According to jayski, this afternoon will see an announcement that, for the first time since before the millennium ticked over, Marcos will not be racing for the blue oval as JTG Daugherty Racing will share technology with Mikey's team and, while Brad says otherwise, more or less be a fourth MWR car. He'll still be using the #47 and still have the Little Debbie sponsorship, it just will be with a Toyota badge rather than a Ford one.
Under the agreement, JTG Daugherty will get the same chassis, engines and techno-info-sharing that Mikey receives from TRD. Daugherty reckons this deal will put them about two years ahead of schedule since they would have been relying on, most likely, the NW series notes that Marcos has picked up the past couple of seasons (which would be very rough since the cars are not even remotely similar).
Homestead will be the final time Ambrose drives a Ford Fusion...for now anyway.
Based on the recent performances by both Waltrip and Reutimann, this may prove to be a good move for Marcos who, as he proved at both Watkins Glen and Dover (until damage, he was running in the top 15), can run with the big boys and will surely be a huge help to MWR with their road course program. I must say that I feel better about this than Marcos running by himself...and no disrespect to the Wood Brothers who have helped Ambrose enormously since 2006 when he entered the Truck series, he might wind up being a little more competitive than I previously thought.
Every so often, motorsport produces a winner that just leaves you shaking your head in amazement at how they did it; Zanardi's real 'pass in the grass' on Herta at Laguna Seca in 1996, Larry Perkins in the 1995 Bathurst 1000 after being a lap down (no lucky dog rule in V8's so he did it the hard way), Barrichello's victory at Hockenhiem, Kyle Busch at Darlington this season...believe me, I could go on.
Well, the 2008 Italian Grand Prix gave us a new name to add to that list. Not since...well, long before I was watching F1 anyway, the teams had a wet Monza to deal with. Now, Monza in the dry is a rather hairy ride; zero downforce with three big stops and any track in the wet all but guarantees the form book be chucked out for the weekend so why should this one be any different?
Initially it wasn't. More often than not in the past couple of seasons, Scuderia Toro Rosso have been mighty quick whenever Mother Nature steps in to level out the playing field then fade during the race due to it being dry. We saw glimpses of how good Sebastian Vettel may one day be when he stepped in for Robert Kubica at Indy last season and when he ran as high as third at Fuji until taking out himself and (sort of) teammate, Mark Webber, behind the safety car. But this year has seen the young German's stock only rise...so much so that there were whispers of him joining Ferrari before being signed to replace David Coulthard at Red Bull. He's a rather likeable guy as well, polite, makes time to sign stuff for fans, answers media questions (and even thanks them at the end of the interview)...as Martin Brundle said on the coverage of the race; he might be ruining the reputation of drivers everywhere.
Vettel at the wheel of his #15 Toro Rosso.
After swimming his way to being the youngest ever driver to nab a pole yesterday, Sunday dawned with grey skies and umbrellas out...the perfect conditions for a classic race as title favourite, Lewis Hamilton, had to work his way from 15th on the grid having made a hash of qualifying and we all saw at Silverstone how good Lewis can be in wet conditions. But the story was always going to be how long Vettel could hold off Kovy and whether Hamilton would pass Massa to increase his championship lead.
The answer was a simple one in the end; never...to both scenarios. It would be akin to, for arguments sake, the Wood Brothers winning the Coke 600 (which, given their current form, I think most would agree that luck would be required in big doses for that to happen).
Heikki's McLaren didn't even look remotely possible of hanging with Sebastian as whenever he closed down the gap, Vettel responded the very next lap and while Lewis looked capable of passing Felipe in the final third of the race, he had used up the best performance his inters had to offer and actually slipped back into the clutches of the eighth placed man, Mark Webber. So really, the only question was whether Vettel's car would hold together to collect not only his, but also the teams first ever win. From 1985 to 2005, Minardi were known as 'the other Italian F1 team' and always loitering at the back of the grid. Only once in their history did they qualify on the front row.
Sebastian became the youngest ever F1 winner.
Cue a new owner in the form of Gerhard Berger who changed the team into Toro Rosso from 2006 who, when it became clear that BMW were going to break from Williams to join Sauber, managed to secure Ferrari engines for the team. All that meant the stage was set for Ferrari to win again in Italy...just not in the way it was expected. Sebastian drove fantastically well and while he got lucky as conditions changed enough to switch from the monsoons to the inters at the time of his final stop, I don't think anyone would begrudge the little team from Faenza of their moment in the sun...and if anyone does, well I guess they just don't appreciate it when David slays Goliath.
Can you say "Lewis who?" Hail the new rainmaster in Formula 1; Sebastian Vettel.
You can forgive Scott Dixon for wanting to come out of the blocks like he did this season. His run at the 2007 IRL title included an amazing run of three wins on the trot and, but for an ounce of fuel, he would have been celebrating winning his second title 12 months ago. But, for whatever reason, most experts dismissed Dixon's performance and said this season would see a 'Brazilian battle' as Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves would be the ones to beat.
You can also forgive him for thoroughly dominating the Indy 500. After all, the last three seasons have seen the person who wins that race, wins the championship. But there was more to it than that. Scott's first visit to the famous track wound up in bitter disappointment in 2003 as he suffered the embarrassment of crashing out of the race while weaving behind the pace car warming up his tyres.
You can even forgive him for breaking his 'ice man' persona and showing frustration at Sonoma where he could have, potentially, wrapped up the title, but racing luck had clearly deserted him that day. The next race saw Helio further cut into Scott's lead leading to today's finale in Chicagoland and we've all heard this before to the leader going into a title deciding race; "all you have to do is..."
That meant that Dixon had two ways to race this thing; like Jimmie Johnson has done the last two races at Homestead in the Cup series, or to go for it.
Now, it's probably safe to say that Scott did take the first half of the race reasonably easy. After all, there's no point in overstressing the car when you're the one with the most to lose. However, that bad pit stop which dropped him into his 'dangerzone' was possibly the best thing to have happened since it forced Dixon to do what he'd done all season long; race.
His pit crew also made up for it by getting him out in front at the final stop and from there we were treated to a battle royale between Scott and Helio that produced the second closest ever finish in IRL history.
Scott celebrates on the podium.
So I guess you should also forgive Scott for not bothering to listen to reason and race for the points...after all, he hasn't done that all year so why should he have started today?
Congratulations, Scott, you've made Kiwis the world over very proud.
Alright, I haven't updated this since Chicagoland so forgive me for not bothering to go over the races/qualifying sessions in great detail. Suffice to say that the races have pretty much been shared between Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch as both men establish themselves as the guys to beat if anyone wants to win the title. Qualifying has seen the HMS boys of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr move past Kyle for the lead and with just two races before the Chase begins, there are (mathematically at least) still 26 drivers battling to make the final 12.
All up, 53 drivers have scored points in the QC, with Johnson leading the way after continuing his hot streak in the past month.
Johnson has been on a tear and leads the QC with two races before the Chase.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 24 rounds:
While there has been just the one change in names since my last update (Vickers in for Nemechek), there has been a fair bit of shuffling around.
The RC has seen 46 guys scoring points, with Tony Raines bringing up the rear having finished 17th at Bristol last week. No change in the top 20 as far as drivers go, but Tony Stewart has gone from tenth to sixth so he's faring much better in the races than in qualy.
This has been a familiar sight this year...but Edwards is gunning for him.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 24 rounds:
With the 'end of regular season lead' being between Kyle and Carl, the real battle will be whether or not David Ragan can slip into the Chase at the expense of either Denny or Kevin...I think the rest of them are out of it.
The 2009 Indycar schedule got released earlier this month (I think...it could have been late July I suppose) and includes ten ovals and eight road courses (three permanent and five temporary/street courses).
- Sunday April 5: Streets of St. Petersburg - 1.8-mile street course - Sunday April 19: Streets of Long Beach - 1.9-mile street course - Sunday April 28: Kansas Speedway - 1.5-mile oval - Sunday May 24: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (The Indy 500) - 2.5-mile oval - Sunday May 31: The Milwaukee Mile - 1-mile oval - Saturday June 6: Texas Motor Speedway - 1.5-mile oval - Sunday June 21: Iowa Speedway - 0.875-mile oval - Saturday June 27: Richmond International Raceway - 0.75-mile oval - Sunday July 5: Watkins Glen International - 3.4-mile road course - Sunday July 12: Streets of Toronto - 1.721-mile street course - Sunday July 26: Edmonton City Centre Airport - 1.973-mile airport course - Saturday August 1: Kentucky Speedway - 1.5-mile oval - Sunday August 9: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - 2.258-mile road course - Saturday August 23 Infineon Raceway - 2.245-mile road course - Saturday August 29: Chicagoland Speedway - 1.5-mile oval - Sunday September 6: The Raceway at Belle Isle Park - 2.096-mile street course - Saturday September 19: Twin Ring Motegi - 1.5-mile oval - Sunday October 11: Homestead-Miami Speedway - 1.5-mile oval
Now, those familiar with the CCWS and/or the IRL series will notice that the season ending race isn't where it usually is and there are a few glaring omissions in the schedule (no Road America or Vegas for example). Some people are disappointed with the increase in road course proportion while I am disappointed that the Gold Coast has lost its spot on the schedule.
Yes, Australia is a long way to come for a single weekend out of a season. Yes, for the past decade that race has always been late October and so doesn't fit the new schedule's timing...and it seems that I'm not alone in being disappointed.
The V8 Supercars host a round of their series on the streets of Surfers Paradise the same weekend as the Indycars. I speak from experience that while watching the V8's are wonderful, the reason everyone goes to the race is the watch the Indycars since that's the only time any of the races have a good timezone for that part of the world.
This was the race track that effectively launched Marcos Ambrose's stock car career. You may have heard of him? I think he did an OK job at Watkins Glen over the weekend. Anyway, he raced an exhibition race in 2000 and won...not bad for his first time in a race car that had a roof over him.
I found an open letter that the boss of the V8 Supercars, Tony Cochrane, put on the V8 website;
"Dear Sir,
I have read with interest the many comments and considerable garbage written concerning the proposed date problem associated with the Gold Coast Indy Event for 2009 and beyond. Much of this angst is aimed at the Queensland Government and the GCMEC Board. In my opinion unfairly. Both the Government and the GCMEC have bent over backwards in trying to accommodate the new IRL's interests in working out a suitable date for 2008/2009. Following are some facts regarding the matter which may help correct the record:-
* The Government and the GCMEC have supported Indy/Champ Cars now for many years, including some very ordinary periods in their somewhat chequered history. In any business relationship you would hope that this counts for something?
* Despite the Event being held in late October for nearly ten years suddenly the IRL, incredulously, offer two dates well outside this traditional period?
* The Event gets its TV production and Telecast partner (the 7 Network) from V8 Supercars Australia (our Championship goes to 110 countries, many of them live). Like all sporting events the telecast partner is paramount to the financial success of the Event, so their scheduling is critical.
* The IRL offer two dates - one in March which clashes with a major Australian Motorsport event which involves both V8 Supercars and the 7 Network, and another which not only clashes with the AFL and NRL final series but would be in the middle of the September school holidays!
* Are Gold Coast tourism operators suggesting that moving Indy to a time when they are already fully booked due to the school holidays is a smart move to preserve the IRL? Additionally, we would have no telecast partner for the Event.
* Late October was originally picked because it coincides with a natural downturn and quiet period for Gold Coast tourism. (i.e. the $60m injection comes in handy).
* V8 Supercars recognizes the Event requires both V8's and an International Series to make this unique Event work. If the IRL cannot see fit to honour a long standing agreement on the date then there are many other world class International Series of Motorsports that would readily fit the bill.
Our Championship employs nearly 800 people in S.E Queensland so this “home event” for us is an important part of our landscape, and for our part, we will work with the Government and GCMEC in any reasonable way. At the end of the day, I hope common sense prevails and the Event continues as a joint round of V8 Supercars and the IRL. However, I don't subscribe to the Event being held ransom to a date that will bankrupt GCMEC, and neither should the Gold Coast community, especially when we have viable alternatives! Our American friends owe both the community and the Event more than that, given the support the Event has given them.
Yours Sincerely, Tony Cochrane Chairman V8 Supercars Australia"
'So what?', you may say. As I said earlier, the current dates don't coincide with the new schedule and Australia is a long way from Miami...but consider this; Nigel Mansell, the 1993 Indycar Champion, said on his first visit to the track in 1993 that the Gold Coast did such a great job with the track and it was easily the best setup he'd seen for a temporary street track. The same Nigel Mansell who in 1992 won the F1 title and had therefore raced on the hallowed tarmac of Monte Carlo as well as the streets of Las Vegas (or was it Phoenix? I can't remember now, but I do know there was a street race in the USA in the late 80's early 90's) and that if anyone wanted to setup a new street track, they would be wise to use the Gold Coast as a template.
Will 2008 be the last time anyone sees this sight on the streets of Surfers Paradise?
The drivers love coming downunder since it allows them to escape the spotlight they usually get in the States and the relaxed atmosphere is exactly what some teams need as the season draws to a close...and now they can it? Maybe I am blinded by nationalistic pride and all that but it seems silly to cut a race that everyone enjoys. In fact, many motorsport fans rate the Gold Coast race as one of the top ten motorsport events around the world.
Now, before the switch to October, the race was held in March (like the letter says is an option)...which doesn't fit the schedule either since I'd doubt it would be accepted to start the season anywhere else but the USA. I believe the reason that got switched was it was too close to the Australian Grand Prix (after it moved from Adelaide in November to Melbourne in March in 1996) and, as we all know, having two major international sporting events held back-to-back decreases the overall profit making ability so it made sense to move the Gold Coast race.
What about that other date the letter suggested...the one that clashes with this 'AFL' and 'NRL' finals, surely they can't be as big as Tony says and the fact that it's school holidays would mean that families would be able to go to the race anyway.
Wrong.
While Australia does embrace any international sporting event, when given the choice, we much prefer to stick to our own sports. Remember that we don't want to have a Saturday night F1 race as that clashes with the grand final of the AFL's preseason Cup...the PRESEASON Cup, not even the 'real' thing!
Even suggesting hosting the race when the finals are on would be akin to going "hey, let's host the Indy 500 in early February!" It's the same thing here; September has always been, and will always be, 'finals footy' time in Australia. The only way I can see where the Gold Coast would fit in the schedule wold be to start the season earlier and put our race after Long Beach (allowing a week off either side for travel and preparation) but that will only happen if they are serious about keeping Surfers Paradise as a venue. However, I get the impression that the honeymoon, which lasted since 1991 (and only has one repeat winner in its history), is over.
And, like Tony says, if they don't want us, there are plenty of other series that would jump at the opportunity...your loss, Indycar *shrugs*
Now, normally, my posts with similar titles are a good-natured poke at motorsport around the globe...but not this time. I've decided to use this instead to give my kudos to Marcos Ambrose on a truly incredible weekend (all the photos are from his website by the way).
While Cup qualifying got rained out, the Nationwide series did manage some practice and Marcos put up times in the top ten which would ordinarily be expected given his road course background. But this was no ordinary NW field...I think there were 20 drivers doing double duty and while Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon weren't in the NW cars, guys like Kyle Busch, Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick were so you couldn't say this was going to be a walk in the park for the Aussie.
Ambrose leads the way from Busch, Kenseth and Harvick.
Saturday morning came and went, with Marcos qualifying 12th for the NW race and being amongst the frontrunners, if not the frontrunner, in Cup practices...this was starting to look like Sonoma all over again, but would he get that storybook finish?
It didn't look that way as he got shuffled a bit at the start of the NW race. Jeff Burton lost it in front of him (whether or not Marcos tapped him I don't know...the replays were inconclusive but he looked to be too far back to have given Jeff a touch), he sent Sam Hornish Jr into a spin when Sam didn't get good traction in the esses while Marcos did and then with about 15 laps to go, he sideswiped a backmarker.
But, like most fairytales, one has to overcome adversity before the happy ending and this was no different.
His luck changed with 33 laps remaining. As Ambrose pulled into his pit box to get service on his final stop for the day, the caution flew so he (and Ryan Newman who pitted at the same time) escaped without penalty. Carl Edwards then divebombed Clint Bowyer on the restart allowing Marcos to gain a couple more spots in the ensuing chaos. Indeed, by the time the pitstops were all sorted, Marcos was in the top five and had more fuel than the cars in front of him.
Marcos taking the chequered flag.
They say that to finish first, first you have to finish and that rang true as the doorslamming battle between Burton and Busch meant that Ambrose and Jimmie Johnson were able to close down the gap. When Burton made his retaliatory move on Busch, that lifted Marcos to third behind Jeff and Jimmie. Unable to keep up with their pace, Marcos seemingly cruised along saving a little fuel and I imagine gave a huge smile when, first Johnson and then Burton ran out of gas and Marcos took the lead for good with three laps left.
And so, in his 59th start in the 59 car, Marcos Ambrose became the first Australian to win in the Nationwide series and got a tremendous reception after his on-track victory celebration. In nice gestures, Carl Edwards paid tribute to him when interviewed after the race, Kyle Busch gave him a handshake on the podium and even Jack Roush congratulated him on a job well done.
Not only did he smoke those tyres good, he also kept the car off the wall on that narrow front straight!
That's generally where the story says 'The End' right? Ahh, no...not in this case.
After starting shotgun on the field (ignoring those guys sent to the back for engine changes and whatnot...if you want to get picky, then I think he actually started 41st), Marcos stormed his way through the field to be running 15th after 23 laps. The final cycle of pitstops came and went and the #21 Ford Fusion was inside the top ten...but could he keep it going or would similar misfortune strike him like at Infineon?
With a slipping clutch and fading brakes, Marcos passed Martin Truex Jr for fourth and inherited third when Newman ran wide in turn one before 'the big one' happened behind. That allowed his brakes to cool down but that clutch was going to be an issue since the guy behind him, Juan Montoya, isn't well known for his patience. Ambrose went to the inside on the restart, telling Juan that if he wanted past, he'd have to go around the outside...something the Columbian did try on the final restart and ended up having to battle Truex allowing Marcos some breathing room as he closed in on Tony Stewart.
Marcos took the #21 to heights not seen by the team in over three years.
That was where the story ended as Ambrose finished behind Tony and Kyle, giving the Wood Brothers their best finish since 2005 and the best ever finish by an Australian in the Cup series (previous was a 18th by Tony Spanos at Martinsville in 1987 apparently).
Now, I'll be the first to say not to expect a similar result from Marcos in next weekend's Cup race at Michigan since, despite Ambrose saying he doesn't want to be known just for his road racing expertise, he has to be realistic and knows that's when he's able to show off his talent, just like Robby Gordon. But he showed last weekend that sometimes you do get that fairytale ending and nice guys don't have to finish last.
Congratulations, Marcos. You've made Australia, and this Aussie in particular, proud, mate.
I had thought that jbroomy or bc525 would have been all over this one but I suppose I'll do the honours instead.
Last weekend saw two major milestones reached in motorsport; not only did NASCAR finally decide to hold a race in the rain (and yes, I am peeved that they'll refuse to do it for the Cup series if Chad Knaus' report on 'TWIN' had a shred of truth to it), but we also had the 100th different winner in F1 history.
Heikki Kovalainen, aka 'Kovy', was the lucky driver in more ways than one.
He put in a great qualifying lap to start second behind his teammate, and Championship leader, Lewis Hamilton but at the Hungaroring, that means the dirty side of the track. Indeed, Felipe Massa's Ferrari got the jump on both McLarens and took the lead going into turn one with Kovy settling into third...and a rather lonely race for the Finn had begun.
Kovalainen became the 100th different driver to reach the top step of the podium.
Now, some drivers have no winning luck at certain tracks; Dale Earnhardt at the Daytona 500, Michael Schumacher at the Australian GP, Glenn Seton at Bathurst, Rubens Barrichello at Interlagos and Kimi Raikkonen at Hockenheim just to name a few (dare I add Marcos Ambrose at Montreal to that list?). However, Felipe Massa tends to have more than his fair share of bad luck than most (although, some of his retirements are down to brainfades mind you...not good if he wants to win the title one day) and around Hungary, that 'luck factor' is even worse as he hadn't had a good points race there in his entire career.
That was set to change on Sunday as not only did he manage to get the jump on Lewis at the start, but he was able to slowly build his lead over the next 40 odd laps before he could cruise when Hamilton got a puncture on his left front tyre (either from flat spotting or debris, I'm not sure) with 29 laps to go (70 lap race by the way). At that time, Felipe's lead over Kovy was around 23 seconds and it looked a forgone conclusion that Massa was about to retake the Championship lead as Lewis had to work his way through the field for the second straight race. However, the racing Gods had something else in mind and as Felipe came down the front straight to start lap 68, his Ferrari V8 engine let go in a huge cloud of smoke and his race was over.
And so, that left Kovy to pick up the pieces and secure his first grand prix victory. The Finn, in just his second season finally broke through and repaid the faith Ron Dennis showed by replacing Fernando Alonso, the man who had won the 2005 and 2006 titles, with him. Now, I pretty much expected Kovy to struggle against Lewis this season since Lewis had all of 2007 to get used to 'the McLaren way', but now that he has that first win, his confidence at a title shot in 2009 would have been significanlty boosted.
As for the luckless Massa...well, he can take heart in the fact that his teammate came from further back this time last year to win the Championship so all is not lost yet.
Or rather, in racing terms; if you put yourself in position enough times, eventually you'll breakthrough.
I get the impression that might be Marcos Ambrose's mantra for this week as, once again, victory in Montreal slipped from his grasp.
Going into the weekend, there was no doubt that the #59 STP Ford was going to be one of the cars to watch and Ambrose made good on those promises. He qualified third and snuck into second, passing Max Papis, before the first safety car period came out on lap 7. For the first time in NASCAR history, this caution wasn't to wait out the rain, but rather to give all teams the chance to fit a windshield wiper, brake light and whatever else could be done inside the allotted time to help against fogging up windows and helmets.
Once the race got back underway, Ambrose wasted little time in passing Scott Pruett for the lead and then proceeded to get back to where he left off here twelve months ago; giving a demonstration on how to drive this track. By the time the next yellow flag came out, Marcos had built his lead to over eight seconds, he did it again the next time (even going off-track and still retaining the lead) before coming in for his final pit stop on lap 41. Such was his performance (assisted by the weather of course) that, even allowing for his drive-through penalty for speeding, he came out in third and was poised to challenge for the win as his wets were far fresher than those of Ron Fellows (who had yet to make his last stop) and Patrick Carpentier (who chose not to change his tyres at his stop...Kimi Raikonnen at Silverstone last month, anyone?).
Alas, we'll never know if both drivers were holding back or, indeed, whether Ambrose could have gotten by them, as the rain became torrential and NASCAR, wisely, called the race off with 26 laps remaining. It was small consolation for the Australian that he led the most laps for the second straight year as he was interviewed after the race; "We’ve dominated this race twice now and not closed the deal. I’m bitterly disappointed and I feel a little robbed. It doesn’t feel too good."
He may have been in different colours, but Marcos gave a repeat performance of 2007...complete with the same result; no win.
Does Montreal owe Ambrose? Maybe.
But hey, that's racing and sometimes the guy with the best car doesn't win. The good news for Marcos is he doesn't have to wait long for the next road course and if his performances at Sonoma and Montreal are anything to go by, expect him to be running in the top 10...as long as he doesn't dwell too much on the one that got away.
Lakeside International Raceway…where my motorsport addiction all began I suppose.
I don’t remember how old I was or if I went with my family on the Saturday or Sunday, but I do remember getting #### Johnson’s autograph…yes, the very same #### Johnson that had a brief stint in NASCAR in 1989 and 1990 and owner of the Jim Beam Racing team in V8 Supercars.
In 2003, Lakeside made history as it became the first motor racing facility in the world to be given full permanent heritage listing.
The 1.5 mile long paved track itself was around a 20 minute drive from my home and the turnoff from the main road and just opposite a rail station so getting to the place wasn’t a major problem. From mid-2001 to April 5 this year, the track had been closed as most series preferred to use the more modern Queensland Raceway located near Ipswich. Throughout its history, Lakeside was used as the venue for a wide range of racing championships including the Australian Grand Prix (non-Championship round at that stage) on two occasions, the Australian Touring Car Championship (now called the V8 Supercars) and the Australian Superbike Championship. Now, another series can be added to Lakeside’s illustrious history as the GGW ‘Show Your Moon’ tour crosses the Pacific Ocean for its ninth round.
‘The Trans-Pacific Traveller 150’ is the only race of the tour that heads to the better hemisphere (and if anyone wants to argue that fact, I’ll set loose all those dangerous critters we have to convince you *laugh*) and competition for the win will be fierce…even if the temperatures will be somewhat cooler than what the drivers have been used to as it’s currently the middle of winter. However, ‘cooler’ is a relative term as the only way this part of the world gets blanketed in white is when it hails…so no snow angels are needed in any of the drivers resúmés for this race (dust angels will be a must however).
As can be easily seen from the map, the GGW circus heads southnorth-westeast for round 9.
Now, since this is downunder (and, if you believe those who don’t live here over those who do, backwards as well) territory, the orgainisers have decided to roll out an old V8 Supercar idea to make things that little more challenging; a reverse grid.
So, that means that starting up front is klvalus and Hanahan while yours truly and jbroomy will start at the tail end of the field. The favourites will be those drivers who can ####-handle their car around the track the best since being a road course, setup will be a compromise. Fatigue will likely be a factor here this weekend as all teams (yes, including me now) have to cope with the long haul flight so bodyclocks shall have to be reconfigured lest you wind up sticking your car into one of the gravel traps that will conspire to ruin your day…though the track is right next to a golf course so you can swap the gravel trap for a sand trap if you want to. Also, just a short drive north are the Glasshouse Mountains. 'Who cares?' you might say. Well, to keep things nice and ####-ly, everyone shall be given the opportunity the day after the race to climb up Mt Tibrogargan, also known to locals as ####-face.
Easy to see where Tibrogargan gets its nickname from this angle, eh?
For decades (Lakeside turned 47 on April 29 this year by the way), the track was second only to Bathurst as the fastest track in Australia and with its varying elevation over the course of a lap, it provided a proper challenge for any driver. A rather curious fact about the track is that every corner shares a common radius which allows drivers to find their rhythm reasonably quickly. But, you never want to let your guard down as apart from sharing a common radius, all turns also change from positive to negative camber at mid-corner…hmm, maybe getting your rhythm takes a bit longer than it looks on paper then ;)
So exactly how difficult is the place to race at? Well, if Darlington is considered ‘too tough to tame’, then Lakeside could claim to be its road course equivalent. Five time 500cc Motorcycle GP World Champion, Mick Doohan, once said, “If you can learn to race at Lakeside, you can compete at any race track in the world.”
So why argue with a legend?
Ladies and Gentlemen, let the downunder battle for supremecy begin…
Well, we’re just passed the halfway point in the season and it’s looking like 2007 all over again; the one guy still leading both titles.
Joe Nemechek managed to bump out AJ Allmendinger after the solitary qualifying run at Daytona (no points for washouts remember) while Dale Earnhardt Junior has swapped places with Jimmie Johnson and closed the gap between himself and Kyle Busch from 54 points to 30.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 19 rounds:
The two races have been a complete Kyle Busch benefit as his lead over the rest has grown to over two full races now. No personnel changes within the top 20, but Matt Kenseth, due to his recent hot form, has risen to fourth from eighth while both Jeff’s lost two spots.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 19 rounds:
After a week off, the teams head to Indy and Tony Stewart will be hoping to repeat and give his season a big shot in the arm.
On a side note, I did some digging around and found some interesting stats. The comparison between the actual Cup points this time last year and now makes for interesting reading:
(2007) Jeff Gordon - 2911 points, 4 wins, 12 top fives, 17 top tens, 1 DNF, 764 laps led and a 303 point lead over second place (Denny Hamlin at that stage).
(2008) Kyle Busch - 2881 points, 7 wins, 12 top fives, 13 top tens, 1 DNF, 1065 laps led and a 262 point lead over second place.
Now, I don’t seem to recall Chevrolet attracting as much stick about having a significant advantage over everyone else (they did launch a new engine package, remember?) as Toyota are this year and yet Jeff had a bigger lead in the Championship. I do wonder if Kyle will be getting all of those “the Chase is unfair since he’ll lose his big championship lead!” comments like Jeff did around this time of the season…something tells me he won’t, but Kyle won’t care as long as he can keep winning I guess.
Right, I’m back (sort of…still need to find a job as well as a more permanent place of residence before I can finally relax) after the busiest month in my life having packed up and moved across the Pacific Ocean; hence the new blog title. The race for the QC has closed up dramatically from four weeks ago (though only three points weekends as Michigan qualifying was rained out of course).
Kyle Busch maintains his lead but in those three sessions, he’s managed to score just 24 points while Jimmie Johnson went on a tear and accumulated a whopping 120 points to slash the gap down to just 15 points.
Rocketing into the top 20 due to his pole at Loudon is Patrick Carpentier. Others include Bobby Labonte and AJ Allmendinger at the expense of Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray and Ken Schrader. Among the frontrunners, Kasey Kahne went from sixth to fourth and Jeff Gordon drops one spot to fifth. David Ragan hasn’t scored any points at all since my last update but hangs tough in 14th while there is a bit o####ap starting to form between the top four and the rest as we approach halfway through the season.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 17 rounds:
The races have seen Kyle keep his 'plus one race' margin mainly due to picking up another win while the other three races were shared between Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kurt Busch. Just the solitary change in the top 20 as Elliott Sadler squeezes out Travis Kvapil. Kahne has risen to seventh from 14th while Biffle lost four places and now sits tenth.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 17 rounds:
To Daytona under lights then, where we’ll see if we can get another cracking finish like last year when Jamie McMurray broke a five year drought by pipping Kyle at the line. The smart money (assuming it doesn’t rain for qualifying) will be on a GOGH driver nabbing the pole position and if recent progress is anything to go by, the Dodge camp seem to have gotten over their early season troubles which could be an ominous sign since Penske went 1-2 here in February with what basically everyone said were the ‘slowest’ cars.
Alrighty then, Dover saw Roush-Fenway somehow lose a race that they should have won…and no guesses on picking who the driver was that spoiled their party.
Qualifying had Greg Biffle collect his second pole of the year, fending off both Busch’s from securing a brotherly front-row. Kyle kept increasing his lead over the rest of the field as Dale Earnhardt Jr failed to score any points this week.
One new face in the top 20 this week as Jamie McMurray relegates Reed Sorenson.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 13 rounds:
On to Pocono where Jeff Gordon won by dint of leading when the rains came and everyone will be hoping Kyle has a bad finish to tighten things up a bit at the top…well, everyone except Kyle of course.
Another side note, that’s it from me for a while…and also the end of my "Trans-Tasman Traveller" title as I make my move further overseas this weekend. Hope the race/s I don’t get to see are great and thanks everyone for putting up with me this past year and a bit *laugh*
Well, after the busiest weekend in motorsport with a fourteen hour drool-fest for us…uh, those channel surfers, not me, I had to go to work since everything happened on Monday morning for me…as attentions turned from the streets of Monte Carlo to the Brickyard before coming to a bleary-eyed stop in Concord, things stayed pretty much the same in both the QC and the RC.
Qualifying had Kyle Busch start from the pole with Kasey Kahne alongside…which meant that Kyle further extended his lead over the rest and is just 16 points away from having enough points that he could take a race off and still retain the lead. The others will hope Kyle has done exactly what the All Blacks do in rugby union; peak too early.
Dropping out of the top 20 this time are Bobby Labonte and Joe Nemechek, making way for Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers. Among the frontrunners, Kahne was the biggest gainer going from tenth to sixth while Denny Hamlin went the other way; sixth to eighth. All up, 46 drivers have scored at least one point in qualifying as the season kicks off its middle third.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 12 rounds:
The race saw, predictably, Kyle shoot off into the sunset and, but for losing voltage, he would most likely have backed up his win in the Nationwide race the night before. But, thankfully for the rest of the field, he did have issues and the lead was mainly traded between Kyle, Dale Earnhardt Jr (hmm, I probably shouldn’t have put those two together like that, there could be some trouble there), Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, Kurt Busch (ta muchly for reminding me about him, klv), Kahne and Tony Stewart.
Kyle, despite his problems finished in third while Jr had an eventful night blowing a tyre and getting whacked up the back by JJ Yeley before rebounding to wind up fifth. Kurt also whacked the wall a couple times but still managed to finish in the top 20. Vickers and Johnson didn’t last the distance as Brian lost a wheel and Jimmie grenaded an engine…first time in nearly 100 races that’s happened to the #48. However, all that paled into insignificance as Stewart easily had the roughest time.
Having closed down the gap to Kahne, he then passed Kasey in the pits and was cruising to victory having over a five second lead with three laps to go…before his tyre let go. Tony did an amazing job to keep his Camry off the wall but his dream of a win on Memorial day vanished as Kasey went by to take the win, becoming the sixth driver to win the All-star race and the Coke 600 in the same year. Greg Biffle followed him home, just like he did last week as well (not the first time that’s happened as tyler did a bit of scouting around). Kudos to Elliott Sadler, David Reutimann and Sam Hornish Jr who all wound up with great finishes too.
No changes in the top 20, just a bit of shuffling around. Biffle’s up four spots to eighth and Johnson dropped two spots to ninth. Due to Carl Edwards running out of fuel on the final lap, Kyle’s lead now exceeds 100 points…but remember, Jeff Gordon was on fire in last years TNRC around this time of the year and Jimmie managed to nip past him at the end (and that was without the Chase I’m using this year) so there’s still hope for the rest. At one third through the season, we have 37 guys who have scored points.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 12 rounds:
To Dover then where Martin Truex Jr dominated this time last year…but he’ll have to contend with all three JGR cars as well as Roush-Fenway, Dale Jr and, after the last week and a bit, a resurgent Kasey Kahne.
On a side note, it took a full year after williamwilman put the idea out there, but we finally had someone go three-for-three in the trifecta. Dwindy hosted it this week and not only was it a first 'perfect' score, it was also a first time trifecta winner. But, as Dave pointed out on Dwindy's blog, picking the F1 and/or Indy winner is somewhat easier than Cup...most likely since there's only a handful of cars capable of winning whereas there's at least 10 in Cup. So, I guess that means I need to send Lewis Hamilton, Scott Dixon and Kasey Kahne a card or something…hmm, anyone know their addresses?
Well, another track ticked off the 2008 schedule and while the teams had a newly paved place to deal with, at the end of the day it was the same old, same old as Kyle Busch continued his hot streak in both the QC and the RC. Luckily for the rest, he could only manage sixth in qualifying so Dale Earnhardt Jr was able to close the gap by sticking his Impala on the front row but they were all left in Greg Biffle's dust as he pulled a lap out of his bag of tricks to take Ford's first pole position of the season.
With that effort, Greg, along with Bobby Labonte, bumps out Jamie McMurray , Mike Skinner and Juan Montoya (Mike and Juan were tied for 20th last round).
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 11 rounds:
And with his third win of the year, Kyle extend his lead over Carl Edwards in the RC and in a bad weekend for Juan, Travis Kvapil due to his stonking drive pushes him out of the top 20.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 11 rounds:
On to Lowes Motorspeedway where we'll see if Casey Mears can repeat his win from last year...or if Kasey Kahne will claim the place as his again like he did in 2006. As much fun as it might have been to give my driver a bonus 1000 points for winning the All-star race, I didn't think that would be terribly fair so I'll just have to make do with knowing he's safely into that race until 2019.
The 2008 All-star winner.
So, on behalf of, possibly, their Southern-most fan, congratulations to everyone at GEM and to Kasey on their surprise (hey, who'd have thought those Goodyears would last the way they did?) win.
Qualifying saw Kyle Busch extend his lead over second place due to the fact that neither Dale Earnhardt Jr or Carl Edwards managed to crack the top 17 in Richmond. In fact, there were just minor shuffling for the top 14 but Reed Sorenson stormed into the top 20 (15th) while Kevin Harvick and Juan Montoya join Reed to bump out Michael Waltrip and Matt Kenseth with Mike Skinner hanging in thanks to being tied for 20th with Juan. Possibly most interesting (for me anyway) was that now there's a three-way tie for 10th...interesting that all three guys scored points this week yet still manage to equal the others.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 10 rounds:
The race was rather dull for the first 350 odd laps as Denny Hamlin showed his pole position was no fluke and he set about relighting Nigel Mansell's famous saying of "home race is always worth an extra couple of tenths a lap" (or something like that...apologies to Mr Mansell if you're reading this and know that's not the exact quote) by leading all but one lap. Unfortunately for Hamlin, but good for us watching, circumstances dictated that a slowly deflating tyre (yeah, yeah, I know I'll have to get used to the other spelling in a few weeks time) ruined his chances for a win and provided what should have been the second and third most talked about incident; Denny stopping on the track, Dale and Kyle having some fender bashing.
But, since Jr was involved, that incident jumped straight from three to #1 while the Michael Waltrip ramming Casey Mears thing got swept under the carpet...which I blame the commentators for doing that. Any other driver and Darrell would have been all over them but blood thicker than water and all that.
Anyway, Clint Bowyer snuck through the havoc to score his second Cup win while Kyle pulled out some more points on the field (again) by finishing right behind him. Amazingly, there's just one new face this week (Truex for Mears) but a few spots were swapped around which is possibly due to Richmond being the fourth 'half point' race as even with the green-white-chequered finish, it still didn't reach my 400 mile cut-off.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 10 rounds:
