By: Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal from Race Day on Fox Sports Radio

Michele Rahal's Side

The first round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship at Louden, New Hampshire is one in the books and a dark-horse takes the win, if you can call Greg Biffle a dark-horse. That’s what the Chase is supposed be and Sunday’s Sylvania 300 race didn’t disappoint, at least as it shook up the points. On the other hand, it was still a race where cars couldn’t turn, splitters hit the ground rendering the cars uncontrollable and passing was still a restart process rather than battling side by side on track racing. The common catchphrase by all the commentators has now become ‘track position’.

Aerodynamics are paramount on tracks like Lowes, Texas and Atlanta but the negative effects of it should not be as severe as it is on one mile tracks, no matter what the configuration. The mechanical grip should be the dominant force that controls whether a car can turn and actually pass in the corners.  If you have grip coming off the corner then you have speed at the end of the straight, hence an ability to pass. This is still not happening and the New Hampshire race was more of the same.

Greg Biffle drove his heart out and beat an oncoming train across the tracks, the said train being Jimmie Johnson. It’s obvious that everyone has the same chassis to work with but those teams that have more money can make them work. Add to that the disparity that exists in horsepower from manufacturer to manufacturer and further exacerbate it with the ‘have and have nots’ and you end up with races that have not lived up to the hype.

It was great to see Greg Biffle win. It was sad to see a small bolt destroy Kyle Busch’s day. It was dramatic entertainment with dialogue between Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Rick Hendrick. Having stated this one would think that everything NASCAR wants to see happen to make a great race, but everything else in between was a continuation of the problems that have painfully existed the day the first COT hit the track.

It’s time to stop blaming Goodyear for its tires, after all, you can dress up a horse with new shoes, but it doesn’t make it run any faster.


Rob's Side

First it’s not the Car of Tomorrow. It’s here already and it’s called the “New Car”. Are there problems? Yes. Can they be fixed? Yes and they will over time, real competition time, not in Formula One simulators. The car hasn’t raced a full season to date and it has shown marked improvements.

The teams are finally beginning to find the correct direction for this car. Bob Osbourne, Carl Edwards crew chief, couldn’t get their car to handle this past weekend at New Hampshire. Things looked dismal. What did he do? He immediately went back to the hotel to pour over his notes and ultimately changed virtually everything. Bob shows up on Sunday morning and told Carl “we changed virtually everything on the car” and it’s going to work! The net result is that Carl, without even turning a lap to test it out, jumps in and takes the green then shoots out to an early lead ultimately finishing third.

Whining about the new car is like whining that the Chase is all wrong because a driver like Kyle Busch goes into the Chase dominating and comes out of the first round in 8th place. Whether or not that is fair is debatable, but the bottom line is that ‘it is what it is’. Work with it.
 
It’s disappointing that a $25 part takes Kyle Busch from the top spot but that same part could have failed on Reed Sorenson’s car as well. The positive in all this is that the chase is not like the NFL’s playoff system where a team is knocked out every week. Kyle Busch can come back next week and show us what he can do best when the car will let him.

This car was designed by NASCAR’s Research and Development Center for safety. The fact that it has taken the teams time to sort out the handling is irrelevant. They are all playing with the same rules, the same chassis and ultimately the racing will be better off for it.

My point here is to forget all the stuff you hear people saying about the “New Car” and look at the real stories in this sport. The teams will get this car right, Goodyear will catch up and the racing will speak for itself.

Has anyone given serious thought to the possibility that it may not be the cars handling at all, but the commitment of the manufacturers to deliver a competitive power-plant?
 

Rob D'Amico Race Day On Fox Sports Radio

Target Chip Ganassi Racing announced that Dan Wheldon, driver of the No. 10 Target Honda Dallara in the IndyCar Series have agreed to part ways opening the seat for Dario Franchitti to make a Indycar come back. Former Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion will return to open-wheel racing but this time behind the wheel of the vacated No. 10.

The native of Scotland has over 180 starts under his belt between the CART and IndyCar Series resulting in 18 wins, 17 poles, 63 top-five and 95 top-10 finishes (1997-2007). Franchitti is the winningest driver in U.S. open-wheel history from Great Britain. This creates a team that will have the last two Indy 500 winners as they take the green flag next year in St. Petersburg.

“Dan Wheldon has done everything this organization has asked of him, Chip Ganassi said. He was competitive from the moment that he stepped into the car for us back in 2006 and has provided Target Chip Ganassi Racing many highlights over his three years with the team. Dan is a class act both on and off the track and we wish him nothing but the best.”

Wheldon, who is 4th in points 142 back behind leader and teammate Scott Dixon said, "I have enjoyed these last three seasons with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, but will be moving on to pursue a very exciting opportunity for 2009. I want to personally thank Target and the whole Chip Ganassi Racing organization for the success and enjoyment we shared together. I will be announcing my plans for next season in the near future. In the meantime I want to focus my efforts on winning the last race of the season. I wish the team well for 2009 and beyond."

Scott Dixon along with teammate Dan Wheldon combined have eight wins of 16 races this season – second only to the Target team’s CART championship run in 1998 that tallied 10 wins at the hands of former Target champions Alex Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser.

Franchitti who has 25 combined starts in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series did not see much success with only 1 Top 5 and 2 Top 10's all coming from the Nationwide Series where he suffered a fractured left ankle and minor contusions during a lap 11 crash in the Aaron's 312 at Talladega Super Speedway.  "I have really enjoyed this last season in stockcars and have not completely closed that chapter of my professional career," Franchitti said. Back in July, Chip Ganassi announced that they would be shutting down its No. 40 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team leaving Franchitti without a ride. Dario's Dodge was without sponsorship most of the 2008 season which eventually lead to the teams decision.

The demise of Dario Franchitti wasn't his team but the car itself. Dodge needs to get their act together because if Kasey Kahne doesn't make the "Chase" Dodge will not be running for the 2008 Championship. But I will say, it'll be a shame not see Ashley Judd, Franchitti’s wife, in the pits running through a rainstorm in a sundress as if she were starring in one of her films we’ve all learned to enjoy.

Franchitti who is the 2007 Indycar Champ will be back in that series fighting for the 2009 Championship for Chip Ganassi. “Part of the reason that I signed with Ganassi last year was because of how many options that Chip has at his disposal for a driver.  You can do almost any form of racing that you want.  With unification and the new schedule having more road and street courses it made me think about this more and more. I am really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of one of those Target cars and be a teammate to Scott Dixon.”

Dan Wheldon not ready to release plans for next year. "I will be announcing my plans for next season in the near future," Wheldon said. "In the meantime I want to focus my efforts on winning the last race of the season. I wish the team well for 2009 and beyond."

Michele Rahal - RACE DAY on FOX Sports Radio

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Glad To Be Gone!

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has probably never been happier to leave a track faster than he left Sonoma, despite a 12th-place finish, road races aren’t his cup of tea, or glass of wine if you will. He will definitely, however, be happy to see the oval at Louden, NW. The ovals are more to his liking and he has shown a consistency in the Hendrick cars that he hasn’t enjoyed in years. Lying third in the points he has a chance to reduce the gap between himself and the superstar formally known as Kyle Busch. Earnhardt is motivated but so are several of the Cup drivers coming off of strong finishes. Bowyer would love to repeat and Harvick would dearly love to break his winless streak. But then there’s a problem. Kyle Busch.

Look for the Gibbs cars to come off the trucks with an attitude that may not be all mental. Chances are that they have positioned the rear of the car with a small degree of yaw in order for them to turn more efficiently on the flat track. This deficiency in the COT may not be problematic for Kyle Busch if he can loosen up his car as his attitude is ‘loose is fast and I’m fast anyway’. Busch has done what all Formula One drivers aspire to do. Outperform their teammates.

Only Hamlin and Bowyer have fewer starts at New Hampshire, each with four, before collecting a win than Kyle Busch with six starts. Look for Busch to adjust his car as the race goes on to make it as loose as possible for the final run. Advantage Kyle Busch.

Kyle Busch Can Rule The World?

My having picked Kyle Busch to win this weekend isn’t a function of being psychic, though I do possess many talents. In fact, you couldn’t place a bet in Vegas and make money by choosing Busch to win in New Hampshire, or the Championship for that matter. What you could do is say that he’s one of a very rare breed of driver that occasionally comes along. That’s right, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Mario Andretti or Michael Schumacher. All are phenoms and all seemingly genius in their execution of the art form we call racing cars. He seems unchallenged at the moment.

He does, however face challenges and the one that is most ominous to Kyle Busch is Kyle Busch himself. There is no doubt in my mind that as his points lead began to dwindle prior to his brilliant drive in Sonoma, “The Coach”, in typical Joe Gibbs fashion, slammed the velvet hammer down upon the young stars head. It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine Gibbs reminding Busch that a Sprint Cup Championship is on the line and despite the fact that Busch loves to frolic around the racing world proving his prowess for all to see, he is under a contract that is worth millions of dollars to himself, the sponsors and the team. Game over, it’s time to get down to business. If the race is at the same track, go do it, but if you have to travel, forget it.

Kyle Busch has attracted worldwide attention to the point that Toyota, in private circles, is no longer calling his forthcoming test of their Formula One car a “demonstration”, but rather a full blown, full race mapped engine test.

This is no small feat for a tall, brash American to accomplish. A real Formula One test can cost a million dollars when done correctly and apparently Toyota is willing to take that risk.

Being American, it's even more apparent that the manufacturer has designs on using Busch in this event later in December as a reminder to all that Toyota is dedicated to America itself. Great Public Relations and even greater if the engineers give him a fair shake. No full-time NASCAR driver has ever made a switch to Formula One.

Could he really be that good?

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