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Rules, Regulations and the Speedway Mailbag. Welcome to the 2011 Racing Season

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”301″][/media-credit]Welcome to another edition of Speedway Media mailbag.

Since our last meeting, Sprint Cup drivers have spent several days testing on the new Daytona International Speedway asphalt and interacting with media from around the world at the Sprint Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Congratulations to Chip Ganassi and his continued dominance at the Rolex 24.

Rumors from the Media Tour stated that invited guest at the wedding of Kyle Busch were made to sign a release. This release guaranteed none of the guest would take any unauthorized pictures, send tweets, or publish any inside information from the nuptials.
This high level of secrecy is more than likely because of a planned future show about the race car driver’s marriage to Samantha Sarcinella.
Busch has posted some pictures on his web site.

So, since I have been traveling for the past two weeks, our ratty ole Tupperware bowl is bursting at the seams with letters, so let’s get cracking.

Brian from Bakersfield writes:
Dear Speedway Media; Do you think NASCAR racing is fixed?
Wow Brian, what a question to start off our new year of racing.
Many sporting events through out the ages have been fixed. The most famous was the 1919 World Series.
While there have been several races where drivers, and fans, feel there have been some strange decisions by NASCAR that unfairly gave an advantage to select drivers, NASCAR has absolutely nothing to gain by fixing a race.
Given there are 43 drivers, pit stops, crashes and a multitude of changes during the race, the logistics alone make it impossible to fix a race.
On the other hand though, I have it on good authority there are other types of competitions that might be fixed.
Take the Miss Universe pageant for instance. Every Miss Universe winner, including the very first one in 1952, has been from the planet Earth.

Wally from Walla Walla writes:
Dear Speedway Media; Can you clarify NASCAR’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” rule?
Thanks for the great question Wally. After spending hours reading the NASCAR rule book, I cannot locate anything that refers to “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” unless of course you’re referring to the rule book its self.

Cindy from Cincinnati writes:
Dear Speedway Media; Have you heard any rumors about new additions to the NASCAR families?
Well Cindy we have heard some good news from Roush-Fenway Racing. During the Sprint Media Tour presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway, Jack Roush announced that three of his four drivers at RFR, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle, are all expecting family additions in 2011. As luck would have it, all three drivers will welcome their new baby’s right around the same time.

During the recent test session at Daytona International Speedway, David Ragan, the fourth driver in the RFR stable, was seen with an unusual “O+” on his driver’s suit.
There is speculation that Ragan is joining a growing number of race car drivers who advertise their blood types on their driver suits. In Ragan’s case it could also be a representation of the number of Sprint Cup wins he has and that he’s remaining positive.

That’s all for this weeks edition of Speedway Mailbag. On a personal note, I want to extend congratulations to Urban Meyer on his new gig at ESPN.

Feel free to send your questions, comments and suggestions to mailbag@speedwaymedia.com.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of management.

D.J. Kennington Shows Talent at Irwindale in NASCAR All-Star Showdown

By
SM Staff
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The past few years, auto racing talent has been blossoming out of Canada with a variety of drivers. Steve Arpin and J.R. Fitzpatrick are two to name a few, though another one is D.J. Kennington.

[media-credit name=”Sal Sigala Jr.” align=”alignleft” width=”200″][/media-credit]Kennington, the 2010 Canadian Tire Series Champion, got his start as a teenager racing at Delaware Speedway. From there, he moved up to the CASCAR Series in 2001, which changed to the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series in 2007. Since then, Kennington has been racing at the highest form of motorsports in Canada.

From 2001 to 2009, he acquired 11 wins, 60 top fives, 82 top 10s and a best year end points ranking of second in 2002 and 2007.

In 2010, he planned to breakthrough and win his first championship. He fought all year alongside J.R. Fitzpatrick, fighting hard at each and every race. Throughout the season, he got five wins – Delaware, St. Eustache, Saskatoon, Barrie, Antigonish – and finished in the top 10 in 85% of the races.

In the final race at Kawartha, the St. Thomas, Ontario native finished third taking the championship, 87 points over Fitzpatrick.

“NASCAR has been really good to us,” Kennington said. “Really happy to get that off my back. Amazing year – five wins is awesome; hopefully this year we can top it. The 2010 season is behind us; time for 2011. Hopefully have as much success.”

One of the things that Kennington took from the season to carry forward is confidence.

“Confidence is a lot in this racing business and my team has a lot of confidence,” he said. “I think confidence goes a long way in making for another championship.”

With the championship, Kennington was invited to Irwindale Speedway to run the Toyota All-Star Showdown, along with 39 other top drivers from the K&N Pro East Series, K&N Pro West Series and NASCAR Mexico Series.

In the first practice, he was 15th, while he was 21st in the second practice.

“Excited and good in practice,” he said after the first practice. “Never seen this track before and never sat in this car. We are top 14 and I think the 17 car will be good. The track is tough to get used to.”

In qualifying, he qualified 15th, two-tenths off of the pole, set to go.D.J. Kennington at Irwindale Speedway

Once the race started, he held his own as he ran consistent laps, steadily moving up to the top 10, avoiding trouble. When it came down to the final sprint to the finish, he had put himself into position to go after the win after some of the other leaders had fallen victim to problems. He took a late charge at leader Jason Bowles in the final nine lap sprint, though fell short and finished second. Still, Kennington was excited about his performance and the show he had put on considering expectations coming in.

“Absolutely, really really proud of everybody on this race team,” Kennington told SpeedTV viewers afterwards. “All my guys are here – it’s so amazing. I watched this race last year on my couch, its great to be here.”

The second place finish marks a good start to the 2011 season, which promises to be promising. Kennington looks to go out and defend his championship, well forming a partnership with Jason White.

“I’m excited to work with White,” he said. “He has been a friend for a long time and I think we can help each other. Having teammates really helps.”

Jason White, a native of Sun Peaks, British Columbia, comes onboard after a year of struggle from the mechanical standpoint while being a single-car team owner. The partnership brings forth horsepower and technical support from DJK Racing engine builder Doug Kennington and DJK Racing.

“After last season we took a look at our program and realized we needed to make some changes to take the next step up,” White explained in a press release. “I talked to a lot of people and different teams and knew that aligning Jason White Racing with DJK Racing was the right move. DJ and Doug Kennington will provide us with plenty of horsepower, the cars will be race ready, and you couldn’t find a more professional group to work with.”

White has also formed a partnership with Kawartha Speedway Group, acquiring the likes of Derek Lynch, Kawartha Speedway track owner and former Canadian Tire Series competitor, as his crew chief.

“I could not be more keyed up about this season,” White said. “Having somebody as bright as Derek managing the operation and working as Crew chief on race day is fantastic. He brings a lot of knowledge to the job and I know he’ll make me a better driver.”

“I’m looking forward to working with Jason,” Lynch said. “Our involvement will take the strain of logistics off his plate, provide him with great race cars and allow him to focus on driving. It’s also a privilege to be associated with a great company like A&W.”

To find out more about DJK Racing, check out their website at , follow them on twitter or find them on facebook.  

Special Thanks to Sal Sigala Jr. for the pictures and quotes

Roush-Fenway Racing Set to Make Many Headlines in 2011

By
SM Staff
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Roush-Fenway Racing will be a very busy place over the next 12 months.

[media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll” align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]From contract talks with three of their four drivers – Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and David Ragan – to building a daycare on site. OK, so only the first part is true, but with three drivers adding to their families, it might be needed.

First, comes the business in the unpleasant nature of contract talks. With Edwards and Biffle having made the Chase and won races in the past, the two are not expected to be hard to keep in the RFR family.

It’s Ragan’s contract that could become a top story however.

While team owner Jack Roush acknowledged support for the driver and that he would like to retain him for years to come, the expectations and performance need to be there. Ragan has never won a race or qualified for the Chase, last season he finished 24th in points which is a far cry from his 13th standing in his sophomore year (2008).

It was among the many discussions last week during the preseason media tour where Roush spoke of what was ahead for his organization. Contract talk won’t be the only tasks on the agenda; RFR will be looking to keep a hold on key sponsors.

“All our sponsors agree they continue to see NASCAR as the sport that’s very important to their marketing efforts,” Roush said last Thursday.

“They see Roush-Fenway as an organization that’s a terrific investment and for good reason. For 2011, every Cup program has all new cars built. We have realigned our engineering department and we have new software to run our programs on.”

It was that same software that had Roush was very critical of the team’s performance early last year. It was outdated and inaccurate. He cited it as the reason they had fallen behind other teams and were struggling each week.

But when the turnaround happened it did so in a big way. Through the summer months the RFR that many were used to seeing had arrived on the scene – Edwards, Biffle and Kenseth finished third, fourth and fifth respectfully at Michigan in August.

When they entered the Chase they were no longer the pretenders, they were contenders again. Biffle won his second race of the season in the third race of the Chase and Edwards ended the year with back-to-back wins, ending his nearly two-year winless drought.

“I feel a lot better right now going into 2011 then I did going into 2009,” said Edwards in Homestead where he was already named the 2011 preseason championship favorite.

“That’s because I feel we have a lot of momentum and things are getting better. We have a new engine that we are working on that just keeps getting better.”

Kenseth came close to joining the victory party a few times. Had it not been for an overdriven turn one in the fall Texas race, he was half a lap away from winning his first race since February of 2009.

“I don’t know about just us but all of our cars seem to be faster,” said Kenseth. “It seems like things have been going better. It feels like we’re gaining some momentum and the cars are quicker and we’re understanding each other probably a little better.”

They will enter 2011 as one of the hottest teams in the garage. With new racecars and a new hunger, look for the Roushkateers to loudly proclaim, “We’re back.”

Even more exciting though, comes from the big news released last week. Kenseth, Edwards and Biffle will all be new fathers this season.

“I couldn’t hold back,” said Roush, who broke the news on behalf of his drivers. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

He went on to say, “I’m excited about it.”

Senior driver Kenseth and wife Katie will be welcome their second child, joining older sister Kaylin who was born in 2009 and older brother Ross, Kenseth’s son from a previous relationship.

The expectant due date is anytime after the season-opening Daytona 500. Kenseth even predicted that he expects Katie to go into labor the Monday following the 500.

For Edwards it will also be his second child in about a year. His wife Kate gave birth to daughter Anne before the Las Vegas race last season. The sex of Kenseth and Edward’s expectant ones weren’t revealed.

As for Biffle, he found out the day of the Roush media tour that wife Nicole would be giving birth to a little girl. It will be their first child.

He joked, “We have babies by races. I’m having a Daytona baby. Matt’s having a Phoenix baby.”

The Daytona race will be the July event, with the Biffle saying the due date is July 10. Should that date remain the same it would give Biffle even more reasons to love the month of July and Daytona.

Eight years and five days earlier Biffle celebrated his first career Sprint Cup Series victory in the July Daytona race, July 5, 2003.

“It’s a huge deal. I’m super excited about it. I just can’t wait. Part of me wishes I had done it 10 years ago, but I’m happy. If you’re in the day care business, I think a traveling day care in the NASCAR motor coach lot would be highly popular right now.”

When the day does arrive where the RFR drivers need to hang up their helmets, Jack Roush might not have to go far to find their replacements.

Jason Bowles Wins NASCAR All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway; Pastrana Sixth

By
SM Staff
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(C)NASCAR Home Tracks

Every year, the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway produces high-octane excitement that includes chaos at every end of the track with wrecks and debates. The 2011 showing didn’t disappoint as it included controversy, lots of wrecks and a brand new winner.

[media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”190″][/media-credit]
(C)NASCAR Home Tracks
Jason Bowles has won nine K&N Pro Series races, has come close before – though had never won the overall event to date. That all changed on January 30th as Bowles took the checkered flag after some of the other leaders ran into problems.

“I knew I had a good car going into the race and there were so many things that happened that was I able to avoid,” Bowles said after the race. “I just got a huge jump there and that was it.”

Being the race leader didn’t seem to be the position to be wanted most of the night as most drivers who fell into that sport didn’t fare too well.

Pole sitter and series rookie Derek Thorn started on pole and led all the first 100 laps to the first break, though falling back, he got passed for the lead by Andrew Myers. Myers led all the way to lap 191, when he had a flat right rear, causing him to make an unscheduled pit stop. Bowles inherited the lead, though it didn’t last long as Paulie Harraka bumped and banged his way past.

“We got a good racecar,” Harraka said under the break that followed. “To be honest, I didn’t know we had taken the lead. I knew we were marching to the front, I knew we’d be in the top five, but I didn’t know we’d be the leader. I’m having a blast. I’m having a lot of fun. We never get a 100 green flag laps ever at Toyota Speedway but I am having a lot of fun.”

Harraka then led all the way till 16 to go when Thorn slid up to him, taking him out with others.

“He came down on me,” Thorn told his crew on the radio after the incident

“He flat took me out,” Harraka told his crew.

As a result of Thorn’s intentions, NASCAR black-flagged Thorn for rough driving, sending him to the tail end of the lead. Bowles once again inhereited the lead, though this time it was Greg Pursley passing him with 14 to go. The caution then came out with 11 to go as Dale Quarterly, Troy Ermish and Cole Cabrera got caught up in a wreck, setting up a restart with nine to go.

“We’re going to need to pull out nine qualifying laps here,” Pursley said under the caution. “This is what we’ve worked for – staying up front and staying out of trouble so we’re going to need nine qualifying laps,:

However on a restart, Pursley’s plans fell through as he  had a flat tire, pulling out of the racing line to allow the field to past. Bowles then held off a late race charge from D.J. Kennington to win the race.

Kennington, the 2010 Canadian Tire Series Champion, finished second in his first NASCAR outing south of the border.

[media-credit id=4 align=”alignright” width=”200″]D.J. Kennington at Irwindale Speedway[/media-credit]
(C)Sal Sigala Jr.
“Absolutely, really really proud of everybody on this race team,” Kennington said afterwards. “All my guys are here – its so amazing. I watched this race last year on my couch, its great to be here.”

Meawwhile, Jonathan Gomez finished third after smoking for most of the race due to an oil leak.

“It was a handful out there,” Gomez said. “The middle section – 100 laps straight, no cautions, that was a nice break as we know what the last one was going to be. The first run, the car was a little free, made an adjustment and the car was a little tight – didn’t have the forward bite for the win.”

Luis Martinz Jr. and Johnny Borneman rounded out the top five, while Travis Pastrana finished sixth.

The Showdown marked the first-ever NASCAR start for the 11-gold medal x-game winner as he begins his stint in NASCAR with Michael Waltrip.

“Man, it’s awesome,” Pastrana said afterwards. “I can’t say enough about the entire Waltrip crew. (Matt) Crafton did an awesome job guiding me through all this chaos. I finally got the car loosened up those last 25. I finally felt that I had something going. Three-wide is awesome – I actually got to go four-wide sometimes. I had an awesome time out there. I am super pumped. This sport is so much fun out there and I’ve got a lot to learn.”

Pastrana went through the learning curve as both times under the breaks, the team made the adjustments on the car that were needed.

“I’ve been tight so I said I want it loose,” Pastrana commented under the second segment. “Harry said loose is fast so I wanted to drop the Days of Thunder on this. So hopefully we don’t spin the car out on the first lap as we drop the hammer on this one.”

He also fought through the field like a veteran, fighting hard with competitors to stay on the lead lap and get his sixth place finish.

Derek Thorn, Travis Motley, Moses Smith and NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Steve Wallace rounded out the top 10.

Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle Share Baby, Contract and Texting Talk

By
SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]NASCAR drivers Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle are not only Roush Fenway Racing teammates, but also have some important upcoming events to talk about, from new baby talk to contract talks to talking about the dangers of texting and driving.

The teammates were both outed by owner Jack Roush as to their upcoming baby talk.  Roush announced during the recent NASCAR media tour that both Edwards, who just had a baby with wife Kate last year, and Greg and Nicole Biffle are expecting.

Edwards’ second child is due in May while the Biffle’s first child, a girl, is due in July.

“I couldn’t hold back,” Roush said after announcing the upcoming additions. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

While having a new addition might be old hat for Edwards, this is all new to the Biffles.  Biffle, at age 41,  is also somewhat nervous about the possibility that the birth of his first child will conflict with one of his race dates.

“I don’t have any children, and there is a lot to be said for being there when your child is born,” Biffle said. “But we can’t control everything.”

While both racers await their bundles of joy, their team owner Jack Roush seems to take a more pragmatic approach to it all.  For him, these new mouths to feed might just ensure that both of his drivers remain in the Roush fold.

“One of the things that it’s going to do for a driver that’s having a baby when he’s 40 years old, with the idea of having even more than that after he has the first one, there’s a necessity there for an income stream that’s going to make the livelihood of them staying in this business driving a race car longer than it might if they were on their own,” Roush said.

Both Edwards’ and Biffle’s contracts with Roush Fenway Racing are up at the end of 2011.  While both drivers may keep their options open, there is no doubt that the powers that be at Roush Fenway will be trying to talk turkey with both drivers, with the hopes of wrapping up both deals as quickly as possible.

“I’d like to be able to get it done, so that we can just keep focused on winning, and that’s the most important thing,” Edwards said about his contract negotiation talks.

In addition to the contract talk, as well as the baby talk, both Edwards and Biffle share some talk about texting as well.  The two drivers will be featured on the television program “Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition” discussing the dangers of texting while driving.

The drivers will be supporting the Brown family, who lost their daughter in a texting while driving accident. Emma Roberts and Justin Beiber are also participating in this episode.

“Texting while driving is incredibly dangerous and I think it’s an extremely important message to get out to everyone right now but especially teenage drivers,” Biffle said.

“While Carl and I had a lot of fun taping the segment for ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,’ it is a very serious issue,” Biffle continued.  “Being a part of the show really opened my eyes to the dangers of texting while driving and I’m sure it will do the same for all of the viewers.”

For more information about the dangers of texting and driving, as well as educating teens about safe driving, both Biffle and Edwards recommend a visit to their Ford team website  at www.drivingskillsforlife.com.”

Teamcassracing from the Toyota All-Star Showdown: New Driver, New Crew, New Outlook

By
SM Staff
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There are many different story lines floating around the NASCAR garages during a race weekend.

[media-credit name=”TeamCassRacing” align=”alignleft” width=”225″][/media-credit]The different angles that can be written about are vast as well as limitless, and depending who or what the subject may be about, it seems that most writers are always looking to the major players to get their next big story to write about.

With the popularity along with the start status that surrounds these teams, it’s easy to see how the little guy, or, for a more apt description, the low budget team almost always gets overlooked.

This weekend’s K&N Pro Series All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale is no different, and once again the buzz around the garages surrounds a few of the major players in the East and West series, along with one driver who is making his first start at the NASCAR level.

This weekend could very well see the low budget team of TeamCassRacing once again visit victory lane when last season’s driver Auggie Vidovich, dominated the July 3 K&N Pro Series West race at this same race track.

Teamcassracing, which is back in the showdown after announcing a week after last year’s win they would no longer be racing in the series, is fielding the same car that won on July 3 with driver Jason Fensler.

Fensler, will pilot the No. 50 unsponsored Chevrolet which is entered in the showdown as a fan car, when during the weeks leading up to the race they gave the fans the opportunity to put their names on the car for a small nominal fee to help with racing expenses. In today’s high stakes game of racing, sponsors and budgets still need to be met in order for teams to be able to compete.

How unfortunate is it to be considered a low budget team, especially when their outlook and morale are on the same plateau as those of the more highly-funded teams. Family values have almost been lost when you walk around the garages of some of the more high profile teams, but this team has been able to keep the family values alive while living by the phrase, “The family that races together stays together.”

“You have to be a family in order to be a team, and family comes first with us. There is a bonding process that we go through, and once we mesh as family we should do good and that is one of our goals,” said team owner Terri Cass.

Being a family-orientated team does have its ups and downs, and the team is hoping to run more than just the showdown since it takes more than a tight knit family to run the full season.“For my team we are a low-budget team, we are family-owned and to find sponsors it’s tough because of the economy. We run on bare bones, but we run on top dollar equipment,” said Cass.

Cass also added that, “It does get tense without a sponsor, and sometimes those Top Ramens and hot dogs do get old. But my husband Jim and I are willing to sacrifice and eat those kinds of foods in order to put the money into racing.”

With the start of each new season come the challenges along with the high expectations, and even in this third-tier series, the competition is just as fierce as the second and first-tier levels.

When you think about NASCAR racing, try not to forget that there are still the other levels which bring just as much, and sometimes even more excitement than the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series. After all, each driver has to start someplace, and maybe that one driver who is racing on a Saturday night in your own backyard just might become NASCAR’s next big superstar.

The outlook that Teamcassracing is carrying into the 2011 season is very positive, and one that will hopefully see their goals and dreams come true. “Our outlook is really good; I think that we will do very well this season. Those are our hopes and our dreams. We seem to be meshing as a team. We do have some humps and bumps to get over but we should go good.”

Fensler, who qualified 7th for Saturday nights All-Star Showdown, will be looking forward to bringing his new team a better finish than last year’s race, when Auggie Vidovich finished 32nd after an accident took him out of the evenings. “Practice started off okay and we were struggling made some changes in the middle. Roger Bracken made some changes, and the car picked up a lot of speed.” said Fensler after the first practice session on Friday afternoon.

Fensler also added that, “We have a great race car and I think we have a great shot at winning. I’m really happy from Jim and Terri and the rest of the team. I feel real confident and we will go out and see how the cards fall.” Fensler has one win in the K&N Pro Series West division which came back in 2008, and this weekend’s start will be his second in short tracks racing premier event when he finished 28 after an accident in the 2009 showdown.

Fensler talked about this year’s start knowing this same car is the defending race winner at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale half mile oval when he said, “I think it’s the positive and gives me a ton of confidence and the people that own it and run the program.” Fensler finished with, “It puts pressure on my shoulders as far as being able to get the car to what it needs to be performance wise. I would rather have that type of confidence.”

Andy Belmont Racing Reflects on ARCA Test at Talladega Superspeedway

By
SM Staff
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Following the Daytona test, four teams proceeded to go to Talladega Superspeedway to lay down some extra laps as they continue to prepare for the ARCA season opener.

One of the teams was Andy Belmont Racing with drivers Chad McCumbee and Robb Brent.

“We had a pretty darn productive day,” team owner Andy Belmont told the ARCA Racing Network. “We went down with a game plan with lots to try, and we came away with some really solid info. It think it’s more productive to go to Talladega to test because there’s too many cars at the Daytona test, so track time is limited. With just four teams here yesterday, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We really accomplished a lot. Robb Brent tested a second car for us – it was the car that (Tom) Hessert got the pole with a couple years ago here. We completely rebuilt it, got the bugs out of it, so if we had to unload it, we’d have a hotrod.”

Chad McCumbee, who has experience in both the ARCA Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, said the test proved beneficial.

“It was a very productive day for the ModSpace Ford,” McCumbee said. “Also able to shake down the back-up car, so we’re pretty confident going to Daytona. We actually found some problems on our primary car that could have been detrimental had we not found them prior to Daytona.

“Being that both tracks (Daytona and Talladega) are so smooth now, I think you can pretty much carry over all the information we got from the Talladega test, and take right to Daytona. The tracks are so similar so everything we learned, for the most part, is going to translate.”

Belmont’s son Andrew was suppose to pilot the back-up car, however he recently had his appendix out. Belmont then made the call to put Brent behind the wheel of the car via his past experience in ARCA. 

“I talked with Andy Wednesday night,” Brent said. “He offered up the chance to test his stuff; he’s always got great restrictor plate stuff, so I jumped at the chance. Before the call was done, I told him I’d be on the next flight. Got to the track about 9:30, 10 in the morning and tested all day. We worked some of the bugs out of his back-up car, had some fun; it was well worth it. Just a fun day all around.”

Brent is hoping to pull together his plans for the 2011 season.

“I’ve been constantly working on deals,” Brent said. “I’ve been contacted by a ton of teams – just need that sponsor. I’ll be in a car sometime, not fulltime, but I’ll be in a car somewhere.”

Andy Belmont Racing knew the test would be crucial as beating six-time Daytona winner Bobby Gerhart, was also at the test, is never easy.

“Our primary car was really solid with Chad (McCumbee); but Gerhart’s still the man to beat, no doubt about it,” Belmont said. “But I also think this kid McCumbee’s gunna give him all he can stand – we’ll see. But when it comes to Daytona, Gerhart’s always the man to beat. His focus has been on these two races (Daytona and Talladega) over the last 10 years. He spends most of his budget on these two races. You have to respect Gerhart. I do. We all do. He was really sporty yesterday.”

Chad Knuas and Hendrick Motorsports Bring Sports Mentality to Pit Crew Changes

By
SM Staff
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During the Media Tour, Hendrick Motorsports was questioned of what would happen with the pit crews come 2011 after the struggles seen during the 2010 Chase.

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignleft” width=”244″][/media-credit]It was revealed that five-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be taking three pit crews to the track each weekend between the two teams. The logic is that it will give them 18 crewmen to draw from if someone gets injured or performance problems are seen.

“We’ve always tried to work on the depth of our crew, but we’ve never been able to successfully pull that off,” Knaus said on Wednesday during the NASCAR Media Tour. “We think we’ve got it going in the right direction. It make take a little bit, let’s be honest, to get everything gelling in the right direction.

“But once it hits it’ll be exciting.”

The pit crew issues were spotlighted during the Texas race in the Chase where Knaus swapped pit crews with Jeff Gordon’s team.

Out of the first seven stops of the day, the No. 48 team had lost spots on four of them, costing their driver valuable time. Once teammate Gordon was wrecked out of the race, the swap was called.

“Ultimately, it was my decision to make the decision as we were getting beat,” Knaus said at the time. “I hope we get back with the 48 guys and get things back on track.”

The No. 48 team ended up using Gordon’s pit crew for the rest of the season on their way to winning the title by 39 points.

At the end of the year, the swap was reversed so therefore Steve Letarte, who was Godon’s crew chief at the time, could bring his team over to work with Earnahrdt in the new season. Knaus said of his team, four members remain in the mix, though nothing has been finalized.

“I can change at any point and time,” Knaus said. “We’ve always had that to a degree, but our backups weren’t necessarily ones that could get it done. I wouldn’t say get it done, but maybe guys on the back end of their career.”

On the other side of the spectrum, the No. 24 team of Gordon and the No. 5 of Mark Martin will have six full-time members per car and another four to share if problems arise.

The mentality that looks to be played out by Hendrick Motorsports is nothing different then what you see in most sports. Every hockey team, basketball team and football team has multiple guys ready to step up to the plate and makes line changes in the middle of the game. This looks to be no different with what Knaus has lined up as he just has created a second-line to swap partway.

HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: The winds of change were an overall welcome arrival

By
SM Staff
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Over the past few days we witnessed NASCAR’s willingness to address some needed changes with the vast majority of them being positive steps in the right direction. We also learned of a rather unusual pit crew platoon system that somewhat rivals the National Football League’s special teams concept and it appears that there’s another NASCAR baby boom in the making. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

[media-credit name=”FMCM” align=”alignleft” width=”223″][/media-credit]An overall HOORAH to NASCAR for their willingness to address and implement changes in their championship points system, for the first time since 1975, and their Chase format. While announcing the changes, last Wednesday night, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said “the fans tell us that winning matters the most with them, so we’re combining the tradition of consistency in our sport with the excitement that comes along with winning.”

HOORAH to the much simpler championship points system. The race winner will receive 43 points with a one point differential between each position all the way to the last place driver who will receive only one point. The new system also awards three bonus points to the race winner, a single bonus point for leading a lap along with another bonus point for leading the most laps. The max point capability for a race winner is 48 compared to the 42 points the runner up driver will receive. The one point differential could lead to some exciting number scenarios when it comes time to determine the Chase for the Championship line up next September.

By the way, I’m going to assume that no pun was intended regarding the fact that the max points number, 48, matches the car number of five time consecutive champion Jimmie Johnson. Probably not, NASCAR officials aren’t exactly noted for “punning around.”

In terms of simple math, there’s really not a huge differential between the old and new systems other than the fact the new mode will be considerably easier for a fan to calculate the points progress of their favorite driver. Last year we needed a points procedure print out from “NASCAR.Com” and a calculator. This year we won’t even need a pencil to calculate points.

Having said that I do feel a need to issue a somewhat reluctant WAZZUP over the three bonus points awarded to race winners. I would have liked to have seen that figure just slightly higher. It has nothing to do with incentive to win. A modern day Sprint Cup driver really doesn’t require an extra incentive to win. In fact I’ve never actually met a driver, from any form of racing, whose primary goal wasn’t to be the first to pass under the checkers. This opinion is based on the fact that the exceptionally high level of competition in NASCAR these days requires an extraordinary special effort to win a Sprint Cup event and that extra effort deserves additional bonus points.

HOORAH to the wild card provisional NASCAR implemented into their Chase For The Championship format. The top ten in the championship standings, after race number 26, will make the Chase line up business as usual. But Chase positions 11 and 12 will be offered to the two drivers, outside of the top ten, who won the most races as long as they are within the top 20 in the standings. This appears to be part of Brian France’s reference to extra incentive for winning and it has the capability of becoming rather interesting later in the season.

HOORAH for plans to eventually reconfigure the front of the modern day NASCAR stock car so it will again resemble what’s actually on the show room floors. The manufacturer decals on the nose of these cars is often the only means for fans had to quickly determine their origin. This move will also return credence to that long time racing adage that states “win a race on Sunday, sell a car on Monday.”

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WAZZUP with the back up pit crew plan at Hendrick Motorsports? This scheme is the handy work of Chad Knaus, the crew chief for Jimmie Johnson’s #48 championship team, that also benefits the HMS #88 team, led by crew chief Steve Letarte, for driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Following some recent shuffling at HMS, these two teams now share a shop building.

The plan calls for the two teams to travel with three complete pit crews, a total of 18 men, for each race weekend. That will allow crew chiefs Knaus and Letarte the luxury of mixing and matching the crew members they feel they need for each race while covering any pit road emergency such as injury or the frustration of slumping job performance levels. It appears at this juncture that there may not actually be any real permanent crew members for either of these teams.

We all saw how Knaus handles performance emergencies. Remember last fall, in the midst of the Chase event at Texas, when a frustrated and angry Knaus exchanged his #48 crew with Jeff Gordon’s #24 team?

On the other side of the HMS complex Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin’s teams will have full time pit crews consisting of six men each, with four extra men representing their back up plan.

After hearing all this one can’t help but ask: why limit the back up plan to just pit crew members? If Chad Knaus or Steve Letarte makes a pit stop call that transforms their car’s handling from bad to worse then send in the back up chief to man the pit box. This procedure would work similar to a National Football League offensive coach who swaps running backs or receivers to suite the need of a particular moment.

How about a back up public relations team? If for some reason the primary PR unit isn’t properly selling a story to the NASCAR media, then send in the second stringers who can cleverly reword the bullet points of the very same theme.

How about a back up team cook? If for some reason the breakfast, served to the #48 and #88 teams, totally sucks then have the back up cook take over the stoves so he can make things right again just in time for lunch.

(Someone should stop me now-I could do this all day!)

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From our GOD BLESS department we urge you to send some thoughts and prayers to NASCAR champion and icon Ned Jarrett who will be taking his rightful place in NASCAR’s Hall Of Fame next May. Some frightening chest pains, late last month, forced a surgical procedure that required a pair of stents to be placed in arteries to open blockages. Jarrett is slowly but surely recovering.

During his career Jarrett was a hard charger that always displayed the spirit of a true racer. That’s what led him to becoming a member of the NASCAR Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2011. Off the track Jarrett is a gentleman, a true class act and one of the nicest people a fan would ever want to have a conversation with. Please get well soon, Mr. Jarrett.

A GOD BLESS also goes out to the families of Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth all, of whom, recently announced that their wives will be delivering babies later this year. Note to team owner Jack Roush: you may want to check the quality of the water at the Roush Fenway race shops.

That leads to a HOORAH to “Mr. Excitement”, Jimmy Spencer, who, during a Thursday night appearance on SPEED, commented on the Roush Fenway driver’s expectant wives by asking “is there anything that David Ragan isn’t left out of over there?”

On the topic of the NASCAR baby boom, HOORAH to Mrs. Jamie McMurray for telling her husband that he’s not allowed to send text messages on his cell phone while their brand new baby is riding in the car with him. Then again, WAZZUP with sending text messages while driving no matter who’s in the car? Note to Jamie McMurray: when you head west, for the Auto Club Speedway race next March, you need to know that texting and driving out here in California will net you a big time, expensive, traffic ticket.

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Finally here’s two HOORAHs for this week’s NASCAR notable quotables. The first goes to DeLana Harvick who sent the following message on “Twitter”: (This) sounds like a bad country song. I’m headed to a town called Welcome,(the official home of Richard Childress Racing), to see a man named Happy, (the official nickname of husband Kevin Harvick).

Then there was the matter of fan favorite Kenny Wallace who wanted to share the good news that his exercise and nutrition program is working and he’s now down to a fit and trim 176 pounds. In a “Tweet” sent on Thursday he wrote: “you know what’s good? When I am on the toilet now, I DO NOT have a little belly hanging over. That’s the s**t! ha ha ha ha !”

Toyota NSCS JGR Media Tour Notes & Quotes – Denny Hamlin

By
SM Staff
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TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Notes & Quotes — Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Media Tour Event — January 27, 2011

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What is your outlook for 2011? “I’m ready to go.  I feel as confident as we’ve ever been.  Every year we’ve steadily made a progression towards the top and obviously had a career year last year.  We know we can do it and we can win at all different kinds of race tracks.  For me, I think we have everything in place.  I’m keeping all of my key personnel from what we had last year.  No changes there.  Pit crew is the same.  The driver will be a little bit better.  Everything is in place to hopefully pull out a first one.”

What have you and your team done to make sure you continue the success you had in 2010 and not fall off? “We don’t do anything to try to prevent that from happening.  All we can do is be our own team.  A lot of times we get compared to guys who have done that or had high expectations and we’ve always proved everyone wrong when it’s come to that.  I’m really not concerned with it.  I know we have a good enough team to stay at the top where we’re at.  It’s just a matter of doing our homework.”

Is your team hesitant to change the equipment you had last year? “No, we’re still working.  I know it’s not going to be good enough.  We were extremely successful in the end of the 2009 Chase and you kind of wonder, ‘Is that going to go into 2010?’  We started 2010 out with that same stuff and we were okay, and until we started evolving things in the middle of last season that’s when we started winning races.  Then by the end of the season, when we had our new stuff out it was even better.  We continually know that you’ve got to change within the sport.  You can’t stay in one place or else you’re going to get passed by a lot of guys.  For me, I never rest on what I have.  I’m no different than that race car.   The things I have to improve on I have to go to work on.  Whether it be studying, doing homework, doing the things I’ve got to do — review tape, study notes.  I need to be worked on just as much as the race car.  All those things hopefully are what make us championship contenders.  For me, there’s certain areas that I for sure have to work on and I know that there’s some areas within our team that we’ve written down that we’ve got to get better in.  We know our weak points at this point right now.”

Do you feel as much pressure going into this season as you did last year? “I’ll be honest with you, I think last year going into 2010 there were probably more expectations than what there are for myself this year.  I think everyone is expecting a letdown year and obviously for me I know it’s not an option.  I’m excited about the challenge.  There’s fuel.  There’s fuel there constantly — whether I would’ve won the championship or not — to be on top of the sport.  So, for me, I look forward to the challenge — and it’s going to be a challenge.”

When did you know you lost the championship? “I think just after Phoenix in general it was tough because we go from leaving one race track knowing we pretty much just have to run mid-pack to lock it up to now we’ve got to go out there and race hard.  And then you qualify bad and it’s just like, ‘Man, I just have a bad feeling about this.’  It’s tough to overcome that, and especially when you have negative energy and negative thoughts like that.  I think it just wasn’t meant to be.  There were so many instances in that Chase where it was over, it should’ve been over but it just didn’t happen.  So, it just wasn’t meant to be for us that year.”

How long did it take you to get over the disappointment? “After the awards banquet I was done with it pretty much.  You had to relive it through media for the two weeks after the season.   As soon as I was done with Vegas and was able to shut the TV off and stuff, it was just focus on this year.”

Do you need to prove something this year after how last season ended? “I hate driving feeling like you have something to prove.  I feel like drivers that drive with a chip on their shoulder don’t do as well as they should, but there’s always a sense of wanting to be the best.  I feel like I’m one of the toughest competitors in the garage and that doesn’t necessarily mean about racing.  Everything that I ever do, I’m so competitive and I hate losing — that’s what fuels my racing drive.  That’s why I chose racing back when I was a kid, is that it’s you versus the other guys.  The cars were all meant to be the same and the drivers are supposed to work it out.  That is what I loved about racing, is the challenge of beating someone heads up.  It doesn’t matter what I do, that fire will never ever change and I will continue to be the sorest of losers.”

What would a championship mean to Joe Gibbs Racing in its 20th season in NASCAR? “It’s big for the company.  There’s a lot of good history from before I was around this place and when this place got established.  I came into a really, really good situation.  I came in when there were rides to be had and I somehow got with one of the best sponsors, with the best teams and with the best crew chief all just kind of thrown at me and luckily made the best of that situation.    For me, if we were able to win the championship in our 20 years it would be pretty big knowing the foundation that guys like Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett laid for this company.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued)

How did you balance both the mental and emotional side during last year’s Chase? “I’ve just been through a few Chase’s where I’ve crashed us out of them making aggressive moves and things like that.  I didn’t want to be the deciding factor on us winning a championship or not.  In turn, maybe it was because I was in a wreck at Homestead, but I specifically set out to not get myself into trouble.  I wanted to be there at race five where I knew from race five on that those were our strong race tracks.  I wanted to be within ‘x’ amount of points, because I knew I could make up a certain amount of points each week from there on out until the final race.  And we executed exactly the way we said we were going to execute.  It’s just we didn’t allow room for error.  I didn’t allow room for error.  I didn’t allow for running out of gas at Phoenix.  I didn’t allow for tearing up a race car at Homestead.  Those are things that derail — I wouldn’t change my strategy, because we kept ourselves in the game the entire Chase and we separated ourselves from the pack.  We eliminated seven or eight guys, kept it a three-car race and gave ourselves a chance to win the championship — a great chance.  Unfortunately for us, we lost it in the final seconds of the game.  Its part of sports and you’ve got to understand that part.”

How will you approach the first part of the season with the new NASCAR points system? “I think you’re going to race it very, very similar, but I think once you get two wins in the first 26 races, I think you’re going to feel pretty comfortable.  You’re going to be in the Chase if not as a wild card.  So, you can go for a lot more wins from that point forward, but you’ve got to be inside the top-10 for those bonus points to count.  It’s a little bit different game, but I think it’s mostly going to be about consistency in the Chase.  I love what they’re doing, having those race winners be part of the Chase, but honestly if you’re not consistent enough in the 26 races and you’re 18th in points and you’ve won a couple races, you’re  probably not going to go on a run the final 10.  But, it makes it more interesting and gets those guys involved in the Chase.”

Do you feel like its win a championship or bust this year after coming so close last year? “It’s always championship or bust.  But, for me, if I don’t win the championship then I’ve took a step back because I finished second in points.  If I finish third, how am I going to consider that a successful year?  I just took a step back from where I was last year.  And, you see over the last four years we’ve jumped three spots in the points every year over these last four years or so.  For me, there’s only one more spot to move up and I’m going to go into this year with a whole lot more knowledge of what I need to do and what I need to work on from this point forward.  I think that the advantage that I have probably over Jimmie (Johnson) or Kevin (Harvick) or any of those guys is I’m in my sixth year here.  I’m still learning a whole lot about these cars and things like that.  Those guys have been in the sport for 10 years now.  They’ve had a lot of opportunities.  Me, I’ve had really two legitimate shots to win a championship in my first five years of my career.  There’s a lot that I’ve learned and it’s all about making sure that I execute that and do the things in my head that I know that I need to do.”

Are you surprised NASCAR made changes to the points system after the excitement last year? “No, I’ll be honest with you, I think all of the changes are good and that’s the honest side of me saying if I thought it was bad I would say I didn’t like it.  I think that everything that they’ve changed is a positive thing.  It’s going to make the fans understand a whole lot more.  It’s going to make our drivers understand a lot more and on top of that it’s going to force us to go out and try to win the race.  We’re not going to be happy with second place knowing that we’ve left six or seven points out there on the table, and that being a lot of spots in our points system.  I like it. I think that they really thought about this and they were really methodical about it and I think it’s good for our sport.”

Do you think NASCAR went too far with the new points system or do you think they hit it right on the head? “I think they hit it right on the head.  I really don’t think they could’ve made it any simpler for the new race fan coming into the sport or the drivers that knows he’s 10 points behind.  He’s got to pass 10 cars.  It makes things so much simpler and for me it’s well understood.  I think it’s going to reward those guys that go out and win during the regular season.  It’s going to give you three bonus points.  That’s three spots — that’s like 15 points going into the Chase versus last year’s 10.  It’s going to pay to win races nowadays.”

What did you learn from last season? “You’ve got to be mentally tough.  That’s for sure.  Obviously, at the end of last year you had to just kind of shut the TV off for a couple weeks to try and clear your head.  Once we got past the banquet then it was like, ‘Now it’s 2011.  I don’t have to think about 2010.  I don’t have to talk about it anymore.  We can just move on.’  For me, that became the point in which I said, ‘Now, I’ve got to get out the books, I’ve got to get out the tape.  Now, I’ve got to do homework on what I can do to be better because I’m no different than this race car that needs to be worked on and needs to be fine-tuned.  The driver has got to fine-tune his skills.   I’ve got to get better in different areas.  They’ve been working hard here at the shop and I’ve been working hard at home.”

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