Dillon optimistic as second half of Nationwide season begins
Austin Dillon finally won last weekend in New Hampshire.
Not the race, but the $100,000 bonus in the ‘Dash 4 Cash’ program, as he was the highest finisher among the four eligible drivers. It makes him among those eligible this weekend, as well. Dillon is still winless in the most important category however, that being on the racetrack.
Entering Sunday’s STP 300 at Chicagoland (3 p.m. ET, ESPN) he sits third in points, just 12 markers behind leader Regan Smith. In great position to seize the opportunity ahead, at a track Dillon loves to see upcoming on the schedule. Especially since he has a Truck Series win at the speedway in his back pocket.
“Coming to a mile-and-a-half right now is really good for our team, we’ve shown some speed this year at mile-and-a-half’s and I really love this place, it’s got a lot of character,” Dillon said on Saturday afternoon before practice in which he was fifth and second fastest, respectively.
“Love the city. Had a good week leading up to it and just excited about being here in Chicagoland.”
It might have come as a surprise for some if they had been told before the season Dillon, among other big names, would be winless after 17 NNS races. Here he is though, still looking for the ultimate reward for the Bass Pro Shops team’s hard work.
For it’s only the win column that Dillon has nothing to show for. His other numbers amassed through the first half of the season are quite impressive themselves. He has six poles already, and those were six straight poles on oval tracks.
Dillon’s also led 341 laps and finished in the top 10 on eleven different occasions. Those statistics are keeping him in championship contention as the team shifts focus toward finishing as well as they’ve been running.
“I think that’s the biggest part of it, they know we’re fast and each and every weekend the speed’s there and the finishes are starting to turn for us,” Dillon believes.
He noted New Hampshire as a great run for the team as they finished third and ran in the top five all day. Cautions and different strategies allowed the field to come together and catch a few breaks, otherwise Dillon felt he might have been able to go up and try to grab a few more spots at the end.
He takes four consecutive top 10 finishes into Sunday, the worst being a 10th during that stretch at the road course in Road America. It’s good timing, Dillon suggests, as the second half of the season gets underway.
“It’s been a real good year as far as speed, a decent year as far as getting the finishes that we think we deserve. Things are starting to turn at the right time, points have caught back up and I think we’re still going to take our same mentality into everything,” he said.
“Just trying to win races because foremost is to get that first win off our back.”
NASCAR BTS: Josh Wise Ironman Triathlete
This edition of NASCAR ‘Behind the Scenes’ focuses on driver Josh Wise, who instead of enjoying a rare weekend off, will be participating in a triathlon.
The 30-year old driver of the No. 35 MDS Transport Ford for Front Row Motorsports will swim, bike and run 70.3 miles in his first Half Ironman in Racine, Wisconsin this weekend.
For Wise, this triathlete competition all started as somewhat of a joke with fellow driver Scott Speed, who initially turned him on to cycling, one of Speed’s favorite training regimens. And Wise has been driven to compete ever since.
“A friend of mine Scott Speed got me into cycling three years ago as a way to train for the race car and preparing for long stock car races,” Wise said. “It really started as a joke between Scott and I when we were riding that we were going to jump off our bikes and jump in the river we were riding over to swim.”
“And it kind of turned into a joke that we were going to do a triathlon,” Wise continued. “Then, we did one and I really enjoyed it.”
“Every weekend off I’ve had in the last three years I’ve squeezed in a triathlon,” Wise said. “So, I’m just continuing the trend here this weekend and increasing the distance I’m doing.”
“It’s a longer race,” Wise continued. “My ultimate goal is to do a full Ironman on December 1st in Mexico.”
“And then I might just take a little break after that one.”
Wise admitted that training for his first Half Ironman triathlon has been as grueling as the NASCAR race schedule. In fact, he has had to give up other hobbies, such as golf and remote control racing, in order to put in the over 20 hours per week training regimen that he currently is utilizing in preparation for the upcoming competition.
“You get a little lost in it because if someone told me that I’d train as much as I do now, I wouldn’t believe them,” Wise said. “Whenever I do things, I can’t just do them to have fun.”
“I go all out with the best bikes and the best trainers,” Wise continued. “So, it does become all-consuming for me.”
While Wise has devoted an incredible amount of time to training for these intense competitions, he struggled to put into words what being a triathlete means to him and what possesses him to be so driven to participate.
“Definitely the thrill of the actual triathlon races is unexplainable as far as the rush that you get with them,” Wise said. “I also enjoy the intricacies of it and the preparations for it.”
“It’s not just about being fit,” Wise continued. “Last week, I got to go the wind tunnel with my bike.”
“And you also have to pay attention to nutrition.”
In fact, just as in his race car, fueling is one of the most important intricacies of the Ironman triathlon competition.
“That’s one of the really tricky parts is dialing in your fueling,” Wise said. “Obviously, you’re exerting yourself really hard throughout the race.”
“I’ve worked hard to try to refine my nutrition,” Wise continued. “What I’ve come up with is I have all my calories I will take, 350 per hour, in a small water bottle in a gel form.”
“So, I time that out for every 15 minutes so I’ll take a swig regularly to keep hydrated and fueled,” Wise said. “My fuel mix has electrolytes and protein that are very carefully calculated.”
“It’s like figuring out all the moving parts of a race car.”
There are certainly other crossovers between the world of Ironman competition and NASCAR racing, from the physical fitness to the mental focus. And Wise admitted that he definitely has seen a difference when he is behind the wheel thanks to his rigorous training initiatives.
“There is no doubt that the demands of racing on our body are tremendous and the amount of focus needed takes a lot of you,” Wise said. “The fact that I’ve got to a point with my fitness that fatigue is removed is definitely a benefit.”
“I can just focus on driving and not worry about how tired or dehydrated I am instead.”
“It’s interesting because there is a huge mental element to the training and to racing,” Wise said. “There are times during the week when you’ve done a three-hour swim and then you have a four-hour bike ride on the schedule.”
“It’s a mental struggle of pushing through and that’s another thing that intrigues me,” Wise continued. “It’s the challenge of overcoming the fatigue and pushing through that is a major accomplishment.”
Another similarity between Ironman triathlon competitions and racing is that the athlete is not only competing with others but also with him or herself.
“There are over 2,000 people registered for the triathlon so you will have competition,” Wise said. “You will swim side-by-side so you’re always racing other people.”
“But you really are just racing yourself,” Wise continued. “In a car, you’re racing the track and trying to dial your car in, but you are also racing other people.”
“I see the same elements in the triathlon, where you are racing yourself but you are also racing others,” Wise said. “Like in the swim, you can draft and you want to get behind the right people.”
“So, just like in racing, you are competing with others as well as yourself.”
Although Wise has set realistic goals for himself, however, just as with any NASCAR racer, the desire is always there to win.
“I’d want to win it but I’m just not there yet,” Wise said. “There are pro level athletes in this sport and it’s ridiculous how fast they are.”
“So, for me, I know where I’m at and I set hard goals and that’s what I focus on,” Wise continued. “It will be a matter of execution within my wheelhouse.”
“Right in five hours is my goal and if I can be there, I’ll be really happy.”
Wise has already scored wins in his triathlon endeavors, both with his family and for a charitable cause as well.
“The other thing that is cool is that I’m an encouragement to others,” Wise said. “I’ve seen my family become healthier and more fit.”
“My wife is training for a half-marathon right now and my father and brother got road bikes,” Wise continued. “So, everybody is trying to be a little more fit, so it’s kind of cool.”
“I’m also racing for a cause,” Wise said. “It’s a partnership with K-Love Radio and World Hope called ‘Revival of Detroit.’
“Detroit is a city in need right now and most people don’t realize how bad it is there,” Wise continued. “We are helping to bring awareness to that and that’s what I’ll be racing for there.”
Wise has many emotions about his upcoming 1.2 mile swim in Lake Michigan, his 56 mile bike ride and his 13.1 mile run. But overall, he is just excited to be able to take part in something for which he has trained for years.
“It’s really cool because you work really hard building for it,” Wise said. “It would be like if you were saving money to buy a house and the time came for you to buy it.”
“It’s a long process so when you finally get to the race, you are just super-excited.”
UPDATE: Josh Wise finished P393 out of over 2,000 triathletes. “It went great,” Wise said. “I had a blast!”
Honda Indy Toronto a success, thanks to a tricky track
Throughout the year, there’s always the question that is asked – what track is the trickiest and why? Well, one of the tracks that is constantly mentioned is the Streets of Toronto. Now originally when I heard this and being from Toronto, I didn’t get the fuss because, well frankly, driven these streets myself. Though once done a pace car ride on Thursday, you could say that my perspective changed.
From the changes from asphalt to concrete in the surface to the tight, blind corners, the track has a trick up it’s sleeve that is sure to put people on their feet at each event.
The challenge for the drivers start right with turn one, as explained by James Hinchcliffe.
“Turn one is everything challenging,” Hinchcliffe said. “First you got bumps on the entry, which hurt braking. You have the concrete patch in the middle of the corner which affects your balance in the middle of the corner, which then leads to a nice long straight. You have to have a good exit or we’re losing time all the way down to turn three. To set up for that, whether set-up of your car or how you plan your way to get through it, it can be a challenge.”
Both Tony Kanaan and James Jakes echoed Hinchcliffe’s thoughts, saying it’s also slippery down at that end due to the new surface.
“You never know what’s going to happen when you go through there,” Kanaan said in speaking of turn one. “It’s a matter of who has it right better than the other guys. I figured the slower I went into the corner, the better I came off, which is completely against my rules.”
Franchitti added the new surface now in turn one seems to be more slipper than any other surface that they’ve dealt with in the past.
“I think it’s polishing up the more we run on it,” he said. “They guy said, ‘There’s water coming out of the surface on turn one’. I said, ‘It can’t make it any slipper’. I was right.
“I like the challenge of the different surfaces. Turn 1 is a little excessive with that surface, but it will make for an interesting race.”
The varying surfaces – from concrete to asphalt – is something that the drivers face throughout the entire course. Josef Newgarden says as a result, it’s tough getting the car to find the apex in each corner.
“The asphalt has tons of grip versus the concrete in the middle of the corner as you lose grip completely,” Newgarden added. “That’s the tough thing about Toronto is figuring out that balance.”
Will Power added that the track also has bumps in it, which makes it harder each year and makes it “bloody hard to find a balance”.
“Makes for a bit of character, you could say,” Power added. “Ring the car’s neck to get some lap times.”
With the layout though, it brings forth quite a few passing zones, which can be a good thing and a bad thing.
“ The passing zones are always tempting; you see a lot of crashes here so something to be aware of during the race to watch out for accidents happening because this race always seems to breed accidents,” Ryan Briscoe said. “So it’s something to keep on your mind especially with two races this weekend.”
The doubleheader last weekend offered for excitement with passes, as well as some incidents. Heading down into future events, that is sure to continue as the surface continues to age and they keep working at sections.
Favorite Five: Races So Far in 2013
It has been quite a season so far. The Gen 6 car has brought so much more to the sport than just a new look of the car. It has revived passion and made for some of the most exciting racing we’ve seen since NASCAR’s heyday in the early 2000’s. With the action packed races comes many memorable ones. Tracks that typically didn’t have great events before have had incredible ones this season and that’s the reasoning behind this week’s Favorite Five.
5. Auto Club 400 at Fontana
Prior to the race in March, when you thought of the Auto Club Speedway, you would think of the long and uneventful races. That stereotypical assumption went out the window after the race this season. This race had it all. Lots of action, cars running around the corners more than three wide, and one heck of a finish that featured plenty of fireworks.
The cars were running side-by-side for almost the whole race and that triggered the action which left fans feeling excited. Besides that, the finish was a remarkable one since it featured two drivers who had gotten into it the week prior at Bristol racing for the win. Former teammates Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin were in the media’s eye for the whole week and when they met up in the race, they knew they weren’t going to let the each other win and they didn’t.
4. Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire
Much like Fontana, these races are usually spread out and eventless, but the amount of action in this race was unprecedented for New Hampshire. Eleven cautions on the day made for eleven thrilling restarts where drivers fought for the track position and each and every spot on the track. That created lots of rubbing which is what racing is all about.
Along with all of that came a winner that couldn’t disappoint anyone. Brian Vickers had battled back from adversity for years and for him to get this win for the No.55 team was absolutely huge. It made for a great story along with knowing that this guy will be back and competitive again in the Cup Series very soon.
3. Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte
Over the last few years, this race had a bad named tagged along. It was considered “boring” with very little competitive racing going on throughout the event. It was basically follow the leader for 600 miles with an exciting finish thrown in there during select races. Well, this year’s version of NASCAR’s longest night reverted back to its dramatic history.
There were drivers going hard for each position throughout the night and not to mention a weird break thrown-in there after a cable fell on the track and damaged cars. It may not have been a traditional race, but it sure was one that made the price of admission worth it. Fans loved it, drivers were passionate about it, and the media had little to say negatively about it. Overall, it was everything good about racing crammed into one wild and exciting night.
2. Coke Zero 400 at Daytona
This was a huge race for NASCAR. After a not so happy fan base after the Daytona 500, they needed the fans to like this race for all that restrictor plate racing features. The race was successful and fans once again were in love with the crazy restrictor plate racing.
Just about every lap except a little segment towards the beginning featured cars running two or three wide throughout the field. That made it exciting for the fact that a little mistake could take out a bunch of competitive cars. Fans love this racing for that thrill and the thrill was missing from the 500, but it was ever so present in this race.
1. Aarons 499 at Talladega
Topping the list of my favorite five races so far this season is the Talladega event that always is a crowd favorite. Tagging along with white knuckle racing was an incredible finish that sent an underdog into victory circle after a wild day. Rain, mistakes, and wrecks shaped the field on the final lap for a dash for the finish that could have put anyone in victory lane.
David Ragan wasn’t even near the front on the final restart, but he made his way to the front to claim victory. He ducked, dodged, and darted his way up there on the final lap to reward Front Row Motorsports’ years of hard work with a trip to somewhere they had never visited before, victory lane. The finish alone made the race one of the best, but the three-wide racing throughout the day contributed to the liking of the race by many fans.
Is Jimmie Johnson really ‘The Greatest of All Time’?
Jimmie Johnson is without a doubt a great driver, but there remains the question of where Johnson ranks amongst the greatest drivers in our sport. Kyle Petty seems to think that Jimmie Johnson is “the greatest driver ever.” Does Petty really mean that? His father won 200 races and 7 championships, but keep in mind that Johnson did not win his championships in the same manner than the greats that he is being compared to. Are we talking about a different ERA? I think we are in this case.
The modern era in NASCAR began in 1972. Before that period NASCAR ran up to 40, 50, or 60+ races per year. Richard Petty won a record 27 races back in 1967. That record will never be approached, but it is unfair to compare those numbers with what we have today because it is pretty much impossible to achieve. That is why you always hear about the ‘Modern Era.’ The modern era record of wins was initially set by Petty with 13 in 1975, but it was later tied by Jeff Gordon in 1998. No one has come close to that record again since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 when he won 10 races. No driver has achieved double-digit wins since.
How about the big events? The Winston Million was awarded to the driver who won 3 of the 4 major races during the season. Only two drivers ever pulled it off. Bill Elliott was the first in 1985, and Jeff Gordon pulled off the feat in 1997. The declared majors included: The Daytona 500, spring Talladega race, Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500. And to this day if the Winston Million or the Sprint Million were still in play, Gordon and Elliott would still be the only two drivers with the distinct honor. However; NASCAR does also have in place a list of “Career Grand Slam Champions.” The list of races remains the same as those put in place for the extra million.
Jeff Gordon leads the entire sport with 17 career Grand Slam victories. Gordon has three Daytona 500 victories, four victories in the Aaron’s 499, three in the Coke 600, and six in the Southern 500. When it comes down to this list, Jimmie Johnson is tied for 5th with Darrell Waltrip with 9 Grand Slam wins. The list reads off the following: Gordon, Petty, Earnhardt, Allison, Waltrip, Johnson, Baker, and Pearson. With the addition of the Brickyard 400 as a major, there are only three drivers in the history of NASCAR to have a “Career Grand Slam.” Those drivers are Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Jimmie Johnson.
Now lets shift to championships. Can we really compare Johnson’s championships to the likes of Petty, Earnhardt, or Gordon perhaps? We simply cannot. Johnson won his championships on an entirely different system, so saying Johnson is the greatest is simply ludicrous at this point. However; we can go through history to determine statistics starting from 1972 further using the old points system. Richard Petty won 60 races and 4 championships from 1972 till his retirement 20 seasons later. Has Johnson eclipsed Petty in wins? Yes he has, but Johnson would only have 2 championships under the old points system in 2006 and 2009, respectively. In order to be compared to the greats, you have to win it the way they did.
For the modern era, I have Jeff Gordon ranked 2nd all-time with 87 wins and 6 titles. Dale Earnhardt is of course ranked 1st with 7 championships and 76 wins. If Gordon ever wins a championship in this fashion again, he will be finally tied for 1st with Earnhardt. Only championships lay in Gordon’s way. The Chase has undoubtedly added fake excitement to what we call NASCAR racing, but fans like myself see it only this way because only the person that has the most points thru 36 races should be considered the champion from my vantage point and I know many fans agree with me. Jimmie Johnson may think he’s the greatest driver, but that is not the case. I like Johnson. I think he’s a great driver, but he isn’t there yet and I know that comes as a shock to many considering the type of numbers he posts on a week-to-week basis.
Of the greatest drivers in the modern era, I have placed Johnson 6th out of 10. Here is how I played it out.
1. Dale Earnhardt 76 wins 7 championships Years: 80, 86, 87, 90, 91, 93, 94
2. Jeff Gordon 87 wins 6 championships Years: 95, 97, 98, 01, 04, 07
3. Richard Petty 60 wins 4 championships Years: 72, 74, 75, 79
4. Darrell Waltrip 84 Wins 3 Championships Years: 81, 82, 85
5. Cale Yarborough 69 Wins 3 Championships Years: 76, 77, 78
6. Jimmie Johnson 64 Wins 2 Championships Years: 06, 09
7. Tony Stewart 48 Wins 2 Championships Years: 02, 05
8. Bobby Allison 55 Wins 1 Championship Year: 83
9. Rusty Wallace 55 Wins 1 Championship Year: 89
10. Bill Elliott 44 Wins 1 Championship Year: 88
Jimmie Johnson ranks amongst the greatest drivers of the ERA, but he has more work to do to be the best that has ever raced in NASCAR and that is reality.
