Nelson Piquet Jr. Darlington Raceway Post-Race Report
DARLINGTON, S.C. (March 13, 2011) – Nelson Piquet Jr. came into the weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway with the goal of building and improving upon his top-15 finish at Phoenix International Raceway. Unfortunately, like many other trucks in the Too Tough to Tame 200, the No. 8 Chevrolet Silverado fell victim to the Lady in Black’s precarious personality, resulting in a 32nd-place finish for the young rookie driver.
Following a strong qualifying effort earlier in the day, Piquet Jr. took the green flag from the ninth starting spot. It didn’t take long for the Lady in Back to show her colors, collecting her first victims in the first turn of the race with a seven-truck wreck. With all three Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) drivers avoiding the carnage, Piquet Jr. restarted on lap five from the 10th position.
Piquet Jr. immediately felt that the No. 8 Chevrolet was turning too tightly and slipped back to the 12th position by the time the second yellow flag waved on lap 15 for a single-truck incident. Piquet Jr. relayed to crew chief Chris Carrier that the truck was too tight all the way around the egg-shaped oval, but it was too early in the race to bring the truck to pit road. Restarting on lap 19, Piquet Jr. continued to battle his truck’s handling until the next caution on lap 26. Running 16th, Carrier called the No. 8 to pit road for four tires, fuel, as well as an air-pressure adjustment and spring rubber removal.
Restarting in the 14th position on lap 31 after a solid pit stop, Piquet Jr. initially thought his handling problems were resolved, but 10 laps later he felt the truck tightening up again in the turns as he slid back to 16th. On lap 51, the No. 8 was so difficult to turn that Piquet Jr. scraped the outside wall, crinkling the right front fender. Piquet Jr. had the opportunity to repair the minor damage on lap 59 when the yellow flag waved for debris. Entering the pits in 17th, Carrier called for four tires, fuel, an air-pressure adjustment and a quick fender fix. The No. 8 returned to the track in 19th.
Green-flag racing resumed on lap 63, and Piquet Jr. was able to navigate up to 13th by lap 70. Now on a campaign to enter the top 10, Piquet Jr. was picking off another one of his competitors on lap 73 when the No. 29 truck of Parker Kligerman made contact with the right side of the No. 8 truck. The resulting damage caused the KHI machine to slide up the track, hitting the outside wall hard. At the same time, two trucks behind Piquet Jr. also wrecked, bringing out the yellow flag.
Piquet Jr. pitted three times under yellow with the crew working fervently to repair the heavy right-side damage. The team’s quick work kept Piquet Jr. on the lead lap under caution, and he took the green flag on lap 79 in 27th place. Unfortunately, the damage sustained from the contact with the wall caused the No. 8 truck to run slower than the leaders, and within only a few laps the race leader was in the truck’s mirrors. Carrier made the call to bring his driver back to pit road for further repairs and readied the pit crew for a green-flag stop.
As the team worked to make further repairs, a single-truck incident brought out the caution on lap 90. The team took advantage of the yellow flag, making four separate pit stops to fix the truck. When the field went green on lap 96, Piquet Jr. was scored in the 30th position, four laps down to the leaders. However, it appeared the truck was sufficiently repaired and that the team could make it to the end of the race and pick up multiple positions.
Unfortunately, the hope of making it to the checkered flag was lost on lap 98 when the right front tire failed and the No. 8 drove hard into the turn four wall. Bouncing off the wall, Piquet Jr. collected the No. 20 of Johanna Long, who lost steering abilities and subsequently ran into the No. 4 of Ricky Carmichael. Following a seven-minute red flag for cleanup, Piquet Jr. was directed into the garage where the team worked tirelessly for the remaining 49 laps to try to repair the truck and return to the track. However, the heavy damage was too extensive to repair and the No. 8 was ultimately scored in the 32nd position.
“Although this definitely wasn’t the kind of night we were hoping for, I’m still proud of what we accomplished here at Darlington,” said Piquet Jr. following the race. “We made great strides between practice and qualifying, we had a top-10 starting position, and we were improving the truck throughout the race. The crew worked very hard trying to get us back out on the track to pick up a few positions, and unfortunately we just couldn’t fix it. I feel like I learned a lot, and hopefully we’ll have a much better race in Martinsville.”
The Truck Series has two off weekends before returning to the track at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on April 2nd.
RACE RECAP:
March 12, 2011
Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
Race: 3 of 25
Started: 9th
Finished: 32nd
Driver’s Point Standings: 23rd (-51)
Up Next On The Truck Series Schedule:
Date: April 2, 2011
Track: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
Event Name: Kroger 250
Broadcast: SPEED at 2:00 p.m.
Former Champion Todd Bodine Makes Case That Truck Series Is ‘Really Strong’
Four weeks into the NASCAR season there is little to complain about.
It’s a rare occurrence and one that will be marked down. After all, this is a sport where hearing the thoughts of others is not hard to come by. Whether you want them or not, whether they are warranted or not, they will be heard.
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[/media-credit]A month into a new season though, so far so good.
There have been close if not three straight sellouts for the Sprint Cup Series events at Daytona, Phoenix and Las Vegas. For those keeping score, many say there have been three perfect National Anthems. Records have been broken and the winners have been favorites.
Oh, and the overall racing hasn’t been bad either.
Saturday night though all eyes were on the Camping World Truck Series. They were a stand alone event not only at the Darlington Raceway but of the weekend with Cup and Nationwide heading into their first break of the season.
Promotions ran wild and while it wasn’t a sell out by any means, the crowd for a Saturday night event was well above expectations. The starting field was impressive, past champions and Sprint Cup Series stars were ready to battle the Lady in Black.
Everything fell right into place. So much so that defending CWTS champion Todd Bodine took time in his media availability to address the state of the sport, something he had plenty to say about.
“The state of the series is pretty obvious,” Bodine started.
“We’ve got probably the best field of trucks that we’ve ever seen in the history of the series and we do have a lot of younger kids coming in so the experience level may be down a little bit but we’ve got a lot of kids that have a lot of talent and a lot of future and a lot of promise,” he said.
Young kids like Cole Whitt who set a new track and won his first career pole, It was just his fourth career CWTS start. There’s sophomore sensation and fan favorite Austin Dillon who had an incredible rookie season in 2010 with two wins and seven poles.
Saturday there were 11 rookies in the field. There was also an 18-year-old female competing.
As a past champion of the sport as well as a driver that has been around for many years, Bodine has the ability to speak about such topics. On Saturday when he wasn’t talking about the racing he was bubbling in talking about the CWTS.
The sixth annual Too Tough To Tame 200 was one that he was looking forward to for many reasons. The aforementioned attendance was on even the driver’s minds as Bodine mentioned the fans before and after the race, even if he did exaggerate his numbers.
“The state of the series is strong,” Bodine stated.
“Really strong. I think you’re going to see by the crowd that we’re going to get here [Saturday],” he continued.
“Everybody kind of didn’t understand why we’re here at a standalone race last year. Last year they [Darlington] struggled for attendance – there’s no doubt. It was kind of last minute thing, but they’re really been promoting it and they’ve been doing a great job in the area.”
Bodine continued to talk about the crowd but it was his statement about how strong the series is that was the most important part. When polling some fans they’ll tell you the trucks produce some of the best racing on any given weekend. However, they do struggle to put fans in the stands.
Yet, as a whole the CWTS does just fine. The 2011 season has started off on a great note for the sport in general and the complaints, at least those more than normal, have quieted down. It could be for a few different reasons, such as the euphoria of a new season starting or still trying to figure out all the rules changes.
“The series as a whole is really strong,” he said.
“The fan base is up. The ratings are up. The truck count is up and the quality of equipment is up. Everything about it is up and that speaks volumes for it.”
It means the CWTS will head into their own break before returning to action at Martinsville on April 2 on a high note. They currently are in the midst of a close point battle, have had three different winners to start the season and produced plenty to talk about.
Yes, things are going pretty well for NASCAR right now. The naysayers have gone on a hiatus and everyone in the sport is riding the wave while it lasts and pleased with the direction it is heading.
Said Bodine after this third place finish, “Look at the crowd we got. This tells you what the Truck Series is about. These fans are hardcore, they came out here on a Saturday night just to watch Trucks race. Everybody at home, we appreciate you watching. The Trucks are the greatest.”
Lady Tamer: Kasey Kahne Wins Too Tough To Tame 200 at Darlington
A race at Darlington is normally one of attrition and Saturday night’s Too Tough To Tame 200 was no different.
The Camping World Truck Series was the only show in town and on tap for the weekend. They didn’t disappoint. It started with ROY candidate Cole Whitt capturing from the pole, the first of his career, with a new track record.
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[/media-credit]The action started on lap one when the field charged down into turn one and never made it to turn two. Travis Kvapil, Miguel Paludo, Max Papis, Ryan Sieg, Norm Benning, Justin Lofton and David Starr all had trouble to bring the first caution out.
There were two more yellow flags within the first 30 laps.
Once things settled down, Kasey Kahne quickly asserted himself as the man to beat. While others found there way to the front through pit stops and strategy, Kahne was always lurking and once he took the lead he had no problem driving away from the field.
One of the scarier incidents of the night came after Ricky Carmichael spun on the front stretch and was t-boned by Johanna Long. The caution, eighth one of the night, also brought the action to a halt as the red flag.
Both drivers were evaluated and released from the infield care center.
With 29 laps to go Timothy Peters came down pit road to get his final set of tires, while the leaders stayed out. It didn’t help the battle was up front between Kahne and the defending winner of the event, Todd Bodine.
Even with a restart with less than five laps to go, no one could catch the 18 of Kahne and he would go on to capture the win. It was the third straight race that a driver not running for points in the CWTS has won.
The win was Kahne’s third in his last four starts and second at Darlington. He won back in 2004. It was also the second straight win for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Ron Hornaday finished second and Bodine finished third. The polesitter, Whitt, who thought he had lost a cylinder and dropped to 26th, came home in the eighth position. He was the highest finishing rookie and moved to second in the CWTS points.
Matt Crafton hangs onto the point lead as the trucks will have a few weeks off before heading to Martinsville on April 2nd.
Unofficial Race Results
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Pts. | Bon. | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 2 | 18 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | 0 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 2 | 6 | 33 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | 42 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 3 | 12 | 30 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | 41 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 4 | 4 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Chevrolet | 40 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 5 | 7 | 31 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 40 | 1 | 147 | Running |
| 6 | 11 | 17 | Timothy Peters | Toyota | 38 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 7 | 8 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 0 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 8 | 1 | 60 | Cole Whitt * | Chevrolet | 37 | 1 | 147 | Running |
| 9 | 3 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | Chevrolet | 35 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 10 | 13 | 81 | David Starr | Toyota | 34 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 11 | 26 | 92 | Clay Rogers | Chevrolet | 33 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 12 | 31 | 93 | Shane Sieg | Chevrolet | 32 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 13 | 17 | 77 | Justin Lofton | Toyota | 31 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 14 | 18 | 29 | Parker Kligerman * | Dodge | 30 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 15 | 5 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 29 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 16 | 19 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Chevrolet | 28 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 17 | 24 | 5 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | 27 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 18 | 16 | 9 | Max Papis | Toyota | 26 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 19 | 27 | 46 | Craig Goess * | Toyota | 25 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 20 | 35 | 1 | Jeffrey Earnhardt * | Chevrolet | 24 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 21 | 15 | 15 | Dusty Davis * | Toyota | 23 | 0 | 147 | Running |
| 22 | 29 | 50 | T.J. Bell | Chevrolet | 22 | 0 | 146 | Running |
| 23 | 33 | 7 | Jamie Dick | Chevrolet | 21 | 0 | 146 | Running |
| 24 | 28 | 66 | Justin Marks | Chevrolet | 20 | 0 | 145 | Running |
| 25 | 23 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan | Toyota | 19 | 0 | 144 | Running |
| 26 | 34 | 57 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | 18 | 0 | 143 | Running |
| 27 | 14 | 7 | Miguel Paludo * | Toyota | 17 | 0 | 135 | Running |
| 28 | 30 | 22 | Joey Coulter * | Chevrolet | 16 | 0 | 111 | Running |
| 29 | 36 | 25 | Tayler Malsam | Toyota | 15 | 0 | 103 | Engine |
| 30 | 22 | 4 | Ricky Carmichael | Chevrolet | 14 | 0 | 96 | Accident |
| 31 | 32 | 20 | Johanna Long * | Toyota | 13 | 0 | 96 | Accident |
| 32 | 9 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. * | Chevrolet | 12 | 0 | 93 | Accident |
| 33 | 10 | 23 | Jason White | Chevrolet | 11 | 0 | 72 | Accident |
| 34 | 25 | 10 | Chase Mattioli * | Ford | 10 | 0 | 55 | Accident |
| 35 | 20 | 51 | Justin Johnson * | Toyota | 9 | 0 | 41 | Accident |
| 36 | 21 | 32 | Brad Sweet | Chevrolet | 8 | 0 | 13 | Accident |
One-On-One with NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Driver Jeffrey Earnhardt
With the last name Earnhardt, everybody automatically expects you to do well, once you hit the track. That’s no exception with Jeffrey Earnhardt as there are already the predictions hitting the floor.
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[/media-credit]He came out of the gate with a top 10 at Daytona and went to Phoenix and finished 19th. While everybody is looking for this success, he right now is set on learning lessons and moving forward with them.
While preparing for Darlington this weekend, he took some time to answer some questions for the readers.
Ashley McCubbin: What are some of your thoughts on the year so far?
Jeffrey Earnhardt: So far, I’ve had a pretty good season starting off. We finished seventh at Daytona and we finished 19th at Phoenix – didn’t have the best shot, but we ran it right to the end of the race and we didn’t have a single scratch on the truck. Anytime you can finish out a race like that it’s definitely progress. We’re just slowly working on making our entire program better. We’re just waiting for everything to fall into place to run upfront, but for now it’s just having everything work in order, giving the feedback and getting the seat time to learn these trucks.
AM: How’d you get involved with Rick Ware Racing?
JE: Well, I guess it was like two or three years ago, I got the opportunity to drive some Nationwide races for him. We went to Dover and tried to make the race and ended up not making the race, but that’s when I first met him. This opportunity came about to do five races and obviously the five races last year led to a full season this year.
AM: What are some of your expectations for this year?
JE: Just the seat time. We want to go out here and run the best we can, but also we want to go out and learn as much as we can with finishing races. I mean, if we do that then I don’t see why we can’t be competiting to win rookie of the year. There’s definitely a possibility as we’ll see how the year goes and where it takes us, but to start, it’s just to get as much seat time and just go from there.
AM: Speaking of lessons, what are some of the lessons you’ve learned so far this year?
JE: Just to get to the finish and figure out what the truck needed and if you do that, you’ll come out in one piece and if you’ll have a decent finish. Even though you’re getting the finishes, you got to understand that you’re still learning and probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is to be there at the finish.
AM: What are some of your thoughts going into Darlington?
JE: I actually just rode around with Todd Bodine in a pace truck and it is quite a strange track. It’s got totally different corners and seems to be a tough track as we talked about how he did, how tough it is and how easy it is to take yourself out of the race. It seems that’s the toughest part, just getting used to the track, but not stepping over that boundary.
AM: With the last name Earnhardt, there are a lot of expectations. Care to share any thoughts on that?
JE: There’s a lot of expectation and a lot of pressure that gets put on you. It’s just that you got to learn how to deal with it and if you can handle it the right way, you’ll be fine and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of not letting it get to me. Just doing my thing and I’m just here to learn and be a racecar driver and I try not to worry about all that.
AM: Which race track are you looking forward to?
JE: I look forward to all of them. I mean, I’m looking forward to go doing to Dover for simple fact I ran good there before and I think we can get out of there with a successful run. I mean, I look forward to each and every race and each race I am just as excited as the next one and there’s really no special one I’m really look forward to.
AM: Where do you see yourself in five years?
JE: I would like to be up in the Cup level. Obviously, my goal is too potentially to end up at that level and five years from now I should be there. And hopefully won a championship in one of the three NASCAR series, whether Nationwide or Truck, but I’d like to be at the Cup level in five years.
AM: What is your advice for other people getting into racing?
JE: Just don’t ever give up. It’s tough and it’s not as easy as some people may think. If you really want it bad enough, you can get it accomplished. You just gotta really stick to it and push hard to get what you want. It may seem tough and you may want to get down, but if you push hard enough, eventually you’ll get it and the reward is definitely worth the wait.
AM: Who do you admire outside of racing?
JE: Johnny Cash was definitely a good one for me just because he was his own man and he was just kind of a man’s kind of man and more of that kind of person, but I know, really, I’ve just always been in racing and never really worried about anything else. I’ve been around racing my entire life and haven’t really cared about watching anything else.
