The Final Word – Kurt Busch and other boys who have spent time in the dog house

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June 27, 2011

We fans are funny folks. We like who we like, we don’t who we don’t, and once we don’t, it could take years, if ever, for us to change our minds. In a sport where popularity and merchandise sales mean almost as much as the racing, it is a big deal.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”247″][/media-credit]Take Kurt Busch, for example. He dominated things at Sonoma this past Sunday from start to finish to claim his first road course victory. Busch has won 23 Cup races, at least one in each of the past ten seasons, and claimed the season crown in 2004. Still, he is on no one’s list as being among the top ten most popular or highest paid drivers. Why? Well, you would have to go back to August, 2003 for the answer to that.

The then 25 year old was mouthy and cocky back in the day, but that doesn’t really hurt one in the popularity game. Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and the late Dale Earnhardt all came out of the same mold, and have been embraced by those who shell out the dollars on trinkets. No, what Busch did was push Jimmy Spencer’s buttons, got punched in the head for his trouble, then became what some might refer to as a “whiney tit”, claiming his innocence while keeping a few of the facts under wraps. Spencer got suspended for the next race at Bristol, a race Busch won, and immediately he got the reaction he has been trying to live down ever since. The rule is, if you are a jerk, you also better be a man.

Kurt has been doing his best to change his image ever since. Sadly, being a jerk was good, as being a nice guy has cost him tons of charisma. All he needed to do was quit being a weasel, which it appears he has also done. Now, if only his brother Kyle can learn that same lesson, and quick.

Kyle is good, damn good. He wins, he struts, he pushes the envelop out on the track. However, when it came time to start paying the piper, like when Kevin Harvick laid down the gauntlet or when 65-year old Richard Childress decided to play the role of Kyle’s Jimmy Spencer, the younger Busch seemed at a loss as to why, oh why, people would treat him so unfairly. Maybe Childress did, and I don’t think his reaction to these incidents has hurt him much yet, but it could. The lads needs to begin reacting to these challenges with a lot more panache than he has to date.

Danny Hamlin is one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why. The boy is moody, a bit of a whiner, and makes the mistake of complaining about fellow drivers more popular than he is. Then again, maybe it is just me. Others seem to like him, and with 17 wins in less than 5-1/2 seasons, well, winning helps. Just ask Kyle.

Then there is Brian Vickers. I liked Vickers as a Nationwide driver, but his fall from grace probably stems from the fall race at Talladega in 2006. He made a pass, clipped Jimmie Johnson who in turn took out Dale Earnhardt Jr. Then the boy celebrated in Victory Lane as though he truly had accomplished something. Not good. Then last Sunday, he gets taken out by Tony Stewart, who he in turn purposely punts into oblivion in the late stages of that race in revenge. They put a microphone in front of his face and…well, he gave a mature, reasoned response. No whining, no protests of innocence, but rather a reasoned explanation of what took place, from his point of view. He came across as, dare I say it, manly.

So, after nearly five years, is Vickers back in my good books? I will have a better idea this weekend when the action resumes in Daytona to see how I feel. I probably won’t be buying any Red Bull merchandise at the moment, then again, from what I hear that stuff could be bound for the closet soon anyway. Enjoy the week.

Marco Andretti Puts Andretti Autosport Back on Track with Win at Iowa

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SM Staff

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June 27, 2011

500 marco andretti tony kanaan battle for lead at iowa by Kyle Ocker — Marco Andretti (26) and Tony Kanaan (82) battle for the lead late in the race at Iowa Speedway.

Since 2003, Andretti Autosport has been competing in the IZOD IndyCar Series and since, they have three championships, two Indianapolis 500 victories and 36 wins. The problem was none of that success came recently – till last Saturday.

Last Saturday, Marco Andretti won the Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer at Iowa Speedway on June 25th, 0.7932 seconds over Tony Kanaan.

“It was a big win for us for sure,” team owner Michael Andretti said. “I think a lot of people were really pounding on us and thought we were down and out, but I can tell you this team has got tons of fight in it and we are never out.”

275 Marco Andretti victory lane at Iowa by Kyle Ocker — Marco Andretti holds the Iowa Indy Corn 250 trophy after winning Saturday's race in Newton, Iowa.

Back in 2007 with Dario Franchitti, the team won the Indianapolis 500 and the championship and in their first four season, had a total of four victories. Though since then, they had yet to find that type of success.

This year has been a different story as they won earlier this season with Mike Conway and now with Andretti.

“I’m happy for all the Venom guys; they did a great job,” Michael Andretti continued. “The last pit stop they brought him out P1. They did it when we needed it. It was just really truly a team effort, and Marco drove a hell of a race there in the end. He was beating the best. He had Tony out there, he had Dario, (Scott) Dixon and he drove very well there in the end.

“I’m just so happy and relieved for (Marco). There’s been a huge monkey on his back, and it was on mine, as well. There was just a lot of pressure on us, him as a driver, me as an owner, because of some of the past things that happened at Indy and stuff. So to come back and win like this, it was just a great, great day.”

Nine races into the year, Andretti Autosports’ four drivers Danica Patrick, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Conway and Andretti have scored four top-fives and 12 top-10 finishes. While Andretti won the Iowa race, Patrick posted her third consecutive top 10 after starting on the front row while Hunter-Reay finished eighth.

Meanwhile, for Andretti, the win marked Andretti’s first win since Infineon Raceway in 2006 (stretching 78-races).

“We’ve been in a position to win a lot of races and we’ve come up short,” Andretti said. “I never doubted the team, never doubted myself. I always said as soon as the stars were aligned and a little bit of luck goes my way that we’d be sitting here.

“I think it’s just the drought, so to speak, just made me appreciate what we have here in IndyCar racing. From the drivers to the teams, it just makes us appreciate being here that much more because we know we beat those guys. The competition is unbelievable.”

TNT’s Embarrassment To The Sport Coverage Needs To Go

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SM Staff

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June 27, 2011

As I sat down ready to watch some of the road course action at Sonoma this past weekend, I was looking forward to a solid race where I could see the action. No doubt the action was heated on track with the feuds, though the coverage took away from that greatly.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”238″][/media-credit]For starters, how much coverage was actually shown? Every seven minutes or so, it looked as though they were going to commercial. The statistics show that that there were 143 minutes of the race shown with 52 minutes of commercial. That works out to 26% of the race being commercials, instead of racing action. For the race at Michigan, it was 22% while Pocono was 27% commercials.

Of course, if you look back to FOX’s final race at Kansas where there were 52 minutes of commercials equaling 27% of the broadcast, I guess you could say that they’re on par.

Though even if they’re on par, they’re not doing a good job. FOX was good at showing different angles, keeping fans informed with what’s going on with a bunch of drivers and giving you the full recap of a wreck.

For the big wreck down in turn 11, TNT showed multiple angles of the wreck to show how Brian Vickers got shoved in there by Tony Stewart. However, the only damage they showed was the damage to Vickers. What about Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick who were in that mess? We heard them say at the end how Harvick came back from the incident to finish well. How much do we know of that comeback when you don’t show each car involved with their damage? Then, when Earnhardt Jr.’s motor blows up later in the race, how are we to know that’s caused by the front end damage when we didn’t see how serious it looked?

TNT missed opportunities to report nuggets during the race that should’ve been discussed, including issues for points leader Carl Edwards. While watching the race, it was twitter first where I heard of Edwards having a crushed quarter panel and it causing him issues. Meanwhile, TNT was more focused on Kurt Busch and his lead and whether or not he could be caught.

Speaking of the lead, how many times did they come back just after a pass for the lead had been made? Or how many pit stops did they miss? There’s some key story lines right there as they help in telling the story of how the race is going to play out.

NASCAR keeps wondering why fans complain about the race coverage on TV and are turning away from watching it. They can’t be losing fans because of the racing action as any fan will tell you that Sunday is exciting. So until either TNT fixes their errors or NASCAR drops them off the wagon, the trend of losing fans is going to keep happening.

If you want an example of what coverage should look like, watch an IZOD IndyCar race as their coverage was beautifully put together and might I add, I got to see lots of action while knowing all the top story lines.

ARCA Winchester News and Notes: Venturini Motorsports, Tom Hessert and More

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SM Staff

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June 27, 2011

While the race was won by Dakoda Armstrong, a bunch of other drivers came home with solid finishes to be proud of.

This year, Venturini Motorsports has made it a habit of finishing in the top 10 with a variety of drivers. The latest driver to add his name to the list is Ryan Blaney.

Blaney drove the team’s No.25 Lauren Briant/Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet to a sixth place finish after suffering a flat right front tire on lap 162 in his ARCA debut.

“We were trying to take it easy in the race, just trying to save our stuff,” Blaney said, after leading 154 of the first 161 laps. “I think if we could have had 10 more laps after we blew a tire, we could have passed Ty for the lead and then we would have been one lap down and got that caution and been in business. It just wasn’t meant to be.

“I ran the same line I did 50 laps in a row. I was just taking it so easy, especially to help that right front and to keep it from doing what it did. I don’t know if our camber was off or what. But it was a great night. I’ve got to thank Venturini for letting me run this car and making it as good as it was. We’ll get ‘em next time.”

The son of NASCAR veteran Dave Blaney is hoping that he can make some more starts this season.

“It’s great to race in the ARCA (Racing) Series,” Blaney said. “There are really good guys racing, especially here, a place like Winchester.”

Venturini Motorsports also debuted John Blankenship, who finished 10th in the No. 55 Chevrolet, meaning that so far this year Venturini has 11 top 10s with nine different drivers.

Meanwhile, finishing fifth in front of Blaney was Tom Hessert, who was proud to impress numerous guests from Federated Auto Parts, who were on hand as the race’s sponsor.

“The guys in the pits did a really good job of getting us back out,” he said. “We didn’t have the best car; we had a couple issues that were keeping us from being better, but it was a good top-five for the Federated car at a Federated race. It’s good to have a good showing for them. It’s too bad we couldn’t get a win, but in a couple weeks we’ll go to Berlin and we always run really well there.”

For points leader Ty Dillon, it was also a solid day for him as he still finished fouth to pad his points lead despite bottoming out lap in the race.

“It’s unfortunate,” Dillon said. “It doesn’t happen to us often, but it’s still a good points day. We qualified well and led a couple of laps. I’m happy. I just like winning, so it’s a little disappointing to lead laps there at the end of the race and fall off so bad. We saved our stuff all day and rode and were hoping for what happened to happen, for guys to wear their stuff out and us be patient as usual to let the race come to us, but something happened there and we just got too loose.”

The next race for ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is July 9th at Berlin Raceway.

A TUMS’ “FIGHTS BACK FAST” MOMENT: DALE EARNHARDT JR. CLAIMS VICTORY IN HONOR OF HIS FATHER

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SM Archive

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June 27, 2011

The Numbers — Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

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June 27, 2011

Elliott Sadler No. 2 Nationwide Series Advance: Daytona International Speedway

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SM Staff

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June 27, 2011

Elliott Sadler

No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet Impala

NASCAR Nationwide Series Race 17 of 34 – Daytona International Speedway

TWO CARS, ONEMAIN FINANCIAL: At Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway this weekend, OneMain Financial will be on board not only the No. 2 Chevrolet Impala driven by Elliott Sadler, but also the No. 4 Chevrolet Impala piloted by his team co-owner, Kevin Harvick. The duo, both competing for Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), will be sporting the colors of OneMain Financial in an effort to promote the new brand of the organization.

SADLER AT DAYTONA: Sadler has competed at Daytona in the NASCAR Nationwide Series four times, with a best finish of 15th in 1997. He has led a total of 30 laps around the 2.5-mile track, and looks to lead more this weekend. Sadler also has experience at the superspeedway across two other NASCAR series, making 24 starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, with four top-five and nine top-10 finishes at the track with 58 laps led. The Emporia, Va., native has made two starts at Daytona in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with one top-five and one top-10 finish, and 56 laps led.

KHI’S FOUR HORSEMEN: KHI will field four entries in Friday night’s race with Nationwide Series championship contender Sadler in the No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet, KHI co-owner Harvick in the No. 4 Chevrolet Impala, Clint Bowyer in the No. 33 Menards Chevrolet Impala and driver Tony Stewart in the No. 9 TapouT Chevrolet Impala. These four powerhouse drivers have compiled an impressive set of series stats including 44 starts, seven poles, eight wins, 26 top-five finishes, 31 top-10 finishes and have led 542 laps at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

PROVEN RECORD: In February of 2005, Tony Stewart grabbed KHI’s first win in the Nationwide Series behind the wheel of the No. 33 car. The following year, Stewart not only claimed victory again in the season opener but also gave KHI its first one-two finish as the No. 77 KHI Chevrolet Impala came in second behind the No. 33. Since 2005, KHI has recorded three additional wins, two poles, eight-top five and 11 top-10 finishes and led 194 laps at Daytona.

DASH 4 CASH: In the first of four Dash 4 Cash events of the season, Sadler has the opportunity to compete as one of the top four drivers in the series for $100,000. The highest finishing driver of the four at Daytona will win the monetary prize and will automatically qualify for the next event at Iowa Speedway in August. The three-highest finishing drivers that receive Nationwide Series Championship driver points will also qualify for Iowa. The other events include Richmond International Raceway in September and Charlotte Motor Speedway in October.

TO THE POINT: Heading into the race at Daytona, Sadler remains in the second position in the Driver’s Point standings for the third week in a row. Sadler sits five points behind leader Reed Sorenson, who took the victory at Road America last weekend.

PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Sadler and the No. 2 OneMain Financial team finished fourth in a wild event at the first road course race of the season at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Running in the top-10 for most of the day, crew chief Ernie Cope developed a fuel-mileage strategy with only two pit stops planned during the scheduled 50-lap event. After three green-white-checkered attempts, the field received the checkered flag under caution with the No. 2 in the fourth position, and just enough fuel to cross the finish line.

CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 2 team will bring chassis No. 073 to Daytona this week. This superspeedway car is the same chassis the team took to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in April where Sadler grabbed his first pole of the season. The team led eight laps before finishing in the fifth position at the 2.5-mile track.

ARE YOU A CODE SPOTTER? This is the last week fans can play the Nationwide Insurance Code Spotter Sweepstakes for a chance to win a one-of-a-kind Race Weekend Road Trip VIP Experience with Elliott Sadler and the No. 2 team at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. Last month kicked off the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) segment of the Nationwide Insurance Code Spotter Sweepstakes and the segment ends this Sunday, July 3 at 11:59 p.m. ET. To play, enter the code KHINC now at CodeSpotter.com.

THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: Elliott Sadler

How do you feel heading into this week’s race at Daytona International Speedway?

“At Daytona, it’s either feast of famine for me. We had a really fast car there in February, but got caught up in a wreck early and finished 38th. Of course, my team owner Kevin Harvick will be in another OneMain Financial car, so I’m sure that we will find each other and help each other throughout the whole race. I’m thrilled for the opportunity to help OneMain Financial to celebrate their brand launch this weekend, and I hope that we can bring home a victory for everyone! Daytona is a special place to a lot of people because it is the France family’s birthplace and where the roots of NASCAR started. I always look forward to going down there on the Fourth of July weekend. It’s a special race that kind of marks the middle of the season. When you leave Daytona, you have a feeling of how the rest of the season will go. It’s going to be a great race.”

CitiFinancial

CitiFinancial, soon to be OneMain Financial, is the premier community lender in North America. With more than 1,300 locations across the United States. CitiFinancial has been serving communities since 1912. Additional information may be found at www.citifinancial.com.

Citi

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.