Happy Monday all. Today In Nascar History March 1, 1998: Mark Martin wins the Las Vegas 400, the first Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jack Roush places five cars in the top 10: Martin, Jeff Burton (second), Johnny Benson Jr. (fourth), Ted Musgrave (sixth) and Chad Little (10th). Fourteen of the first 16 cars are Fords. Chevrolets are the other two: Dale Earnhardt in eighth and Terry Labonte in 15th. Picture yourself cruising in Tony's 2010 Camaro Coupe 2SS. It's a "Summit White", list price at over $35,000! Tony asked Will Castro of Unique Autosports to work his magic and add a few customizations! Buy a ticket for $50 – you'll be entered to win the Grand Prize including the Camaro, A VIP Trip to Stewart-Haas Racing and a personal meet & greet with Tony!!! 70 Early Bird prizes starting March 15th. Get 'em while you can!!!! Just go to www.smokescamaro.
Comments from the Peanut Gallery From Jerome Re: Habbajeeba, we made it through the week! Yes, we made it through the week, we have almost made the month, only two days left and Ohio is getting hit hard with SNOW, it's been snowing all day. From EAB What happened to Jimmy Spencer? Don't see much of him on NASCAR related TV anymore. I haven't heard what happened, but I'm guessing Jimmy has PO'd a lot of the NASCAR people, because he has been relegated to 1 half hour show on Speed. Monday nights at 8:30 et I believe. Anyone out there know what happened? Bits and Pieces Steven Wallace to make Cup debut UPDATE denied: During SPEED's SPEED Report show, Bob Dilner reported that Rusty Wallace's son, Steven, a regular in the Nationwide Series, will attempt to make his Sprint Cup debut at Richmond International Raceway on May 1st. Steven will run a car from Rusty's team, Rusty Wallace Inc. and plans to attempt four other Sprint Cup races in 2010, no word on those venues.(SPEED) UPDATE - Denied: per Greg Wallace of Rusty Wallace Inc/ Rusty Wallace Racing: "At Rusty Wallace Racing, we continually evaluate opportunities that align with our strategic objectives, including a future involvement in the Sprint Cup Series at some point. However, there are currently no plans for RWR to field a Sprint Cup entry in 2010. As for Steve Wallace, our focus remains on making Steve and the #66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry consistent contenders for the 2010 Nationwide Series championship. Lowest-finishing, non-wrecked car to be inspected: NASCAR has instituted a new postrace inspection policy for Sprint Cup races in which the first car out of the race that is not involved in an accident will be held for teardown, much like the cars that currently finish in the top five. That meant that Aric Almirola's #09 Phoenix Racing's Chevy was thoroughly inspected after the Las Vegas Motor Speedway race. His engine was taken to be torn down later this week at the NASCAR R&D center in Concord, NC. The policy is expected to impact the start-and-park teams that typically bring a car but don't have funding to run the entire event. These teams often are not in the top 35 in owner points, so they are required to qualify on speed. The new policy means it is likely that one of the cars that qualify on speed for every race will end up getting torn down. NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Sunday the move was not to discourage start-and-park teams. "We're just expanding our inspection process and making sure that everybody feels like everybody is on the same playing field, that's all," Pemberton said. "It's all about making sure that the guys who get beat that don't make the race understand that the guys who get in the race, for the most part, are doing everything right." The move could cost these teams money, as they will have to pay for an engine rebuild that they might not have needed if they didn't run many laps. Pemberton said the engine might not be torn down weekly but acknowledged it could cost teams $30,000 for a rebuild. That could lead to those teams racing more instead of risking the cost of a rebuild. Or it could lead to those teams not showing up if they can't afford to have the motor rebuilt.(SceneDaily Bodine's bobsled wins GOLD: The United States Olympic drought that lasted over several generations of bobsledders and at least one lifetime ended Sunday afternoon when driver Steve Holcomb drove his Bo-Dyn four man crew to a gold medal at the Whistler Sliding Center. It marked the first four-man gold medal since the Winter Games of 1948. Helped by track records in the opening two heats on Saturday, Holcomb, with crew members Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz on the brakes came to the 16-turn track Sunday with a .4 of a second lead over Canada's Lyndon Rush and .44 ahead of German icon Andre Lange. Holcomb, in the Bo-Dyn Night Train bobsled that captured the world championship one year ago, extended the advantage to .45 with the best third run. With no troubles on the fast and treacherous course, the Night Train safely negotiated its way to the third best final leg and wound up defeating Lange by .38 of a second. Rush, second through the first three runs, was overtaken by Lange in the finale and placed another .01 behind and in the bronze medal position. Latest on the Harvick 2011 rumors: #29-Kevin Harvick is considering his future 2011 and Sprint Cup sponsor Shell is also considering its NASCAR future. That company has been in the Richard Childress camp since 2007, when Harvick won the Daytona 500 for Childress and Shell/Pennzoil. So what Harvick might be thinking, what Shell might be thinking, and what Childress himself might be thinking are all good questions... RCR Forms Partnership with Hall of Fame Racing Owners: Richard Childress Racing has entered into a partnership agreement with a group led by San Diego Padres executives Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel. Moorad, the Padres' vice chairman and chief executive officer, and Garfinkel, the team's president and chief operating officer, will assist RCR in its business development and growth opportunities, and cooperate on other strategic initiatives. They will also participate on RCR's internal advisory group. "Over the past three years, Richard has become a trusted friend," said Jeff Moorad. "We believe in NASCAR and this opportunity allows us to be a contributing part of a winning organization, led by someone who we respect and trust." In 2007, Moorad, Garfinkel, and their ownership group purchased Hall of Fame Racing from NFL legends Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. The team suspended operations after the 2009 NASCAR season. "I've gotten to know Jeff and Tom and feel that they can add a lot to what we're doing," said Richard Childress, president and chief executive officer of RCR. "This allows us to bring our individual strengths together and benefit all involved. I have learned over the last 40 years that you have to keep innovating and improving to be successful. This new partnership will complement our already strong organization. Townley cited for underage possession of alcohol: Nationwide Series driver John Wes Townley [#21 Chevy] has been cited for underage possession of alcohol. Townley, who is 20, was cited Thursday. He apologized to NASCAR and his Richard Childress Racing team in a statement issued late in Saturday's race by his race team. "I made a big mistake and feel terrible about it," he said. "I have learned a valuable lesson and will do everything I can to make it up to those I have let down." Car owner Richard Childress said Townley made an error in judgment that will be handled internally at RCR. "Drivers are human and make mistakes like everyone else. However, we do not condone his behavior," Childress said. Townley finished 15th in Saturday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.(Associate Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud Matt McLaughlin · Frontstretch. Las Vegas The Key Moment: With sixteen laps left to run Jimmie Johnson, shod with four fresh tires, passed race leader Jeff Gordon, who had just two (and two worn ones) to take the lead and eventually the win. In a Nutshell: Man, I've seen more damned passing on a merry-go-round. Dramatic Moment: It was an afternoon totally bereft of drama, a good nap spoiled. An utterly insipid excuse of a sporting event. What They'll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week Hopefully, SportsCenter is going to show that decisive pass Johnson made on Gordon a bunch; that'd benefit the majority of fans who'd already dozed off by that point. While there's a lot of races left to go, fans dreading yet another HMS juggernaut this season have reason to be concerned. I have my own guess as to why those caution lights kept turning on inexplicably at Las Vegas in what was yet another black eye for the sport. FOX had wired a mouth-controlled remote to the jaws of hundreds of fans across the country, and when the action got so tepid and predictable, they drifted off to sleep. With their jaws in the wide open "fly-catching" position, the caution lights were triggered to spice up the action and jolt them awake… OK, the Olympics are over. NASCAR officials are going to have to hurriedly do an about face and blame the college basketball tournament for their lackluster ratings. Remember back when they told us stock car racing was the second biggest sport to the NFL? None of the Ford teams chose to run the new FR9 engine at Las Vegas. I don't know about you, but if I got my butt kicked by my crosstown rivals three weeks in a row to start the season, I think I'd be pulling everything but the lint out of my bag of tricks at Atlanta next week. If you're going to go down, at least go down in a blaze of glory. It worked for Bon Jovi, right? A quick note to Kyle Busch… when storming off after a Nationwide event, it behooves one to be surrounded by one's entourage to avoid appearing like a spoiled little monster taking his ball and going home. Doing it solo just looks foolish and probably makes one's sponsor wonder why they're writing those big checks. After Saturday's successful if trouble-plagued Nationwide race, team owner Kevin Harvick has officially ended his pit crew's pre-race ritual of staying up all night watching Three Stooges episodes while drinking grain alcohol with hookers. Fifty years ago today, one Richard Petty won his first race in NASCAR's top division at the old Charlotte Fairgrounds on North Tryon Street, showing his Plymouth's tailfins to the other 20 cars in the field. The crowd on hand to witness this achievement, which is perhaps only notable in hindsight, numbered 7,900… a figure that almost equals last week's crowd at Fontana. One of Petty's top 10 race-winning purses that year, the victory paid a sum of eight hundred dollars. My guess is Jimmie Johnson would drop that amount of money out of his pocket and not bother to bend over and pick it up. Rain in the desert helped spoil Part Tres of the Danica Patrick experiment. Is this God's way of saying, "Hey, Hun, you might want to consider keeping your shirt on?" Let the record show that Ms. Patrick's toe-dipping dalliance into Nationwide racing resulted in an average finish of 34th in three starts, with one race actually completed, well ahead of many start and park teams but somewhat behind many teams that never garnered a moment of airtime. Oh, and for the record I have to agree with one poster who commented on my column last week. Minus the glam treatment for commercials, Ms. Patrick in race day trim does indeed resemble Eddie Munster. (For those who would argue Eddie…er…Danica was taken out in two crashes not of her own making, I counter that given the equipment she had, she shouldn't have been running back there with the least common denominators. When you're playing in the sandbox with the stupid kids, you have to expect to get a cat turd shoved in your ear from time to time.) Jon Wes Townley, a Nationwide driver for RCR, was cited for underage possession of alcohol this week in Vegas. Who does this guy think he is… a member of the Canadian women's hockey team? Jimmie Johnson won his 49th Cup event to take over 12th on the all-time list. I will say that FOX commentators' assertion that David Pearson (who has won 105 events in NASCAR's top division, second only to Richard Petty) better start looking in his rear-view mirror is simply farcical, though. You know, there was an era they thought Jeff Gordon was going to bypass the Silver Fox for race wins, too, but now victories are few and far between for Boy Wonder. Give this track its due. Las Vegas is the one NASCAR speedway where the pace car (a 2011 Shelby GT350 this year) is cooler than the race cars. Longtime readers know I'm like a volunteer fireman, which means I'm never off duty. This week, a good friend needed his buddy with a pickup truck to take him to Lowe's to pick up some plumbing parts after a winter-related plumbing disaster. On a whim, or perhaps because he took me out for dinner and a few beers before the trip, I decided to check the NASCAR knowledge of employees of the home improvement center that backs our four-time Cup champion here in eastern Pennsylvania. The original plan was to ask ten employees, but the folks at the store were so helpful as I wandered around looking clueless and bored (I do auto parts, not home improvement) that I talked to twelve of them. Of the twelve, four correctly identified Jimmie Johnson as the driver of the No. 48 car. We'll give half points to Mike, who knew that the reigning champion drove for Jeff Gordon (sic). But the best answer of the night goes to Anne, who told me, "I've seen him, but when I'm off I tend to watch This Old House… not racing." Is there some sort of competition between NASCAR drivers to be filmed wearing the ugliest set of sunglasses this season? Not at all racing-related, but a heads up to my loyal readers. If the quaint village of Guthriesville gets another foot of snow or suffers another extended power outage, my columns will be posted a few days late. It takes a few days for handwritten missives written in crayon to float to the east coast in a coconut from the islands. The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune Jeff Gordon led 219 laps, only to have questionable pit road strategy cost him a probable race win. Pole winner Kurt Busch never even led the first lap, and eventually got caught up in an intramural wreck between EGR teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray. Note to Chip: You might want to keep JPM and McMurray a few seats apart at tomorrow's team meeting to discuss this latest screwing on the pooch. Kyle Busch's late race speeding penalty dropped last year's winner of this event to a fifteenth place finish. After the race, he was seen beating a baby seal pup with an aluminum baseball bat. At least this time, he didn't use a guitar… The "Seven Come Fore Eleven" Award For Fine Fortune Jimmie Johnson had to overcome a rare botched pit stop by the No. 48 team, when several lug nuts were dropped, on the way to his second consecutive Cup win. Kevin Harvick wrecked in practice Friday, but won Saturday's Nationwide race and finished second on Sunday in the Cup event. So all in all, it was a pretty productive weekend for him. Matt Kenseth had to overcome a wheel left loose during a pit stop en route to a fifth place finish. Greg Biffle ran strong early, but got boxed into his pit stall midway through the event and fell back to 25th. He eventually rallied to a tenth place finish on a track where passing was at a premium. Kasey Kahne was penalized for running over an air hose in his pits and fell a lap off the pace at one point. As a result, his eventual ninth place finish has to be a moral victory – especially after wrecking his car the last two weeks. Worth Noting · Jimmie Johnson has won eight races since Jeff Gordon last rang the bell in Texas last spring. Cue up the Eagles, 'cause there's a New Kid in Town, and you're still arowwwwwww-nnnd. How bad is it getting? Jimmie Johnson has won two titles in the last two-plus years (four consecutive titles now, actually.) In the same two-plus-year period, Gordon has won just one race. · Johnson has now won .666 percent of this year's points-paying Cup races. Biblical scholars, take note of that number… · Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, and Matt Kenseth have top 10 finishes in all three points-paying races this season. · The top 10 finishers at Las Vegas drove six Chevys (including four that claimed the top four spots), three Fords, and a Toyota. The top finishing Dodge was Brad Cause-a-catastrophe…er… I mean Keselowski in 26th. · If we're going to have a Rookie of the Year this season, Kevin Conway needs to stop running into stuff. · Kevin Harvick (second) has back-to-back top 5 finishes over the last two weeks. That's an accomplishment he failed to pull off all of last year. · Mark Martin has finished fourth in his last two Cup events. · Matt Kenseth (fifth) has three consecutive top 10 finishes this year, a feat he never pulled off last year despite winning the first two races. · Joey Logano (sixth) has strung together two top 10 finishes for the first time since Darlington and Charlotte last May. · Tony Stewart's seventh place finish was his best since Fort Worth last fall. · Among the notable drivers still looking for their first top 10 finish in the Cup series in 2010 we find Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and Ryan Newman. What's the Points? Why are we even bothering to discuss this three races in, with ten miles behind us and ten thousand more to go? Yeah, OK, this is why I get paid the big bucks. Kevin Harvick continues leading the points. That would be a big deal if this was November, not March. He leads teammate Clint Bowyer by 47. Mark Martin moved up three spots in the standings to third, and trails Bowyer by two points. Matt Kenseth also moved up three spots to fourth, and trails Martin by just nine points. Look out! Jimmie Johnson leapfrogged seven spots up to sixth in the standings and is now just 63 points out of the lead. Haven't we seen this Looney Tune somewhere before? Kyle Busch desperately clings to the coveted 12th place in the standings, the final Chase spot, by his well-polished fingernails emblematic of the Boy-Bitch he is. He leads Jeff Gordon by just two points. Further back, Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray fell another ten spots to fourteenth in the standings. Winning Daytona pays well monetarily, but it's just one of 36 races on the schedule points-wise. The sport's Most Popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., (his bad old self) has moved up to fifteenth in the standings. That puts Junior all of nine points ahead of lesser-known Scott Speed, who I believe is driving cars rented from Hertz at the airport in this year's Cup events. Of course, Speed is likely to drop further in the standings after learning someone placed a macramé plant holder atop his head prior to the Vegas race. Among those who have dug themselves a nice-sized burrow in the points early in the season (And remember, a burrow is a hole in the ground, a burro is an ass. It's important to be able to tell the difference between the two) we find Kurt Busch (19th), Denny Hamlin (22nd), Kasey Kahne (23rd), and Ryan Newman (32nd). Yes, we're still just three races into the season, but I hereby award Newman fans the right to start panicking. Just do it outside my earshot. Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans, with one being a stinker and a six-pack an instant classic) – We'll give this parade one lukewarm can of generic stuff skunked by the desert sun. I know I've seen worse races, but as I grow old and my mind goes soft, I can't remember the last of them this bad. Maybe that's a blessing. Next Up: After a less than successful two-race Western swing, the Cup series heads back to its spiritual roots for a little Southern Comfort at Atlanta. Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2010 Shelby American: Total number of commercials: 114 Total number of companies or entities advertised: 61 Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 34 Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 20 Start time to record race/commercial periods: 3:00 PM Total minutes: 188 Minutes of race broadcast: 136 Number of missed restarts: 0 'Digger the Gopher Cam' Sightings: Number of Digger shots not identified as such: 18 WINNERS & LOSERS: The beat goes on for Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick; Earnhardt Ganassi duo not so fortunate By Kenny Bruce/scenedaily. It's a given that race winner Jimmie Johnson deserves accolades for his team's performance in the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But Johnson was far from the only driver coming out of Las Vegas with a solid outing in the third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series of the year. On the flip side, there are a number of teams who will head out of Las Vegas licking their wounds. No doubt hoping for better results when the series turns to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend. WINNERS 1. Jimmie Johnson – Once again, the four-time champion got the job done when it counted. The race isn't over until these guys say it's over. 2. Jeff Gordon – The two-tire call might have cost Gordon the win but that doesn't alter the fact that he was dominant all day, leading all but, ironically, 48 laps. 3. Kevin Harvick – The Richard Childress Racing driver bagged his second consecutive runner-up finish, and solidified his status as a contender in 2010. 4. Joey Logano – His sixth-place finish was yet another standout performance. The 19 year old continues to impress. 5. Matt Kenseth – The Roush Fenway Racing driver was able to battle back from a lap down and finish fifth. It's obvious he and crew chief Todd Parrott are clicking. LOSERS 1. Earnhardt Ganassi Racing – A promising day went awry for both Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya when McMurray got loose and tangled with his teammate on lap 93. After winning the Daytona 500, McMurray has finished 17th and 34th. It was the second consecutive 37th-place finish for Montoya. 2. Kyle Busch – The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was en route to a likely top-five when he was caught speeding on pit road. The end result was an apology to his crew and a 15th-place finish. 3. Kurt Busch – Much was expected after the Penske Racing driver won the pole on Friday. But it was his misfortune to be directly behind the McMurray/Montoya incident, and his Dodge suffered significant damage. 4. Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Sure the track had a sellout crowd for the Cup race, but caution-light malfunctions on two occasions were embarrassing. Officials are fortunate it didn't occur in the final laps of the race. COOL-DOWN LAPS "We had a situation at Daytona and driver error at California and we finally got a top 10 here, so I think we're where we should have been in the other races. Now we just have to keep working hard to try and get those points back." – Kasey Kahne, who finished ninth "To have two great runs like that (Fontana and Las Vegas) – it's exciting coming into the season. Next week will probably be a tough one; Atlanta is one [track] where we struggled a lot last year." – Joey Logano, who finished sixth "I was trying to get out of Tony Stewart's way and I didn't give him quite enough room and got in the fence a second time." – Kevin Conway, on bringing out the caution on Lap 230 "I was a sitting duck for the wreck in front of us. Do we get collected if we're on the inside lane? Who knows?" – Kurt Busch (35th), on his involvement in the lap-93 wreck with Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya "Once we got a decent handle on it, we were two laps down and then I was speeding on pit road. … It was one of those days we started digging a hole and it kept getting deeper and we didn't figure out how to put dirt back in it." – Sam Hornish, on his 28th-place finish "We ran a really patient race, but on our last stop there was too much rear brake and I slid across the line coming in. Totally my fault." – Kyle Busch (15th) on a costly pit-road speeding penalty "Oh, you're probably just frustrated for what happened on the race track, so you guys [the media] probably shouldn't put a lot of stock into what he said when you ask somebody something immediately after getting crashed. They typically don't have nice things to say." – Jamie McMurray, on teammate Juan Pablo Montoya's disparaging comments after their crash "Gil [Martin, crew chief] made a great call in the middle of the race to get us track position. Once we got track position, our car was really fast." – Kevin Harvick, runner-up for the second consecutive race "Well we finished and that's more than what we've done the last two. Our season starts right now. We've got to build from that." Marcos Ambrose, who finished 14th. Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth and Todd Parrott enjoy solid first two weeks together By Bob Pockrass/scenedaily LAS VEGAS – Twelve days into their driver-crew chief relationship, Matt Kenseth and Todd Parrott say they believe their relationship has plenty more good days to come. Kenseth's fifth-place run in the Shelby American Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway followed a seventh-place finish last week at Auto Club Speedway in his first race with Parrott. "It's been a really fun two weeks," Kenseth said. "I don't know Todd really that well. I've just worked with him for a couple of weeks. I've known him from around the garage and stuff. "He's been around a long time. He's just really fired up to be a part of this, which is fun. He's definitely bringing some energy and enthusiasm." And what has Parrott learned about Kenseth in two races? "He is one hell of a race-car driver," Parrott said. The 2003 Cup champion, Kenseth failed to make the Chase For The Sprint Cup for the first time since its inception in 2004 when he won the first two races of 2009 but struggled the remainder of the season. After an unsatisfactory performance in the Daytona 500, Kenseth decided the team needed new leadership, and Parrott was tabbed to replace Drew Blickensderfer. In maybe his first test with adversity during a race, Parrott was able to help Kenseth rebound Sunday from an unscheduled pit stop for a vibration that Kenseth thought was a loose wheel. "I'm pretty happy," Parrott said. "We had a car that should have finished second today. … He kept his head together. The guys in the pits, we kept working on our strategy after that. We had a great car today. To come home fifth, I'm happy." Kenseth averaged a finish of 16th on the 1.5-mile tracks last year, so the fifth-place finish Sunday was a major step. "I'm not going to get overly optimistic," said Kenseth, who is fourth in the point standings. "I did that last year after two wins, and you see what can happen there. So you really have to take it one week at a time. I certainly feel good about the direction … of our cars and our team. "We need to get through more than three weeks to make a prediction for the year, but certainly I feel like we're on the right track. They've done a lot of work over the winter at the shop trying to get all the stuff better." Last week, Roush Fenway cars finished seventh, 10th, 13th and 23rd. At Las Vegas, Kenseth was fifth, with Greg Biffle 10th, Carl Edwards 12th and David Ragan 23rd. "Most of us were disappointed with how [the cars] ran last weekend," Kenseth said. "We couldn't really compete. This weekend seemed to be better. The 16 [of Biffle], the 99 [of Edwards], all those guys seemed to run better than we have been. "That's an encouraging sign. But we've still got to get to more different race tracks and see if we can do it every week." Hendrick's Dale Earnhardt Jr. calls 16th-place finish 'not too good' By Bob Pockrass LAS VEGAS – In a year after a driver finishes 25th in the standings, a 16th-place finish could be considered a good day. So Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn't totally upset with his finish Sunday in the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But it wasn't as if he was ecstatic either, especially when his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates finished in the top four. "It's not that frustrating," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I know the chassis and the engines we have in there. We just have got to put all the bolts together. We're not [freaking] stupid. We made a lot of dumb [stuff] happen last year, and I think we are a better team, better mentally prepared to run these races. … Sixteenth is not too good. "We actually ran better than that last year. It's kind of hard to compare how we are because last year wasn't worth [anything]. We ran pretty good at a couple of races. We've got to work on it a little bit." Earnhardt Jr. started fourth and ran in the top 10 before a bad pit stop dropped him back to 14th. He continued to run between 10th and 15th until the final 40 laps when he dropped just outside the top 15. The car didn't change much during the race, which was more about track position, Earnhardt Jr. said. "We didn't have great [pit stops] all day," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We've had some good ones in the past, and these guys can do it. You just have luck one day and something on your side and sometimes you don't. "Today, we struggled a little bit and it hurt us. Once you get outside that top five, man, that traffic is just so hard. The air is gone off the cars and you're just at the mercy of what's going on around you and there's no downforce. It's so much better running in the top five and I just couldn't keep it there." His teammates were able to keep their cars in the top five. "The first thing you think about is studying their notes a little harder, seeing where Jeff [Gordon] had a little bit more right front spring and things like that, stuff like that that maybe we could have done," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We were hitting the ground. We definitely needed more right front spring. I ran it in practice and liked it, but went the other direction towards some of my other teammates." After three races, Earnhardt Jr. is 15th in the standings, 18 points outside the top 12. "The first half of the race, we were just trying to hang in there and get our car better and hopefully be able to move up a little bit," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I felt pretty good about the car. The last half of the race, it was just all about track position then. We were just too far back. "We finished where we ran all day. We've just got to get a little bit better." Gained experience brings improvement for Logano Second top-10 finish of season causes driver to smile By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM LAS VEGAS -- Joey Logano's having fun in NASCAR these days and he's delivering results, like a coming-on sixth place finish Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Shelby American. If he ever gets the experience to match his enjoyment level, look out, he might really go places. And that's the key here, because this kid's career only encompasses 42 races. The fact that Logano is eighth in the championship, compared to 32nd at this time a year ago puts the glee quotient off the chart. Logano just laughed when he really tried to quantify how much he's enjoying this. "About 20 times the amount as last year," he said. "Last year, at this time I was ready to kill myself and this year I'm definitely having a blast, and that all comes with running good. "It makes it a lot more fun when you come to a race track instead of dreading going to the next race because 'I don't know if we're going to be good here?' Now I'm pumped up and looking forward to getting back to the race track, so it's fun." Logano had a lot to be satisfied with after logging only the ninth top-10 finish of his career, but the second-in-a- "We did a good job adjusting the race car [Sunday]," Logano said. "We didn't start the race that well. We started sixth and fell back to 17th or so, just spinning-out loose. They did a good job on bringing it back and not over-adjusting. "Zippy [crew chief Greg Zipadelli] did a good job with improving the car throughout the race. To come back at the end, that's what's cool because you don't want to fall back right at the end of the race. When everyone's going hard you want to keep going. "The last two weeks on the last run we've had the car just about right and able to move forward, so it's cool. I can't tell you how much more fun it is than last year." At Las Vegas, the final restart in the season's third race came with 34 laps remaining. The race's seventh caution came just in time to keep Logano, not to mention Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton from going a lap down to leader Jeff Gordon. But in the end, "the youngster" was the only one of that trio to come forward. Logano restarted 10th and slowly, inexorably came toward the front. To a degree, only the lack of miles kept him from going further. But his consistent lapping at "go time" got a mental calculation going. And actually putting pen to paper brought it into focus. At 19, in his second full Cup season and with a single win; here's what Logano was running down in the stretch. Five guys: race winner Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth; with an average of 466 Cup starts apiece, nine Cup championships total, an average of 40 Cup wins each and an average age of 38.8. Those numbers add up to a heap of fun, especially if you prevail. Or at least come close. "Experience is obviously the biggest thing," Logano said. "I think [the difference is] me getting used to the cars, and the team's doing a great job. I think our cars are getting better and me helping the team, giving them better information about all the stuff they need at the race track is really where the good finishes are coming from, so like I said, it's a lot of fun right now." And part of that is focusing on what he can do, and not what he's competing against. "I just race," Logano said, his grin widening. "They're definitely a lot more experienced than me, and experience is a big deal. I feel like I'm getting closer to where they are, but you can't beat experience. But we're getting closer and closer every day." More experience might not have mattered as Logano tried to beat the veteran Kenseth to the checkers. Logano had dogged the 2003 Cup champion Kenseth for 13 laps, cutting a .566-second deficit to .105 seconds with less than four laps to go, when he cut under Kenseth in Turns 3 and 4, but was unable to make it stick. In the final run off Turn 4 Logano dove to the apron on the frontstretch and inched ahead, but in the final yards before the finish line, Kenseth edged him by a couple feet. "That was my shot," Logano said. "[Kenseth] got loose into [Turn] 1 on the last lap, he chased it up [the track] and I said 'here's my chance.' So I got a good enough run underneath him to get door-to-door through the corner. "But it's hard to beat a guy coming off the top. We came off door-to-door and I tried to side-draft him, I slid it down to the apron and I came up just a little bit short. But either way it was still a good run." It was that, and if you're Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs, you can't stop licking your lips as you anticipate the future. Gibbs, who was taking a low-key walk through the post-race garage, probably contemplating less-than-stellar 15th- and 19th-place finishes by team leaders Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, respectively, broke into a non-stop smile when Logano's name was mentioned. "It's just fun to watch [because] the reality of it was, the way he was thrown into it last year, it was tough," Gibbs said. "And so now, in just one year's time, to watch what he's done is really impressive; and the reality of it is, he's still learning. So he's got a ways to go and that's the encouraging part for our guys." Zipadelli strongly agreed with their boss. "I think last year at this time, he was worrying about succeeding in this sport, and living up to the expectations of Tony [Stewart, two-time Cup champion for Gibbs, who Logano replaced]," Zipadelli said. "We've got a big sponsor and we had 10 years of pretty good success, so anybody that gets in there -- I'm wondering, 'did I make the right decisions?' starting over [with Logano], you know what I mean? It's just at times it worked, and now we've been able to spend a lot of time talking, working and thinking, after the year was over. "There was a lot of stress for us to finish in the top 20 last year. It was a big deal to our company and our sponsor and things of that nature, so at the end of the year we felt like we were racing to win a championship. But we were racing the 88 and the 29 and the 31 for a top 20; so once that was done and over with, it was amazing how relieving that was. Neither Gibbs nor Zipadelli felt Logano needed to be running more events in the Nationwide Series, where he ran the first two races this season, finished seventh and fifth and actually dominated last weekend's event at Auto Club Speedway. Logano's 2010 Nationwide schedule is 21 of 35 races. "We kinda talked about [running a full Nationwide schedule]," Gibbs said. "It was, 'hey, if we get the Cup side confident and comfortable and you know what you need, then like Kyle [Busch] did last year, go run the whole Nationwide thing. "[Logano's] young enough and he loves racing cars, just like Kyle does. And so I feel if you got to the point where you feel like you've got a good feel for the Cup stuff, then turn him loose. But right now we're still trying to figure out all the Cup stuff and I think once we get that laid out he can do some more Nationwide stuff." Zipadelli agreed with that assessment as well. "You know, last week we ended up with a top five [in Cup], but we didn't qualify as good [19th]," Zipadelli said. "These weekends where we don't have Nationwide, sometimes we get to spend a lot more time talking and working on the little detail stuff, so there's pros and cons to [running Nationwide races], but for us as a group it worked out well this weekend. "Obviously he's gonna run a bunch [in Nationwide] this year, but we've got a couple weeks there where he's not and that's good for us, where we can spend a little more time with him, going over the detail stuff and looking at Dartfish [computer analysis tool]. "When he gets out of our car it was the last thing he drove and when he comes back and gets in it to qualify he can really concentrate on exactly what he needs to do -- and that's what he did this weekend." Two to Tango: Montoya Slams Teammate By Sarah Farlee Associate Editor, CupScene.com McMurray got into the left rear of Montoya in turn three on lap 93, and that contact caused an incident that collected Busch - who had nowhere to go. Montoya was forced to the garage to replace the rear end and Busch pitted several times under caution and missed the restart to attempt repairs. McMurray stayed on track. "I know he's trying to prove a point, that he can drive a racecar," said Montoya of McMurray. "He plain simple just wrecked us," Montoya added. Montoya said that the incident did not help his team's chances of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup and was obviously distraught with the circumstances surrounding the incident. "Tough circumstances to wreck your teammate," said McMurray's crew chief Kevin Manion. "We're going to make the best of it today." All three drivers returned to the track to make up laps. Montoya finished 20 laps down in 37th, McMurray was eight laps down and finished 34th. Busch was seven laps down and finished 35th. McMurray was able to take Montoya's comments in stride. "You probably shouldn't put a lot of stock into what he said," McMurray said. "When you ask somebody something immediately after getting crashed, they typically don't have nice things to say." Newman Still Positive Despite Slow Start By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service The innocent victim of a late-race wreck, Newman finished 34th in the season-opening Daytona 500 this year. He was 36th last week at Fontana, thanks to an engine failure. Nevertheless, the performance of his cars before the calamities has provided ample reason for optimism. "I go in and have a good attitude, and everybody else has a good attitude and knowing what happened to us was poor luck," Newman said after qualifying third for Sunday's Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I mean, at Daytona we got crashed, and we lost an engine there at California. So, it's tough. "And we know where we were at this time last year (after finishing 36th and 28th in the first two races) and it's about the same spot. (But) we've run a lot better than we did last year. It's only two races, but either way, it kind of gives you an idea. "Our biggest satisfaction was at California, knowing that we had a car that was a top-five racecar. We worked our way towards the front every run and lost that engine. But that in itself has kept us from having to worry about attitude or that mentality of 'What are we going to do?'" SHORT STROKES Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun his No. 88 Chevy after turning seven laps in Happy Hour but kept the car away from the wall. Earnhardt, who will start fourth Sunday, returned to the track and ran 15 laps before practice was called. He ended the session 26th fastest. … Boyd Gaming, parent company of Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, announced Saturday a three-year extension of its sponsorship of the Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at LVMS. Sam's Town has sponsored the event since 1998. The new agreement extends the relationship through 2013. Decision on pit road may have cost Gordon a victory Four new tires gave No. 48 the upper hand at LVMS By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM LAS VEGAS -- All things being equal, Jeff Gordon should have been the one wearing the championship belt after Sunday's Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But in Sin City parlance, Gordon went bust in the closing laps, giving the house edge to Jimmie Johnson. Had both Gordon and Johnson taken four tires, Gordon felt confident in his ability to win. Had both taken two, Gordon thought he still had the advantage. But when crew chief Steve Letarte went for a two-tire stop and Chad Knaus in the No. 48 camp bolted on four fresh Goodyears, Gordon realized he no longer held the winning hand. "Between the two cars, the 48 and the 24, whoever got out front at the end of that race was going to win the race if you had equal tires," Gordon said. "I mean, we were very, very equal. They were better at certain stages of the run, but he couldn't pass me. But, you know, I'm very confident, if he had taken two, I'm confident we would have won this race. "If we'd have taken four and got out front of him, that's the only factor. If we took four and they beat us out, you know, then it would have come down to the restart. Who knows what would have happened on that. Had we been out front with four tires, I mean, he could catch me, but he didn't have anything for me once he caught me. You know, we were that good and they were that good and the track was real fast today. It was real hard to pass." Gordon led all but 48 laps -- what is it about 48 these days? -- and had the field covered, with the exception of his Hendrick teammate. And when Kevin Conway hit the wall on Lap 228 to bring out what wound up being the day's seventh and final caution, it came down to a snap decision by Letarte. And it could have very well worked in Gordon's favor. But it didn't. "Well, you know, if we won the race we'd look like geniuses, Steve would have," Gordon said. "The fact that we lost the race, now Chad looks like a genius. That's how it goes sometimes. When you're leading, that's the toughest position to be in, to make that call. "I talked to Steve briefly after the race. He's pretty upset, obviously. I think he just felt like more people were gonna take two tires. Shoot, we were thinking for a split second to stay out. If we'd have done that, I think we would have finished 10th. You know, I felt like we needed to come in and get some tires, but I felt like two tires was the right call, too. We just needed the 48 to take two. They did the opposite of us. That won the race for them." As soon as Gordon returned to the track and found out what the No. 48 team had done, he "knew we were a sitting duck." The only complication would be Clint Bowyer, who stayed out and was in the outside lane, in front of Johnson on the Lap 234 restart. But Johnson was able to push Bowyer into the first turn and swing to the inside, Gordon saw nothing but a Lowe's decal in his rear-view mirror. From that point, it wasn't a matter of whether Johnson would get by, but when. Gordon did his best to hold on and kept Johnson at bay for several laps. But coming out of Turn 2 with 16 laps remaining, Johnson ducked to the inside of the No. 24 on the backstretch and was gone. "I got a great restart, which was our only chance that we could possibly have, knowing that Clint was on old tires," Gordon said. "So I got a good restart, got by him. But, I mean, it was just a matter of time because two versus four [tires], and I was so tight. Had we freed up the car a little bit more, and we did free it up for the two tires, but I just think we needed to do more of it. Maybe, maybe, maybe then we had a shot at it. "I ran so hard trying to get his car to tighten up behind me, you know, with dirty air, and I blocked him. I did everything I could, and it just took everything out of the right front tire." To add to the frustration, the battle with Johnson used up Gordon's car to the point where he had nothing for surging Kevin Harvick in the closing lap. "I knew when Jimmie got by me, we were probably going to lose second as well," Gordon said. "While I ran a few laps that slowed Kevin down, where I ran in front of him on the bottom, I couldn't maintain it. We were just fading." But what isn't fading is Gordon's enthusiasm, particularly after his dominating performance. Gordon hadn't had a day like that on a 1.5-mile oval since he led 173 laps at Texas in 2007, only to finish fourth. "I'm disappointed, but at the same time, you know, we haven't dominated like this in a very, very long time," Gordon said. "So, you know, I'm disappointed that the opportunity got away that we dominated so much and that we had the car to win the race. Very disappointed in that. "But at the same time, you know, I'm very really excited about this race team. You know, I've been saying it all winter long. Even the first two races, I've been trying to say it. If you don't have the results, then it doesn't matter. So today we showed what we're capable of. It gives us a lot of momentum to go to Atlanta. So I think we've got more of what we showed today that, that we're going to show a lot more. I think we're just starting to tap into it." And even though Johnson had all the cards at the end, Gordon was unfazed. "You know, we showed today that we can beat them, and that's what I'm more excited about than anything else." The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. Johnson Steals Victory From Gordon By Sarah Farlee Associate Editor, CupScene.com And the magic number for Jimmie Johnson was four. Johnson and Jeff Gordon pitted with 36 laps remaining. Gordon took two tires, Johnson, four. That call gave Johnson his 49th career victory, and his second consecutive trip to victory lane in 2010. "If we would have won the race, we'd look like geniuses," said Gordon, who finished third. "Chad [Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus] looks like the genius." Chad Knaus said he didn't outsmart Gordon's crew chief Steve Letarte. "He didn't make the wrong call," said Knaus, of Letarte's decision to put on two tires rather than four. "There wasn't a wrong call to make." "The only way for us to beat him was for us to do something different," Knaus added. Last week in California Johnson led the most laps and was a contender for most of the race. Sunday in Las Vegas, Johnson spent most of the race simply lurking behind his teammate Gordon. "I'd been chasing him all day," said Johnson. "I was putting a lot of pressure on him, hoping he'd make a mistake." Gordon, who rarely does makes a mistake, dominated the day - leading 218 laps, all but 48. Johnson made the winning pass with 16 laps to go. "We had the car," said Gordon. "We fought them off as long as we could. If a few more guys would have taken two, we'd be set." The decision to take two tires was made by Letarte. Gordon supported that decision, saying they just needed more teams to take two. Gordon said he felt like two tires was the right decision. Knaus again said he felt like there was no right or wrong call. "I didn't out smart him," said Knaus. "He did what he thought was right to try to win that race and he came up a little bit short, just a little bit." Gordon, who said getting beat by a tire decision was disappointing, noted that it was still a great day for his team and that he knew holding off Johnson with fresh rubber would be difficult. However, Gordon pointed out that Johnson and Knaus's success is what pushes his team to be better. "We came here to win and we knew we'd have to gamble and take a risk," Gordon said. "Today we showed what we're capable of and that gives us a lot of momentum going into Atlanta." Another top-three team gaining momentum going into Atlanta is Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick, who finished second Sunday and leaves Vegas as the Sprint Cup points leader. "We can run with them, and they know it," said Harvick, who also won Saturday's Nationwide race. Mark Martin finished fourth and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five. "That felt good," said Kenseth, who ran in the top-5 most of the day. "It felt like a few years ago, it feels like we're on the right track." Joey Logano is also on the right track, the 19 year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver racked up a second consecutive top-10 finish with a sixth place finish. The finish was an improvement from last year's visit to Las Vegas. "It's progress for sure," said Logano. "The cool thing is, eventually wins are going to come." Tony Stewart finished seventh, Clint Bowyer finished eighth, Kasey Kahne finished ninth and Greg Biffle rounded out the top-ten. Other notes from the Shelby American -Caution lights were a slight problem mid-race. On the restart of lap 53 the caution lights failed to go out, causing confusion through the field. The issues were straightened out until lap 107 when the lights malfunctioned again and switched on for no reason. The field restarted on lap 113 and there were no other malfunctions for the remainder of the race. "We knew they were having issues," said second place finisher Kevin Harvick. "We were dependent on our spotters today." -Kevin Conway, Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate, brought out the first caution of the day on lap two when he scraped the outside wall and spun down the track. There was minimal damage and Conway was able to return to the track, but was penalized for speeding to beat the pace car to the start finish line. Conway finished 11 laps down in the 36th spot. -Mike Bliss hit the wall in turn two, bringing out the second caution on lap 45. Bliss, who started the race 30th , finished 39th. Sam Hornish, Jr. spun on the frontstretch through the infield grass on lap 87. Hornish started the race in 14th, and finished the race in 28th three laps down. Tom Higgins Scuffs Richard Petty's first win? In Charlotte, 50 years ago Among NASCAR fans, maybe Feb. 28 ought to be considered a holiday. Hard Turn Jeff Owens/scenedaily. Frustrated fans should learn to enjoy Jimmie Johnson's success because it's not going to end soon LAS VEGAS – Sunday's race at Las Vegas is a another example of why attendance is down and TV ratings continue to decline.
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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