From domination to frustration for Edwards and Stewart in Richmond

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April 29, 2012

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Saturday night in Richmond wasn’t the first time that the fastest car didn’t win the race.

But neither Tony Stewart nor Carl Edwards were happy or accepting about the ways in which they lost the Capital City 400. Stewart felt he had the win taken away from him, first from NASCAR then his pit crew.

Edwards wasn’t too pleased with NASCAR either after he received the black flag with less than 90 laps to go. NASCAR officials ruled he had jumped the restart, ordering him to serve a penalty, which took him out of contention.

It all started during a caution on lap 311 during green flag pit stops when Jeff Burton hit the turn three wall. Everyone except for Edwards had already pitted and returned to the track.

Jimmie Johnson was on pit road when the caution came out, he was listed as the leader. Except he’d have to serve a penalty for a tire violation putting which in turn put Stewart back into the lead.

Heading for the restart Stewart and Edwards lined back up with Stewart on the inside and Edwards on the outside.

However, the scoring tower had Edwards listed as the leader, how? From images provided by viewers after the race it shows that Edwards was cleaning his tires when he crossed the start/finish line ahead of Stewart. In doing so says NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton, the transponder on his car scored him crossing the line ahead of Stewart, even though he technically wasn’t the leader.

The team and Edwards had no idea what had occurred and genuinely believed they were the leader. When the green flag flew Edwards took off and left Stewart in the dust. That’s when NASCAR deemed he jumped the start, having gone before the designated restart area.

Stewart took back the lead; Edwards served his penalty in confusion and frustration. From the car Edwards called for NASCAR to correct themselves but to no avail, saying they had taken the win away from him.

He went on to get lapped by Stewart, then to get the lucky dog before eventually finishing 10th. Afterwards he still wasn’t happy and went to NASCAR looking for answers.

“I am trying to not be too frustrated and say something stupid,” said Edwards before talking with NASCAR. “So right before that [restart] my spotter Jason Hedleskey was told by NASCAR officials that the 99 was the leader, the 99 is the leader. Jason told me and I had a split second to decide what I was going to do.

“I thought, ‘okay, NASCAR made a mistake and they lined us up wrong.’ I was at a disadvantage being on the outside so I thought I was getting the best start I could get. It looked like Tony waited or spun his tires so they black-flagged me. I still don’t understand why they black-flagged me. They said we were the leader and I restarted the best I could given the disadvantaged position I was in.

“The problem is I don’t know if NASCAR is going to take the stance that I jumped the start. If they are saying that I jumped the start then that would be real frustrating.”

After his meeting with NASCAR and hearing their explanation, Edwards didn’t have as much to say. And still didn’t believe that he had done anything wrong.

“We had to just agree to disagree and that’s the way it is,” he said. “They run the sport and they do the best job they can and I drive a racecar and do the very best job I can.”

Meanwhile Stewart looked like he was in control and headed toward his third win of the season. But just as they always do, a caution changed everything.

NASCAR officials called debris in turn two but some, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart, didn’t think it was anything more than a bottle. No matter though, the leaders came down pit road for their final stops.

Stewart lost the battle on pit road to Kyle Busch and it ended up being the battle for the win. On the restart with eight laps to go Earnhardt Jr. took another spot from Stewart who ended up finishing third.

While pleased with what he called the best car he’s had at Richmond, he wasn’t pleased about anything else.

“When the caution is for a plastic bottle on the backstretch, it’s hard to feel good about losing that one,” said Stewart. “And we gave it away on pit road. So we did everything we could to throw it away; it got taken away from us.”

Even more frustrating for Stewart about the debris caution was that he felt “it was out of the groove. It had been sitting there for eight laps.”

Through all the chaos Stewart holds onto his two wins, Edwards remains winless, dating back to March of last season while Busch went on to score his fourth straight Richmond win, first of the 2012 season. He led twice for just 32 laps

Edwards and Stewart on the other hand had led for a combined 324 of 400 laps.

Controversy at Richmond — Who is at Fault?

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SM Staff

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April 29, 2012

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]What happened at Richmond on Saturday night was typical when circumstances get out of control. Why? It’s pretty obvious. Let’s forget for a second how the race played out. The top two drivers were Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. After a caution, they were lined up alongside each other. Everyone assumed that Stewart was the leader including NASCAR. Trouble was NASCAR officials as well as the track python showed Edwards as the leader, according to various sources. NASCAR official Robin Pemberton said it has a lot to do with electronics. Edwards had been scuffing his tires and the pylon showed him the leader, so the scoreboard was erroneous. Interesting.

I’ve attended hundreds of races over the last 40 years. I can tell you that once in those years have I seen a scoring python change over cars moving to warm tires during cautions. Never. It may have happened, but never on my watch. The confusion from the official who supposedly told both spotters that saying that Edwards was the leader to the so-called electronics that put Edwards as the leader has to be investigated. Would a caution or a re-start been more appropriate? Not being a rules guru, but knowing what I’ve seen, bad starts have always been stopped with a caution. Some say that since it was the second place car (with the driver not knowing it), is a different situation, but I don’t know. If an official tells you that you are in the lead, you’re going to go for it. Misinformation is a terrible thing. Why doesn’t NASCAR have a plan to let drivers know who is the leader?

Compounding the problem was that no one, from the driver to the crew chief to apparently the track really knew what was going on. That troubles me. Given that information, shouldn’t the respective teams been given official information? Also, given the information Carl was given, shouldn’t have someone not been asleep at the switch to correct things? It’s a mess and I hope it doesn’t decide the title come November. I don’t for a minute think that Carl Edwards would have won that race, but one thing you cannot predict is events that happen later after a call NASCAR dropped the ball in this case,

One more thing. The final caution will forever be considered a makeup for that call. I don’t believe that. And yet, the damage is done. Kyle Busch is the winner and Carl Edwards finished tenth. If we had boring races the last few weeks, this evens the score somewhat. And yet, some weaknesses in the system have been exposed and it’s up to NASCAR to correct this. Will they?

RCR Post Race Report — Capital City 400

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SM Archive

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April 29, 2012

Earnhardt Jr.: ‘I learned a lesson’ in route to a second place finish at Richmond

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SM Staff

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April 29, 2012

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”216″][/media-credit]Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he learned a lesson at Richmond on Saturday night and unfortunately it might have stopped him from a shot at ending his 137 race winless streak.

Finding himself second to Kyle Busch with less than 10 laps to go, Earnhardt Jr. knew he wasn’t going to catch the No. 18. His car just didn’t have enough brake and therefore his chance at a win, along with Hendrick Motorsports chance at #200, was nothing but a nice thought.

All because he the driver, had made the decision to bring the same master cylinder to Richmond he had run at Martinsville a few weeks ago. Earnhardt Jr. went on to finish second for the second time this season. He also moves to second in the Sprint Cup Series points after nine races, five markers behind leader Greg Biffle.

“Our car was pretty good yesterday and started the race nice,” said Earnhardt Jr. afterwards. “We made some good adjustments to help it roll to center points in the race. I got them talked into going to a different master cylinder for a little softer pedal at Martinsville and then we brought it here and you take on the brake pedal so far down in the corner that it just cooked the fronts and I’d get a real soft pedal pretty quick.

“I couldn’t get enough front brake in it at the end to run as hard as I wanted to and we just had hurt the balance a little bit on entry. But really happy come home with second. We were running fifth all night and just got lucky on that restart to be on the inside and get a couple spots.”

He went on to not that the No. 88 National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet was horrible at Richmond last season and he was curious to see how they would run on Saturday. It was much better.

Running in the top 15 for much of the night, Earnhardt Jr. was able to climb his way into the top five before having a problem on pit road. He was unable to turn out of his pit stall because of the way Stephen Leicht had angled his No. 33.

The extra time cost Earnhardt Jr. about 10 positions. He was able to rebound and climb back into the top 10 when things started to crazy. Cautions, pit stops and a black flag put him back into the top five.

“If the car was good I could have dealt with the brake problems, if the car was faster than the 18 we would have got there to him and maybe we’d raced for it, but the brake problems were that bad,” said Earnhardt Jr.

“I just chose a different master cylinder at Martinsville and I shouldn’t have brought it here. I just shouldn’t have done that because I know better and these cars are going too fast in the corner running that kind of master cylinder. I learned a lesson and we’ll have an idea what to use when we come back.”

That being in September, the last race to make the Chase. First comes Talladega next weekend, where Earnhardt Jr. has won six times. His fans are pumped up and willing to bet the streak ends in one more week.

Last season Earnhardt Jr. finished fourth after pushing teammate Jimmie Johnson to the win. Johnson edged Clint Bowyer by 0.002 seconds, tied for the closest finish in NSCS history.

Earnhardt Jr. though isn’t think about the past or present. Driver and team are performing as they should and earning the finishes they’ve worked hard for. Getting better and better in the process.

But even though he’ll enter one of his best racetracks coming off a second place finish, second in points and off to solid start to the season, he’s not counting on it to push him towards a win.

“No, I don’t think momentum is a real thing,” he said. “The team is confident, we’re feeling good. We feel like we’re competing well. Really close to winning a race. We ain’t really raced for a win yet and lost one, so I wouldn’t count tonight.

“But we’re getting better at running top five and top 10s. We’ll just try to keep doing that. There’s too many variables going into races at Talladega whether you feel confidence winning or not. There’s just too much going on there.”