Happy Hump Day! Today In Nascar History Sept. 30, 1995: Mike Bliss wins his first NASCAR race, the Craftsman Truck Series Lowe's 150 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. Butch Miller finishes second, 1.14 seconds back, and Geoff Bodine is third. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chevrolet and Tony Stewart are giving you the opportunity to win Smoke's Camaro through Smoke's Camaro Raffle! WE HAVE REDUCED SMOKE'S CAMARO RAFFLE TICKET PRICES 50%! What does this do to your chances? If you purchased 1 ticket at $100, you now have 2 tickets at $50 each and so on. A lot of Tony's fans told us they would like to support "Smoke" but this economy has everyone tightening their belts. We listened. Effective August 12, 2009, the "Smoke's Camaro Raffle" ticket costs $50 each – reduced from the original cost of $100 each.
What does this mean to you & your chances? To keep everything fair we are doubling the number of tickets purchased at the previous price. So, if you purchased 1 ticket at $100, you now have 2 tickets at $50 each and so on. This system keeps the odds and percentages exactly the same for you and your fellow 'early bird' ticket purchasers! Visit SmokesCamaro.com to purchase your raffle ticket today, or click here to visit our Smoke's Camaro page, including prize details, rules, photos and more! Understanding the current economy, Tony added even more impact to the Grand Prize of receiving this in-demand Camaro. The winner and a guest will be flown down to Charlotte and treated to a personal tour of SHR, lunch and the presentation of the Camaro and the keys directly from Tony. Only 12,028 tickets will be sold nationally and the drawing will be held on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 unless all tickets are sold prior to that date.
Buy your ticket(s) today. The earlier you make your ticket purchase, the greater your chances of winning an Early Bird prize! For a full description of prize packages, please visit www.TonyStewartFoundation.org. And, you are definitely helping Tony in his effort to provide funding for children, animals and drivers in need. Feel the Heartbeat of America, and help out those in need. Get your ticket today. If I could, I would absolutely buy more than one. But with my husband's illness, we can't help. But you can!!! www.smokescamaro.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quote of the Year Stupid is Forever --Brian Vickers There's an unwritten rule in NASCAR: Thou shalt not take on Dale Earnhardt Jr. --Terry Blount/espn Vote for your driver! www.chexmostpopulardriver.com/ Bits and Pieces Kahne using R5 Engine at Kansas...and beyond? #9-Kasey Kahne, Teleconference Transcript (in part) from September 29, 2009:
Q: What engine will you run this weekend at Kansas?
Kahne: I'm using the R5 again this weekend, the same as what we had last week.
Q: Do you anticipate going back to the R6?
Kahne: I think it will be all about reliability. If they think they can get it back where it's really reliable like the R5, then I would think we would probably go back to it. What I told them was that we have some points to make up and if we have anymore issues where we fall outside of the top 35, we're screwed & we have no chance. The very little power that you gain with the R6, it's not nearly enough power for me to say let's take a chance. We definitely want it to be reliable. Maybe we're down a couple horsepower, but that's it. At the end of the day it's not a big deal.(Dodge Motorsports NASCAR PR ) Chevy Close To Manufacturers' Title: Depending on the outcome of Sunday's Price Chopper 400, Chevrolet could clinch the 2009 manufacturers' title this weekend at Kansas Speedway. If so, it would be the 33rd such title for Chevrolet and the seventh consecutive one. The manufacturers' championship debuted in 1950. What's necessary for Chevrolet to clinch: Chevy's top-finishing driver on Sunday must finish ahead of Toyota's top-finishing driver (NASCAR). See the manufacturers' championship rules, standings, history on my Manufacturers' Championship page. Whoohooo…read it and weep Ladies and Gentlemen! Martin brings 'hot' car to Kansas: #5-Mark Martin's crew chief Alan Gustafson, has chosen Chassis No. 5-527 for this Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway. This is the same chassis Martin drove to Victory Lane at Darlington Raceway in May and Chicagoland Speedway in July. Martin most recently raced the car to a fifth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September. (HMS) Different look for Ragan's #6 at Kansas: For the second and final time this season, UPS Freight will be featured on the #6 Ford that David Ragan drives. Ragan ran the same design earlier this season at Richmond in May. The Wichita North Center (SLIC - 6720) in the Kansas District was selected as the UPS Maximum Center featured on David's car at Kansas Speedway. The center's 6720 SLIC number will be featured on the wing of the #6 UPS Freight Ford. (RFR) More on Kevin Hamlin's Cup debut: Kevin Hamlin will attempt to qualify for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway in the Front Row Motorsports #37 Long John Silver's Dodge. Bob Jenkins, owner of the Front Row Motorsports entry, has given the thirty year old driver his first opportunity to compete in motorsport's top series for Sunday's Price Chopper 400. The #37 Dodge Avenger is currently in 45th in owner points. Hamlin must qualify the Long John Silver's Dodge in on time to make the race. "For Mr. Jenkins to give me this opportunity is a dream come true. Front Row Motorsports has made huge strides this year with the dedication that Jerry Freeze and the entire Front Row team has put towards it, and hopefully we can get the car in the show. I look forward to working with Peter (Sospenzo) and appreciate the confidence he has in me. I like Kansas, it's where I got my first truck start in 2005," noted Hamlin. He has two previous starts at Kansas Speedway, both in 2005, in the Craftsman Truck Series and the Nationwide Series.
Crew Chief Peter Sospenzo is looking forward to working with Hamlin at Kansas and California, "We're real excited about Kevin being in the car for Kansas and California. We have to qualify in to race, but Kevin can do it. He has experience in a truck and Nationwide car at Kansas, and his experience testing in the Cup car will really be beneficial for his first time in a Cup race. Kevin's a young guy with a lot of enthusiasm and he has a great attitude." Hamlin is no stranger to Front Row Motorsports, he can be found during most Sprint Cup races spotting for FRM's John Andretti. Hamlin has also practiced and qualified the team's Nationwide Series entry driven by Tony Raines on non-companion race weekends when Raines had conflicts traveling between a Sprint Cup and Nationwide track. During the week Hamlin is a test driver for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, putting in laps on various tracks and straight line testing for the team's Sprint Cup program. Hamlin was heavily involved in testing during the development of the Car of Tomorrow. (Rising Star Management) Office Depot, Stewart Team up to donate backpacks: Office Depot and #14-Tony Stewart are joining the Office Depot Foundation on Wednesday to donate more than 2,200 backpacks to Kansas City-area nonprofit organizations and schools. "Back-To-School Backpack Celebration," happens at 4:00pm at the Office Depot store at 4851 North Oak Traffic Way in Kansas City. Guests include Kansas City mayor Mark Funkhouser and Shawna Searcy, Clay County Field Representative for Congressman Sam Graves. (PR) NASCAR Video Recaps at Auto Dealers: The Automotive Broadcasting Network (ABN), auto retailing's first private television network fueled by CBS, announced that the company has entered an agreement with NASCAR Media Group to deliver weekly NASCAR racing video recaps to Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota dealer-customers across the county. The two-minute videos, produced by NASCAR Media Group and seen in dealer showrooms, will feature results and updates from NASCAR's three national series: the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. (Business Wire) K-State solar car to be on display at Kansas Speedway: Members of Kansas State University's solar car team will be displaying their car, Paragon, at two locations in the Kansas City area: at the Kansas Speedway Friday, Oct. 2; and at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday, Oct. 3, for the K-State football game against Iowa State University. The Kansas City Catbackers helped arrange the solar car's display in conjunction with the K-State football game at Arrowhead and NASCAR events at the Kansas Speedway. The K-State solar car team has been building and racing solar cars since 1995. Paragon was built by the team in 2005 for the North American Solar Challenge. Members of the team are primarily K-State students in electrical and mechanical engineering, but all disciplines are welcome on the team. The cars take about two years to design and build and are built for cross-country endurance races rather than racing at tracks like the Kansas Speedway. It will be the first time the K-State team has shown the solar car at a NASCAR event. (Reflector-Chronicle) Gillett, RPM partnering with Saudi Prince UPDATE: In what could turn out to be one of the oddest pairings in the history of American stock car racing, Richard Petty Motorsports' primary shareholder George Gillett Tuesday signed an 'exclusive commercial collaboration' agreement for his stake in the team to Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud, a member of the Saudi Royal Family. The agreement signed Tuesday forms a partnership that will see the development of a NASCAR racing circuit and Richard Petty racing schools in the Saudi Kingdom and elsewhere in the Middle East. "The Middle East sport market has immense growth potential as eager fans in the region demand access to more diverse, higher caliber competition. I am delighted, enthusiastic, and honored to have the opportunity to partner with such a visionary in His Highness Prince Faisal," said Gillett after the signing. According to many however, the agreement signed Tuesday is the first step to Gillett selling his stake in the team. As the two were publicly confirming the agreement, behind the scenes, Gillett and Prince Faisal acting on behalf of the Saudi sports investment group F6 he chairs, have begun a process of 'due diligence', the examination of financial records, with the goal being that Gillett would be bought out by the end of the year. The primary deal in the works actually centers on British football club Liverpool that Gillett owns a 50% stake in, but the deal would also include Richard Petty Motorsports. The Prince was at Anfield Stadium in England on Saturday as a guest Gillett, who confirmed that he has secured funding from the Saudi prince for his NASCAR team and an agreement to build Liverpool-branded football academies in the Middle East. The entire deal is reportedly worth up to $560 million.(NASCAR Examiner) UPDATE Foster Gillett has confirmed there are no major ownership changes contemplated at Richard Petty Motorsports. The Gillett's are the majority owners of Richard Petty Motorsports and plan on being so for a long time.(RPM) Dover victory means over $29k to Red Cross: #48-Jimmie Johnson and American Le Mans Series drivers Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz Raced for Relief this weekend, and as a result of their efforts, Lowe's donated $29,295, including $4,800 for Johnson's victory finish, to benefit the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which helps people affected by disasters like the floods in Georgia. Johnson completed 400 laps during his victory at Dover, Del. Sunday while Fernandez and Diaz raced for 353 miles in their race at Road Atlanta on Saturday. The $29,295 is in addition to the $250,000 Lowe's donated to the American Red Cross last week. Lowe's stores across Georgia continue to serve as official cash donation sites for the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Funds raised will help to provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to victims of disasters like the recent floods. Donations to the American Red Cross may be made at participating Lowe's stores, online at www.redcross.org, or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).(Lowe's PR) Gilliland To Race for Farm Bureau Insurance: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announced that David Gilliland will drive the #02 Farm Bureau Insurance Toyota in three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, starting October 17 in Charlotte, and continuing with the November 8 race at Texas and the November 22 season finale at Homestead. Wally Brown, JGR's R &D/Test Team crew chief, will serve as crew chief for each of the three races. Earlier this year, Farm Bureau Insurance announced that they would sponsor six races in 2009 with Joe Gibbs Racing. Two of those races have been run in the #11 Toyota, driven by Denny Hamlin at Darlington and Atlanta. Farm Bureau Insurance will also appear on the #20 Toyota driven by Joey Logano on October 25 in Martinsville. "Thus far, it's been an exhilarating partnership between Farm Bureau Insurance and Joe Gibbs Racing. We're excited to welcome David Gilliland to our Farm Bureau Insurance family. David and crew chief Wally Brown are both talented and established NASCAR sportsman, and I know both will represent our agents and customers flawlessly the remainder of 2009," said Bubby Trosclair, Vice President of Agency for Farm Bureau Insurance. Brown has been with JGR for three years, and currently serves as the crew chief for JGR's R&D/Test team. He served as crew chief last year for the #02 Home Depot Toyota in Texas, the site of Joey Logano's first start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and has filled in as crew chief for JGR's Nationwide Series program.(Farm Bureau Insurance Racing) Drew Blickensderfer named Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race at Dover By SceneDaily Staff Drew Blickensderfer, crew chief for the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driven by Matt Kenseth, has been named the Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race for last Sunday's AAA 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway. Kenseth started the race in 23rd and went on to finish third. A 13-second stop by the Blickensderfer-led team on lap 165 gained the group two positions and allowed Kenseth to restart ninth. "We had a nice solid day on pit road and were able to get a good finish out of it," Kenseth said. Bob Osborne, crew chief for Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards, Todd Berrier, crew chief for Richard Childress Racing's Casey Mears and Fox/Speed analyst Jeff Hammond, along with representatives from the sponsor, serve as the panel for the challenge. In addition to the $1,000 check, the winning crew chief will receive signage on his pit box the following week. The crew chief with the most weekly wins will be honored as the Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Year and will be presented a $20,000 check at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Recording artist Blaine Larsen to perform national anthem before Kansas Cup race By SceneDaily Staff Kansas Speedway announced Tuesday that recording artist Blaine Larsen will perform the national anthem prior to Sunday's Price Chopper 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Larsen, a Tacoma, Wash., native, is known for his country-music single, "How Do You Get That Lonely." His current single, "It Did," is the first from his soon-to-be released third album, Not Too Bad. "Blaine is a big NASCAR fan and we're excited to have him be a part of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Kansas Speedway," Kansas Speedway President Jeff Boerger said. "Blaine is a young artist who has a bright future ahead of him and I know our fans will enjoy hearing him sing the national anthem." Track ticket packages remain on sale and can be purchased by calling 866-460-RACE or visiting www.kansasspeedway.com. NASCAR polling fans on Fontana start FONTANA, Calif. -- NASCAR fans will get to decide when gentlemen can start their engines for next winter's Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway. For the first time at the track, fans will decide what time the green flag will drop for the Feb. 21, 2010 race. The choices are noon Pacific Standard Time or 4:30 p.m PST. Fans can vote through the track's Web site, Facebook or MySpace pages, its Twitter account and e-mail. Dale Earnhardt Jr. says David Reutimann needs to 'polish up his craft' By Jeff Gluck /scenedaily.com 9/25/09 DOVER, Del. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked with David Reutimann about their on-track incident immediately following the New Hampshire race last week – although from the sounds of it, Earnhardt Jr. did most of the talking. Speaking after his qualifying lap at Dover, Earnhardt Jr. said he was no longer mad at Reutimann but insisted that the Michael Waltrip Racing driver needed to "sharpen up and polish up his craft a little bit." At New Hampshire, Earnhardt Jr. seemed headed for a top-five run when contact with Reutimann took him out late in the race Following the incident, Earnhardt Jr. made some strong comments about Reutimann's talent – or lack thereof – and though he said they were out of anger and frustration, he didn't exactly back off his assertions a week later. "We don't get opportunities to finish in the top five too often, so I was really disappointed to be taken out," he said at Dover. "And neither really does he, you know? So we both could have used that finish and neither one of us got it." The sport's most popular driver said Reutimann was a "really nice guy" and anyone who had ever spoken to him could see it. But he warned he would no longer give Reutimann a free pass in case of a mistake. "I know what kind of guy he is, but he just drives over his head real hard, trying to make an impression," Earnhardt Jr. said. "And it cost me. And I don't want him to cost me no more. Being a nice guy ain't gonna be good enough no more." Earnhardt Jr. recalled what he said when Reutimann approached him after the race: "I race you like a gentleman. There are no true rules when it's at the end of the race, but it wasn't at the end yet. We still need to take care of each other a little bit. I don't have a problem racing hard at all – I was on the outside digging, running hard. Next time we go down in the corner side-by-side, just do a better job of taking care of people you respect. And if you respect me, you'll do it." The wreck especially irked Earnhardt Jr. because "I try to take care of him, I never just go in and wipe him out," he said. "I ran into 10 or 15 people's doors on that Sunday," he continued. "But not hard enough to put them in any jeopardy – you try to take care of each other out there. A guy can just go in the corner and wipe you out, like the 44 [AJ Allmendinger] and the 47 [Marcos Ambrose] will do." Earnhardt Jr. said he doesn't believe Reutimann learns from his errors, "because he's made them a couple times – and I want him to learn." At this level, he said, "You can't make those kinds of mistakes, even if you're making them three, four, five times a year. That's too many." As for Dover, Earnhardt Jr. said his poor practice times (he was 28th) were because the team was trying qualifying runs over and over. They never got the car any better, he said, and qualified 24th. But Earnhardt Jr. shrugged off the disappointing day. "I don't know, I ain't too worried about it," he said. "The race setup will be quite a bit different." Why NASCAR drivers are like astronauts By Pete Grathoff - The Kansas City Star Kevin Harvick didn't mince words when asked by The Star about critics who say NASCAR drivers are not athletes. "Anybody who doesn't think there are athletes riding around in those cars is absolutely crazy in my mind because ... when you're racing, you feel the G's on your neck, your arms, your shoulders," Harvick said in 2001. By G's, Harvick means G-force. While we often think of astronauts when talking about G-forces, NASCAR drivers experience this in every race. G-force is the force a mass experiences due to acceleration. In her book "The Physics of NASCAR," author Diandra Leslie-Pelecky wrote that NASCAR drivers routinely experience 2g to 3g in the turns. While 1g is the force we normally feel, Space Shuttle astronauts feel a 3g force on launches. Think about that as you watch the races this weekend at Kansas Speedway. The reason drivers feel that force can be explained by Isaac Newton's first law. Known as the Law of Inertia, it states that "Every object persists in its state of rest or of moving uniformly straight forward unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it." Since NASCAR races are not held exclusively on straightaways, there must be a force that pushes cars as they make turns on the track. "This inward-pointing force is called the centripetal (which means 'center-seeking') force," Leslie-Pelecky wrote. "The centripetal force is the reason cars turn." But if you've been in a car that makes a sharp left turn -- as they do in NASCAR -- you know that your body moves to the right while the car is moving to the left. That would seem to indicate the force is pushing to the right, but that's not the case. The force is actually pushing to the left. How can that be? "Just as you feel pushed backward when you accelerate (even though the force is pushing you forward)," Leslie-Pelecky wrote, "you feel pushed toward the outside of the circle even though the force making you turn is directed toward the center of the circle." As the car turns, the driver also turns, because he is strapped to the vehicle. But his body wants to move forward (as Newton told us), so the driver feels the centripetal force. As Leslie-Pelecky wrote at her Web site stockcarscience.com: "The seat (via the car) is exerting a force on him toward the inside of the turn while he's trying to go straight. The net result is that the driver perceives a force to be acting outward, but it is actually acting inward." Paul Menard- The most valuable driver in NASCAR? Jeremy Dunn/nascarexaminer.com It sounds like a silly question does it not. However, in the current state of economic affairs, Paul Menard is a hot commodity for NASCAR owners. The most recent rumor concerning Paul Menard is that he could end up at Richard Childress Racing, along with his sponsor Menard's, which is his father's home improvement chain. Of course, he denied the rumor. Many will claim that Menard's sponsor the key to his survival in Sprint Cup. The home improvement chain will follow Paul Menard wherever he decides to go. Menard entered NASCAR six years ago with Andy Petree on a limited basis, and moved on to DEI in 2005. He showed some promise at DEI in the Busch, now Nationwide Series. He became a top prospect. At the time, the fact that his sponsor was his father's company was rarely mentioned because Menard frequently ran near the front. He won a Nationwide Series event at the Milwaukee Mile in June of 2006 in a field that included Cup drivers such as Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, and Denny Hamlin. Because he was competitive, there was no need to mention that Menard only had a ride because of his name. He competed in a limited Cup schedule in 2006, and scored a top ten at Atlanta. The Menards entered the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2007. Two years and one top five finish later, Menard's fruitless tenure with DEI came to an end. Menard's career was far from finished, as DEI attempted to re-sign Menard. A few other teams showed interest in Menard and his sponsor, but he eventually decided to join Yates Racing. In 2008, Yates Racing displayed signs of potential with David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil often over-performing in underfunded cars. Additionally, the affiliation with Roush Fenway Racing was a strong selling point. Menard has yet to land a top ten finish in 2009, and Yates Racing faces a ton of uncertainty. With the sponsorship issues most teams are facing, you have to believe that the Menard's sponsorship played a role in Richard Petty Motorsport's decision to merge with Yates Racing. It is reported that Menard is not thrilled with the merger, and could be searching for a new team for him and his sponsor. Very few teams, if any, would pass up an opportunity to sign a driver who can bring in a major sponsor. The free agent pool is not as promising as it has been in years past, but based on experience, as well as accomplishments, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, and even Casey Mears would seem to be more sound choices to fill a vacant seat. Labonte, McMurray, and Mears cannot bring in a guaranteed sponsor, and companies are not exactly swarming into the sport with their checkbooks in hand. I have nothing against Paul Menard. I want to see him succeed so he can erase the notion that he is only in the sport because of his father's company. I do not think he lacks talent, as many others would assume. I can recall two or three races this year in which he had a possible top ten slipped away due to an accident or some kind of misfortune. Before you deem Menard unworthy of even sweeping the floors of a race shop, consider that he entered DEI's Cup program when the company was in utter chaos. Sure, he currently drives a Roush-prepared car in the Yates Racing stables, but that entire program is off the pace, even the trio of Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Matt Kenseth. Let us try to give Menard the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, he takes some heat because he has the luxury of a guaranteed sponsor with very few credentials. Meanwhile, successful and popular veterans are rushed out of the sport, or to a lower-tier ride, because they cannot attract a sponsor. As other distilled liquors exit NASCAR, Crown Royal still pleased with sponsorship By Bob Pockrass/scenedaily.com Distilled liquors were granted permission to sponsor NASCAR race teams beginning with the 2005 season. It was billed as another avenue for teams to find sponsorship. But in 2010, only one of the three liquors that opted for team sponsorship will remain. Jack Daniel's is leaving Richard Childress Racing and Jim Beam is leaving Robby Gordon Motorsports. Executives from both companies indicated they were shifting their money to other avenues. Jim Beam, for example, has gotten heavily involved in promoting musician Kid Rock in recent years. Crown Royal is staying with Roush Fenway Racing at half a season. It had shared time with Newell Rubbermaid on Jamie McMurray's car but will move to Matt Kenseth next year, and Roush Fenway is searching for a sponsor to pick up the other half of the season. Crown Royal senior brand manager Rob Mason says that the NASCAR program still works for the company. Not only does Crown Royal sponsor the race team, it also sponsors a Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. That race entitlement includes a sweepstakes where the winner gets to put his or her name on the race entitlement. "One of the core reasons that we continue to be committed to the sport of NASCAR is because it provides a wonderful platform for us to reach adult NASCAR fans, whom we know are very passionate about the sport," Mason says. "And we also know that those consumers tend to be quite influential and they embrace brands that commit to NASCAR. … We know almost 90 percent of [NASCAR's fans] are adults of legal drinking age, and we know that because of that, it's an extremely powerful way for us to promote our messaging." All three liquor companies used the NASCAR program to promote responsible drinking – a natural because drinking and driving is obviously a big issue for distilled liquor companies. NASCAR continues to be a "great platform" to convey that responsibility message, Mason says. He says that the return on the investment is getting the message across. "The biggest piece that we use to measure it is the number of consumers that we're ultimately able to touch," Mason says. That can come in a variety of ways, including but not limited to television ratings and attendance at events, he adds. Activating the sponsorship can be a challenge. It's more than just setting up a table or a small booth. With any marketing piece or promotion there are laws that govern what a liquor company can do. "It's certainly more challenging to do any marketing or any sponsorship activity in the world of spirits," Mason says. "Doing that in the world of motorsports and NASCAR is certainly no different. But we don't find that activating in the world of NASCAR for us is any more difficult than us activating and marketing across any of the disciplines we use outside of NASCAR. "The challenges that we face are unique to the fact that we're a spirits brand." Mason says that Crown Royal is not getting involved in finding a partner for it to sponsor Kenseth. "Our main focus is on ensuring that we can connect with the NASCAR consumer in a meaningful way," Mason says. "In our case, it's up to Roush Fenway to determine what other sponsors might be a good fit for its drivers and its teams." Crown Royal likes its fit in the NASCAR world. Parent company Diageo has several brands of alcohol, including Smirnoff Ice, Bailey's, Cuervo, Guiness, and Dom Perignon. While Diageo has occasionally promoted the Smirnoff Ice brand in NASCAR, it's used Crown Royal as its main NASCAR marketing tool. "We feel that Crown Royal's consumer is very closely aligned with the NASCAR consumer, and that is primarily why we think the Crown Royal sponsorship makes the most sense," Mason says. "We continue to invest behind the sport of NASCAR and believe it's a very effective tool." SPEED Jumps Into The NASCAR News Game John Daly/thedalyplanet.com Over the past several years, eyes have been watching SPEED TV as the network slowly drifted away from its extensive connections with NASCAR. Lifestyle shows began to dominate primetime and other than TWIN on Monday nights, the vast majority of the NASCAR programming came from the racetracks on the weekends.
In 2007, ESPN launched the daily NASCAR Now show. Originally a complete flop, it has been slowly turned into a solid program featuring capable hosts, good features and interviews with NASCAR newsmakers. There was just one problem. It is done from the studio in Connecticut.
ESPN made a decision back in 2006 not to invest in a small studio in the Concord or Mooresville, NC area due to financial reasons. The NASCAR TV contract signed by ESPN runs through 2015, so perhaps the network reasoned that it was easier to service this sport from Bristol, CT.
In the meantime, SPEED moved from the cramped studios in South Charlotte up to a new HD facility near the Lowe's Motor Speedway. This finally gave the company the ability to consider originating regular studio-based NASCAR programming. Now that concept has become a reality.
On October 12 at 7:30PM ET, SPEED will launch a new daily NASCAR news and interview program called NASCAR Race Hub. The show will air Monday through Thursday and is intended to go well beyond the NASCAR season that ends in November.
Here is some official information from SPEED:
As The Chase winds down and we look ahead to the 2010 NASCAR season, this unique program provides drivers, owners, sponsors, or crew members an opportunity for TV exposure. The atmosphere and format will be structured in such a manner that keeps it open to any idea. Virtually anything goes because NASCAR Race Hub will not be a straightforward news and information program.
Our goal is to have at least one in-studio interview per day. The set will resemble a renovated garage complete with televisions, a pinball machine, and even a pub-style bar with chairs. The result will be a very relaxed, casual setting right here in Charlotte. Content will consist of everything from top-10 lists to poll questions, fan emails, features and video of drivers at and away from the track. Some might ask "why another NASCAR show?" The answer is because SPEED has continued to enjoy growth in its NASCAR ratings in 2009 – from our NASCAR Camping World Truck Series broadcasts to our weekend programming, such as NASCAR RaceDay and NCWTS Setup. As a result, we view NASCAR Race Hub as an extension of our weekend NASCAR coverage.
At this point we are still waiting on the announcement of the on-air talent, the reporters and the format. But the good news is that now NASCAR personalities will have the opportunity to take a short drive over to the SPEED studios and update the news and stories that fans want to know more about.
TDP has long described SPEED as a two-headed monster that enjoys racing of all kinds on Friday through Sunday but changes into a poor imitation of the Discovery channel during the week. SPEED currently airs reruns of Pimp My Ride from MTV and Jacked from A&E. The weekday shows feature towing and several off-shoots of the PINKS franchise.
Perhaps establishing a NASCAR toehold at 7:30PM during the week will lead the network to consider extending Wind Tunnel to a Monday version or contracting with the NASCAR Media Group to create some more quality programming. SPEED rejected the Quest for the Cup series that is now seen on Versus Tuesday nights.
The NASCAR Now franchise will continue on ESPN with no issues. The company has built a strong set of field reporters to cover the sport away from the track and offers a tremendous set of preview and review shows on every Sprint Cup race day.
There is plenty of room in the sport for two shows. These two companies already co-exist at the track all season long and there is no reason to believe that will change. The sport is better served with diversity in the TV news department and this may just be just the trick to help the sport at a time when more media exposure is critical.
TDP will continue to offer updates as more information becomes available. Montoya has more than proved he belongs by Mike Hembree, NASCAR Scene, Special to FOXSports.com Trade Monaco for Darlington? Some people assumed Juan Pablo Montoya had a few screws loose — and not in his race car. There were puzzled expressions all around — except, notably, on the faces of Montoya and car owner Chip Ganassi — when Ganassi announced in the middle of the 2006 season that Montoya would drive for his NASCAR team beginning with the 2007 Sprint Cup schedule. Yes, Ganassi assured everyone, this was the same Juan Pablo Montoya who had blitzed the racing capitals of Europe and other continents as one of Formula One's lightning rods. He won races on some of world's most famous F1 courses and in front of kings and queens and sheiks, and now he was going to race "taxicabs" at such exotic locales as Talladega and Martinsville? Yes, Ganassi said. And, yes, he would do it well. Of course, there were doubters. Open-wheel drivers — even super-studs in the same vein as Montoya — have a weak history in trying to make the transfer to NASCAR and its heavyweight vehicles and marathon races. For most, it's an apples-and-oranges — some would say lemons — difference. It just doesn't work. So what's happened? Take a look at the Sprint Cup standings with only eight events left, and the guy sitting there in the No. 3 position, only 65 points out of the lead in the country's most-watched national motorsports points race, is none other than Bogota's pride and joy, Juan Pablo Montoya. He didn't light up the series when he first stepped onto NASCAR asphalt, but that was not expected. There was a transition to be experienced, and there were growing pains. The people working with and for Montoya had to help him figure out the nuances of "tight and loose," the unusual differences of the turns at Darlington, the best ways to put his engine power to the ground. It was a learning exercise for everybody, for it is not always easy to determine which factor — driver or car — is not up to snuff. He caused a few wrecks. He was yelled at occasionally. He got boos from the stands. He was an interloper. He was from Colombia, South America, not Columbia, S.C. And that's a big difference to many NASCAR fans. Now, though, it is more than appropriate to give Montoya his props. In his third full season in Sprint Cup racing, he has received his official degree in the school of stock-car point racing. He has learned the game so well that, to the astonishment of many, he has a legitimate shot at winning one of auto racing's most important championships, and to say that he has done it against the odds is the understatement of the year. Will he win the championship? The odds — there they are again — say no, and no small reason is the looming presence of Jimmie Johnson, who is a step above Montoya in the standings and who seems to win these things mostly as a matter of course. It seems safe to conclude that if anyone other than Johnson wins the championship, it will be at least a mild upset. In Montoya's case, it would be one of the most spectacular and stunning moments in NASCAR's six decades of running souped-up cars around and around in circles. Not only does he not have the stock-car pedigree that used to be required to win these things, but he also doesn't have the team most would require to succeed on the level he currently is trying to play on. When it comes to Sprint Cup championships, Hendrick Motorsports — home of three-time champ Johnson and four-time title winner Jeff Gordon — is like the big dog guarding the porch. No one else gets through. Ganassi knows this all too well, as he has struggled for almost a decade trying to duplicate his power in IndyCar racing on the NASCAR side of the fence. To the surprise of many, the driver who has carried Ganassi to the doorstep of the top floor is Montoya. If they reach the ultimate trophy room, the firmament of the sport will be shaken. A world once controlled by guys like Richard Petty, Junior Johnson and Dale Earnhardt will be led by a guy with an unusual accent and a wacky, out-of-kilter racing background. It will have been a long, strange trip over a long and winding road. NASCAR, teams consider streamlining licensing business By Michael Smith, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
NASCAR and the sport's top teams are discussing ways to rescue their troubled licensing business by bringing all of the team and driver rights under one banner, marking the first major step toward creating NASCAR Properties.
Those rights currently are splintered from team to team, which means a licensee might visit five teams to acquire five licenses. A centralized agency such as NASCAR Properties would make all of those licenses available from one entity like the other professional leagues do. The groundwork for NASCAR Properties was set Sept. 24 during a day-long meeting at the governing body's new office in Charlotte.
More than 20 teams representing the top 40 or so cars were expected to attend, including high-ranking executives such as Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith, Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs, Hendrick Motorsports general manager Marshall Carlson and Richard Petty Motorsports president Rick Russell, among others. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s licensing chief, Joe Mattes, said he's on board as well, which is critical because Earnhardt traditionally has accounted for about a third of the sport's licensed merchandise sales.
Paul Brooks, NASCAR's senior vice president and a driving force behind the idea, said officials from his office have been meeting with teams individually since the summer, but the summit at NASCAR's office brought all of those executives together for the first time.
"We are exploring the potential benefits of a unified industry approach to licensing," Brooks said. "The ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders has been very positive and collaborative, and that is truly encouraging."
How NASCAR Properties takes shape remains to be seen, but most team representatives want to see it run by a board of team, NASCAR and track executives. A revenue-sharing model will pay teams and drivers based on their sales, so every team's cut will not be equal.
"What we're trying to get to is a model that will make the whole pie bigger," said John Bickford, general manager of Hendrick Gordon Licensing, which represents Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, three of the sport's top sellers. "Jeff Gordon has had a pretty big slice of the pie for a while, but I'd bet he'd take a smaller slice of a bigger pie. And a bigger pie helps everyone."
Several team officials agreed that there's significant momentum behind this movement to aggregate rights, especially with the industry's leading licensee, Motorsports Authentics, believed by many team officials to be on the brink of bankruptcy. MA, which is jointly owned by the sport's top two track owners, International Speedway Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc., produces and distributes the lion's share of hats, T-shirts and die-cast cars that are sold trackside each week.
MA's struggles reflect the declines in NASCAR's licensing industry, which peaked by all accounts in 2002 and has shrunk since. The revenue for the leading licensing giant at that time, Action Performance, was more than $400 million and it employed 500-plus workers.
MA, which was formed by consolidating Action and Team Caliber, had revenue of about $200 million in 2008, and industry sources say its 2009 revenue could be as low as $125 million with fewer than 200 employees.
Those sharp drops have created a sense of urgency among NASCAR and the teams to come up with a new licensing model.
"If MA were to go bankrupt, it would be pretty embarrassing for the NASCAR world," said one high-ranking team executive.
No one from MA was available for comment.
Other leagues, such as the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB, have entities that hold the exclusive trademark and licensing rights for each team, but that model has never been used in NASCAR, where each team is an independent contractor. The teams have always handled their licensing businesses in-house in the past. The question becomes whether all those teams are willing to work together to have "One voice, one vision," said Mattes, the vice president of licensing and marketing at JR Motorsports. "It's important that we get everybody on the same page, and (before this meeting) we're not even in the same library."
While there are few examples of race teams and other entities aggregating their rights under one NASCAR banner, the most prolific was the landmark 2001 TV deal that brought the sport its six-year, $2.4 billion contract. It marked the first time that TV rights were sold as a consolidated package, whereas before each track had sold their TV rights separately.
While it's typically not easy to get all of the teams to agree on anything that pools their rights, the despair of the licensing industry has forced them to consider a new concept. Most team executives say that revenue from licensing ranks third or fourth behind sponsorship, winnings and for those that have them, engine leasing programs. A handful of team executives said that MA has been late on royalty payments this year, further eroding from that revenue line.
With sales down and rights fragmented from team to team, Brooks and his group at NASCAR, including Blake Davidson, managing director of licensed products, brought the concept of NASCAR Properties to the teams over the summer months. NASCAR has been studying its licensing business since 2007, industry sources say, because sales have been off.
"NASCAR is presenting a concept that will position everyone together and carry licensing and merchandising for several years to come," Bickford said. "This is not only something that can help the sport short-term, but also make it better 10 years from now.
"This sport has never been about grouping everyone together, but this is a chance for us to all push the ball uphill collectively."
Michael Smith is a reporter with SportsBusiness Journal. The Voice of Vito Vito Pugliese · Frontstretch.com Overlooking the Obvious: Media Largely Ignoring Compelling Chase Stories, Handing Johnson Title Prematurely Is there be a more fickle sport than NASCAR? One moment you are an up and coming driver, brimming with a burgeoning career, celebrated by fans both young and old. Then either as a victim of your own success or by making contact with someone more popular, you draw the ire of the grandstands, receiving the type of greeting one expects will await Roman Polanski upon his impending return stateside. While the inverse of that can also be true (witness Darrell Waltrip and to some extent, Dale Earnhardt, Sr.), the flavor of the month syndrome seems to have hit home hardest during the 2009 Chase for the Championship. The 10-race playoff format, whose detractors are rivaled only in their number and intense sincerity by those who oppose government-dictated healthcare, have already turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the hoopla of hype circulating throughout NASCAR the past few weeks. Considering how the Chase has been portrayed by many in the media the last few days, it would be for good reason, too. A few weeks ago in Richmond we were inundated with how close the battle was for 12th, how many drivers stood to fall out of the running even late in the going, and after the race was decided, how this was perhaps the greatest Chase field every assembled. While that caused me to raise one of my eyebrows Ace Ventura-style, the past few weeks have been even more confounding. Before I get ahead of myself here, let's take a quick look at how the Chase is shaping up thus far. Two races in and the talk has already eliminated drivers from legitimate title consideration – chief among them Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, and Brian Vickers. Kahne fell victim to his IED – Improvised Exploding Dodge – at New Hampshire, when the crankshaft in his new R6 Dodge Engine (a known question mark) broke, sending his Charger up in a plume of smoke. He rebounded to finish eighth at Dover. With big banked tracks like Kansas, Charlotte, and Fontana coming up on the schedule and a win in Atlanta less than a month back, couldn't he be primed to make a push forward, teething problems with his Dodge engines not withstanding? As the Chase began, we were told how the Roush cars could go on a tear at any moment, and that they remained serious threats once the championship round actually got underway. Even Jack Roush has said himself that the first 26 races were his teams' test session of finding out what hasn't worked. After witnessing Matt Kenseth's fall from grace following his back-to-back wins at Daytona and California, it's hard to argue against that logic. Can either of these two turn things around and ignite the Roush resurgence that the Cat in the Hat alluded to recently? Kenseth in the midst of his woes managed a third-place run at Dover – so all is not completely lost for the Blue Oval brigade. Vickers' Red Bull Racing team made an inspired surge towards becoming a weekly threat to win, and clearly was carrying the momentum needed to do something special come Chase time. Now that we're here, the No. 83 car seems to be a one-trick pony; decent on the big cookie-cutter tracks, but fumbling around at unique locales like Loudon and Dover with finishes of 11th and 18th. In the meat of the championship sandwich are a few teams that have hung on through the first two races, and keeping them within striking distance of the front, should either of the front few stumble. Greg Biffle started off the 2008 Chase with a pair of wins. As Roush rolls, so goes Biffle – not slow, but steady with finishes of ninth and 13th. That may have been good enough the first year of the Chase, but as we have seen in recent years, contending for wins and top 5s isn't a bonus, it's a necessity. Jeff Gordon's Drive for Five may be picking up steam, finishing sixth after a lackluster 15th at New Hampshire, while Ryan Newman's best move may just be staying out of trouble and hanging around in the Top 10, posting seventh- and 10th-place results in roughly the first quarter of competition. Denny Hamlin said after Richmond that his FedEx team assigned a team of engineers to prepare for the first two tracks of the Chase in an effort to get off to a solid start so they didn't have to play catch up as in years past. It may have been an effort best exercised elsewhere, as Hamlin is usually a threat to win on any flat track (and was so again at Loudon), and Dover resulted in a 22nd-place finish – which might as well be his mulligan. Tony Stewart scored three wins during the regular season and has had an eventful first couple of Chase races. An axle cap that worked its way loose had him looking down the barrel of disaster at New Hampshire, only to charge his way back to 14th, while the Burger Buddies helped salvage a ninth-place effort at Dover after he and Bobby Labonte inadvertently triggered Joey Logano's tumble fest, a bizarre crash that was a Twilight Zone-esque reunion of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers past and present. Kurt Busch, the inaugural Chase champion in 2004, is in an odd place, driving a car he intends to pilot indefinitely, while his crew chief Pat Tryson is given only cursory access to Penske Racing in the midst of a title they stand a legitimate shot at winning. A sixth and a fifth along with 132 laps lead in two races is proof-positive that this team is for real, yet internal Penske politics stand to potentially divide the team. The first time something goes awry, it won't be hard to pinpoint from where the problem arose. That being said, Penske horsepower is never found to be wanting on the big tracks, and when they have campaigned the new Dodge engine, the Mopar monster has held together and performed quite well. This is perhaps one of the most compelling stories in the Chase, yet it has gone virtually unnoticed, mentioned only in passing. Which brings us to the three leading the standings: Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, and Juan Pablo Montoya have been the main focus during the Chase and well they should. As soon as the Chase (actually the season, as most of the prognosticators picked Jimmie Johnson as the odds-on favorite to win the 2009 Sprint Cup for a record setting fourth consecutive time — and why wouldn't they?) Johnson was fingered as the man to beat. The team that can do no wrong, has Chase racing down to a science, and if not for a mechanical malady or a wreck not of their doing, who could possibly stop them? While Johnson and the No. 48 team winning at Dover is not exactly surprising, what is is the "oh it's over…" attitude that has been expressed by many in the media – though not by Johnson or the Lowe's team. Mark Martin was chosen by many who are die-hard loyalists or were covering the sport back when he was driving for an upstart organization who built cars in North Carolina but engines in Michigan (and were sponsored by perhaps the most God-awful swill ever to be brewed in Detroit). At least the can and car were a lovely shade of dark blue. While the "sentimental favorite" tag is bit patronizing, Martin has made mincemeat of the field at times this year, and has proven the No. 5 team headed by Alan Gustafson is every bit the equal as the No. 48 of Chad Knaus. Juan Pablo Montoya had been a curious story all year. The No. 42 never showed much speed except at Indianapolis and Pocono, yet ran smooth and steady all season, not getting into accidents or experiencing a Montoya Meltdown as in previous campaigns. Some may have thought those were fluke races at tracks with similar qualities, but it turned out to be a harbinger of things to come. Martin's cryptic comments following Richmond should have served as fair warning: the reports of Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing's demise were greatly exaggerated, and Juan Pablo Montoya is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Which brings me to this. With as many great stories and angles as there are to cover for a much maligned format that has such a sizeable cross-section of critics and non-believers, what has nearly every story or headline announced since Monday? This: "Jimmie Johnson will inevitably win his fourth title because he led a bunch of laps and won on Sunday." How silly is that? Silly enough that many drivers were giving more than a tip of the cap to the tire test that Johnson participated in a month earlier. While there is some debate as to how much that test helped (Johnson had four wins at Dover previously), it certainly did not hurt. The only one who even caught a glimpse of his bumper cover was his teammate Martin – who has four wins at Dover – as well as six second-place finishes. Lost on many was the fact that Martin is still the points leader, and is currently averaging a 1.5-place finish thus far in the Chase. What was supposed to be the greatest Chase field ever assembled has been whittled down to one – or two at the most, if you were to believe some accounts. While fielding a question in the press room at New Hampshire, Martin seemed a bit peeved at one reporter who's question was essentially insinuating that it was obvious that Johnson is the odds on favorite to win his fourth consecutive title based on his performance at Dover. His closing comment seemed to sum things up rather succinctly: "You just don't have any concept, I guess, of how much racing eight races is." So while you could advertise the next eight races as "Batesville vs. Bogotá," "Baja Desert Rat Battles Ozark Mountain Man," or "SoCal & South America," the 2009 Chase has a lot to talk about. Each driver has a great story and is still mathematically eligible for the Cup title, all showing signs of life in recent weeks. With Talladega not rearing its head until the end of the Chase in November, the big wildcard will preclude even more drivers from being eliminated from championship consideration early on, as they would have in prior seasons. The 20-car pileup will have to wait another day in '09. Now only if those responsible for covering it would come to this same conclusion, the set up for what will likely go down to the final race between more than two drivers would a bit more climatic that its being made out to be. After all, wasn't that the whole point of the Chase to begin with? New Testing Policy Doesn't Add Up Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com I'm not sure who's in charge of accounting at NASCAR, but they might want to change the batteries in their calculator. I'm not sure it's calculating. NASCAR, which at the end of last season curtailed (but not entirely eliminated) testing as a cost-cutting measure, has announced that it will be permitted next year on an array of certain tracks. Specifically, teams can do unlimited testing on any NASCAR-sanctioned track that doesn't host a NASCAR national touring series race. In other words, teams can spend all the dough they want at certain tracks, but not a cent on others. Am I missing something here? Teams aren't allowed to spend a dollar testing at Daytona but they can spend a million testing at Greenville-Pickens. I don't get it. A dollar spent is a dollar spent, regardless of WHERE it's spent. Where's the savings? From the outset, I thought a test ban – if enforced – was a good move. It might help level the playing field a bit between the haves and have-nots of the sport. Has restricting testing hurt the racing or dampened the competition? Not that I can tell. The same teams that used to dominate continue to dominate. They're simply dominating at (theoretically) less cost. Let's be honest: unlimited testing isn't necessary. Race teams are like football coaches when it comes to practice – they'd do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week if they could. Instead of giving rich teams virtual carte blanch to test all they want, NASCAR would be better served to allow each team a certain amount of test dates as used to be the case. Set the number of test sessions a car could have – on any and all tracks — and enforce it. If some fat-cat team gets caught cheating with extra tests, nail it to the wall. Park it for one race. That'll deter future cheating. Of course the mega-teams will still have a huge advantage because if they have, say, four cars, they can share the information and data from each of the four car's test sessions. But that's still better than simply throwing the barn door open and in effect declaring open season on testing. It's not as though the mega-teams don't enjoy an insurmountable advantage already; the new testing policy will add to their edge while greatly increasing expenses for the have-nots. Apparently NASCAR decided that the sport's strugglers and stragglers aren't going broke fast enough. Did You Notice? Thomas Bowles · Frontstretch.com The Death Of NASCAR's Killer Instinct, Sauter's Surprising Resilience, And Who's Desperate Already? Did You Notice?… Joey Logano's state of mind after that horrifying wreck heading into Turn 3 at Dover? If you check out the "interview," what you'll see is the equivalent of a 19-year-old scared out of his wits. In case you missed it, here's some highlights of what was said once he had a chance to stand back on solid ground for a minute… "It just really scared the heck out of me. I'm not sure I want to see a replay. It started rolling and I was in there like, 'Damn, please make this thing stop.' And it wouldn't. It just kept going and going. It just startled me." "It was the wildest ride I've ever been on. You can't go on a roller coaster any worse than that. When I was on my side, that's when I was getting worried for a minute, but it came back down. Thank God the good Lord was with me on that one." Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with how Logano reacted after that incident. 99% of the population would feel the same way, and in fact a good many people wouldn't be able to even speak, much less form sentences in front of a camera with millions of people watching. It's by far the first major wreck the teenager's been involved in throughout his racing career, a wake-up call to the dangers within his chosen profession he hadn't seen firsthand – so no wonder he's frightened. But with all that said … my mind wandered a bit while watching in the media center. I thought of the Daytona 500 in 1997, when Dale Earnhardt flipped his car over and back again, yet was so determined to finish the race he got back in and drove the second he realized the car would start. I thought of Jimmy Horton flying over the wall at Talladega in 1993, emerging just a few minutes later as if it was no big deal his mangled car wound up a pile of scrap metal in a parking lot just outside the track. And I think of the soaring popularity of the X Games, where BMX riders, skateboarders, and rally racers go through death defying crashes only to jump up, say "That was awesome" in so many words, and then go out and prepare to do it all over again. When I compare that to the innocence of Logano, a teenager scared of the danger instead of welcoming it with open arms … it makes you understand the difference between this generation of racer and the last. Since Dale Earnhardt's death, risk aversion has been the goal for drivers, eerily uncomfortable at times with the natural consequences of pushing a car to its ragged edge. In the "points racing" era, they aren't always doing what it takes to win … they're doing what it takes to finish, and there's a difference. Banzai moves of the kind Carl Edwards made in Kansas last September are too often replaced with the "hold back and play it safe" attitude of not putting yourself in a bad position on the race track so a wreck won't ruin your day. I feel guilty for bringing it up because I try and write from other peoples' shoes and if I were Joey Logano and I flipped seven-and-a-half times, then my God, I'd be petrified. But at the same time, I'm not a professional race car driver for a reason. And there's no question some of the best race car drivers in our sport's history didn't cower from the danger – they reveled in it. In fact, it's fair to say a few had that "killer instinct" that left them immune to anything but trying to win a race, period. Dale Earnhardt alone with the blue-collar version of the X Games on steroids … he wasn't going to cower away from anything. In the current generation of drivers, I see that type of instinct in Brad Keselowski. And … that's about it. Instead, the Logano mentality wins out … and as horrible as it is to say, I wonder if that's not what fans want to see even though they won't consciously admit it. It's a tough call, but on a weekend where popularity continues to be dropping, that interview just stood out to me as to how much the personality of racers have changed in this series. For the better or for the worse, I don't know; but it's just different. Did You Notice? … The third time might be the charm for Johnny Sauter? This guy has had not one but two chances at Sprint Cup, failing to last beyond one full season each time. Back in 2004, he was simply too immature to handle a full-time Cup ride at Richard Childress Racing, forcing a two-year stint back in the Busch Series where he did things the right way and started readying himself for another chance. Once he got it, though, sponsorship and ownership changes in '07 left him on the outside looking in after an admirable first year with Haas CNC. That left Sauter in a less-than-admirable position where he had to rebuild his career yet again in a sport that isn't even keen on second chances. The low point came shortly thereafter, where a brief partnership with James Finch in the Nationwide Series lasted only the first five races of '08. With both sides mutually agreeing to split, a lack of full-time rides available left Sauter in the awkward position of starting and parking in a half-dozen starts late in the year. Yet somehow, Thorsport Racing saw the talent that lay buried underneath, signing him to a full-season deal that qualified him for the Rookie battle in this year's Truck Series. Looking back, all you can say is what a steal: five recent top 5 finishes got capped off with a dominating win in the Las Vegas race on Saturday night. Teammate Matt Crafton is also benefitting from the recent success, enjoying the bonus of a teammate finally running just as well as the No. 88. It's one of the underreported yet wonderful stories of the season; for now, at 31, Sauter might even have one more shot at the big time in another year or two. With brothers Jay and Tim forced out of the business due to a lack of sponsorship money, he's the only one in the famous racing bloodline with a chance at something father Jim never achieved despite 76 career starts: a Cup Series win. Did You Notice? … So many things in NASCAR are being blamed on the bad economy? It's true that the last time the field was filled with start and parkers in 2004, the series eventually recovered and bounced back with the addition of Toyota and several other top-tier organizations in 2007. Here's where I feel the problem comes in this time, though. Check out final results from Dover, including the number of car owners and teams with at least three cars, five years ago compared to now: 2004 — Penske, Roush, Hendrick, Yates, Evernham, Ganassi, Gibbs, DEI, Wood Brothers, Petty Enterprises, Childress, Bill Davis, BAM, MMM, Joe Auer, Cal Wells, MB2, Shepherd, Haas, Mach 1, Shelmerdine, Phoenix Racing, Arnold. Total: 23 owners. 2009 — Penske, Roush Fenway / Yates / HoF, Hendrick / Stewart-Haas, Earnhardt Ganassi, RPM, Michael Waltrip Racing / JTG, Childress, Gibbs, Team Red Bull, Front Row Motorsports, Furniture Row, Robby Gordon, PRISM, TBR, TRG, Phoenix Racing, NEMCO. Total: 17. As you can see, the owners doing stuff at least partially on their own shrank by about 25%. That's a pretty extreme consolidation of power, and with seven teams now possessing three cars or more, trying to jump in and compete against all that is a tall order at best. It's clear new owners will need manufacturer-type money to play the game, but I'm told our next Toyota is at least two years away. In the meantime, some of the smaller teams will spend the next two months trying desperately to not go broke. Not exactly what we expected at the beginning of this season, was it? Did You Notice? … The Chase teams behind the eight ball heading to Kansas? Here's a quick rundown of where everyone stands, and then I'm out: Cruise Control — Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin. Guaranteed top 5 finishers unless lightning comes down from the sky to strike them. Overconfident — Juan Pablo Montoya. No wonder why I smell a 20th place while wrecking a Chaser in his future?… Emotional Roller-Coaster — Denny Hamlin. Just the wrong place at the wrong time to have a sports psychological breakdown last week. Desperation Mode — Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon. These two guys have their specialty, intermediate tracks, staring dead ahead as they try and become unlikely title contenders. But with both in a deep early hole, anything less than a top 3 is unacceptable. As for Gordon, he knows how on point his two Hendrick teammates will be during the playoffs. At over 100 points outside the championship, he can't afford to drop any further behind. Don't Panic Yet … But A DNF Would Kill Us — Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman. Perfect timing for that faulty Hendrick equipment to show up! Title? What Title? Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch. This trio has too many distractions going on for even you to pay attention to them. No Worries Yet For Stewart Tom Jensen/speedtv.com Tony Stewart isn't panicking about points, despite not being where he'd like to be at the moment — out front, instead of back in fifth place.
Stewart, who led the points for the second half of NASCAR's regular season, opened the Chase for the Sprint Cup with finishes of 14th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and ninth at Dover International Speedway.
That's left him 106 points behind Mark Martin heading into Sunday's Price Chopper 400 at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. How big a margin is 106 points? If Stewart wins and leads the most laps at Kansas on Sunday, Martin would still have the points lead as long as he finished at least 24th.
But as Stewart points out, only two of the 10 Chase races have been run so far and there's a lot of racing still left to do.
Asked if there's a time when a driver has to start playing catch-up in the points, Stewart launched into one of his favorite monologues.
"Yeah, the season finale at Homestead," he said. "You can ask me that question after we run Sunday and the answer may be totally different. It's strictly a week-to-week deal. None of us can predict this. If we could, we'd be bookies in Las Vegas making millions of dollars betting on these races instead of driving in them. And it's a heck of a lot safer sitting in a chair in that dark room letting cocktail waitresses bring you drinks. I don't have the answers. Nobody has the answers. All we can do is speculate on what's going to happen until each week actually happens. … If any of us can predict the top-10 positions in Sunday's race, you're a genius, let alone figuring out how the next eight weeks are going to be."
While Stewart could be frustrated by the fact that his huge regular season points lead is a thing of the past, the fact that in its first season Stewart-Haas Racing has gotten both of its team cars into the Chase is a huge accomplishment. So Stewart will take whatever he and fellow team driver Ryan Newman can get from now until the rest of the season.
Already, with three points race victories and a triumph in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, plus two cars in the Chase, it's been a great season for Stewart-Haas.
"We didn't really set expectations," Stewart said of the team he co-owns and drives for. "We literally said that we were going to go one week at a time and evaluate what happened on Sunday when we sat down on Monday. Try to figure out what we did right, what we did wrong and what we could do to make it better and see where it took us at the end of the year. I'm happy. The whole organization is ecstatic to have both of these cars in the Chase. That in itself has made it a good year, so far."
As for the rest of the season, Stewart said he intends to go after his third championship the way he always has.
"My approach to the Chase is the same way it's been any other time I've been in a point race — you go out there, you lead laps, you try to win races and the points take care of itself," he said. "I know that sounds like a simple formula, but the reason we got to this point is by following that theory. Every week we go out and we try to lead laps and we try to win races. That's what got us here. There's no reason to change that. Now is not the time to reinvent the wheel."
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel Hornaday, Martin making boomers proud Ed Hinton/espn.com The thing about us baby boomers is that for decades we were deemed too young, and now we're considered too old, and we have never accepted either. We won't quit, go away or even sit down. Hell, even our Beatles music is back. Two of us are leading the points, gunning for championships, in two of NASCAR's three major series -- Mark Martin in Cup and Ron Hornaday Jr. in Trucks. Fifty-somethings are nothing new in NASCAR: Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, David Pearson and Dale Jarrett all raced until they were 52. But Martin at 50 and Hornaday at 51 aren't just hanging around at the end like those guys did. They're winning. They're the standards for their divisions. And who knows when they're going to quit? Regarding Martin, "I think he's gonna be raisin' hell for a number of years," says Bob Parsons, the colorful founder and CEO of GoDaddy.com (and himself a boomer, Vietnam vet, 1st Marine Division), which just signed to sponsor Martin for two more seasons. Here you have an edgy Internet company, the world's largest registrar of domain names, with a 59-year-old CEO signing a 50-year-old driver through age 52. "He's in damn good equipment, and it would be hard to hang your hat up, winning races [a series-high five this season] and performing at the level he is," Greg Biffle says of Martin. "So I certainly wouldn't be a betting man on when he's going to hang his helmet up." As for Hornaday, "I'm going to ride it as far as I can," he says. "Like Delana [Harvick, his truck owner] says, I got a job forever, so I'm having fun doing it." This, in an era that for a while surely seemed to be a torrential youth movement. "When I started racing, you had to be 35 to be in your prime, and now you have to be 18," says Hornaday. "It was kind of a big deal for a 22-year-old to be getting a pole in 1981," Martin recalls. "Now it's not such a big deal at all." See what I mean? First too young, now too old -- the boomer story, right down to the individuals. We never have been the right age for a sport or a society, so we've learned not to let age bother us. Of Martin, "I think he's the most dangerous guy [in the Chase]," said Juan Pablo Montoya, after not only being beaten but thoroughly frustrated by Martin in their last-laps shootout on Sunday. "He's the guy with the most experience here. He hasn't won a championship, and he wants one pretty bad." Plodding through the obligatory nod to Jimmie Johnson, seeking to four-peat, as the man to beat in this Chase, Montoya said, "I mean, I know the 48 is going to be there every week and everything, same as always, but if somebody wants it really bad, it's that 5 guy." It's still valid to dwell on the fact that Martin hasn't won a championship after four times finishing second in the points and a total of nine times in the hunt, but it's no longer valid to dwell on this maybe being his last shot. He'll have at least two more, with the backing of Go Daddy. Registering or reregistering a domain somewhere on the planet every second of every hour of every day, GoDaddy.com fits right into author Tom Friedman's "The World is Flat" description of the global socioeconomic revolution of communication and connectivity that is moving so fast that -- well -- even Friedman's book, even updated the past couple of years, is out of date. "We span all demographics," says Parsons, who doesn't put too much stock in average age. "Our average customer, if there is an average customer, is a male in his mid-30s. But my dad used to tell me, '[Average] doesn't tell the story.' He used to say, 'You take a man and put one foot on a hot stove and the other on a block of ice, and on average, he's comfortable.'" Besides, Go Daddy's younger customers seem to take to Martin, too. "The fact that he's a 51-year-old guy [here Parsons is clearly looking ahead to next year], competing and making it in what really is a young man's sport, they kind of like that," Parsons says. So the young don't consider us boomers stodgy -- it's a bit like my son, 21, tells his friends: "My dad pisses me off sometimes, but my dad is cool." It's good we get along with the young, because we are America's most powerful generation. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are more than 78 million of us baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, and that there'll still be nearly 60 million of us around in 2030. Plus, we're far and away the richest generation ever. I'm often amused that the big advertising agencies haven't kept up with the times, still demanding delivery of audiences 18-34 when we boomers are the ones with all the money. Agencies claim the 18-34 group hasn't formed its buying habits and loyalties yet, but our buying habits and loyalties change all the time -- we don't sit still in our iconoclasm. Martin and Hornaday personify the trait that may be the boomers' strongest suit: We're the most adaptable generation. "Before engineers, before technology had infiltrated NASCAR, the driver was the data acquisition," says Martin, "and he was very important, and he could not do that when he was 22. He had to have many years under his belt." When Martin was young, drivers such as Bobby Allison not only told the crewmen how the cars felt, but exactly what to do to correct the situation -- put in a softer left-front spring, or whatever. But that era is long gone. The more mechanically ignorant drivers are, the better. They're supposed to sit down, shut up and do what the engineers tell them. "Fifteen years ago, I probably would have said, 'Put this spring, this spring and this spring in to go to New Hampshire,'" Martin says. "[Now] I don't find out until I get to the trailer what's in the car for here. And if I don't happen to find out [at all], that's not a big issue either." He has adapted, and it has served him extremely well: Indeed, he credited crew chief Alan Gustafson almost totally for the New Hampshire win, on a track Martin has long considered one of his worst. Like a youngster, he has learned to sit down, shut up and listen to the engineers. Many of his peers couldn't adjust, and that's why Martin is still around at 50 and his old friends are either gone or running in the back. His boomer followers have adapted with him. I get as much or more e-mail from boomers -- you can tell when they begin by saying they've been fans since the 1960s, '70s or '80s -- as from 20- and 30-somethings. Boomers are savvy on the Internet, and have followed us boomer journalists in our transitions from print media into Web sites and television. (The names of some of my strongest detractors or supporters, I often recognize from back in the Sports Illustrated and Tribune Co. newspaper chain years, so they've clearly made the transition to the Internet.) For a century Americans quoted Mark Twain: "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." But it took the generation of Mark Martin and Ron Hornaday to come along and actually live by that. Something has to change for Dale Earnhardt Jr. By Kenny Bruce/scenedaily.com Forget the multi-million dollar endorsements. Forget the fact that he's been voted the sport's most popular driver for six consecutive years. What matters most is success on the race track, and these days success has been little more than a memory for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nearly two full years into his stay at Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt Jr. has yet to show even a glimmer of the promise that followed him from the familiar, family-owned surroundings at Dale Earnhardt Inc. A one-win season and last place finish in the 2008 Chase For The Sprint Cup was considered an aberration by the Junior Nation, but facts are facts. The 2009 season has unfortunately, been even worse. Hendrick teams are always contending, and often winning, NASCAR championships – four of the last eight have gone to Hendrick drivers and eight of the last 14. This year, while teammates Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin were busy laying the groundwork necessary for making the Chase, Earnhardt Jr. has swapped crew chiefs, failed to finish races, and is practically guaranteed his worst career finish in the point standings since moving up to NASCAR's Cup series in 2000. The Chase rolls on, today's stop at Dover International Speedway is stop No. 2 in the 2009 battle for the Cup, but Earnhardt Jr. isn't invited. For a driver who has 18 career victories and the world seemingly by the tail, that ought to be infuriating. Today's race marks an anniversary of sorts – it was at Dover earlier this year that Lance McGrew made his debut as Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, replacing cousin and long-time crew chief Tony Eury Jr. But the move has proven to be no quick fix – Earnhardt Jr. is two spots further down in the point standings, has led laps in only one race, and has managed only a pair of top-10 finishes since the switch. It's been 48 races since Earnhardt Jr.'s most recent win, the 2008 LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway. During that time, 16 other drivers have won races. Johnson has won nine times. Kyle Busch, the driver Earnhardt Jr. replaced at Hendrick, has won eight. David Reutimann, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski have made their way into the winners' circle for the first time. In the meantime, Earnhardt Jr. has simply struggled. It isn't uncommon for a successful driver to go through a dry spell. Jeff Burton went 176 races between wins from 2001 to 2006; Martin was winless for 74 races between the 2000 and 2002 seasons. Even Earnhardt Jr. has been down this path before. His Michigan win last year ended a 77-race stretch of futility. However, neither Hendrick or Earnhardt Jr. likely could have imagined success would have been so elusive. The equipment is top-shelf and the talent is proven. But for whatever reason, that hasn't translated into success on the race track. Earnhardt Jr. made the move to Hendrick because he felt the organization provided him with his best opportunity to win races and contend for championships. Either that has been the case, and Earnhardt Jr. hasn't held up his end of the bargain, or the No. 88 team simply isn't getting the job done. That doesn't mean Earnhardt Jr. isn't a talented racer, or that McGrew isn't a talented crew chief, or that the rest of the team is less than capable. It simply means the current combination isn't producing the results that were expected. Talented drivers find ways to win races. Talented teams produce cars capable of running up front. Combine the two and the result shouldn't be a team that's outside the top 20 in points, however. The top 10 maybe, given the occasional setback. But the top 20? And that's what it boils down to – heading into today's race, Earnhardt Jr.'s team is not one of the 20 best in the sport. That sobering thought ought to be enough to keep everyone involved with the organization up at night. Whatever the reason for the struggles of Earnhardt Jr. and his team, it's obvious that something needs to change. Otherwise, success won't be just a memory. Earnhardt Jr. might just be one, too. Top Ten… Jeff Meyer · Fronstretch.com Things Going Through Joey Logano's Mind As He Crashed Spectacularly 10. How could Tony treat his old car like that!? 9. I see Reed. I see Robby. I see … sky 8. OH SH………!!! 7. Please remain seated with your arms and legs inside the vehicle until it comes to a complete stop. 6. OK, that's enough! We can stop now! 5. Please make it stop! Mommy! 4. There goes another racecar. Coach Gibbs is gonna be pissed! 3. OK, I read the book, picked a crew and an owner … So this is why the guy said "you'll need one of these at least" when he sold me the car. 2. Hey y'all, watch this! 1. Well, this is one driver's suit I don't think they'll auction off for charity! NASCAR ON TV THIS WEEK | NSCS Practice | Fri, Oct 02 | 01:00 pm | SPEED | | NNS Practice | Fri, Oct 02 | 03:00 pm | SPEED | | NSCS Coors Light Pole Qualifying | Fri, Oct 02 | 04:30 pm | ESPN2 | | NNS Final Practice | Fri, Oct 02 | 06:00 pm | ESPN2 | | NNS Coors Light Pole Qualifying | Sat, Oct 03 | 10:00 am | SPEED | | NSCS Practice | Sat, Oct 03 | 12:30 pm | SPEED | | NNS: Kansas Lottery 300 | Sat, Oct 03 | 03:30 pm | ESPN2 | | NSCS Final Practice | Sat, Oct 03 | 06:30 pm | ESPN2 | | NSCS Countdown | Sun, Oct 04 | 01:00 pm | ABC | | NSCS: Price Chopper 400 presented by Kraft Foods | Sun, Oct 04 | 02:00 pm | ABC | All times Eastern
Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain,
Your Nascar Momma Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." -Dale Earnhardt - 1998 | 
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