By Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal from Race Day on Fox Sports Radio. Heard Sunday mornings from 6-9am (eastern) on 220 FOX Sports Radio Affiliates and XM Radio Channel 142.
The 2009 Rookie of the Year battle has already begun. Joey Logano and Scott Speed will go head to head in several series, including the Sprint Cup Series, before the flag falls at the 2009 Daytona 500 in February. We have seen both of these drivers win in other series and both have seemingly experienced a meteoric rise. That, like so many ‘overnight sensations’, would be a false assumption. Many in the industry who witnessed Logano’s rise through the ranks on the short tracks of America feel he’s a shoe in for the title. Mark Martin is certainly one of those having repeatedly stated, when Logano was fifteen, “He’s the real deal”. In fact, that message became so ingrained in the NASCAR lexicon that he now has the nickname, ‘Sliced Bread’.
However, a driver that emerged on the scene last year may spoil the aspirations of Logano. That driver is American Scott Speed. Scott Speed was unceremoniously dumped from the Formula One team, Toro Rosso two years ago amid physical altercations with the team director, open press arguments and name calling between himself and team principal, Gerhard Berger. This left the relationship in shambles, the remaining Formula One teams unwilling to look further at him and Speed stating that “there is not enough money in the world for me to stay with this team”.
Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of Red Bull, felt he owed Scott Speed a chance to continue racing under the Red Bull banner and has made good on that promise. Speed had his choice of where to race and he chose coming back to America to take on NASCAR. To be sure, an active Formula One driver making that move is no longer a precedent, given Montoya’s shocking switch from a world championship team, McLaren, to Chip Ganassi’s NASCAR Dodge team. The difference is Red Bull had put Speed on a ‘training’ program with ARCA, which he leads in points, and the NCTS where he already has one win. He’s going into his Sprint Cup debut at Lowe’s Motor Speedway with a baseline of experience underneath him, albeit abbreviated. Speed is 25 years old.
Taking a completely different, and more traditional path, Joey Logano made his mark in every series in which he’s participated including the Nationwide series with top ten finishes and a win. He recently made his debut with Hall Of Fame Racing in Sprint Cup at Kansas, but did not achieve the results he wanted and it showed in his face. But will the switch to a Joe Gibbs run car in Atlanta make the difference? According to Logano, “We’re going to run the No. 02 Home Depot Toyota in Atlanta and possibly a couple more races. I feel like I’m going to be in a really good car”.
Meanwhile, as if no one was watching they raced each other in both the NCTS and ARCA races this past weekend. They both ran up front in both series and both had troubles that either put them out of the races or kept them from bringing home stellar finishes. Logano lost a right-side window in the truck race losing him precious laps and Scott Speed had a tire go nuclear in the ARCA race but still holds the points lead by 85 points heading to the season final at Toledo next weekend.
Justin Allgaier, with no drafting help, drove to the outside of Logano which let Allgaier sail away with the biggest victory of his career and Logano who knew he had been schooled. “I don’t know; I did everything I could do; I just got beat,” said Logano. “He just schooled me. I learned a lot and I will do things different next time. That was a lot of hard work a lot of hard hours by all those guys. I’m just mad that I didn’t live up to it for them.” The self-inflicted pressure from Logano shows through.
Scott Speed had virtually nothing to say about his tire problems. In both instances these two drivers were up front and posturing for a potential win. It’s obvious that the two have taken different paths to achieve the same end. To win.
If you compare the experiences of the two drivers you find two starkly different personalities. One is intense, driven, self-critical and under pressure. That’s Logano. The other has exudes liaise faire attitudes, feels no pressure and paints his toenails now and again. We know who that is. Both have paid their dues rising to their present levels and both are inveterate competitors. The difference between Joey Logano and Scott Speed is that Speed has experienced pressure at a level that no other sport can produce, Formula One. In Formula One, the teammates hate each other, the drivers hate the team principals and the team principals consider the drivers nothing more than robots and expendable commodities. The threat of termination is a daily possibility. To Scott Speed his NASCAR experience to date has been a vacation.
Alternatively, Joey Logano has been placed under intense pressure that most 18 year olds, other than those serving in active combat, will ever feel. Logano said he didn’t feel that the Sprint Cup car he raced in Kansas was responsive and that the set-up felt alien. Speed said the Cup Car he tested was great, more fun than the ARCA car and more responsive than the trucks. What? That sentiment is totally opposite of most who are now racing this latest iteration of the Cup car. During the recent Lowes Motor Speedway test Speed set the fastest evening time among all drivers, except Jeff Gordon and that was less than a tenth of second difference. Logano was 49th fastest.
Logano certainly has the race craft to get into the top ten in 2009. He’s been successful at every endeavor he’s undertaken, but this is Sprint Cup, the highest level. Speed has already endured that pressure but doesn’t have the day-to-day experience in these heavy, but very competitive cars.
Get ready for a glimpse of the remainder of 2008 and perhaps a looking glass view of the 2009 Rookie of the Year battle.
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By Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal from Race Day on Fox Sports Radio. Heard Sunday mornings from 6-9am (eastern) on 220 FOX Sports Radio Affiliates and XM Radio Channel 142.
“What a Wicked Game We Play” are lyrics made famous by romantic crooner Chris Isaak. On Sunday at the Kansas Speedway Carl Edwards changed the meaning of ‘wicked’ and made it wild. By now, everyone has seen the footage of Edwards dive bombing underneath Jimmie Johnson, sliding up the track, along the wall and then diving down again to finish a mere two tenths behind Johnson. Edwards statement was that he meant to do it.
Despite the fact that it was a move reminiscent of days of old, Edwards astonished the fans and media alike by stating, “I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn't plan on the wall slowing me down that much,'' Edwards said. He added, "In video games, you can just run into the wall and run it wide open. That's what I did, but it didn't quite work out the same as the video game. I just really, really wanted to win this race.'' Can he be serious?
The use of SIM games has become a regular staple of many of the Sprint Cup drivers as a way of perfecting technique, strategy and generally imprinting the track in their minds in an effort to create a baseline from which to operate. McLaren, the British Formula One organization, uses a $50 million simulator that moves, is peripheral and has intense feedback. So we know that simulators have become serious tools for racing drivers. The Cup drivers have developed very elaborate home systems to get their fix. Carl Edwards included.
However, the question is once again, did Edwards really mean what he said? In that split second he made a conscious, or unconscious decision to switch from reality to the virtual world. It was a chance that he took without taking into account the physics of reality. "That's as hard as I can go there at the end. I couldn't sleep a wink if I didn't try everything I could to win. Now I know it doesn't work the same as in video games," Edwards said.
We are not in outer space where a moving body continues to stay in motion until met with an opposing force. On the contrary, everything about being here on good old Mother Earth says that gravity, opposing forces, such as racetrack walls, will slow you down. Just ask Mark Martin who crashed into the wall the day before in the Nationwide Series so hard he had trouble walking away.
In theory, however, Edwards move was brilliant. If he could have just slightly glanced or not hit the wall at all, he may very well have pulled off a stunning win, but he rode the wall too long. It’s debatable whether it would have ever worked at all, but he certainly tried.
Back in 2006 Denny Hamlin used an EA Sports video game for his first start at Pocono and won, "They got every tree on the site, everything's mapped out perfect, Hamlin said. Visually, I know where my let off points are." He added, "I honestly didn't think it would be this easy."
Let’s face it, some of the things we’ve done in the virtual world, whether in a SIM game or in our fantasies include robbing banks, shooting up the streets of New York, working for the mob or even being the Guitar Hero in the Rock Band Aerosmith. We don't live in fantasy land so consummating that liaison with Angelina Jolie (a real crowd pleaser) is still just that, fantasy. So don't think that it'll work for you, most of us don’t look like Brad Pitt and if we did, it doesn’t mean you would be guaranteed a date with Mrs. Jolie.
The games we play can be tools for learning and that is why racing car drivers, fighter pilots and operators of UAV and UUV (Underwater Un-manned Vehicles) use them to achieve greater results in the real world. We receive a great benefit from their use. But the danger in using these tools without clearly separating the real and virtual world could have consequences beyond what we anticipated.
On the other hand, Carl Edwards delivered exactly what we all craved and anticipated. One hell of a race, Game On!
AUDIO: > Carl Edwards: Talks about using a video game move that did not work for him. > Cale Gale: (KHI Development Driver) Talks about using video games to train. Cale will join Rob and Michele this Sunday on Race Day.
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By: Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal from Race Day on Fox Sports Radio
Go ahead and admit it. You love a good feud as much as the next guy or girl and surely as much as we do. Earnhardt vs. Busch, Carl Edwards vs. Busch or Robby Gordon vs. everybody. It’s in our nature as humans to slow down for the car wreck, fight or stretch our hearing just a little bit further for a good screaming match. Jerry Springer figured that one out a long time ago.
What we saw at the Camping World 400 at Dover, Delaware this past weekend wasn’t your traditional driver vs. driver feud. It was the best race of the year. Funny thing was, it was among the three Roush cars of Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. In fact, if Jamie McMurray hadn’t been taken out, chances are he would have been in the fray. The teammates tried everything known to man to best each other including switching lines, rubbing on each other and three-wide racing. In the end what was obvious is that the power plants were powerful and evenly matched.
But in the grand scheme of things the show Roush created was much more important. It was the first musket ball that found its mark. Who shot it? Jack Roush. Who caught the lead dead on? Toyota. Roush Fords finished in the first three spots while the Joe Gibbs cars blew up, came apart or couldn’t get out of their own way.
In Roush’s own words he stated last year that, "We're going to go to war with them, and they should give us their best shot because we'll be giving as good as we take," He added, "Toyota will bring changes in the way we conduct business. They have deep pockets … they'll try to put the rest of us in a catch-up scenario, and I'm trying to prepare for that. I expect to hand Toyota their head over the short term." Indeed.
Roush has been on a two-pronged mission since 2004 when Toyota announced that they would enter the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and escalated that strategy in 2007 when Toyota stated it would enter the Nationwide, formerly Busch, and the Sprint Cup series. That mission involved a very public outcry that would have made Paul Revere’s famous ride, warning of the imminent British invasion, seem like the pitiful little pony that shows up at the rich kids birthday party.
The second part of this strategy is genius. If Roush could make enough noise and get the fan base to go along with it, then Ford might pony (no pun intended) up more technology, money or services in kind. He screamed often and loud and Ford wrote big checks. Why? It all stems from the deep pockets that Toyota does indeed possess. Although it’s a misnomer, the general perception is that everything Toyota enters they spend until they win. The truth is Toyota have been in Formula One for 6 years with a yearly budget upwards of $400 million and have never come close to winning.
Toyota struggled in the trucks and then began to win. They struggled in Sprint cup and Nationwide in 2007 and now, in 2008, they are winning in all three manufacturer series. Now comes the adjustment in the Roush strategy. Roush, Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge lobbied to hobble the horsepower that Toyota has found in the Truck series and the Nationwide Series. What’s up next? Is there any doubt that the next salvo fired will be at the Toyota Sprint Cup Series engines? Genius.
The other side of this Hatfield and McCoy story is that Toyota hasn’t taken the assault lying down. Lee White, once a friend and employee of Roush’s, is now the President of Toyota Racing Development, the racing arm in America for the Japanese manufacturer. Often Roush would accuse Toyota of cheating or down right espionage. When Carl Edwards was caught with an oil lid removed from the interior of his car, White stated, "I guarantee you the cover bolts didn't fall out, because if they fall, the engine leaks and you can't run," he said. "If you want something to fall off, you fix it so it can." The absence of the oil tank cover can allegedly give the car 240 more pounds of down-force.
Lord knows Lee White didn’t stop there. On the subject of NASCAR restricting the Toyota’s horsepower in the Nationwide series recently, White said that the ruling “could be more far-reaching than simply mandating Toyota adjust its Nationwide engine.” His words may be regarded as prophetic if Toyota catches it breath in early 2009. NASCAR could restrict the horsepower of the Toyota’s across the board. As it stands now Toyota has taken the big Chase hit with Busch, Hamlin and Stewart. That won’t stop Jack.
Dover was the proof that Roush’s strategy has worked, if only temporarily. The Ford’s even sounded different than the other marques. Toyota is now faced with stressing their power plants with the only thing they can, higher RPM’s and a smoother drive train. The drive train stress was evident this weekend with the mechanical failures suffered by the Joe Gibbs Racing, the default factory team for Toyota.
Make no mistake, this is a self-proclaimed war between Roush-Fenway and Toyota, but behind the scenes it goes further. The remaining manufacturers don’t mind if Roush is the mouthpiece, but concurrently they to are lobbying NASCAR to slow down the perceived juggernaut Toyota. That’s fine with them.
The biggest problem with this type of fight is that it looks great in the press, but it rarely comes to a resolution. Roush is gaining ground rapidly in the Chase and isn’t that the real end game? Jack Roush craftily got exactly what he wanted but the war goes on. It will be a very expensive war indeed.
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Race Day on Fox Sports Radio can be heard every Sunday Morning from 6-9am eastern time on 220 FOX Affiliates, XM Radio Channel 142 and streamed live 24/7 at FoxSports.com Rob D'Amico and also be heard every Friday at 1pm eastern on SPEED Radio at SPEEDTV.com Keyword: Radio Get the show archives here
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."
By Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal from Race Day on Fox Sports Radio
True Champions have attributes that separate them from the rest of the world. Earnest Hemingway embellished a famous misquote between himself and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Hemingway said simply, “The rich aren’t like you and me”, to wit Fitzgerald replied, “They have more money”. Racing car drivers aren’t like you and me, they have more talent and if the stock car racing world wants to crown a true champion then one would do well to find what that true talent really means. NASCAR needs to add a road course to the Chase for the Championship.
Since NASCAR decided to use the new “chase” format, which is a 10-race shootout with the top twelve drivers in points resetting their points to 5000 each and additionally giving them 10 bonus points for each win during the first 26 races, a road course has not been a part of the equation for the championship. Why?
In all corners of the globe, in almost every form of racing a road or street course is part of the championship. NASCAR should be no different. In a sport that prides itself on history and tradition, road racing has been hand in hand with the boys from the South in every step of NASCAR’s ascension. If we are going to consider NASCAR’s drivers the best in the world then adding a road course to the Chase isn’t an option, it’s a requirement.
If you were to scan the garage and ask the question, should a road course be in the Chase for the Championship you would get many mixed results. “No, I don’t think one belongs in the Chase”, Jeff Burton, driver of the #31 Chevy said. “I think the Chase should have a fair representation of the race tracks we run the majority of the time. I’m a proponent of the fact that we have 36 races a year and two of them are road courses, which is a small percentage, so the Chase shouldn’t have a road course in it because it would be unfairly represented in what we currently know the Cup Series to be.”
Ask anyone outside the United States who the best racing car drivers in the world are and 9 out 10 won’t mention a NASCAR driver. Some say that it’s because NASCAR isn’t very popular outside the U.S. but the truth is, these detractors just don’t take ovals seriously. The rest of the world doesn’t believe that ovals require skill. On the other hand, now that the so-called open wheel invasion in NASCAR has slowed and the drivers who were part of that influx have seen how difficult it is to compete on a level with the stock car racers, that mindset may be beginning to change. A road race would be a significant step towards that change.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races on two road courses a year, Infineon, in California, and Watkins Glen, New York, but neither are included in the all important last ten races of the season. NASCAR has road raced from the day it was created from the beaches of Daytona to Riverside, California to the backwoods of North Carolina where the sport was born.
Ask Junior Johnson if when, in moments of youthful indiscretions, he could only turn left. The police would have merely had to stand there until he ran out of gas. He had to hone skills that all racers do; Up-shifting, downshifting, four wheel drifting, heel and toe braking techniques all the while doing it better than Johnny Law. It’s what made him a legend.
Next comes the question that, if you are going to add a road race to the Chase then which should it be? The answer is obvious. Watkins Glen, New York. “The Glen is just a great racetrack with a lot of history”, Kyle Petty, driver of the #45 Dodge said. “It’s one of the few places in the country where we get a chance to race where Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Emerson Fittipaldi competed. My 1992 win there is one of my favorites.”
No other tracks in America, other than Daytona and Indy, have more history and prestige than this magnificent piece of real estate in upstate New York.
It started as a somewhat selfish endeavor in 1948 when attorney Cameron Argetsinger, who is recently deceased, dreamt of bringing European style, street racing to his favorite vacation spot. The 6.6 miles course consisted of asphalt, cement and dirt roads that ran through the middle of this sleepy little town and around the state park, which is listed in the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places.
Labeled “The Day They Stopped The Trains”, it was the first post-World War II road race in the U.S. and for the next five years brought the biggest names in American sports car racing to this small town, but after a car left the road in a 1952 race, killing one spectator and injuring several others, the race was moved to a new location on a wooded hilltop southwest of town.
By 1956 a 2.3 miles permanent circuit was built and the following year the NASCAR Grand National Stock Car Series made their first stop at the circuit where it was Buck Baker finding victory lane. It didn’t last long though for NASCAR as they only raced at The Glen in ’57, ’64 and ’65.
It was 1958 when the true international competition began with the Formula Libre’ race. In 1961 Formula One made it’s mark with the first Watkins Glen U.S. GP and for the next 20 years it would bring in the biggest names in the world such as Jimmie Clark, Graham Hill, Sir Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Mario Andretti, just to name a few.
As the seventies ushered in a greater variety of competition and an expansion to the circuit itself, Throughout this period The Glen added Can-Am, Trans-Am, Endurance races, Formula 5000, CART and the Indy Car Series. NASCAR, never to be left behind in an era of opportunistic expansion, would return to the “short” course in 1986 when Tim Richmond started from the pole and won the race for team owner Rick Hendrick.
The NASCAR Sprint cup drivers today have shown that they possess the skill, technique and passion to race left and right, and yes, even in the rain as evidenced by the recent, historic Montreal Nationwide event. Bill France, Sr. believed in road racing having participated in several himself with sports cars.
It should be evident to all how important road racing is to the international racing community and NASCAR is achieving a degree of success in reaching the Global market with its unique product. But in order for the drivers in NASCAR to be taken seriously abroad as truly world class, NASCAR must make that step forward by adding Watkins Glen and it would be sheer folly not to make a huge deal to the world that their champion got there by racing on a road course.
A true champion should be able to say ‘I can win on short tracks, intermediate tracks, superspeedways and road courses’. Precious few other drivers in the World could say that, could they? 2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the first race held in the streets of Watkins Glen. Let’s make 2009 the year that the World sat up and truly took notice.
Listen to Race Day on Fox Sports Radio with Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal Sunday mornings from 6am-9am eastern on 216 Fox Affiliates, XM Radio Channel 142 and streaming LIVE 24/7 at www.FoxSports.com
Internet reports have Ryan Newman verbally agreeing to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing next season. A network website is reporting that a NASCAR source close to the situation told them that the deal and announcement could be made official within the month.
Newman supposedly reached the agreement after Joe Gibbs Racing was unable to finalize a deal for sponsorship to start a fourth team.
JGR president J.D. Gibbs confirmed on Sunday at Indianapolis that it was every unlikely that they could get sponsorship for both Newman and a forth team, making Newman a non-factor. "Another time, another day, maybe. He's a great individual. You would love to have him on your team. It's just all those ducks aren't in a row."
Stewart will drive the #14 for the new company that bears his name, Stewart Haas Racing in 2009. The #14 means so much to Tony and can't wait to run it next year. “It's everything to me. We're going to have both the 4 and the 14. And 4 was my first-ever go kart number that I started with, and obviously unless you don't follow auto racing but about once a year, everybody knows that A.J. Foyt has always been my all time hero. And when this opportunity came about, it was about a five-minute tug of war between, ‘Do I want my first number back or do I want A.J.’s number?’ And it was pretty easy to decide that I wanted the number that my all-time hero had.
So who will drive the #4, well it could be Newman so look for the deal and sponsors to be announced in the near future. Newman has had his hands full with many different options since his announcement that he was leaving the #12 at Team Penske, he's rumored to have been pursued by Evernham Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Petty Enterprises who are are still looking for a driver.
Listen to Race Day on Fox Sports Radio with Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal Sunday mornings from 6am-9am eastern on 216 Fox Affiliates, XM Radio Channel 142 and streaming LIVE 24/7 at www.FoxSports.com
Kyle Busch is making his bid to a modern-era record of 13 wins in a season and collecting the most bonus points in the chase for the championship.
After getting win number seven at Chicagoland, Kyle Busch is living the dream “This is a dream season, man,” Busch said. With seven events remaining in the race to the chase drivers hoping to catch leader Kyle Busch should make their moves now because time is running out.
With seven victories in 19 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season, Kyle Busch is making his bid towards tying, or perhaps breaking the NASCAR modern-era record of 13 wins in a season, set by Richard Petty in 1975 and Jeff Gordon in 1998.
Busch’s series-high seven wins in ’08 also give him 70 bonus points, 10 points for each win toward chase seeding. That’s a 50-point lead over Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne who each have 20 bonus points.
Yes I know that Carl Edwards has three wins but with a post-race inspection violation at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March he'll have to forfeited 10 bonus points.
Following race No. 26 at Richmond International Speedway, chase-eligible drivers have their point totals reset to 5,000 and are seeded according to the number of wins the first 26 events. The chase is contested during the season’s final 10 races and coming to an end at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
If the chase began now and we all know it doesn't but Busch would grab the top seed, followed by Edwards (who claims the tiebreaker), Kahne, reigning and two-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.
Remember you still have drivers like Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth looking for their first win of the season. Last year all these drivers accounted for 13 trips to victory lane Gordon had 6, Biffle (1), Stewart (3), Harvick (1) and Kenseth (2).
Johnson, Earnhardt, Hamlin and Burton each have one win in '08 but in '07 Jimmie Johnson had walked away a two-time champ with 10 overall wins, three shy of the record.
It sounds like the title from a Hollywood science fiction film that was written about a future event from the past. In some respects it is. The reference here is, of course, the dominant teams that we are seeing consolidate in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Hendricks, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush-Fenway and Richard Childress Racing. The rest are aspiring to reach these levels of power, though they will require deals with Venture Capitalists, Investment Bankers and, to a lesser degree, wealthy privateers.
Let’s state here and now that this movement is in no way a precedent. Without reverting this into a history lesson, this methodology began long before World War II with Auto Union, whom we now know as AUDI and after World War II became a global mission by the great manufacturers of the day to see who could dominate whom. During the Post War years the most notable of these legendary brands were Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari.
Fast forward to the 1960’s and you see the American racing scene, through NASCAR, begin to adopt the same practice, though with fewer multi-car teams such as Holman-Moody, the Woods Brothers, Junior Johnson and, of course, Petty Enterprises. The idea that a one or two car team could lay claim to the label of ‘Super Team’ was largely dependant on the manufacturer itself and whether that manufacturer, whether it be Ford, Chevrolet or Oldsmobile gave the team the “Factory” blessing.
My, how times have changed, or have they? The Daytona 500 broadcast on live television in 1979 jumpstarted the change that would ultimately bring NASCAR into the American lexicon. The demise of Open Wheeled racing (CART) and the numerous Baseball strikes combined with Bill France, Jr’s ingenious television deals convinced the corporations that they had discovered the great marketing vehicle of the modern era.
Though NASCAR has never looked back, it has had its challenges and faces one today. A weak economy, let the pundits argue whether it’s a recession or not, will inherently slow down the investment of corporations in their marketing budgets. It has never made sense to me that the first thing these companies cut is advertising and marketing, but that is the historical process in all businesses. “Cost-Efficiencies” actually appear as revenue on their books. However, not everyone in the NASCAR garage will suffer shut downs and layoffs from this plight. This leads us to the next level of the rise of the Super Teams.
The manufacturers are fighting hard against each other and if you look at the situation between them carefully you discover a method to the madness. Mark Martin un-retiring, again, to drive the #5 Chevrolet for Hendrick and stating that it’s because he wanted to simply “Drive the #5”, Tony Stewart bailing on Toyota and heading for Chevrolet with the promise of ownership and Lord knows what else behind the scenes he’s been promised and Roush-Fenway still managing to prop up Yates Racing without sponsors. All of these moves could be sold to the public on the surface that Toyota is the Evil Empire.
What is actually happening is that the larger teams are grabbing the most marketable, salable and best drivers in order to get the best sponsors, more money, better equipment and some information sharing system that they can use across their platforms whether their drivers like it or not. The smaller teams, such as Waltrip Racing, Petty Enterprises and the Woods Brothers are now left scrambling to find investors that can bring them at least to a level where the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t an on-coming train. These are the second tier teams with no big brother.
Joe Gibbs Racing and Red Bull will lead the Toyota assault. Hendrick, without a doubt, and perhaps Stewart-Haas will lead the Chevrolet camp. It may be too late for DEI as the rumors have already begun to swirl that they are dressing up for the investor-mating dance. In Dodge’s case only Evernham can be considered a contender for the moment as the manufacturer is still reeling from what its new masters, Cerberus, a private equity firm, may be doing to their racing program internally. A new engine this year wont be enough to keep up with the other manufacturers as the driver pool shrinks.
What does this mean to the smaller teams that can still manage to compete in the Sprint Cup Series? It means they will be competing for scraps for the foreseeable future even if they are aligned with a manufacturer. If they aren’t a satellite team, they won’t get what they need. It doesn’t mean that the fans won’t tune in, after all their favorite drivers are still in the hunt, they may not travel to the events with the frequency they have in past years, but they will tune in. Television ratings are up as a result of a phenomenon that has been observable when economies are bad or are perceived to be in decline, entertainment such as television, movies and sports in general increase in interest.
How do all these movements relate to the sport in general? It is becoming a manufacturers series much like Formula One. It wasn’t intended to be that way, but in order for it to survive at the popularity level it presently enjoys, it is necessary. It never ceases to amaze me how history, even racing history, repeats itself.
So pick your Super Team, root for that driver in that team and watch NASCAR evolve once again.
This past week Sirius Satellite Radio reported that Teresa Earnhardt has hired Bear, Stearn & Co. to find a buyer or at least a major investor in DEI. Bear, Stearn & Co. recently merged with JP Morgan whose business model is to partner with select clients to find innovative solutions in order to reach their companies goals.
Internet reports have DEI President of Global Operations Max Siegel saying; "We have not engaged Bear, Stearns or Goldman Sachs or anyone else. We are contacted all the time by outside firms about getting involved in the sport. We are not for sale right now. Nothing is imminent. Are we constantly weighing that as an option? Does that make sense? Quite frankly, we don't know.”
Siegel continued to explain how they are contacted all the time by financial companies and they’re not the only ones, "Every team is looking for a way to bring in appropriate resources. Every single one. We haven't engaged anybody. People obviously approach us, they're approaching everybody. We're looking to be around for a long time in future. We're feeling pretty damn good about where we're going, competition-wise.”
So let’s assume for the moment that DEI is on the market, why now?
Is it the economy? Could it be the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. no longer races for his father’s company and the value of the teams has plummeted? Could it be that Mark Martin, who drives the #8 part-time will leave DEI for a full season with Hendrick Motorsports in 2009? Doesn’t that sound familiar? Not to mention that it doesn’t look like the U.S. Army will be back with the team in 2009 either. The question begins to more like; Why not now?
Last week DEI made an announcement that Aric Almirola will pilot the #8 team full-time and no sponsor was named at that point. Max Siegel says an announcement is coming soon. “We’re fine,” Siegel said. “We’ll make the announcements of who it is over time.”
It certainly seems that DEI needs some financial and sponsorship backing for 2009 and this is nothing new in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage. Petty Enterprise, the oldest team in the sport entered into a deal with Boston Ventures, which hopes to leverage the Petty brand, thus bringing in badly needed sponsorship and financial backing to help the Petty’s find their way back to victory lane.
Who would have ever thought the King Richard Petty would let go of the family business, but he did because it’s not your father’s race team anymore its big business. Just ask, Roush-Fenway Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Gillette Evernham Racing and others who have also taken advantage of their value in the sport.
So let’s take a look at that value, where does Dale Earnhardt Incorporated fall on the most valuable teams list? According to Forbes Magazine it’s 6th. Four other teams are cited as more valuable as the list below shows. DEI has been valued at $109 million with revenue estimated at $86 million, which is based on past and pending sponsorship agreements and scale of operations.
Forbes Top 10 Most Valuable NASCAR Teams in 2008 are: (Dollar amount in millions) 1. Henrick Motorsports - $335 2. Roush-Fenway Racing - $313 3. Joe Gibbs Racing - $184 4. Gillette Evernham Racing - $150 5. Richard Childress Racing - $130 6. Dale Earnhardt Inc. - $109 7. Penske Racing - $100 8. Chip Ganassi Racing - $94 9. Michael Waltrip Racing - $86 10. Yates Racing - $74
It wasn’t long ago that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt-Elledge tried to negotiate 51% of their father’s company but the pair and stepmother Teresa Earnhardt had ‘irreconcilable differences’, ultimately seeing Dale, Jr. move to Hendrick Motorsports.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was asked after practice at Chicagoland if he had interest in buying DEI, if it were for sale and he said "I don't mean this in a bad way, but I would not
have any interest in purchasing it." Enough said.
If I look into my crystal ball, just assume I have one, DEI, in my opinion, will have a partner in the near future. It’s just a matter of time. It’s where the sports is heading with primary sponsorships reaching anywhere between $17-20 million dollars per team, it’s not easy for teams to focus on the business and competition side of this sport at the same time.
You know I’m not suppose to say the “F” word, so cover your ears, here it goes. Franchise. NASCAR doesn’t like it but most of the teams want it or least want the benefits of it, because it would give them something to sell if they were to walk away the sport. A value for something that they’ve put their blood, sweat and tears into. Creating ownership partners gets you as close as you can to franchising without saying it’s a franchise.
The reason NASCAR does want franchises' is because it would keep other teams from entering the sport at anytime.
DEI has a long history in this sport starting back in 1996 with a three-bay garage to its current 200,000 square foot Garage-Mahal that sits on 14 acres. So if they plan on keeping it that way then bring on the partners, soon!
Rob D'Amico from Race Day on Fox Sports Radio gives his opinion why he thinks Tony Stewart is have all this bad luck in 2008.
Tony Stewart couldn’t finish Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. He became dehydrated and requested to be replaced. He actually had to relinquish his seat in the No. 20 Home Depot Joe Gibbs Toyota and seek IV fluid treatment in the infield care center. You could see it in his face, his eyes and the way he struggled to walk.
J.J. Yeley, who did not qualify for the race in his #96 Toyota, was summoned to be Stewart's relief driver and, after an unusually quick driver change, ended the night in the 20th position after being collected in a typical Daytona late race crash. The finish was enough to keep Stewart 12th in points. That is 541 points, to be exact, behind series leader, teammate and race winner Kyle Busch.
The last time Stewart gave up the wheel to another driver occurred at Dover International Speedway in June 2006 when he got relieved by Ricky Rudd after 25 circuits. The reason Stewart got out of the car on that day was that the the pain of a broken shoulder he received in a crash the week before at Lowe's Motor Speedway became too much to bear.
It’s no secret that stress can manifest itself in the form of physical distress. It had started a week before and Stewart didn’t feel well coming into the Daytona race. He was suffering from an upset stomach, headaches and weakness. That should sound familiar to all of us who have ever worked too hard, had too much on our minds or physically over extended ourselves. Adding fuel to this fire is the fact that he and his JGR team have seen some of the worst luck of their careers.
Stewart, a two-time Sprint Cup series champion, has been in position to win multiple races this season leading 502 laps, which equates to 564 miles and to date still has nothing to show for it. Despite the pressure he has placed on himself, he still barely sits inside the top twelve with 2,145 points, a scant two ahead of Kevin Harvick.
This doesn't mean it's been all-bad for Tony Stewart, he has five top fives and seven top 10’s in 2008. He is usually a late bloomer with most of his career wins coming in the second part of the season, he just hopes that starts sooner than later.
"It could be a lot worse,” Stewart said at Daytona, “They’re guys that have had a lot worse seasons than we've had, but this is a terrible year for us and our team. I think that is a compliment to how good the success this team and this organization has had. I don't know how long it's going to last hopefully it's not much longer, I'm afraid I'm going to be bald by the time it's done."
During the red flag at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, after leading the most laps (132), Stewart was asked about all the hard times his team was going through and I thought the guy was going to breakdown and cry.
Some would look at this story and say no big deal, so he didn't feel well, this is not the first time we've seen a relief driver used during a race. Well you would be right. Tony Stewart is from sound, middle American Indiana stock, but even drivers with his fortitude and determination can falter. You see the problem is that Tony Stewart is spreading himself too thin.
Stewart is trying to decide whether he'll be driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2009 or begin to secure his future as an owner by buying into Hass CNC Racing, a Hendrick satellite team. He is also wrestling with another unpleasant possibility, that being his crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, who has been with Stewart from the beginning of his Sprint Cup Career and together hold the longest driver/crew chief combo in the garage, may not be going with him if he starts his own team in 2009.
Think of it as the high school student heading off to college and leaving his high school sweetheart behind. It’s not easy, but life goes on. We’ll pick up the pieces and march forward.
Breaking up is hard to do no matter what the circumstances may be. One needs look no farther than to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt. This pair went their separate ways after ‘irreconcilable differences’ on who should own Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. No one ever thought that Dale Jr. would leave the company that is father built, but he did.
No one thought that Matt Kenseth and his long-time crew chief Robbie Reiser would have been separated, but they were.
All actions have a reaction. What happens to people during times of stress is, depending on who you are, you lose valuable communication, feelings get hurt and those who have a difficult time expressing themselves calmly, begin to fall silent. I believe that is what we are seeing take place on the No. 20 team.
So what is the best decision for Tony Stewart to make? Only Tony Stewart knows. But certainly the process is taking a terrible toll. The massive amount of stress from being pulled apart by corporate America, the thought of leaving behind people who helped to make him who he is and the prospect of falling further behind in this lackluster season is a recipe for disaster.
Stewart is one of the most talented drivers in the garage when he can focus on the task at hand but right now his eye is on another prize: Securing his future after his racing career.
The Cure
It looks like we are about to find out. Wednesday Two-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart is expected to announce his official release from Joe Gibbs Racing, according to a report by the Charlotte Observer and Thursday he is suppose to make it official by announcing that he'll become 50% owner in Haas CNC Racing renaming it Stewart Haas Racing in 2009.
Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal from Race Day on Fox Sports RadioDO NOT see eye to eye on the Juan Pablo Montoya vs Kyle Busch story and as we all know there are two sides to every story.
Michele's Take:
Yesterday at the Loudon, New Hampshire Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup race, Kyle Busch stared into the cameras once again after an on-track altercation on the last caution lap with Juan Pablo Montoya. This time, however, it was a very different Kyle. This Kyle took on the role of the innocent victim, the oppressed and downtrodden. The scene had an eerie Sybil-like look to it.
Juan Montoya had the nerve to spin him out on purpose.
So there Busch stood with that Alfred E. Newman look on his face as if the school principle were standing in front of him asking what role he had played in the schoolyard fight. Busch was spinning his side of the story like a whirling dervish about his role in the incident. “Let NASCAR take care of it” he proclaimed, he added, “I don’t know what his beef is”.
Well the beef appears to be one more example of how Kyle Busch races other competitors. Not the hard driving or brilliant skills that he uses, but rather the bullying tactics of rubbing and repeatedly bumping into people he feels should get out of his anointed way.
On Sunday he ran into the wrong person. Juan Pablo Montoya has bumped wheels with world champions at 200 mph, in an open wheel car and personalities like Kyle Busch don’t scare him. Kyle Busch finally met someone who simply said, “He (Busch) crossed the line”.
Depending on who you believe, Busch had repeatedly bumped and rubbed on Montoya leading up to the caution. When the caution came out, due to Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish. Jr. colliding, Busch hit him again. Montoya gave him a gesture inferring Kyle’s IQ and Busch rubbed against him again. Then in front of God, America and all the television cameras, Montoya turned into the right rear quarter panel of Busch and took him out.
My bet is that everyone who ever hated Montoya has realized that he had finally slapped the school bully right in the mouth and they’re glad he did. I would be willing to bet that you couldn’t find anyone other than the Gibbs camp who had any sympathy for Busch. He had it coming and someone openly and unapologetically gave it to him.
What did NASCAR do about it? In terms of disciplinary actions of the past, they did virtually nothing. Montoya received a two-lap penalty. That’s it. Even NASCAR itself apparently thought that Busch had it coming, it was on a caution lap, no one in the way and no harm no foul. Not to mention it’s great press.
So what’s next? Will Busch retaliate? If he does he runs the risk of letting his competitors catch up to him in the chase. Trust me, Joe Gibbs has reminded him of that and the race at Daytona this weekend is no place to try and put yourself in the spotlight other than winning. Busch will do nothing at Daytona. The chances are actually good that he’ll leave Montoya alone from this point forward.
Chances are even better that Montoya has finally let everyone in the garage know that he won’t take any bullying from anyone. It’s about time.
Rob's Take:
In the beginning it was all about hard side-by-side racing at it finest. Two drivers with giant egos battling back and forth for position and there’s nothing wrong with that right?
Well until Juan Pablo Montoya decided to make a bone headed move and take Kyle and himself out of the race intentionally. Remember, this is all under a caution brought on when a collision between Sam Hornish, Jr. and Clint Bowyer brought out the yellow, but we'll get to that in another blog. Montoya's lucky that he didn't take another unexpected driver out of the race too.
Some people like Rahal believe that Kyle had it coming for his rough racing out on the track.
Isn't that what we are here to see? Two drivers, both with great talent, fighting for position out on the racetrack? Isn't that racing?
Yes, Kyle swerved his car towards Montoya and yes there was contact but at no point did Kyle take Montoya out of the race intentionally and under a yellow! Kyle just gave him a friendly reminder that if that is how you want to race then game on my friend.
We saw guys all day battle side-by-side, for example did you see pretty boy, ‘I don't do anything wrong’ Kasey Kahne take out Aric Almirola? But here is where it gets better. Almirola gets revenge the smart way. Later in the race he gave Kasey a taste of his own medicine and returned the favor spinning him with a little love tap. Now that's just ‘one of them racin' deals’!
Or did you happen to catch Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon doing the exact same thing that Kyle and Juan were doing. Racing side-by-side beating, ####ing and swerving back and forth at each other.
So what's the difference? Jimmie Johnson, nor Jeff Gordon took the other one out under caution. The two drivers chalked it up as ‘one of them racin' deals’.
Do I need to remind everyone why we freeze the field when a caution comes out? It was at this track a few years ago when Dale Jarrett crashed in the middle of the track and everyone was racing around him to get back to the yellow flag. This put Dale Jarrett every other driver, including safety workers in danger.
There is a time and place for everything and retaliation under a caution is not the place.
What I wanted to see was Juan Pablo Montoya get out of his car and go grab Kyle out of his ride. Now that’s punching the bully right in the mouth, at the right time and place!
Or how about putting your money where your mouth is and kicking Kyle’s rear-end on the racetrack by getting a win. Oh wait, that’s to hard!
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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