Josef Newgarden emerging as a serious race winning contender
Following last weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, there’s no doubt that Josef Newgarden and car owner Sarah Fisher were feeling some frustration.
Newgarden finished pit stops as the leader, coming out directly in front of Ryan Hunter-Reay on cold tires. Hunter-Reay went for the pass and contact happened, resulting in both of their days ending.
As everybody continues to reflect back to the event, the one question remains – what if? Perhaps Newgarden would’ve won, or perhaps at least finished on the podium. Either finish would’ve marked a highlight for the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team, just as the win for Ed Carpenter Racing was a highlight.
The strength of Newgarden, Takuma Sato’s success and the success of Mike Conway with the win show that single-car organizations can compete with the multi-car organizations like Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport. While seeing Newgarden contending for the win may have been a surprise with that said, it shouldn’t be.
Newgarden has been getting stronger as he continues to put more laps under his belt at Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. The young driver even put himself in position to win a couple times last year, including a second place finisher at Baltimore. Added together with a couple other top-fives, Newgarden is starting to come to his own as a driver.
Consistently at the front will be a question based on the past, however perhaps the bugs are worked out and he can be a top 10, top five contender each week. However, even being at the front for some of the races puts Newgarden in position and sometimes that’s all that matters with what can happen.
As Newgarden continues to get stronger with each lap behind the wheel, don’t be surprised if the young driver finds victory lane this year. Any of the street courses could lead Newgarden to victory with how he tackles them, and perhaps strategy could fall right in his lap and lead him to victory.
Stefan Rzadzinski to run Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for Tagliani
Tagliani Autosport announced earlier this week Monday that Stefan Rzadzinski will drive the No. 18 Team EpiPen/Dicom Express entry in the 2014 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series (NCATS) season opener on May 18th at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.
Alex Tagliani was originally scheduled to run the full NCATS schedule in 2014, however, he will miss the season opener as it falls on the same day as Indianapolis 500 qualifying. Tagliani is attempting to qualify for the 98th running of the “Greatest Spectacle of Racing” with Sarah Fisher-Hartman Racing.
Tagliani says he and business partner Colin Livingston, President of CanTorque Incorporated of Edmonton Alberta, chose Edmonton, Alberta native Rzadzinski due to his talent, as well as his ability to represent the sponsors.
“We are so fortunate to have amazing partners in EpiPen/Pfizer and Dicom, so it was important for Colin and I to go with a young driver who not only has talent like Stefan has in abundance, but a driver who’s also well spoken and intelligent to represent our partners in the best way possible,” Tagliani commented. “Being from Edmonton, he also gives Tagliani Autosport and the team very valuable Western Canada exposure and visibility. We’re very excited to bring Stefan on board.”
21-year-old Rzadzinski started racing at the age of eight, and has been progressing up through the open-wheel ranks. He was a major prize-winner in the Skip Barber Shootout, a finalist for the Team Canada Scholarship for young drivers, a “Road to Indy” podium finisher, a two-time Ontario F-1600 Championship Runner-Up, Canadian Automobile Sports Club’s Ontario Region Rookie of the Year, and the Western Canadian Motorsports Association Driver of the Year.
“I’m very excited to kick off my relationship with Tagliani Autosport this season,” Rzadzinski commented. “It means a great deal to be trusted to drive Alex Tagliani’s Team EpiPen/Dicom Express No. 18 for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season opener on May 18th. Canadian Tire Motorsports Park is a track I’m familiar with from my Formula 1600 days, so I’ll be looking to take that knowledge and apply it to the bigger and more powerful NASCAR Canadian Tire Series car. After what feels like the longest off-season in history, I can’t wait to get back on track.”
Rzadzinski will be running the race as a teammate to three-time Canadian Tire Series Champion Scott Steckly as Steckly’s 22 Racing team is preparing Tagliani’s car for the 2014 season.
Kwasniewski reflects on NASCAR Next Experience and season to date
Next Friday at Richmond International Raceway, NASCAR will introduce their new group of NASCAR Next stars. NASCAR chooses a group of young individuals coming up the racing ranks that the fans should keep an eye on the future.
Dylan Kwasniewski was part of one of the previous classes while racing in the K&N Pro Series and says that it helped him with getting used to handling the media.
“You get to talk to the media and make friends off the track that you wouldn’t normally want to since you have to compete against them,” Kwasniewski commented. “So you get to know your competitors well. You get to know, hopefully, the people that you’ll be racing against for a very long time.
“But I think the biggest thing, like I said, getting used to the cameras, being more acclimated to talking with everybody, and kind of just getting used to being in the spotlight because hopefully we will be in it in the future to come.”
Kwasniewski is hoping what he learned from that experience will be beneficial now that he is in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with Turner-Scott Motorsports.
For Kwasniewski, though, moving up to the Nationwide Series from the K&N Pro Series hasn’t been an easy transition. The rookie has struggled so far at the different tracks with outside of the top 10 finishes, and a couple races where he had to go to a back-up car. In moving up, Kwasniewski noted that it’s hard to log laps and know when to be conservative and when to go all out with the longer races.
“It’s hard to log laps and get used to not only the characteristics of the track but how the car handles on it,” Kwasniewski commented. “Especially the radio rubber compared to last year. So trying to adapt to these tracks as quick as possible so you can get up to speed and start to compete, and then you fine tune on your car after that. I think that is the toughest part about my jump this year.”
While it may be frustrating to go through those times, but you can’t hold on to that frustration.
“You’ve got to move on,” he commented. “You’ve got to know that there’s going to be many more races to come. It’s a very long season, and you’re going to have time to improve on that.”
Kwasniewski added that you also have to ignore what everybody else is saying or doing and stick to your game plane so that way you can work at improving yourself.
Marshall’s Madness: Kyle Busch Turning Out Like Mark Martin, Winning But Championship-less
Kyle Busch’s tenure in racing is developing like Mark Martin’s, producing victories but not scoring the ultimate goal: championships.
Busch currently drives in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Joe Gibbs Racing and Martin, who retired following last season, now serves as an instructor or mentor, at Stewart-Haas Racing.
Both of these superstars haven’t experienced a championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but have a multitude of victories in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions.
Busch, 28, has racked up 130-wins during his career, and has experienced one Nationwide Series championship. Martin scored 96-wins along but never was called champion after finishing second in the Sprint Cup Series standings five times.
However, the two share much more, including hardships that have held them from reaching their fullest potential, or even scoring the elusive Sprint Cup title.
Martin had to compete against NASCAR legends, for example, he was runner-up to Jimmie Johnson (2009), Tony Stewart (2002), Jeff Gordon (1998), and Dale Earnhardt (1994, 1990) in the championship battle – all four of those elite drivers are bound to be NASCAR HOF (Hall of Fame) members, if they aren’t already inducted.
Now, Busch is entering a era where he’ll be challenged by future legends, and he may be unable to overtake them and capture a championship.
Just glance at the up-an-coming stars, drives like Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are still developing and have already beaten Busch, easily. While those two are still a few seasons from reaching championship form, they will undoubtedly be a force to reckon.
In addition to the stars of tomorrow, Busch will still have to battle the current stars of Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski and Johnson.
Seems pretty identical to Martin’s situation, right?
Nevertheless, Busch still has at least 10 more seasons before he calls it quits and he obviously has the talent to win a title, it’s all in how stiff the competition is around him.
‘Comment’ below if you think Busch and Martin have similar careers, and also tell me if you think Busch will ever win a Cup title.
