to) get that victory in front of your family, friends, all these people that have been watching me growing up since I was 11 years old, definitely means something big for me,” Suarez furthered explained.

Suarez, 22, admitted during the conference that he and Joe Gibbs had not signed for anymore races then Richmond; however, he’s still expressed his thankfulness.

“For now we just signed a Richmond race,” Suarez explained about the current contract with Gibbs.  “To be honest, we have been talking about (this) since last year (on) how to do something good.  I’m really happy to be in this position right now, to have everyone in Mexico, like Escuderia Telmex and Telcel Racing, helping me in my career.”

“Right now, Joe Gibbs Racing, is an amazing project.  We were talking about (doing) something in the second half of (the season).   For now, (though), it’s just Richmond, but I’m really looking forward to do something good in the future. I’m just focused to do well in this race (at Richmond).  I’m pretty sure that after that race we are going to have something for the second half of the year.”

Suarez did, shyly, express that he’s never driven a Nationwide Series machine, or even tested, however, he’s hoping the K&N and MTS experience will pay huge dividends in helping him adapt quickly.

“It’s going to be a new experience for me.” Suarez alluded to after being questioned about past experience.  “The Nationwide car already is something different for me.  I never have been in a Nationwide car. But to be honest, I have a lot of confidence on myself and also in Joe Gibbs Racing to learn about everything. The first point and the most important point is to try to learn about everything and then be competitive.  I think I can say that I love to be competitive in everything I drive, even video games.”

“For now so far we have been trying to practice the pit stops in the shop, trying to get the communication better with my crew chief and with everyone in the team.  I think in a couple days, Thursday afternoon, is going to be interesting, my first couple laps in the Nationwide car in Richmond.  So let’s see.”

Suarez finished his statements with a strong goal, to finish in the top-10 at Richmond and beyond despite be inexperienced and still developing.

“Finish competitive, finish in the top 10, learn about everything.  I think this is the most important point,” Suarez explained about his expectations for his first NASCAR Touring Series start. “But it’s going to be difficult.  I think I need to take this step by step, learn about the first practice, try to get the communication better with my crew chief, get a fast adaptation with the car, with the tires, with the horsepower, with the racetrack.  After that I think I can start getting my expectation better.”

Kevin Kidd will stand atop the pit box for Suarez this weekend, and while the two have never worked together before, it appears both have a lot of respect and confidence in each other.

“Kevin Kidd is a personal crew chief, that he has a lot of experience in the Nationwide Series, and not just in the Nationwide Series, but racing in general.” Suarez expressed about working with Kidd this weekend. “I think he’s going to help me a lot (this weekend).”

“Like I said last year, I think the communication with my crew chief helped me a lot to get better the second half of (last season).  But, you know, it’s kind of difficult because we have been working a lot with the communication with the K&N team, and the Mexico team, but right now the Nationwide Series is something different.  Definitely communication is a very, very important point.

Suarez has surprised folks before with his abilities; so, don’t be astonished if the talented up and coming superstar etches his way into the top-10 for a solid debut finish.

“I think my crew chief and my whole team, they are going to try to help me a lot to be as fast as possible, as the same level as them, to try to be competitive and be in a good position for the race,” Suarez concluded with, confidently.

April 22, 2014
Brad Keselowski Scores Vegas Victory After Fending Off Kyle Busch

Brad Keselowski sailed to victory lane on Saturday after leading a remarkable 144 laps of the 200 laps run in the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He was able to do ‘donuts’ while holding the American Flag for the 28^th time in his NASCAR Nationwide Series career and the first time at the tricky Las Vegas track.

“We found every way we could to make it hard (on ourselves).” Keselowski explained in victory lane. “This Ford was flying today. These races aren’t getting any easier to win.”

Keselowski fended off late race charges by Kyle Busch to eventually score the victory by 0.349 thousandths of a second. While holding off Busch, the No. 22 team was overwhelmed by possible electrical issues worsening. Luckily, the problem didn’t progress, which provided fans with a magnificent two-car battle right to the checkered flag.

“I don’t know what caused us to lose the lead (on the restart), that was unfortunate.” Busch explained following a runner-up finish. “Best motor won, probably the best car.”

The climax of the event occurred with 30 laps remaining when Ryan Sieg spun bringing out the fifth and final caution. The restart following the yellow flag featured Keselowski quickly stretch his lead to 1.5 seconds. However, ‘Rowdy’ Busch wasn’t going down without a duel in his home state of Nevada.

The tension started rising around 15 laps to go when Busch was beginning to reel in former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Keselowski. But, over the duration of the final five laps the leaders were mired in lap traffic which gave Keselowski all he needed to seal an impressive victory.

“Kyle is one of the best in the business and he deserves a win here. It was just our day, it was meant to be.” Keselowski explained. “We had to never give up”

Kyle Larson, who’s making his first NSCS start at Vegas this weekend, had to overcome early race damage to finish an impressive third place. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who’s still celebrating a Daytona 500 triumph, finished fourth and wasn’t disappointed at all.

Chase Elliott, who rode inside the top five all day, finished fourth and rounding out the top five was Matt Kenseth right in Elliot’s tire tracks. Kenseth, who spun out with under 50 laps remaining, was a contender for the victory but had to settle for sixth.

“It was just a lot of fun. It gives us a mindset that we can run up front.” Elliott explained after hopping out of his machine. “The cars (that JR Motorsports provides) can (run up front), just up to me to get the job done.”

Regan Smith maintains his points lead, but Trevor Bayne is just a mere three markers behind the NNS Daytona winner. NASCAR’s second premier series takes to the short track of Bristol Motor Speedway next week in what’s already anticipated to be a door banging and tempers flaring kind of race.

March 8, 2014
How To Improve The Nationwide Series

How can NASCAR turn the yawn fest that has become Nationwide Series Racing into something the fans will enjoy again? My twitter and Facebook time lines both blow up when Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, or even Matt Kenseth take the lead at any point in the race. It quickly becomes a stream of “Anybody but……(fill in Cup Regulars name here).

For the longest time I defended allowing the cup regulars racing in the lower series, mainly because my favorite driver was still doing it from time to time and ran well in that series at points. I even defended it more when NASCAR made the rule that drivers had to declare which series they were going to race for a championship in before the season really began.

The excuse that I often used was, “Well it helps the track promoters out by getting butts in the seats to see their favorite drivers one more time during the race weekend.” Granted this was back before the Cup regulars truly dominated the lower series. Would they win often? Yes, but they would not go on an eight race winning streak, or in the case of this year’s races, winning sixteen of twenty-one races, or a winning percentage of 1.3125 percent of the time. Now, honestly it is keeping people OUT of the seats more than it is putting butts in seats.

I have also heard and understand the argument that having the Cup drivers in the lower series gives the lower series guys a chance to see what they will be up against when they get into the Cup series. For the longest time, I really didn’t have a comeback for this statement, now I do. While the younger driver may learn something about driver etiquette on the track, they are not learning anything else for the most part. The Cup cars are not the same cars the Nationwide series cars are, and therefore the driver in the NNS isn’t learning very much that will help them once they graduate into the Cup series. About the only thing it shows them is that if they want to be successful in the Cup series they will need to land at a top tier team or their hopes of challenging for a win each week is out the window.

The cars in the Nationwide series are great, they look incredible on T.V. and on the track. They afford for some nice side by side racing. Only when the cars that are being raced aren’t from an over funded team with an over talented driver, holding off someone who is simply trying to get a handle on the series. I could actually understand a lower talented Cup driver trying to get extra seat time to try and improve their performance for their main sponsor on Sunday. Take Bliss, Blaney, Stremme, or any other driver, hell even take Danica and put her in the Nationwide series and allow them more seat time to improve the racing on Sunday, and I would get it much better than I do these days.

These days unless the series is split like it is this weekend with the Cup cars in Michigan and the Nationwide cars in Ohio; it basically takes a catastrophic incident or failure by the Cup regulars team or car for the Nationwide series drivers to even stand a chance to win the race. Which is what leads to my timeline being blown up with people changing the channel, going to the pool, or horror of all horrors heading to the store or mall to get some last minute shopping done.

My solution is a relatively simple and painless one to implement and simply builds upon the declaring which series a driver is running for a championship. Limit the number of starts that a Cup regular can have in the lower series, to five. Which would mean that the track promoters would still be able to promote the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr will be running both Daytona and Talladega races, without stacking the deck at the races against the Nationwide drivers. It would allow the drivers like Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski to race the Nationwide and Camping World Series trucks, but on a limited basis. Let’s just call it the Mark Martin schedule for simplification purposes.

Let’s face facts, drivers in the Cup series retire, where will that leave fans that still love the sport but don’t have a driver to root for? In my case I know that in the next year to two my driver Jeff Burton will be retiring. I have followed Jeff’s career since I attended my first Cup race and Jeff won for the first time in Texas. I know that I will have to find someone else to root for week in and week out. Are there drivers suitable enough for me to start cheering for already in the Cup series? Of course there are, but I do not want to have to repeat this cycle in another five to ten years. I would much rather have a driver that I can cheer for week in and week out in the Trucks or Nationwide series, see him or her grow into the next series and root for them when they finally reach the Cup series.

Can I realistically do that now? Yes, but I honestly do not get to “KNOW” the driver these days in the lower series. The main focus by main stream media is either how well the cup drivers or doing, or when things are going wrong for them, how badly things are going. I will gladly put a large portion of the blame for the Cup regulars doing double duty on the shoulders of main stream media since it is these same media members that focus so greatly on the Cup drivers. Aside from Kyle Busch I honestly do not think that the other regular drivers would run as many races, of course this isn’t taking into account sponsorship obligations, as they do now if they weren’t almost guaranteed almost unfettered T.V. time each week. Kyle is the lone amalgam in this situation; he in a lot of ways is the same as Tony Stewart.

Tony is a racers racer, and so is Kyle. They both see seating behind the wheel of a vehicle and trying to get something out of it that no one else can as therapeutic. It is their weekend golf game, or shooting hoops with the guys. The difference is this, while Tony does it in a series that doesn’t directly impact the potential for up and coming drivers; Kyle almost relishes in the fact that he is potentially holding back a future driver in the Cup series.

With the limited number of races it would be an excuse for people like Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Mark Martin and Kyle Busch to actually MENTOR potential drivers on a weekly basis. Especially when you take into account that two of the five drivers I named own a lower series team. To mentor someone, means teaching not showing someone how to do something, allowing them to fail in their own unique way, and being there to pat them on the back when they succeed. It does not mean, “Step out of my way, let me show you how this is done, and oh by the way don’t even THINK about passing me late to steal a victory away from me,”

We worry about the future of the NASCAR sport, and trying to fix so many things that are wrong with it, how about we start looking at what truly IS the future of the sport in the lower series and attempt to give them something to hope for on their own?

August 15, 2013
Dinger Dominates at Road America!

AJ Alimendinger “Dinger” won the fourth Annual NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Johnsonville Sausage 200 Presented by Menards at Road America. This is Alimendinger’s first career win in NASCAR.

Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, Owen Kelly and Sam Hornish Jr rounded out the top 5.

Alimendinger won the pole early Saturday morning for his first career pole in the NNS in nine starts. Dinger lead the first lap and pit strategy already was in the works. Alex Bowman, Trevor Bayne and some others came in on lap-1 to top off the fuel.

The first caution waved when the No.18 of Michael McDowell stopped on the racetrack in turn-5. He was one of the favorites in this race. Only three of the front runners came in to pit as everybody has a different strategy.

They went back to green on lap 6 with Dinger still leading and McDowell headed to the garage. Dinger got his tires locked up and went into the grass and Billy Johnson took advantage and got the lead from him. Kelly took second while Dinger went back to the third spot.

The top-3 all came in on lap 15 and got four tires and fuel and when all of them were leaving pit road, the caution came out for the No.53 of Andrew Ranger. Ranger stopped on the racetrack and had to get towed in which resulted in the caution to be waved. This is a good break for Johnson and Austin Dillon since they both had speeding penalty and have to come back to pit road. Sadler and others that have not pitted, went in and got their pit stops completed. During the caution, Brian Vickers is called back to pit road for a missing lug nut.

We went back to green on lap 19 after a long caution flag due to drivers figuring out where they should be starting for the restart. Nelson Piquet Jr wheel hopped into the corner and ran into the back of Brian Scott and just smashed the front of his car.

Caution came out on lap 30 when the driver in second place, Kelly, stopped in turn-5. He was another front runner who had a great shot at winning. He ran out of fuel and he got fuel before the pace car got back to the pit lane so he did not lose a lap. Most everybody came in except for Hornish Jr. which stayed out due to getting a bonus point for the point race.

They went back to green with 17 laps to go and Dinger took back the lead with Smith right behind him. Hornish Jr. went in right as the green flag waved but then got a speeding penalty so it did not work out for Hornish.

The caution waved when the No.32 of Kyle Larson was involved in two incidents. He went hot into the turn and got into the No.5 of Johnny O’ Connell and then spun trying to avoid the No.21 of Brendan Gaughan.

The caution waved again when the 75 of Kenny Habul got loose and got into the grass and put debris on the racetrack. Back to green and Dinger got into the No.16 of Johnson and Johnson got loose, Dinger got around him. Dinger had a pretty big lead but the No.51 of Jeremy Clements smacked the tire barriers and the caution waved with five laps to go.

Green flag waved with four laps to go and Dinger leading. They restarted cleanly but in turn 5, Kligerman got loose and smacked into Kelly which smacked the No.7 car of Smith who bumped the No.16 of Johnson. That was not the caution though. The caution was for the No.26 of John Young who stopped between turns 5 and 6.

Green flag waved with two to go with this being the first GWC. Dinger had a good lead and was pulling away but Kelly spun out Annett and Larson got into Kelly. Papis also spun in turns 7 and 8. This will be the No.2 green-white-checkers now.

Dinger led the field to the second and he pulled away and had enough fuel to win his first career race in NASCAR. Max Papis slaps Johnson, who still had his helmet on to receive the slap.

Start position in parentheses)

1. (1) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 55 laps, 150 rating, 0 points, $59,325.

2. (4) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 55, 103.2, 43, $43,225.

3. (3) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 55, 89.1, 42, $33,925.

4. (2) Owen Kelly, Toyota, 55, 126.8, 41, $28,275.

5. (8) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 55, 108.4, 40, $23,775.

6. (9) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 55, 94.4, 38, $23,425.

7. (13) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 55, 101, 37, $21,825.

8. (17) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 55, 90.4, 36, $20,100.

9. (22) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 55, 87.9, 35, $20,825.

10. (14) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 55, 80, 34, $20,775.

11. (26) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 55, 73.8, 0, $13,475.

12. (12) Johnny O’Connell, Chevrolet, 55, 92.2, 32, $19,400.

13. (31) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 55, 68.7, 31, $19,300.

14. (29) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 55, 58.9, 0, $13,175.

15. (7) Billy Johnson, Ford, 55, 113.3, 30, $18,575.

16. (19) Travis Pastrana, Ford, 55, 71.1, 28, $19,025.

17. (10) Max Papis, Chevrolet, 55, 88.3, 27, $18,925.

18. (28) Kenny Habul, Toyota, 55, 52.8, 26, $12,825.

19. (25) Stanton Barrett, Ford, 55, 54.3, 25, $18,750.

20. (18) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 55, 71.3, 24, $19,375.

21. (6) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 55, 80.5, 23, $18,625.

22. (37) Kevin O’Connell, Chevrolet, 55, 38.3, 22, $18,585.

23. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 55, 61, 21, $18,550.

24. (15) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 55, 49.2, 20, $18,490.

25. (40) Dexter Stacey, Ford, 55, 37.2, 19, $12,895.

26. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ford, 55, 44.4, 18, $18,385.

27. (35) Eric McClure, Toyota, 55, 40.5, 17, $18,350.

28. (34) John Young, Dodge, 55, 51.7, 16, $12,320.

29. (21) Andrew Ranger, Dodge, 55, 60.2, 15, $12,285.

30. (11) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 55, 63.7, 14, $18,540.

31. (27) Kyle Kelley, Chevrolet, 54, 54.4, 13, $18,195.

32. (16) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 54, 90.9, 12, $18,150.

33. (23) Mike Bliss, Toyota, overheating, 53, 64.8, 11, $18,120.

34. (5) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 52, 58.3, 0, $18,100.

35. (20) Michael Annett, Ford, accident, 50, 66.7, 9, $18,068.

36. (38) Derek White, Toyota, oil leak, 37, 30.9, 8, $17,255.

37. (33) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 31, 37, 7, $17,235.

38. (39) Tony Raines, Toyota, rear gear, 20, 28.7, 6, $11,216.

39. (30) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, engine, 7, 30.3, 5, $11,075.

40. (36) Jeff Green, Toyota, brakes, 2, 29.2, 4, $10,975.

June 23, 2013

Harvick is Happy in Texas!; Sadler & Stenhouse are tied in the series standings

[media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]Kevin Harvick won the 8th Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway for his 39th victory in his NASCAR Nationwide Series career and the second of the season.

Ryan Blaney (Career Best) finished second, Kyle Busch third, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fourth and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-5.

Busch started on the pole and led lap 1 with Sadler right behind him. By lap 8, Busch had over a second lead over Sadler.

The first caution waved when the #19 of Hal Martin hit the wall in turn 1 and then hit it again coming off of turn 2 on lap 13. Everybody wanted to come in and looked like they were going to but everybody was faking and nobody came in that was in the top 20. During this caution, Stenhouse Jr told his crew chief, he knows who is in the #33 (Harvick) and wanted to pass him but he knew he has to be careful.

Stenhouse Jr. also got penalized one position due to not maintaining speed under caution when he faked it to pit road and the 20 sped up and passed him.

Busch lead them back to green on lap 17 and Sadler did not get a good restart at all. Busch cleared him immediately and Harvick and Stenhouse Jr. were three wide for second with Sadler. Harvick took the position and Sadler kept the spot from Stenhouse. Sadler got passed him (Harvick) quite easily on lap 20 while Harvick shut the door on Stenhouse Jr. Sadler and Stenhouse Jr are battling for the Championship which is why Harvick let Sadler pass him due to being teammates.

The second caution waved for debris on lap 45 with Busch still leading. Everybody decided to come in for the first stop of the evening. Logano came in 3rd saying he wanted a big swing. He got a wedge adjustment along with four tires and fuel and was gone. Harvick also came in and said at the start, he was way to tight but at the end of the run, he was very good. he got 4 tires and fuel and was off. Busch came in and said all he wanted was four tires, fuel and some tape on the grill. He got those and was off. He barley beat Harvick off pit road but got him.

Busch lead the field back to the green and stormed off into the corner and pulled away from Harvick on the back stretch. Busch is looking for his first win his own Kyle Busch Motorsports car. KBM has 1 win but that was Kurt Busch in Richmond earlier in the year. Harvick was gaining and gaining every lap and finally passed him on lap 64 to take the top spot. Sadler passed Busch six laps later to take second away.

The third caution waved on lap 83 when the #81 of Jason Bowles smacked the wall in turns 1 and 2. All of the leaders came in for their second stop of the night. Sadler came in saying he wanted more grip so he got some new fresh Goodyear’s and fuel and was off. Harvick stopped in his pit box telling his Crew Chief, he was very happy with his car and did not want any changes. He easily came out first with a scramble behind them. Busch gained three spots on pit road while Sam Hornish Jr. missed his pit stall and will restart 21st.

Harvick led the field back to green. Busch was side by side with Harvick into the corner and took over the lead on the frontstretch. He got into 1 and 2 way too fast and slide up the turn and lost a couple spots. He got them back but it cost him a couple laps to recover.

After 42 laps under green, green flag pit stops started to occur with Cole Whitt and Danica Patrick starting them. Patrick had to come in 8 laps early due to a vibration. Whitt also had to come in, saying he was “wrecking loose” They both came in and completed there stops and were away. Logano was getting told to save fuel for 8 laps so they can get into the window that they can make it one more stop.

Green flag pit stops continued with Stenhouse Jr. driving his ford mustang into the pits. He said he has been way too loose and they need to tighten it up. They got that done along with the regular service and was gone. Logano came in saying he was good and no changes. His Crew Chief wanted him to stay out one more lap but Logano feared that he would run out. Dillon came in, after leading a lap, saying he was way too tight and need to loosens him up. They had a slow stop due to the jackman. 19.9 was his time which was about 5-6 seconds slower then a regular pit stop. Harvick retook the lead after green flag stops were completed.

The fourth caution came out when the #52 Joey Gase spun out but did a good job of not putting it into the wall and went to pit road for new tires. Everybody came in and got fuel so they can make the distance. Ryan Newman was the only one who did not get tires and went out first.

Green Flag went back to green with 42 laps to go. Denny Hamlin, Blaney and Justin Allgaier did not pit so they lead the field to the restart. Everybody was looking for positions as they went 3-4 wide into turn 1. Hamlin kept the lead but Harvick took it over with 38 laps to go with Busch following him to take second.

The fifth caution was waved with 24 laps to go when the #87 of Joe Nemechek brushed the wall and slowed to bring the yellow flag out. Nobody pitted except for the guys who did not pit the previous stop. Dillon was the only one who came in the last stop and this stop.

Green flag waved once again with 19 laps to go with Harvick and Busch battling for the lead. Hornish up for third while Harvick cleared Busch to take the top spot. Dillon got loose and and got into Annett which made Brian Scott get into the wall. Scott then bumped the wall again after damage but no caution. While that was happening, Blaney was moving up and Sadler was moving down. Blaney, who came in to get fresh tires during the caution, was all the way up to third with 7 laps to go. Ryan got within .982 of Harvick but had to settle for second.

After the race, Dillon and Hamlin got into to coming onto pit road. Dillon tried to bump him but bumped himself into the wall. He then tried spin him out but they mostly were just bumping and banging. Dillon got out and went straight to his motor home while his crew chief went and talk to Hamlin.

“He only got his ride because of his name. Maybe (Dillon) needs to take his little a** over there and fix the race cars if he wants to be wrecking.”

Dillon had no comment.

Sadler and Stenhouse Jr. are tied in the series standings, but Stenhouse Jr.holds the tiebreaker.

Unofficial Race Results
O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, Texas
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=31
=========================================
Pos.	St.	No.	Driver	Make	Points
=========================================
1	–	33	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	0
2	–	22	Ryan Blaney	Dodge	42
3	–	54	Kyle Busch	Toyota	0
4	–	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	40
5	–	18	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	0
6	–	3	Austin Dillon *	Chevrolet	39
7	–	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	37
8	–	31	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	36
9	–	198	Kevin Swindell	Ford	35
10	–	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	0
11	–	2	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	34
12	–	88	Cole Whitt *	Chevrolet	32
13	–	38	Brad Sweet *	Chevrolet	31
14	–	7	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	30
15	–	199	Kenny Wallace	Toyota	29
16	–	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	28
17	–	43	Michael Annett	Ford	27
18	–	10	Mike Bliss	Toyota	26
19	–	30	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	0
20	–	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	24
21	–	14	Eric McClure	Toyota	23
22	–	11	Brian Scott	Toyota	22
23	–	124	David Starr	Toyota	0
24	–	1	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	20
25	–	40	Erik Darnell	Chevrolet	19
26	–	44	John Blankenship	Chevrolet	0
27	–	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	Chevrolet	17
28	–	4	Danny Efland	Chevrolet	16
29	–	41	Juan Carlos Blum	Chevrolet	15
30	–	19	Hal Martin	Toyota	0
31	–	52	Joey Gase *	Chevrolet	13
32	–	108	Scott Saunders	Ford	12
33	–	81	Jason Bowles *	Toyota	11
34	–	3	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	0
35	–	39	Tim Andrews	Ford	9
36	–	70	Johanna Long *	Chevrolet	8
37	–	191	Jeff Green	Toyota	7
38	–	100	Blake Koch	Toyota	6
39	–	175	Kelly Bires	Ford	5
40	–	86	Kevin Lepage	Ford	4
41	–	47	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	0
42	–	42	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	0
43	–	50	T.J. Bell	Chevrolet	1

November 3, 2012

Kyle Busch Victorious Again at Bristol

[media-credit id=5 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]
Busch celebrates Bristol NNS win
The last time NASCAR was at the Bristol Motor Speedway, back in August of 2010, it was the Kyle Busch show as he swept all three top series races in the same weekend. The spring race at Bristol does not include a Truck series event, so the Nationwide race is the first event. Could this win could be the start of another sweep?

Following Busch across the line was Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Elliott Sadler (the highest finishing series regular) and Joey Logano in fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Jason Leffler, Brad Keselowski and Aric Almirola.

The 29th annual Scott’s EZ Seed 300 proved to be another event- filled race after what looked to be a smooth start. Other than a competition caution ordered by NASCAR on lap 25 to change to the new tires provided by Goodyear Saturday morning, the race remained green for 68 laps. It was lap 68 when Robert Richardson Jr. made contact with the outside wall in turn three. The damage to Richardson’s No. 23 car resulted in lots of fluid across the track which Trevor Bayne found and it forced him into the outside wall. That spelled trouble for his day, as he finished 3 laps down in 19th place.

The beginning of the race was not without it’s own drama as Jennifer Jo Cobb refused to start the race after being ordered by car owner Rick Russell to ‘start and park’ the car. The car eventually started and parked after 4 laps, but not before the race had reached the 100 lap marker, with the third announced driver for the car.

The third caution for the day came on lap 183 as reigning Series Champion, Brad Keselowski cut a tire and made contact with the wall in turn 3. The last 100 laps of the race would bring out five more cautions, slowing the pace of the race. The fourth caution came on lap 201 as Aric Almirola spun the 388 car down the front stretch, while just 8 laps later the No. 05 of Willie Allen would crash on the front stretch. Lap 236 saw Bayne and Michael Annett wrecking in turn 2 while on lap 249, Danica Patrick would run into the left rear fender of Ryan Truex. Although Truex would keep control of his car and drive safely away, Patrick went into a spin and collected the outside wall ending her day with a 33rd place finish.

The win was Busch’s second of 2011 and his third top 10 finish this year. He also lead the most laps with 268, which set an all time record for the Series with 10,045 laps led. This is also Busch’s 45th win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Heading to California, Jason Leffler leads the series 2 point ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr, with Justin Allgaier, Reed Sorenson and Aric Almirola rounding out the top 5 in points.

March 19, 2011
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the Pole for Scott’s EZ Seed 300

Carl Edward’s jumped to the provisional pole as he went out 22nd qualifying for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race with a speed of 125.052 mph. But the idea of Edwards grabbing both poles was short lived.

[media-credit name=”Joe Dunn” align=”alignright” width=”106″][/media-credit]Two cars later, Edwards’ teammate Trevor Bayne pushed Carl to the outside as he posted a lap of 125.461 mph, .050 seconds faster. A few spots later, it was Jason Leffler hitting the top spot with a speed of 125.939, but the very next car out would be Edwards’ and Bayne’s teammate Stenhouse Jr. who took the top spot for the day with a speed of 126.071 mph. This will be Stenhouse Jr’s second pole of his career, the first one coming at Iowa in 2009. This will be his third top 10 start in 2011 and his third race at Bristol.

When the qualifying session was complete, Edwards was bumped back to 7th. Start on the outside of the front row will be Leffler, followed by last year’s winner Justin Allgaier, Bayne, and Kyle Busch starting 5th. Rounding out the top 10 will be Elliott Sadler, Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano.

Only one car will miss the race, Chris Lawson who crashed during his qualifying run. It should also be noted that these cars did qualify on the tires from yesterday as they had no practice on the new tires.

March 19, 2011
On Pit Road: NASCAR Tracks react to stop the bleeding

When the nations economy tanked in 2008, the ticket renewals for 2009 suddenly slumped. Track operators scrambled for a way to keep the fans coming back. Some did media blitzes touting lower concession prices (usually lowered by a few pennies) and their overstated special fan activities. Needless to say, all these new fan activities were coming at higher prices. Some tracks that in the past had demanded that season ticket holders pay in advance, sometimes nearly a year in advance for their tickets, suddenly began payment plans. These plans of course, did not involve any kind of price reductions.

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Although ticket sales did fall in 2009, it wasn’t enough for NASCAR or the track operators to take it all that seriously. When the 2010 season arrived it was obvious by the empty seats for the Daytona 500 that the lack of response was noticed by the fans. When the series moved on to California Speedway, it was all but impossible for the TV cameras to avoid showing the thousands of empty seats. In fairness of course, the left coast track has always had a dismal attendance record. If these facts didn’t get their attention, it was in March when the series headed to Bristol Motor Speedway, a track that held the record of 55 straight sellouts for NASCAR’s top series events. The cameras panned and attempted to miss the empty seats, but it was a lost cause. The fans at home could clearly see the empty seats on the front stretch. Despite NASCAR and BMS claiming that the sellout only missed by about 22,000 seats, it was evident that the number was much higher, estimated to be 45,000 empty seats.

I did a story that week http://www.onpitroad.com/2010/03/bristol-sellout-is-no-more.html about the wake up call evolving from that race, and how BMS had made attempts to stop the bleeding. In addition to the failure of the tracks to address the situation, I made an observation that the surrounding service industry refused to make any concessions on their part. BMS has begun taking steps to address that and I will cover that in a later column.

Ten years ago NASCAR was experiencing a robust economy, it was the fastest growing fan sport in America. Ticket sales were so brisk that many of the established tracks were quickly gearing up to add more seats. The TV networks were battling each other over the right to broadcast races. NASCAR and the largest track owners, International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) were recording record profits. They had a product so popular folks were begging them to take their money.

Two new tracks were opened in 2001 by ISC, Chicagoland Speedway and Kansas Speedway. Not to abandon the thoughts of increased profits both tracks prohibited fans from bringing coolers into the grandstand. There was a specific prohibition against bringing any food or beverages into the grandstands. This ensured the increased sales of highly overpriced food and beverages and a guarantee to maximum profits.

The older tracks allowed the long tradition of fans being able to bring coolers into the stands and the fear that race fan protest could effect ticket sales kept those policies in place. When the Twin Towers were attacked on September 11, 2001 the whole nation reeled in shock and horror that such an attack could have happened. NASCAR quickly cancelled the race scheduled for that weekend as the government had grounded air traffic in a knee jerk reaction. That pause gave NASCAR and the track owners time to consider a more permanent response. They responded by using the fear instilled in Americans to finally take a swipe at those dreaded coolers. “In the interest of security” the tracks had developed a new marketing plan. Knowing that the fans would protest outright bans on coolers, the plan was to downsize the coolers allowed. From a 14”x14”x14” cooler allowed at most tracks, the new 6”x6”x 12” cooler rule was implemented. This size of course was not an industry standard size, but lucky for the fans, each track would have just such coolers available for sale. The new rule did draw some protest, but ISC quickly waved the American flag and proclaimed the Patriotic nature of the change.

As the policy continued over the years, most tracks continued the upward spiral of ticket and concession prices, showing no mercy on the fans. However at Kansas Speedway the expected sellouts did not occur and as ticket sales continued to lag it forced the track in 2006 to join most of the other tracks with the 6x6x12 cooler policy. Of course at Chicagoland Speedway the ban continued, although they did allow fans to bring ONE factory sealed plastic bottle of water in with them.

Back to 2011, the wake up call has finally arrived at ISC headquarters and some new changes are coming in 2011. The NORMAL size coolers are back! Yep, you read that correctly. The NEW Daytona international Speedway gate admission policy now allows the old familiar 14”x14”x14” soft sided coolers. In addition, the 18” clear plastic bag rule has made way to allow one school sized backpack. That’s a pretty good start, but I wonder if it has come too late.

OK, that takes care of Daytona, let’s see what’s happening at the other ISC tracks:

Phoenix International Raceway – Larger cooler, still 18×18 plastic bag
California Speedway- Small coolers, backpacks
Martinsville Speedway- Large cooler, backpack
Talladega Superspeedway- Large cooler-backpack
Richmond International Raceway – Large cooler, backpack
Darlington Raceway – Large cooler, 18×18 bags
Kansas Speedway – Larger cooler, backpack
Michigan International Speedway – Large cooler, backpack
Watkins Glen International – Large cooler, backpack
Chicagoland Speedway – Small cooler, no backpack
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Large cooler, backpack

February 16, 2011