Thank God Carl and Kyle Won
Thank God Carl Edwards won at Bristol, and Kyle Busch won at Fontana. You want to know why? It’s simply because I’m tired of the same old script every Sunday. First, it’s Dale Junior. Forget the other 42 drivers in the field. Second, it’s Jimmie Johnson. Third it’s Jeff Gordon. The four-time champ is always a favorite. Let’s not forget Kasey Kahne. It’s mainly because he’s part of the Hendrick Empire and everyone knows they are the best. Let’s not forget about Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch and even Danica. They have been touched by the master, so they get a majority of the media time. Yes, that’s the way it is in 2014.
Never mind that Marcos Ambrose had his best finish on an oval in his career, let’s put him on the late show so that we can interview more relevant drivers. Never mind that Kevin Harvick finished in the lower half of the race or maybe even Kurt Busch or Tony Stewart, both who just haven’t had the performance this year (though he has a couple of good finishes because of attrition), it’s all about who the fickle fans want to see. They don’t want to see Marcos or Ricky Stenhouse or even Cousin Carl because they’re not that popular. The theory is to flood the airwaves with Junior and Jimmie or Tony and forget about Aric and even Clint. America love s a winner, but that doesn’t apply to the 2012 champ or maybe the guy who won seven races last year. Lest we not forget, we have now ordained one of those mentioned the greatest driver of all time because he won a bunch of championships in a contrived system.
On any Sunday, we get to watch the greatest drivers of all time. Unfortunately, they are not equal. Some have superior funding, but that funding depends on how much ink, or in this case, air time they receive. The media continues to promote Junior, Jimmie, Jeff, Kasey, Tony, Kevin, Kurt, and Danica to the point of nausea. Brad, the one with the championship and Joey just get yeoman coverage. Of course guys like Jamie and Greg Biffle it’s not so much. Mention Junior or Jeff or Kasey or Jimmie or Tony or Kevin or Kurt or Danica and everyone knows them. Try to find a die cast at Wal-Mart with those drivers and it’s no problem. Try to find a Biffle die cast and you’re in trouble, unless you live in Charlotte and most of us don’t life there.
Carl Edwards won two races last year which was more than Junior or Tony or Kurt, and yet a fan has to dig deep to find anything to support their fandom. It just doesn’t exist. That can be said for Matt Kenseth, a two-time Daytona winner and winner of seven races last year.
Thank goodness that Edwards and Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano and even many other drivers win on occasion. Otherwise, no one would ever know they exist. Many are too busy asking others silly questions about silly things and making sure that a small amount of focus is on other drivers. It’s no wonder the stands were empty at Bristol and never got to see a great driver win. Of course, he wasn’t Junior, Jeff, Kasey or Tony or Kevin, so it doesn’t matter.
This week we go to Martinsville where once again the focus will be on Jimmie, Jeff and Denny. Good thing the hot dogs are so good and the racing is simply the best!
Earnhardt Jr. seeking his first clock
Martinsville Speedway is known as one of the toughest places to win. The .526 mile, paperclip shaped track with long straightaways coupled with tight, almost flat corners create a recipe for hard-nosed, fender-banging action.
It is rare for a racecar to leave Martinsville without some damage. More often than not, the damage is significant. Fortunately, for drivers, aerodynamics are not nearly as important here as it is at larger tracks. That fact allows drivers to beat and bang, knock competition out of the way, and still maintain a high possibility of winning.
For Dale Earnhardt Jr., he has yet to find victory lane at the Southern Virginia track, though he has long desired to. Earnhardt Jr., son of the legendary seven time series champion, Dale Earnhardt, talked about his desire to win at Martinsville on Friday saying, “Yeah, this is a track I have been trying to get a win at for a long time. I grew up in a house full of clocks (referring to his father’s six win at the track) so it’s been pretty elusive.” The Grandfather Clock trophy the track is famous for, has become a symbol of accomplishment for drivers.
Earnhardt Jr. has performed well at Martinsville, but has never had every ingredient at the right time to score the victory. Earnhardt commented, “We have had some good cars in the past 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.”
Earnhardt Jr. has 28 starts at Martinsville, and coming into this weekend, has accumulated 15 top-10 finishes, ten top-five finishes and has led 868 laps.
Earnhardt Jr.’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, have been very successful at Martinsville. Gordon has eight wins and 34 top-10’s in 42 starts. Johnson also has eight wins and has scored 21 top-10’s in just 24 starts, including a win in the spring race last year. When asked what he takes from them to apply to his set-up at Martinsville, Earnhardt Jr. responded, “We use a program called dart fish where basically it overlaps my lap with another car. Maybe we look at the guys who sat on the pole or qualified in the top three and then look at my qualifying lap. I can do that for last year, the year before, we can go as far back pretty much as we want and see what the guys are doing differently.” He continued, “As far as my teammates go I’m out on the track with them. I know their tendencies and it depends on how their car is driving and how their car is handling as to how they are going to run, drive the corner and approach each corner.”
Earnhardt has come close to winning several times at Martinsville. He talked about the one that “got away,” saying, “I think you look at all of them and see how close you came. We flat got out ran by Kevin (Harvick) that one year in ’11. I thought we had it. I thought we were going to be fine once we got out front , but he was just so fast. I tried to get under him in three and four but he didn’t have a bumper left to move. I went in there to shove him a little bit and everything on that corner of his car was gone.”
Shoving and moving are many times a necessity at the famed half-mile. Given the new rules implemented for this season, aggression may be more prevalent than ever. Earnhardt has always been a smooth and consistent driver. He is not known for being aggressive. He has already visited victory lane this season and almost found it a second time with an aggressive strategy call. The renewed vigor that Earnhardt is showing, coupled with NASCAR’s new rules that reward winning, may be the final pieces of the puzzle that he needs to begin filling his home with clocks… just like his dad.
Three drivers set to make debut in Kroger 250
Each year Martinsville Speedway is the first event on the schedule in which a young (under age 18) rookie driver, looking to make their first start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, can hit the track. NASCAR rules states that drivers under age of 18 cannot make a start in a national touring series race on tracks longer than 1.25 miles. Due to that fact, the .526 mile nestled in Southern Virginia plays host to many debut races for many of NASCAR’s up and coming stars.
Saturday’s Kroger 250 is no exception. This weekend, three drivers will make their Camping World Truck Series debut – Gray Gaulding, Ben Rhodes, and Cole Custer.
Rhodes announced this week that he has signed with Turner-Scott Motorsports to compete in five races this season driving the No. 32 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet. He is fresh off two dominating performances in the K&N Pro Series East, where he also drives for Turner-Scott. The first, at Bristol, where he led every lap with the exception of the last two, and then a win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway this past weekend.
Rhodes has a dynamic personality and will be a great fit for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He will also be competing at Dover, Bristol, the fall race at Martinsville, and Phoenix.
Gaulding, who also competes full time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, recently he announced he has signed with NTS Motorsports for eight races during the 2014 season driving the No. 20, Gemini Southern/Krispy Kreme Chevrolet.
Gaulding has also been competing full time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, where this season he has scored three top-10’s in four starts driving the Krispy Kreme Chevrolet. He is currently sitting third in series points. Similar to Rhodes, Gaulding also has a dynamic personality. His experience on tracks similar to Martinsville should allow him to adapt quickly. He will be driving the No. 20, Gemini Southern/Krispy Kreme Chevrolet.
Custer will be driving the No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet this weekend. Custer competed full time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2013, where he scored two wins,and became the youngest winner in series history. He also made one start this season at Bristol where he finished 14th. Custer is the son of Joe Custer, an Executive at Stewart-Hass Racing.
Martinsville Speedway, already home to arguably some of the best Camping World Truck Series racing, should be even more exciting this weekend with the addition of these three very talented drivers.
The green will fall on the Kroger 250 at 2:30pm local time on Saturday.
Wallace leads first practice for Kroger 250
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is back in action this weekend at Martinsville Speedway after a stretch of five weeks off. Darrell Wallace Jr wasted no time showing how strong he is at Martinsville.
Wallace, who won his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the half-mile paperclip last fall, was fastest in first practice with a lap of 96.662 mph in his No. 54 Toyota #1 for Everyone Sales Event Toyota Tundra.
Wallace was followed by Ryan Blaney in the No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford. Blaney posted a fast lap of 96.288 mph, only .176 seconds behind Wallace. Timothy Peters, Erik Jones and Ben Kennedy rounded out the top-five.
Three rookie drivers making their debut this weekend in the Kroger 250 also made an impressive showing. Cole Custer was ninth fastest in the No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet with a lap of 95.762 mph. Gray Gaulding ended the session in 11th driving the No. 20 Gemini Southern/Krispy Kreme Chevrolet posting a lap of 95.636 mph. Gaulding was followed closely by Ben Rhodes in the No. 32 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet. Rhodes finished the session in 12th with a fast lap of 95.405 mph.
The NASCAR Camping World Trucks will have one final practice Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. local time.
Martinsville Speedway – A Short History For A Short Track
Martinsville and NASCAR have been associated since NASCAR was founded. Where there has been NASCAR, there has been Martinsville.
Dug out of the clay of Henry County, H. Clay Earles opened Martinsville Speedway on July 4th1947. With the original seating plan only allowing 750 fans, the track had a mind blowing 6,000 fans.
A year later, in 1948, NASCAR was founded, and according to the track’s website Martinsville Speedway joined the NASCAR circuit a year later in 1949, hosting the sixth race of the season. The track has been a beloved stop on the NASCAR circuit ever since Red Byron won the inaugural race during the 1948 NASCAR Championship Modified Season.
Martinsville isn’t called the paperclip for no reason though. At just over half a mile long, it’s the smallest track on the NASCAR circuit. The track has two 800-foot straightaways that become nearly flat turns that are tight and sometimes too short creating an extremely demanding layout and becoming the scene of some of the most extreme races each season.
The facility quickly learned that 750 seats weren’t going to cut it for the loved track on the border of North Carolina and Virginia. Today there are 55,000 seats for fans to enjoy themselves and the races from. The track hasn’t stopped expanding since the day it opened. In fact, the only thing that hasn’t changed in the last 60 years is the track configuration itself.
The improvements are all a part of a grand plan and philosophy from H. Clay Earles’ grand mind. This philosophy is carried out today by his grandson, track president W. Clay Campbell who took over the reins in 1988.
In 2004, Martinsville Speedway was purchased by International Speedway Corporation, which owns tracks such as Daytona International Speedway, Homestead Miami Speedway, and Michigan International Speedway.
Despite the owner change, H. Clay Earle’s philosophy lives on today.
“Martinsville Speedway is constantly growing and we expect to continue that trend for many years to come. We review our facility and the operation of it after each race and look for ways to improve. Martinsville Speedway has been a showplace for NASCAR Sprint Cup racing for more than half a century and we plan to continue that for generations of race fans in the future.” Campbell once said. Campbell remained president after the owner switch.
“My grandfather often said that Martinsville Speedway is a work in progress, that it would never be finished. We all still believe that…we will always be working to make it better for the fans.”
