Prerace News and Notes from Charlotte Motor Speedway
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[/media-credit]The Sprint Showdown will feature an all Ford front row. Leading the field to the green in Roush Fenway Racing Driver David Ragan in the No. 6 UPS machine. Ragan timed in with a lap of 28.172 seconds, which translates into 191.68 mph. Starting on the outside of the front row is Richard Petty Motorsports driver A.J. Allmendinger in the Best Buy famed No. 43. Rounding out the top 3 is Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Driver Paul Menard.
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The All-Star Race will be led to the green flag by Kyle ‘Rowdy’ Busch in the M&M No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. His team turned in a cumulative effort and combined team time of 1:59:19 sec. Clint Bowyer claimed the outside pole position in his Richard Childress Racing BB&T Chevrolet No. 33. Starting third is Roush Fenway Racing Driver Greg Biffle in the No. 16 3M machine.
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Congratulation to Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Fed Ex crew who won their second consecutive Pit Crew Challenge for Joe Gibbs Racing.
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Tony Stewart celebrated his 40th birthday at the track on Friday, and while he admits to a few small pieces of cake. He does agree, there is no place else that he rather be. “I love what I do. I love being with the people that I am around and most of my friends are in the garage area, so I can’t think of a better place to spend my birthday.”
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Special paint schemes of interest include Stewart’s No. 14 carrying the blue and orange colors for Burger King. Mark Martin is riding in the No. 25 Farmers Insurance Group (red). Juan Pablo Montoya is carrying the Energizer banner on the hood of his No. 42 machine in preparation for the ‘Light Up the Night’ program. Carl Edwards Aflac Ford will be decorated in new black and orange AFLAC colors. Kevin Harvick’s Budweiser machine is tearing it up in black, white and red. The famed Rainbow machine of Jeff Gordon has turned into a black and red Dupont machine for the All-Star event. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s AMP Energy Chevrolet features AMP Up the Music in a black and silver paint scheme. Meanwhile Bobby Labonte will race his No. 47 machine with a new sponsor: Reese Towpower.
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“With today being NASCAR Day, we are proud of the money we raised, mostly going to children’s charities, and not to mention the monies just granted to the tornado victims throughout Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi,” Said Brian France when he addressed the media on Friday.
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Monday night the NASCAR Hall of Fame will induct its second class. The class includes Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, Lee Petty, Bud Moore and David Pearson.
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Clint Bowyer shared his excitement about Kansas Speedway. “I just went back there for a media day, just kind of pumping up the upcoming race. The soccer field is done. I’m waiting for the casino. I know that’s going to be a big hit when they get that done. But I’m just looking forward to going back there. I’m really excited about the way our cars are running on these 1.5 mile tracks. The car was good here in practice and we’ve got a brand new bullet in store for Kansas, so I’m looking forward to it.”
It means a lot to Carl Edwards to be going to Kansas twice this year. “A win at Kansas in the Cup Series, you guys don’t know how much that would mean to me. I am excited we are running twice there. I thin our program is suited very well to those type of tracks.
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Jeff Gordon will make his 17th appearance in the All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He is a three-time winner in this event. (1995, 1997, 2001)
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Mark Martin appreciates the race fans that make sacrifices to be at the track. “We love the fan which is why we’re able to race on this level. And for most all of us, we came up through the ranks where there might be 1000 or 1500 fans in the stands on a given night of racing. When you start having 150,000 fans at a race, it’s pretty overwhelming for us to really comprehend how you can reach out and touch so many people. The fans are what drives this sport. We’re all grateful for their loyalty.”
Mark Martin has made 21 appearances in the All-Star event. He has the most appearances of any active driver. He will run the No. 25 HMS machine in this race, which signifies 25 years of racing for Papa Jo Hendrick.
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On their approach to Saturday night’s racing, drivers are of the same mindset. Martin Truex Jr.’s approach “If you don’t win, it don’t matter. Win or go home.” For the Showdown, Brian Vickers is going “all out! We’ve got to just put it on the line. You either win or go home.” Vickers sat out of this event last season following a medical issue.
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Matty’s Picks – Vol. 2 – Sprint All-Star Race – May 21, 2011
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[/media-credit]This week, I get the pleasure of submitting picks for two races as well as my ‘Shoe-in’ for a fan-favorite entry into the 2011 Sprint All-Star Race.
Let’s start with a brief recap of my picks last week. Stepping outside of the recent trend last week, my actual pick to win the race finished higher than my Dark Horse pick. Despite a few critics of my picks last week, I ended up in ‘OK’ shape when the checkered flag flew.
Dover – ‘Winner’ Pick
After starting dead last following an engine change prior to the green flag on Sunday, Kyle Busch made the most out of his extremely fast Camry. Busch worked his way from 43rd all the way into the Top-10 by the midway point of the race. It was somewhere around lap 350 that I felt like I had made a really nice pick in KB as he moved into 6th place. Had it not been for a few cars gambling on staying out or taking two tires on their last pit stops, Kyle Busch would have won the race. Finishing third, he was the first car in line that took all four Goodyears on the final stop.
Dover – ‘Dark Horse’ Pick
It was a rough day in Delaware for the #27 team. Averaging a running spot of around 22, Paul Menard was nowhere near gaining me points in my own ‘Pick-um’ contest. The end of my hope for double points in my Dark Horse pick came at lap 340 when Menard got into Juan Montoya and subsequently hit the wall. Finishing the race in 24th, three laps down, Menard wouldn’t score me any points at Dover.
Onto this week’s events…
Sprint Showdown – ‘Winner’ Pick
I will stick with the winner of last years Sprint Showdown race for my pick to win this race. Martin Truex Jr. was seventh-quick in practice this afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Truex has been seen starting towards the front of the field at Charlotte, and to me starting towards the front of a sprint is extremely important. Being familiar with the ‘race your way in’ format of the Showdown will also give Truex an advantage on Saturday Night.
Sprint Showdown – ‘Dark Horse’
I think it’s time to see a Red Bull driver finish towards the front, and I think that the Showdown Race will be a great time to see it. Brian Vickers is my Dark Horse for the Showdown. He does have two Top-5’s and three Top-10’s at Charlotte to his credit, so watch for the #83 to make the transfer into the All-Star Race.
Fan-Favorite ‘Shoe-In’
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – I don’t see Jr racing his way into the All-Star, but I do see Jr Nation voting him into the race.
Now to the MONEY RACE…
Sprint All-Star Race – ‘Dark Horse’
It is fairly difficult to pick an actual Dark Horse in a field of All-Stars, but this driver is just due for a win. Mark Martin has won two All-Star races in his career and he stands a nice shot at following up his second place finish at Dover with a million dollar win on Saturday Night. He was won four times at Charlotte and has scored 18 Top-5’s at the track.
Sprint All-Star Race – ‘Winner’ Pick
Fans will be treated Saturday Night to a ‘Million Dollar Backflip’. Charlotte is a track that has eluded a win for Carl Edwards, despite having four Top-5’s in his twelve races. Seventeen of his nineteen Sprint Cup Series wins have come at intermediate tracks, so Edwards is no stranger to Victory Lane at a 1.5 mile. The 99 team has put together a strong car for Saturday Night, finishing practice second on the speed chart. I think this will be Carl’s turn to collect the One-Million-Dollar purse for winning the 2011 NASCAR All-Star Race.
On a side note; Kudos to the team of the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry for winning the 2011 Pit Crew Challenge.
Until next week, you stay classy NASCAR NATION!
CHEVY NSCS AT CHARLOTTE ALL-STAR RACE: Tony Stewart Press Conference Transcript
Indianapolis 500 Thursday Practice: Power Tops Chart, de Silvestro Wrecks Hard
IZOD IndyCar Series Points Leader Will Power topped the charts today with a speed of 227.778 (mph) for the fastest lap of the day and the month so far.
“I don’t think the speeds are very representative of where anyone is at,” Power said. “You go out and happen to get a really good tow, and you get a big number. That’s what happened at the end. Verizon Team Penske worked on race setup most of the day. I was very comfortable following cars. We haven’t changed much from last year. We had good cars last year and need to rub on them a little bit, and that will do the trick.”
With the shortened practice time, teams are having to change their strategy.
“I think tomorrow, early on, we’ll be working on race stuff, and then we’ll start trimming out for qualifying,” Power continued. “We’ll be working on the car. I think it’s pretty important to focus on the race. You could spend a lot of time screwing around with qualifying things, and then it’ll be different conditions the next day. We have to have a good car in the race. That’s what we’ll be focusing on.”
Alex Tagliani remained near the top of the time sheet as he ranked second with a quick lap of 227.652.
“We did well today,” Tagliani said. “We learned a lot. We had good track position, and we weren’t in a lot of traffic. That lap (227.652 mph), I was behind Dario Franchitti, so I had a bit of a tow. But it shows that the car is quick and capable of doing it. I think we still have more to come. We just need to make sure that when it comes time to do it, we have the right balance.”
Tagliani feels that he has a good shot for the pole.
“The way the car is running right now, for sure it is,” Tagliani added. “I think we would be foolish to think that we couldn’t do it. But the truth is that Penske and Ganassi have really good cars, and they know their way around this place. They have 10 times more experience than us. I’m sure by qualifying they’re going to do something amazing to their cars, and all of a sudden they’re going to be up to the top and we’re going to end up fighting with them. But if that happens, that’s OK. We should be proud that guys like Roger and Chip are looking at us, going, ‘Why are those guys so quick?’ That’s kind of our mindset right now.”
Power’s Penkse Racing teammate Briscoe was third with 227.217.
“It was a very good day, overall,” Briscoe said. “We worked on the race setup on the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske car, and I worked a lot with my teammates on track. We made a ton of changes throughout the day, and we were very productive. We trimmed out the car at the end of the session and focused a bit more on speed. All in all, it was a very productive day.”
Three time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves was fourth (226.927).
“It was certainly a good and full day for the No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra team,” Castroneves said. “We ran a lot of laps and all of them were really about race setup. My teammates, Will and Ryan, did some qualifying runs so we know what we need to do there, but we really just focused on getting our car right for the race. Tomorrow will be all about speed for us. It’s going to be fun!”
Townsend Bell rounded out the top five with a speed of 226.741mph.
“We did a good amount of running,” Bell said. “It was good to get out with the Herbalife car after the rain the last two days. We learned a lot and tried several things that were on our list. We’ve very comfortable.”
The sesson did not go without incident as Simona de Silvestro made heavy contact with the outside wall, before going airborne and catching fire. She was transported to Methodist Hospital to be treated for burns to her hands and released.
Team owner Keith Wiggins stated that the car de Silvestro was damaged beyond the repair as they’ll have to go to a back-up car.
“We can build a good car, but it probably won’t be as good as the original car because that was built specifically for here,” Wiggins said. “There are a lot of specialties about building a car for here, and we only had one of those built because that is all our resources will allow. So the question is will this car be as quick as the other one? That’s the challenge.”
