Sadler: ‘It’s good for everybody’ to have Nationwide drivers running well, winning
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[/media-credit]Perhaps the Nationwide Series regulars had grown tired of hearing about the Sprint Cup Series drivers dominating. Or maybe they’d had enough of finishing second on their own turf.
Whatever it may be, the field of 2012 NNS regulars have come out of the gate strong. Following Cup drivers winning 28 of 34 races last season, NNS drivers have upped the ante and have won three of the seasons first five races. James Buescher, who competes for points in the Camping World Truck Series, won the season opening race, while Joey Logano earned Cup drivers a win in California.
Elliott Sadler, the NNS point leader, says it’s great see a wide open field and that NNS drivers have worked hard to better understand their cars. Sadler has won twice thus far, at Phoenix and Bristol.
“I think everybody is learning more about these cars,” said Sadler earlier this week. “I think the Cup guys had a lot of experience in this style of race car for the last five or six years. A lot of Nationwide guys it was their first year in this style of car with the splitter and now the valance and stuff on the front end.
“The cars definitely drive a lot different, react a lot different in the race, react a lot different in traffic and aero wise. I just think everybody has learned more about these cars this winter and we’re all kind of closer on the same playing field and I think that’s why we’re seeing some different winners than what we saw in the past.”
Sadler believes that all the NNS drivers are building faster cars this year. While NNS drivers said they enjoyed racing against Cup drivers, many grew tired of seeing the same drivers win. Calling it beating the little guys in a series they didn’t belong in.
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards were often the most criticized. They won a combined 16 races and never heard the end of it along the way. This season however, Edwards isn’t competing as he focuses solely on the NSCS.
Busch though is running in his own equipment, Kyle Busch Motorsports and hasn’t yet won a race. Busch turns over the wheel of the No. 54 to older brother Kurt beginning this weekend in Texas.
As the attention from the Cup stars starts to dim, it’s put back on the NNS drivers. Storylines turn from how many races Cup drivers have won to how many NNS drivers have won. No longer about the domination of Busch and Edwards, instead its the turnaround for Sadler and the championship hunt for Stenhouse Jr.
“It feels good,” said Sadler. “I’m not going to lie to you. It feels good personally when you can go out there and compete on Saturday’s against a lot of guys that win and run well on Sunday’s. The race we won in Phoenix, I had to outrun Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, guys that really run good at Phoenix.
“When I went to Bristol and won the race, I had to compete against guys like Kasey Kahne and Dale Jr. and Keselowski again and Harvick, and these are all people that win and run very well on Sundays and are high in the points.
“So of course it feels good when you can go out there and compete with these guys in the same equipment on Saturday. It gives you a lot of confidence, feels like it gives you some momentum, gives you kind of the attitude that if you’re in a good situation on Sunday that you could also run with those guys then.
“I think it’s neat that the Nationwide guys are running as good as we are this year. I think it’s good for everybody.”
Including Sadler. After making his full-time return to the NNS last season he went winless in a much anticipated campaign. He did however, finish second in points. Then during the offseason his Kevin Harvick Incorporated team was moved over to Richard Childress Racing.
Promised by Harvick that it would be a good move, Sadler entered the season with a renewed confidence. His win at Phoenix in the second race of the year snapped a winless streak dating back to 1998.
Two weeks later he won again, visiting victory lane at Bristol for the first time since 2001 when he won his first NSCS race for the Wood Brothers. Now after being the underdog in 2011, Sadler’s hot start has him the favorite for the 2012 championship.
“You know, last year we did have a great season,” he said. “But it was the first year with this Nationwide car, and we all kind of had to learn it together, not only myself but also my crew chief Ernie Cope and also everybody at KHI.
“We went through some growing pains towards the beginning of the season, I felt like we got okay there at the end of the season and just missed our goal a little bit. We really wanted to win the championship and that didn’t happen, but it wasn’t from a lack of effort. But we felt like we steadily improved as the year went on.
“Fast forward to this year, I just think being on the same campus as a Cup-affiliated team and being on the same campus with Cup teams that have so much engineering help and so much technical support, and a lot of that trickles down to our shop. Just helps our program a lot.”
Sadler points to many different areas that his No. 2 OneMain Financial team has improved. From competing at a higher level to communicating better, building faster cars and having members of his team made of experience. Some he says, have come from Harvick’s Cup team.
Says Sadler of his season, “We’ve got better, faster stuff coming down the pipeline but we’ve just got to compete at a high level week in and week out because that’s what we’re going to have to do to stay where we’re at in the points.”
Ron Hornaday: Smooth Transition to Joe Dennette Motorsports, so far
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[/media-credit]This year marked a year of change for Ron Hornaday as he switched over to Joe Denette Motorsports (JDM) from Kevin Harvick Incorporated (KHI).
“Joe is a really pumped about his race team, and it’s quite an honor to drive for Joe and his whole family,” Hornaday says. “They are really dedicated to racing. They put two trucks in the Camping World Truck Series, and it’s an honor.”
Hornaday made the move from KHI to JDM as Kevin Harvick announced that he and wife Delana were closing the team. The change hasn’t been as drastic as anticipated as the trucks are still built in the KHI building.
“We lease the shop from Kevin and DeLana and got the fabricators and got Mark Smith doing the motors and all the support from Chevrolet,” Hornaday continues. “So it’s been a real honor to drive for him just because with Jeff Hensley and all the guys really getting the trucks prepared right.”
Hornaday says that Denette has an active part in the team as he is at shop as much as he can be.
“He’s got the No. 9 on the side for Bill Elliott,” Hornaday adds. “He’s really a big Bill Elliott fan, and he stays not only at the truck races, he stays for the Cup races where he shows up. So his involvement in racing, he wants to be a champion owner someday.”
So far this season, it hasn’t started out as Hornaday would have planned as he finished 14th at Daytona and 16th at Martinsville to now sit ninth in points.
“The first two showings haven’t shown how good the truck is,” Hornaday says. “We spun out at Martinsville and came back through the pack a couple times and got a penalty and went to the back about three times and came back through there. If that shows anything what we have this year for the competition.”
This weekend marks NASCAR’s return to Rockingham Speedway, which last held a NASCAR sanctioned race in 2004. A lot of people are anticipating it to be a great weekend for NASCAR due to the history of the race track. Hornaday backs it up, stating the track has some of the same characteristics despite the repave.
“It’s still got the little whoop-di-dos on the bottom and the middle groove is pretty smooth and the top groove is really smooth,” he says. “But they still use the asphalt from down there where it still wears the tires out, so you’ve got to really be patient and control your truck for the whole run and figure out how many sets of tires to get in and see what you’ve got for the race and plan that out.
“It’s still old Rockingham, but it’s got a little narrower now where you can’t run real close to the wall because of the soft wall moving in. So there will be a different groove up there.”
It will mark the first time Hornaday has a raced a truck on the oval and he says the racing should be exciting.
“It’s going to put some exciting racing on because with the new tires you’re going to go out there wide open and then in a matter of five or six laps you’re going to start to really feather the throttle and try to save the tires,” he explains.
Hornaday hopes to have an advantage this weekend having Ted Musgrave as his spotter.
“He was so good down there,” Hornaday says. “He’ll be down there for the open test day where maybe he can teach me some patience and try to save these tires.”
Time to Pass the Torch
It started with a question. Are there any numbers that should be retired in NASCAR? Sport teams regularly retire numbers. The New York Yankees have retired several numbers including Mantle and others. Major League Baseball has its share of retired numbers. Those I remember include guys like Tony Perez and many others I don’t seem to remember. It’s just the way it is.
On this day, the subject was the No. 3. Why does it always come to that? No subject can ever come to blows faster than the famous No. 3 that Dale Earnhardt drove. Never mind that Richard Petty won many more races (“he was a different era where they drove more races”) or that David Pearson had a better winning percentage. It’s a hot topic and always will be. Attending many races a year, long after Earnhardt’s death, many fans still come with attire with the famous Richard Childress Racing No. 3 logo. In the campgrounds around racetracks, the No. 3 flag is flown proudly and many still talk in almost religious tones about the black car and the man who drove it. Thus became the conversation.
There are two camps. One camp is of the opinion that the No. 3 should be retired. It was Dale’s number and with his seven championships and all the excitement that he brought to racing. He was the common man. The anti-Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson who worked his way up the hard way and became a star. The other camp is of the opinion that Richard Childress, who fielded cars for Earnhardt should be allowed to us the number as he pleases, like letting his grandchildren use the number as will inevitably happen. Let’s look at the facts.
The number three has long been a fixture. Back in 1972, I attended a race at Martinsville Speedway where Junior Johnson was introducing Chevrolet to the fans. For years, the circuit had been dominated by Ford and Chrysler cars, notably Plymouth and Dodge. The introduction of a Chevrolet into the NASCAR circuit was big news. Johnson’s No. 3 Chevy didn’t win that day, but all eyes were on that white car with the red 3 on the side. This was long before Earnhardt came on the scene. Later on, Childress used the number in his own cars. Never mind that Earnhardt used numbers 2 and 15 before. It was the 3 that everyone remembers. His death on that fateful day at Daytona may have something to do with it, but I have to wonder a bit.
If any number should be retired, it might be the 43. Of course, it’s still being used because Richard Petty is still around and has a team. Maybe someday, and I don’t hope for this soon, that might be appropriate. NASCAR has never retired a number. You could make an argument for retiring the 21 because of the Wood Brothers. Another argument is that the 28 should be retired because Fearless Freddy drove the Holman-Moody car. Even the 71 should be retired because champion Bobby Isaac drove that orange Dodge. Truth is, numbers come and go. Yes, the 3 was an emotional number for many. For others the numbers mentioned above were special, but in the end they are just numbers just like Mantle’s, Perez’s and maybe even Michael Jordan’s famous number. Many drivers wore the No.3 as a badge. It’s time to give up on the numbers and appreciate racing today. No one will ever forget Dale Earnhardt and that number 3 car. No one will remember Charlie Glotzbach driving that same number or Cale Yarborough driving the No 21 (or many others including Neil Bonnett). Folks, it’s time to let go. NASCAR owns the numbers. One of Childress’ grandchildren will be driving that No. 3 soon. Be prepared. We will never forget Dale Earnhardt, but it’s time to pass the torch to the new generation
