The Final Word – Does Kahne’s win at New Hampshire leave only one Chase place up for grabs?
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[/media-credit]What can we say about New Hampshire, the race track, not the state? The action was not exactly gripping, it proved a dandy cure for insomnia, it showed that Denny Hamlin is still tough, but Kasey Kahne was the one celebrating in the end.
Even though Hamlin dominated much of the event, a stop for four put him too far back to make it all the way back to the front, falling a position short. For Kahne, his second win of the season, with seven races to go before the Chase places are determined, solidifies his hopes to be in the running this fall.
Those in the top ten in the standings stayed there, as no one in the top ten finished worse than 13th. Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski are in the bottom two spots, but their lead over Carl Edwards means they will still be in the top ten even if they sit out the next one at the end of the month in Indianapolis. Edwards is close, but no wins leaves him behind Kahne and one-time winner Kyle Busch. Both Ryan Newman and Joey Logano have a win, but are about a dozen points behind Busch.
So, when they venture to the brickyard, Edwards needs a win, Busch needs to keep Newman and Logano behind him in the points, or one of the latter trio could certainly help their cause with a second victory. Anyone not in the top ten that I have not mentioned need wins, at least one, over the next seven. Time is running out.
Time ran out for a NASCAR fan, but that didn’t keep him away from his seat in front of the television. A Michigan woman continued to watch the races from her home with her buddy 18 months after the elderly fellow had died. Of course, breaking up is hard to do, especially if you are cashing the guy’s benefit checks. Hey, someone had to pay for the chips.
Pop something you shouldn’t, as you may well have to pay the piper in NASCAR. A.J. Allmendinger remains suspended over a positive drug test, which some find hard to believe due to the ‘Dinger’s squeaky clean public imagine. Could there have been a mistake? Sure, but my initial feelings about Jeremy Mayfield were similar. He seemed like a nice guy who wouldn’t do anything wrong. That is what he seemed to me. However, this is not a perfect world and sometimes folks are not as they seem, or inept or worse and you even start to wonder how protected these tests are. How protected they are from tampering or a screw up of some manner? Dual tests using different labs at different locations might be something to consider. When fitness freak Carl Edwards points out “people are imperfect. Tests are imperfect,” he is right. Of course, maybe Allmendinger just screwed up. In the meantime, we all wait to see how this plays out.
Out is the U.S. Army, which made a strategic retreat from NASCAR sponsorship, but the National Guard plans to remain a sponsor of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Not being an American, they are not my tax dollars being spent, and I do not know how effective the outlay is, but I like the fit between NASCAR, its fans, and the armed forces. This relationship began more than 30 years ago, and while Americans are not perfect, none of us are, they do have every reason to be proud of who they are, what they have accomplished, and of those who guard their freedoms.
This weekend the boys have off, but they return for the Brickyard 400 at the end of July. Edwards needs a win, so does Paul Menard, while the likes of Newman and Logano need to catch Kyle Busch in points…or win again. As for Jeff Gordon, he’ll take two, please. Enjoy the next couple of weeks.
Can NASCAR Do Anything About These Boring Races?
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[/media-credit]Why have the NASCAR races lately been so boring? NASCAR has been shooting themselves in the foot since the implementation of the COT for 16 races during the 2007 season. The racing has simply not been exciting for the fans this season. TV ratings are down along with attendance. This doesn’t have anything to do with the economy anymore. It is clearly the quality of the races. The economy does have an impact, but the quality of racing is making a bigger impact.
TNT did an amazing job at Daytona with the side-by-side commercials. Now, why wouldn’t they do that this weekend? TV ratings went up a lot from that race!!!! Did they just assume that because Daytona was so good that that same people would automatically follow? That may be true to an extent, but after about 20-30 laps of action at New Hampshire, I think most of those new fans either went to sleep or switched to baseball. NASCAR has ultimately made the cars so identical that the racing is just really awful. I’m very sad that I have to make so many entries like this, but that’s just the way that it is!
There was no need for the COT. The head and neck restraint plus the addition of the HANS device was absolutely fine. There will always be injuries in this sport. Eric McClure got hurt in the COT racing at Talladega in the Nationwide Series. Dario Franchitti was injured at Talladega in 2008 in the Nationwide Series as well. What was the main reason behind the COT? Dale Earnhardt. If Dale Earnhardt did not die at the Daytona 500 back in 2001, you can expect that nothing would have changed. NASCAR didn’t consider the COT after the deaths of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin. Those drivers weren’t as important to NASCAR as Earnhardt. Naturally, NASCAR didn’t want to see a death of a superstar later down the road, which resulted in the COT.
Earnhardt’s seat belt was not installed properly during that race. That is what resulted in the blunt force trauma when his head slammed into the steering wheel. The crash was not all that hard. However; when your seat belt isn’t installed properly, you can expect a pretty hard hit when physics wins the game. NASCAR has damaged its reputation so bad that those fans that have left might never come back. NASCAR brought back the pack racing at Daytona and Talladega. Cool. Now, NASCAR is complaining that the fans are disloyal for dissing the two-car tandems and the pack racing.
Earth to NASCAR! The fans aren’t the problem. You guys are the problem. The two-car tangos were becoming a royal bore! This isn’t the same pack racing. The style of pack racing we have now involves having to watch your temperatures constantly in order to win the race. We did not have this problem as much as we are having it now with the new package. Something needs to be done with this! Do you fans remember the AMP Energy 500 race from 2009 and how terribly boring the action was? NASCAR required the drivers to not draft while in the turns. That is the problem with the new package. When you are in that turn, you have to not draft in there a lot of the time because of the problems with the temperatures.
Is it possible for NASCAR to revert to the old way? The Chase system needs to go! The COT needs to go! A lot of things need to go! NASCAR is turning into a $50.00 per ticket car show for all of the fans. Can we go back to the day where all the Chevrolet’s were Chevrolet’s and all the Fords were Fords? That would honestly make NASCAR a million times better!
Here is a test for race fans. Do you remember who won the fall Texas spring race in 2010? Do you remember who won at Chicagoland in 2009? Ok, did any of you have to think a little to figure that out? That means that the race wasn’t all that meaningful. Now, what about the 1999 Daytona 500 or the 2000 Cracker Barrel 500? For those of us who watched NASCAR then we could say Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt in the blink of an eye. Why? Those races will always be remembered for how exciting the ENTIRE race was.
NASCAR needs to return to those days! NASCAR used my 1-43 points system that I implemented in my fantasy league starting in 2007, please take my advice on this.
From The Gridiron to Pit Road
13 seconds.
That is the average time it takes for a NASCAR pit crew to change all four-tires and fuel the car. One second lost in the pits results in positions lost on the track. That is the pressure that guys like WSC graduates and former football players Drew Molacek and Mark Janssen face each time their car comes in for a pit stop.
Molacek is an over-the-wall tire changer for multiple NASCAR teams. He changes tires for the No. 81 Nationwide Series car driven by Jason Bowles and the No. 49 Sprint Cup car driven by J.J Yeley. Janssen is a member of these same teams, acting as the jackman for the crew. They are both associated with one of NASCAR’s powerhouse organizations, Hendrick Motorsports.
“We are taught to clear our minds and show no emotion at all,” Molacek said. “You aren’t supposed to let your emotions get the best of you, because time is everything on pit road.”
They were recruited to do this job like most people are today. They were picked from a crop of finely tuned athletic machines from other athletic backgrounds. Many of the people you see on pit road today more than likely played some form of college sports.
Molacek and Janssen were given an opportunity to do a tryout put on by Hendrick Motorsports a year ago in Omaha and they both figured they would give it a shot. They were then called to fly down to Charlotte N.C. and participate in another Hendrick tryout. After that test, they were chosen and started training with other crew members.
“Out of the 20 or so guys that they brought in from around the country, they kept 11 of us and currently they are down to just six,” Janssen said. “I was called one day to do a tryout and here I am almost a year later.”
Going to Daytona this year was the first weekend Molacek and Janssen got the chance in a real race to do pit stops. And ever since then, they have both been traveling week to week to all the tracks on the schedule.
“My favorite part about being a Jackman in NASCAR for Hendrick Motorsports is being able to work with such an extremely talented group of guys everyday with similar athletic backgrounds and getting to do something completely outside the box of a normal job,” Janssen said. “We get paid to work out, fly all over the country, and play with races cars every day.”
It’s not all fun and games for Molacek and Janssen. During the week, they train vigorously, no different than any other sport. They hit the gym with a weight program and also train outside with agility and endurance drills.
The feeling inside those 13 seconds for them is unlike anything Molacek and Janssen have ever had before. They feed off of it, and embrace the moment.
“Every time we go over the wall is a rush unlike any other because not only are you jumping out within a foot of getting hit by your own car, but there are another 30 or more cars speeding down pit road that you have to watch out for while you’re doing your job,” Janssen said.
“Standing on the pit wall, anticipating the moment, we were taught to breathe though your stomach, and there’s just a rhythm to doing it,” Molacek said
“I am very happy with where I am and what I am doing,” Janssen said. “Playing football at WSC is a huge part of who I am and what got me to this point in life.”
Carpentier to race Montreal, returns from retirement
After announcing the end of his career a year ago, Patrick Carpentier will come out of retirement to contend the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at the circuit Gilles Villeneuve on August 18th.
Carpentier suffered a late race mechanical failure and finished 32nd in his home race in 2011. With the disappointment from last year, Carpentier did not hesitate to say yes when he got the call to compete in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series race across the northern border of the US. The five time CART winner will drive for Michael Waltrip Racing in the #99 NAPA Toyota Camry entered by RAB Racing.
The NAPA Auto Parts 200 has been held since 2007 and in its short history has produced exciting races for the Canadian NASCAR fans. The first ever NASCAR sanctioned race to compete in the rain was held at the Canadian track in 2008, with the fans being excited by a Canadian victor in Ron Fellows.
A year earlier, in 2007, Robby Gordon and Marcos Ambrose dueled with a handful of laps to go, making contact twice and resulting in Gordon being excluded from the next day’s Sprint Cup Race in Pocono. Three out of the five races since the inaugural 2007 race have produced a green-white-checker finish (2007, 2009, and 2010.)
Success hasn’t completely eluded Carpentier in a race that is one of his favorites. In 2007, he sat on the pole and was running 2nd by the time the checkered flag flew. The following year Carpentier qualified 4th and grabbed another 2nd place finish. The next two seasons saw the MWR driver experience bad luck in Canada with his string of results being 38th and 32nd in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
With Canadian fans heavily supporting all their drivers, Carpentier can expect thunderous applause each lap he takes around the man-made island along the St. Lawrence River.
Other Canadian crowd favorites will be Ron Fellows and 1997 Formula One World Champion Jacques Villesneuve.
