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  • Hot 20 – As Richmond arrives, Earnhardt announces his departure

    Hot 20 – As Richmond arrives, Earnhardt announces his departure

    One day they are going to make that movie. It will feature a young Dale Earnhardt Jr. growing up in the shadow of his legendary father. We will see his daddy’s pride as his namesake begins his racing career. That first Tier II win at Texas in 1998. The two Tier II titles that came that year, and the next.

    Two years later, Senior saw Junior take his first Cup victory on that same Texas track. Junior won, ole Dale was seventh in the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet. Four races later, at Richmond, Junior won his second. Dad was 10th. The Legend and his Legacy.

    Then came the improbable story line. Dale Earnhardt would leave us on the final lap of the Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001. It was a race won by Michael Waltrip, a winless veteran driver who the Terminator put in the seat of a Dale Earnhardt Inc. car. His son finished second. On a day that should have been devoted to celebration, the Man in Black was gone.

    No one would dare write a script like this one. A week later, another of his drivers, Steve Park, would win at Rockingham. His friend and rival, Jeff Gordon, claimed Las Vegas. His race team, now led by a 25-year old Kevin Harvick, returned to Victory Lane for Richard Childress in the next race at Atlanta. What could top this emotional ride? When they returned to Daytona in July, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning, with Waltrip in second, and we rejoiced as they celebrated atop their cars in the infield as the crowd roared in approval.

    Junior would win at Dover later in the year, and in October he was victorious at Talladega, the scene of his father’s final victory just the year before. Senior won 10 times at that track, and the 2001 win for his son was the start of four consecutive conquests on the same superspeedway. The movie will take us to the twin Talladega triumphs of 2002, to Talladega and Phoenix the next season, and then to 2004. The Daytona 500, Atlanta, Richmond, Bristol, Talladega, and Phoenix.

    Then came the lean years. The break from his late father’s team. The man who lost a legendary father joined a man who lost a cherished son. The main story went behind the scenes, as the successes on the track became few and far in between. Just four wins over nine seasons. However, there was one more act in the play, a resurgence before the final curtain would drop.

    Four more wins in 2014, including his second Daytona 500. Three in 2015, including his sixth at Talladega, one more summertime victory to give him four at Daytona, and his third career decision at Phoenix. Before the credits roll, the movie will see the on-track heartbreak of 2016, the loss of half a season. Yet, while he wondered about his future out on the track, there was true joy as the year ended with his new bride Amy by his side. A new chapter was about to begin as the movie comes to a close.

    Peter Jackson, if you are not too busy, this is a movie I would really love to see.

    Here are our Hot 20 heading to Richmond this Sunday.

    1. BRAD KESELOWSKI – 2 WINS – 277 PTS
    Leads the pack, but his day at Bristol was one for the dumper. On to Richmond!

    2. JIMMIE JOHNSON – 2 WINS – 244 PTS
    With his 6.72 races per win ratio, his next victory should come by the time they leave Michigan.

    3. KYLE LARSON – 1 WIN – 360 PTS
    Great acceleration out of the pits on Monday. Just too great, as it turned out.

    4. MARTIN TRUEX JR. – 1 WIN – 323 PTS
    Had a rare good day at Bristol and now hopes for a rare good day at Richmond.

    5. RYAN NEWMAN – 1 WIN – 186 PTS
    One win means the difference between fifth and 14th. I hope Junior is listening.

    6. KURT BUSCH – 1 WIN – 163 PTS
    Went three laps down and still had a better day than his brother.

    7. CHASE ELLIOTT – 333 PTS
    He was not a factor last week, so explain to me that Top Ten result.

    8. JOEY LOGANO – 291 PTS
    Not a fan of the driver, but Cameron Curtis reminds us we all should be a fan of the man.

    9. JAMIE MCMURRAY – 244 PTS
    Granted, we are just eight races in, but 2017 has been a very sweet year for the 40-year old.

    10. KEVIN HARVICK – 239 PTS
    Before you panic, he has 24 wins over the past seven seasons, and a winless streak of just 13.

    11. CLINT BOWYER – 239 PTS
    From second tier a year ago to second place this past week to a place he’s won at twice before.

    12. RYAN BLANEY – 228 PTS
    No power steering, no quick fix, no points to speak of, but just check out those biceps.

    13. KYLE BUSCH – 214 PTS
    When the wheels on the car don’t keep round and round, one’s day can go to crap in a hurry.

    14. TREVOR BAYNE – 192 PTS
    Best performer for Jack Roush since Carl Edwards left to join Joe Gibbs.

    15. ERIK JONES – 192 PTS
    The 20-year-old has one Top Ten as he enters his 12th career Cup race.

    16. DENNY HAMLIN – 184 PTS
    Tenth on Monday and now heads to a track where he has won three, including the one last fall.

    17. RICKY STENHOUSE, JR. – 168 PTS
    Three Top Tens over the past five contests but just one in eight tries at Richmond.

    18. KASEY KAHNE – 164 PTS
    Does Junior’s announcement ease the pressure on him or is the clock still ticking?

    19. ARIC ALMIROLA – 161 PTS
    You could say that Bristol (tire) rubbed him the wrong way.

    20. MATT KENSETH – 159 PTS
    It does not matter where you run all day, as long as you are in the picture at the end.

  • The Final Word – Dover and the FedEx 400 Benefiting Jimmie Johnson

    The Final Word – Dover and the FedEx 400 Benefiting Jimmie Johnson

    Jimmie Johnson. Four wins in 2015. Ten wins at Dover. Seventy-four wins over the course of his career, just two shy of Dale Earnhardt’s total. Six championships. Gee, I wonder if he might ever make the Hall of Fame?

    He becomes only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to claim such dominance at a single track. Mind you, we’ve long been placing his name alongside such drivers as…

    -Richard Petty (Daytona – 10, Martinsville – 15, North Wilkesboro – 15, Richmond – 13, Rockingham – 11)

    -David Pearson (Darlington – 10)

    -Darrell Waltrip (Bristol – 12, Martinsville – 11, North Wilkesboro – 10)

    -Dale Earnhardt (Talladega – 10)…not counting the nine each he won at Atlanta, Bristol, and Darlington.

    Kevin Harvick was the runner-up and with two wins he holds the same position amongst the season leaders. Kyle Larson was third, but like the fourth place Aric Almirola, a win is what they need to be in the Chase. Martin Truex Jr. was sixth, but with a 140-point advantage over Clint Bowyer in the standings, he is still very good to go. Bowyer is 17th on the season and ninth on Sunday. The rest of the day’s Top Ten, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard and Jeff Gordon, remain solidly in the Top Sixteen, at least for now.

    For some, this day was in the pits, or at least that is where great days went to die. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick were in the Top-Fifteen, but were left wondering if not for pit penalties just what kind of day they might have had. Same for the 19th place Carl Edwards.

    Truex was amongst two that dominated early while Denny Hamlin led 118 laps including the opening 41 circuits. After a wreck caused by Bowyer that also caught Kurt Busch, Hamlin finished 21st, Busch 31st.

    As for brother Kyle, he looked strong the entire race, or at least the 90 percent he ran. With 25 to go, he and Brian Scott wrecked, leaving the younger Busch 36th. After missing so much of the season due to his Daytona injuries, he will need to win at least once and make up the 168 gap between himself and the 30th ranked Justin Allgaier over the next 13 events to make the playoff hunt. That is a gain of 13 per race. On Sunday, he gained just seven points on the 42nd placed Allgaier. It still can be done.

    Landon Cassill was 23rd on the day. The 26-year-old has been making the news, though off the track. After the World 600, he ran the 14-miles from the track to the Hall of Fame…on foot. Last Wednesday, he became Beckham Bear Alan Cassill’s dad. Pretty sweet.

    What is better, Cup action or IndyCar? Whatever you believe, it is not worth choking your fiancé over. It was a lovely domestic scene in Indiana as both were hitting the suds all day, then with he making dinner and her listening to the action from Indianapolis, the topic reared its ugly head. It appears that both are fine, but he does need a lawyer. No word as to whether the engagement is off or not.

    Dover had its moments and a few surprises. Actually, not a bad way to spend your Sunday afternoon. As for Pocono next weekend, Earnhardt comes in after sweeping 2014 while each of his Hendrick teammates has claimed the previous three. Gordon has six in total, Johnson three, but Hamlin could spoil the party having four of his own. Now, if only Bowyer will let him get to the finish.

  • The Southern 500: A Lesson Not Learned

    The Southern 500: A Lesson Not Learned

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”261″][/media-credit]For those who think that the races at places like California, Chicago, Kansas, and any number of what has been called the “cookie cutter” tracks, I give you Darlington. For every boring finish at one of those clones, we get one Darlington (and luckily, thank God) two Martinsville’s. It’s not fair that we only see one race at the track “too tough to tame,” but that’s all we have. It’s money that matters.

    Instead of two cars piggy-backing on each other to create speed, as we saw at Daytona and Talladega (and it seems is the favorite of the fans), we saw real racing and lots of action. We saw a Ford Fusion open up a Toyota like a can of tuna. We saw the usual suspects run in the back while others ran up front. We saw beating and banging, temper flaring, and even extracurricular action. We saw a race that can’t happen when everyone has four lanes to run in and it’s an easy place to run.

    It seems that after NASCAR became “the thing” back in the early 90’s that the sport went out of its way to make things easier for the drivers. No longer was it a challenge for the drivers because it didn’t matter so much. The important thing was that the stars of the sport were there and were successful. It wasn’t about the racing. It was more about the money. All of a sudden, International Speedway Corporation and Speedway Motorsports began to either take over or build new tracks. Bruton Smith did it two ways. As the CEO of Speedway Motorsports, every track he built was a clone of Charlotte Motor Speedway. You know the drill. Moderately banked tracks with a tri-oval approximately 1.5 miles in length. To give Smith credit, he did change it up a bit at Las Vegas by reconfiguring the track when it didn’t race like the fans wanted and changed Atlanta also. But he changed Bristol to “offer more room to race,” which has been a disaster for fans and the attendance at the races there show it. Fans didn’t want more room to race. They wanted to see the action. I really am sad to report this, but the last two races at Bristol nearly bored me to sleep.

    International Speedway Corporation seemed to create tracks in the image of Michigan International Speedway. When they bought Roger Penske’s tracks, that seemed to be the formula. California, Chicago, and others seemed to fit that mold. Easy on the drivers and less action were the key. They didn’t have to worry about the fans, they were going to come anyway.

    Fast forward to 2008. The economy was in the dumpster. Ticket prices were through the roof and fans for the first time had to wonder if spending $1,000 dollars for a weekend was worth it . Attendance suffered and TV ratings went way down. Smith closed Rockingham and NASCAR took away one of its iconic races at Darlington to get other races at his newer clone tracks. Attendance was listed as the problem, but when attendance at California and other tracks didn’t improve the situation, excuses were there in spades. Excuses cannot change what has happened over the last ten years. History be damned. While baseball loves Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, NASCAR put its history in the trash can in favor of more modern facilities and the revenue that could be generated. It’s sad.

    Tonight, we saw why fans rushed to NASCAR. Action. We saw it at Martinsville in March, and we’ll see it again in the fall when we go back there. We sacrificed the iconic tracks that made the sport what it was for luxury suites and bling, even if the racing was less than good. And so it goes.

    Maybe there’s a lesson here, but I doubt it. A friend who has gone to Charlotte for eons told me this week that he got his Charlotte tickets for the 600. The tickets had raised by nearly $20. He was trying to sell the tickets and could not find any takers. Maybe the economy will improve and people will have more disposable income in the future and NASCAR will rise again, but if that magic doesn’t happen, it won’t change the fact that places like Darlington need to be put in place as what NASCAR is and should be. Taking a race from Darlington was wrong. Taking away the Labor Day weekend from Darlington was criminal. When will they learn?

  • Darlington: A Piece of NASCAR History

    Darlington: A Piece of NASCAR History

    [media-credit name=”Joe Dunn” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]I’ve only attended four races at Darlington Raceway. What really confuses me about that is the fact that it is one of my favorite places to see a NASCAR race. Something always gets in the way of heading down the hillbilly highway (Interstate 77) and making the trip through the lazy southern towns to what I consider one of the places that should never change. I look forward to it every year.

    I’ll never forget that trip to Myrtle Beach way back when. I don’t know if I took a wrong turn or I was meant to go that way, but I found myself in Cheraw, SC, when I should have gone the other way. Back in the 1970’s there were no GPS devices and we were too lazy to stop at a gas station for a map, so we just kept driving on a narrow two-lane road which led us to Darlington. My eyes immediately lit up when I saw the sign. I kept wondering if I could find the track. Well, it was right on the road and I made an abrupt right into the parking lot. There it was—the place I had heard my father talk about and the track too tough to tame. The Lady in Black.

    I remembered that they had a museum there and I wanted to see it, so I headed to the first open door and talked to a lady in what looked like a police uniform. I asked her about going into the track, but she said they weren’t doing tours and after she thought a minute, she told me I could go in if I didn’t go any further than pit road. So off I went through what was then the first turn gate on onto the track. I was immediately transported back in history. The track looked just like it did in pictures and on what little TV we got in those days. Standing on pit road, I could see the red building in Turns 1 and 2 that TV had captured so many times. Little did I know I would be working in that building in the future?

    To my right was the Union 76 sign and to my left was the first turn. I couldn’t stand it. I had to walk the track. I headed up to the banking in the first turn and surveyed the track from there. Then I walked back to pit road and went over to Turns 3 and 4. The fact that they were totally different made an impression on me. How in the world could anyone drive this track? How could you set up a car? It made my heroes even more gigantic.

    After that religious experience, I headed to the museum, which in my opinion still represents a hall of fame better than the official shrine in Charlotte. It was small and crowded, but up close and personal. I left with the feeling I had gone to a mystical place. Darlington Raceway is NASCAR. Yes, Martinsville is in the same league, but they may be the only two tracks that take you back to the roots of what this sport is all about. It takes you back to the days when men fought for wins and didn’t necessarily care who got the most points.

    Some of the best races I’ve ever seen came at Darlington. Who could forget 1985? It was there that Bill Elliott won the Winton Million on a hot September day. Cale Yarborough and Elliott had the fastest cars, but Elliott wasn’t as dominant as he had been in the past and Yarborough was charging. Yarborough blew his power steering near the end of the race in a cloud of smoke, but recovered to try to chase down Elliott. The mental image of the tough Yarborough gaining on Elliott in the final lap will always be etched in my mind. Elliott won, but Yarborough’s determination showed as they came out of the fourth turn, Yarborough sideways in pursuit of the No. 9 Thunderbird.

    That’s just one of the great finishes at this track. I’ll still remember May 16, 1996. Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch fought side by side to the finish, touching so many times. The two passed each other more times than I could count in the last two laps with Craven getting up alongside as they reached the start-finish line. Craven’s margin of victory was just so close.

    It’s a shame that NASCAR saw fit to take a race from this shrine to real racing and gave it to California Speedway. The Labor Day Southern 500 was one of the traditions of the sport that should not have been taken away. To think that NASCAR saw fit to re-think that decision and not restore two races at Darlington is almost a crime, but we still have one race at the track and it takes place this weekend. For a while it looked like the track would join North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham in the list of extinct tracks.

    So, I shame myself. I’ve attended over 200 Sprint Cups races in my lifetime, some I worked and others where I sit amongst the real people in the stands, but only four at Darlington. That’s going to change. We’ve lost too much history in this sport in the name of sponsor dollars and TV exposure. For every Darlington (or Martinsville) we have a multitude of cookie-cutter tracks that offer less challenge and poorer racing than that little track in South Carolina. It’s time to enjoy it before it’s gone.