Weighing the Options for Martin Truex Jr. and Michael Waltrip Racing
Michael Waltrip Racing might have lost more than just a sponsor. The team that has exceeded all expectations since their inception in 2007, is about to go backwards instead of forwards.
Martin Truex Jr.’s sponsor, NAPA, is leaving at the end of the year. Besides losing the sponsor which stuck with Waltrip’s team through thick and thin, the team may be losing the driver that helped expand their operation.
Truex Jr. was on pace to have his best season in NASCAR. He was going to be in the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the second consecutive season. Then, his team’s General Manager, Ty Norris, basically cost Truex a few million bucks, and the team a multi-million dollar contract. Now, Truex Jr. may have to find a new home thanks to Norris’ decision to tell Clint Bowyer to intentionally spin, and have Brian Vickers pit for no reason.
So what’s going to happen next?
Well, Truex Jr. is under contract with MWR until 2015. If he wants out, Michael Waltrip stated that he’d be willing to let Truex go. However, don’t expect Truex to leave the team. He’s a valuable asset for an organization that is going to need to prove themselves for the rest of this year and all of 2014. The team can’t afford to lose Truex, it’ll hurt their credibility too much.
“I really enjoyed my last four years at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and I feel like we’re getting to where we wanted to be when we started four years ago, and this is obviously going to set us back. But,I would love to be there. There’s no guarantees right now — it just depends on how everything goes down,” Truex said in a press release.
There’s a bright side to all of this though. The team can see what Truex’s value is on the free agent market. There’s not too many openings left which should help them retain the man that has only won two races in 288 career Sprint Cup Series starts. If sponsorship is found, the team won’t give him up. Yet, if a guy such as Elliott Sadler can bring sponsorship along, then the team may just end up booting Truex.
Truex could land at Furniture Row Racing if they opt to go with experience for their new driver. For some reason, it just doesn’t seem likely for that to happen. Waltrip’s team has the equipment to be successful, even though they’re losing several key members of the team by the start of next season.
It’s going to be interesting to see what will happen with this situation. It appears that Waltrip wants Truex to stay no matter what.
“I don’t know — it’s too early to tell to be honest with you. I wish I knew and I wish I could say, but a lot of circumstances have to play out and it’s so late in the game and late in the season. People already know what they’re doing next year — this is definitely not the time of year you want to find out that you really don’t have a ride next year, so to speak. I don’t know, it’s going to be tough, but we’ll have to deal with it and hopefully we’ll figure it out.”
Joseph Wolkin can be followed on Twitter at @JosephNASCAR and like him on Facebook..
Cole Custer Wins The North America 100 at New Hampshire
Just a month ago Cole Custer found victory lane in Iowa Speedway after starting on the pole writing his name into the history books as the youngest K&N winner at 15-years-old. New Hampshire was no different as he started on pole and found his way to victory lane for just the second time in his 12th career start. The California native is the son of Joe Custer who is a Stewart-Haas Racing executive.
Monroe winner, Daniel Suarez, was able to hold on for another impressive runner-up finish. That was Suarez’s 5th top five in the last six races in the K&N Series. Cale Conley had a strong run finishing 3rd, with rookie Ben Rhodes and Dylan Presnell coming home 4th and 5th.
Dylan Kwasnewski came into the race with a very impressive points lead, but all that dwindled to 23 when he wrecked on lap 34 while battling for the lead. Dylan’s competitor in the points standings, Brett Moffitt took advantage of the circumstances by finishing 7th. Rookies Gray Gaulding (8th), Mackena Bell (9th) and Ronnie Bassett Jr. (10th) rounded out the top 10.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will next race in the Drive Sober 150 at Dover International Speedway on Friday, Sept. 27.
The North America 100 at New Hampshire will air on TV Friday October 4th on Fox Sports 1.
Ryan Blaney takes the win in the Kentucky 300
19 year old Camping World Truck Series regular, Ryan Blaney puts on an impressive performance driving the No. 22 Discount Tires Ford in the Kentucky 300 at Kentucky Speedway. Blaney led 96 laps en route to victory. He also became the fourth different driver to win in the car this season and the tenth win of the season for the No. 22.
Blaney had to hold off strong challenges from his Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr and Richard Childress Racing driver, Austin Dillon. At one point on a restart, Hornish and Blaney were side by side when Hornish got loose and almost took out both cars. Hornish, however, pulled off an amazing save and only lost a few positions.
A similar situation happened with Dillon as well, with Dillon getting loose under the No.22, he too was able to save the car. Blaney never faltered, held off all challenges and looked like a seasoned veteran while doing so. He never seemed to get rattled under the pressure.
When asked about the close calls Blaney responded, “The way the restart rule is now, you never know what’s going to happen. How big of a shove someone is going to give somebody, I was really worried on that last restart when the 33 was behind Austin there, their teammates and I thought they were going to push right passed me but I don’t think the 33 got a great restart. But yeah it was very tough to hang on the bottom in one and two, I think there were some water spots down there that definitely made it worse, and then you got a gut hanging on your outside that just gets you aero loose so there a couple hairy moments there but luckily we could … had a good enough car that to be at that point where it didn’t hurt us when they got loose under us.”
The win was Blaney’s first in 15 Nationwide Series starts and also another step toward the owner’s championship for the No.22. The team now holds a 23 point lead over the Joe Gibbs Racing entry No. 54.
The next stop for the series is the 5-Hour Energy 200 at Dover International Raceway on September 28.
All Penske front row for Kentucky 300
Penske Racing sweeps the front row for Saturday’s Kentucky 300 at Kentucky Speedway. Series points leader, Sam Hornish, secured his third pole of the season with a fast lap of 179.235 mph in the No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Ford.
Hornish was followed by his teammate and Camping World Truck Series regular, Ryan Blaney. Blaney turned a lap of 178.159 mph in the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford that has had a multitude of Penske drivers this season. Though Hornish leads the driver’s standings, the No.22 car is currently leading the owner’s standings by 13 points over the No.54 car fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing.
Richard Childress Racing took row two with drivers Austin Dillon and Brian Scott. Dillon turned in a lap of 178.042 mph and will start third. Scott rolls off fourth on Saturday night after posting a lap of 177.702 mph.
Another Truck Series regular, Matt Crafton, will start fifth in a third Richard Childress Racing entry. Crafton is returning to the site of his first career Nationwide Series starts where he finished third. Saturday’s race will be the third career Nationwide Series start for the Camping World Truck Series points leader.
Other notables:
- Drew Herring will start seventh in the JGR No. 54 that Kyle Busch has driven to ten wins this season.
- Justin Allgaier will start ninth in the No. 31 Brandt Chevy
- Brian Vickers will take the green in tenth driving the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota
- Championship contenders Elliott Sadler and Regan Smith will start 12th and 14th respectively
Sam Hornish will try to stretch his points lead as we head into the home stretch of the season.
The Kentucky 300 starts at 7:30pm local time on Saturday.
Corey LaJoie wins ZLOOP 150 at Kentucky Speedway
For the third time in four starts this season, Corey LaJoie would pick up the win in the ARCA Series, winning the ZLOOP 150 at Kentucky Speedway.
“We were strong and once we got clean air, that was all it took,” LaJoie said. “I have to thank RPM, my dad, my grandpa – everyone that helped us get here.”
LaJoie took the lead on a restart with 32 laps to go from Chad Boat and never looked back as he was able to hold off Mason Mitchell.
“The weekend was really smooth,” LaJoie’s crew chief Harold Holly commented. “I just got to thank Roush-Yates for the engines they supply and RPM for the support. But mostly, I have to thank Corey. He did a lot of the set-up work and getting the car ready and drove a heck of a race.”
Lajoie, son of Nationwide Series champion Randy LaJoie, has signed a development contract with Richard Petty Motorsports.
The second place finish for Mason Mitchell marks his career best finish, beating his previous career best of a fifth.
“I don’t know what I could’ve done to get by him,” Mitchell commented afterwards. “It’s really good to have a good run. I don’t know what else I could’ve done.”
Spencer Gallagher slipped into third on that restart and tried to get by Mitchell for second, but was unable to.
“My car was handling fantabulous today,” he said. “Can’t thank my guys enough. There was a lot of persnickety out there, it was sideways at times.”
When asked what he learned about throughout the day, Gallagher said he learned there’s a lot of bumps at Kentucky.
“There’s bumps on one end of the track, and then on the other end of track,” he commented. “When the car hits the bumps, it doesn’t like it but this is a fantastic Kentucky Speedway.”
Grant Enfinger finished fourth after running inside the top 10 throughout the day.
“I think we needed another caution at the end,” he commented. “I definitely like the four tires better than the two tires. we had to be gutsy to get up there. it just didn’t work out like we wanted with the cautions. We’re working hard, we’re making progress. We’re not where we want to be with our mile and a half program but we’re getting better. I hope we can make some more gains at Kansas and be in contention.”
Chad Boat rounded out the top five after leading some laps late in the race. Erik Jones would bounce back from pit road issues to finish sixth followed by Will Kimmel, Justin Boston, Frank Kimmel and Mason Mingus.
Chase Elliott led laps early, though pulled down pit road at lap 40 due to his car shutting off. The result was due to water in the fuel lines.
Going into the final event of the season, Frank Kimmel leads Mingus by 315 points and just needs to start the race at Kansas to win his 10th career championship.
“It’s been a special year just because of our consistency,” he said. “I put ourselves in a hole today when I crashed in practice and put us in a back-up car. I think it was 40 minutes for the guys to get the backup car on track. the car was pretty good overall, just was down on power due to not being able to have enough time to switch the motors.
“We’ll bring our best car to Kansas and do our best to win the championship and maybe get the 80th win.”
Jeb Burton to make Nationwide debut at Kentucky
Jeb Burton, son of former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton, will make his Nationwide Series debut at Kentucky Speedway in the Kentucky 300. Jeb currently is competing full time in the Camping World Truck Series where drives the No. 4 Arrowhead Chevy for Turner-Scott Motorsports.
Burton has had an impressive season. In 16 starts, Burton has nine top-10 finishes including three top-5’s and one victory. He has also scored an impressive five poles in the series and sits fourth in the series standings behind teammate and defending series champion, James Buescher.
For this weekend’s Kentucky 300, Burton will pilot the No. 34 Arrowhead Chevy for his Turner-Scott Motorsports team with a similar paint scheme to his Camping World Series truck. Teammate, Buescher, drove the car two times this season. Buescher finished 14th Road America and a strong second at Daytona.
The Turner-Scott team has enormous depth with three full time truck series teams, three full time Nationwide Series teams and team co-owner Harry Scott recently purchased the No.51 Cup Series team from James Finch. Not only do they have depth, but they also are very competitive. This combination makes the team the ideal place for a young, up and coming drivers to hone their skills and drive multiple series in competitive cars.
The 21 year old, Halifax, Virginia driver was 21st fastest in practice with a lap of 169.327 mph. He will be looking to improve that position on Saturday night when the green falls at 7:30pm local time.
NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Pinty’s 250 postponed to Sunday due to rain
The Pinty’s 250 at Kawartha Speedway for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series has been postponed till Sunday due to rain that has fallen throughout the day, and suppose to continue tonight. With tomorrow’s forecast being sunny, it seems like the best option for everyone to move it over to Sunday.
NASCAR has announced that practice is slated for 10-11 a.m. followed by qualifying at 1 p.m. There will be an on-track autograph session at 1:45 p.m. with the green flag scheduled for 3:15 p.m.
Coming into the final race of the season, two-time series champion D.J. Kennington has a five-point advantage over Scott Steckly. If he can win the title, he will become the series’ first three-time titlist.
This year, Kennington has had 10 top 10s in 11 races with his worst being a 16th in Quebec at St. Eustache. He also takes momentum with him to the final race at Kawartha Speedway, having scored a top five in each of the last four races, including a win at Trois-Rivieres.
To add to that, Kennington has had success at Kawartha in the past, winning three races and scoring five top fives in the past six years. He also has led 277 laps on the oval.
Meanwhile, Steckly is also looking for his third championship and has won at Kawartha in the past as well, winning the series’ inaugural visit to the track in 2007. He recorded a sixth place finish last year and has five top 10s in six Kawartha starts.
If Kennington and Steckly have problems, Barrie Speedway winner Jason Hathaway would capitalize and score his first championship as he currently sits 22 points back of Kennington. Hathaway won the 2008 running of the Pinty’s 250 and is on a winning streak, having won two of the last three races.
Matt Crafton appears comfortable in Nationwide Series
Matt Crafton has accumulated 310 starts in the Camping World Truck Series. Driving the familiar No. 88 Menards Chevrolet, he is in the midst of the best season of his career. Currently, Crafton is leading the series standings by 41 points over second place and defending series champion, James Buescher.
Crafton is also on an amazing streak of 16 top-10 finishes in 16 races. Buescher and Ryan Blaney are the next closest competitors with ten top-10’s. Crafton has become one of the most consistent, dependable drivers in the history of the series.
In addition to his success this season in the truck series, Crafton has ventured into something he has wanted to do for a while – compete in the Nationwide Series. He made his series debut earlier this season at Kentucky Speedway driving the No. 33 Rheem/Menards Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
Crafton’s debut was a success. He qualified eighth and finished a very respectable third. He followed that up with a tenth place finish at Chicago a few weeks later.
Richard Childress Racing has a very successful Nationwide Series program. Austin Dillon and Brian Scott race full time for the team. Dillon is currently in the middle of a tight championship battle sitting just 17 points behind series points leader, Sam Hornish. Scott, who sits seventh in the standings, recently had a dominating performance at Richmond International Raceway starting from the pole and leading 239 of 250 laps only to come up short at the end thanks to a late race caution.
Crafton stated earlier this season at Kentucky that, “I have been looking forward to the opportunity to drive in the series with great equipment for a long time.” Driving for RCR gives him that opportunity.
Given the off weekend for the Truck Series, Crafton has returned to Kentucky Speedway for the Kentucky 300, a standalone event for the series.
Crafton’s success continued Friday as he paced practice with a lap 173.740 mph edging out his RCR teammates Dillon, and Scott who were second and third respectively. A top-10 finish this weekend will give him the opportunity to achieve a perfect 100% stat in top-10’s this season in all of his NASCAR touring series starts.
Crafton seems to be right at home in the Nationwide Series cars, which could bode well for his future. Rumors are that Austin Dillon will be moving to the Sprint Cup Series next season. If that holds true, Crafton could be the perfect replacement to fill that seat in 2014.
The green flag will fall on the Kentucky 300 at 7:30pm local time on Saturday.
