Allmendinger’s solid performance continues at JTG-Daugherty
Just past halfway in the 2013 season, the JTG Daugherty team made a very un-popular decision. They decided to sit Bobby Labonte out of the car for a few races and place a different driver in the car to help assess why the team was struggling to finish in the top-20.
Many fans voiced their dis-pleasure at the removal of the former series champion. Social media lit up with complaints that the team was not being loyal to their driver. One major factor in that dis-pleasure, was that it would end Labonte’s start streak which stood at 704, only one behind the series record held by Jeff Gordon.
Team owner, Brad Daugherty, stood by his decision. He explained that the move was for only a handful of races and that other than those races, Labonte would still be in the car at least until the end of the year. He made it very clear that his goal was to finish in the top-20 on a consistent basis and they would make whatever changes were needed to accomplish that goal.
Allmendinger instantly improved the team’s stats. He finished 19th in his first start with the team at Michigan. He followed that up with a 22nd place finish two weeks later at Kentucky. His success with the team did not stop there. He ended the season scoring five top-20 finishes in nine starts. A results that impressed, not only the team, but the fans and media as well. During the off season, it came as no surprise that Allmendinger was named as the full time driver for the No. 47 in 2014.
Allmendinger has continued the solid runs with the team this season. In the first six races, Allmendinger has scored four top-20 starts and four top-20 finishes, including an impressive run in the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway this weekend where he finished eleventh, just shy of his season best eighth place finish last week in Fontana. Allmendinger commented about the team’s improvement after his run at Martinsville saying, “We’re getting there. You know, I feel like we’ve been decent all year, we’ve had fast cars. But overall, you know we’re getting there, I felt really good there were times today I thought we could go take the lead, we just had some struggles, it wasn’t on pit road so much but the bucking down pit road, I would lose a couple of spots each time, but we’re fighting hard, eleventh is actually a little disappointing, so if you can say that at Martinsville, that’s a good day.”
Brad Daugherty stood his ground against the outcry of fans because he knew he needed to make changes to improve his race team. It seems those changes have paid off.
Kligerman’s struggles continue at Martinsville
Parker Kligerman joined the Swan Racing team during the off-season to drive the No. 30 Toyota and compete for the rookie of the year honors in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Kligerman competed full time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series last year driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, compiling 18 top-10 finishes in 33 races. That team was forced to end operations due to the lack of sponsorship for 2014.
Under new ownership, the team began to make several positive moves during the off-season signing several advertising partners to help fund the season. The team also signed, Cole Whitt, to drive a second car full time.
Though expectations were realistic, they were expecting to have better results than they have seen thus far this season. Kligerman opened the season with a respectable 29th place finish. Kligerman’s teammate, Whitt, finished 28th, giving the team high hopes for the season.
After Daytona, however, Kligerman has had little to be happy about. The team has struggled in every event since the season opener with a best finish of 34th at Bristol. He also finished 42nd twice at Phoenix and Fontana. At Bristol, Klgerman commented about his season saying they have the same equipment as his teammate, they have just had bad luck. Whitt’s results have been moderately better. He followed up his 28th place finish at Daytona with a 27th at Phoenix. He also scored the team’s first top-20 of the season at Fontana finishing 18th.
Kligerman’s struggles continued at Martinsville on the third lap of the race when he got involved in a crash. The damage sent him to the garage area for more than 80 laps to make repairs. There seems to be an increase in tension among the team. While making repairs there was a heated exchange between Kligerman and a crew member.
Hopefully, the tension was due to the current situation and not based on the season as a whole. Kligerman is a very talented driver and once he can shake off the bout of bad luck, we will see him in the top-25 consistently.
RACEDAY: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Seeking First Martinsville Clock
@DaleJr scored the biggest win of his career at Daytona International Speedway in February, yet he’s still craving more wins. This weekend at Martinsville Speedway, he will be aiming to score his first victory at the exciting short track.
“This is a track I’ve been trying to get a win at for a long time.” Earnhardt Jr. explained in the media center on Friday. “I grew up in a house full of clocks so it’s been pretty elusive. We have had some good cars here that I’ve felt like could have won races and we just weren’t able to get the job done for whatever reason, somebody was faster or whatever.”
Currently sitting second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver standings, he has witnessed his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, @JeffGordonWeb and @JimmieJohnson, dominate ‘The Paperclip’ for the past decade.
“Obviously Jimmie (Johnson) has had a lot of success here, but he seems to be very consistent in how he drives and deliberate in how he drives this track. They (Jeff Gordon and Johnson) are definitely two guys that have had a lot of success here so you sort of tune in to what they are doing, how they are setting up their cars and what their comments are about their cars,” said Earnhardt.
Last season, the driver of the No. 88 finished eighth and 24th at Martinsville after starting outside the top 10 in both races. His career-best showing was second in 2006 and 2008, but he’s still determined to get his first grandfather clock.
This season, we’ve seen Earnhardt be more aggressive and crew chief Steve Letarte take more gambles. These gambles were taken due to NASCAR’s new Chase system that focuses on winning. This weekend, considering he’s almost guaranteed himself a Chase spot, driver and crew chief can be more aggressive with strategy to help get their first Martinsville victory.
“Yeah we (No. 88 team) have (been more aggressive) in the last couple of years regardless how the points system is stacked up, we have had guys pushing each other around here quite on a regular basis so I assume if there is anyone within reach on that last lap of the leader then the he is going to have his hands full.” Earnhardt expressed about being more aggressive. “I can tell you though as far as being offensive, defensive, you are only as offensive as your car will allow you to be.”
This weekend marks Earnhardt Jr.’s 29th trip to Martinsville. It seems with the confidence and swagger he has that NASCAR’s favorite driver could capture the checkered flag on Sunday.
Takuma Sato wins Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Verizon 1 Pole Award
After a three hour rain delay, Takuma Sato would lay down the quickest lap in the Firestone Fast Six to score the Version 1 Pole Award for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“I knew we had a strong package from last year,” the driver of the No. 14 ABC Supply Toyota said. “Today was such an excitement, and everyone did a great job.”
Sato led practice yesterday and was able to lay down a quick lap of 1 minute, 1.8686 seconds on a quickly-drying 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit. It marks Sato’s fourth career pole. Sato has won the last two poles decided by Firestone Fast Six qualifying. He also won the Verizon P1 Award for the first race at Houston’s Reliant Park last October.
2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan was second quickest as he switches from KV Racing to Chip Ganassi Racing for 2014. There’s a lot of pressure on Kanaan to perform with him taking over the No. 10 Target Chevrolet previously piloted by Dario Franchitti.
“I think it has been like three years since I have been in the top six,” Kanaan said. “It feels really good. I can’t thank the Target Chip Ganassi Racing guys enough. A lot of people made a lot of comments over the years because we struggled so much in qualifying on street and road courses and nobody was counting on that. I like to be the element of surprise. Nobody was talking about us at Indy last year and nobody was talking about this weekend. Although this is not even half of the battle because this is qualifying. Front row, man it feels pretty good.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay posted the third quickest time in the Firestone Fast Six, followed by Will Power, defending series champion Scott Dixon and Marco Andretti.
Andretti’s rookie teammate Carlos Munoz qualified seventh after his lap in the second ground of qualifying, followed by fellow Jack Hawksworth. Munoz will run the full schedule this year for Andretti Autosport after his success in the Indy Lights ranks and a second place effort in last year’s Indianapolis 500.
Briscoe will start ninth after leading the morning session, followed by Helio Castroneves and Mike Conway. Conway is splitting the schedule with Ed Carpenter this year in the No. 20 Fuzzy Vodka car.
The session didn’t go without any red flags, as both Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe had problems in the first group of round one qualifying as both drivers made slight contact with the tire barrier. As a result, both drivers were stripped of their two fastest laps that they posted in the session per IndyCar rules.
“I just messed up,” Rahal, who will start 21st, said. “I went into Turn 4, thought I was under control, thought I broke pretty well but all of a sudden the right front locked and I just went straight on (into the tires). Unfortunately we did a lap time that would have advanced us but the lap time doesn’t count. Obviously I’m very disappointed. I would have liked to advance but I didn’t do a good enough job today so we’re going to have our work cut out for us in the race.”
Hinchcliffe won last year’s event and will start 19th in this year’s event.
“I made sure that the 27 crew has our work cut out for us, that’s for sure,” Hinchcliffe said. “Really mad at myself. Conditions were obviously tricky, but I just lost it. It’s a real shame because the guys have done such a good job, we were quick in the dry, quick in the wet until my spin, the United Fiber & Data Honda deserved to be higher up today. But when the going gets tough, the tough get it done anyway. We’ve got the pace so hopefully some good strategy will see us come good tomorrow.”
The red flags unfortunately made for a tough qualifying session for others, including KVSH Racing’s Sebastian Bourdais.
“It wasn’t much of a qualifying session for the Hydroxycut – KVSH Racing team,” Bourdais commented. “Because of the track conditions we waited to go out to make sure that we had room in case something happened, so everyone else got in a lap before the first red flag. When we went back out I got one lap at speed before the second red flag.”
Notably: Juan Pablo Montoya in his first race back in open-wheel will start the race from the 18th position.
“The biggest problem for the No. 2 Verizon Chevy was the last corner, for some reason,” Montoya said. “I just couldn’t come off that corner and get the car to turn. (Takuma) Sato was in front of me and I would lose everything to him right there. It is what it is. I haven’t driven in wet conditions in a long time and we never had an opportunity to do it in testing. I don’t think we’re that far off. I’m still getting acclimated back to the Verizon IndyCar Series. My team is still getting acclimated to me. If that process was complete we would be a lot better. We are definitely making progress.”
The drivers will have a quick practice on Sunday morning before the race at 9:45 a.m. EST, with the race scheduled for 3:20 p.m. EST.
1. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.8686 (104.738)
2. (10) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 01:02.1637 (104.241)
3. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.2167 (104.152)
4. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 01:02.3955 (103.854)
5. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy, 01:02.4454 (103.771)
6. (25) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.9595 (102.923)
7. (34) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.3955 (102.215)
8. (98) Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.5738 (101.929)
9. (8) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 01:03.6206 (101.854)
10. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 01:03.6635 (101.785)
11. (17) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 01:03.8374 (101.508)
12. (20) Mike Conway, Dallara-Chevy, 01:03.9618 (101.310)
13. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 01:15.8337 (85.450)
14. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 01:12.3741 (89.535)
15. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Dallara-Honda, 01:15.9111 (85.363)
16. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 01:12.5890 (89.270)
17. (18) Carlos Huertas, Dallara-Honda, 01:16.8105 (84.363)
18. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy, 01:12.6994 (89.134)
19. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 02:34.4862 (41.945)
20. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy, 01:13.0048 (88.761)
21. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, No Time (No Speed)
22. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 01:13.1170 (88.625)
Moving On
I’ve posted a lot of stories for Speedway Media over the last 13 months or so…but this will be my last. I am leaving due to an opportunity that’s come about with another outlet. When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, they would always get the same answer. I could have been five, ten, fifteen years old…didn’t matter. I’ve always had an indomitable hunger for motorsports that begs to be sufficed. There was no escaping it. Racing is in my blood; it’s who I am.
Since I was a little kid, I would cheer for the late, great Dale Earnhardt. I was only seven years old when he died, and consequently, stopped watching. Three years later, I found myself sitting in my living room with the 2004 Daytona 500 on the TV. I couldn’t stay away any longer…I was drawn to it. Like some intangible force was pulling me back in. I didn’t want to watch it….I needed to.
Then I began to discover other forms of racing and the more series I uncovered, the more I realized that I liked it all. Indycar, F1, Supercross, MotoGP, Rally Car, V8 Supercars, British Touring Cars, TORC/LOOR, all sports car racing – you name it, I probably follow it. My goal has always been simple and broad….I want to be a major part of auto racing for the rest of my life. I have no college education because I felt that field experience would be more valuable than a degree. I let my passion do the talking.
I’ve traveled one path my entire life; my path. I never did what others wanted me to do, or settled for anything less than what I aspired to be. Hey, we only get one shot at this, so why not enjoy the ride? Is it a risky and somewhat naive mentality? Yes. Do I care? Not the slightest bit.
You create your own future. If you want to do something but are too worried about failing, the worst thing you can do is hesitate. Take the leap. I wanted to work in racing and the odds have always been heavily against me….you don’t even know the half of it. I worked hard though. I was driven. I refused to accept anything less than success. I couldn’t, and still can’t contemplate a life besides the one I’ve always envisioned for myself. Now, I’ve secured what I consider the break of my young career.
I’ve joined Motorsport.com full time as “News Editor & Community Manager.” I will also serve as an evangelist of sorts for the company. I’m leaving the only state I’ve ever called home and moving 1,500 miles away to Miami, Florida. I have no idea what’s going to happen next, but I’m eager to find out.
Now you’re probably wondering what’s the point of this, my final entry for Speedway Media. There’s no deep meaning to this piece that you are supposed to figure out….just the ramblings of a departing reporter/journalist. The point is to simply to say goodbye to the site, to thank people such as Barry Albert and Ed Coombs, and to edify others on what I believe is a philosophy everyone should employ. There’s no secret formula or riddle that you must decode when trying to attain what you want. There’s just you.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day.
