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OSCAAR Super Late Models to take to Sunset Speedway for Don Biederman Memorial

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SM Staff
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A new format. A record car count expected. That just begins to describe this weekend’s 15th Annual Don Biederman Memorial that will be at Sunset Speedway.

In past years, the Don Biederman Memorial has featured a 75-lap feature. However, for the first time in OSCAAR Racing history, they will be running back-to-back nights. A unique format has been devised by series officials for the weekend to go with this historic event.

Instead of a typical double heat format, on Saturday, the OSCAAR Super Late Model drivers will take to the track for time trials. Depending how you place in time trials will determine where you start in one of the three heats.

Klotz Synthetics Qualifying Heat Line-Up (Based on Time Trial Results).

Heat 1: Pos. 1, Pos. 4, Pos. 7, Pos. 10, Pos. 13, Pos. 16, Pos. 19, Pos. 22, Pos. 25, Pos. 28, etc.

Heat 2: Pos. 2, Pos. 5, Pos. 8, Pos. 11, Pos. 14, Pos. 17, Pos. 20, Pos. 23, Pos. 26, Pos. 29, etc.

Heat 3: Pos. 3, Pos. 6, Pos. 9, Pos. 12, Pos. 15, Pos. 18, Pos. 21, Pos. 24, Pos. 27, Pos. 30, etc.

The top four from each heat will automatically transfer to the A-Main to determine the top 12 starting spots in the feature. The rest of the drivers will go to the B-Main, with the top eight transferring to the A-Main to determine starting spots 13 to 20.

“Two spots (position 21-22) will be left open as provisional for the drivers who currently sit highest in OSCAAR points who have yet to qualify,” OSCAAR PR released earlier this week. “The final two spots (position 23-24) will go to the two quickest drivers who have yet to qualify for the main event.”

On Sunday, there will be not be time trials. How you finished the feature on Saturday night will determine which heat and where you start (same breakdown as above). As the same with the day before, he top four from each heat will automatically transfer to the A-Main to determine the top 12 starting spots in the feature. The bottom half of the field will be determined the same way it was on Saturday.

The importance is having a strong time trial run and a good heat will be at it’s premium as there are expected to be 32 drivers are expected to show to try to make the 24 car field.

 

So who do you have to watch? Well, there are five drivers who have shown that they are strong via their previous race starts and testing sessions.

1. No. 70 Jeff Hanley

In any OSCAAR race that Jeff Hanley runs as part of his part-time schedule, he is always a driver that you have to beat. After all, his last OSCAAR Super Late Model start came at Sunset Speedway last September in the form of a win at the Velocity 250. He is also a four-time winner of the event (2008-2011).

2. No. 77 George Wilson

At the beginning of the season, George Wilson announced that he would miss the season due to other commitments. However, he has since stated that he will be attendance for the Don Biederman Memorial. Wilson is a driver that you have to watch as well because, like Hanley, he always is in contention to win. In the Velocity 250 in which Hanley won, there was contact between Hanley and Wilson for the lead that resulted in Wilson making heavy contact with the inside retaining wall.

3. No. 9 Brandon Watson

The defending series champion and current points leader, Brandon Watson, is a driver that you have to keep your eye on. He won last year’s running of the Don Biederman at Kawartha Speedway and has won the opening two events this season, one of those being Sunset. Nobody has been able to catch Watson so far this year so it’ll be interesting to see how he stacks up against the field this weekend.

4. No. 22 Glenn Watson

Glenn Watson is always upfront during the OSCAAR events, putting himself in position to win. After all, he is a four-time series champion. However, he has yet to win a Don Biederman Memorial. Does that change this weekend?

5. No. 27 J.R. Fitzpatrick

J.R. Fitzpatrick will be making his third start in the series after starting last year’s Velocity 250 and the Autumn Colors event at Peterborough Speedway. Since then, he has made a ton of changes to the car owned by Roy Passer and looked strong during some test laps at Sunset Speedway.

 

Beyond those five listed, there are many drivers that will be up front this weekend. Included but not limited to…….

2007 winner Derrike Tiemersma has had a strong start to the season with a third and a second to start off the season.

Rob Poole returns to the track that he called home during his Limited Late Model career, looking for another top five after scoring his first OSCAAR top five back in May at Sunset Speedway. He finished ninth earlier this year at Barrie Speedway.

Dwayne Baker will be making his second start of the season after finishing fourth back in May.

Jesse Kennedy will look to bounce back after having some bad luck at Barrie earlier this month.

 

While the race for the win may be one to keep an eye on, you also have to look at this year’s rookie of the year battle.

Kevin Cornelius will look for his second career OSCAAR Super Late Model top five after finishing fifth at Barrie Speedway in June. He was running third in the closing laps of the May event at Sunset Speedway, when a slip up would cause him to drop back to the seventh position.

Ethan Courneyea will be making his second OSCAAR start after a poor showing in the season opener. The Super Stock graduate found himself in a lap one wreck with Mike Owen.

Sean Cronan will look to bounce back after some tough luck that has hindered his performance in the opening events thus far. He was running top 10 at Sunset back in May, though mechanical problems took him out of the race.

Andrew Gresel will look for his second career OSCAAR podium finish after finishing third at Barrie. Gresel didn’t fair well in the season opener at Sunset Speedway as he was running a template body car due to his Super Late not being ready yet.

Rob Gibson will be making his first career OSCAAR start. Gibson makes the jump up to the Super Late model ranks after having success in Sunset Speedway’s Mini Stock division.

OSCAAR Modified competitor Brent McLean will be pulling double duty this weekend as he will be looking to start this weekend’s Super Late Model race at Sunset Speedway. Mechanical problems prevented him from starting the season opener back in May.

OSCAAR Modifieds Preview: Modifieds Ready for Sunset Doubleheader Weekend

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SM Archive
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OSCAAR Super Late Models Preview: 15th Annual Don Biederman Memorial

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SM Archive
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Photo Credit: OSCAAR PR

Honda Indy Toronto announces new sponsors WIND Mobile, RUSH, Porter Airlines and Hyatt Regency Toronto

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Kimmel back on familiar ground at Winchester

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Two Races, Same Track: Taylor Ferns to Make Pikes Peak Debut

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Danica Patrick stays positive amidst criticism

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SM Staff
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Photo Credit: Roger Holtscalw

Danica Patrick is one of NASCAR’s most polarizing drivers. Since her move to NASCAR, she has been the center of attention. She has many fans, but also many critics. It also seems that some members of the media try to make her a story, for everything she does, no matter how insignificant. This past week someone even tried to make it a bog deal that she was seen getting out of a Ford street car, though she is a Chevy driver.

Her name was thrust back into the spotlight again this week, when former NASCAR driver turned TV analyst, Kyle Petty, made some comments about her.

During a Speed interview with Matt Clark, Petty said, “Danica has been the perfect example of somebody who can qualify better than she runs. She can go fast, but she can’t race. I think she’s come a long way, but she’s still not a race car driver and I don’t think she is ever going to be a race car driver.”

Clark followed up by asking why she wouldn’t be a driver in his opinion, Petty replied, “…too late to learn.” Petty made no bones about the fact that he, himself was not a great driver saying, “I was not a great driver, and I’ll be the first to admit it. I was a journeyman driver.”

At least Petty is consistent with his comments. In 2010, he had very similar comments towards the Go Daddy driver. When Patrick was announced as the driver of the No. 7 Go Daddy Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series, Petty said, “If she gets in that car and doesn’t win races, it’s not the car, it’s not the engines, it’s not the team. They only changed one thing. Initially, she’ll have an impact on the sport. If she’s successful, she’ll have a long term impact on the sport.” He went to compare her to other open wheel drivers who have made their way to NASCAR, saying, “Juan Montoya is probably, car control wise, one of the most amazing human beings you’ve ever seen in a car and he struggled for three years at this level, and she’s not Juan Pablo Montoya.”

On Friday, Patrick had a scheduled press conference at Kentucky Motor Speedway, of course the Petty comments were a major topic of discussion. Patrick did an excellent job handling those questions. When asked if she knew about Kyle Petty’s comments, she replied, “Read it, yes. I just think it’s funny how he said I could qualify, but I can’t race because those of you who actually watch what I do know I can’t qualify for crap. In the race things go much better.”

Patrick seems to be right on this account, her average starting position this season has been 32.0, but her average finishing position is 25.8. An indication that she races a little better than she qualifies.

When she was asked if it mattered to her what people said about her and if it motivates her if someone speaks negative of her, Patrick said, “Thanks (Kyle) for motivating me. I really don’t care, I don’t, it’s true that there are plenty of people who say really bad things about me, I hear about them or I read about them on Twitter. People want me to die. At the end of the day, you just get over that kind of stuff and all you can do is trust that you’re doing a good job and that’s all that matters and the people around you believe in you.”

She also took time to explain why she was driving a Ford street car last week. “For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you would have seen that it was taking a really long time to get into the track, and he (boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse) had a team meeting at the top of the hill. That was a long walk and he was going to be late if we parked down in the paddock area, so being the nice girlfriend that I am, I said I would just drive the car down and park it and you get on with your meetings. So it was as simple as that.”

Patrick obviously gets over-hyped by a large portion of the media. We should keep in mind that she has only started 26 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. She is a rookie. Rookies struggle, they wreck cars and have a lot to learn especially on tracks they have never been to before. This is, however, the premier stock car series in the world.

After a conversation on social media on Friday, I decided to compare her stats to another NASCAR driver. At first I wanted to pick a driver with a similar background, but someone said she should be compared to other NASCAR drivers for a fair comparison, not someone who came from open wheel. So I decided to make it tough. I picked a driver who a proven he could win in other NASCAR series, then made the huge step into the Sprint Cup Series. I chose Travis Kvapil. Travis won the Camping World Truck Series championship in 2003. In 143 starts, Travis compiled nine wins, 51 top-5’s and 85 top-10’s. A pretty impressive resume’.

Travis made the jump to Sprint Cup in 2005 after 96 of those truck series starts and of course the championship. An obvious proven driver in a NASCAR series. So let’s compare:

Travis Kvapil first full season in Sprint Cup:

Starts – 36, Poles – 0, Top 5 – 0, Top 10 – 2. Laps led – 36, RAF – 29, Final position in points – 33rd

Danica Patrick Cup career (two partial seasons) so far:

Starts – 26, Poles – 1, Top 5 – 0, Top 10 – 1, Laps led-5, RAF-22, Position in points (16 races) – 27th

The two drivers compared pretty close. One stat that needs to be noted is – Running at Finish (RAF). This is one of the most crucial stats for a rookie. Keeping the car in the race is a very important first step becoming a successful driver.

When assessing Patrick, we also must consider the fact that until recently, her team, Stewart-Haas Racing, has also struggled. Her teammate, Ryan Newman, has 420 starts in the series and this season only has an average starting position of 18.9 and an average finishing position of 18.2. Not considerably better, given how much more experience he has. Newman is a proven performer, he has a total of 16 wins, and 173 top-10’s.

The team will get better, without a doubt. Will Patrick get better? Only time will tell. One thing she has definitely learned, is how to play the media game and to not let negativity affect her.

CHEVY NSCS AT KENTUCKY: Qualifying Notes and Quotes

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SM Archive
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CHEVY NSCS AT KENTUCKY: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson Post Qualifying Press Conf. Transcripts

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Keselowski anticipating success on his ‘Race for the Chase’

By
SM Staff
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Before Brad Keselowski ran off and won the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, he ran off with the victory at Kentucky Speedway.

The win, at the time the third of his season, helped catapult him into the Chase as he was sitting 10th in points at the time. Now, a year later he finds himself in a similar position, ninth, entering a weekend in which he’ll run all three [Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup] races. While some in the garage are beginning to feel the heat of both the summer and pressure of making the Chase, Keselowski says he’s focused on the task at hand.

“This is a key time not just for my team, but for all the teams. There’s only a few that I would really consider locked into the Chase,” said the defending race winner on Thursday at Kentucky about the upcoming schedule.

“Realistically if you have two or three wins you’re in a pretty good spot. We don’t have those but we have had solid runs where we’ve been close to winning and a lot of coulda, shoulda, woulda but those don’t count for anything.”

The ‘Race for the Chase’ starts this weekend in Kentucky, giving teams just 10 more weeks to make the postseason. As the defending champion, Keselowski expected more from he and his team at this point in the season. Winless, yet having come close such as the Daytona 500 and Bristol, two races that stick out for Keselowski, which he felt he could have won had cautions and other circumstances fallen his way.

Instead he began to slide through the standings, right around the time his team found themselves in a continued battle with NASCAR. Beginning with a failed inspection at Texas in April, resulting in NASCAR taking away 25 points and suspensions for key players of his team, including crew chief Paul Wolfe.

Keselowski lashed out at NASCAR feeling that his team was being targeted, which was then followed by his car being picked for random inspection. Then another failed inspection [Dover] that resulted in the loss of more points. Now, with the team back in the full swing of things, Kentucky is the perfect place to get their season rolling, plus Keselowski feels he has the most experience at the speedway and wants to add to his continued success there.

“Now it’s our time to really shine and I think thankfully, if you look at the tradition of my team if you could say there is one, over the last two seasons is that we really seem to hit our mark about this time of season and I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” he said.

The summer months have been kind to Keselowski as he alluded to. He’s won at three of the upcoming tracks, including Kentucky this weekend and was apart of one of the most memorable finishes in Watkins Glen history a year ago but finished second. And while he’s not yet out of Chase contention or even on the outside trying to climb in, the team is fighting as if they are. Going for wins and those valuable bonus points, which he expects to begin racking up on Saturday night coming from the eighth starting spot.

“Kentucky Speedway really fits my style, there’s a couple of unique characteristics about it and that’s why I really picked this weekend to run all three [races] because I felt like here and Bristol are probably two of my best tracks and we need to capitalize on that,” Keselowski noted.

“Certainly on the Cup side, have another strong run and hopefully come away with the race win which I think we have a very strong shot at.”

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