Dalton Baldwin Preview – KOMA Unwind Relaxation Drink 150 at Southern National Motorsports Park
Dalton Baldwin likes his chances at the upcoming KOMA Unwind Relaxation Drink 150 race this Saturday.
This is the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour’s fourth visit to the .4 mile oval track located in Kenley, N.C. It features 17 degrees of banking in the corners and seven degree banking in the straightaways. Only eight drivers out of the 24 entered have Southern Modified experience at this track.
Dalton’s goal is to drive the No. 18 Woman 2 Woman Breast Cancer Chevrolet to a top ten finish and collect some bonus points in his quest to win the Rookie of the Year award.
“I personally picked Southern National,” he told me, “as a track that we would run really well at, possibly win at. Looking at it and watching videos, it’s just our kind of track. Its high banked with sweeping turns, there’s a good outside groove, etc. It looks a lot like Desoto Super Speedway, where we’ve won 4 championships and numerous races across 7 years. So I am really looking forward to this track.”
He also plans on giving himself every advantage by relying on the advice and help of some of the track veterans.
“The fortunate thing for us is that the tour hasn’t gone to this track since 2008. From what I know, only a few drivers that are entered in the race have experience at the track. One of those, Tim Brown, and his brother, Ben, have had serious success at the track, with a win and two second places in three tour races there. They’re gonna help us in a direction for a setup. So, hopefully that leads somewhere and gives us a leg up.”
Dalton missed the first points race of the season due to engine problems. With his primary focus on competing for the Rookie of the Year award, it makes it even more important to strive for top ten finishes the remainder of the season.
“We’re still in it,” he says. “We just can’t have a bad race now.”
Dalton Baldwin Racing would like to thank their partners, Woman 2 Woman Breast Cancer Foundation, SpeedwayMedia.com, Advance Auto Parts of Dunedin, Fla., BG Products, SpeedRacer Photos, and Eibach Performance for their continued support.
For more information about Dalton Baldwin Racing including driver bio, race schedule, pictures and videos, please visit www.daltonbaldwin.com. You can also find his Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/DaltonBaldwinRacing and Twitter at http://www.facebook.com/DaltonBaldwinRacing.
Kyle Busch comes up short in Bristol following pit road penalty
For the second straight week, Kyle Busch would come up short as he would finish second to Kasey Kahne, after finishing fourth in Las Vegas the week prior.
“Wish it was a little bit more,” he admitted. “There at the end we were probably holding up the guys behind me, but track position is everything here anymore. It’s frustrating the way that is. I wish I could have kept up with the 5, but he took off, left us all. I was too tight at the end. Center of the corner turn, not being able to get it to do what it needed to do. What we fought in practice. We got to work on that.”
Each week, Busch has been fast – however, has found himself getting in trouble on pit road, suffering pit road speeding penalties.
“If we didn’t have so many of those, we’d be a lot better off,” Busch commented afterwards. “Being able to work on our car further up front, there’s a difference when you run back in traffic.”
One of the things that made racing in traffic tough was the fact it was hard to run the bottom throughout the race. Busch said he found you could run the bottom and make some passes for a few laps after a restart.
“I think the tire’s a little bit better here where you can grip up on the bottom,” Busch added. “As you go every single lap after a restart, the rubber lays down more and more. Then you start sliding. You got to find your way up to the top eventually.”
However, Busch sees that improving down the road as they get to know the cars better and what is the new track layout at Bristol. He feels that there are some adjustments that his team can make, or that Goodyear can improve the tire.
“For some reason the bottom here I think this year I’ve noticed is a lot more — there’s a lot more bumps down there right on the bottom,” he continued. “You kind of run through there and it’s a lot of harmonics going on. Kind of hard for the tire to grip down there for a long time as well.
“This place is aging, getting a little rougher down on the bottom, making it a little bit tougher to grip the racetrack, too.”
Despite the concerns with the groove, the race at Bristol was a solid one that many fans enjoyed. They saw drivers racing with each other, side-by-side, putting on a typical short track race. Busch agreed with that saying it was kind of like the accordion effect in that you’d catch the car in front of you, slide a bit back due to abusing your tires and then re-catch that guy.
“It’s kind of the thing that you get with short tracks,” he commented. “There’s other short tracks across the country that are hard to pass on, too. This one is a little different because you’re running around the top instead of what it was at the bottom.”
He also added that you didn’t see the bump-and-run in times like that because, simply, it wouldn’t had worked.
“If you bump the car in front of you, the guy in front of you is running the same speed, there’s no sense in doing that because the guy is going to come back on you later,” he explained. “So it probably doesn’t work.”
2012 OSCAAR Super Late Model Champion Brandon Watson to have car at Mega Speed
As part of OSCAAR’s booth at the Mega Speed Custom Car and Truck Show, Brandon Watson will have his car on display.
The Mega Speed Custom Car and Truck Show takes place March 22nd to 24th at the International Centre. OSCAAR officials will be talking to show attendees about the cars, the schedule, and the season ahead. Watson’s super late model will be in the booth, joining OSCAAR sophomore driver Rob Poole, rookie Kevin Cornelius and veteran Jim Bowman. OSCAAR will also have Bobby Tolton and Brent McLean’s Modifieds on display.
Last year marked a memorable season for Brandon Watson as he picked up four victories and only finished off the podium three times on his way to picking up the championship. Two of those victories the Stayner, Ontario driver was able to capture include OSCAAR crown jewels – the Don Biederman Memorial at Kawartha Speedway and the Autumn Colors Classic feature at Peterborough Speedway.
Speaking of his season, Watson said he knew that he had the car and team to do it after the success they had experienced during part-time schedules in years prior. He also made note that racing the JEGS CRA tour in the States in 2011 helped somewhat in his championship bid.
Moving into the 2013 season, Watson says his focus is on the OSCAAR Super Late Models, as he is ready to tackle yet another full season.
“Definitely a great series, getting better and better each year,” Watson said in speaking of the super late models.
For his championship and M.R.E Pro Series Open Late Model feature victory at Sunset Speedway, Watson was ranked fourth in Spencer Lewis’ Inside Track Motosports News Ontario Asphalt Short Track Rankings.
As previously noted, the Mega Speed Custom Car and Truck Show takes place at the International Centre from Friday March 22nd to Sunday March 24th. The show will include many custom vehicles on display, including some Corvettes to celebrate Corvette’s 60th Anniversary and some Camaros to celebrate Camaro’s 40th Anniversary. The show also includes a star studded line-up that includes Rally Racer Ken Block and car designer Chip Foose, with wrestler Bill Goldberg as the event Grand Marshall.
For full details on the show, check out www.megaspeedcarshow.com.
Hot 20 over the past 10 – California, not one of your daddy’s NASCAR traditions
This week, back in 1933, there was no NASCAR. Moonshiners, for sure, and probably a few in Saskatchewan. My dad was born there 80 years ago this week, and along with mom we got together recently with his six children, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and even one great-grandchild still a few months away from making his or her debut. I bring this up to illustrate how important it is to remember our roots, to celebrate those who are responsible for where you are, where you have been, and maybe even get an idea as to where you are going.
With this Sunday’s race coming up in Fontana, California, we are reminded that sometimes NASCAR has taken an axe to its roots. They have been seen as being too busy trying to break out of its southeast United States homeland in seeking out greener pastures that they forgot who “brung ‘em.” They started racing at the Auto Club Speedway in 1997 and the racing there has been, well, rather lousy over the years. Then in 2004, as part of a legal settlement, NASCAR rejigged its schedule. After 55 years as one of the sport’s crown jewel events, the traditional Labor Day date of Darlington’s Southern 500 was sent to California.
Let me repeat that. NASCAR sold out 55 years of tradition at the Lady in Black for a bucket of warm spit in the sunshine as they sought more fans and big money. Well, at least they got the sunshine. The date proved so popular on the west coast that it got moved to Atlanta in 2009, to become that venue’s only race date after the spring race there was awarded to Kentucky. Anyone remember the nightmare that turned out to be?
Here’s hoping that come Sunday I can tell you how surprised I was, how great the racing proved to be, how much it was like the first four contests of the season. Our champion Brad Keselowski continues with his hot hand as of late, with Clint Bowyer making some noise by moving up four spots from last week. Still, our biggest mover was Kurt Busch, who replaces a 39th place finish last fall at Talladega with a fourth place result last Sunday. The biggest drop belonged to Jeff Gordon, who may have lost a tire but gained a wall and Matt Kenseth. He was 2nd at Talladega, but that result is replaced by his 34th place outcome in Bristol.
We may be leaving a traditional track behind as our attention focuses westward, but tradition dictates that hope springs eternal from week to week. Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Ryan Newman hope California is the place they got to be, so they’ve loaded up their trucks and… Well, if you are older than 50 you know how that classic goes.
| Name | Points | POS | LW | W | T5 | T10 |
| Brad Keselowski | 387 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| Clint Bowyer | 350 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 346 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| Kyle Busch | 336 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Greg Biffle | 328 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Kasey Kahne | 326 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Carl Edwards | 310 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Matt Kenseth | 310 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Denny Hamlin | 298 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Paul Menard | 294 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Kevin Harvick | 289 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Aric Almirola | 277 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Kurt Busch | 276 | 13 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 274 | 14 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Ryan Newman | 273 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Joey Logano | 272 | 16 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Martin Truex, Jr. | 264 | 17 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Tony Stewart | 263 | 18 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Jeff Gordon | 256 | 19 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Jamie McMurray | 254 | 20 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
