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Tag: Yates

  • The New Keselowski – Can He Win It All?

    The New Keselowski – Can He Win It All?

    [media-credit name=”Matt Laflair” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]Fans used to be split on Brad Keselowski. Some loved him, especially when he drove for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Nationwide team. The kid who hit everyone but the pace car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, riled the feathers of drivers and even got Carl Edwards airborne at Talladega (and had a few run-ins with Cousin Carl thereafter) has grown up, put on his best face and become a fan favorite. How does such a tremendous turnaround happen? Talent and a little PR work.

    Just look at how he handled finishing second at The Glen. Nothing but class. While far more mature and championship drivers wanted to whine about adverse conditions on the track in the final lap. Keselowski faced the camera, looked straight into it and declared the finish as close to heaven as possible. Just like his former rival, Edwards, he was honest and proved that he was a racer, not a Chaser. It was refreshing.

    I credit Keselowski’s rise with his move to Penske a couple of years ago. The No. 2 Dodge driver had a reputation of doing controversial things.  From the lack of restraint at Talladega, to having his father, former Sprint Cup driver Bob Keselowski, appear on national television accusing Edwards of trying to kill his son (which of course the younger Keselowski had no control over). All of a sudden Brad was correct and professional in everything he did. The Captain had spoken. We saw this attitude over the last two years. Kurt Busch acts up? Gone. A.J. Allmendinger fails a drug test? Gone. Brad has been smart enough to pick his battles and a star is in the making, if you ask me.

    No one knows how the switch to Ford in 2013 will go, but I’m betting on Brad Keselowski. He may win the Sprint Cup Championship this year, but as long as the Penske organization can get the cars as good as they have been this year, you can expect Brad to be in the hunt. Penske engines have been good, but the addition of Yates power might make them even better. Rest assured The Captain (Roger Penske) won’t let things get too far behind.

    Can the great change in the Keselowski attitude lead to a championship in 2012? It would be great to see Dodge go out as a winner. It would be great to see The Captain win his first championship, but Keselowski has a few hurdles to jump. There’s the elephant in the room, Jimmie Johnson. He will probably have the lead coming down to the final ten races. There is Matt Kenseth, who seems to be on a mission, and his teammate Greg Biffle, who is very hungry. Of course there is Junior Earnhardt, who without a couple of equipment failures, would be right up there. My money’s on Keselowski, which is foolish. My heart says Kenseth or Keselowski, but my mind says Johnson. It should be interesting.

  • Lessons Learned in the Two Duels

    Lessons Learned in the Two Duels

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”281″][/media-credit]The two Gatorade Duels are over. The 150-mile qualifying races saw the field go back to pack racing, the kind of racing preferred by the fans, and little “two car tango.” In fact, the drivers couldn’t do much pushing because their cars overheated. Elliott Sadler had overheating problems during his race and Jimmie Johnson was spewing water while pushing Greg baffle. In the end, NASCAR had it all figured out, and accomplished what they set out to do. We did, however, learn some things.

    First, the Fords are fast. Doug Yates, who supplies all the engines for Ford stockers, seems to have come up with the most horsepower at least at this restrictor plate track. But the car with the horsepower doesn’t always win, as we saw in the first duel. Marcos Ambrose and Carl Edwards should have had the brute force to win this one, but it was Hendrick powered Chevrolets that won and finished second. In fact, the Hendrick power plants put seven cars in the top 10 in both races and Ford had only five. Earnhardt-Childress put four cars in the top 10 and Toyota Racing Development only two, both in the second duel. Dodge scored only two top 10’s. And yet Kyle Busch showed power in winning the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night. To sum it up, don’t give the race to Ford drivers just yet. It’s anyone’s game.

    Second, there are going to be a lot of cautions on Sunday. With a smaller spoiler, downforce will be lacking and no human is skilled enough to bump draft and push another car without making the occasional mistake. We saw it in the Shootout and we saw it today. And remember, many drivers just did not go all out today while they will in the latter stages of the Great American Race.

    Third, Tony Stewart just seems to have the knack for getting to the front and staying there at Daytona, so I look for him to be a factor and maybe even is your winner on Sunday. He’d better pay attention to Marcos Ambrose, though. Ambrose has learned the formula at these restrictor plate tracks. After finishing a strong third in the Shootout, he also finished third in the first qualifying race today. The same could be said for Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith, and Jimmie Johnson. And that’s leaving out Polesitter Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, who dominated the second duel, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who is always good here. Want the truth? It’s anyone’s game.

    Finally, the overheating problem will continue unless NASCAR makes changes in the cooling systems before the race. I’ve been told that this is not likely to happen, but who knows? It is supposed to be a lot cooler on Sunday in Florida, but we may see a lot of overheated cars try to push the limit. The dominant theory is that in the last two laps, the drivers don’t worry about whether their engine gets hot and spews water. That could result in disaster if an overzealous driver goes too far and blows up at the front of the pack at 200 mph. Let’s hope “cooler heads” prevail.

    As I write this, we are only 61 hours away from the green flag of the Daytona 500. It was a long off-season, but from what we’ve seen, the competition is better and all looks well for a very enjoyable Daytona 500. My only hope is that we can go at least this race without the words points and Chase being used in a sentence by the voices and talking heads on the race broadcasts. After all, this is the Great American Race. The winner should not be known as the guy who is leading the points, but rather the guy who won the race.