Sebastian Bourdais stands on podium for first time in 2013 in Toronto
For the first time this season, Sebastian Bourdais would finish on the podium – not once, but twice. In both Honda Indy Toronto events, Bourdais was able to place on the podium with a third and a second.
For the Sunday event, Bourdais was able to escape the trouble in the final restart to seal the deal.
“It’s been quite an interesting end of the race,” he said. “It was a lot of basically just go with the flow and don’t make any mistakes. Everybody was going pretty hard.”
Bourdais also was faced with the addition of challenge of having no ‘push to passes’ as his button malfunctioned.
With having a good finish, it sets up a good base moving forward to other street courses this year.
“I think we got a workable base to begin with now,” Bourdais said. “It’s not perfect. Dixie is obviously gone, so we got work to do. We’ll keep at it.”
Bourdais added he is surprised, but pleased with the direction that they’re heading in.
“Tom came with kind of an idea and we just went more and more towards that direction,” Bourdais explained. “It just clicked for the first qualifying. Oh, okay, now we got grip. Now I can push. It was a pretty big eye opener. Then we just kept working at it all weekend. I think we were maybe a little weaker at the race yesterday.
“Again, we made small changes for warmup and the race, and the car was better again. That’s what it takes. Once you get closer, baby steps.”
The solid finishes for Boudais also show the growth of his team as they continue to grow.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “I think I’ve proved in a championship-winning car with a top team I can do it. Done it a few times. Hopefully people haven’t forgotten.
“At the end of the day it’s a whole different challenge when you have to start from scratch with a team, just bring people onboard to try to build something and get the right chemistry. It’s a completely different challenge.
“I really thought at the end of last year we were going to have an awesome season. Like I said yesterday, we just didn’t adapt very quickly to the new tires. Finally I think we understand something and it’s the turnaround for our season.”
Scott Dixon builds confidence in sealing Toronto win
For Scott Dixon, the Honda Indy Toronto is an event that he has always wanted to win. However, the victory had escaped him in each of his previous trips. He had four finishes within the top five, however also had two finishes outside of the top 20 to match that.
His luck all changed this past weekend as he was able to pick up not one win, but a pair of victories for the Honda Indy Toronto sweep.
“I love this place,” Dixon commented afterwards. “The town is a lot of fun. The fans are knowledgable and love what we do. It’s great to see the excitement they had here all weekend.”
Dixon was quick throughout the whole weekend, totally dominating the second of the two races in leading 81 of the 85 laps. If there was any snag to the weekend, it was the standing start.
“The concrete patch in one was very slippery, so I hit that and slid off,” Dixon said of the start. “I think I actually got into Helio (Castroneves) a little bit. Hopefully didn’t wreck his car or anything. Everybody got away cleanly. I was very surprised about that. I was expecting to hear full-course caution after the standing start.”
Dixon added that the middle part of the race went good as the car ran great and they had solid pit stops.
“Every time we did a pit stop, it seemed we would pick up three or four seconds,” Dixon commented. “Getting close to the finish of the race, you expect a lot of cautions. They started to come. We were in the right place at the right time. It worked out perfectly.”
With the pair of wins, Dixon picks up a $100,000 bonus from SONAX for the sweep. Though more importantly, Dixon closes the gap in points.
Dixon didn’t get off to the start that he would’ve hoped this year, with no wins and only five top fives in the first 11 races of the season. It seemed that the Ganassi cars were off at the beginning part of the year, opening the door for other teams to pick up wins. The first win for Ganassi was Dixon last weekend at Pocono Raceway.
“We’re here for the points,” Dixon said. “It’s been a helluva swing over a seven-day period. We were 92 points out an now we’re like 27 out. It’s ncie to put a little pressure on Helio, and hopefully we can keep that going.”
From the win at Pocono to the pair of wins in Toronto, Dixon has moved from seventh to second in points and put himself into championship contention.
“I think it’s still going to be a tough battle,” Dixon said. “I like the look of the tracks we have coming up. I think we are in the hunt. I think some tracks we’ll be a slight disadvantage to the Chevys, some we might have an advantage. This weekend was a bit of an eye opener for our team at least. Some of the other Hondas were not up maybe where they should have been.”
Now that Dixon has turned the corner, the question is being asked – what was causing them to be off this year till now?
“I think it’s a combination of things,” Dixon said. “Everybody has had a lot of sit-down time with Chip, which is always interesting, gets you a little refocused. People were kind of lacking confidence.”
Moving forward, the confidence is now there, espically going to Mid-Ohio, which is a track that Dixon has won at before.
“I’m confident in the fact that we’ve had cars that have worked there in the past,” Dixon said. “Areas where we’ve developed, Barber, the car was the best. We had to fight our way. Didn’t do my job as well as I should have in qualifying and just came up short. But, yeah, I think we’re all confident going into Mid-Ohio and hopefully that plays true.”
Dillon and Jones at odds after Iowa altercation
In just his third career Camping World Truck Series start, rookie Eric Jones was wheeling the No. 51 Toyota Care Toyota as if its owner, Kyle Busch, was behind the wheel.
Charging alongside Jones was the sophomore, going for his third career win in his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet. Ty Dillon says Jones ran him into the wall coming off turn four, Jones said it was just racing.
The two were running second and third with less than five laps to go as Timothy Peters drove away with the lead and the eventual win. Dillon closed on Jones for second, reaching his back bumper as the two came out of turn four but Dillon hit the wall. As Jones finished second, Dillon limped his wounded machine to a 16th place finish.
“I was just telling him the next time you race, you don’t have to use your mirror so much,” Dillon said of the incident.
“It happened a couple laps before, not as bad as that time [with three laps to go]. I got under him and he just started at the bottom of the racetrack and then shoots right up to the top in the middle of the corner, thinking that I’m going to lift.
“The first time he did it we nearly wrecked on the frontstretch and then he did it again and I had no room … I might have had a lane there, but for me to move on the outside of him I was in the marbles, and as soon as I hit the marbles it just sent me into the wall.”
After their trucks had come to a stop on pit road Dillon, still with his helmet on, went to confront Jones, who was also disengaging himself from his truck. As crewmembers closely watched, Dillon said his peace and left, although Jones later said he wasn’t sure what Dillon was upset about or what exactly he had said.
But as Dillon told the TV audience, “He’ll learn. It’s his first couple races but I was just going to prove a point. If he does it again, it’s not going to be good.”
It was a career best finish for Jones, who previously scored ninth place finishes at Martinsville and Rockingham. The 17-year-old Michigan native captured Busch’s attention last year when he beat him at the Snowball Derby in Florida, a prestigious short track event. He’s scheduled to compete in a few mores CWTS races later this year for KBM.
On Saturday night he qualified seventh – also a career best – and ran amongst the leaders all evening, keeping his nose clean. Until Dillon felt he ruined his.
“It was just a racing deal, he tried to go to the outside and when you get up on a truck like that, it’s going to take the air off his nose and he’s going to get tight,” Jones responded.
“He might have thought I ran him up in the wall but everyone I’ve talked to has thought the opposite. Really thought it was a racing deal. He got up there just trying to make something happen with a few laps to go and got tight and got into the wall and thought maybe I ran him a little bit tight.
“But feel like we did what we were supposed to do and didn’t do anything wrong there.”
Dillon fell two spots in the standings as a result of his finish after he too ran with the leaders, even leading a race high 65 laps. He’s now fourth heading into the inaugural CWTS race at Eldora next Wednesday night. Jones is not entered in the event. But Dillon, who has a lone win this season, will be focused on using his dirt track experience as an advantage.
NASCAR returns to a dirt track for the first time in 43 years, thanks in part to Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart and his staff in Rossburg, Ohio. The grandson of Richard Childress grew up racing on dirt with quite a bit of success, including a win in the All-Star Shootout on the dirt track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The CWTS will hit the track for the first time on Tuesday for practice sessions before qualifying and racing on Wednesday. The Carcash Mudsummer Classic can be seen on SPEED Channel with the green flag waving after 9:30 p.m. ET.
Surprising and Not Surprising: Camping World RV Sales 301
On a steamy day in New England where the action on the track was just as hot, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Surprising: While usually on target, Chad Knaus’ prediction of his driver motoring through the pack to the front only partially came true. Johnson, who started dead last in his No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet due to failing post qualifying inspection, made his way through the field to finish just shy of the top-five in the sixth spot.
But although his prediction of a last to first performance was not fulfilled, crew chief Knaus felt that he and team 48 had made the statement they wanted to make in light of their inspection failure.
“We made the best of a bad situation and that’s all you can do,” Knaus said. “We wanted to make it a non-issue and I think that’s exactly what we did.”
“We didn’t need to win, but the most important thing is we didn’t need to lose,” Knaus continued. “And I think we came out of here with a solid run.”
With that top-10 finish, Johnson remains solidly in the points lead as well, 56 points ahead of runner up Clint Bowyer.
Not Surprising: Just as the chemistry between Knaus and Johnson led to a decent run after adversity, it was not surprising that the chemistry between Rodney Childers and Brian Vickers achieved their dream of taking the Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine to Victory Lane.
Vickers, who battled back from life-threatening blood clots to race again, credited his relationship with crew chief Childers, which has spanned almost his entire lifetime, as making the difference in his win at the Magic Mile.
“I can remember the day Clyde (Vickers, Brian Vickers’ father) walked into our go-kart shop in Cornelius, North Carolina and said he wanted to buy his eight-year-old kid a go kart,” Childers said. “So, we got it together overnight and they came and picked it up the next day and then a good friend of ours helped Brian get started.”
“This means a lot to me.”
“I just thank God for the chance and opportunity to come back and this team and Rodney believing in me and giving me a second chance,” Vickers said. “That’s a testament to the whole team and everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing.”
Surprising: Joey Logano, a former New Hampshire winner, was surprisingly the first caution of the day, blowing a tire and spinning out on Lap 4 of the race. This is the second race in a row where tire failure has contributed to the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford team’s struggles.
“The left rear tire blew out,” Logano said. “It isn’t like we touched anyone and rubbed it to make it go down, it just blew out.”
“I am just mad right now.”
Logano has a right to be mad, as he finished 40th and even more important took a significant hit in the point standings, losing three positions and falling to 18th.
Not Surprising: Whether it was the combination of the heat or the grueling schedule as the garage readied for the first weekend off in a very long time, it was not surprising that tempers were flaring on the one-mile track and that there were more cautions in this one race than in the past three New Hampshire races combined.
The most caustic exchange happened right after the race end when Kyle Busch had some choice words for Ryan Newman and vice versa.
“Newman is the biggest stupid idiot out here and a big ogre,” Busch said. “I’m glad he’s out of a job.”
“I’m just afraid if I re-arranged his face I might fix it,” Newman responded. “He’s frustrated finishing third or wherever he was after hitting me.”
“He’s a heck of a talent but he’s not very bright,” Newman continued. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Surprising: Just when it appeared that Stewart-Haas Racing was on the upswing, another surprisingly bad day occurred in New Hampshire.
Smoke ran out of gas on the final lap to finish 26th, Patrick wrecked into her Rookie of the Year competitor to finish 37th, and Newman had his aforementioned tangles with the Busch brothers and finished 39th.
“Thought we were about three quarters of a lap to the good,” Smoke said. “Obviously didn’t get as much gas saved as I thought we would.”
“I feel bad,” Patrick said. “What can I say? We were having a reasonable race and just didn’t mean to do it.”
“The worst part is that I didn’t want to take anybody with me.”
Not Surprising: The unfortunate struggles of Denny Hamlin continued at New Hampshire, with a lug nut issue and a 21st place finish. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota sits 25th in the point standings, very far out of Chase contention.
Surprising: One of the surprises of the race was Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Smithfield Ford, who finished fifth thanks to some good pit strategy and a great call from atop the box.
“When everybody else stayed out that gave us the opportunity when everyone else came to pit to make it on fuel,” Almirola said. “And we stayed out.”
“That was a great call by Todd Parrott (crew chief),” Almirola continued. “It is a great way to go into the off weekend.”
Not Surprising: At a track that he loves, Jeff Burton finished top three to no one’s surprise. And with his good finish, Burton pronounced that he was still in Chase contention, contrary to everyone’s perception.
“We had a really good car,” the driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet said. “A lot of people have given up on this team but we haven’t given up on ourselves.”
“We are going to keep working,” Burton said. We feel like we have an uphill battle but we feel like we still have a shot at it.”
Surprising: Brad Keselowski and company showed his championship caliber by bouncing back at the Magic Mile. The driver of the Blue Deuce finished fourth, in spite of the ‘grueling race.’
“We fought hard all day and came home with a fourth so that was a decent day,” Keselowski said. “Not the win I wanted for sure.”
“But it is still a solid day though and something to be proud of.”
Not Surprising: While all the drivers complained about the difficulty of the track and race, Carl Edwards not surprisingly termed it a battle field.
“That was a hell of a battle,” the driver of the No. 99 Fastenal Ford said. “Everybody fought really hard the whole time and we ended up with a top-10.”
“We were able to get a good finish out of a crazy day.”
Surprising: Even with having to stop in the middle of the race track to avoid the Newman/Kurt Busch crash, Matt Kenseth pulled off a surprisingly good finish. The driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota finished in the ninth position.
“I had a good car, probably the best car I’ve ever had here,” Kenseth said. “Kind of lost track position when Kurt cleaned out Newman.”
“I had to stop and miss that wreck.”
Not Surprising: After a grueling race and first part of the season, everyone needed to relax according to Jeff Gordon, who managed to salvage a tenth place finish after a challenging race at New Hampshire.
“Everybody, no matter whether you’re leading the points or running where we are in points or 30th in the points, everybody has to take moments to step away and relax a little bit and regroup,” Gordon said. “And so, this off-weekend will be good for everybody.”
From A Hospital Bed To Victory Lane; Brian Vickers Has Persevered
October 24th, 2004 – Brian Vickers ended a rough day at Martinsville in 27th position and two laps off the pace to race winner and teammate, Jimmie Johnson. Just a few miles away in the Bull Mountains that surround the legendary racetrack, a plane had crashed and sadly, there were no survivors. The plane was owned by Hendrick Motorsports and 10 members of the Hendrick family were tragically lost that day including promising young racer and son of Rick; Ricky Hendrick. Brian Vickers had now lost two very good friends before he was even 21 years old; the first being Adam Petty four years earlier.Brian Vickers is a spiritual person and believes to this very day that those two friends are still with him and that somebody up there is definitely looking after him. Brian wiped away the tears and continued to do what he and they loved so much and that was racing. He was forced to endure the untimely deaths of two people that were very close to him and just six years later, he would brush shoulders with death himself.
In those six years, Brian got to feel the thrill of winning a Cup race on two separate occasions. The first was a controversial finish at Talladega in 2006 when he accidentally took out his teammate Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr on the final lap in route to the win. Three years later, he was celebrating in victory lane at Michigan as a driver for Red Bull Racing. The win gave Brian and team the boost they needed to make the chase and he was very excited to improve on their impressive 2009 season in 2010. As fate would have it though, Brian never got that chance.
The week prior to racing at Darlington, Brian had experienced numbness and tingling in his hand as well as some pain in his chest. It didn’t hinder his efforts on track though as he would start 3rd and finish 10th at the “track to tough to tame.” Unfortunately, the pain worsened while lying in bed Monday night but he pushed through it. It occurred again on Tuesday night but the young, athletic Vickers again persevered through the intense pain that he later called the worst pain he’s ever felt in his life.
On Wednesday, he toured Washington D.C. with some friends while he felt an intense burning sensation in his lungs. He called Dr. Petty who advised him to go to the emergency room immediately which Brian ignorantly did not do. After finally deciding to go to a nearby hospital, Brian jumped in a cab in what happened to be rush hour and traffic was at a standstill. He got out and thought it would be quicker to walk but it started raining so he ran…bad idea. He could barely breathe and by the time he got to the ER, he was in tremendous, unbearable pain.
After a CT scan, Brian anxiously awaited news from doctors regarding what was wrong with him and he was worried that he might have to miss Dover. As he quickly found out, he would be missing a lot more races than just Dover and in fact, he was lucky to be alive after blood clots in his legs had made it to his lungs and heart. His imprudent decisions that day nearly cost him his life but in retrospect, who would have thought it was that serious considering how fit Brian is.
The magnitude of his situation didn’t fully hit Vickers until the press conference at Charlotte Motor Speedway when he would enlighten the racing world regarding what happened to him. After his recovery, Brian was hungry to get back into the car and that chance finally came in the 2011 Daytona 500 but it seems that his travails were not over just yet. Roughly a year after Vickers was sidelined due to blood clots, the Associated Press broke the news that Red Bull was leaving NASCAR at the conclusion of 2011 and shutting down Red Bull Racing; leaving Brian Vickers without a ride.
It didn’t take long for the world to see Brian’s anger and frustration as his behavior on the racetrack drastically changed. His on track performance suffered and he was involved in multiple altercations with other drivers including Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and Marcos Ambrose. At Martinsville in October, Vickers completely fell apart and showed great disdain for everyone he raced with that day. He was the main cause of five separate wrecks during the race. He lost a lot of credibility among his fellow racers after that race and his reputation was damaged leaving a large contingent of people to believe that we wouldn’t be seeing him in NASCAR for much longer.
Michael Waltrip gave Brian a chance to get behind the wheel of one of his cars for six races in 2012 in a move that many had doubts about. Brian would quickly prove all the naysayers wrong when he made his debut with MWR at Bristol. He led over 100 laps and finished 5th without a scratch on the car; redeeming himself from the events of 2011 that had tarnished his reputation. He continued to run very well in the car proving that Bristol was no fluke and the success continued into 2013. In fact, he landed a full-time Nationwide ride with Joe Gibbs Racing while also increasing the number of races he would run for MWR in Cup. His performance in the No.55 has given credence to the longevity of his career in NASCAR.
At New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend, Vickers’ incredible story of tragedy, tenacity and perseverance finally came full circle. Brian quietly started 13th and wasn’t mentioned much throughout the event except for when he received a penalty for a pit road violation that trapped him one lap down. He kept fighting though and with 16 laps to go, he muscled his way past Tony Stewart for the lead and then proceeded to pull away from the field.
With just five laps remaining, the caution flew for debris and the feelings of trepidation in the No.55 pits was obvious as they got ready for a Green-White-Checker with two drivers notorious for their aggression restarting 2nd and 3rd. Stewart ran Vickers hard in the first corner with the always aggressive Kyle Busch making it three wide on the inside. With a power move off the corner, Brian cleared both drivers as he desperately raced towards the white flag. Kyle Busch moved into 2nd but failed to catch Brian who was able to hold on and take the win at Loudon! To the delight of the fans, Brian took the time to give many of them high-fives as he walked down the front-stretch, proudly displaying the checkered flag in his hand.
This victory basically guaranteed Brian Vickers a full-time ride in 2014 driving that No.55 for Michael Waltrip Racing and I’m sure he will be a force to be reckoned with. We are witnessing the resurgence of Brian Vickers right now. The desire to compete and to win is something all drivers possess but Brian Vickers knows better than most that it can be ripped away from you in a matter of seconds. From mourning at the funerals of fallen friends to celebrating in victory lane for the first time, or recovering from a near-death experience only to find out that you may never get to do what you love ever again, but then a simple phone call changes everything and you are back and better than ever….Vickers endured through it all and came out a better man because of it.
In this life, we all have a cross to bear and Brian Vickers has done so valiantly. He stumbled along the way but in times when so many would have thrown up their hands and given up, he pushed on seeking the light in a place where the darkness seemed endless. Congratulations on the well-deserved win at New Hampshire Brian and I firmly believe that we will see you in victory lane again.
