Round one to Hornish
Nationwide Series championship contenders, Sam Hornish and Austin Dillon are locked in the closest points battle among NASCAR’s three national series that are closing out their season’s this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
A mere eight points separate the two drivers with Dillon on top. Round one, however, for the weekend goes to Hornish. In first practice on Friday, Hornish was fourth fastest, laying down a lap of 167.848 MPH. Dillon only managed a lap of 166.590 MPH, which placed him 14th on the final sheet.
There was, however, a small bit of drama during the session. Hornish brushed the wall slightly in his No. 12 Penske Racing Ford Mustang. On Thursday, Hornish talked about the pressure he is under trying to win his first NASCAR championship, “It’s not the way we would have liked to come into the race. We feel like we’ve had a good year at Penske Racing. We’ve been strong a lot of races this year. Capitalizing on the days we were strong is one of the things we need to continue to work on. At the end of the day we feel real proud to be in the position that we are and to have the opportunity to win the championship. There’s a lot of things that need to happen. We’d like to go out there and lead the most laps, win the race, do all that good stuff. If Austin finishes third, that’s all for not. We’ll try to be smart, figuring out the best way to do this. One of the things that gives me confidence going into this weekend is our performance on the mile-and-a-half’s this weekend and the fact we got to come here and test. It’s a big gamble to look at Miami and say that we need to be the best that we can possibly be when we get there, but we had a feeling that we were going to need to be strong here. Saving that test day for here hopefully will be a real good thing for us.”
Dillon who has won a Camping World Truck Series championship is confident heading to the final weekend of the year, “God blessed us with a good season. We were consistent. That paid off for us at the end of the year. Love coming to the mile-and-a-half’s. We were strong there all year long. Homestead was a place where we led a lot of laps last year. I’m glad this is the last race of the year. Feel like we need to approach it with a win. We don’t have any wins this year. To finish off the year with a win in the championship would be great.”
The Nationwide Series championship is providing us with the perfect ending to a fantastic season. Two drivers in a tight battle, one with a racing resume’ that demands respect, the other – a young gun driver who is already writing his own impressive resume’. Additionally, we have a classic Chevy vs. Ford battle and a manufacturer’s championship that currently has the two only two points apart.
What more could we ask for?
Dario Franchtti announces retirement from racing
After injuries sustained in the Houston IndyCar race in September, Dario Franchitti has announced his retirement from IndyCar Racing.
“Since my racing accident in Houston, I have been in the expert care of some of the leading doctors and nurses, all of whom have made my health, my safety and my recovery their top priority,” Franchitti said in a statement. “I am eternally grateful for the medical care I have received over the last several weeks. I’d also like to thank my family and friends for their unbelievable support.
“One month removed from the crash and based upon the expert advice of the doctors who have treated and assessed my head and spinal injuries post accident, it is their best medical opinion that I must stop racing. They have made it very clear that the risks involved in further racing are too great and could be detrimental to my long term well-being. Based on this medical advice, I have no choice but to stop.”
Following contact with Takuma Sato on the final lap, Franchitti’s car lifted off the ground, making contact with the catchfence. The contact ripped most of the front end off of the No. 10 IndyCar, but the driver’s compartment stayed in tact.
As a result of the crash, Franchitti sustained a concussion, two spinal fractures and a fracture to his right ankle. The pair of spinal fractures have doctors concerned for the future.
Franchitti has made 265 starts in his career, winning four championships and won three Indianapolis 500s. His four championships are second only to AJ Foyt on the all-time list, and he is only the third driver in Indy car history to win at least three consecutive titles. Franchitti became one of only five drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 and the series title in the same season more than once.
“Racing has been my life for over 30 years and it’s really tough to think that the driving side is now over,” Franchitti continued. “I was really looking forward to the 2014 season with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, with a goal of winning a fourth Indianapolis 500 and a fifth IndyCar Series championship.
“I’d like to thank all my fellow competitors, teammates, crew and sponsors for their incredible support over the course of this amazing ride. I’d also like to thank Hogan Racing, Team KOOL Green and Andretti Green Racing for the opportunities to compete on the racetrack, and especially Target Chip Ganassi Racing, who have become like a family to me since I joined their team back in 2008. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all my fans around the world. I can’t thank you enough for standing by my side for all these years.
“I’ll forever look back on my time racing in CART and the IndyCar Series with fond memories and the relationships I’ve forged in the sport will last a lifetime.
“Hopefully in time, I’ll be able to continue in some off-track capacity with the IndyCar Series. I love open-wheel racing and I want to see it succeed. I’ll be working with Chip to see how I can stay involved with the team, and with all the amazing friends I’ve made over the years at Target.
“As my buddy Greg Moore would say, ‘See you up front’”
Beyond the IndyCar success at Chip Ganassi Racing, he has success in other forms of racing.
n 2007, Franchitti became first professional race car driver to ever capture the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Indianapolis 500, an open wheel title and the Rolex 24 At Daytona consecutively, accomplishing the feat in less than one year. Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt are the only others to win the four titles, but neither did so in succession.
“Dario Franchitti has done so much for Target Chip Ganassi Racing so it will be very disappointing to not see him in our cars next season,” Chip Ganassi released in a statement. “But simply put, Dario is a motorsports legend and will be sorely missed on the race track by everyone in the paddock and in the stands. His contributions to the sport of motor racing are too many to list but I can tell you that they go way beyond what he has done on the track. What’s both impressive and unique about Dario is that he has always been a student of racing, someone who not only appreciates the actual science of the sport but also the rich heritage of those racers that have gone before him. This news only serves as the start of next chapter in Dario Franchitti’s racing career – which I expect will be here with Target Chip Ganassi Racing.”
“We have been proud to watch Dario emerge as one of the most exciting drivers in IndyCar, winning three series championships and becoming a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner during his time with Target Chip Ganassi Racing,” Gregg Steinhafel, CEO of Target stated. “Not only has he had a storied career, but his popularity with Target’s guests, his tremendous contributions to racing and his engagement in our community giving efforts have made him an integral part of Team Target. While we’ll miss seeing him drive behind the Bullseye, Dario will always be a member of the Target racing family, and we look forward to seeing him excel in the next phase of his career.”
Matt Kenseth looks to end season on solid note, possibly as champion
Following a sub-par performance at Phoenix, Matt Kenseth comes into the final race of the season, 28 points behind Jimmie Johnson. It gives him a shot at the championship, but he has to rely on Johnson having some misfortune.
“I think Jimmie could run 28th through the grass or with three wheels on,” Kenseth joked of his chances.
In reality, though, if Kenseth was to win the race and lead the most laps, he could win the championship if Johnson was to finish 24th or worse.
At Phoenix, it was the opposite of a good performance for Kenseth as he would struggle all day with the handling on his Toyota on the way to finishing deep in the field. At one point, Kenseth’s crew chief Jason Ratcliff said on the radio that he was giving up on adjustments because nothing seemed to be working. Kenseth stated today that it was his worst performance of the year.
“We went back and tried to figure out what went wrong,” Kenseth added. “We think we have a handle on what went wrong, tried to figure it out for the next time. Certainly wanted to win. We still have a chance to do that if everything plays out right in our favor, I guess.”
Coming into the final race of the year, Kenseth’s focus is solely on performing well. He must perform well to keep second in points ahead of Kevin Harvick.
“We’ll have to be up in the top five to hold on to second or to overtake Jimmie if he has a problem,” he commented.
By performing well, he would be in position if Johnson ran well. Anything could happen to Johnson. He could have a motor failure, a tire failure, rear-end failure, or get caught up in a wreck. For that reason, Kenseth says you have to able to capitalize.
“You got to control the things that you can control to the best of your ability,” Kenseth said. “You have to go out there with the idea of trying to win and run up toward the front.
“We have to go out with the idea of trying to win the race, lead laps, be in the front group, trying to get the best finish we can.”
No matter how the final race plays out and where the cards fall, Kenseth knows that he has an incredible year in his first season at Joe Gibbs Racing. This yea was the first year that he won more than four races in a season since 2002 as he won seven races this year, along with 11 top fives and 19 top 10s. Most drivers in their first year struggle, though with Kenseth’s success, it makes the move to JGR look real successful and promising for the future.
“It’s been probably the best year of racing I’ve ever had in my career,” Kenseth summed it up. “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a great challenge personally and professionally. I’ve had a great time this year. I’m looking forward to this weekend, closing the season out. I’m actually already looking forward to next season, as well.”
Patrick, Pastrana and the Goat: NASCAR’s failed attempt to attract fans
Before I begin, let me explain that I am not in favor of anybody being rushed or staying anywhere in NASCAR without having the talent to support it. Rather, this is more about how strange it is to me, who NASCAR and others use to promote the races.
Let’s take Danica Patrick, for instance. She’s pretty popular, but what new does she really bring to the table? Hasn’t it been preached to the public going on years now that roughly half the NASCAR fan base are female? Yes, the ratings for the Daytona 500 were way up this year. Yes, the ratings for FOX were pretty stable overall (and with how the TV world is evolving, where the only sure things are certain reality shows and the NFL), that’s pretty impressive. And finally, yes, Patrick did give a huge boost to IndyCar when she had that wonderful run in the 500 eight years ago. But where are those ratings now?
Ratings went so low for TNT they didn’t care to release any figures for it. For TNT, I think one of the main culprits is simply horrible TV production. Even compared to the surface only coverage from FOX Sports and the half-hearted coverage from ESPN. But ESPN, that’s the oddball in this whole deal so far.
Ratings have been up this season for the Chase. But, the problem for Patrick is that these have almost nothing to do with her. She has had exactly two top-20’s during the Chase, and neither of these races featured improved ratings.*
Meanwhile, IndyCar, eight years later is in complete shambles, generally due to incompetent management (Moving to Versus in 2009 (Now NBC Sports) from ESPN cut their viewership in half), and half of their top drivers trying NASCAR (and looking like losers when they came back) didn’t help matters. But it isn’t like Patrick was setting the world on fire with her ratings in IndyCar by the time she won a race in 2008. Without commenting on her driving ability, I have come to the conclusion that, ratings wise, Patrick does bring some people in long term, but her biggest boost is when she first competes in a series.
Because this is America, apparently a lot of people still think it’s a novelty when a woman competes in a male dominated sport and want to see what she’ll do, especially when all the media outlets are reporting on it. Basically, I believe some of these viewers are just casual fans with no real love for what they are watching, they just watch because everybody else is. But the same goes for Football too, there are plenty of people who only watch the Super Bowl every season simply because everybody else is.
Now, here’s the main problem with the NASCAR fan base. Very rarely do you see any new young, teen fans connect to the sport simply because, 1. a short attention span and 2. nobody to connect to. When the average Sprint Cup driver age has gone up four years in five years and people like Kevin Conway win rookie of the year, you may have a problem. And honestly, it’s nobody’s fault. Drivers are simply driving longer then they ever have before. Twenty years ago, I want to say only Dave Marcis, Bobby Allison, and Richard Petty had over 700 starts. Now 12 more drivers have joined the 700 club and counting. Jeff Burton only needs nine more races and quite a few more are only within 200 starts of the 700 feat.
The main reason for this is sponsor loyalty and team stability, along with the increased safety of the cars. This has created a log jam in the NASCAR Nationwide series over the past eight or so years, with many promising names falling off the map. Two of these drivers are Ricky Carmichael and Travis Pastrana.
Carmichael is nicknamed G.O.A.T. (Greatest of all time) in the motorcycle world because he’s more or less Richard Petty on a motorcycle (and with a much smaller cowboy hat, if any). However, he hasn’t raced at all in NASCAR since 2011 and will probably never come back. Why? Because Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) stole his sponsor Monster Energy.
Was Carmichael showing progress? Yes. Did he ever win? No. And yet, because of this, Monster Energy signed a deal with KBM and he vanished from the scene in one off-season.
Same deal (to an extent) with Travis Pastrana this season. Only in his case he never had a sponsor. How and why? Just go ask Jack Roush. I’d love to know why too.
Now, where I come from, there are plenty of Carmichael and Pastrana fans. They were part of my graduating class of high school this year. I’ve seen them wear Monster Energy hats and talking about Nitro Circus. When I told them they were at NASCAR once, I heard one of them ask where they had been (team), and all of them said they had no idea and would have checked out NASCAR if they had known.
The youth movement next season gives me hope that this sport can appeal to the teens again. If you hook them now you have them for life. But I’m going to be pretty cautious on this because they dropped the ball bad with Pastrana and Carmichael.
*= One of those top 20s came at a rain delayed Chicagoland, so the rating was going to be bad anyway.
Michael Self moving up NASCAR Ranks, possibly with RCR
After completing the K&N West Pro Series season Michael Self is prepared to upgrade his talents possibly to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series during the 2014 season.
“As of right now, I’m not signed with RCR. I don’t have any commitment to them for anything during the 2014 season.” Self explained to me. “With that being said, I would love the opportunity to drive anything in the RCR stable, as their equipment has repeatedly proved to be among the best.” I think there’s a strong possibility I’ll get the chance to drive one of their cars or trucks at some point, we just have to put the right deal together”
The recent progression from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series level to the NASCAR Nationwide Series level for Ty Dillon and Brendan Gaughan, both Richard Childress Racing drivers, have allowed Self to get his name thrown around in the conversation of driving a RCR powered truck in 2014.
Over the course of Self’s K&N West Pro Series career he’s racked up six wins including three each of the past two years. The 23-year-old reeled in 10 top five finishes this season including a win at Iowa Speedway during the K&N East vs. West showdown.
“Overall, 2013 was a phenomenal year. The Golden Gate Racing Team was incredible to work with. I had the pleasure to score them their first win in 2012, and build on that by making history in 2013. Winning the combo race at Iowa was the biggest accomplishment in my career, then winning 2 days later in Missouri made history.” Self told me about his 2013 season. “We had a huge run at Daytona that should’ve put us in VL, and several others to match that throughout the year. We were constantly a force and front running car, but we made mistakes that cost us the championship, and as the driver I take partial responsibility for some of our downfalls.
“It was a great season, I’m very happy with what we accomplished, but there will always be room for improvement.”
Self’s been driving for Golden Gate Racing, which is powered by RCR, which is just another reason he’s been put in the bucket of possible drivers for RCR.
“I wish I could say I have a set plan right now,” Self expressed about 2014. “I have several opportunities in the works, but nothing set. I’m hoping to put together a mixed Nationwide/Truck schedule, but it I get the opportunity to run in the national series at all I’ll be happy.”
Ken Schrader, the forgotten goodbye
As we head into Homestead for the season ending races, along with all of the the fanfare of the 2013 NASCAR Champions, we will say goodbye to some important drivers. There will be tears of joy for the drivers that win, and there will be tears of sadness for those drivers that are not going to be racing next season.
Mark Martin:
There has been a lot of talk about Martin, who says he “is” retiring at the end of this season. Will he really retire? Sadly I believe Martin is retiring this time. Martin will be greatly missed. Anyone that has followed Martin’s career, knows all the hardships and the great driver he became.
Bobby Labonte:
Labonte may be having his career cut short, although not planned; his is just the circumstances of the sport. For long time viewers and fans of NASCAR, it will be sad to not see a Labonte in the field. But I am holding out hope that his circumstances will change and we all will be fortunate enough to have him for another season.
Ken Schrader:
Schrader announced his retirement as well to very little fanfare. It was a small blip and if you blinked you may have missed it. Schrader is a very important driver to the sport and has been overlooked throughout his career.
Born in Fenton, Missouri in 1955, Schrader started his racing career in 1971 at Lake Hill Speedway in Valley Park, Missouri. In the early 80’s Schrader started racing in the USAC series. Then in 1983 he made an attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 but wrecked his car in practice. Schrader’s first NASCAR race was in Nashville in 1984, in a car owned by Elmo Langley. Schrader’s first NASCAR win came in 1988 at Talladega Superspeedway in the Diehard 500. He went on to win four races, 23 poles, and 184 top-10 finishes.
What makes Schrader so special? His relationship with his fans. His sense of humor is one very few have, and his love of life and racing is bigger than anyone’s I have ever met.
The focus this weekend may be on Martin and Labonte, but lets not forget that we are losing another great driver, Schrader, whom has been a great part of NASCAR and deserves the same goodbye.
