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.
