Pole to Victory Lane: Sebastian Saavedra wins Grand Prix of America

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April 2, 2012

[media-credit name=”IndyCar.com” align=”alignleft” width=”333″][/media-credit]After starting on pole, Sebastian Saavedra remained strong throughout the day to win the 40-lap Grand Prix of America at Barber Motorsports Park. It marks his fourth victory in the series, his first on the season.

“I think we did an incredible job,” Saavedra says. “The car was great in the beginning, we were able to manage a very good gap on Tristan (Vautier), and at some point we started saving tires. It didn’t work very well. I think when I needed the tires to help me out when Tristan was getting close to me, they were not there. Fortunately it was only five laps to go. They threw me a curve ball over there with that restart but I think we kept a very cool head, very calm, and we did it perfectly.”

Last week’s race winner Trisan Vautier finished second to keep the points lead, eight points over Saavedra.

“I’m quite satisfied about the race,” he says. “Second is very good, of course, you love to win, but the Andretti guys were very strong in the open testing, we knew they were the ones to beat and we got very close at the end of the race. I tried at the start, when I saw Sebastian pulling away, to save my tires and try to do a move at the end and catch him at the end and it almost worked. Then we got the yellow flag, which cost us a few laps and it was quite close between us three on the restart, but then another yellow flag. So it was just you know, I have to thank the Sam Schmidt guys, it was a consistent car today.”

Vautier’s teammate Esteban Guerrieri rounded out the podium as he finished third. Gustavo Yacaman and Victor Carbone rounded out the top five.

The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 15. The race will be televised by NBC Sports Network at 5 p.m. on April 19. NBC Sports Network covereage of the Grand Prix of Alabama will be televised at 5 p.m. on April 5.

IndyCar: Will Power Victorious in Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

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April 2, 2012

[media-credit name=”Team Chevy” align=”alignleft” width=”292″][/media-credit]On the final restart with 16 laps to go, Will Power held Scott Dixon off to win the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama for the second year in a row.

This marks the 16^th career IndyCar victory for Power and the first of the 2012 season.

“That was an awesome race,” Power says. “(Team Engineer) Tim Cindric kept putting me in such a good position so we could use our speed. That last restart was kind of hairy. I knew Scott (Dixon) was going to be really quick and hounded me for a couple laps there. It’s good to get the Verizon 12 car in victory lane with a Chevy engine. It was awesome.”

Power started the race in the ninth position, making a daring three-wide pass on lap one. He consistently worked his way through the field, getting the lead from Dixon following a round of pit stops.

“(My crew was) on the money today,” he says. “Without these guys, there’s no way we could have won today.”

Power’s win kept the Team Penske seal on Barber Motorsports Park going as Penske has won all three races there. They won the last two years with Power and won in 2010 with Helio Castroneves.

Dixon would come second for his 27^th second place finish of all-time after leading the most laps.

“I think today we did a good job,” Dixon says. “We got caught up there in some traffic in the pit, the pit sequence kind of got us there. All in all, Team Target did a fantastic job with Honda, I think we’re starting to get on something with this car, so hopefully in the next few races we might be looking at the top spot on the podium.”

Pole sitter Castroneves would finish third to keep the points lead.

“First I want to thank AAA, Shell/Pennzoil, Verizon, SKF—those guys give us great support,” Castroneves says. “To be honest it was very difficult. Those are my tires from qualifying. Unfortunately, I locked a little bit too much, I used them a little bit too much. I mean it paid off starting from the pole position, but certainly hurt me a little bit, actually a lot, in the race. That’s why (Scott Dixon) was able to go off of Turn 2, good run but I was just staying in the middle and not do too much. But in the end, I thought it was a great battle, I think that’s what [racing’s about], and I want to apologize as well to (James) Hinchcliffe. My car was already bad with those reds and as soon as we restarted the race it pushed so bad that we kind of squeezed him and I felt terrible. We were having a great race, hopefully we’ll have a better one next time”

Graham Rahal would finish fourth for his first top five finish this year, while Simon Pagenaud finished fifth for his best IndyCar finish since a fourth place finish at Edmonton in 2007. Pagenaud now leads the Sonoco Rookie of the Year Standings, 26 points over Josef Newgarden. Newgarden finished the race in 17^th.

After starting on the front row, James Hinchcliffe would finish sixth, followed by Mike Conway, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Bourdais and Dario Franchitti.

Castroneves now leads the points leading, two points over Dixon and nine points over Power.

With back-to-back wins to start the season, Chevrolet leads the Manufactures Championships six points over Honda.

Another great Martinsville run for Earnhardt Jr. but still no Grandfather clock

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April 1, 2012

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Back when he was driving for his late father’s team, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Hendrick Motorsports was the biggest reason he couldn’t break though for a win at Martinsville.

Sunday it looked like it was going to be more of the same as Earnhardt Jr. sat third, chasing teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with less than 10 laps to go. But when David Reutimann stopped on track and brought out the caution, not only did everything change they got a lot more interesting.

Earnhardt Jr. came down pit road for two tires and fuel, crew chief Steve Letarte not wanting to take any chances. He restarted sixth, then all hell broke loose when Clint Bowyer, restarting third, got into Gordon and Johnson bringing out another caution. This time Earnhardt Jr. restarted third, where he finished.

“Yeah, I’m real happy with our finish. We worked hard all day, all weekend really we worked hard to obviously get the best finish we could,” said Earnhardt Jr. “This is our first race with AMP on the hood and we are proud to have a good finish for those guys, had a lot of people here this weekend.”

It was another strong day at Martinsville for Earnhardt Jr., who has taken a liking to the short track. While his average finish is a 12.6, he has 14 top 10s and 10 top fives in 25 starts with 868 laps led. That includes four straight top seven finishes.

HMS now has to wait two weeks when the NSCS returns at Texas to try for their 200th win. Earnhardt Jr. will look to the track where he earned his first career win to break his now 135 race winless streak, dating back to June of 2008 at Michigan. But Sunday he showed promise, just as he did a year ago at Martinsville.

Just past the races 230-lap mark he took the lead from Gordon before heading down pit road. He would only lead those three laps after starting 14th but he ran in the top 10 the entire race. His car however, was stronger on long runs than it was on short, not having the speed to keep with the leaders and make a move.

“But after the lap 45 or so, I thought our car was great, really comfortable and doing everything I wanted it to do,” Earnhardt Jr. “Really, really fun race. This is a fun racetrack. I was really happy with how the race was playing out there until the end. We totaled both sides of my car at the end of the race. Felt unnecessary to me but that’s the way it happened.”

While pleased with his finish, he was none too happy with Reutimann. He wanted a good explanation from either himself or his crew chief because Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t think of a logical reason for his actions.

According to Earnhardt Jr. a driver should know that when they have a problem they need to get to pit road. After going past a slow Reutimann the first time, Earnhardt JR. didn’t think he would have a problem getting off the track.

“I would like to hear a good excuse to be honest with you because I’m sure it would be laughable,” said Earnhardt Jr.

Afterwards Reutimann told TV viewers and Twitter followers that he had not intentionally stopped on the track. He said that he was having motor problems and was just trying to salvage the day and remain locked into the top 35 in points.

When told of his explanation, Earnhardt Jr. didn’t look convinced but said he had nothing to say. He wasn’t however, upset with the caution that came after that, when Bowyer discarded of his teammates. That was racing, drivers going for the win but there just wasn’t enough room.

It worked out for Earnhardt Jr. though, since he had pitted he wasn’t caught in the mess. But as a whole it was disappointing end for HMS, even if back-to-back third place finishes move Earnhardt to second in the NSCS points, six markers behind leader Greg Biffle. His teammates sit 10th, 21st and 31st in points, all feeling they’re closing to breaking through.

“I don’t know what we have done and our team has done really and I’m happy with the way our car is running,” said Earnhardt Jr. “I can’t believe the 5 [Kasey Kahne] and the 24 [Gordon], they have been fast, the 5, sitting on the pole and he has been fast everywhere.

“He was killer fast at Phoenix. The 24 has been lightning fast at a lot of places. Jimmie is always quick everywhere. So they just had really bad luck. I think we actually have more speed as a group, as a whole, than we did last year.”

A Chain Reaction Victory for Newman

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SM Staff

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April 1, 2012

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]The shortest track on the circuit, the oldest track on the circuit, but Martinsville delivered a short track shot in the arm for NASCAR’s faithful. It was a shot that the power house of Hendrick Motorsports had a bad reaction to.

The class of the field this weekend was without a doubt Jeff Gordon. Towards the end Jimmie Johnson powered by under green even after a pit road penalty. But 7 laps from the end Jeff Gordon would make the pass on the 5 time champion to retake the lead. But that was when everything exploded.

With 7 laps to go David Reutiman came to a stop on the race track after limping around the track for nearly 3 laps. Bringing out the caution flag and setting up the Green White Checker finish. Reutiman had a left front tire that was practically falling off the car and had limped around the track for 3 laps in an attempt to maintain top 35 in owner points.

“Number one, I just hate it. I don’t even know how the race ended up finishing, but I just hate that I was involved in anything that changed the complexion of the race so I got to apologize to the guys that it affected. It broke a tie rod or something like that. I was just trying to limp around there. We needed to finish next couple of laps to try to stay in the top 35. Then the motor had been breaking up for the last couple of laps. Broke a timing belt or whatever down the back straightaway, and the motor just quit. I would not have stopped on the freaking racetrack. I would have limped it around there and come to pit road, which is what I was trying to do. The thing quit going down the back straightaway, and it shut off. I just didn’t stop there intentionally. I know it sucks. I hate it for everybody that it affected, but I mean I can’t get out and push the thing. You know, it shut off. It’s that simple. Gosh, I can’t believe I’m — I was just trying to finish the day out and trying to stay in top 35, which is why we were trying to limp around out there. They gave me the black flag. We were coming to pit road, and it shut off. And that’s far as I could go,” stated Reutiman post race.

The top two cars would not pit on the caution flag. They had over a hundred laps on their tires. Everyone behind them pitted for fuel and at least 2 tires. On the restart, Jeff Gordon stated, “I spun my tires there on the restart and I knew he (Clint Bowyer) was there. I just didn’t have anywhere to go and Jimmie didn’t have anywhere to go.” The melee sent the top three cars of Gordon, Johnson, and Bowyer to the back of the lead lap cars with significant damage.

The second Green White Checker finish would finish the race and see Ryan Newman as the winner. A.J. Allmendinger would finish a career high second. And HMS’s banner would be carried by the 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr. who finished a very strong 3^rdafter leading early in the race.

The victory by Ryan Newman would mark the 3^rd in 6 races for Stewart Haas racing. “We were not a dominate race car,” Newman said. “Clint kind of cleared out Turn One for us and we were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time.”

The issue this race is the no. 10 car staying on the track even though he had an obvious problem. Spotters reported from the roof that the left front wheel was trying to fall off the car. But instead of pitting Reutiman was instructed to stay out as long as he could to secure the top 35 in points position. In the process of trying to continue to make laps way under speed the car sustained an engine failure and died on the back stretch of the track Reutiman says he coasted as far as he coast and that they had received the black flag and were trying to get to pit road.

I have a couple problems with this. One why would you even try to continue to drive a car that had steering issues or the left front wheel trying to come off when there are that many cars on that small of track? You put yourself and others at huge risk.

And although John Darby of NASCAR stated to Claire B Lange, “”it was a situation he couldn’t avoid and I don’t think it affected the outcome of the race.” Darby continues that anything could have happened, someone else might have spun, etc, so it’s “unfair to point fingers” at Reutiman. I respectfully disagree. First of all it did affect the outcome of the race. The wreck that ensued on the restart would not have happened if the caution had not come out allowing other teams to stop for fuel and tires. Could the front two have stopped? Sure they could have but track position is a premium in our sport today and it would have been incredibly risky for them to stop.

Secondly, you don’t call a driver to the hauler because their actions were all good.

Third, why was there a delay in throwing the caution by NASCAR? I understand not wanting to disrupt the flow of the race. I understand not wanting to affect the outcome of the race. But by not throwing the caution, NASCAR contributed to the risk that the other drivers and indeed Reutiman himself were in.

Do I think this makes David Reutiman a bad person? No I don’t. I think this makes David Reutiman a victim of circumstances. He has a co driver that apparently no one believes has the ability to qualify for a race without car owner points, which is pretty sad when you think about the fact that she is only a rookie in the series not in a race car. Frankly, if I were her I would be insulted that no one believed I was capable of that fundamental act. However, she apparently is lacking something because they are bound and determined she has to have that cushion. Who am I to argue with Greg Zipadelli’s success? He nailed it on the head in Daytona after all.

Congratulations to this weeks winners, Sammy Swindell in World of Outlaws in Merced, Kevin Harvick in Camping World Trucks, Will Power in Indy Car and Ryan Newman in Sprint Cup. Don’t forget Newman’s victory entitles you to a free Bloomin Onion at his sponsor, Outback Steakhouse on Monday if you mention his victory.

That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

CHEVY NSCS AT MARTINSVILLE ONE — Post Race Transcripts Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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April 1, 2012

Regan Smith Rebounds to Finish 16th in Martinsville

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April 1, 2012

Newman Makes Most Of Wild Finish For Goody’s Fast Relief 500 Win

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April 1, 2012

[media-credit name=”martinsvillespeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 1, 2012) – Ryan Newman took advantage of a crash-filled restart to capture the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway Sunday afternoon.

A.J. Allmendinger finished second, his best career Sprint Cup finish, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third. Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.

Jeff Gordon dominated the race, leading 328 laps, and it looked like he and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson were going to battle for the win when a caution came out on lap 498.

On the restart, Clint Bowyer dove to the inside of Gordon and Johnson and all three spun up the track. Newman slipped through untouched for the lead and was able to hold off Allmendinger and Earnhardt on the final restart for the win.

“Well, the first green-white-checkered, I told the guys on the radio, I said, ‘Listen, good job today. I’m not sure if I can bring it back,’ and that’s when the whole deal happened in Turn 1,” said Newman.

“Clint went to the inside and that was his prerogative, man,” said Earnhardt Jr. “He was going for the win and I thought it was a good move. Just not enough room for all three of them down there in that corner and everybody got together.”

The final caution came out on lap 505, and forced a green, white, checkered finish. With caution laps, the race was extended to 515 laps, the longest race in Martinsville Speedway’s history.

It was Newman’s first career win at Martinsville Speedway and his third top-10 finish of the 2012 season. It was his 16th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series action returns to Martinsville Speedway on October 28 with the TUMS Fast Relief 500. Tickets are on sale and may be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX.