Happy Thursday! Today In Nascar History Oct. 1, 2006: Dale Jarrett finishes fourth in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway for his only top-five finish of the season and the 163rd and final top-five of his 24 seasons of Cup racing. Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion, retires in 2008 with 32 victories and 260 top-10s in 668 Cup starts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 Quote of the Day Nothing is Hollywood or flowered up for anybody. That's it. That's the truth. -- Rick Hendrick Vote for your driver! www.chexmostpopulardriver.com/ Bits and Pieces GM to shutter Saturn after Penske cancels deal Greg Engle/nascarexaminer.com General Motors has decided to close its Saturn division after the Penske Automotive Group (PAG), owned by NASCAR team owner Roger Penske, decided not to move forward with plans to acquire the struggling brand. It a press release issued late Wednesday PAG said that negotiations with another unnamed manufacturer to build the cars had fallen through despite the fact that an agreement was in place. "That agreement was rejected by that manufacturer's board of directors. Without that agreement, the company has determined that the risks and uncertainties related to the availability of future products prohibit the company from moving forward with this transaction," the statement read. In turn General Motors announced that they would now be forced to close the division. "As a result of PAG's decision, we will be winding down the Saturn brand and dealership network," said GM President & CEO Fritz Henderson in a statement. "In accordance with the wind-down agreements that Saturn dealers recently signed with GM. Pursuant to the terms of those agreements, the wind down process will be determined and communicated shortly." The talks started in June this year after GM had gone into bankruptcy. The original deal had called for GM to continue making Saturn's until 2011 when Penske would take over the division using a third party manufacturer to produce the moderately priced cars. "Today's disappointing news comes at a time when we'd hoped for a successful launch of the Saturn brand into a new chapter," Henderson added. "We will be working closely with our dealers to ensure Saturn customers are cared for as we transition them to other GM dealers in the months ahead." Penske owns the No. 12 and No. 2 Dodge teams in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series along with a team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and runs a driver development program. He also owns several teams in the Indy Racing league. Petty says merger negotiations still ongoing: Richard Petty Motorsports co-owner Richard Petty says that negotiations on the team's proposed merger with Yates Racing are continuing, and he still expects the deal to be completed. RPM and Yates officials announced Sept. 10 that they planned to merge. At the time, Petty said he thought the deal would close within a few weeks. "It's still in negotiations, and so far they ain't signed nothing," Petty said Wednesday following a news conference to promote the upcoming races at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I feel like if it went this far, we are going to go forward with it."(SceneDaily) Harvick to sport different colors at Kansas: Reese's, a major associate sponsor of RCR's #29 Chevy that Kevin Harvick drives, kicks into high gear this weekend in Kansas as Harvick and the #29 team transform their bright yellow-and-red Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet into a bright orange Reese's racing machine for the Price Chopper 400. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are peanut butter-filled chocolate cups. They were created in 1928 by H.B. Reese, a former dairy farmer and foreman for Milton S. Hershey. The H.B. Reese Candy Co., established in the basement of Reese's house in Hershey, Pa., went on to merge with The Hershey Company in 1963 due to the popularity of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Today, Reese's has become the No. 1 selling candy bar in the United States and the Reese's brand is the most successful brand owned by The Hershey Company. (RCR) New NASCAR themed show: coming to the History Channel is "Madhouse." Previously announced as in development, the reality series revolves around rivalries at a North Carolina NASCAR track, where local families race to continue a 61-year feuding tradition. The show is produced by Triage Entertainment, with Stephen Kroopnick, Stu Schreiberg, Jym Buss, Grant Kahler, Aengus James, Tim Tracy, David McKillop and Carl Lindahl executive producing; 13 episodes have been ordered, and a first-quarter premiere is planned.(Hollywood Reporter) Gillett, RPM partnering with Saudi Prince UPDATE2 Petty comments: 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) UPDATE2: Richard Petty Motorsports co-owner Richard Petty said he didn't know much about the business relationship formed between RPM majority owner George Gillett and Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdullah Al Saud to explore commercial opportunities with Gillett and his soccer and motorsports properties. "That's one of George's deals," Petty said. "You'll have to talk him on that. That's purely his deal. He'd been meeting with these guys for a pretty good while about his [English] football team."(SceneDaily) Labonte back in the #71 at Kansas: Bobby Labonte will run a brand new #71 TRG Motorsports Chevy at this weekend's Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. Team principal Kevin Buckler received a shiny new Chevrolet Impala SS that the TRG Motorsports team will run this weekend. This will be the first time that crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe will have an all updated car to race this season. "Kevin and the partners really stepped up," Labbe said. "Most of our cars are at least one year old. We've seen this season that the guys who run up front keep developing their cars. We just can't afford to keep up with that as a new team on a race-to-race budget. It will be fun to see what we can put under Bobby for this weekend with a brand new piece." The team will have support from Club Motorsports, Adobe Road Winery, RaceHost.com as well as TaxSlayer.com for this weekend's race. (TRG Motorsports) Speeds first Cup race at Kansas: #82-Scott Speed has driven a Sprint Cup car at all tracks on the schedule except one Kansas Speedway. And he hopes to cross Kansas off his to-race list this weekend. "If everything's right with the car," he said, "it'll be all good. Or, it won't be. But I don't expect it's going to be too much harder to learn. It's another mile-and-a-half track. It's certainly going to be a track that's easier to learn than, say, Darlington, which is extremely difficult." But Speed's no stranger to the 1.5-mile track that joined the NASCAR circuit eight years ago. On a Saturday afternoon in April 2008, Speed pulled double duty there, competing in the ARCA RE/MAX and Camping World Truck series. He started second and went on to win his first of four ARCA races that season. Hours later, he started and finished eighth in the truck race. All totaled, he drove 267 laps that day, which just so happens to be the same distance as Sunday's Price Chopper 400. "You're certainly going to have to learn the lines and learn about where to run. I guess it's kind of like a Chicago track with less banking," Speed said. "I won an ARCA race there, but still, if you ask me to think about where I was running or what the track looked like that early on in my career I couldn't tell you. I'm going to have to learn where to run and what groove is going to work the best for our stuff." In Sunday's race at Dover, Speed slipped and slid around the concrete track most of the afternoon. No series of adjustments could cure the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota's loose condition, and Speed ended up 25th at the checkered flag. "We were really great for about 10 laps every single run, but we couldn't keep any speed in the car. We kept slowing down," Speed said. "We went a lap down and once you're a lap down at a place like that it seems like you go a lot of laps down right away." The #82 ranks 36th in the car owner standings 124 points out of the top 35 with eight races remaining.(TBR) Over $125k donated to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation: Over 2,500 supporters of the fire fighting community; $98,000 raised through the support of individuals, sponsors and merchandise sales this September; A total of $125,900.12 donated to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) over the course of two September races that the organization has held an annual event at Dover International Speedway. 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 im 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) Matt McLaughlin Mouth's Off Matt McLaughlin · Frontstretch.com Curiouser and Curiouser -- The Story Of RPM And Yates The press announcement initially seemed pretty cut and dry, if a bit surprising. Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates Racing intended to merge for the 2010 Cup season, and both teams would be running Fords. Well, all right then. How about that? Pretty quickly, it became apparent there everything was not so cut and dry. While Richard Petty himself (and he is a figurehead for a team actually owned by moneyman George Gillett, who acquired the smoking wreckage of Petty Enterprises last year) seemed pretty confident everything would be worked out in a "couple weeks," others were caught completely off guard by the announcement. Among them were the teams' drivers, crew chiefs, chief engine builders, and the guys on the crew. Nobody could say which drivers were staying, which cars they'd be driving, who the sponsors would be, and which team employees were staying and which were going. That's a pretty sorry state of affairs. It got even uglier when a team principal, Mark McArdle, demanded answers and got fired on the spot. So it quickly became apparent that this wasn't a merger of equals. The entity known as RPM Motorsports, again pushing Richard Petty out of the back of their transporter to talk to the press since the rest of them were clueless, is gobbling up Yates Racing. On a practical basis, that makes sense. Doug Yates, both by his own skills as an engine builder and with his strategic alliance with the powerhouse Ford team of Roush Fenway Racing, would be providing power and advice on chassis and aerodynamic issues as RPM transitioned from Dodge to the Blue Oval. So where are those chassis going to be coming from? Is Roush going to build them the way Rick Hendrick builds cars for Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman? Will RPM continue to build their own chassis in house? Will former Yates teammates keep building the chassis? Will they all gather together after ARCA races and piece the best bits left after big wrecks into their new cars? Heck, maybe I'm supposed to build them in my two car garage over the winter. I guess I ought to go get a few rolls of MIG wire. All three of RPM's drivers have their contracts expire at the end of 2010 and, given the level of uncertainty surrounding this organization and its plans for next year, I'd be worried. For Elliott Sadler, it's only been a year since a legal battle kept him in his seat when the team decided to release him. If I were Kasey Kahne, who remains a somewhat hot commodity having made the Chase, I'd be wondering who was running this hot dog stand and seriously considering heading out for tacos. Paul Menard, the sole Yates driver likely to be offered a ride, apparently isn't happy with the uncertainty and he's looking around. Menard is unique in that his dad writes the sponsorship checks that follow him, so he's a valuable commodity even if he can't quite seem to get the hang of this racing deal at the Cup level. The uncertainty doesn't only extend to the drivers. Current sponsors and potential sponsors surely would like a little more clarity. No matter how well-funded the teams might be, they could always use more backers. But without a driver lineup, any idea who is doing what and when, if former champion Bobby Labonte is coming back to a Yates/RPM car for 2010, and a ton of other unanswered questions, they're not exactly whipping out their checkbooks right now. "See, here's our business prospective. We're pretty sure we'll be running Fords, all of them with great big numbers painted on the side, driven by a group of drivers to be named at a later date. All aboard!" The one guy who ought to have all the answers is George Gillett who, by and large, bought the team Ray Evernham started to spearhead Dodge's return to the Cup series back before Chrysler was merged with Fiat. Gillett went on to acquire Petty Engineering. Now he's apparently buying out Doug Yates, but he's not talking much about it. In fact, I don't think I'd know the man if he ran into the back of me at a stoplight and cost his insurance company a huge settlement. He apparently just sold some hockey team for beaucoup bucks. Sorry, but I'll leave hockey to those fans who can endure the sheer idiocy of the game. What concerns me is Gillett is apparently a successful businessman, so why is he letting all this uncertainty and intrigue surround his team. As a successful businessman, surely he knows the unknown and rumor can ruin any enterprise, right? Or maybe he doesn't. Gillett strikes me as another guy in the business of racing, not the racing business. It's a subtle but important difference. Guys in the racing business know it's important to be seen and heard in the garage area so everyone, especially your employees, know what's going on. Other successful men in business have come and gone in NASCAR despite some success in other forms of racing. Remember Cal Wells and Tim Beverly? Chip Ganassi, winner of several open wheel crowns, got lucky in that he teamed up with Felix Sabates while Sterling Marlin still had a few good years left in him…and even that hasn't paid off with a Cup title yet. I guess what bothers me is this "merger" involves two of the once most successful organizations in NASCAR. Petty Engineering combined to win 10 titles (three with Lee and seven with Richard) and 268 races. They've been a part of the sport since the first race. They've competed in over a quarter million miles of stock car racing and, even with the glory days long since gone in the rear-view mirror, the organization averaged a 15th place finish in 2817 starts. The team Robert Yates bought from Harry Ranier has seemed star-crossed. Despite 56 wins and the 1999 title, they've been through some rough times. Davey Allison lost the 1992 title in the final race of the season, then lost his life in a helicopter wreck the next year. Ernie Irvan was battling Dale Earnhardt for a title in 1994 when he suffered critical injuries in a Michigan practice crash that left him with a one-in-ten chance of surviving the day. Still, for long-term fans, the number 28 black Havoline car with the big star on the hood is a fond part of our memories. The fact both organizations were sacked by a businessperson is troubling. But what bothers me the most is the fate of the employees of Yates Racing and RPM. These are the men and women whose faces you have never seen. They don't make millions of dollars a year, they don't have a fallback position in other businesses, and they don't have endorsement deals. Yet they get out of bed each morning and go to work for long hours each day. Some of them spend weeks and months each year away from the people they love chasing that brass ring. They have kids in braces, kids in college, and daughters planning their weddings. They have car payments, mortgages, and taxes to pay…yet they are all facing uncertain futures late in the season when it's tough to find employment for next year if they lose their jobs. By their sweat, blood, exhaustion and perseverance they have made their drivers millionaires, whether they answer the phones or screw together race winning engines burning that midnight oil. These are the folks I am truly concerned about because I've sweated the bills and burned the midnight oil myself a few times. Corporate mergers and acquisitions always cost some folks their jobs, but the only thing worse than the doubt is not knowing the final outcome. So Mr. Gillett, step up to the plate and sort this mess out for everyone involved. Hendrick film pulls 'on your heartstrings' David Newton/espn.com CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Rick Hendrick stood in front of the packed auditorium Tuesday night, his face flushed with emotion. He was nervous, having just bared the most intimate details of his life in a 99-minute documentary. It was as though a surgeon had opened up his chest and exposed his insides to the world. Nothing was left out, from Hendrick's 1996 indictment for mail fraud and money laundering, to his bout with leukemia, to the 2004 plane crash in which he lost his son and nine other family members and friends, to driver Tim Richmond's dying from AIDS, to the advice he gave Jeff Gordon before his divorce. They were just as prominent as all the wins and championships, perhaps more. "If we didn't tell it all like it happened, we'd be phonies, and I would be ashamed of it," Hendrick said in the lobby of Charlotte's Ovens Auditorium. "We just opened up our whole world to them and let them do it. "We didn't tell them what to put in it, what to take out of it. We didn't say, 'This is off-limits; you can't do this.' We just let them do it." The story, as narrator Tom Cruise said, "is about having the will to win and the strength to endure. It's about staying together." And the film is aptly named "Together: The Hendrick Motorsports Story." It will air Oct. 11, 1:30 p.m. ET, on ABC. This easily could have been a love-fest celebrating HMS' eight Sprint Cup championships and 185 Cup victories. Instead, it was about the people and the human drama that shaped who Hendrick is and what his organization has become. It told a story, one that makes it easier to understand why HMS is the premier organization in NASCAR and why it is on the brink of another championship, with 50-year-old Mark Martin and three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson first and second in points heading into Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway. Hendrick initially struggled with the direction of the film. He wasn't sure the tragedies and struggles were pertinent to what was supposed to be a 25th-anniversary celebration. He knew it would open a lot of old wounds, forcing him and others to watch video of his son, Ricky, and father, "Papa Joe," for the first time since their deaths. He told Jesse Essex, his right-hand man turned movie producer, "It's not what I want to do." But Essex and others convinced Hendrick that the relationships, how the organization rallied from adversity and death to claim glory, was the story. "Nothing is Hollywood or flowered up for anybody," Hendrick said. "That's it. That's the truth." In other words, this wasn't "Days of Thunder," the NASCAR movie that helped bring Cruise and Hendrick together in the late 1980s. "That got off track," Hendrick said with a laugh. "That got to be so out of hand." There were no contrived scenes in "Together." What you saw was pretty much how it went. "Even the indictment," said former Cup champion Darrell Waltrip, who drove for Hendrick from 1987 to 1990. "I know how hard that was for him because one thing the man has is pride and his character of who he is. That was the most embarrassing thing that could happen to him. "But he lived through it and got through it, and he's man enough not to avoid it. They put it right in there and moved on." That doesn't mean it wasn't easy for Hendrick to watch. Tuesday's premier was only his second viewing. The first came last Friday. "I saw clips of it the first time and said, 'I can't sit through it,'" Hendrick said. "If I hadn't seen it one time before, I wouldn't be able to get through it [tonight], I don't think." The plane crash easily was the most difficult part to get through. Hearing the voices and seeing the video of Ricky, his brother John, and all those who were killed reminded him of just how much was taken away from him on that dreary October day when the Beech 200 crashed into the side of a mountain near Martinsville Speedway. "It pulled on your heartstrings," Waltrip said in the lobby afterward. "A lot of folks, I don't know how they could watch that. I cried like a baby." There were a lot of tears. There also was a lot of laughter: for example, when Richmond was shown with long hair, tight shorts and a tank top -- it looked like a scene from the 1985 crotch-thrusting movie "Perfect" with John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis -- taking an aerobics class with a group of women. There was Richmond being distracted by a woman in a tight skirt during a television interview. There was Hendrick, looking like a 10-year-old ready to be scolded as he sat on the couch across from his mother, Mary, as she basically told him how stupid he was for racing boats without any protection. "I didn't know what she was going to say," Hendrick said when asked about his reaction. "You can tell who wore the pants in the family." There was Hendrick awkwardly trying to climb over the pit road wall at Martinsville after Johnson won there on the 25th anniversary of HMS' first victory with Geoff Bodine. "That was ugly," Hendrick said. "I didn't really want to leave that in there. That was so pathetic I thought we might as well. That motivates me to lose some weight." One of the funniest moments involved Gordon's very public divorce from Brooke in 2002. Hendrick recalled how Gordon called and asked whether he could come spend the night, which made Hendrick wary that his star driver was ready to walk out on him instead of a marriage. Hendrick told how he gave Gordon some of his best advice ever, telling him never to hit Brooke, never to leave the house that he paid for, and never to get caught with his pants down. "He didn't do one, but he did the other two," Hendrick recalled, hinting that Gordon never hit Brooke, who got about half of everything Gordon owned. The auditorium, many with more knowledge of the relationship than others, broke into laughter. They laughed even harder when Hendrick, during his closing remarks, said: "Jeff, you remember the three things? You don't have enough time to make up another half." Waltrip called the documentary "amazing." "I about cracked up," he said. "You laughed, you cried, you felt pride, you felt disappointment. It really pulled on all of your emotions." But again, it reminded us why Hendrick has set the standard for all Cup operations. While others are merging or folding or changing leadership at the top, HMS remains consistent. And when there is tragedy or loss, as there was with the plane crash, or even tough economic times, as teams are going through now, the organization is strong enough to withstand it all. "He's really a great boss, and he doesn't put any kind of unusual pressure on the team," Gordon said in a conference call. "He just really tries to gather the best people. He listens to the people, what they need to make every aspect of the race team better." Hendrick always has been this way, from the day he purchased his first dragster as a teenager, to the day he decided there was more money in selling cars than driving them, to the day he started his race team. "Rick is a master of putting people together," Harry Hyde, the late, legendary crew chief who helped Hendrick get into NASCAR, said in the film. Two-time Cup champion Terry Labonte recalled that before he arrived at HMS, he was told it was one big happy family, something he was skeptical of, since most race teams say that but really aren't. "And it was that way," Labonte said in the film. "I couldn't believe it." The theme was constant throughout, particularly in the imagery. Nowhere was it more vivid than Victory Lane in Atlanta a week after the plane crash. There was race winner Johnson united with HMS' three other drivers at the time -- Gordon, Labonte and Brian Vickers -- and all of their crews. And they all were honoring Ricky by wearing their caps backward, a habit that once drove Hendrick nuts. "[When I first saw] little clips of it, I said we may have too much family in it," Hendrick said of the film. "They came back and said, 'We think that's the story. It's not just your story, it's everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.'" Hendrick's competitors should watch the documentary when it is shown to the public for the first time before the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Maybe they'll have a better understanding of why they always seem to be playing for second -- or maybe even third or fourth. Chances are it'll have to be updated to reflect a ninth title before it's had much more than a month on the streets. "That's the plan," Hendrick said. "I can tell you this after drinking from the Mark Martin fountain of youth: They're going to have to deal with us for another 25 years. That's bad news for the competition." It most definitely is. But that's the future. Tuesday night was about the past and why HMS has such a bright future. "I'm glad it's over," Hendrick said. "I sweated going up there at the end more than anything I've done in a long time." Thompson In Turn Five Tommy Thompson · Frontstretch.com Juan Pablo Has Arrived, But Championship Hopes Are Underpowered For Juan Pablo Montoya, 2009 marks the year that he has become, by every measure, a stock car driver. When the Columbian began his fulltime Sprint Cup career in 2007 after barely a hand-full of races ran in the Nationwide and ARCA Series, there were plenty of reasons to be skeptical of Montoya's likelihood for success. Fast forwarding to the former Indianapolis 500 winner's third season of NASCAR stock car racing, any lingering questions have been answered—he is a full-fledged, successful NASCAR driver. Perhaps it is old news to some, but it has taken standing trackside for it to truly hit home for me that Juan Pablo Montoya has arrived. Not to say that it has went unnoticed that the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver has put together a decent season up to Richmond, but while his performance had been solid, there had been little to rave about. Although it was possible Montoya's career had turned the corner from a mid-pack competitor to one of the series' top echelon drivers, it seemed equally possible that the chauffeur of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet may simply have learned to keep his nose clean and rack-up decent points paying top 15 finishes. One only has to focus their attention on Montoya as of late to know that he no longer considers himself a stock car apprentice needing to watch and learn from the veterans of the sport. Juan Pablo Montoya clearly believes that his time has come and that he has no reason to defer to anyone in the Sprint Cup field. He is racing as a man that is now confident in his abilities to wheel full-fendered racecars. After running as conservatively aggressive as is possible at Richmond to solidify his position in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, Montoya came out with his guns blazing to kickoff the 10-race championship run at Loudon, New Hampshire. For starters, he served notice that he and his team were taking the Chase seriously, winning the pole and setting a new track record, leading the most laps and finishing third in the race. It would have been a good outing for most, as Montoya catapulted from 11th in the point standings to fourth heading into last week's event at Dover, DE; however, the new Montoya, clearly on a mission to win races and compete for the championship, was unhappy that he did not visit victory lane. There is a newfound confidence that became evident at Loudon. Following the race, he criticized arguably the sport's most respected veteran, Mark Martin, for what he perceived to be un-sportsman-like blocking. Though Montoya's opinion may or not be correct, that he dared to question Martin's driving etiquette speaks volumes to Montoya's confidence and sense of self-assuredness with his place in the sport. The cocksure, aggressive Montoya that fans of the now defunct CART and later Formula 1 racing knew has now emerged onto the NASCAR scene. He has readily admitted to keeping "the bigger picture" in mind leading up to the Chase, but just as quickly pointing out that it is not a race day approach that he particularly enjoys. However, unlike some of the Columbian's peers, he understands the concept of the Chase and the importance of gaining every championship point possible. Prior to the AAA 400 Montoya explained his approach to the Chase, ""There's no holding back. We have to go," he said, implying that "points racing" is not an option. "We are trying to drive the car as hot as I can. I don't want to leave anything on the table." Two races down in this year's NASCAR version of a playoff system and Montoya has racked up two top 5 finishes, coming home third at Loudon and then a fourth at Dover. But what is most evident is the high level of tenacity in which he is driving. Last weekend's race at Dover is a case in point as Montoya refused to relinquish positions, even early on, to competitors that clearly were faster. Montoya time and time again made his rivals, often times from the potent Hendrick Motorsports stable, earn their positions in front of him. He refused to simply concede his position and move over with the hope of adjusting on his Target Chevrolet during the next pit stop. In short, he is driving like a championship contender and in the process has become one! Some always believed that Montoya would become a top-tier Sprint Cup driver, others, including myself, had doubts. Ironically, the very first Turn 5 article published in July of 2006 opined on the then-recent news that Montoya would be competing in the Sprint Cup Series full time in 2007, and sarcastically expressed skepticism. "Amongst all this "P.C." talk, did anyone 'in the know' point out just how large the odds are against Montoya making a successful transition to the very different racecars of NASCAR? Do the names of drivers Adrian Fernandez, Paul Tracy, Al Unser, Jr., or Christian Fittipaldi mean nothing? Has anyone bothered to tell Juan Pablo about these previously highly talented open-wheel racers who came to conquer, only to leave conquered?" Boy, did I catch it from the open-wheel fans on that article! Nonetheless, in rereading my words, now more than three years old, I suppose I would have to concede that I clearly underestimated what a talented driver and a team owner committed to that driver can accomplish. Chip Ganassi has remained faithful to his driver and given him the needed time to adjust to NASCAR's style of racing and both now are reaping the rewards of their mutual confidence in one another, hard work, and perseverance. Nevertheless, standing trackside in recent weeks has also convinced me that Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and Juan Pablo Montoya will not win the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Not through any lack of talent, desire or determination on Juan Pablo's part, but simply because his EGR equipment in the end will come up short against at least one of the three drivers piloting the superior equipment provided by Hendrick Motorsports. Considering that the Earnhardt-Childress engines could not power the likes of past Chase contenders Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick or Montoya's EGR teammate Martin Truex into the 12-driver Chase field, it is a stretch to believe that they would perform well enough for Montoya to win the Championship. They are good, but no amount of talent is going to overcome that glaring disparity between what they and Hendrick Motorsports are serving up. But, then again…this prediction is being offered by the same guy that had Juan Pablo Montoya long gone from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series by now. And…that's my view from Turn 5 From start and park to a ride in Dale Jr.'s stable Bires excited about opportunity to race for wins again By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
Kelly Bires hated it, but he knew he had no other choice. With no steady ride and no sponsor behind him, he did the only thing he could to make sure people saw him at the race track as much as possible. He drove a start-and-park car. He did it a few times, actually, filling the gaps between events with regular Nationwide Series teams like Braun Racing, Kevin Harvick Inc., and the JTG Daugherty team he drove for during all of 2008. For a driver who had finished inside the top 10 six times last year, it was clearly a galling experience. But the sponsorship market was tough. Full-time rides were difficult to come by. So he swallowed his pride and made a few starts in cars that were clearly going nowhere but right back to the garage area. "I can tell you there's nothing fun about starting and parking from a racer's standpoint," said Bires, a 25-year-old from Mauston, Wis. "There were some I had to do. There were some where I felt like if I could get in the car and qualify really well, extremely well, then maybe that would turn a couple of heads and show some people what I could do. They weren't fun at all. It was just part of the deal this year that I had to do. I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore." Not for the foreseeable future, at least. Last month Bires signed a two-year deal with JR Motorsports to succeed Brad Keselowski, who is moving to the Sprint Cup tour with Penske Racing next season. For Bires, it's a welcome relief from the purgatory of career limbo, which began last year when sponsorship woes beset his program at JTG. Completing the 2008 season with a patchwork of sponsors, he still managed to finish 13th in points in his first full campaign on NASCAR's No. 2 circuit. But he was nervous about 2009, and with good reason. Bires, a former go-kart and late model standout who moved to the Charlotte area in 2004 to further his NASCAR career, couldn't have timed it worse -- his climb up the career ladder coincided with an economic recession and consequent sponsorship shortage that hit the Nationwide Series particularly hard. So far in 2009 he's made 12 starts with five different teams, some of them powerhouses like KHI, and others shoestring outfits in it for a check. Bires has managed a pair of top-five finishes, one more than he had in all of last season, but has been running at the finish only three times. He hasn't raced since Atlanta on Labor Day weekend. As of Wednesday, he wasn't listed on the entry list for Saturday's event at Kansas Speedway. "It's probably one of the toughest years of racing that I've had to go through," Bires said. "Just going to the race track, [finishing] only three or four times so far this year, but doing what I had to do to stay alive and stay strong. Just the opportunity that came aboard here with JR Motorsports, I can't explain how excited I am about it with the emotional roller coaster I've been on. But to know I have something in place for the next two years, that's a tremendous relief." Bires' best result this year was a fourth-place finish at Nashville in a KHI car. He's made two starts this season for Harvick, and has another slated for Oct. 24 at Memphis. But the timing just wasn't right to try and put together a full-time deal for 2010. "Kevin came to me and helped me out, believed in my ability and was really cool about it and gave me an opportunity to get in a top-notch car," Bires said. "They just didn't have anything full-schedule for next year for the time being. And JR Motorsports came to me ready to go, locked and loaded. It's a no-brainer. Both organizations are extremely well-put-together. Nothing against KHI. But this opportunity for me at JR Motorsports, it was a no-brainer for me at the time." Now, he's on the brink of quite the career turnaround. Only a few months ago, Bires was a driver desperate for a ride, and willing to slide behind the wheel of almost any car he could find. Beginning in February, he'll be at the controls of a vehicle capable of winning the Nationwide championship, and see his profile rise because of his association with NASCAR's most popular driver. Is he ready for the scrutiny that will follow? He believes so. For Bires, the most difficult part has been just getting into the car. "The hardest thing for me in this sport has just been to get in a race car," he said. "The performance on the track to me is the easiest part. The part of driving the car is the easiest part for me. It's just been, the time when I got into the sport here, it's been difficult to get into race cars without proper funding or proper sponsorship. It was just bad timing. But to be able to drive for Dale Jr., a great guy, I've known him for pretty much all the years I've been in NASCAR, and relate to him in a lot of different things. He definitely believes in my ability." Daugherty at home in NASCAR Rick Peterson/cjonline.com It's understandable that Brad Daugherty is known primarily as a basketball guy. After all, the 7-foot former North Carolina Tar Heel and Cleveland Cavalier star was a college All-American and five-time NBA all-star, scoring more than 10,000 points in the NBA. But stock car racing has been a huge part of Daugherty's life for as long as he can remember. "I'm a huge race fan first of all, and I really am passionate about the sport of racing and I always have been since I was a little boy," said Daugherty, who will be at Kansas Speedway this weekend as part of ESPN's broadcast crew. "I was just fortunate enough, and oddly enough, grew up around it. My heroes were race car drivers when I was a kid." Basketball made Daugherty, a native of Black Mountain, N.C., famous, but his life these days revolves around NASCAR. Daugherty is a regular on the weekly NASCAR Countdown program and an analyst on the daily NASCAR Now show. "I just happened to be blessed with this great big ol' body and could shoot a basketball pretty well," said Daugherty, who wore No. 43 when he was with the Cavaliers in honor of Richard Petty. "That allowed me a great opportunity to go to college, (but) my ambitions were not to play pro basketball. I never thought about playing pro basketball until I was a junior in college. "I've been blessed. It's been an interesting journey, but I'm doing what I love to do and that's being at the race track, talking to Tony Stewart about his hot rod, watching these guys go out and do battle. I get to sit and talk about it and analyze it and give my opinion, which most of my opinion is based upon being a fan of the sport. It's a great opportunity." Daugherty has great admiration for the racing elite he rubs elbows with each week. "These guys are the cream of the crop and they have a special blend of talent and ability to focus and blessings that give them incredible, incredible ability," Daugherty said. Daugherty bristles at the notion raised from time to time that stock car racing isn't a true sport and that racers aren't really athletes. "You do not have to be a tremendous athlete to drive a race car, but the better athlete you are in any sport or in anything you do that demands physical participation will make you a better participant," said Daugherty, now 43. "A lot of people say the same thing about golfers. I mean John Daly's not an impressive athlete -- I don't think he's going to run a 100-yard dash in 30 seconds -- but Tiger (Woods) is a phenomenal athlete and look what it's done for his golf game. "There may be certain guys (in racing) that can't jog from one end of pit road to the other, but the guys who are up front -- Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, people like that -- are tremendous athletes." When he isn't at the track, Daugherty still pays considerable attention to college sports, particularly basketball. "I watch my Tar Heels play and I watch them ol' evil Jayhawks play a little bit, too," Daugherty cracked. "I'm a big Bill Self fan. I think he's a great basketball coach. I get to watch a lot of college basketball. I force myself to take time to watch the game that I love." Daugherty is aware of the recent skirmishes involving the Jayhawk basketball and football teams that received national attention but said he thinks both programs will emerge from the situation just fine. "When I saw that it took me back to when I was in college," he said. "You know, there is a rivalry between the sports, there's no doubt about that, at every university. I could see how that could happen. It's not right, but I could see how it could happen. "You don't want something like that to happen, but everybody's there and there's a lot of testosterone and there's a lot of pride and trying to build traditions at universities like Kansas or North Carolina. You can have those rivalries and sometimes those things get out of hand. That's unfortunate, but I think all those young men will learn from that experience hopefully and put it in the past and they'll move on. It's a great university out there." This weekend all of Daugherty's attention will be on the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup races at Kansas Speedway, and Daugherty promises he will be fired up and ready to go. "When they crank those engines, when they fire the engines up and you get 43 hot rods making 800 horsepower freight-training around that race track, if that doesn't make the hair on your neck stand up you're not alive," Daugherty said. By the Numbers: Kansas Biffle running out of races to keep win streak intact Among best drivers at Kansas with win, four top-fives By Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM
The 2009 edition of the Chase hasn't started the way Greg Biffle had hoped. Last season, Biffle swept the first two Chase races at New Hampshire and Dover so confidence was high heading into the '09 campaign. But modest finishes of ninth at New Hampshire and 13th last weekend at Dover have Biffle sitting ninth in points, 138 behind points leader Mark Martin. Maybe even more baffling is this could be the first time in Biffle's seven-year Cup career he goes an entire season without a victory. But before the season is deemed a winless one, it is important to know the Bif has been here before. In 2007, Biffle was winless heading to Kansas Speedway when he led 37 laps and won his only race on the Cup schedule. So as the series shifts to the Midwest for Sunday's running of the Price Chopper 400 (1 p.m. ET, ABC), Biffle once again is searching for that elusive first victory on the year. In 2007, he was outside the Chase; this year, a victory could be the boost the No. 16 team needs to contend for its first Cup championship. Inside the Data Chase drivers at Kansas Speedway | | | | | | | | | | Driver | Starts | Wins | Top-fives | Top-10s | Poles | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish | | | | | | | | | | | Jeff Gordon | 8 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 175 | 10.0 | 9.8 | | Greg Biffle | 7 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 150 | 17.0 | 9.9 | | Jimmie Johnson | 7 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 251 | 4.9 | 10.4 | | Mark Martin | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 141 | 20.9 | 13.1 | | Brian Vickers | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13.8 | 13.2 | | Carl Edwards | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 21.8 | 14.0 | | Tony Stewart | 8 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 17.9 | 14.8 | | Ryan Newman | 8 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 118 | 15.1 | 18.0 | | Kasey Kahne | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 16.4 | 18.8 | | Kurt Busch | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 79 | 19.5 | 20.8 | | Denny Hamlin | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16.8 | 22.5 | | Juan Montoya | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31.5 | 24.0 | DID YOU KNOW? 3 Eleven of the 52 Chase races have been won by drivers outside the Chase and three of those wins have come at Kansas: Joe Nemechek (2004), Tony Stewart (2006) and Greg Biffle (2007). GORDON'S POLE STREAK 16 Since his first full-time season in 1993, Jeff Gordon has won at least one pole in a season -- a streak that has lasted 16 years. Through 28 races in 2009, Gordon has yet to win a pole putting the longest active pole streak in the Cup Series in jeopardy. At Kansas, Gordon has started in the top five in three of eight races, but never from the P1 position. NECESSITOUS NUMBERS 3 Number of drivers with more than one start at Kansas that average a top-10 finish at the track: Clint Bowyer (7.7), Jeff Gordon (9.8) and Greg Biffle (9.9). 5 Mark Martin's second at Dover gives him five consecutive top-five finishes in the Cup Series, tops among all drivers. 6 Since Jeff Gordon won the first two races at Kansas in 2001 and 2002, six different drivers have gone to Victory Lane in the past six races. 6 Ryan Newman has six consecutive top-15 finishes in the Cup Series, the longest active streak. 7 If Chevrolet's top-running driver at Kansas finishes ahead of Toyota's top-running driver, Chevrolet will win its 33rd manufacturers championship and seventh in a row. 9.8 Average starting position of the Kansas winner in the five Chase races. In those five races, two have been won from the pole while two have been won from 19th and 21st. 25 Jeff Gordon has 25 wins at the remaining eight tracks, tops among the Chase drivers (Kansas, 2; Fontana, 3; Lowe's, 5; Martinsville, 7; Talladega, 6; Texas, 1; Phoenix, 1; Homestead, 0). 39.5 Average finish for Tony Stewart in the last two Cup races at Kansas. He finished 39th in 2007 and 40th in 2008. Before that, his worst finish was 14th with five finishes of eighth or better including a victory. 496 Points scored by Jimmie Johnson in the last three races at Kansas, tops among all drivers. In those three races, Johnson started from the pole twice, led laps in all three and finished 14th, third and first. Greg Biffle has the second-most points with 487 and Casey Mears is third with 456. Points race isn't only thing going on by Larry McReynolds/foxsports.com Unlike a lot of media type, I am not ready to have the engraver put Jimmie Johnson's name on yet another championship trophy. Mark Martin said it the best "We are only 20 percent through this Chase." He's right, there are still eight races to go. Also, don't forget that we have some tough race tracks coming up. You have the short track, Martinsville Speedway, coming up at the end of October and then the very next weekend you have the ultimate wild card race at Talladega Superspeedway. Ironically those two tracks are identical in one aspect. It is very easy to get caught up in someone else's problems in a split second at either track. Now obviously Jimmie runs extremely well at Martinsville, but folks, all it takes is one flat tire under green and your day is ruined there. The other thing we have to remember and recognize is in these first two Chase races, it's clear that all 12 guys are racing their guts out. They are probably racing as hard as I have ever seen these Chase guys go at it. It will be interesting to see the strategy once we get to Talladega on Nov 1. Will they fall to the back until the race winds down and then make their move to the front? Obviously that didn't work for Carl Edwards this spring. As I always tell you, there simply is no place to hide at that race track. So my point is we still have a lot to unravel before I say this Chase goes once again to Jimmie Johnson. And not only in the title hunt. We still have teams out there desperately seeking sponsorship for next year. Unfortunately it was announced last week that Jack Daniels and Jim Beam are leaving the sport. Obviously that has a major impact on Richard Childress Racing and Robby Gordon's operations. As we all know, trying to secure primary sponsorship on a Cup car for what it costs is extremely tough, especially this late in the year. We also have a tremendous amount of drivers auditioning for rides for 2010. Where's Jamie McMurray going to go? Where's Reed Sorenson going to go? Where's David Stremme going to go? As mentioned, Casey Mears on the Childress team is losing Jack Daniels — What's that mean for his future? How is this Richard Petty Motorsports deal going to unravel with the merger with Yates and the switch to Ford? Unfortunately the future for a lot of these drivers is sponsorship driven. McMurray, for instance, is getting a double-whammy. His sponsor is moving to the No. 17 car because the No. 17's sponsor is going away. Additionally, Roush Fenway Racing has to shrink from five teams to four under their banner starting in 2010. Unfortunately, Over at Penske Racing, David Stremme's performance just hasn't been there in the No. 12 car and that's why they signed Brad Keselowski to replace him in 2010. Going back to the Richard Petty/Yates merger, that takes six teams and makes only four, so that obviously means two drivers are on the outside looking in. It looks to be Bobby Labonte and Reed Sorenson being the ones without a ride there. But the other wild card is I don't know if that organization will even have four sponsors in place for 2010. So they might not even be a four-car team, so that means there might be another driver or two as a free agent. It's telling how the economy is hurting our sport when you look at the Mears/Childress situation. When Richard Childress is sitting there without a sponsor, that's a pretty good indication how bad things are. Unfortunately we are victims of our own success. This is the price of doing business. It's taking a sport, that is running the same amount of races 10 years ago, that ran on $7 million to $8 million then and now it takes at least double that to run it today. The same holds true in the Nationwide and Camping World truck series. It wasn't all that long ago that if you had a $3 million sponsor in the Nationwide series, you were sitting fat. Now it easily takes double that to be competitive. Another really exciting story that obviously has nothing to do with what goes on every Sunday, but it's one that is growing with anticipation is who is the first class for the new NASCAR Hall of Fame? Sure, most of us anticipate who the five are going to be, but until they make that announcement on SPEED Thursday afternoon on Oct. 14 following the voting, well we never can say for sure. Was Matt Kenseth's run at Dover a good sign for Roush Fenway? I don't think it is. They know they still have a lot of work to do and are still way behind. With all five of the Roush-Fenway cars, we only have one that shines periodically per race. It used to be two or three of them battling every week in the top 5 or at least the top 10. The other thing to remember is the Nationwide and Camping World truck series are also winding down their seasons. In the truck series with five races to go, certainly it is Ron Hornaday's championship to lose. Matt Crafton and Mike Skinner aren't rolling over on Ron though. They certainly aren't going away easy. Over in the Nationwide series, it's Kyle Busch's championship to lose. However, Carl Edwards is going to go down swinging. I think Carl knows that is the salvation to his 2009 season, because it is looking pretty dismal on the Cup side of things. What's interesting is that in both of those series in the past, we have seen leads greater than what Ron and Kyle enjoy now, go away over the course of the number of races both series have left in 2009. Simply put, whether the Sprint Cup championship race is over, there's still plenty to watch the next eight weeks. Together" A Powerful Tale Tom Jensen/speedtv.com The best thing about my job and seeing NASCAR up close and personal isn't what you learn about cars or about strategy or about technology. It's what you learn about life.
Spend most of 38 weekends a year on the road for 15 years and you will learn some of the most valuable life lessons that you can. It's inevitable.
You learn that even the best teams and the best drivers finish last some weeks.
You learn that what separates the champions from the also-rans is not that champions face less adversity or never make mistakes, it's that they are better at overcoming those mistakes and adversity.
You learn money alone doesn't win races, people do. And that not having money guarantees you will lose, but having it does not guarantee you will win.
You figure out back-up plans for your back-up plans, because far away from home, anything that can go wrong does.
If you have any sense at all, you try to learn humility, because some time when you're on the road in Anniston, Ala., or Dover, Del., or Martinsville, Va., you will need help. And you will need to offer it, too, sometimes to your fiercest rival. But that's just what you do and what you expect others to do as well.
And you learn about life and death, too.
I saw Dale Earnhardt die in the last turn in Daytona in 2001, and I was sitting in the press box in Martinsville five years ago when the late Charlotte Observer NASCAR reporter David Poole walked up to me midway through the race and whispered in my ear, "Don't tell anyone I told this, but I just got a call from the desk. A plane is missing and it's registered to Hendrick Motorsports." Little did I know the horrible news that would follow an hour or so later.
That incident, the Hendrick plane crash that killed 10 people, including Rick Hendrick's only son, his brother and his two nieces, is the emotional fulcrum of a new documentary entitled, "Together: The Hendrick Motorsports Story," that will air Oct. 11 at 1:30 p.m. ET, on ABC.
There was a private screening for the movie Tuesday in Charlotte and it's safe to say there wasn't a dry eye in the house afterwards.
Ostensibly a story chronicling the 25-year history of Hendrick Motorsports, "Together" certainly covers the big moments on and off the track for the team, all narrated by Tom Cruise. There are times of absolute joy, from the team's first Daytona 500 victory with Geoff Bodine in 1986 to Jimmie Johnson's three-peat. And there is a little bit of dirty laundry aired, too, including Tim Richmond's death from AIDS and Hendrick's battles with cancer and federal authorities over the Honda scandal of the mid-1990s.
But the most gripping parts of the story by far, one way or another deal with the plane crash and how Rick and the team carried on in the wake of the kind of tragedy few of us could ever even imagine being confronted with.
Interviews with Linda Hendrick, Rick's wife, and daughter Lynn Carlson are as raw-edged and emotional as you would expect them to be, while some of the most illuminating insights come from hard-edged racers, tough guys like Jack Sprague, Alan Gustafson and Brian Vickers who were deeply affected by what happened.
Above all else, "Together" is a very human drama of how people push through tragedy, in this case working for a common goal.
After the movie, I asked Hendrick what kept him going in the dark times after the crash. He told me he spent about a month at home after the crash and didn't even know if he could go back to the shop, let alone the race track. But he pushed on, because if you're a racer, that's who you are and what you do.
"I care about those folks that are over there," Hendrick said of the 500 or so employees at Hendrick Motorsports. "And I care about the people we lost. And I got motivated … I mean, I couldn't turn my back on those people left over there, and that would not honor the ones we lost. When I went over there, I actually didn't know if I could go back. And when I walked in and everybody — I mean it was the most emotional thing I've ever been through. It was worse than the (funeral) service, because I'd had a few weeks to accept it. And when I walked in there and Jeff (Gordon) was crying and all the guys, Alan (Gustafson) … it just kind of fired me up to the point of when I went back to Homestead, I said, 'We've got to do this.'"
And do it they did.
Hendrick and his minions took an already top-notch organization, circled the wagons and went out and won three more championships. But the real victory that makes "Together" such a good piece is the victory of human spirit, of toiling through tears and tragedy.
Like in racing, there are a lot of life lessons to be learned from watching "Together."
Logano Needs A Short Memory T.C./thenascarinsiders.com While doing my usual internet trolling tonight, I came across Tom Bowles' weekly "Did You Notice" piece over at The Frontstretch. In it, he talks about Joey Logano's reaction to his wild wreck this past weekend at Dover. If you haven't seen Logano's wreck, click here. Bowles quotes Logano as saying: "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." The main point made by Bowles is that drivers are losing some of the killer instinct made famous by some of the NASCAR greats. I see his point, but what immediately jumps out at me is his admitted fear. It worries me that Logano said it, and I'm interested to see if Logano lets this affect him down the road. I wrote a post about a year ago about drivers and fear (see it here), and Logano's comments brought me right back to it. If they want to have any level of success in racing, a driver has to be absolutely fearless. And on top of that, they need to have a short memory. Remembering a previous wreck while taking to the track will only slow a driver down. Don't know what I mean by fearless? How about Rusty Wallace's horrible crash at Daytona in 1993. He tumbled countless times down the backstretch and ended up coming to rest in a destroyed race car. He followed that up by winning the next race at Rockingham, and then added nine more victories before that season ended. And all this was well before the introduction of the modern, safer COT. When Logano hits the track this weekend in Kansas, he needs to have forgotten that Dover ever happened. His young career will be over very quickly if he harbors this fear of wrecking and holds back. I don't want to name any drivers here, but too many have let a bad wreck ruin what was a promising career. NASCAR is a dangerous sport. If a driver cannot handle that, and be able to wreck and keep digging, then he needs to find something else to do. Here's to hoping Logano pulls a reverse Jimmy Spencer and forgets everything. Is Earnhardt Just Wasting Everybody's Time? David Kingsley/insiderracingnews.com The Monster Mile is the same track where Dale Earnhardt Jr. raised the American flag in Victory Lane following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Today, it's just another stop on the long and painful road towards mediocrity. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished the AAA 400 at the Monster Mile one lap down, in 20th position. It's another race in the "rebuilding process" for the black sheep team of Hendrick Motorsports. With a season totaling five top ten finishes; Earnhardt Jr. has experienced a season where his cousin/crew chief was fired and replaced with an engineer type crew chief, in hopes to find the missing link between car and driver. The crew chief wasn't the only change made on the 88 National Guard team. The driver was asked to change the way he described the condition of the race car as well. Earnhardt Jr. was expected to revamp his communication style, with new (now not so new) interim crew chief, Lance McGrew. The first race together seemed positive. Earnhardt Jr. was dissecting the corners into four separate parts, just like fellow teammates Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson do with their crew chiefs. At one point during the spring Dover race, Lance McGrew actually told Earnhardt to just worry about driving the car, and worry less about trying to describe every detail of the car's behavior. The tandem of Earnhardt Jr. and Lance McGrew finished 12th that day. I'll have to admit, after listening to the communication between the driver and his crew chief; I was hopeful that there was actually a light at the end of this long dark tunnel. But today, the two have reverted back to the same type of communication of Earnhardt Jr. and Eury Jr., minus the heated arguments. During Sunday's race at Dover, Earnhardt Jr. and Lance McGrew didn't argue on changes to be made to the car. They didn't debate strategy on how they'll try to gain track position. Whatever communication they did share relating to the changes made to the car and its current handling conditions, seemed uninspired at best. During a red flag stop after Joey Logano barrel-rolled his car at least eight times during a multi-car accident early in the race; Earnhardt Jr. decided it was more important to talk to his spotter about his fantasy football team, than to spend a couple of minutes figuring out a game plan with his crew chief. During the ten minute red flag, Earnhardt Jr. and Lance McGrew never once spoke about what they planned on doing to improve the car's handling. They never mentioned the changes that have been made to car up to that point in the race and what effect they had on the car. The only dialogue between the driver and his crew chief was about the relationship between the Washington Redskins winning and how it related to his performance on the track. Earnhardt Jr. claimed that when the redskins lose, he seems to actually run pretty good. But when they win, he struggles on the day. Well, the Washington Redskins lost to the Detroit Lions, so if there was any truth to his theory at all; Earnhardt Jr. should have won this race by a long shot. But instead, he finished 20th at a track where he once won in the old Budweiser Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc. Lance McGrew made changes to the car that involved track bar adjustments and multiple air pressure adjustments of the inner and outer liner of the tires. The changes actually improved the cars handling by the end of the race. But, it seems like it is a one sided battle. McGrew is making changes for a driver that seems to say the same thing race-in and race-out…"tight". "The car is loose in and tight off". That's about as much information that Earnhardt Jr. gives to describe his race car. Basically, watching and listening to Earnhardt Jr., I see a driver without passion. You can't teach passion and you can't force someone to become passionate, it just comes naturally. Unfortunately, a passion to win and to be the best is something Earnhardt Jr. is lacking. In the words of Vince Lombardi, "If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?" Since Earnhardt Jr. joined Hendrick Motorsports, we've all been keeping score, and so far, Earnhardt Jr. is way behind. Comments or suggestions are encouraged. Please contact David at Insider Racing News. NASCAR star Clint Bowyer looks back at short-track roots By Paul Schaefer/heraldnet.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A young dirt-track driver from Kansas spent two years of his life working toward winning a championship. When he broke through to win the title seven years ago this month, he knew he had done something special. What he didn't know was the doors of opportunity were suddenly well-oiled and ready to swing wide open.
The driver was Clint Bowyer, 2002 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Midwest Region champion.
Beyond his wildest dreams, today Bowyer has won in all three of NASCAR's national series, won the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship and has finished as high as third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings.
"Winning that NASCAR weekly series championship showed me I could make a living at racing, and the trophy I got is still one of the biggest trophies I have. To this day, I think the NASCAR weekly series is the most important series NASCAR has," Bowyer said.
The championship trophy was one thing. The series awards banquet where he received it was something else.
"The banquet was very cool. Very big-time," Bowyer said. "The lights, the glamour, the videos … NASCAR blew it up big."
Bowyer won his regional championship racing at a pair of Kansas City-area half-mile tracks, one a low-banked clay oval on which he raced dirt Modifieds and the other a high-banked paved track where he races Late Models. His combined record for the 2002 season was 10 wins and 18 top-fives in 19 starts.
Bowyer had made the acquaintance of Kevin Harvick, who was driving for Richard Childress Racing and was sponsored by Sonic restaurants. A local Sonic franchisee sponsored Bowyer's two race cars, so the two made an occasional appearance together.
In 2003, Bowyer moved to the former NASCAR Midwest Series and, with the support of Sonic, was able to arrange a couple of ARCA races to get some big car, big track experience.
His first ARCA start was scheduled for Nashville Superspeedway. It was there that the door to a driver's seat at Richard Childress Racing opened wide. Bowyer caught Childress' eye by leading 47 laps of the Nashville event, eventually finishing second to Mario Gosellin.
After two NASCAR Camping World Series West starts for Bill McAnally Racing in early 2004, Bowyer was partnered with Harvick in RCR's No. 21 NASCAR Nationwide Series Chevrolet. Bowyer won his first career pole award at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in his third career start. The following year, Bowyer made his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start for Childress, which eventually became his full-time ride.
"Even our success in that Nashville ARCA race goes back to the NASCAR weekly series," Bowyer said. "That's what enabled us to get to that ARCA race.
"Back then I wouldn't have believed everything that's happened. It means a lot to me because it's what you work your whole life for."
Bowyer still stays in touch with his dirt track roots. He owns a touring dirt Late Model driven by Dale McDowell. Bowyer also finished second to Tony Stewart in the "Prelude to a Dream" dirt Late Model all-star race at Stewart's Eldora Speedway in Ohio. He'll be racing this weekend at his home dirt track just down the road from Kansas Speedway where the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competes this weekend.
Bowyer also enjoys getting away to an occasional pavement short track as well. He was amazed at the action he saw at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. The flat quarter-mile oval is home to some of the most contentious NASCAR Modified racing in the country.
"What a spectacle that is," he said of the open-wheel division on America's ultimate short track. "The fans. The noise. The racing. That's what it's all about."
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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