Kyle Busch won the latest Nationwide race while driving a Toyota racing car that featured a NASCAR mandated 15% horsepower reducing restrictor plate so the other racing teams would have a more fair chance...
What if another one of the Toyotas wins a Nationwide race?
Will it be crying time again?
What will NASCAR come up with next?
The top ten things NASCAR may now consider to give the domestic car race teams a better chance against Toyota.
10. Teams that drive Toyota cars will now have to start every race from the 30th position in the field or lower, regardless of their qualifying times.
9. All Toyota race cars will be forced to use a smaller fuel tank than the domestic race cars so they will have to pit more often.
8. All Toyota race cars shall adhere to a 50% speed reduction compared to the domestic race cars while driving on pit road (if its 50 MPH, Toyotas have to go 25).
7. All Toyota race teams will only be allowed two people on their pit crews that service the cars during a race.
6. All Toyota race teams will only be allowed one set of four tires per race.
5. All Toyota race cars will not be allowed to use any air flow spoiler devices on their vehicles.
4. All Toyota race cars must stay at least three (3) feet away from any other car during the race or be disqualified.
3. If a Toyota race car wins a race, it will only earn half as many Nationwide Cup points as would normally be awarded.
2. All Toyota race cars must be turned over to NASCAR at the end of every race for inspection. The cars shall become the property of NASCAR at that point and will not be returned.
And the number one consideration NASCAR may be mulling over to give the other racing teams a "fair" chance against Toyota race cars...
Joe Gibbs Racing, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin are all banned from the NASCAR Nationwide Racing Series unless they switch to a domestic car manufacturer's vehicles.
Those are some pretty crazy things to consider aren't they? Well they're not any crazier than what NASCAR just pulled with their 15% horsepower reducing restrictor plate on all Toyota engines. An engine that was supposedly NASCAR approved in the first place.
The domestic auto manufacturers and the teams that race those cars didn't or couldn't cough up the funding to make the same engine modifications that Toyota was willing to make, so NASCAR has forced Toyota back to the pack instead of expecting the pack to play catch up...
Yep, that's the American way anymore. If you can't beat them, then complain to a higher authority. It's not your fault, it's theirs... Makes me want to get right out there and wave the flag! Thanks NASCAR...
Over the last few days I’ve read in various sources that Mark Martin will announce this weekend that he is leaving DEI at the end of the year and will become a full time driver once again taking over the number 5 car with Hendrick Motorsports. He will state in so many words that he has come to the conclusion that he wants to make one more run at the Cup Championship and that Hendrick offers him the best chance to do it in the number 5 car. I may have missed it, but I haven’t seen anyone fanning the flames of this rumor here in the Fox Sports community…
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Hendricks has announced that they will be holding a news conference tomorrow in Daytona, which just happens to be where Mark Martin lives.
If the Mark Martin move comes to pass, this changes what many fans thought was Tony Stewart 's destination. So where does Tony go, especially if he cherishes Chevrolet? The Haas deal may just take a big step closer to reality with their Chevrolet connection.
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It seems like a natural for Tony, plus it would put him in the driver’s seat in more ways than one. Tony’s reputation and seemingly successful business history in the racing industry would go a long way toward attracting and maintaining strong sponsorships and that’s half the battle.
Will tomorrow's announcement be the first in a set of dominos to fall causing a ripple effect throughout NASCAR? If Martin does move will people construe this as yet another blow to DEI's credibility?
Whoever wins the 2008 Indianapolis 500, besides taking possession of 2.5 million dollars, the race's Corvette pace car and a cold bottle of milk will also receive a standing invitation to participate in 5 time Indy 500 qualifier Tony Stewart's annual charity race at his Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Stewart is quoted in an article written for Motorsport.com: "The winner of the 92nd Indianapolis 500 has a standing offer to compete in this year's Old ####e Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway," said Stewart, who has three top-10 finishes in his five Indianapolis 500 starts. "We'll have a car waiting for him or her, and we'd love to have whoever puts their name on the Borg-Warner trophy at Indianapolis to come about two hours east and compete in a dirt late model to raise money for charity."
The event, to be televised on HBO Pay Per View will feature some of the biggest names in NASCAR as they run the half mile, high banked dirt oval. Last year Carl Edwards won the event while holding off Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon. Others expected to participate in this year's race will be two-time and reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, a Prelude newcomer who will join Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, Bobby Labonte, J.J. Yeley, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Bill Elliott, Dave Blaney, David Reutimann, Robby Gordon, Aric Almirola, Ron Capps, Cruz Pedregon, Ray Evernham, Red Farmer, Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace who have all commited to the spectacle.
Last year's race raised over $800,000 for the benefit of Victory Junction Gang Camp II in Kansas City, as well as the Tony Stewart Foundation.
For those of you with HBO, the event will be broadcast live, commercial-free on June 4th beginning at 7 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. PDT), with an immediate replay to follow. HBO hopes to add $1,000,000 to the charity donation by way of the $24.95 fee.
Here's wishing for a great event that will raise the bar on contributions made from years gone by.
I've been looking around in the history of NASCAR, kind of spurred on by JayJay's recent series of articles. Through this process I naturally got involved reviewing dirt track racing. Most of the past, present and, I'm sure, future NASCAR driving stars have or will cut their teeth on these types of tracks around the country. I came across one dirt track in particular located outside of the western Ohio village of Rossburg that is owned by none other than Tony Stewart!
Now this may not come as a revelation to any of you diehard auto racing fans, but I found it very interesting. Stewart's Eldora Speedway first hosted racing in 1954 and then, 50 years later, this storied old half mile track was purchased by the NASCAR icon from the man who built it, Earl Baltes.
Even fringe NASCAR fans have heard of Tony's racing passion and the fact that he is normally very outspoken. His passion has led to several confrontations over his years on the Cup circuit and consequently the man enjoys either a love or hate relationship with most fans.
The way I see it, and especially in a pressure-packed sport as competitive as this, Tony's is just one of many outspoken personalities striving to win week in and week out. If he and the other drivers weren't this way, they wouldn't be where they are...
With this in mind, and remembering some of the bad publicity in his past, I was surprised to find that for the last three years Tony has sponsored a race at his Eldora Speedway facility that benefits both the Tony Stewart Foundation and the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, N.C., which serves children ages 7 to 15 with life-threatening health issues. The camp was formed by NASCAR SPRINT Cup Series driver Kyle Petty and wife, Pattie, to honor the life of their late son, Adam.
The race, known as Prelude to The Dream, is held each year on a Wednesday evening during the first week of June so that top flight NASCAR drivers can donate their time and participate. Here is a promotional photo of last year's drivers.
Can you tell who won last year's event?
Included are some of the biggest names in the sport, folks like Jeff Gordon, who had last raced on the storied track in 1991, Juan Pablo Montoya, Carl Edwards, Bobby Labonte, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Bill Elliott ran the 30 lap event in front of several thousand fans, who, at $25 an adult ticket, certainly got their money's worth!
Here is a look at the 26 car field...
Now that looks like a blast!
"I feel so fortunate to have a facility and a lot of friends that are also supportive of Victory Junction," Stewart said. "It wasn't hard to put this event together from the standpoint of getting the drivers to come."
Here is another view of the event...
After looking through these scenes and finding how dirt track racing is really the starting point for most drivers, and then reading the various drivers comment on how much fun it is to get back to running on a dirt track, it got me to wondering...
Today's NASCAR circuit runs on four different venues, the super tracks, the mid-sized tracks, the short tracks, and the road courses, all paved tracks. Why has NASCAR divorced it's dirt track roots when it comes to the Cup series?
This led me to looking around in terms of dirt tracks that feature adequate seating capacities to support an annual NASCAR Sanctioned Sprint Cup event. Lo and behold, I found that in 2000 and 2001 last week's NASCAR venue, Bristol Motor Speedway, had an event in which they covered the concrete track with 700 cubic yards of sawdust under 8,000 cubic feet of red clay soil brought in from a local farm. This enabled the track to host a World of Outlaws' Channellock Challenge race.
Here are a couple of stills of the WoO event at Bristol...
The salute to fans at the Eco Quest sponsored event.
Bristol dressed in red clay!
Stewart was asked a few years ago if NASCAR should host a dirt race. "I wish they would," he said. "If the drivers get a vote, I can promise you I'd vote for (a dirt race on the schedule)," Stewart added. "I told the guys that when they put the dirt (on the track), Bristol had been a perfect place. Since they put the dirt on there, they should just leave it on there and let us run the 500-lap Cup race on dirt."
Now I ask you, does Tony Stewart sound like such a bad guy?
Why not include at least one race on dirt per season in the Sprint Cup Championship series for old times sake? I'd bet it would be a genuine fan and driver favorite!
I'm a sports fanatic living on the west coast of Florida. I'm a rare bird that moved here from the left coast a couple of years ago. I advocate an even playing field in all of life's endeavors.
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Will it be crying time again?
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