NASCAR CWTS Racer Tyler Young to Sign Autorgraphs at Charlotte Checkers Race Night
As championship sets in, Keselowski prepares for new year
Brad Keselowski’s defense of his 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship doesn’t begin until the green flag falls on the Daytona 500 in a little over a month. But during winter testing at Daytona he was already warming up.
Keselowski was quick to call out his competitors in a ploy to get them to draft. He continued to speak in a champion’s manner about the future of the sport and the potential of NASCAR’s new car. And there was the fact that Keselowski wasn’t hiding the continual glow of his greatest accomplishment.
“I am slowly soaking it in so I don’t have a great answer for you but to me it has been a lot of fun just seeing some of the doors that open up,” he said Thursday in Daytona on how life has been the last few months. “It is really a vague way of putting it but some of the doors that open up, whether it is people showing you more respect or opportunities to do different events you may never have had before.
“To me that is the most fun and more honoring moments of being a champion. I am really looking forward to seeing how those open up. The great thing that separates winning a championship from winning a race is that you are a champion for a whole year. I feel like I won a race but you get to celebrate it for a whole year. That is a really good feeling.”
The upcoming season will be just his fourth full year. It comes with Paul Wolfe still atop the pit box, the man who has led him to both a Nationwide and Cup title. However, the flagship Dodge banner is gone from the iconic organization as Penske begins their coalition with Ford.
But Keselowski’s young career has taught him the importance of adaption and perseverance. The new make and model of his car will be another one of those lessons, one Keselowski confident his team will be able to do. Recently visiting the Ford team in Detroit, Keselowski said showed him that there are the necessary tools and resources to get the job done.
In addition, we know about new teammate Joey Logano. And the story of how he came to join Penske and Keselowski’s involvement. The goal is for Logano and Keselowski to make each other better, which in turn will make the company better. There’s a lot of potential, attitude and youth of Logano believes Keselowski and he’s ready to see how it all plays out.
“It is just a matter of putting the other pieces together with him. I feel like what I look for out of him is to do just that, make that car a contender week in and week out and if he is able to do that then I think it will make everyone at Penske stronger,” noted Keselowski.
“That is in all categories whether it is increasing the level of funding because of sponsorship or the other side of it of pushing me to be a batter driver and be more engaged. I am hoping for all those things across the board and it might be something as simple as attracting more talent throughout the pit crews or what not.”
Always with the company on mind and becoming better, Keselowski expects the same for his own team. Winning the championship last year doesn’t mean they’ll be content with however their 2013 campaign plays out.
“If you win a championship you are going to come in the next year with extremely high expectations. I don’t think that will surprise anyone,” said Keselowski. “You have to look at our history, and we have been a second half team the last two or three seasons and I would expect nothing different this year.
“If you look at the past and know that we are stronger the second half of the year and that is what we have done to be successful the last two seasons then that will carry you through any short comings at the start of the year. I am nervous that if we start strong we won’t be as good the second half.”
They won five races last year – three of which came after late June – and went toe-to-toe with five-time champion Jimmie Johnson during the Chase. The Miller Lite team did things their own way. Planned and never shied away from their own strategy, notably through fuel mileage races.
When they didn’t build the fastest cars they ran the perfect race and took what it gave them. More of the same is what Keselowski expects and should there be anything less, don’t expect Keselowski to defend it.
“I feel like I don’t want to build in an excuse for our team so I am not going to say that if we don’t run well at the start of the year we have nothing to worry about,” Keselowski stated.
“I am not going to build in that excuse. But I think you can apply things logistically and know we are the type of team that gets stronger throughout the year. That is probably the best way to be.”
2013 Sprint Cup Team Preview: JTG Daugherty Racing
Up next in our 2013 Sprint Cup team previews is the team of JTG Daugherty Racing, a single car operation that fields the No.47 Toyota Camry in the Sprint Cup Series.
The team, owned by the husband and wife team of Jodi and Tad Geschickter as well as former NBA player and ESPN analyst Brad Daugherty, will once again field the No.47 Toyota Camry, sponsored by numerous sponsors, including Clorox, Kingsford, Kroger, Bubba Burgers, Reese Towpower, Bush’s Baked Beans, Charter, and Scott, among others. Bobby Labonte, 2000 Cup champion, returns to the team in 2013 along with crew chief Brian Burns, who has been promoted from an interim role in 2012 to full time in 2013.
While having a former Cup champion as the driver for your team is never a bad thing, JTG Daugherty Racing will have an uphill battle as a single car operation against the numerous multi-car teams in the Sprint Cup Series.
Labonte and JTG Daugherty Racing showed flashes of brilliance in 2012 with a few top 10 finishes after stumbling out of the gate to start the season. With Labonte and Burns having a year under their belt together, look for the team to improve upon its 2012 progress and have some more good finishes this year.
Greg Biffle leads the final test session at Daytona during Preseason Thunder
With these being the final five hours of testing for the Daytona 500, some teams were getting their final runs in to finish their lists, while other teams had packed up and gone home. In total, 15 teams hit the track.
When the laps were done being counted, it’d be Roush Fenway driver Greg Biffle topping the charts with a speed of 194.936 mph. While it marked the highest speed of Saturday, it also marks the highest single car run by any driver over the course of the three days.
Matt Kenseth was second on the speed charts, five hundreths off of Biffle. Kenseth made the swap from Roush Fenway Racing to Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2013 season and has been using the test to get used to new crew chief Jason Ratcliffe. Despite being only their second time working together, the pair have been quick throughout the entire test session.
Kenseth’s JGR teammate Kyle Busch was third, eight hundreths off of Biffle. Busch’s team had to make significant repairs yesterday after being involved in the 10-car wreck after Dale Earnhardt Jr. got into Marcos Ambrose.
Earnhardt Jr. continued to improve, ranking fourth on the speed chart on Saturday afternoon. It’s Earnhardt Jr.’s highest test ranking as for the most part, he was mid-pack in speeds.
“It’s gotten really good today,” he said. “This day has been great. We could get out there, made tons of runs not having to wait in line. We learned a lot, found a lot of speed.”
Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top five. Ryan Newman was sixth, followed by Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick and Jimmie Johnson.
Following the test, NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said it was successful, not expecting any changes to be made before Speedweeks in February. However, he did state that he looks forward to an exciting finish to the Daytona 500.
“When it comes down to the trophy, the check and the trophy queen, all bets are off,” Pemberton said. “I expect them to run hard at the end (of the race) and make sure they are around for the end of the race and make sure they are positioned where they can get (to the checkered flag). There is no telling what you’ll see.”
Teams will now focus on testing at Charlotte Motor Speedway next Thursday and Friday as they continue to learn the new cars.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a strong test in Daytona learning a lot, despite triggering the big wreck
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is known for being strong on the super speedways and with testing coming to a close in Daytona, everybody knows he will be one to watch in February.
Throughout the days, Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t been the strongest on the speed charts, but is pleased with what his team has learned and the speed they gained the last day. He was fourth on the speed chart on the final day of testing.
“It’s gotten really good today,” Earnhardt Jr. said on Sunday. “This day has been great. We could get out there, made tons of runs not having to wait in line. We learned a lot, found a lot of speed.”
Though there was a slight snag in testing when in the second drafting session, it was Earnhardt Jr. that triggered the big wreck involving 10 cars after trying to bump draft with Marcos Ambrose.
“I felt like Marcos (Ambrose) was backing up to me in (turns) one and two to get a run down the back,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I was just going to give him a push down the back straightaway and see if he could get the lead. I was trying to eventually get the lead myself. We got off the back straightaway and were just kind of pushing him along there and our cars sort of just didn’t match up very well. I got him hooked into the fence.”
Despite the fact that they are running a new car, Earnhardt Jr. says that the car is pretty similar to those of the past in that you can just hold the throttle down and go fast. However, testing is still important as it’s all about collecting data and trying new things. That’s why Earnhardt Jr. and his Hendrick Motorsports were there till the last minutes of testing going through crew chief Steve LeTarte’s laundry list.
“Put something on the car, put a new piece on the car or change a piece, go out and run laps and hope that you knock a few thousandths off the run before,” he said. “That is just the routine throughout the whole test really.”
That’s why at times, it can be tough for a driver to keep interested since they are just making single-car runs, all by themselves. That’s why Earnhardt Jr. says he plugs into what the team is doing, keeping up with the changes so his mind has something to think about.
“I get out of the car, asked what they changed, why they changed it, why they think that is going to be better, what’s next, why they think that is going to work,” he said. “I try to really plug into the kind of technical things they are doing to the car. It helps me because we have been doing this a long time and something they are doing might dig up a memory of a test or something we tried on some cars back in the DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) days that worked. So it’s good for me to be involved as much as I can. So that helps me get to clicking, the day goes by fast when you are plugged in like that.”
Testing is something that Earnhardt Jr. spoke of being important to do with crew chief Steve LeTarte following their success. Right now, he admits they’re limited due to the speed of building the cars and lack of parts. However, there are plans to go to Nashville and Pike Peaks in the coming weeks after next week’s test at Charlotte.
“We need to learn as much as we can learn,” he said. “We have got a lot of rule changes in the cars. A lot of things are different so we need to try to find where our package needs to be and get a good comfortable idea of where to start when we go to the different tracks.”
While there are thoughts that a team may not get off to a good start while someone else finds an advantage, Earnhardt Jr. feels that Hendrick Motorsports is a company that excels at times like these.
“I think that we have a lot of resources, no reason why we shouldn’t come out as one of the better performing teams, especially right off the bat,” he explained. “Obviously, when you give somebody a new puzzle some guys might figure out something quicker than others just by chance and ingenuity. Over the entire scope of the whole change and the whole new car I think that being with Hendrick (Motorsports) is going to be a real advantage.”
To be able to do that, Earnhardt Jr. says that you’re going to have to work hard and no worries – he likes being at the track working hard.
“I just like to be at the race track working,” he said. “I think to believe in momentum means you keep plugging away and you keep working. For us to sit around and just hope that when we show up to Vegas we are going to have plenty of time to figure things out or hope we are better when we get to Phoenix, I think that is just a pipe dream. You have got to go to work. You have to test and put in the time to be better, you’ve got to go to the race track.”
While the teams continue to work at getting the cars right, there is no hiding the potential for them to bring out a good package and that is one thing that has Earnhardt Jr. looking forward, positively.
“With this car we have a chance to do something great and really make a big impact,” he said. “It’s on everybody in the sport really as to how that all works out, but, you know, I think all the pieces are there.”
Matt Kenseth leads Saturday Morning test session at Daytona
When Matt Kenseth made the switch to Joe Gibbs Racing, there were a lot of questions being asked. Would he be successful? Could he bring Coach Joe Gibbs a championship? So far, he is off to a good start as Kenseth led the Saturday morning test session at Daytona International Speedway. It marks the second session he has led after leading the first session on Thursday.
Kenseth made the switch to JGR for 2013 after spending his whole career at Roush Fenway Racing behind the wheel of the No. 17. Now behind the wheel of the No. 20, he topped the charts with a speed of 194.062 mph.
Despite being quick, Kenseth will run the entire Saturday afternoon session as “the book keeps getting thicker and thicker. There is no way we’re getting through it before 5 so we’ll be here for the duration.” Though he is also excited about the test at Charlotte Motor Speedway next Thursday and Friday.
“”The Charlotte test was really fun,” he said. “The car was fast and we learned a lot. Excited about getting back there.”
The Saturday session has consisted of single-car runs following a 10-car wreck that happened yesterday during some pack practice. Down the backstretch, Earnhardt Jr. was trying to push Ambrose in the draft, though a tap near the end of the back straight sent Ambrose spinning in front of the whole pack. Collected in the wreck was Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Regan Smith and Carl Edwards. All teams were sent home packing due to the damage except for Earnhadt Jr., Busch and Edwards – Earnhardt Jr. had some slight front end damage but nothing severe, Busch made repairs while Edwards was the only one with a back-up car. With some teams deciding to go home early, only 21 cars took to the track during the morning session.
2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne was second fastest with a speed of 193.686 mph. Bayne will try to win his second Daytona 500 with Wood Brothers Racing while he runs the full Nationwide Series schedule for Roush Fenway.
“I feel pretty good about it,” Bayne said. “Our car was fast in the draft and we’ve been fast – near the top of the board – in qualifying.”
Danica Patrick was third fastest in practice as she enters her first full season in Sprint Cup Series competition, driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. She started in the Daytona 500 last year, though crashed out early on the second lap.
“It’s really nice to go out for the first time during the year and be fast and not be in a rush and scrambling for speed,” she said. “We’re in a really good place and it’s really flattering that people are excited about me, but it’s about the team. It’s about what they built, the aero, the drag – all of their work in the off-season.”
Paul Menard was fourth fastest, continuing the quick speeds for Richard Childress Racing. Tony Stewart rounded out the top five as he will miss the afternoon session due to running the Chili Bowl later tonight.
Austin Dillon was sixth in times, followed by Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Kenseth grateful for Roush years but ready for future at Gibbs
It hasn’t fazed Matt Kenseth what car or team he’s driving for. The changing of the calendar year, didn’t make him blink either. For Kenseth, he’s still the man atop the scoring tower at Daytona, this time during testing for the upcoming 2013 season.
Working with his new Joe Gibbs Racing team, Kenseth’s No. 20 Dollar General Toyota was the fastest thing in Saturday morning’s first session. Just as he was the fastest thing in Daytona – and Talladega – all of last season when he won two of the four restrictor plate races.
Toyota has never won the Daytona 500 and Kenseth is working on becoming the first driver since Sterling Marlin in 1994-95 to win the event in back-to-back years. While he noted how happy and content he was with his new team, Kenseth wasn’t ready to start thinking about the possibility that’s ahead one month from now.
“Man, if I could predict that I’d be making a bunch of money in Vegas, that’s for sure. These are always really unpredictable races,” said Kenseth in Daytona. “I remember you asking me the same question in 2010 after we were fortunate enough to win it in 2009.
“I don’t know – we’re going to do everything we can just like you do every year. Show up down here and try to win the race. It’s always unpredictable. It’s the biggest race of the year and there’s a lot of effort that goes into these races and certainly pate racing is anything but predictable.”
Kenseth has hope that his new Camry will be just as fast as the Fords were last year. When he and Roush Fenway were the cars to beat. So far, so good during winter testing. He and new crew chief Jason Ratcliff appear to be on the same page, something Kenseth joked came from going on dates with him in order to build a great relationship.
Then there’s his new teammates, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, which he says there isn’t a whole lot left that Kenseth didn’t already know about them. He worked well with Hamlin during last month’s test in Charlotte when the two switched cars and compared data. When they head back to Charlotte for more testing next week, he’s eager to do the same with Busch.
“Daytona you can’t really compare much at Daytona. There’s not really a lot to talk about as far as car setups,” he said.
As the season quickly approaches the confidence is high, both for Kenseth and JGR. Hamlin and Busch have already spoken volumes of their new teammate and what he brings to the organization while Kenseth feels well fit in his new surroundings. And he’s looking forward, he repeatedly said at Daytona, not back.
“I’ve been extremely blessed my whole career to have been in great situations and I’ve never wished for anything or regretted any moves I’ve made or things I’ve done or haven’t done as far as racing goes,” revealed Kenseth, not wanting to go into specifics about one company compared to the other.
“So, I’m just looking forward. I’m really encouraged with everything I see. I’m really excited to get to the track and go race these guys and see how we stack up compared to everybody else.”
There are, however, notable differences between how Roush and Gibbs operate, but nothing that has Kenseth any less excited about his future success.
“A lot of differences, but everything ha been really great. I don’t think it could be any better,” he said. “We haven’t been to the race track and been racing yet and the results pretty much tell the story and we’re a few months away from really seeing results. I’ve been extremely encouraged.
“I’m really optimistic about the season, really like my group and really like the way they do things over at JGR and the cars. Of course, Denny and Kyle – there’s not many people that win more races than those guys so I’m excited to work with them guys and learn from them and hopefully be able to contribute as well.”
Trevor Bayne tops Friday Afternoon Speed Charts as The Big One strikes in Daytona
Anticipation had been building over the course of testing as everyone wanted to see it – everyone wanted to see the pack hit the track with the new Generation 6 cars. Friday afternoon brought forth a pack of 20 cars that let everyone see what they’d expect with drafting. However, it didn’t last long as contact between Marcos Ambrose and Dale Earnhardt Jr. would cause a wreck, collecting a total of 10 cars.
Coming down the back straightaway, Earnhardt Jr. was trying to push Ambrose in the draft, though a tap near the end of the back straight sent Ambrose spinning in front of the whole pack.
““We were just out there running around,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I felt like Marcus (Ambrose) was backing up to me in (turns) one and two to get a run down the back. I was just going to give him a push down the back straightaway and see if he could get the lead. I was trying to eventually get the lead myself. We got off the back straightaway and were just kind of pushing him along there and our cars sort of just didn’t match up very well. I got him hooked into the fence. I pushed Martin (Truex) a little bit in his Toyota and they matched up good. The bumpers were good, didn’t have any problem with any of the cars. That is the first time I pushed a Ford. The roll bar of the front of my car is just at the right place where his car sets right up on top of that. I sort of had him going down the back straightaway like a forklift. It was a big mess and tore up a lot of cars down here trying to work on their stuff.”
“I just feel bad for my Stanley and Richard Petty Motorsports team,” Ambrose said. “You know, I had junior pushing me. He’s just a great drafter, really can feel it well. I guess I just got caught on the edge of the bumper there and with the shaped noses and the tires, just spun me out. It was hardly even a bump. It was just enough at the wrong angle, wrong time and just went for a spin. I feel bad for everybody because quite a few cars were torn up there. But we’ll repair this one and probably build a couple new ones and get ready for Speedweeks.”
Collected in the wreck was Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Regan Smith and Carl Edwards.
“I am not sure what happened,” Almirola said. “I saw Marcos get hooked but couldn’t tell who it was. It is just part of this kind of racing. We are in a big pack and if something goes wrong at the front we are all in it. Maybe the bad luck is out of the way before we come back here for Speedweeks. You never want to tear up race cars, that is no fun. The bright side is that the change we made is better and hopefully when we come back down here for Speedweeks we won’t be in that big one.”
“I know we were in a pack drafting, just trying to learn the cars and what this aero package is doing,” Gordon said. “Some guys started forming a line on the inside and things started getting a little more aggressive at that point. Somebody must have turned or got turned or something and then they just all started stacking up.”
All teams were sent home packing due to the damage except for Busch and Edwards – Busch made repairs while Edwards was the only one with a back-up car.
“I didn’t see anything happening in front of me,” Busch said. “Just saw the smoke and then a car sideways and I started trying to check up. I feel like I did a pretty good job checking up. The guy behind me got into me a little bit so I knew I couldn’t slow down more so I just had to try to find a lane to get through and I saw the 43 (Aric Almirola) come across the race track so I turned left to miss it and I shot the gap and when I did somebody was on my inside and just hit me in the left rear a little bit. That’s just the major damage right there on the left rear.”
The anticipation had been building as the 2013 season marks the debut of the Generation 6 car, which is part of NASCAR’s continuing work to improve the cars. The new car is meant to be safer than the Car of Tomorrow. The other main difference is NASCAR getting back to their roots as the cars look like the cars right off the street.
Though another thing that seems to be happening is they’re going back to the old roots with the old style of drafting and no tandem racing.
“Definitely the drafting is not like it used to be,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “You can’t really tandem certain cars; certain cars don’t match up well. Our bumpers on the Chevy’s have a little bit of a point. It makes it a little bit of a challenge to get into guys and kind of help them. We definitely weren’t doing that in the corner at all because it was pretty hairy trying to do it on the straightaways.”
When it comes to the speed charts, Trevor Bayne topped the charts driving the No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing. He will attempt to win his second Daytona 500 with the Wood Brothers while running the full Nationwide Series schedule for Roush Fenway Racing. Logano was second, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Mark Martin and Edwards.
Testing continues on Saturday, which will comprise of single car runs.
