Buescher wins the American Ethanol 225 at Chicagoland
[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”256″]
[/media-credit]James Buescher battled back from two laps down and won Saturday nights NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Ethanol 225 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Buescher’s truck was losing power and he had to come to the pits to replace the carburetor. The team got it done very quickly and Buescher only went down two laps to the leaders.
“I didn’t know if the carburetor was going to be a fix or not,” Buescher said. ”I was hoping it was. Luckily it was. From that point on, the goal was to get back on the lead lap and get as many spots as we could.”
Buescher and Timothy Peters were side-by-side on the final restart with two laps to go. Buescher took the lead away from Peters on the final lap and held off a charge from Brendan Gaughan for his third career win and his third win of the season.
Gaughan who led a race-high 83 laps finished second, Peters third, Matt Crafton fourth and Parker Kligerman finished fifth.
Peters started in the back after an engine change.
“It was just a testament to this whole Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra team. We didn’t get much practice. We had to change engines and this team is strong from adversity. I’m just speechless every week on what they do for me. We started at the back and came to the front, we led a lap, man, close but no cigar.” Peters said.
Making his 200th career start in the truck series, Todd Bodine finished 18th. He is the first driver in NASCAR to reach 200 starts in all three national series.
“When I started in this sport as a driver, you never thought about getting to this point. You only thought about the next race — the future wasn’t something you thought about. Here I am after 21 years driving. My first full season in Nationwide was in ’91. To make it to this point, we all strive for excellence in whatever sport we’re in. To have longevity and to make a career out of it, and to get to this point, it’s a pretty special thing to know I’ve been able to accomplish that much. It’s not often in this world that you can get to do for a living the one thing that they love the most. I’m very fortunate in a lot of respects. I’m glad to be able to be a part of this sport.” Bodine said.
Peters leads Ty Dillon, who finished 12th, in the series standings by 23 points.
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| American Ethanol 225, Chicagoland Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=10 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | 11 | 31 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 47 |
| 2 | 6 | 2 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 3 | 4 | 17 | Timothy Peters | Toyota | 42 |
| 4 | 9 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Toyota | 40 |
| 5 | 17 | 29 | Parker Kligerman | Ram | 40 |
| 6 | 8 | 33 | Cale Gale * | Chevrolet | 38 |
| 7 | 14 | 9 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | 38 |
| 8 | 5 | 18 | Jason Leffler | Toyota | 36 |
| 9 | 13 | 23 | Jason White | Ford | 35 |
| 10 | 21 | 81 | David Starr | Toyota | 34 |
| 11 | 22 | 73 | Rick Crawford | Chevrolet | 33 |
| 12 | 3 | 3 | Ty Dillon * | Chevrolet | 33 |
| 13 | 19 | 8 | Ross Chastain * | Toyota | 31 |
| 14 | 16 | 9 | John Wes Townley * | Toyota | 30 |
| 15 | 2 | 22 | Joey Coulter | Chevrolet | 30 |
| 16 | 20 | 98 | Dakoda Armstrong * | Toyota | 28 |
| 17 | 10 | 32 | Miguel Paludo | Chevrolet | 28 |
| 18 | 7 | 11 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | 26 |
| 19 | 18 | 5 | Paulie Harraka * | Ford | 26 |
| 20 | 28 | 92 | Chad McCumbee | Chevrolet | 24 |
| 21 | 1 | 6 | Justin Lofton | Chevrolet | 24 |
| 22 | 15 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | Toyota | 22 |
| 23 | 34 | 10 | Jennifer Jo Cobb | Ram | 21 |
| 24 | 23 | 99 | Bryan Silas * | Ford | 20 |
| 25 | 36 | 57 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | 19 |
| 26 | 12 | 30 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Chevrolet | 18 |
| 27 | 33 | 84 | Chris Fontaine | Chevrolet | 17 |
| 28 | 25 | 168 | Clay Greenfield | Ram | 16 |
| 29 | 29 | 27 | C E Falk III | Chevrolet | 15 |
| 30 | 24 | 93 | Ryan Sieg | Chevrolet | 14 |
| 31 | 30 | 39 | Chris Jones | Chevrolet | 13 |
| 32 | 31 | 186 | Blake Koch | Ram | 0 |
| 33 | 27 | 38 | Dennis Setzer | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 34 | 35 | 0 | T.J. Bell | Ram | 0 |
| 35 | 26 | 37 | Jeff Green | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 36 | 32 | 7 | Johnny Chapman | Toyota | 8 |
Darrah Takes Summer Nationals In Front of Hometown Crowd
[media-credit name=”Willams Grove Speedway” align=”alignright” width=”200″]
[/media-credit]This years Summer Nationals at Willams Grove Speedway didn’t start off well; the two night event was rained out on Friday, leaving just the Saturday night duel between the Outlaws and the Posse. And what a duel it turned out to be.
Williams Grove Speedway is a half-mile race track located in Williams Grove, between Mechanicsburg and Dillsburg in Pennsylvania. It opened in 1939, and hosted Championship races from 1949 to 1959 named the “Indianapolis Sweepstakes”, contested by a small field of the best Champ Car racers. Many notable drivers have raced here, including A. J. Foyt and Mario Andretti. Williams Grove Speedway is a semi-banked, oval. The track record of 16.140 seconds was established by Brian Paulus on April 26, 2002.
Steve Kinser has won at “the Grove” 38 times and Sammy Swindell and Donny Schatz have each won 15 times. The man with the most wins all time is Fast Freddy Rahmer with 81 wins. But tonight’s winner wasn’t among the legends of the World of Outlaws, instead he was last years Rookie of the Year, Kasey Kahne Racing’s, Cody Darrah who is from Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania. The emotional Darrah dedicated the win to his grandparents who have been suffering hard times lately. But Darrah proved himself more than just a race winner tonight however, when he jumped from his car on a red flag to help fellow driver Craig Dollansky from his burning car after Dollansky flipped down the back stretch causing a fuel fire to break out around and under the car, instead he proved himself as a champion of men not just race car drivers. A great testament to the 23 year old driver.
The very eventful night started out relatively calm with close qualifying throughout the pack. The top 20 qualifiers were separated by only .140 seconds. The entire field was only separated by 1.191 seconds. Quick Time would go to the Posse with Greg Hodnett turning a lap of 16.745 seconds. Second would be Alan Kreitz Jr. Third, Craig Dollansky, Joey Saldana and Daryn Pittman would round out the top 5.
The heat races were relatively calm as well. The first heat was a Posse victory for Adam Wilt who held off a hard charging Jason Sides, Daryn Pittman, Greg Hodnett and Tyler Walker. The Outlaws were down 2 nothing for the night. But they weren’t done yet.
The second heat race would see Kraig Kinser pull out and pull away from a fast and charging Tony Stewart to take the win. Stevie Smith would come home 3rd with Alan Kreitz and Lucas Wolfe in hot pursuit. The Outlaws were on the board but former Outlaw champion Danny Lasoski would have to run the B Main.
The third heat would find Cody Darrah swimming amongst the Posse sharks. But Darrah would take the checkers over Danny Holtgraver, Craig Dollansky, Danny Dietrich and Steve Kinser. This heat would relegate 4 time champion Donny Schatz to the C Main after an uncharacteristically poor qualifying effort.
The fourth and final heat would see Sammy Swindell hold off the strongest challenge of the Posse to take the win with Gerald McIntyre Jr, Joey Saldana, Fred Rahmer and Lance Dewease rounding out the top five. Another big name from the Outlaws was relegated to the B when Kerry Madsen finished 7th and failed to transfer to the A.
The Outlaws were leading the game 3 to 2. But the rest of the night would be a hard fought battle to come home on top of the Nationals.
The C Main went to the Posse with Chad Layton coming home ahead of a struggling Donny Schatz. Schatz at numerous times was able to pull even with Layton but just couldn’t make the pass on the narrow fast clay surface. Their battle would carry on into the B Main where Layton would finish 12th ahead of Schatz’s 13th. The B would be won by former Outlaws Champion Danny Lasoski but he would be up to his wing in Posse with the closest Outlaw finisher coming home 4th in Chad Kemenah. Alan Krimes and Cory Haas would finish 2nd and 3rd.
The Dash was a hard fought battle with 5 drivers representing the Outlaws and 5 representing the Posse. The Posse would come out on top but the race would be foretelling of the night to come. Sammy Swindell would have trouble early in and finish 10th. Tony Stewart couldn’t find a way around Adam Wilt and finished where he started in 8th. Cody Darrah did everything shy of use his wing to fly and still finished 2nd to Gerald McIntrye Jr. The night was beginning to shape up as a track position night. But then again, the night was not over and the Outlaws still had more than a few tricks up their sleeves.
When the A Main rolled off, it did so with 4 provisional spots bringing the car count for the event to 28. Donny Schatz and Kerry Madsen would take provisionals from the World of Outlaws. While Ryan Smith and Chad Layton would take provisionals from Willams Grove Speedway. Chad Kemenah would break a magneto on the car during the pace laps causing the car to cut off and not refire. He retired before the green. Danny Dietrich would be the next out with contact with the wall, he was followed by Danny Holtgraver. Fred Rahmer would be the next Posse member to retire after flipping wildly in turns 3 and 4, Rahmer would climb from the car and walk away. Lance Dewease would drop out at the same time due to a misunderstanding of the rules. Dewease would pull into the rear pit area and pull his car nose first to the trailer signaling to the Outlaws officials that he was done for the evening as he did not stop at the work area. Dewease was not allowed to return to the competition. Stevie Smith would be the next casualty flipping his car in turn 1. Smith climbed out of the car but was done for the evening. Daryn Pittman and Danny Lasoski would fall victim to engine failures as would Gerald McIntyre who started the race on the pole. The most scarey incident of the evening came late in the race when Craig Dollansky returned to the track after flipping in 4 and again flipped the car on the back straightaway causing a fuel fire to surround the car. With a red flag on the track, Cody Darrah quickly exited his car and ran to the assistance of Dollansky and helped him from the car. The car flipped so hard that part of the front suspension was imbedded into the track. Dollansky was unhurt. The final victim of the evening was Don Kreitz whose engine let go just 4 laps from the end of the race.
The attrition left just 17 cars on the track. One of those was Kerry Madsen who had very methodically worked his way into the top 10. Madsen would finish 9th and get the hard charger of the night award after starting dead last on the field. And it was well deserved, the fast narrow track was difficult and almost impossible to pass on. So much so that with 18 laps to go the Outlaws determined that all restarts from that point on would be single file restarts rather than the traditional double file restarts. A decision that played to Cody Darrah’s hand. Darrah set sail on the final caution and never looked back. The challenge would never be for the lead but for second. Jason Sides and Greg Hodnett would exchange slides and come side by side but Hodnett could never make it all the way around Sides for the second spot. The Outlaws would take the night over the Posse 5 to 4. The finishing order would find 6 Outlaws 3 Posse and 1 Sprint Cup Champion in the top 10.
Willams Grove has a reputation of launching the very best young sprint car drivers in the world. They lived up to that reputation tonight. Cody Darrah is a former track champion at The Grove. As a matter of fact this was his 50th win at his home track. And if winning before his home town crowd wasn’t enough Darrah announced that Kasey Kahne Racing has signed a sponsor for his effort that up to this point had been funded out of pocket by Kasey Kahne. That announcement to come soon.
Racing is a field of dreams. Sometimes they are dreams that come true. Sometimes they are nightmares. Sometimes they are just the reassurance that with all the bad things that are going on in the world we are still free to pursue our passions, whether they be winning at The Grove or writing about the race itself.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Qualifying results:
1) Greg Hodnett 2) Don Kreitz Jr. 3) Craig Dollansky 4) Joey Saldana 5) Daryn Pittman 6) Stevie Smith 7) Danny Dietrich 8) Fred Rahmer 9) Jason Sides 10) Kraig Kinser 11) Cody Darrah 12) Gerald McIntyre Jr. 13) Adam Wilt 14) Tony Stewart 15) Danny Holtgraver 16) Sammy Swindell 17) Tyler Walker 18) Danny Lasoski 19) Alan Krimes 20) Lance Dewase 21) Cory Haas 22) Lucas Wolfe 23) Steve Kinser 24) Brian Monteith 25) Chad Kemenah 26) Jim Seigel 27) Logan Schuchart 28) Kerry Madsen 29) Tim Kaeding 30) Steve Buckwalter 31) Davey Sammons 32) Nicole Bower 33) Danny Esh 34) Curt Michael 35) Donny Schatz 36) Chad Layton 37) Michael Ruttkamp 38) Aaron Ott 39) Mike Erdley 40) Brent Marks 41) Frank Cozze 42) Tim Glatfelter 43) Ryan Smith 44) Derek Sell 45) Bill Rose
Heat Race 1 Results: 1) Adam Wilt 2) Jason Sides 3) Daryn Pittman 4) Greg Hodnett 5) Tyler Walker 6) Cory Haas 7) Chad Kemenah 8) Doug Esh 9) Tim Kaeding 10) Michael Ruttkamp 11) Frank Cozze (DNS) 12 Bill Rose (DNS)
Heat Race 2 Results: 1) Kraig Kinser 2) Tony Stewart 3) Stevie Smith 4) Don Kreitz Jr 5) Lucas Wolfe 6) Danny Lasoski. 7) Steve Buckwalter 8) Curt Michael 9) Aaron Ott 10) Jim Siegel 11) Tim Glatfelter
Heat Race 3 Results: 1) Cody Darrah 2) Danny Holtgraver 3) Craig Dollansky 4) Danny Dietrich 5) Steve Kinser 6) Donny Schatz 7) Alan Krimes 8) Logan Schuchart 9) Ryan Smith 10) Mike Erdley 11) Davey Sammons
Heat Race 4 Results: 1) Sammy Swindell 2) Gerald McIntyre 3) Joey Saldana 4) Fred Rahmer 5) Lance Dewease 6) Brian Montieth 7) Kerry Madsen 8) Chad Layton 9) Brent Marks 10) Nicole Bower 11) Derek Sell
C Main Results: ) Chad Layton 2) Donny Schatz 3) Michael Ruttkamp 4) Brent Marks 5) Tim Glatfelter 6) Ryan Smith 7) Frank Cozze 8) Derek Sell (DNS) 9) Bill Rose (DNS)
Dash Results: 1) Gerald McIntyre 2) Cody Darrah 3) Kraig Kinser 4) Jason Sides 5) Greg Hodnett 6) Don Kreitz Jr 7) Adam Wilt 8) Tony Stewart 9) Danny Holtgraver 10) Sammy Swindell
B Main Results: 1) Danny Lasoski 2) Alan Krimes 3) Cory Haas 4) Chad Kemenah 5) Jim Siegel 6) Tim Kaeding 7) Logan Schuchart 8) Davey Sammons 9) Doug Esh 10) Steve Buckwalter 11) Kerry Madsen 12) Chad Layton 13) Donny Schatz 14) Nicole Bower 15) Chad Michael 16) Brian Montieth.
A Main Results: 1) Cody Darrah 2) Jason Sides 3) Greg Hodnett 4) Kraig Kinser 5) Adam Wilt 6) Lucas Wolfe 7) Steve Kinser 8) Tony Stewart 9) Kerry Madsen 10) Cory Haas 11) Donny Schatz 12) Chad Layton 13) Joey Saldana 14) Tyler Walker 15) Sammy Swindell 16) Alan Krimes 17) Ryan Smith 18) Don Krietz 19) Craig Dollansky 20) Gerald McIntyre Jr. 21) Danny Lasoski 22) Daryn Pittman 23) Stevie Smith 24) Fred Rahmer 25) Lance Dewease 26) Danny Holtgraver 27) Danny Dietrich 28) Chad Kemenah.
KSE Hard Charger Award went to Kerry Madsen.
The $10,000 Goodyear tire mid point bonus for the driver leading the points at the half way point of the season went to Steve Kinser.
The top 15 in points following the Willam’s Grove Race:
| Pos. | Driver | Total | Diff | Wins | Top 5’s | Top 10’s | QT |
| 1 | Steve Kinser | 5513 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 31 | 0 |
| 2 | Donny Schatz | 5472 | -41 | 3 | 15 | 32 | 0 |
| 3 | Craig Dollansky | 5467 | -46 | 5 | 18 | 28 | 6 |
| 4 | Sammy Swindell | 5465 | -48 | 7 | 17 | 27 | 8 |
| 5 | Joey Saldana | 5437 | -76 | 4 | 13 | 28 | 6 |
| 6 | Kraig Kinser | 5377 | -136 | 4 | 15 | 29 | 3 |
| 7 | Kerry Madsen | 5086 | -427 | 3 | 8 | 20 | 1 |
| 8 | Cody Darrah | 5075 | -438 | 1 | 10 | 17 | 2 |
| 9 | Chad Kemenah | 5031 | -482 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 2 |
| 10 | Lucas Wolfe | 4727 | -786 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| 11 | Bill Rose | 4300 | -1213 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 12 | Jason Sides | 3878 | -1635 | 0 | 11 | 18 | 0 |
| 13 | Danny Lasoski | 2356 | -3157 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| 14 | Daryn Pittman | 2312 | -3201 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 1 |
| 15 | David Gravel | 2310 | -3203 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 4 |
Max Papis Creates New Role in NASCAR with Dillon Brothers
[media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”164″]
[/media-credit]Massimiliano Papis, best known to NASCAR fans as Max, has a great racing resume, from the 24 Hours of Le Mans to Formula One, Champ Car and NASCAR.
But for Papis, the best part of his career has just begun as he forges a new role in the sport, that of coach for young up and coming drivers Austin and Ty Dillon.
“First of all, it’s a great opportunity to be involved with RCR Racing, working with people like Richard Childress and everyone involved there,” Papis said. ““I was talking to Mike Dillon in the winter time about what I could do besides driving for the team.”
“We were talking about the fact that in every kind of sport, everyone always had a coach, but in racing, for whatever reason, people don’t really have a coach,” Papis continued. “So, I told them I would love to work with both Ty and Austin to develop them, on the road course and on the others.”
“We started slowly and here we are now being kind of like the big brother/tutor of both of them.”
One thing that Papis is adamant about, however, is that there really is no such thing as the Dillon brothers. In his eyes, they are two distinct individuals and that is how Papis approaches his work with them.
“First of all, the things that I tell people that it doesn’t exist, the Dillon brothers,” Papis said. “It’s Ty Dillon, with his own personality, his own goals and his own way of being and the same for Austin Dillon, with his own goals, way of being and personality.”
“They happen to be that both are race car drivers with RCR but I want, and they want, to be seen like their own individuals,” Papis continued. “That stands on everything I do with them.”
“We work out on separate times,” Papis said. “We spend time together analyzing the races, all of that in a separate way.”
“When it’s important to learn from each other, we have time together,” Papis continued. “But obviously I work with them as two different individuals.”
While many may see the role of coach as more motivational or inspirational, Papis takes a completely analytical approach to his coaching of both Ty and Austin Dillon.
“I put lots of studies behind it and I really apply myself to this coaching part,” Papis said. “Coaching, first of all, does not mean teaching someone to speak.”
“What I do with them is helping them to speed up the process of being who they want to be and being the leaders that they want to be,” Papis continued. “That goes from physical training to the mental approach to the races to knowing how to say certain things and how to react to certain situations.”
“I want them to raise up to 42 years of age because they are competing with people that have that amount of experience.”
Papis is also analytical when it comes to coaching both Austin and Ty Dillon on their physical fitness, consulting with professionals and utilizing fitness equipment both on and off the track.
“Obviously fitness is one of the biggest parts of the sport,” Papis said. “Jimmie Johnson didn’t win five championships in a row sitting on the couch.”
“Austin and Ty are very different individuals with different athletic backgrounds,” Papis continued. “At the beginning of the year, we made a physical fitness test for both Ty and Austin to understand how big their motor is.”
“Once we learn how big their motor is, then we work a program around that for strength and conditioning and endurance,” Papis said.” We have an agreement with Polar Electronics, a leading company with heart rate monitors.”
“So, every single training session we do with both Ty and Austin, we record their heart rate in the races at the beginning of the year so we learn how many RPMs their engine works as I like to say,” Papis continued. “And we try to work around that to improve their fitness in general.”
“This is a very technical, analytical and methodical approach,” Papis said. “It’s not just let’s lift some weights and go.”
Papis has already seen this regimented physical fitness approach pay off, with increases in stamina and endurance for Austin in particular when he ran two series races in one weekend.
“This year, when Austin ran Nationwide and Cup in Michigan on the same weekend and he came out of the car and gave me a high-five because he was tired as he was supposed to, but he still had some energy to go,” Papis said. “I feel that even if we’ve been working for months, we are starting to see the results on the physical side.”
Papis is equally as dedicated, however, to this methodical approach on the mental side of his drivers’ development.
“I use exactly the same approach both on the mental side as the physical side,” Papis said. “One example is that we’ve been working on the tone of voice we use when we open the radio and talk to the crew chief.”
“We’ve been working on the importance of what you say, when you say it and what words do you use,” Papis continued. “Not that you don’t be yourself, but I ask if they want to be the guy that opens the radio and everybody laughs at you or do you want to be the guy that opens the radio that inspires pride and motivates the crew to go extra because of the tone of voice and words.”
Papis fully realized the fruits of his coaching labors when Austin Dillon went to Victory Lane for the first time in the Nationwide race at Kentucky just a few weeks ago.
“I have never felt in my entire career that I would have been happy to see someone else winning,” Papis said. “I know that people say that I’m emotional, but I very well know how to control myself.”
“But I really felt that when Austin won that race that a part of me won it too.”
“The way that Austin made me feel and the appreciation I got made me understand that I’m making a difference,” Papis continued. “I had opportunity to go to Victory Lane by other friends but I never felt I belonged there but this time, I walked there without thinking because I knew that I belonged there.”
“I had tears in my eyes when I made my Daytona 500 and I had tears in my eyes when I went to the Victory Lane.”
Papis admits that he is in this new role of coach for the long term. And he has definite goals for his two protégés in the sport.
“I have a long-term goal with Austin and Ty,” Papis said. “Obviously with Ty, it is a little longer process because he is a younger person and he is in the beginning of his career.”
“I know everyone looks at them like experts and like they should win all the races,” Papis continued. “But I remember when I was 20 years old and when I was 22 years old and I couldn’t even polish their shoes.”
“I like to feel that I am the person that can tell them what their father and their grandpa would like to tell them but can’t because they are their parent and grandparent,” Papis said.
“And I told Austin that I will not be satisfied and I will continue to help him all the way until I will sit in the winner’s circle when he is a Cup champion.”
“He doesn’t need to prove anything to me but I want to show everyone who says that he is there because he is the son of Mike Dillon or the grandkid of Richard Childress that is not the truth,” Papis continued. “He’s there because he’s a bad ass like Ty.”
“They really deserve their positions.”
However satisfying his work has been and will be, Papis is most proud of the new role of coach that he is creating in the world of NASCAR. And his greatest achievement will be continuing to share his vast knowledge with both Austin and Ty Dillon as they forge their own paths in stock car racing.
“I feel in one way that I’m creating a new position in the sport,” Papis said. “It’s pretty unique and I wish that I had me on my side when I grew up in racing.”
“I had great people but I had to learn a lot of things on my own skin,” Papis continued. “And that’s why maybe I took a little longer to achieve my own goals and it’s still taking a little bit more of my time.”
“My happiness will be that we get to see what I learned at 42 years of age into Austin and Ty and 22 and 20 years of age,” Papis said. “I love them like they are the younger brothers to me.”
“I know that I’m working to keep a certain distance as their coach, but at the same time I allow myself to give them a hug from time to time because I really love them a lot.”
Jimmie Johnson’s success and the repercussions on the NSCS
What’s astonishing to the record books may not translate into being the best for the sport of NASCAR. We may be waiting for generations to see another driver crank out five Sprint Cup Championships in a row, but that could prove to be a good thing for racing. One must ask themselves, why tune in every Sunday afternoon to watch 43 cars race against each other on America’s most famous tracks?
For the sake of argument, watching a sporting event such as a race, is like going to the movies. You watch because you’re interested in what might happen, what the outcome may be, any excitement that may ensue throughout the course of the viewing. How might your feelings be if a group of friends aspires to go to a movie with you that you’re already familiar with? You could possibly be less inclined to go because of the entertainment that you’ve already been exposed to and experienced.
This story seems to parallel that of Jimmie Johnson’s championship winning streak between 2006 and 2010. Sure, if you’re a Johnson fan the aforementioned years are probably some of your favorite throughout the history of the sport. But not all NASCAR fans root for the No.48 Lowe’s Chevrolet Impala every weekend. Like all things that become repetitive in life, we can eventually get sick of too much of the same thing.
To aid in elucidating this concept, we can extract some information from the amount of viewers tuning into the Daytona 500 on a yearly basis. In 2008, right in the middle of Johnson’s dynasty, 17.8 million people had their television’s set on NASCAR’s famous 500 mile race. The following year in 2009, 15.9 million people watched Daytona on Sunday, that’s about an 11% decrease in viewers. 2010 saw a further drop in viewership by accumulating only 13.2 million viewers for an approximate 26% drop off from the 2008 Daytona 500. In short, NASCAR’s most prestigious race of the year dropped significantly in the amount of people tuning in to watch it while Johnson was king of the Sprint Cup Series.
Johnson is like any other athlete, he wants to win, therefore no blame can be put on the man himself for this drop in viewers. Rick Hendrick, Johnson’s owner puts it best when talking to the Los Angeles Times back in 2009.
“That’s his job, to come out here and do the best he can.”
No personal vendetta should be put on Johnson because of his success. But quickly looking at the other end of the spectrum, the annual season finale race at Homestead, similar figures can be drawn to illustrate how his dominance may have contributed to the declining viewers in NASCAR’s top series. The final race of the season in 2008 attained 6.6 million viewers. In 2009 and 2010, 1 million people dropped from the total tally, leaving 5.6 million viewers to watch the last race of the season. Interestingly, viewership boomed back up to 6.7 million at last year’s Homestead-Miami race when Johnson was not in the hunt for the championship. Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards were brawling amongst each other at the 2011 season’s end.
Whether you are a fan of watching a similar story unfold every season or not, there are key elements that keep fans glued to the television. The notion of uncertainty is certainly one of them, who might be successful in the Chase and win the title this year? Uncertainty and variety in a sport keeps anticipation, which in turn keeps attention of viewers very high. Breaking this attention because of a repetitive outcome can cause any sports biggest fear, loss of fans and viewers. While it’s safe to say Johnson is one of the most successful drivers in the history of NASCAR and his streak of five consecutive Sprint Cup Championships may never be accomplished again, the sport saw a shrinking in its viewership during the times of his dominance.
NASCAR Nationwide Series Practice 1
As the Sprint Cup Series get a week off to prepare for Indianapolis, the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. 43 teams completed the first practice session on Saturday.
Kyle Busch, driving for his own team Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM), was the fastest with a speed of 171.450 MPH. Busch, the only Sprint Cup Series regular looked very worn out when climbing out of the car due to hot conditions.
Elliott Sadler was also battling sickness during this session. Sadler, who told ESPN reporters that he would rest for 20 hours and get a IV. Sadler ran 20 laps during the session with the 5th lap being the fastest.
Danica Patrick was 13th quick and ran a total of 35 laps.
Cole Whitt went out for 41 laps.
Travis Pastrana was helped by Matt Crafton, who practiced the car and then went up and spotted for him. They ran 41 laps combined.
Kenny Wallace was the fastest go or go homer as he drove the No.09 for RAB racing. This is the first time for RAB racing that they are entering two cars. Kenny ran 27 laps and was 9th fastest. Wallace posted on twitter that the car is handling really good and can not wait for the race tomorrow.
The margin between first and 42 cars, that ran practice, was 3.533 seconds.
Jeff Green was the only car that did not run in the first practice.
Practice Results
STP 300, Chicagoland Speedway
July 22, 2012 | Race 18 of 33 | Practice 1
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Make | Speed |
|
1
|
54 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 171.45 |
| 2 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 171.021 |
| 3 | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | 170.951 |
| 4 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 170.74 |
| 5 | 22 | Parker Kligerman | Dodge | 170.622 |
| 6 | 88 | Cole Whitt* | Chevrolet | 170.159 |
| 7 | 18 | Ryan Truex | Toyota | 170.025 |
| 8 | 3 | Austin Dillon* | Chevrolet | 169.651 |
| 9 | 11 | Brian Scott | Toyota | 169.635 |
| 10 | 30 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 169.566 |
| 11 | 31 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 169.311 |
| 12 | 199 | Travis Pastrana | Toyota | 168.845 |
| 13 | 7 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 168.645 |
| 14 | 44 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | 168.608 |
| 15 | 43 | Michael Annett | Ford | 168.434 |
| 16 | 33 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | 168.256 |
| 17 | 109 | Kenny Wallace | Toyota | 167.858 |
| 18 | 38 | Brad Sweet* | Chevrolet | 167.489 |
| 19 | 14 | Eric McClure | Toyota | 166.687 |
| 20 | 1 | Mike Wallace | Chevrolet | 166.656 |
| 21 | 23 | Jamie Dick | Chevrolet | 166.446 |
| 22 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 166.389 |
| 23 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 166.164 |
| 24 | 39 | Josh Richards | Ford | 166.128 |
| 25 | 81 | Jason Bowles* | Toyota | 165.163 |
| 26 | 117 | Tanner Berryhill | Toyota | 164.916 |
| 27 | 42 | Blake Koch | Chevrolet | 164.795 |
| 28 | 41 | Timmy Hill | Ford | 164.77 |
| 29 | 50 | T.J. Bell | Chevrolet | 164.679 |
| 30 | 19 | Tayler Malsam | Toyota | 164.363 |
| 31 | 70 | Johanna Long* | Chevrolet | 164.363 |
| 32 | 4 | Danny Efland | Chevrolet | 164.268 |
| 33 | 108 | Tim Andrews | Ford | 164.019 |
| 34 | 40 | Erik Darnell | Chevrolet | 163.855 |
| 35 | 174 | Mike Harmon | Chevrolet | 163.098 |
| 36 | 89 | Morgan Shepherd | Chevrolet | 162.788 |
| 37 | 47 | Stephen Leicht | Chevrolet | 162.558 |
| 38 | 124 | Benny Gordon* | Chevrolet | 162.401 |
| 39 | 52 | Tim Schendel | Chevrolet | 162.342 |
| 40 | 171 | Matthew Carter | Chevrolet | 161.958 |
| 41 | 46 | Chase Miller | Chevrolet | 161.069 |
| 42 | 15 | Carl Long | Chevrolet | 154.158 |
| 43 | 10 | Jeff Green | Toyota | – |
