Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr. lead a resurgent MWR into Las Vegas
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[/media-credit]For Mark Martin the 2012 season is about mixing success in with having fun during his limited schedule. For Martin Truex Jr. the 2012 season is about revisiting the winner’s circle in hopes of contending for a championship.
Sunday in Phoenix the Michael Waltrip Racing drivers took a big step in the right direction. The 53-year-old Martin started on the pole for the 52nd time in his career and in his second race with MWR. The No. 40 Aaron’s Dream Machine had failed to qualify in Daytona with team owner Michael Waltrip behind the wheel but all was forgotten thanks to Martin.
Truex on the other hand started 25th in his No. 56 NAPA Filters Toyota. But he and Martin made their presence known at the front of field. Martin led lap one from the pole before finding a comfortable spot inside to the top 10.
He never ventured far from the top spot and during the second half of the race found himself back in the top three but it was Truex who held the lead. As Martin ran the fastest laps on the track and climbed toward the front, Truex was using pit strategy to lead laps.
In the end though, track position and electronic fuel injection (EFI) problems took away their shot of winning. Truex brought home a solid seventh and Martin followed close behind in ninth.
“It was a good day for our NAPA Filters Toyota,” said Truex. “We fought track position all day long. Finally at the end we had a little bit better tires than some of the guys and knew we could make it on fuel and were able to go the distance there, so that helped a little bit.
“We were just really fast at the end on new tires. We were able to get the lead and with no tires and 20 lap tires were able to check out and leave them. It’s just a shame we had to pit. I’m not sure how those guys made it – there’s no way we have made it from there. We’ll work on that. I’m really pleased with the team and the car. We fought hard all day and got us a good finish.”
Truex found it hard to pass on Sunday but when his No. 56 was in clean air he was as fast as the best cars on the track. Truex said it was fun to be able to drive away from Kevin Harvick, who had led a race high 88 laps.
And more importantly for Truex, he was proud of his team. A downfall of theirs last year was a strong start only to sputter to the finish. On Sunday they were able to come from behind and make their differing strategy work and earn them the finish they deserved.
Martin on the other hand, in his first race with MWR in what’s expected to be a 25-race season, started off right with a pole and ended it right with a top 10 finish. Not yet ready to retire he comes to MWR from Hendrick Motorsports where he won races and finished second in the 2009 championship.
But now he’s back to running a limited schedule, much like he did when he was at Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2007 and 2008. Still with the fire to compete, Martin just wants to win and have fun as he continues his transition through the sport.
“Proud of the effort and any time you get a top 10 with this group of guys, you have to say it’s a reasonable run,” Martin said. “We had a little more than that, maybe not quite enough to win, but definitely a shot at a top five.”
Only the start of a long season, Sunday in Phoenix left two of the three MWR drivers excited about what’s ahead. Clint Bowyer’s day ended early when he a blew a tire and had to come down pit road. Just laps later the same happened and this time it sent Bowyer into the turn four wall. He finished 30th and sits 17th in points.
Next comes the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas where Truex has never won but Martin has visited victory lane in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. They sit sixth and seventh in points respectively.
“I’m proud to drive these things and looking forward to the rest of the year with cars that have speed like this,” said Truex.
Martin shared in his teammates excitement about what MWR has and what was to come. Optimism is the word Martin used, saying things look good.
“Kudos to Michael Waltrip Racing,” Martin said. “This is going to be a lot of fun.”
NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Phoenix
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[/media-credit]Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
1. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin zoomed to the lead on a restart with 59 laps to go at Phoenix, and held off Kevin Harvick, who ran out of gas, to win the Subway Fresh Fit 500. It was Hamlin’s first win since last June at Michigan and first under new crew chief Darian Grubb. Hamlin now leads the Sprint Cup point standings with a six point lead over Greg Biffle.
“We’ve got a ton of confidence,” Hamlin said. “And, surprisingly, so does Jimmie Johnson. The last time I left Phoenix with the points lead, Johnson won the Sprint Cup title.
“I’d like to thank Toyota for giving me a strong engine. The car from ‘The Land Of The Rising Sun’ won in the ‘Valley Of The Sun.’”
2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick’s charge to overtake Denny Hamlin came to a halt when he ran out of gas on the final lap at Phoenix International Raceway. Harvick still finished second, and is third in the point standings, eight behind Hamlin.
“Hamlin knew I was coming,” Harvick said. “This father-to-be was getting ready to say ‘Who’s your daddy?’ That may have very well been Hamlin’s first ‘pregnancy scare.’ There’s a bun in the oven. Luckily for Hamlin, there was no gas in the tank.
“But better to lose to Hamlin than Kyle Busch. I’ve had my differences with Busch in the past, but I now realize we’ll soon have one thing in common: we’ll both have ‘Baby On Board’ stickers on our cars.”
3. Greg Biffle: Biffle backed up his third at Daytona with an equally-impressive third in the Subway Fresh Fit 500. He stands second in the Sprint Cup point standings, six behind Denny Hamlin.
“I’ll take third-place any day,” Biffle said. “As a teammate of Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, I’m quite used to saying ‘There are two drivers better than me.’”
4. Matt Kenseth: Daytona 500 winner Kenseth finished 13th at Phoenix after a crash in practice forced him to resort to a backup car. He now sits fourth in the point standings, 10 points out of first.
“Despite a subpar finish at Phoenix,” Kenseth said, “I can’t complain. I’ve won the Daytona 500 and appeared on The Tonight Show. Surely, rumors of a relationship with Kim Kardashian are sure to follow. Even as a driver comfortable with speeds of 200 miles per hour, people will still be amazed at how quickly I deny those rumors. But not before I make the requisite ‘loose in the tail’ and ‘running out of talent’ jokes.”
5. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski shook off a disappointing finish at Daytona to post a solid finish at Phoenix, charging from the 28th starting position to finish fifth.
“Luckily,” Keselowski said, “I have a car owner who supports my use of Twitter. Roger Penske is all for short, concise tweets from my phone. Ironically, he encourages me to be ‘curt.’ In fact, Roger often refers to me by my Twitter handle ‘@Keselowski.’ Last year, he often referred to Kurt Busch by a name than sounded like a Twitter handle, ‘@SOB.’”
6. Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex finished seventh in Phoenix, joining Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Mark Martin, who finished ninth after starting from the pole, in the top 10. Truex jumped six places in the point standings to sixth, and trails Denny Hamlin by 18.
“This team is hot right now,” Truex said. “As our early-season results can attest, MWR is one of NASCAR’s top teams. And we’ve got Michael Waltrip to thank, mostly because he’s not driving. Michael Waltrip Racing is at its best, unless Michael Waltrip’s racing.”
7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt came home 14th at Phoenix, as his winless streak reached 131 races. He is fifth in the point standings, 17 out of first.
“I sincerely believe a win is forthcoming,” Earnhardt said. “At least according to the Mayan calendar. Luckily, my fans are always supportive and don’t pressure me to win. They don’t say ‘Just win, baby.’ They say ‘Just whenever, baby.’
“Call Junior Nation whatever you want, like ‘The Nation Of Is Lame,’ or ‘Junior Station-ary,’ or ‘The Winless Circle,’ but they are the best fans in NASCAR.”
8. Kyle Busch: Busch led 52 laps at Phoenix and finished sixth on the two-mile oval, scoring his first top-10 finish after a 17th at Daytona. He is now ninth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 23 behind Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.
“Inquiring minds want to know,” Busch said. “Will 2012 see the ‘old’ Kyle Busch or the ‘new’ Kyle Busch? I think you’ll see a little bit of both. That’s called the ‘same’ Kyle Busch.”
9. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson rebounded from a disastrous week at Daytona to score a solid fourth in the Subway Fresh Fit 500. Johnson finished 42nd after a lap 2 wreck at Daytona, and was later docked 25 points and crew chief Chad Knaus was suspended for six races after failing inspection after the Gatorade Duels.
“I was once a ‘five-time defender,’” Johnson said. “That’s in stark contrast to Knaus, who’s a ‘ten-time offender.’ Knaus was also fined $100,000 in addition to his six-race suspension. Those are pretty stiff penalties. Once again, as a result of what happened in Florida, there’s a ‘hanging Chad.’”
10. Joey Logano: Logano posted his second top-10 finish of the year with a tenth at Phoenix, joining Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in the top 10. Logano is eight in the point standings, 19 behind Hamlin.
“Later this summer,” Logano said, “new father Kevin Harvick will ‘cut the cord.’ Hopefully, my dad can do the same.”
After Two Races, What Have We Learned?
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[/media-credit]Two races down and what have we seen? It’s confusing, but we’ve have had one race dominated by Fords and Chevrolets, and another dominated by Toyotas and Chevrolets. What do we make of this? One has to understand that Daytona is an entirely different animal from the rest of the circuit, save Talladega. It appears that the Roush-Yates engines are the way to go at the restrictor plate tracks, and after only one of the real races, the verdict is out.
I don’t get the euphoria the media gives the current winner of any race. Denny Hamlin might have wintered in Arizona and got his head straight. He had a good car in Avondale, Arizona on Sunday, but he was bailed out by a stronger car running out of fuel. Matt Kenseth might have won Daytona, but it might have been more luck than skill, not to take away from either victory. That’s the way racing goes. A lot of it always has to do with luck and even skill. It’s just the way it goes. So where are we?
Much of it has to do with what happens next. Las Vegas is key and Bristol is a crap shoot. We won’t know much until we get to California in three weeks. And then we probably will have to look to Charlotte to get the full picture. So far, it’s an open field. A lot will depend on what happens in the soon appeal of the NASCAR penalties given to the No. 48 team after Daytona, regardless of what you think about Johnson, Knaus, and Hendrick Motorsports. That team is a force in this series. The 25-point penalty is big, So far, no date has been established for the appeal. Regardless of what anyone thinks, a lot depends on this decision. The Johnson-Knaus team is formidable.
I have a real problem in talking about points this early. The media loves it because it gives them something to talk about, but when did we get to the point that points and the Chase was more important than who won the race on any given Sunday? If last year’s championship proved anything else, it was that winning was important. It was the tie-breaker in the closest championship in history. Maybe, the lesson here is that nothing matters until the final ten races, and that bothers me. In stick and ball sports, it works well, but in racing, it’s almost that the individual races don’t matter. Denny Hamlin won Phoenix. Big deal. All that matters is how many points he got. That is NASCAR in the 21st Century. Win a bunch and have a few poor finishes, and you are dust. In the old days, the winners were given all the spoils. Winners were important. Nowadays, it only matters until the final ten races.
We’re a long way from that, and hopefully exemplary performance will determine the season champion, but I’d wish we could worry about that in August instead of March. I’m a fool and I know I’m daft, but I wish that. Unfortunately, I’m in the minority. Bad deal for me,
