Smoke Steals One at Martinsville
Tony Stewart won the Tums Fast Relief 500 at the Martinsville Speedway by getting past the leader, Jimmie Johnson on a late restart and leading the final 3 laps. At one point Stewart was about to go a lap down to the leader but fought him off and remained on the lead lap. Johnson finished second and Jeff Gordon followed in third.
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[/media-credit]The race was slowed 18 times for caution for well over 100 laps as the Sprint Cup stars decided that they would have a “Boys Ha Have at it” race on the speedway. Gordon, who was involved in the first caution period and required multiple pit stops for repairs to damaged car, made a spectacular come leading the race through its middle stages. Gordon said, “That was absolutely crazy. Great effort, they fixed the nose. I was worried about the brake duct. I beat it up, I drove it hard. The last two runs I didn’t have much for them. Great effort by Tony Stewart, you got to give him credit I didn’t think he could get by him on the outside.” Gordon led 114 of the 500 laps but the bonus points for the most laps led went to Kyle Busch who led 125 laps of the race early.
Stewart only led 14 laps and said in victory lane, “I don’t know, I didn’t think anyone could get by Jimmie Johnson on the outside.” He then mentioned that his car wasn’t all that great today, “ I was pretty bad all day. I think I was the only that didn’t get in a wreck with anybody today. To be honest I wasn’t too happy to be starting second. Not letting him run me up the race track like he did to the 31 (Jeff Burton on an earlier restart) was important too.”
Many of the chase participants saw trouble on the track. The first caution period saw Gordon with the most damage when Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran into the curb sending Kurt Busch around as well the No. 88 car which saw the No 24 slam into it.
Brian Vickers was involved in no less than 4 cautions before retiring to the garage but the biggest losers of the day were clearly Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch both who were involved in separate incidents that saw them needing repairs for heavy damages. Busch finished 27th 7 laps down and Kenseth 31st 13 laps down costing both championship points they may not be able to recover.
Carl Edwards remained in first in points by 8 over Tony Stewart despite the fact that he had a lug nut issue on pit road, was lapped and the “lucky dog” twice so this “felt like a victory for me”.
The one thing that Tony Stewart did was put front runner Carl Edwards on notice, “He better be worried, he’s not going to have an easy three weeks.”
The series heads to Texas next weekend.
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| Tums Fast Relief 500, Martinsville Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=33 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | 4 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 47 |
| 2 | 7 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 43 |
| 3 | 10 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 42 |
| 4 | 5 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 41 |
| 5 | 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 40 |
| 6 | 23 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | 38 |
| 7 | 9 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 37 |
| 8 | 24 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 36 |
| 9 | 1 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 36 |
| 10 | 12 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 11 | 16 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | 34 |
| 12 | 33 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | 32 |
| 13 | 26 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 31 |
| 14 | 8 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | 30 |
| 15 | 15 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 29 |
| 16 | 35 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | 0 |
| 17 | 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 27 |
| 18 | 22 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 26 |
| 19 | 13 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 25 |
| 20 | 28 | 0 | David Reutimann | Toyota | 24 |
| 21 | 34 | 32 | Ken Schrader | Ford | 23 |
| 22 | 20 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | 22 |
| 23 | 32 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | 21 |
| 24 | 21 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 20 |
| 25 | 14 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | 19 |
| 26 | 36 | 71 | Hermie Sadler | Ford | 0 |
| 27 | 6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 19 |
| 28 | 19 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | 16 |
| 29 | 17 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 15 |
| 30 | 25 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | 14 |
| 31 | 2 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 14 |
| 32 | 29 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | 12 |
| 33 | 18 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | 11 |
| 34 | 31 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | 11 |
| 35 | 27 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 36 | 37 | 7 | Reed Sorenson | Dodge | 0 |
| 37 | 39 | 46 | Scott Speed | Ford | 0 |
| 38 | 42 | 30 | David Stremme | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 39 | 40 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | 5 |
| 40 | 43 | 55 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | 4 |
| 41 | 41 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 0 |
| 42 | 30 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 43 | 38 | 37 | Mike Skinner | Ford | 0 |
Junior Has a Solution and Maybe a Leader is Born
All the talk at Martinsville Speedway this weekend was about Talladega. It wasn’t just the drivers, who did their share of talking, but it also included some media members and fans. Of course, a lot of it revolves around the sport’s most popular driver and the son of NASCAR’s most favorite legend, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
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[/media-credit]Junior was in a mood this weekend, offering a solution to the “two-car tango” and why he and drafting partner hung around the back of the field too long to be a factor in the Talladega race. Junior offered a solution to break up the pairing to two cars that has been the fashion for the better part of a year. It was the spoiler according to Junior.
“I think the spoilers are way too big,” Earnhardt said Friday at Martinsville Speedway. “When I look at that spoiler, I can’t imagine there was a lot of study that went behind how effective it would be and what it would do, it is just a big square piece of steel, as wide as it could possibly be, and pretty tall. Make the spoiler more narrow, or smaller, run some softer springs in the back to get the cars a little lower. They have to make the hole that we punch in the air a little smaller. Right now it is so giant it is very easy for another guy to fit up in that void and draft and push all the way around the race track.
“They need to bring the ceiling down that the car creates by the hole it pushes in the air, the car just punches a hole in the air and they need to bring that hole closer to the ground,” he said. “Get a little bit more air on the second car’s windshield cause a little more drag on that car. I think the spoiler is just way too big. The corners on the ends, they could cut those off and round that spoiler off, going back to anywhere from 1998 to 2004, that type of spoiler was a little bit better, even smaller than that.”
No comment from NASCAR right now, but Junior made a lot of sense here, and maybe grew up a little bit. My criticism has always been that not enough has been done to solve the problem that has been restrictor plate racing. If we need them, fine, but find a way to make it a better show. So far, it has appeared that NASCAR just doesn’t know the answer, and maybe that’s true. Far be it from me to make that decision. I am not an engineer and I’m sure NASCAR has plenty of those types in their employ.
Junior, as many have published, wasn’t too keen on hanging in the back last week. Though he won’t come out and say it because it would be politically devastating, radio transmissions seem to show this. Just like the supposed team orders that Trevor Bayne was so upset with, it appears that Earnhardt was just as frustrated. His role was to push his teammates to a good finish or a victory, as he was held back.
The killer quote was one that was published in an interview this week.
“I’m certain that a lot of things would be different if the old man was still around.”
Indeed. Dale Earnhardt, Sr. had the ear of NASCAR. It’s time for someone to step up and take that role. Maybe that’s what is needed today—a leader. And just maybe, Dale Jr. is assuming that role. It appears there isn’t a leader among the drivers. Maybe Junior grew up after the debacle in Alabama. And maybe that will inspire him to victory at Martinsville or somewhere else.
Johnny Sauter Hoping to Take Kulwicki Path to Championship
Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 13 Safe Auto/Curb/Carrier Chevy Silverado for ThorSport Racing, sits third in Camping World Truck championship points, tied with veteran Ron Hornady, just 15 points behind leader Austin Dillon.
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[/media-credit]Although many may consider him an underdog, Sauter definitely wants no one to count him out of championship contention for one simple reason. The 33 year old Wisconsin native is simply following the ‘Kulwicki path’ to glory.
“I’m going to use the Alan Kulwicki approach to his championship run in ’92,” Sauter said. “No one even considered him to have a chance but by the end of the day, he was champion.”
“You can’t listen to everybody and what they say,” Sauter continued. “We just have to keep racing hard. Probably some things are going to have to happen, but you never know what will happen.”
Sauter certainly did not know what was going to happen to him last weekend in Talladega. The race weekend started off rocky for the driver, getting hit in the left eye with a piece of debris shortly after practice began.
Sauter was then cleared to race, but had to start mid-pack after experiencing some transmission problems. When he and his teammate Matt Crafton dropped to the rear of the pack to try their hands at some tandem racing, they both went for a spin after the car in front of them blew a tire.
“It was brutal,” Sauter said. “We were playing the strategy of riding around in the back seeing who was going to crash and nobody did, except for us.”
“It was terrible,” Sauter continued. “We were back there doing our own thing trying to run the tandem deal. The guy in front of us cut a tire down and Crafton’s initial reaction was to turn left. When someone was tucked up behind him like we were, it had a bad outcome.”
Yet even after being three laps down, Sauter remained focused and in the hunt. He was able to rebound to finish in the 15th spot.
“When we originally wrecked, I thought that we were in trouble now,” Sauter said. “At one point, we were two laps down and got in position to get our laps back. We had a truck capable of running in the top ten because I pushed Brendan Gaughan all the way up to the front.”
“That was a solid effort,” Sauter continued. “Obviously I hate the way it turned out through nobody’s fault. But we’re still in the game.”
After surviving one of NASCAR’s fastest, most sweeping tracks, Sauter was excited to put Talladega in his rear view mirror and head to the short track at Martinsville. The track known as the ‘paper clip’ was the site of not only a victory in the spring for the driver, but also the birth of his second child, who arrived right after the race.
“It’s obviously a fond memory, winning the race the way we did, passing Kyle Busch on the last few laps,” Sauter said. “Obviously the birth of our baby girl, it made you feel good.”
“It’s a feel good race track for me,” Sauter continued. “But I’ve been racing long enough to know that was six months ago.”
For Sauter, his race at Martinsville this weekend was all about track position, as well as staying out of other competitors’ way. In spite of tempers flaring often, Sauter was able to bring his race truck home right where he started the race, in fourth place. This was Sauter’s tenth top-5 finish this season.
“Ultimately, it all worked out,” Sauter said after the race. “We found our way to the front. This was fun racing and anytime we see Martinsville on the schedule, I’m a happy guy.”
Sauter is also excited about the final two races, one at Texas and the finale in Homestead. Sauter has a good record in the Lone Star state, having finished second in both of last year’s races, as well as leading 56 laps in the spring race before receiving a late race penalty.
“I think we can go there and win the race,” Sauter said of Texas. “We’ve run really well there.”
“We had the truck to beat there but had some trouble in the pits and still finished second,” Sauter continued. “We did everything right and in my mind we won the race.”
Even with his good run at Martinsville and hopefully another at Texas, Sauter is convinced that, just like during Kulwicki’s run, the championship will be decided in the finale at Homestead, where the driver has top 10 finishes in two of four starts.
“I hope it does come down to Homestead,” Sauter said. “That’s what I’ve been saying all year. I think it’s going to.”
Interestingly enough, with two young guns in front of him and the wily veteran Ron Hornaday now tied with him, Sauter has no interest whatsoever in his competition. In fact, he almost relishes the role of underdog and flying under the radar.
“To be honest, I’m not looking out for anybody,” Sauter said. “I’m more focused on what we’ve got to do.”
“Obviously, Hornaday has found something the last month that has got him back on track,” Sauter continued. “But I’m not really concerned about anybody.”
“I think we need to go to the race track and execute and do our own thing and accumulate points,” Sauter said. “Everybody is focused on Dillon and Hornaday the way that they’ve run.”
“I probably would look at us as underdogs right now,” Sauter continued. “That’s fine with me. I don’t need the attention.”
Sauter may not need the attention, but there would be nothing more meaningful to him than to be hoisting that trophy over his head in Florida during the championship race weekend.
“Man, that would be something,” Sauter said about a championship win. “I probably wouldn’t even know until it happened what I’d feel like.”
“Coming from a racing family, that would be a huge accomplishment not only for me, but for my family,” Sauter said. “I’d probably be speechless for a little while. I’d have to just take it all in.”
But for now, with three races in the season left to go, Sauter is just staying the course, as well as hoping to emulate NASCAR champ Alan Kulwicki.
“You just have to keep digging,” Sauter said. “That’s all you can do.”
Brad Keselowski Opens Up About Integrity, Ethics and Where Penske Stands
With news that crew chief Chad Knaus might be up to his old tricks, opinions have run rampant around the NASCAR atmosphere.
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[/media-credit]Friday at Martinsville those opinions were expanded upon when many were asked about their views on integrity and ethics in the sport. Brad Keselowski, never one to back down from any question, called it as he saw it by saying that NASCAR had a rough week on the ethical side of the board.
“I think every person, every driver, ever team, car owner, whatever it might be, has their own code of honor,” said Keselowski. “It’s something that I place very high; that’s why I’m driving for Roger Penske. I think you can look at things like that and you can see who a driver picks to drive for and you can kind of get a mindset, so to speak, of how they feel about it.”
Keselowski journey to the Sprint Cup Series is well documented. Spoted by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in late 2007 he joined his Nationwide Series team for two years where he won his first few races and finished top five in points. But Keselowski then went to Penske Racing when it didn’t seem that Hendrick Motorsports would be able to fit him into their NSCS lineup.
The Michigan native has fit in well with the captain’s team and is currently among the fight for the 2011 Cup Series championship after qualifying for his first Chase. Something of importance for Keselowski is that he and Penske have the same belief when it comes to winning races. It’s better to succeed and win by a company’s hard work than by playing outside the lines.
“There have been times when I’ve had conversations with Roger and ask him why are certain things not done on the car and he’s told me point blank, ‘Hey, this is something that is a little grey and I don’t live in the grey area,’” Keslowski revealed.
He went on to say that Penske refuses to run his teams with that philosophy and Keselowski wouldn’t have it any other way. When they take the checkered flag on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, fans, teams and others alike won’t be able to question it. There won’t be any doubt, discredit or asterisks next to a Penske victory in the record books.
Says Keselowski, “I have a tremendous amount of respect for that. It’s easy to fall into temptation of sorts to push it a little bit harder. I think we all come back to it sometime, whatever individual code we have, and mine is a reflection of who I drive for. That can be tough. It can certainly be tough.”
This season Keselowski has won three NSCS races weren’t discredited in any way. In fact, they were embraced because of Keselowski’s performance by winning two of the three with a broken ankle. But back in 2009 Keselowski heard all about his own integrity when he won at Talladega – then driving for James Finch – when he and Carl Edwards got together in a scary accident on the last lap.
“I want to win as bad as anyone else,” Keselowski said. “Sometimes more. I don’t want that win to be discredited in any way, shape or form. If that means I have to lose a few to make sure that the wins I have are credited the right way, then I’ll do that. I guess it’s tough because one of my defining moments was my first win at Talladega. I think some people may have questioned the integrity of that win and how far I was willing to go.”
In that win, Keselowski had gotten together with Edwards who went flying into the fence. Opinions were mixed on whether Keselowski went up and hit Edwards or whether Edwards came down and spun himself. While Keselowski acknowledges – even calling that race not a real win earlier this year – he says that there are other integrity issues like drivers stopping on the track to cause a caution. Or when NASCAR finds a car to have an illegal part.
“I’m not going to say that I’m always innocent but I’m trying to make sure that I win without those things,” said Keselowski. “When you look at the sport, the perception is, and it always has been, that stock car racing is about drivers. That’s why drivers get the most pay and sponsors go with the drivers. It’s not supposed to be about who has the best cars. It never has been. It does always kind of morph its way into that.”
It’s important to the honor and credibility of this sport, says Keselowski that drivers win because they are the best. Pushing and shoving, bump and runs are great in Keselowski’s book, actions that he’s been criticized in the past for. Those moves, however, are ethical and what racing is all about. It’s fun and entertaining for all involved.
“If you win a race because you have a cheated-up part that nobody else had and your car is faster, I think that kind of goes against the integrity of the sport and what has made NASCAR so successful to date,” Keselowski said. “So, I think that there are two distinct lines so to speak.”
Even after all that, Keselowski said it was a hard question to answer. But as long as everyone knows where he and his Penske team stand, that’s the main point. Winning is everything in this sport but that doesn’t mean you’ll see Penske go into that area of doing just about anything to win. And speaking of that area, Keselowski saw a few ethical lapses this week.
“There are so many of them, I can’t list them all,” he said. “This was a rough week. To be honest, some people would point at [Michael] Waltrip’s cars, but I didn’t really make much of that one to be honest. I thought that was just racing. Whatever happened with Jimmie [Johnson], we’ll never know on that car. So, I don’t see how you can really point your finger at that deal. We’ll never know. I don’t have answers on it.”
He did have an answer for the biggest ethical lapse of the week.
“I thought it was remarkable the things the 3 truck [Austin Dillon] got away with,” said Keselowski about last weekend’s race in Talladega. Dillon appeared to have dipped below the out of bounds line on two different occasions and wasn’t penalized. He remained the point leader heading into Martinsville.
“That would probably be the big one,” said Keselowski. “I thought that was remarkable.”
