Monday, November 9, 2009

Know Your Nascar 11/9/09

 

Happy Monday all. 

 

 

Today In Nascar History

 

Nov. 9, 1958: Richard Petty finishes 13th in his only career start in the No. 24. Petty finishes 10 laps behind winner Bob Welborn in a 150-lap race at one-third mile Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, N.C. Although the race takes place in 1958, it is actually the first race of the 1959 season. In the other 20 races he starts in the season, 19 are in the No. 43 and one is the No. 42.

 

 

Quote of the Year

 

There's an unwritten rule in NASCAR: Thou shalt not take on Dale Earnhardt Jr.

--Terry Blount/espn

 

Quote of the Day

 

"It's just frustrating that a driver has enough power to change how the whole field has to run"

— Denny Hamlin on Jeff Gordon

 

 

Vote for your driver!

 

www.chexmostpopulardriver.com/

 

Comments from the Peanut Gallery

 

From Jo

Because of "boring racing" at Dega, I read another newsletter, where one man suggested removing the restrictor plates and put in all 6 cylinder engines.  That would certainly change racing at Talladega!  Jo, Florida

 

Bits and Pieces

 

Earnhardt: New Nationwide Car May Help Cup One

By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

FORT WORTH, Texas — As a Nationwide Series owner and a Sprint Cup Series driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. welcomes the introduction of the sporty new Nationwide car, which will debut in July 2010 at Daytona and will appear in three subsequent oval races during next year's phase-in.

Earnhardt thinks the development of the new Nationwide car — which features a spoiler instead of a rear wing and a traditional front-spring suspension instead of the bump stops characteristic of the Cup car — may lead long-term to improvements to the Cup version.

"The (Cup) car's got a lot of potential, and I think we're actually going to learn a lot from its little stepbrother, the new Nationwide car that they're testing," Earnhardt said Wednesday night at an appearance for Shell Oil Company and Quaker State in Las Vegas. "I think they'll learn a lot from it.

"Whether they want to admit it or not, they built the Nationwide car in lieu of all the mistakes that they made in production with the COT (new Cup car). So, once we see how well this Nationwide car runs — which I think it will do really well — we may start seeing some changes to the COT.

"But, for the most part, the (new Cup) car does everything we intended it to do. You're just never satisfied as a driver, no matter how good the racecar is. We're always wanting to make the sport better, just like NASCAR and the drivers really want the best for the sport. Hopefully, we can keep doing that."

 

Source: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will remain Chevrolet team

By Bob Pockrass/scenedaily.com

 

FORT WORTH, Texas – Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will remain a Chevrolet team in 2010, a source familiar with the situation said Sunday.

Team owner Chip Ganassi did not comment Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway when asked about his manufacturer situation nor did he address who would be replacing Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 1 car.

General Motors had to renegotiate its contracts with its teams as it went through bankruptcy reorganization over the summer. Team officials have said since that time that they are still trying to decide on a manufacturer for 2010 and both GM and Toyota officials said they have had conversations with the two-car organization.

"They're doing a great job on track, and we'll see what we can do to keep them in a bowtie next year, but again, you know how this business is and people move around, not only from team to team but manufacturer to manufacturer," GM Racing manager Mark Kent said earlier this week.

Chip Ganassi Racing was a Dodge team but switched to Chevrolet for 2009 after its merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

 

Hamlin questions Gordon's motives on bump drafting

by Lee Spencer/foxsports.com

 

FORT WORTH, Texas - So what provoked Denny Hamlin to tweet "Jeff G (Gordon) told NASCAR we shouldn't be bump drafting ... Cuz they never did in the past. Who's running this sport?"

Before driver introductions for Sunday's Dickies 500, Hamlin questioned Gordon's motives.

Although Hamlin has tremendous respect for the four-time champion, he wonders whether Gordon lobbied NASCAR for the safety of all the competitors or because he couldn't get the No. 24 to perform the bump drafting to his liking?

"It's just frustrating that a driver has enough power to change how the whole field has to run," Hamlin said. "I think it should be a little broader group. I think it was a knee-jerk reaction by NASCAR wanting to please Jeff.

"Here's the thing, Jeff made comments earlier to me that his car wouldn't push very well. Of course, he wanted to get rid of that rule because it took away some of the advantage that the other guys had. Jeff, at times, looks out for himself. But I know he has the best interest of the sport at hand."

Hamlin is in his fourth full season in the Sprint Cup Series. Although he's a long way from reaching Gordon's stature, Hamlin's visibility has grown by qualifying for the Chase each of those four years and accumulating seven wins in 148 starts.

And with Hamlin turning 29 this month, the senior driver at Joe Gibbs Racing would like to take more of an authoritative role in the sport. Hamlin also lobbied for NASCAR to make more decisions by committee — or at least hearing from a wide variety of voices before a suggestion becomes an edict.

Jeff Gordon was not available for comment prior to Sunday's race but on Friday, he admitted that he approached the sanctioning body to address the perils of bump drafting.

Gordon added, "The open-door policy has its benefits" and "the biggest thing" he's seen since coming to the sport "was having the large group of drivers coming together in one room.

"If you really want to get something done, that's how you get it done, behind closed doors with that group. I think it's great they're reaching out. I think the more they can do with that, the better.

"The drivers feel like they're a part of the sport, what's going on, decisions that are being made. Just giving our input I think can help them make better decisions. So I'm all for it."

Yet for whatever reason, Hamlin doesn't feel that he's part of that clique. However, that's not going to stop the driver from voicing his opinion.

"I know it's an open-door policy," Hamlin said. "But myself, I've never been invited to any kind of private meeting or whatever that I've heard has happened. I'd like to think that I'll be in this sport for the next 15 or 20 years so they might want my opinion. I plan on being around here for a long time.

"I'm going to say what I think, regardless, through Twitter or whatever. I'm going to let people know my opinion. If NASCAR asks me, I'll tell them I think they made a mistake with that rule. I'll tell them that to their face. It's no big deal. But I wish they'd take a little more time to think about changing rules versus making a reaction right away because one driver's not happy about it."

 

Dickies American Worker of the Year WINS $1 million UPDATE: On Saturday, Nov 7th, 2009 Dickies American Worker of the Year Michael McGee to randomly select one of the 12 Chase drivers at Texas Motor Speedway. If the driver McGee selects takes the checkered flag at the Dickies 500 on Sunday, McGee will become an instant millionaire. McGee, an agricultural teacher and horse training business owner from Broken Bow, OK, was named the 2009 Dickies American Worker of the Year on Friday, October 30 at the Professional Bull Riders World Finals in Las Vegas. As the promotion's winner, McGee received $50,000 and an all-access, VIP trip for two to the Dickies 500 this weekend, which includes all track activities, a tour of the track's garage, a view of the race from exclusive seats in the Dickies suite, and most importantly, the chance to turn his $50,000 prize into $1 million.(Dickies/Edelman) UPDATE: At a press conference in his honor, McGee randomly selected Kurt Busch, one of the 12 Race for the Chase drivers, to help make him an instant millionaire. If Kurt Busch wins the Dickies 500 on Sunday, November 8, McGee will win $1,000,000.(Dickies/Edelman) UPDATE 2: with #2-Kurt Busch winning the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Dickies American Worker of the Year Michael McGee won $1 million.

 

#1 Chevy deemed too low: The #1 Bass Pro Chevy driven by Martin Truex Jr. failed a post-race inspection when NASCAR officials found the height of the car was too low. The violation was discovered because the #1 Chevy was the random car selected for inspection after the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Truex finished 14th. Any penalties for the team will be announced on Tuesday, NASCAR officials confirmed. NASCAR also is taking three cars back to the Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. -- the #2 Dodge of race winner Kurt Busch, the #24 Chevy of Jeff Gordon, who finished 13th, and the #5 Chevy of Mark Martin, who finished fourth. NASCAR also will take three engines to the R&D Center -- the #2 Dodge, the #11 Toyota motor of driver Denny Hamlin, who finished second, and Gordon's. The winning car and the engines from the top two finishers always are inspected in the R&D Center.(ESPN)

 

RPM Engine shop to shut down: What's left of the original Evernham Motorsports engine shop is expected to shut down on Monday, according to multiple sources. Richard Petty Motorsports will retain the necessary personnel to complete the final two races of the season when engine duties will revert to Roush Yates engines with the move to Ford. With the merger of RPM and Yates Racing, the Petty crew chiefs were told that each team would be able to keep 17 crewmen per team. The overall reduction for the organization is expected to be 200 of 250 employees once the deal is complete. (FoxSports)

 

Kvapil to Front Row ride in 2010 UPDATE: Travis Kvapil, who failed to qualify the #37 Front Row Motorsports Dodge at Charlotte and started and parked at Martinsville the following week, is expected to run the #37 car [Chevy? Dodge?] full-time in 2010.(FoxSports) UPDATE: Front Row Motorsports plans to field two NASCAR Sprint Cup cars full time in 2010, but who will drive them is still to be determined, team owner Bob Jenkins said Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Jenkins also said the team likely will change manufacturer from its current Chevy [Dodge is also used with #37 team sometimes]. He wouldn't name which manufacturer the team was going to use. "We've identified a lot of areas of our program where we can improve without spending a ton of money," Jenkins said. "I think [2010] is going to be a good year for us. & The economy has helped our team. Our business model is not built [around] a $20 million sponsor. People have become available, equipment has become available." As far as drivers, Jenkins said he has been happy with John Andretti keeping the #34 team in the top 35 in owners points. It is 35th with a 135-point cushion [now 117 points] on the Red Bull Racing #82 team of Scott Speed. The #37 car has attempted 25 Cup races this year. Whether Andretti and Raines return remains to be seen. Travis Kvapil and David Stremme are the drivers most often mentioned as potential candidates for that ride. "We've talked to six guys, plus we're pretty happy with John and Tony," Jenkins said. "It's not like we're looking to change across the board or anything. We've talked to all the usual suspects. We're going to try to narrow it down over the next couple of weeks. We haven't had any serious discussions with anybody. I'm pretty loyal to the guys that we have. I want to get through this season, see where things stand, take a breath and then figure out what we want to do. It's been hard to be critical because John has done exactly what we've asked him to do. Same thing with Tony. I don't know if you will see any dramatic changes, but we will add the second [full-time] car next year."(SceneDaily)

 

Brian France discusses TV Coverage: Dustin Long of the Virginian Pilot / Roanoke Times ran into NASCAR Chairman Brian France on Sunday morning before the race at Texas Motor Speedway and got the chance to sit down with him for 15 minutes alone in the NASCAR hauler discussing some of the various issues that have arisen recently in the sport.
me. Q: What is your feeling of the comments TV commentators made to me in the Frankly Speaking series and the things were said on the ABC broadcast last weekend at Talladega.
BRIAN FRANCE: Clearly, this is a sport that has a lot of opinions and most other sports channel their thoughts and criticisms differently and that is an unusual thing that we have to have people within the sport openly just criticizing as we go along but maybe that's something very unique in NASCAR that no other sport has to sort out. We'll sort it out.''
Q: Some fans may look at your comment as NASCAR is trying to quiet the commentators and keep them from telling the truth per say, can you clarify your feelings on the subject:
See the transcript of what France said at the
Virginian Pilot.

 

Bobby Labonte could return to #71, but still looking: Former Cup champion [2000] Bobby Labonte said he has liked working with the TRG Motorsports team in the few races he has run in the #71 Chevy this year and it has shown him enough to make that car a possible seat for him in 2010. Now whether he actually drives for the team, which has indicated it wants to sign him for 2010, is still to be determined. Labonte, whose car will be sponsored by CBR MotorCars this weekend, said he wasn't sure when he would know what he's doing in 2010, but he felt confident he would have a Sprint Cup ride. Labonte is still considered to have a chance at the #1 Earnhardt Ganassi car and the 2000 Cup champion's name is often mentioned with any other possible opening [rumored to be Jamie McMurray as the new driver]. He drove most of this year with Hall of Fame Racing, which has used Yates Racing to field its cars this year. He will run the final three races this season for TRG Motorsports, where he has had four starts.(SceneDaily)

 

Jeff Gordon hands over keys to his Corvette: On Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, #24-Jeff Gordon handed over the keys to his personal Corvette to new owner Richard Sivulich, the winner of the 2009 The Jeff Gordon Foundation Corvette Raffle. Sivulich, of Highland, Ind.., traveled to Texas to meet Gordon and receive the keys and title to the 2008 Z06 Corvette which was previously owned by the 82-time winner. This year's ceremony was particularly special as Emily, Mycah and Jordan, the three young ladies featured in the corvette raffle commercial, assisted with the presentation. The Jeff Gordon Foundation launched this year's Corvette Raffle -- now in its fourth year -- in early April and sold out all 5,000 tickets by mid-September. Tickets purchased for this raffle support the Foundation's fight against pediatric cancer, their support of the Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital and the Texas Chapter of Speedway Children's Charities. As part of the festivities, Sivulich and the three girls assisted Gordon in presenting the Texas Chapter Speedway Children's Charities with a check for $100,000. A $15,000 check was also presented to the Children's Medical Center in Dallas in honor of Emily, Mycah and Jordan. For more information about this year's TEN Match campaign and The Jeff Gordon Foundation visit www.jeffgordonfoundation.org. (JGF)

 

Wingo to stay at Roush: #26 Crew chief Donnie Wingo appears to be headed back to Roush Fenway Racing next season in a capacity still to be determined. Wingo's future with the organization has been uncertain since it was revealed in late July that driver Jamie McMurray's #26 team would go away and sponsor Crown Royal would move to Roush driver Matt Kenseth's team next year. The breakup of McMurray's team is part of a downsizing by Roush Fenway to conform to NASCAR's new four-car limit set to take effect in 2010. Asked on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway if there would be a place for Wingo next season at Roush Fenway, team co-owner Jack Roush said, "The answer to that is yes." Wingo later backed up his boss' assertion. "I don't think the plan is finalized for next year but we have spoken and he says he's got a place for me there next year and I'm real happy about that," he said. "It's where I want to be right now and I hope I can end my career here. ... I'm just looking forward to whatever they have for me in the future, whatever I can do to help."(SceneDaily), on SPEED's Happy Hour coverage, it was mentioned at Jimmy Fennig, crew chief of the #6 Ford of David Ragan with Roush Fenway Racing, will go to Roush's R&D area and Donnie Wingo will become the crew chief of the #6 team.

 

New track blower, uses vacuum: After six months of research and a year of development, Rob Brush believes he has a better alternative to help dry race tracks. The project manager for a steel fabrication company in Canada has designed a track dryer that travels about twice the speed as the current jet dryers used at NASCAR tracks. Rather than just blow hot air on the track as the jet driers do, Brush's vehicle also uses a vacuum to suck up water akin to a Shop-Vac. "With eight of these units at Daytona International Speedway, we could dry the track in under an hour," Brush said, estimating he could cut the current drying time in half. Brush has built a prototype that was given a successful trial run by NASCAR when a shower followed Sprint Cup qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway two months ago. Brush is expecting to meet with NASCAR officials in Daytona Beach, Fla., in two weeks before bringing the prototype dryer to the season finale at Homestead, Fla. The invention could be a boon for NASCAR, which has been plagued by rain this year (three Cup races were delayed a day and three were shortened by bad weather). The dryer also would fit with NASCAR's green initiatives because it runs on propane. Brush estimates it would burn less than 500 gallons to dry Daytona vs. 3,000 gallons of jet fuel. Brush has attended several races over the past two seasons, taking nearly 4,000 photos in researching the dryer. (USA Today)

 

Toyota committed to NASCAR: Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development, said Toyota's departure from Formula One has no bearing on its NASCAR program, but he also said NASCAR should learn from F1's mistakes. "Leaving Formula One was not an easy decision to make," White said Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. "Obviously, it affects a lot of people, and a lot of those people are friends of ours, so we feel for them. But it should have no effect whatsoever on our NASCAR program, our NASCAR plans and our NASCAR future. We remain completely committed to NASCAR and NASCAR is completely committed to us."
White's biggest concern at the moment is finding a way to compete with Hendrick Motorsports and its Chevrolets. Jimmie Johnson probably is headed for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title and Hendrick drivers hold down the top three spots in the standings. "The Hendrick organization is a tier higher than everyone, including other teams from that manufacturer [Chevrolet]," White said. "So give Hendrick credit. They've done a fantastic job. We don't begrudge them that. We just want to work hard and find ways to beat them." White understands the Hendrick domination has left a perception of a lack of competition, but he doesn't blame NASCAR. "It's very hard to legislate competition," White said. "How can you legislate against Hendrick other than making their life miserable by checking their cars every week and taking them apart? Oh, wait. They did that and it didn't work. I give NASCAR credit for trying. They are doing the best they can. Some of these things just take time until someone figures out how to get as good as they are."(ESPN) AND
Toyota looking to stick with current teams: Toyota has contracts to supply parts and engineering support to eight Sprint Cup teams. White said the manufacturer isn't pursuing deals with more but didn't rule out adding to its stable. "That's a possibility," he said. "Any team that chose to run a Toyota product would be evaluated and then decisions would be made whether engineering support would be provided." White said Toyota has had discussions with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, which is mulling a switch from Chevrolet, "but we have discussions with a lot of people."(SceneDaily) 

 

 

Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud

Matt McLaughlin · Frontstretch.com

 

Texas

 

The Key Moment: Kyle Busch ran out of gas with two laps to go, handing the lead to his brother Kurt, who used extraordinary mileage to drive to his second win of the season.

In a Nutshell: Terrible television timing, Busch brothers battle, Jimmie Johnson in a jam, fans feel frustrated, NASCAR necessitates No-Doz. (Or, if you prefer: frustratingly unwieldy cars keep torpedoing historically interesting sport. Someone help! It's terrible.)

Dramatic Moment: I dunno. I guess watching race cars run out of gas just isn't to my liking. With the Brothers Busch leading all but 13 laps, and the leader and second place drivers often separated by a straightaway, I was nearly lulled comatose Sunday. But, like they say, your mileage may vary.

What They'll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week

Those of you who follow what I do for a living know I don't take this sport or myself too seriously. After all, ultimately it's just a pastime that provides us with a few thrills and chuckles. But one thing I do take seriously is the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform to protect the freedoms most of us take too much for granted. By coincidence, this week's racing took place a couple hours down the pike from Fort Hood, where twelve soldiers and a civilian were killed with many others wounded in a barbaric attack earlier this week. Whether they died on foreign soil or here at home, though, these patriots died protecting our freedoms. They were killed not for anything they did, but simply because of the uniform they wore and the sacred tri-colored flag they wore on their shoulders.

At times like these, it's easy to give in to anger. The deranged shooter in this instance was a Muslim of Palestinian background. But what fewer people consider is the amount of Muslim-Americans who have sacrificed their own lives in defense of our freedoms. Some folks born under the harsh rule of dictatorships in the Middle East appreciate the freedoms our heritage afford us more than most of us who've had it all our lives. So, don't hate. Extend your love to the families of those who have died, and your prayers to those who paid the ultimate price this week.

It's Chapter XXXIIIX in Tony Stewart's stormy and sometimes contentious relationship with the media. (Though, to his credit, he hasn't actually assaulted a reporter lately… Ritalin is a beautiful thing.) Sayeth Mr. Stewart, the racing is really exciting these days, and the fact fans think it's boring is because that's what the media is telling them. This whole "boring race" thing is just a myth. Without meaning to, I'm sure, once again a NASCAR driver is insulting the intelligence of the very fans that support him. He's insinuating that fans are too dumb and ill-informed to form an opinion until they read what one of us demigods of the media write about the race. That's odd. After Talladega, before I'd committed a single word to paper (or giga-whatever these computers use) my email box was flooded with notes from fans protesting what a boring race Talladega had been and urging me to let NASCAR have it with both barrels. Message boards where fans interact absent the media were also stuffed with less than kind critiques of the race. So if anything, the media might be guilty of taking cues from the fans. And wasn't it the driver of the No. 14 car who said over the radio at Talladega the concession stands should be selling "No-Doz?" (Which I'm sure had to delight the race's title sponsor, Amp Energy Drinks.) Tony Stewart is pretty good at this driving a race car deal, but he's never really understood the fans or the media … and in this case, he's badly myth-taken. The races are boring.

I can't help but wonder about the safety of clipping the front half of the No. 48 front end together again mid-race. So, how come they can't replace the engines anymore?

What are you doing out there, Jimmie? Wrecking, Chad, wrecking. By the way, there's a problem for NASCAR with the technological glut fans have available to them these days on their computers and even their cell phones. It was readily apparent Johnson and the No. 48 car weren't meeting minimum speed through such technology… but no black flag was thrown.

Honestly, was anyone surprised when Jeff Gordon was seconds from going a lap down and all of a sudden a debris caution flew at the halfway point? They're so desperate to promote some sort of title fight, NASCAR doesn't even try to hide their motives anymore. The WWE would have been blushing with shame.

Economy got you down? Would a few free drinks help you out? Find out where Brian France and ABC executives are taking David Reutimann and Sam Hornish for dinner this week. Brian ought to be buying rounds for the house after the lap three incident at Texas. Just make sure not to accept a ride home in his Lexus!

A note to NASCAR and track General Managers everywhere: in this day and age, it's simply an embarrassment that there are any concrete walls left not protected by the SAFER barrier. Anytime you're sure there's no way an out of control car can hit a certain part of the wall, some driver will prove you wrong.

The ratings are in the toilet, fans are leaving the sport in droves, sponsors are leaving as well, and there are vast swathes of empty seats in the grandstands. The Chase has failed to grab the general public's attention, and the COT may be the most loathed vehicle since Pontiac rolled out the Aztek. But hang in there everybody, everything is going to be all right! Danica's coming, Danica's coming! That'll fix everything, even if Ms. Patrick intends to keep her day job in the IRL and just dangle her tootsies in stock car racing. Reportedly, Ms. Patrick will get paid 50 to 100 grand to compete in each stock car race she lends her good name and stellar image to. That's a pretty nice payday, especially considering Kyle Busch won $68,270 bucks in purse money by winning Saturday's NW race (and Texas is actually one of the better paying tracks on the circuit.) Yep, Danica's coming. Maybe. Remember when everyone was all atwitter on their twitters that Ashley Judd was coming to the NASCAR garage area? Anyone seen Ashley lately? How about Dario? Jacques? By and large, with the notable exception of Juan Pablo Montoya and the certain exception of myth buster Tony Stewart, these open wheel sorts haven't amounted to much in stock car racing lately. But at least Danica's arrival will signal that the NASCAR driving ranks are open to women…

You have to give a pat on the back to ABC for their Wiley Coyote-like persistence in the face of repeated failure. These late afternoon start times have typically yielded horrid ratings, and my guess is they will do so again over the course of the next three weeks.

A Canadian gentleman by the name of Rob Brush claims he's invented a better mousetrap, or in this instance a better track drying truck. Rather than blowing hot air on the track to dry it, Mr. Brush's truck sucks up the water like a giant mobile shop-vac. He claims eight of his rigs could dry Daytona in under an hour. I have a few questions, though. How much water can the storage tanks contain? It would seem to me they'd need to be emptied near constantly after a heavy rain. And wouldn't all that water sloshing around in the storage tank make such a truck prone to rollovers at a place like Daytona? Absent more information, I'm not buying the vacuum truck concept. We already have enough things in this sport that suck.

Wow. Brad Daugherty does a commercial for a grocery store during NASCAR Countdown. Nah, that couldn't possibly be a sign that the networks have too little material to fill an hour long pre-race show.

Miller Lite being served in what looked like a Nestle Quik bottle in Victory Lane? I'm not buying it. Anybody else remember the joke about why Miller Lite is like making love in a canoe?

Did anyone else note that absent the decals and paint, the front end of the new cars (like the No. 48 Sunday) look more like a mid-'80s BMW 7 series two door than anything the Big Three produce today?

Mike Skinner, who finished 43rd, was officially listed as 328 laps off the pace but finishing the race "in pit." Damn, that is one long pit stop.

The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune

Kyle Busch certainly seemed to have the race in hand prior to running out of fuel with two laps to go. Oddly, he left the race track without comment after the race and his flirtation with history, leaving his new crew chief to handle the post-race comments. Welcome to the Bigs, Mr. Rogers.

Three laps into the race, Jimmie Johnson tangled with David Reutimann and Sam Hornish. He almost caught the car but then nosed in hard to an unforgiving and unprotected section of the concrete wall, reducing the 48 car to scrap. Johnson has now gone from an insurmountable points lead to a probably not surmountable points lead, but ABC/ESPN is going to ride this nag for all its worth and claim we're at the rodeo.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. cruised comfortably inside the top 5 most of the race, only to run out of fuel in the final laps of the race and have trouble re-firing the car. He finished all of thirteen positions ahead of Jimmie Johnson as a result, who spent over an hour in the garage area to wind up 38th.

Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 team squandered a major opportunity to make up some serious ground on the No. 48 bunch Sunday. You have to kick 'em while they're down to beat the Big Boys… and while Gordon made up a few spots in the final laps as other drivers ahead of him ran out of gas, whatever was wrong with the No. 24 car, that dog just wouldn't hunt. Hellfire, what did they do, give Gordon one of the No. 88 team's cars?

Wow. Brian France admitted this week he couldn't comment on the ABC booth crew's less than stellar opinion of last week's Talladega race because he didn't watch the whole thing. If he can't endure watching the tedium, why should the fans?

Marcos Ambrose was having a good day, mate, when he entered the pits third and left nineteenth. Right then. Can't be helped.

The "Seven Come Fore Eleven" Award For Fine Fortune

For Pat Tryson, who is leaving the No. 2 team, a victory borne atop the box had to be sweet.

How close was Kurt Busch on fuel? In the end, his team ended up pushing the winning car to Victory Lane.

Mark Martin and the No. 5 team used a strategy more conservative than Rush Limbaugh, but left Texas with a fourth place finish.

Despite being the primary cause of the lap 3 melee that ABC set a record for re-showing Sunday, David Reutimann drove on unscathed to a sixteenth place finish. Hopefully, he was also able to drive unscathed to the airport before Chad Knaus caught up with him, or the "The Franchise" might have ended up "The Fractured."

Denny Hamlin's Camry got out from underneath him and he slapped the wall hard. That forced him to run just slowly enough that he had enough gas to drive to a second place finish.

Kevin Harvick ran out of fuel and fell from second to fifth on the final lap, but the way his season is going, that was actually a finish for the highlight reels. I guess it beats having another car land on your hood…

A.J. Allmendinger finished tenth at the wheel of a car that bore some passing if casual resemblance to a Ford Fusion out of the RPM shops. I just couldn't get my mind around the Ford logo in the center of the hood of what looked like one of the STP Dodges the King drove with such success in the early '70s. Holy Juxtaposition, Batman!

Jeff Burton drove from a 42nd place starting position to a ninth place result.

Worth Noting

·         Kurt Busch won for the first time since Atlanta, the fourth race of the season.

·         Denny Hamlin finished second for the fourth time this season.

·         Over the course of the last seven races, Matt Kenseth (third) has finished second or third followed by two lousy finishes. On a brighter note, he only has two more races to finish lousy in this season.

·         Mark Martin's fourth place finish marks the 33rd time this season he's finished a race on his tires rather than on his roof.

·         Kevin Harvick's fifth place finish was his best since Atlanta ten races ago. Is it time to rename RCR "SOS Racing?"

·         Jeff Burton (ninth) has posted back-to-back top 10 finishes in points paying races for the first time this season. SOS, SOS.

·         A.J. Allmendinger's tenth place finish was his first top 10 result since Dover. Have you driven a Ford lately?

·         Ryan Newman (12th) hasn't enjoyed a top 5 finish since Charlotte in May, though doubtless he enjoyed finishing right side up at Texas.

·         Jimmie Johnson's 38th place finish was his worst of the season.

·         Do you remember where you were August 22nd of this year? It sure was a long time ago, but gas receipts indicate I was in Carlisle on my Harley at 1:14 that afternoon. That evening, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. posted his last top 10 finish to date this season. All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray, I've been for a walk, on a winter's day…

·         The top 10 finishers at Texas drove a Dodge, a Toyota, three Fords, and five Chevys.

·         Joey Logano, or Jo-Log as I like to call him to make myself sound like a hopelessly hip Hollywood gossip columnist, was the top finishing rookie at Texas. This year's Rookie of the Year contest has been the closest battle since the U.S. military invaded Grenada…

What's the Points?

You might find this hard to believe due to the amount of times ABC replayed Jimmie Johnson's wreck, but he's still leading the standings. His gap over second place Mark Martin is down to a still considerable 73 points, but if you're willing to bet the farm against the No. 48 team — leave the keys in the combine.

Jeff Gordon remains third in the standings, but is doubtless polishing off any hope for a fifth title after the way he ran at Texas Sunday. Kurt Busch's win propels him up two spots to fourth. Juan Pablo Montoya's unforced error drops him two spots to sixth. Tony Stewart occupies the spot between them.

Further back, Greg Biffle sits seventh in the standings. Denny Hamlin rocketed up three spots to eighth, while Ryan Newman fell a spot to ninth. He is the last driver to have a mathematical shot at winning this year's title. Of course, he'd have to win the next two races and lead the most laps in each, while Johnson would have to finish 43rd in both events. (Pssst… I don't think that's going to happen.)

Kasey Kahne fell a spot to tenth. Carl Edwards fell a spot to 11th, as last season's most prolific winner still hasn't won a Cup race yet this year.

Finally, like that unemployed uncle who wears a tin foil lined colander on his head to keep space aliens from reading his mind, Brian Vickers remains in the cellar of the Chase, emerging only occasionally in stained underwear and a threadbare robe to filch a six pack from the fridge.

13th place Kyle Busch is now 32 points ahead of 14th place Matt Kenseth. But they mean nothing to you, and I don't know why…

Under the old points system, Johnson would now be 93 points behind Tony Stewart with two races left to go. That's a bigger gap than we currently see in the Chase, but it would still feel more legitimate, and it would be the second time in two weeks the lead would have changed hands. Jeff Gordon would be a single point behind Johnson in third.

Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans, with one being a stinker and a six pack an instant classic) — About what I expected but I wasn't expecting much. We'll give it three cans because nobody ended up on their lid this week.

Next Up: It's off to Phoenix for the penultimate race of an ultimately bad season. (Pssst… don't tell Tony I told you you have to feel that way. Or that I think his comments this weekend indicate he's dumber than a sack of hammers.)

 

Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2009 Dickies 500

Total number of commercials: 123

Total number of companies or entities advertised: 59

Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 25

Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 22

Start time to record race/commercial periods: 3:15 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 6:59 PM

Total minutes: 224

Minutes of race broadcast: 174
Minutes of commercials: 50

Number of missed restarts: 0
Number of 'mystery cautions' (debris not shown): 0

Number of times a replay of Johnson's wreck on lap three was shown: 13
Number of minutes Jimmie Johnson's car was in the garage under repair: 68
Number of times Jimmie Johnson's car was shown being worked on during the race broadcast: 17
Number of times Chad Knaus was shown working on Jimmie's car following the wreck: 5
Number of times a replay was shown of Carl Edwards' wreck: 5

 

UNOFFICIAL Sprint Cup CHASE Standings
[after Texas, Chase race 8 of 10; Season race 34 of 36]:
1) #48-Jimmie Johnson [6 wins], 6297, finished 38th
2) #5-Mark Martin [5 wins], 6224, -73, 4th
3) #24-Jeff Gordon [1 win], 6185, -112, 13th
4) #2-Kurt Busch [2 wins], 6126, -171, WON
5) #14-Tony Stewart [4 wins], 6119, -178, 6th
6) #42-Juan Montoya, 6061, -236, 37th
7) #16-Greg Biffle, 6050, -247, 8th
8) #11-Denny Hamlin [3 wins], 5975, -322, 2nd
9) #39-Ryan Newman, 5973, -324, 12th
10) #9-Kasey Kahne [2 wins], 5898, -399, 33rd
11) #99-Carl Edwards, 5857, -440, 39th
12) #83-Brian Vickers [1 win], 5777, -520, 26th

UNOFFICIAL Sprint Cup CLASSIC - the OLD way - Driver Points Standings
[after Texas, race 34 of 36]:
1) #14-Tony Stewart (X), 4895
2) #24-Jeff Gordon (X), 4802, -93
3) #48-Jimmie Johnson (X), 4801, -94
4) #5-Mark Martin (X), 4475, -420
5) #11-Denny Hamlin (X), 4446, -449
6) #2-Kurt Busch (X), 4438, -457
7) #42-Juan Pablo Montoya (X), 4312, -583
8) #16-Greg Biffle (X), 4299, -596
9) #39-Ryan Newman (X), 4245, -650
10) #18-Kyle Busch, 4183, -712
11) #9-Kasey Kahne (X), 4158, -737
12) #17-Matt Kenseth, 4151, -744
13) #99-Carl Edwards (X), 4137, -758
14) #33-Clint Bowyer, 4078, -817
15) #83-Brian Vickers (X), 3975, -920
16) #00-David Reutimann, 3969, -926

 

Good fuel mileage pushes Denny Hamlin to second-place finish

By SceneDaily Staff

 

FORT WORTH, Texas - Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin didn't seem to be having the best race. He said he lost positions on pit road and then bounced off the wall – but then crew chief Mike Ford opted to keep the driver on the track and conserve fuel late to net a runnerup finish in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Hamlin ran into the wall with about 80 laps to go in the race, but in the end that didn't matter as he conserved fuel and made up for it.
"Mike said we were half a lap to good, even if I ran hard like I did the previous run," Hamlin said. "I got in the wall and just made a mistake. We struggled on pit road today and really got ourselves back in the pack. Mike came through and had a great pit strategy. 
"All those [other] guys were short-pitting and he decided to put our Camry out there for a while."
The team made its final pit stop on lap 269, a couple laps after the last of the other leaders had come in. Then, in the waning laps of the race as others returned to top off with fuel or for quick changes, Hamlin as able to ride it out and stay on the track.
That enabled him to snare the second-place finish two weeks after winning at Martinsville Speedway.
Hamlin said that it was nice for a fuel-mileage race to go his way. This one clearly did with the top finish that allowed him to gain three spots to eighth in the standings.
"[It] played out in our favor, for sure," he said. "Usually, these fuel-mileage races don't go our way. Obviously, we gained some spots today on the fuel-mileage thing."

 

Late pit stop is key to top-five finish for Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth

By SceneDaily Staff

 

FORT WORTH, Texas - Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth knew he was going to need fuel to finish the race, so he went ahead and stopped with 25 laps to go in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
That strategy paid off well as Kenseth went on to finish third in the race - behind the only two teams that made it to the end following an earlier round of pit stops.
"We were 10 laps short so we did everything we could," Kenseth said. "These guys did a really good job on this team this weekend. We were pretty slow when we got here. We qualified 30th and had an uphill battle all day, and I think we would have finished about third or fourth on performance, and the way everything shook out, we still ran third, so, overall, I'm happy with that."
Kenseth said that at one point, he thought that everyone might run out or have to pit late. Kyle Busch, who led 232 laps, did run out inside the final three laps, and others dove down pit road as their tanks began to run dry in the closing miles.
Kenseth looked like he just might have a shot at taking his third win of the season - and first in 32 races.
In the end, though, he said he was pleased to see former teammate Kurt Busch and his Penske Racing team win. After all, they had led 89 laps during the race and spent much of the rest of the laps running second to Kyle Busch.
"I thought when we came and got tires with 25 to go and fuel that we actually had a shot to win, if some of those guys didn't make it, but yet the 2 [of Busch] was real fast all day and [crew chief] Pat Tryson is famous for calling fuel-mileage races," Kenseth said. "I'm happy Kurt won because at least he was really fast all day and it wasn't like somebody running 20th ran around half-throttle and won the race. So it was cool that Kurt pulled that off. 
"I'm really happy for them. They were able to go a couple extra laps and be fast, and be able to stay out there, but we just got tires and raced as hard as we could all day."
Kenseth remained 14th in the standings, 32 points behind Kyle Busch in 13th with two races to go this season.

 

Mark Martin closes on points lead and says 'still things can happen'

By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer

 

FORT WORTH, Texas – Just when it appeared that Mark Martin's bid for the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship might be over, Martin is back in the hunt.
A fourth-place finish in Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway combined with a 38th-place outing for Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson has revived Martin's title hopes with two races left.
Martin entered the race trailing Johnson by 184 points but will head to next weekend's event at Phoenix International Raceway 73 points behind the defending three-time series champion.
"It didn't feel as good when I knew we didn't have a chance," Martin said. "It's still a long shot because they have great performance. We can't go outperform them seventy-some points but racing's not over with yet. Jeff Gordon is breathing down my neck, Tony Stewart. We'll have to see what happens here."
Johnson's finish came on the heels of a lap-three crash triggered when the cars of David Reutimann and Sam Hornish Jr. made contact off Turn 2, sending Hornish up into Johnson and Johnson back down into Hornish before heavy contact with the inside wall.
Martin was just ahead of the wreck and could see it in his rearview mirror, but it didn't really change his strategy.
"From then on, what does it matter?" crew chief Alan Gustafson said. "What's done's done. So he was focused on getting us the best position we could possibly get and did a good job with that."
Gordon, who started the race just eight points behind Martin, remained third in the standings but now trails Martin by 39 points after finishing 13th. Fifth-place Tony Stewart is seven more points back and 178 behind Johnson.
"I've still got my hands full for the top six positions with all those guys," Martin said. "Two guys that have knocked me out of championships [Stewart and Gordon] are still breathing down my neck. So the race is still on, man.
"I don't know why everybody tries to count this thing out and doesn't just wait and watch. There's still two races to go and still things can happen."
Martin struggled with the handling of his car throughout the early portion of Sunday's race but steadily improved thanks to adjustments and fast pit stops.
"Track position was the big deal," Gustafson said. "Any time you get track position that helps and [we] got the car better and the pit crew did a great job pitting up a spot or two and then Mark would get a spot and then all of a sudden you're up there in the top five.  Then you've got some track position, you can go from there, so just a tough fight."
Martin credited Gustafson for making the right calls to make his Chevrolet better. After falling as low as 16th following a pit stop under the race's second caution, Martin had rallied to sixth just past lap 200. And he continued to climb from there.

"We were junk yesterday," said Martin, who made a late green-flag pit stop for fuel along with most of the leaders. "We were not very good the first half the race and they hit on something and I was like, 'Maybe we shouldn't change anything now' because we were very competitive. We were a solid top-five car at the end."
Up next for Martin is Phoenix International Raceway, a track where the 50-year-old driver dominated in April en route to his first victory with the No. 5 team.
An equally stout performance there next weekend could boost Martin's title hopes even more.
"It's nice to go back to that track," Gustafson said. "That's a track that we've had a lot of success with the 5 and Mark's been great at through his career, so Phoenix is kind of a welcome site for us. I think we can go run good and compete to win."

 

RCR puts three of its Sprint Cup cars in top 10 at Texas

By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer

 

FORT WORTH, Texas – Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway was just the kind of outing that Richard Childress Racing wanted.
Nearing the end to a disappointing season by the six-time Cup champion organization's standards, RCR placed three of its four cars in the top nine at Texas.

Kevin Harvick finished fifth, followed by teammate Clint Bowyer in seventh and RCR's Jeff Burton in ninth. RCR's fourth driver, Casey Mears, finished 21st.
Harvick moved up in the final running order by stretching his last tank of fuel to the finish when many of the leaders ducked on to pit road for a splash of gas in the closing laps. The finish gave Harvick his first top-five since a runner-up effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sept. 6.
And the overall performance of RCR was a shot in the arm for the organization, which remains winless in 2009 after failing to place any of its drivers in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup.
RCR put all three of drivers in NASCAR's 10-race championship-determining playoff in 2007 and 2008 before adding a fourth team this year.
"The Shell-Pennzoil Chevy was a good car all day. I think we were running seventh or eighth there and just decided to go for it at the end [on fuel]," Harvick said. "[We] came up about a lap short there but a great call by [crew chief] Gil [Martin] to just give it a whirl and see what happened in the end."
While Burton wasn't RCR's top performer in the race, he probably overcame the most adversity over the course of the weekend. The veteran driver started at the rear of the field in a backup car following a crash in Friday's opening practice session at the 1.5-mile track.
The finish gave Burton his second top-10 in as many starts with crew chief Todd Berrier, who RCR moved over from Mears' No. 07 team prior to last weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Burton placed fifth in that event – his first without former crew chief Scott Miller, who was promoted to RCR's director of competition.
"What a heck of a run with the … team," Burton said. "These guys fought hard after we had to load up our primary Chevy when it received too much damage when I hit the wall. Todd did a great job dialing in our back up for the race and what a great way to end the weekend."
Bowyer was the most consistent RCR car throughout the race at Texas, running in the top 10 for much of the 334-lap event before ultimately settling for seventh.
"Our car was tight all day," Bowyer said. "[Crew chief] Shane [Wilson] made a call to short pit for fuel in order to make it to the end. The cards fell in our favor and were able to grab a seventh-place finish.
"Wish we could have had a better finish but, all in all, it's a good result and another top-10 to add to our 2009 resume."

 

Juan Pablo Montoya's Sprint Cup title hopes take Texas-sized blow

By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer

 

FORT WORTH, Texas – Juan Pablo Montoya's already-dwindling hopes of winning the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup title suffered another blow with a wreck on lap 174 of Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Montoya was running just inside the top 20 when his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet broke loose and slid up the track in Turn 1, collecting fellow Chase For The Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards and sending both to the garage.
"It was just really close racing," Montoya said. "I think Carl was really close to me and drove right beside me and the car got loose and I lost it. With these cars, that is just going to happen.
"Everyone on the [team] is doing an amazing job. This week we didn't have the car we wanted, but we were getting better and better as the day went on. It kinda sucks, but things like this happen."
Montoya, who entered the race fourth in the standings and 239 points out of the lead, fell to sixth in the standings with his 37th-place finish. The former open-wheel star failed to capitalize on the misfortunes of points leader Jimmie Johnson, who was involved in a crash on lap three and spent just over an hour undergoing repairs.
"We didn't change our game plan after Jimmie's accident," Montoya said. "You have to do what you can and run as you can. The No. 5 [car of Mark Martin] was really slow on the bottom and he was stacking everybody and that didn't help, but it's OK. It's just one of those deals."
Montoya trails Johnson by 233 points heading into next weekend's penultimate event at Phoenix International Raceway.
Edwards, who arrived at Texas 10th in the Chase standings and left in 11th place, wasn't upset with Montoya about the contact that put him out of the race.
"I didn't expect it, especially from Juan," the Roush Fenway Racing driver said. "He's got great car control. His car must have been really loose and it just snapped on him. It looked like he needed another couple inches and it wasn't there, but that's just racing."
Since opening the Chase with four consecutive top-fives, Montoya has finished 19th or worse in three of his last four outings.
"It is rough because we keep bringing great cars every week and to see one wrecked like that kind of sucks," he said.

 

Jeff Gordon can't capitalize on teammate's troubles at Texas

By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer

 

FORT WORTH, Texas – A dejected Jeff Gordon didn't attempt to hide his frustrations about an opportunity missed in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Needing Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson to finish poorly in order to have any shot at catching the defending three-time champion for the series title, that's exactly what happened when Johnson was involved in a lap three crash and went behind the wall for extensive repairs before finishing 38th.
Gordon struggled throughout the Dickies 500 with a poor-handling race car, however, and finished 13th – closing the gap on Johnson but not by nearly as much he could have with a better performance.
Gordon entered the weekend 192 points behind the leader and shaved off 80 points, but he lost ground to teammate Mark Martin, who rallied from a slow start at Texas to finish fourth and move within 73 points of Johnson.
Gordon, whose lone Texas victory came his 17th start at the track back in April, wasn't nearly as strong this time around at the 1.5-mile facility. Starting from the pole, the four-time champion led just 11 laps before fading and eventually falling out of the top 15.
"Just a total missed opportunity," Gordon said. "All we could do throughout this whole Chase [For The Sprint Cup] is fight, fight, fight and when the 48 [of Johnson] put together the string of runs that they did, you've just got to keep pushing, and if they make a mistake or a problem happens you've got to capitalize on it. ... We just really didn't do a very good job today."
Gordon caught a big break when a caution flag waved for debris on lap 168 just as he was about to be lapped by Kyle Busch. Gordon continued to struggle, however, and spun less than 10 laps later while trying to avoid the wrecking cars of fellow Chase contenders Juan Pablo Montoya and Carl Edwards in Turn 2.
"I just saw two cars get together and head up the race track into the wall and I was trying to avoid them and the car came around and I just stood on the throttle to try to keep it out of the wall," Gordon said. "Luckily I did, and it cost us some track position, but at least it kept us on the lead lap."
Gordon avoided any damage in the spin and restarted 18th, last among lead-lap cars, and made minimal progress over the remaining 150-plus laps. To hear him tell it, his Texas triumph in April was little more than a fluke.
"[I had] the same issues I have every time I come to Texas except for the last time we had some miracle happen and we won the race," Gordon said. "I don't know. I just am not good here and I don't know what to tell them to make it better. And the car definitely wasn't doing what I wanted it to do."

 

Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch falls 3 laps short of Texas triple play

By Jeff Gluck - Associate Editor

 

FORT WORTH, Texas - Dave Rogers stood patiently and waited for a television interview, his face expressionless though his insides, he said, were filled with disbelief and disappointment.
His first race as Kyle Busch's crew chief had nearly made for a perfect debut: Busch led 232 of the 334 laps, and had he led three more, he would have won Sunday's Sprint Cup Dickies 500 and swept all three NASCAR races at the Texas weekend.
No driver had ever done that, and after Busch ran out of fuel with three laps to go and ended up 11th, that remains unchanged.
Busch simply said, "I'm out" on the team radio when his gas tank ran dry, then parked in his garage stall after the race and stormed into his hauler before slipping out a back door and leaving Rogers to answer questions on his behalf.
"Looking at our numbers there, looking at the lap times that he had fallen off from the previous run, I thought for sure we were going to make it 'til maybe off Turn 4 of the final lap," Rogers said. "I don't know if we didn't get it full or the fuel cell just didn't pick up what we thought it could, but we had several green-flag runs this race, so we were pretty confident. We knew what we had for fuel mileage."
As members of the No. 18 team somberly worked on the car behind him, Rogers said there was no other choice but to go for the win, given the team's position outside the Chase field. If Busch had pitted, his brother Kurt (the eventual winner) would have passed him anyway.
"Our only shot of winning it was to stay out, so we gambled," Rogers said. "Sometimes when you gamble, you lose. We lost today."
Rogers said Busch didn't speak to anyone after the race, but he didn't blame the driver for being upset.
"I think he handled it well. It's tough, you know?" Rogers said. "You lead all those laps, and he could have gone for the clean sweep this weekend. He deserved to win all three in a row and you get beat."
Asked if Rogers had wished for an easier first night on the job instead of being faced with a decision that could make or break the race, he smiled weakly.
 
"Welcome to the club, huh?" he said. "It's part of the game, it's what you sign up for. Someone's got to do that job, and I raised my hand and said 'I want do it,' and here I am."

 

Kurt Busch Wins At Texas; Johnson Wrecks Early

By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
 
FORT WORTH, TX—In recent weeks, Jimmie Johnson has worn out the already threadbare phrase, "Anything can happen in our sport."
On Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, it finally did.
Capitalizing on superior fuel mileage, Kurt Busch drove his No. 2 Dodge to victory in the Dickies 500, after disaster struck Johnson like a lightning bolt and made a race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup after all.
Johnson suffered a Lap 3 wreck that sidelined his No. 48 Chevrolet for more than an hour as his team made extensive repairs. With a 38th-place finish, Johnson lost 111 points of his 184-point lead in the Chase to second-place Mark Martin, who finished fourth and trails Johnson by 73 points with two races left.

Busch won the race at the expense brother Kyle Busch, who ran out of fuel three laps short of completing an unprecedented weekend sweep of races in NASCAR's top three divisions. Busch had won the Camping World Truck Series race on Friday and the Nationwide Series event on Saturday.
After pitting on Lap 269 of 334, Kyle Busch was leading and trying to conserve fuel when he ran out on the backstretch on Lap 331. "I'm out! I'm out—coming to you!" he radioed to crew chief Dave Rogers, who had replaced Steve Addington on the pit box after last Sunday's race at Talladega.
That handed the lead to Kurt, who had pitted on Lap 271 and had saved enough fuel to make it to the finish line.
Denny Hamlin took advantage of the pervasive gas shortage to finish second, 25.686 seconds behind Busch, the largest margin of victory in a Cup race since the inception of electronic scoring in May 1993. Matt Kenseth ran third, followed by Martin, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart. Those were the only six drivers to finish on the lead lap, the fewest since six cars finished on the lead lap in June 2008 at Dover.
"I knew what we had for fuel mileage—I was confident in our guys' numbers," Kurt Busch said in victory lane. "They gave me what I needed to win today. We were fast, we were playing cat-and-mouse with Kyle on restarts—you know, it's the first true time that Kyle and I have raced each other hard for a victory like this.
"For us to come away and knock him off his sweep—he was trying to go for it—it's bittersweet. I was rooting for him, but at the same time, this is for us."

Johnson's heretofore flawless run to a record fourth straight championship hit a major snag after a tap from David Reutimann in Turn 2 started Sam Hornish Jr. sliding up the track into Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet.
Johnson fought for control before spinning back into Hornish's No. 77 Dodge and slamming into the inside wall. Johnson was off the track for an hour and eight minutes while his crew worked frantically to repair the car, which suffered heavy damage to the front and rear.
The No. 48 Chevy returned the track on Lap 115 and gained five positions through the attrition of other cars.
Johnson stayed in the car through the entire repair process.

"Just sat in the car, was thinking through what went on, how I could have done something different," he said. "(I was) on the outside lane, driving by a couple cars, and I didn't really even see the 77 get loose. I got clobbered from the side. Around I went. 
"I thought about those things sitting in the pits. Watched the guys, hoped that they could get the car fixed and on track. I could see the televisions, was watching the race. Just kind of paid attention to where the 5 (Martin) and 24 (polesitter Jeff Gordon, who finished 13th and trails Johnson by 112 points) were on track."
"I guess after enough time sitting there, I finally calmed down some and caught my breath and relaxed. But the first 20, 30 minutes of that were pretty painful."
Notes: Kurt Busch gained two positions to fourth in the standings and trails Johnson by 171 points. … Brad Keselowski was the victim of a Lap 175 crash and finished 35th in his debut in the No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge. … Juan Pablo Montoya, who triggered that wreck in Turn 2, came home 37th and dropped two positions to sixth in points. … Busch made a $1 million winner of Michael McGee, the race sponsor's American Worker of the Year. McGee picked Busch to win in a random drawing on Saturday.

 

 

Even with wreck, Jimmie Johnson still solidly in Chase For The Sprint Cup lead

By SceneDaily Staff

 

FORT WORTH, Texas - Jimmie Johnson and his Chad Knaus-led Hendrick Motorsports team have been impeccable during races in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup in recent years. But they refused to buy into the theory that their 184-point lead in the standings with three races to go was enough to guarantee this year's title.
Sunday, fans saw just why they felt that way as Johnson was hit by Penske Racing's Sam Hornish Jr. on the third lap of the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Hornish, who was pushed into Johnson after contact from Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann, tagged Johnson's rear and sent the Hendrick driver's Chevrolet toward the outside wall.

Brakes spewing smoke, Johnson almost kept it off the wall and sustained only minor damage. He looked on the verge of saving the car – another stunning Johnson Chase move in the making – but he couldn't hold it and came back down across the track, hitting Hornish and then the inside wall a couple of times.
He limped his car to the garage, both the front and rear ends damaged, and spent more than an hour there with his crew – and members of other Hendrick crews – patiently and methodically making changes to the car. The team had to replace the front clip, the rear deck lid, the wing, the right-side rear quarter panel, suspension parts and the driveshaft.
"The sway bar had been slammed shut," Johnson said of the damage. "The mounts and everything the A-frame is bolted to, everything was twisted up so bad, [Chad] wasn't sure we were going to be able to get it back straight, hang suspension on it.
"At that point I just stayed in the car. I didn't want to hop out and let the crew guys think it was done. I was going to stay in it until he pushed it up on the ramp. I wanted them to keep working on it, find a way to get it on the track."
They did just that. 
The car, black on both the front and rear after the repairs, finally returned to the track on lap 116. Johnson was 116 laps off the pace - and forfeiting the majority of his points lead.
He managed to make minimum speed, though, and kept his car on the track until the end, moving to 38th courtesy of teams that fell by the wayside in the race.
That enabled him to maintain a 73-point lead in the standings over teammate Mark Martin, who finished fourth. Now, though, four other drivers are within that same 184 points of Johnson that only one was entering the race. Third-place Jeff Gordon is 112 points back, followed by Penske Racing's Kurt Busch (171) and Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart (178).
Still, Johnson admits that watching his lead trimmed so dramatically is cause for concern with two races to go in his pursuit of a fourth consecutive championship.
"This could take place at the start of the race next weekend," he said. "You just never know. That's the stuff that worries me. It's a nice points lead. We just need to follow the 5 [of Mark Martin] in a sense and everything would be fine.
"As we saw today, anything can happen. … It's not as bad as it could have been. We could have been 43rd. At one point Chad told me to hop out of the car, it was done, we're going to have to put it on the truck. They were able to get it fixed. Mark didn't win. There were a couple small things that helped us in the end. It's still a big ouch."
Johnson said that he's still optimistic, though, that his team can snare its fourth consecutive title.
He said that he couldn't really compare Sunday's race to past experiences that well just yet. After all, that hour-plus he spent sweating out the changes in the car was still fresh on his mind.
Now, he's already back to thinking about how to recover – or hold steady – in the final pair of races.
"I guess at the end of Homestead I will be able to really understand how these emotions, what they mean," he said. "Right now I'm still optimistic. We still have a nice points margin. Hopefully we don't need the points we lost tonight to win the championship. I don't think the sting from this race will really show up till the checkered falls in Homestead and we see where we're at, how the points shake out.
"[I] just sat in the car, was thinking through what went on, how I could have done something different. On the outside lane, driving by a couple cars, and I didn't really even see the 77 [of Hornish] get loose. I got clobbered from the side. Around I went. I thought about those things sitting in the pits. Watched the guys, hoped that they could get the car fixed and on track. I could see the televisions, was watching the race. Just kind of paid attention to where the 5 [of Martin] and 24 [of Gordon] were on track. I guess after enough time sitting there, I finally calmed down some and caught my breath and relaxed. But the first 20, 30 minutes of that were pretty painful."

 

  

Five Points to Ponder…

Mike Lovecchio · Frontstretch.com

 

Texas

 

Each week, the Frontstretch hosts a live blog during the Sprint Cup race. It's a great way for readers to interact alongside their favorite Frontstretch writers with videos, live commentary and live polls. Four of this week's "Five Points" were polls taken during the Texas live blog.

ONE: Is it now a two driver race for the Chase?

Just a few minutes into Sunday's Dickie's 500 and fans remembered just how unpredictable racing really is. It's easy to forget sometimes when Jimmie Johnson puts on a clinic week in and week out, but when Sam Hornish Jr. turned the No. 48 car and sent Johnson into the wall, fans stopped wondering if the 3-time defending champion could clinch another title next week and started rooting for Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon to narrow the deficit. Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 team failed to step up, finishing 13th, but it was his teammate Mark Martin who played the correct fuel strategy in the closing laps to maintain a 4th place finish, closing the gap to 73 points between he and Johnson. With Gordon 112 points back, it is now a two man battle for the title with Martin now heading to Phoenix where he won earlier this season. Martin may need Johnson to slip up again to take the crown, but as we saw Sunday….anything can happen.

TWO: Given Sunday's events, do you still think Jimmie Johnson will win the championship?
Fan Vote – YES: 83%; NO: 17%

Yes, Mark Martin is just 73 points out of first. Yes, he won at Phoenix this spring. Yes, he has more experience than anybody in the series. But does anybody really expect Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus to let a fourth consecutive championship slip out of their grip? Racing is unpredictable by nature, but it will take either a mechanical failure or another crash for the No. 48 to lose this title. This is the most consistent team of this era and for them to have two bad races out of the final three and lose a 184 point lead with the championship on the line – it's just something I don't see happening.

THREE: Do you like fuel mileage races?
Fan Vote – YES: 50%; NO: 50%

The fan vote is an accurate representation of the tug of war that goes on in my own mind when races play out the way they did on Sunday. On one hand I like the unpredictably a fuel mileage race holds – wondering who can make it on fuel, holding your breath to see if they finish the final laps – but I'd also rather see a race play out on the racetrack. It was truly a shame to see Kyle Busch miss out on the weekend trifecta because he ran out of fuel when he had the best car. In the end, you just have to chalk up fuel mileage races as a part of racing and remember – at least there was no phantom debris caution that set up a green-white-checkered.

FOUR: Did the increased coverage of Johnson's repairs help or hurt ESPN on ABC's broadcast?
Fan Vote – HELPED: 33%: HURT: 67%

I doubt anybody expected Jimmie Johnson to run into problems immediately following the drop of the green flag, but the ESPN on ABC crew did a fantastic job calling an audible and delivering updates to fans throughout Johnson's hour long stay in the garage. It was true reality TV watching Chad Knaus and the No. 48 team, along with help from other Hendrick crew members, race the clock and completely rebuild a car fast enough to get back on track in time to make up positions. In the end, by repairing the car in just over an hour, Johnson was able to make up a crucial five positions on the track. I for one loved the coverage of the repairs, but could have done without the, "In case you missed it…" and replay every five minutes throughout the day.

FIVE: Will Danica Patrick ever become a full-time Sprint Cup driver?
Fan Vote – YES: 33%; NO: 67%

Before Sunday's race started I figured I'd poll fans' thoughts on one of the bigger news items this week – the Danica Patrick rumor of signing with JR Motorsports for a limited Nationwide schedule in 2010. Some fans were impressed that she's easing into stock car racing and seems to want to accept the challenge while others thought she was going for the money and celebrity. In the end, when asked if she would ever get a chance to be a full-time Sprint Cup driver, 67 percent of viewers voted 'No'. To me it comes down to one thing: what she decides to do with her IndyCar career. I understand she's running the full schedule next season no matter what happens in the Nationwide Series, but if she continues to run both IndyCar and Nationwide in 2011, I don't see it happening. You simply can't compete in both series and if she ever wants a legitimate NASCAR Sprint Cup career, she's going to need to put all of her focus in the stock car racing. It might be a big risk, but it could also reap a big reward.

Notes to Ponder:

Near triple: Kyle Busch may not be the most popular driver in the series, but it was a shame to not see him pull off the triple this weekend when he had the best car Sunday.

Townley: John Wes Townley secured a Nationwide Series ride with RCR in 2010 largely due to his sponsor, Zaxby's. Let's hope it allows him to showcase his talents.

Buescher's promotion:.19-year-old James Buescher will run full-time next season for Phoenix Racing in the Nationwide Series. A great opportunity for one of the sport's bright young talents.

 

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

__._,_.___
To subscribe to this group, send an email to:
knowyournascar-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To post message, send an email to:
knowyournascar@yahoogroups.com
-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To post message, send an email to:
knowyournascar@yahoogroups.com
.

__,_._,___

No comments:

Post a Comment