NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: THE NATIONWIDE SERIES AT FONTANA
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[/media-credit]The NASCAR Nationwide Series will visit “the left coast” for Saturday’s running of the Royal Purple 300 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana-California. Like any event featuring one of NASCAR’s big three national touring series, there are some story lines attached to this race. Some of them are very interesting and at least one of them has the characteristics of a daytime soap opera.
THE STORY BREAKDOWN
We already know what the number one NASCAR Nationwide Series story is going to be this weekend. It’s, of course, Rick Russell versus Jennifer Jo Cobb in a situation that has just hit another brand new level of bizarre.
In previous editions of this motorsports soap opera, Rick Russell, owner of 2nd Chance Motorsports, and Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing announced an alliance, for the 2011 season, with plans to run at least the first five Nationwide Series races with hopes of attracting sponsorship for the full season.
Already trying to race under tight financial circumstances, the operation hit a major snag at the Las Vegas race where Cobb was caught up in a crash, not of her making, that caused considerable damage to the team’s only race car. Following the massive expenses of repairing the car, Russell apparently decided it would be best to start and park at Bristol, a track notorious for sheet metal damage, and have the car ready for the Auto Club Speedway.
It’s at this point when team communication apparently fell apart. Russell claimed that everyone was told about the start and park plan during a team meeting the day before the Bristol race. Cobb later admitted that she had heard some “rumblings” about it but didn’t actually get the official word from Russell until literally minutes before the race last Saturday afternoon. Cobb further claims that she had already hired a pit crew and purchased tires for the Bristol event. Russell countered with these expenses were incurred “behind his back”. That’s when Cobb, along with her crew chief Steve Kuykendall, left the track. Cobb later released a statement saying she refused to start and park out of a sense of commitment to her sponsors, the fans and to NASCAR. Russell had driver Chris Lawson suit up, get into the car, run four laps and park it in the garage. He pocketed $16,000 plus for the minimal effort which was apparently enough to cover the repair costs from the previous weekend at Las Vegas. He later announced his intent to sue Cobb for breach of contract.
As they say on those late night television infomercials: “but wait, there’s more.” This soap opera developed an unexpected plot twist when Russell announced that he has filed an official police report against Cobb and her crew chief alleging larceny. Russell claims that Cobb and Kuykendall stole approximately $16,000 in race car parts from his race shop located in Mooresville-North Carolina.
In comments made to “ESPN Dot Com” on Tuesday, Russell said that police investigators located about half of the missing car parts, last Sunday, in a storage bin used by Cobb located near the race shop. “Both her and her crew chief said they didn’t know how it, (the car parts), got there,” Russell said adding “I’m in the race parts selling business. There were containers of parts, (in the storage bin), that came right off of my shelves with the prices still marked on them.”
Cobb later claimed that the storage bin actually belonged to Russell and that he agreed to let her and Steve Kuykendall relocate some of the parts there in order to clear some work space in the race shop. She further claimed this arrangement was made with Russell while their partnership still existed. She adamantly claims that there was no attempt to steal anything and that she told Russell on Sunday to take all of the parts that were his.
Both parties have clearly parted ways at this point. Russell has entered his #79 Ford, with driver Tim Andrews, sans sponsorship in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at the Auto Club Speedway. Cobb, earlier this week, said she will be driving the #41 Ford for Rick Ware Racing, also with no posted sponsor on the official entry list, on Saturday. She also intimated that she has been talking to “some people” and hopes to make an announcement regarding future plans soon.
It would appear that, at some point, the “L WORD”, that would be lawyers not losers, is going to play a prominent role in this motorsports soap opera. That’s too bad because it appears that both sides really can’t afford massive legal expenses right now. Then again, maybe the word loser does apply here because the only possible winners will be the lawyers.
Jennifer Jo Cobb, during a television interview on SPEED earlier in the week, appears to prefer an amicable resolution that would simply, and officially, dissolve the partnership, everyone wishes each other good luck and then move on and go racing. That’s actually a very good idea.
Again, you expect to hear a lot of commentary about this story prior to Saturday’s Royal Purple 300 Nationwide Series race.
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Fortunately that’s not the only story line connected to Saturday’s race at the Auto Club Speedway. There has been a long time NASCAR Nationwide Series policy that states any team entrenched within the top thirty in series owner’s points will be awarded a guaranteed start in the next race on the schedule. During the first five races of any new NASCAR season this privilege is bestowed based on the owner’s points from the previous year. After race number five the current 2011 points becomes effective.
Saturday’s Royal Purple 300 at the Auto Club Speedway is race number five on the Nationwide Series schedule and the jockeying for position to stay in the all important top thirty could get most interesting. Going into Saturday there is only a three point separation between positions 27 through 31 in the current owner’s points. The teams in positions 28 through 30 are tied with 70 points each.
Then there’s the matter of who’s on the outside looking in. There are six teams within eight points of the 30th place cut off. They are led by 69 year old ageless wonder Morgan Shepherd. The owner/driver is currently 31st in the owner’s rankings just a mere two points away from a guaranteed start in the next series race at Texas.
Do you believe that Morgan Shepherd is going to drive his heart out at the Auto Club Speedway on Saturday? I do. Do you think every NASCAR Nationwide Series fan in the country is going to pulling for this fine gentleman to make the top thirty? So do I.
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Speaking of points, how about Steve Turner’s teams and how well they’re doing in the Nationwide Series championship standings? Late last year Turner Motorsports announced they had acquired select assets of Braun Racing and planned to run three full time teams in the series in 2011. Turner entered a fourth car at Las Vegas for veteran Mark Martin who presented him with his first series’ win.
Turner Motorsports goes into Saturday’s race with driver Jason Leffler leading the points while his team mates, Justin Allgaier and Reed Sorenson, are third and fourth in the championship standings.
By the way, Leffler is really looking forward to returning to southern California and the Auto Club Speedway this weekend. That’s because it’s a homecoming for the driver. He’s from nearby Long Beach. He would love to win Saturday’s Royal Purple 300 with family and friends cheering him on from the grandstands. He’s also looking forward to visiting his favorite restaurant: In And Out Burgers. Apparently that’s the only burger joint that doesn’t have a franchise back east.
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Steve Turner also arranged for Mark Martin to make another appearance in the Nationwide Series in his fourth team: the #32 Chevrolet. After winning at Las Vegas, Martin now has a series high 49 career wins and he wants to become the first driver to win 50 times. So does Kyle Busch who, after winning at Bristol last weekend, now has 45 Nationwide wins. Expect a little good natured ribbing between these two while at the Auto Club Speedway.
Their Nationwide Series career stats are remarkably close. Martin has 232 starts with a winning percentage of 21.1 percent. Busch has 206 starts with a win percentage of 21.8 percent. At the Auto Club Speedway Martin has two Nationwide starts and has made the best of them by scoring a win and a third place finish. Busch has 12 career starts at NASCAR’s home in southern California. He’s also made the best of the opportunity with four wins, seven top five finishes, nine top tens and two poles. Both men are the only drivers who have scored wins in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series while racing at the Auto Club Speedway.
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The Royal Purple 300 is 150 laps/300 miles around the Auto Club Speedway’s massive two mile, D shaped, oval.
There are 45 posted entries for the race vying for the 43 starting berths.
14 of those entries are on the go or go home list meaning they do not have a guaranteed starting berth in the race because they are currently outside of the top 30 in Nationwide Series owner’s points. These teams will have to rely on qualifying speeds to make Saturday’s race. Three of these drivers, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Green and Joe Nemechek, have past champion’s provisionals available to them if needed.
Kyle Busch is defending race champion from last year. He actually won both Nationwide Series events at the Auto Club Speedway in 2010.
The Royal Purple 300 will be broadcast live by the ESPN Network on Saturday beginning with the pre race show at 5 pm eastern time.
Slugger Labbe Named The WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief of the Race in Bristol
Roswell, GA (March 23, 2011) – Slugger Labbe, crew chief for the No. 27 CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet driven by Paul Menard, has been named the WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief of the Race following Sunday’s Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS).
The Labbe-led team help Menard accomplish many “firsts” in his career at Bristol. He had his best start (4th) at BMS, best finish (5th) and led at the .533 high-banked oval for the first time ever (was up front for 35 laps). Just as impressive was the fact that Menard ran in or around the top 10 throughout the day.
After battling tight handling conditions, Labbe and crew were able to make the right adjustments to the car to keep Menard in the mix. After a series of cautions and restarts, the Labbe-led crew aided their driver in gaining spots on pit road. Menard started eighth on a restart on lap 436, but then fought his way up to the fifth at the race’s conclusion. He now stands 5th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Points standings.
“The CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet was fast all weekend. Slugger and the No. 27 guys did a great job getting it adjusted with the new tires,” said Menard. “I am very proud of all these guys and the start we’ve had to our season. What’s cool is that we’ve been to four very different race tracks and we’ve had strong runs at all of them. I think this is a testament to Slugger and everyone at RCR. Slugger has built a hell of a race team and we are just having a lot of fun right now.”
“Slugger led his driver to a great qualifying start and then [Paul] to lead a career high 35 laps is pretty strong,” said WYPALL Wipers crew chief representative and FOX/Speed analyst Jeff Hammond. “Slugger has a lot of caliber and has great experience. Since joining RCR, he has displayed the leadership this young team needed and has just what it takes to be named the WYPALL* Wipers Crew Chief of the Race”.
WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief Results
Steve Addington led Kurt Busch’s No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil team to an impressive seventh place finish, earning his fourth top-10 of the season. Starting from the 20th position, the Addington-led team made the right calls to keep Busch, who is now in sole possession of the points lead, in contention all day.
“We’ve shown some pretty good consistency so far this season and that’s something our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team is very proud of,” said Addington. “If we can keep it up, we’re hopeful that the wins will come our way. It really feels good to come out of Bristol with the points lead, but we realize that we have to get stronger to stay up there running with these guys every week as the season goes on.”
Paul Wolfe and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge of Brad Keselowski finished a disappointing 18th after fighting an ill-handling car and going down two laps due to a flat tire. Despite the bad luck, the Wolfe-led team was able to nurse the car back to a condition that allowed them to get the Lucky Dog and finish on the lead lap.
“I’m telling you, this Miller Lite Dodge was much better than an 18th-place car today,” said Keselowski. “Despite being torn up and running a couple of laps down for most of the race, we sure did pass a lot of cars today. I’m excited about that and excited about the speed we had today. We just continue to get caught up in situations not of our own making. But if we continue to have cars like we did today, the finishes will come.”
WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief Voting Team
Addington and Wolfe, along with Hammond and Sirius NASCAR Radio’s Claire B. Lang, serve as the panel for the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief Challenge and vote for the weekly crew chief winners.
Each weekly WYPALL Crew Chief Challenge winner will be a guest on Lang’s “Dialed In” program on Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128 at 8 p.m. EST on Wednesdays throughout the season.
The crew chief with the most weekly top wins will be honored as the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief of the Year and will be presented a $10,000 check during the weekend of the WYPALL 200 Presented by Kimberly-Clark Professional Nationwide Series race at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday, November 12, 2011.
About WYPALL Wipers:
Since 2004, Kimberly-Clark Professional’s WYPALL Wipers brand has been affiliated with some of racing’s top teams. Offering heavy-duty to versatile light-duty towels, WYPALL Wipers provides race teams with a number of products providing strength and durability. Defeating the toughest of challenges, from absorbing tough grease and oil to wiping down windshields without leaving residue behind, WYPALL Wipers continue to offer performance and versatility.
The WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief Challenge will continue throughout the remainder of the 2011 season and spotlight the men behind the machines. For more information, log onto www.wypall.com.
About Penske Racing
Penske Racing is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Competing in a variety of disciplines, cars owned and prepared by Penske Racing have produced 332 major race wins, 396 pole positions and 23 National Championships. The team has also earned 15 Indianapolis 500 victories. For more information about Penske Racing, please visit www.penskeracing.com.
Johnny Benson Enjoys Coaching Danica But Still Yearns To Race
After the 2009 accident in a Super Modified that left him in serious condition, as well as bruised and battered, Johnny Benson has fully recuperated and simply cannot hide how much he is itching to get back behind the wheel of a race car or truck.
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[/media-credit]”Physically I’m feeling great,” Benson said. “We obviously had a little accident a little while awhile ago but I’m really good on that end and enjoying my time at the moment, working in my shop and building and selling race cars, the Outlaw Late Model stuff.”
“I’m staying busy but not busy enough.”
While he continues to pursue a ride, the former NASCAR Nationwide and Truck Series champ is keeping busy coaching one of the sport’s most visible up and comers, Danica Patrick. Benson was tapped by Patrick’s crew chief Tony Eury Jr. to assist her in her development in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Nationwide ride for JR Motorsports.
“I have been helping Danica a little bit,” Benson said. “Tony Eury Jr. called me and wondered if I’d come give a hand. He was trying to be both coach and crew chief and as we talked he really wanted to focus on the race car.”
“I’ve always admired the work he’s done and because he called is why I did it,” Benson continued. “That’s why I’m there.”
“They have a great race team and I’m impressed with how they work and their rapport,” Benson said. “It’s a good group of guys and that on my end is pretty cool to see.”
“And to work with Danica is a pretty neat deal,” Benson continued. “Hopefully we are giving her the advice and help she needs.”
“It’s been working out great,” Benson said. “Danica’s doing a great job and we’re just helping her out in the areas she needs for stock car racing.”
Benson is no stranger to the coaching and mentoring role. Last year, he worked with Trevor Bayne, the 20 year old that this year won NASCAR’s most prestigious event, the Daytona 500.
What is the secret to Benson’s mentoring success, with both Bayne and now Danica Patrick?
“I can’t tell you everything I’m telling her,” Benson said playfully. “I think a whole lot of it is just trying to get her acclimated with the stock cars.”
“They are very different than the Indy cars,” Benson continued. “Some of the things that I see from Indy car drivers coming to the stock cars is that they do not like loose race cars. And unfortunately you have to be able to do some of that.”
“Going fast for her is not a huge issue,” Benson said. “But getting the car to go faster in practice and faster yet in the race has been a bit more challenging for her.”
Benson is working with Patrick to as to the feel of the race car, as well as not being such a perfectionist during practice. He also has been coaching her on different lines around the race track.
“She’s got a good feel of the car,” Benson said. “I’ve been impressed with that. It’s just a matter of trying to narrow that down from practice to the race.”
“She wants it perfect for practice and every driver does,” Benson continued. “But I’m trying to show her what’s going to be good for the race.”
“Practice doesn’t do anything but give her track time,” Benson said. “But when we’re good in practice, we may not be good in the race and she’s understanding that now.”
“I’m changing her line on the track and where she needs to run,” Benson said. “That’s something that every driver tries to accomplish from practice into the race. It’s just helping her close those gaps.”
After mentoring Patrick to a fourth place finish at Las Vegas, the highest ever for a female in NASCAR history, Benson set his sights to guiding her around Bristol Motor Speedway this past weekend.
“She ran a great race,” Benson said, in spite of Patrick’s on-track incident with Ryan Truex leading to a 29th place finish and a totally wrecked race car. “We wanted to run as many laps as possible and stay out of trouble.”
“She ran good, she was passing cars and she did well there,” Benson continued. “She had an unfortunate incident late in the race but it was just a racing deal.”
“She was frustrated but it happens so fast there that it’s just one of those scenarios,” Benson said. “You chalk that up to experience and move forward. It’s too bad she’s not racing this weekend rather than waiting a month or two to get back in again.”
Because of her IndyCar schedule, Benson will also now go on hiatus as far as coaching Ms. Patrick.
“The three race deal was strictly because she’s going back to do the Indy stuff right now,” Benson said. “She needs to concentrate on it because that’s her main job.”
“At this time I was just going to help her out until that time comes,” Benson continued. “Hopefully I can help her some more. There’s some areas that we can still work on.”
“Hopefully, I will get that opportunity…if I’m not doing anything.”
“I’m still looking for a ride,” Benson said. “I’d love to be able to go run for a championship in the Truck Series but obviously we can’t do that this year. But yeah, I’m still looking for a ride with someone that can run a bunch of races.”
“It’s obviously going pretty slow, but I’m still hopeful.”
What Benson misses most is simple. He desperately wants to compete again.
“I miss the competition,” Benson said. “I’ve always built race cars from the ground up and that’s what I like.”
“I like building new cars and going out and proving them on the track,” Benson continued. “That’s what I enjoy the most. And of course racing at the NASCAR level, that’s the biggest part of what I enjoy.”
“I really want to run the Truck Series,” Benson said. “That would be in my mind the best case scenario.”
“I would run for a Nationwide championship,” Benson continued. “As far as the Cup stuff, I don’t really see many opportunities there and I don’t necessarily believe in the ‘start and park’ deal, so I don’t know that I’d venture down that road.”
“But if it comes down where I can’t run for a championship in the Truck or Nationwide Series, my next one I’d like to run for a championship is in the Super Modifieds.”
“I’ve got an Outlaw Late Model Championship, an ASA Championship, a Nationwide Championship and a Truck Series Championship,” Benson said. “So, I’d like to get one in another series. I think that’d be really cool.”
“I don’t have that many years in the NASCAR side, but I’ve got a lot of racing left in me that’s for sure,” Benson said. “And I’ve got a couple of championships left in me. That’s also for sure.”
