Bryan Clauson Wins Firestone Freedom 100 Pole as Qualifying is Rained Out
2010 USAC National Drivers Championship title holder Bryan Clauson may be making his first ever Firestone Indy Lights start, but the pressure will be on as he will start pole.
Clauson won the Sonoco Pole Award and its $5,000 prize for tomorrow’s Firestone Freedom 100 as a result of qualifying being rained out and the starting grid being set by points. The 21-year old from Noblesville, Indiana won the pole as the No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy car sat first in points, thanks to Conor Daly, who drove the first three events of the year.
“We didn’t get to qualify and get the pole but that’s part of being a part of a great team and having great teammates like Conor Daly to put us up front,” Clauson said. “Starting from the front kind of heightens your expectations a little bit. Now you don’t have to work traffic. I’ve got a couple teammates in the lead pack. We watched a lot of race tape with Wade (Cunningham) and saw how teammates can make things happen. Obviously, I want to win but the big key is being there at the end. The first few laps are going to be key.”
Clauson has only been able to turn eight laps on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to the rain-shortened practice this weekend, though did test on May 13th to prepare for the event.
“We felt a lot better after practice today than we did after our test earlier,” Clauson said. “We worked really hard on the test day and never quite got it right. The guys brought back a great race car for us. We didn’t get to qualify and get the pole, but that’s part of being a part of a great team and having great teammates like Conor Daly to put us up front. Starting from the front kind of heightens your expectations a little bit. Now you don’t have to work traffic. I’ve got a couple teammates in the lead pack. We watched a lot of race tape with Wade (Cunningham) and saw how teammates can make things happen. Obviously, I want to win, but the big key is being there at the end. The first few laps are going to be key.”
While competiting in the Firestone Freedom 100 during the afternoon, Clauson will also be running the Hoosier Hundred that night.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “They are both prestigious races in the state of Indiana. I look at the Hoosier Hundred as the second most prestigious race in Indiana after the Indy 500. It’s a race that has a lot of history, and a lot of dirt track heroes ran that race and were winners there. Doing both the Freedom 100 and the Hoosier Hundred in the same night is going to be cool. I think it’s great that the Speedway and the Fairgrounds have built a ‘BC’s Bandwagon’ ticket package around it. It’s an added bonus for an already-special day in my career.”
His Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate Josef Newgarden will line up on the front row beside him as this continues a successful couple of weeks at Indianapolis for Sam Schmidst as he won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 last weekend with driver Alex Tagliani.
“I think we’re going to be in a strong position tomorrow, but we really wanted to qualify,” Newgarden said. “I think everyone wanted a shot at the pole and we didn’t get that opportunity. We proved in testing that we had a strong car. Sam Schmidt Motorsports is a good Indy Lights team and they have a lot of history in the series and a lot of experience and knowledge to draw from. The (IZOD) IndyCar Series side did a phenomenal job last weekend, and I’m confident that we can handle the job on our end.”
Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ success reins no surprise as they’ve enlisted driver coaching help from former Indy Lights champion Alex Lloyd and Wade Cunningham to serve as driver coaches to help their young drivers.
“Now that I’m racing ovals (for Dale Coyne), I can’t spend as much time with him as I’d like, but today is a good day since we have no track activity (for IZOD IndyCar Series.)” Loyd said. “I’m here to give them tips and tricks of the trade of racing at Indianapolis, how the race goes down, how to deal with traffic, things like that. The guys all know how to drive a race car. You don’t have to teach them how to drive. It’s more about remembering the experiences you had and trying to relate it to the nuances they are experiencing on the track.”
Andretti Autorsport’s Stefan Wilson and Team Moore Racing’s Victor Garcia will start third and fourth. Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ Esteban Guerrieri and O2 Racing Technology’s Peter Demsey wil make up the third row.
The race is set to be 40-laps in length tomorrow and will be shown on VERSUS at 12:30pm EST. It can also be listened to through the IMS Radio Network broadcast on indycar.com, Sirius 212 and XM 94.
Going into the event, teams only got 10 minutes of practice before the rains fell. Wilson led the brief practice sesson, turning a lap at more than 189mph.
“Kind of mixed feelings about how today went,” Wilson said. “Happy to be starting P3, but we were pretty quick on the test day, and I felt we had a decent chance to start on the front row and a shot at battling for the pole. But at the same time, I am happy to be starting at the sharp end of the grid.”
Wilson was followed in practice by Duarte Ferreira, Newgarden, Clauson and James Winslow.
Before the event begins tomorrow, teams will be given a 30-minute practice at 9 a.m.
Trevor Bayne Emerges from Cone of Silence; Kyle Busch Sticks to His Story
After five weeks of being out of sight due to an undisclosed illness, Trevor Bayne emerged from the cone of silence that had been surrounding him and his condition. Although Bayne will not race this weekend, he will return to his Nationwide ride at Chicago and his Cup ride in a few weeks at Michigan.
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[/media-credit]Kyle Busch, on the other hand, who has been in the spotlight all week due to an excessive speeding citation, is sticking to his story, as well as showing great remorse and contrition. Busch was ticketed for driving 128 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone at 1:52 PM this past Tuesday in a residential section of Mooresville, North Carolina.
Both drivers faced the media today as part of the racing weekend activities at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Yet the two could not have been more opposite in their reactions on entering the media center, with Bayne ebullient to be back at the track while Busch appeared polite but subdued.
“I missed you guys,” Bayne, driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in the Cup Series and the No. 16 Roush Fenway Ford in the Nationwide Series, as he took to the media stage. “It has been bad being away.”
“I have been fine for over a week now,” Bayne continued. “Last weekend I took it off as a caution and this week they made me take it off as a caution.”
The caution was also out for Kyle Busch, but for a very different reason. Busch’s caution resulted from a very speedy shake down behind the wheel of a Lexus sports car that had been loaned to him by the manufacturer.
“Obviously I had a lack of judgment and just made a mistake,” Busch said as he told his story to the sport’s media corps.
“And I’m sorry for making that mistake,” Busch continued. “Fortunately there was no one hurt, but that doesn’t make any kind of any excuse for what happened and for my lack in judgment for what I did.”
In contrast to Busch, Bayne was so anxious to be back on the track and back in a race car that he was even more irrepressibly happy and excited than usual. The 20 year old driver, however, still had no explanation for the double vision, fatigue and general malaise that had kept him sidelined.
“The cause isn’t exactly sure yet,” Bayne said. “Their biggest hope is that it was an isolated event that is temporary and is gone now.”
“The diagnosis, I don’t have it yet,” Bayne continued. “It could be just a series of events where you get a bug bite and your immune system is down. Whether that is it or not, only time will tell that.”
“I still don’t have an official diagnosis but they treated everything they thought it could be and since then everything has gone away,” Bayne said. “To me, they hit something.
Just as Bayne cannot explain his physical ailments, Busch had no real explanation for his unlawful behavior.
“I’m certainly sorry that it happened and my actions led me to speed,” Busch said. “It was a lack of judgment and all I can do is apologize to the public, my friends, my fans, my sponsors and everybody.”
“All I can do is say me piece here and let it be.”
While both Busch and Bayne could not explain their behavior and illness respectively, the two certainly have one thing in common. They both are taking away ‘lessons learned’ from their experiences.
“I look at this experience as a learning experience,” Busch said.
Busch’s team owner, Joe Gibbs, echoed the fact that Busch had much to learn from his offense. In fact, the team owner is even considering possible sanctions.
“Any disciplinary action is something we’re going through (deciding),” Gibbs said. “That’s things we talk about and discuss.”
“Obviously we didn’t think suspending him was something we were going to do,” Gibbs continued. “We’re going through a process to try and make sure we do the right thing and treat this as a serious issue.”
“I’m hoping that somehow out of this something positive will come out of it.”
Bayne has also learned quite a few life lessons from his time away from the sport being poked, prodded, and tested.
“I think the biggest thing I have learned through all of this is how supportive everyone in our sport is,” Bayne said. “It has been incredible to me and a real eye opener.”
“Carl Edwards flew up and saw me in Minnesota and Tony Stewart was using his plane to fly my family back and forth,” Bayne continued. “Everybody in the garage texted me at least once to see how I was doing and that means a lot to me.”
“Another thing that has sometimes been put into perspective for me is how blessed we are to be race car drivers,” Bayne said. “You get wrapped up sometimes and go through the motions, but when you have to sit there for four or five weeks and watch races you realize how cool it is that you get to be the one driving.”
“I am actually in a sense thankful for this eye opener.”
While Bayne has indeed been cleared to return to the track, Busch on the other hand has not been cleared of his charges, with a court date instead of a return to the track date in his future.
“I leave that to the court system,” Busch said. “This matter will be handled through that as best we can handle it and as best the authorities decide to handle it.”
Ironically, the young driver Bayne, who has spent so much time recently away from the sport he loves, had this sage advice to share with the more veteran driver Busch.
“We all need to be responsible and I think we are all young or whatever,” Bayne said. “Hopefully I learn from everybody else and don’t do anything like that.”
“I am blessed and happy to be a race car driver.”
Bayne will be on hand at Charlotte to cheer his good friend and teammate Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., who will not only substitute for Bayne in the Coca Cola 600 but also make his own Cup debut. Stenhouse Jr. qualified the No. 21 race car in on time and will start in the ninth position.
“I think he will do a great job in the Cup car,” Bayne said. “I told him to just enjoy it a little bit and not stress out too much about it.”
Busch will also be busy during the Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He will be running the Top Gear 300 Nationwide race as well as the Coca Cola 600 Cup race.
Trevor Bayne – ‘I Missed you Guys’
Trevor Bayne met with the media Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway to discuss his return to racing. His first words to the press were, “I missed you guys.”
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[/media-credit]Bayne has been sidelined since the end of April when he experienced symptoms of fatigue and double vision. He was hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. where he underwent a battery of tests but no definitive diagnosis has been made.
When asked about the nature of his illness, Bayne explained, “Their biggest hope is that it was an isolated event that is temporary and is gone now. The diagnosis, I don’t have it yet. I don’t know. It could be just a series of events where you get a bug bite and your immune system is down and we had been running for a couple months hard every day after Daytona and it wears down your immune system. That is what I am hoping for.”
He went on to say, “Whether that is it or not, only time will tell with that. I still don’t have an official diagnosis but they treated everything they thought it could be and since then everything has gone away. To me, they hit something.”
Steve Newmark, President of Roush Fenway Racing said that even though there has been no official diagnosis, that Bayne has been declared fit to race by the doctors at the Mayo Clinic.
He is currently scheduled to be back in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Nationwide car next week at Chicagoland Speedway. His next Sprint Cup appearance will be in two weeks at Michigan.
Bayne says he has been symptom free for over a week and is obviously anxious to resume his normal schedule.
“I have been fine for over a week now. Last weekend I took it off as a caution and this week they made me take it off as a caution. This weekend I would have been fine to run I think but we want to just make sure.”
“I am 20 years old and everyone keeps telling me I have a long time to run. I am trying to listen to them, even though I am 20 and stubborn and want to be in a race car every weekend. I would be riding around with an eye patch if they would let me. It is all good. I think we have waited long enough.”
Although he admitted that the last few weeks have been hard, the situation has done nothing to dampen his enthusiasm and love for the sport.
This season started out on a high for the 20 year old Bayne with a win at the Daytona 500 in only his second Cup start. He was supposed to run a full schedule with Roush Fenway Racing in the Nationwide Series and a limited schedule in the Sprint Cup series driving the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.
Everything changed when he woke up one morning with double vision. You might think the young driver would be bitter at the interruption in his career. But you would be wrong.
Bayne handles life with a maturity and grace far beyond his years.
“I think this year is just helping me figure out what I am made of. I think if you can handle the biggest high you can have and the largest bottom you can have then the rest of the year should be easy from here.”
Throughout it all his faith has helped him maintain a positive attitude.
“I do have my faith and that is what defines me because if I was defined by this I would be in trouble right now.”
The biggest surprise for him has been the tremendous support he has received from everyone.
“Carl Edwards flew up and saw me in Minnesota and Tony Stewart was using his plane to fly my family back and forth and Jack (Roush) was sending me back and forth on his plane and these guys come out and hang out for the night. Michael McDowell is there for five days with me. Everybody in the garage texted me at least once to see how I was doing and that means a lot to me.”
Wood Brothers Racing has also stood firmly behind their driver.
Eddie Wood, co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing said, “Trevor is our guy and he is our driver and whatever he is going through we are going through,” Wood said. “If it had worked out that we could have sat this race out and waited on him we would have done it. It just got too far down the road.”
“I am just glad he is back. You guys can see how he has that warm and fuzzy feel again. I am happy.”
This weekend, Bayne will be at Charlotte Motor Speedway to help his pal, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as he attempts his first Cup start subbing for Bayne in the No. 21 Wood Brothers car.
You might think it would be difficult for Bayne to see another racer in that car. Wrong, again.
“He is an awesome kid and I am pumped for him, said Bayne. “ I texted him yesterday and told him to own this thing because he deserves it. I think he is going to do a great job. “
Welcome back, Trevor Bayne. We’ve missed you too.
Keslowski wins 600 Pole, Stenhouse Jr. to Start Ninth
CHARLOTTE – If qualifying for the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, NC told us anything tonight, it is that the darker it gets Sunday evening, the faster we can expect speeds. Brad Keslowski rolled off 30th of the 48 cars that attempted to make the field for Sunday and ended up setting his Miller Lite Dodge on the pole with a speed of 192.089 MPH.
“This car was awesome man. Awesome! Fast cars go fast and this is a team is making a lot of progress. We made some awesome gains in the Blue Deuce. Every week, we just keep picking away a little here, a little bit there. We’re starting to get more people to believe in us.” Keslowski said.
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[/media-credit]Keslowski was able to edge out A J Allmendinger for the pole. Allmendinger went out 26th in the qualifying order and will start on the outside of row one. Carl Edwards and Jeff Burton were fastest in this afternoon’s practice session, but both came up short in qualifying this evening. Edwards will start third and Burton fifth. Denny Hamlin will start fourth.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was Ricky Stenhouse, Jr, driving the Wood Brother’s #21 in place of Trevor Baine. Stenhouse was the last of 48 drivers to qualify and ended up qualifying ninth. The remainder of the top ten – Jimmy Johnson, David Reutimann, David Ragan, and Clint Bowyer.
Kyle Busch, who was the pole sitter for last week’s All-Star race, will start 19th . Other notable drivers outside the top ten were Jeff Gordon 11th, Kasey Kahne 17th, Tony Stewart 22nd, Dale Earnhardt, Jr 25th and Kevin Harvick 28th. Defending race winner Kurt Busch will start 26th.
Starting Lineup
Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway
May 28, 2011 – Race 12 of 36
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Pos. Driver
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1 Brad Keselowski
2 A.J. Allmendinger
3 Carl Edwards
4 Denny Hamlin
5 Jeff Burton
6 Jimmie Johnson
7 David Reutimann
8 David Ragan
9 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
10 Clint Bowyer
11 Jeff Gordon
12 Ryan Newman
13 Mark Martin
14 Martin Truex Jr.
15 Greg Biffle
16 Paul Menard
17 Kasey Kahne
18 Brian Vickers
19 Matt Kenseth
20 Regan Smith
21 Kyle Busch
22 Tony Stewart
23 Joey Logano
24 Marcos Ambrose
25 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
26 Kurt Busch
27 Bobby Labonte
28 Kevin Harvick
29 Juan Montoya
30 David Gilliland
31 Travis Kvapil
32 David Starr
33 Michael McDowell
34 J.J. Yeley
35 Jamie McMurray
36 Joe Nemechek
37 Casey Mears
38 David Stremme
39 Mike Bliss
40 Landon Cassill+
41 Robby Gordon+
42 Dave Blaney+
43 Mike Skinner
600 Miles In The Hub of NASCAR; A preview of this weekend’s Coca Cola 600
“It’s a great test of man and machine.” That is what you will hear at the beginning of old racing footage of the then “World 600″ at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Once a year, NASCAR decides to beef up the mileage by one-hundred and see who can survive the great endurance test. In the past, this race was run in it’s entirety in the daytime. After lights where installed at the speedway, the race became even more of a challenge as the six-hundred miles began at dusk and finished up under the night skies. This made both driver and crew chief forced to stay alert for the entire race as the track could slip away from them in an instant.
[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]In past years, you could always count on numerous engine and mechanical failures throughout the course of six-hundred miles. Mainly in the final stretch of the race. Now, with all the advances in technology in the mechanics and engines, there seem to be less and less failures every year. The result of that is more cars left running which leaves the possibility pit strategy still in the picture. That includes fuel mileage. We see it just about every other week, where fuel mileage comes into play in the end of the race. Whether a yellow falls or not, the mention of fuel at the end of the race seems to happen more often than not. It offers a chance for a possible first time winner or a surprise winner to pop up and steal a win away from one of the big boys of the Cup Series.
Charlotte Motor Speedway was commonly refereed to in the mid 2000’s as, “The House That Jimmie Built” as then Johnson seemed to be the only driver that was able to win at the speedway. Also, his team’s sponsor, Lowe’s, also sponsored the track when Jimmie dominated at Charlotte. With the type of performance the five time champ showed last Saturday night in the All Star race, you may want to keep Jimmie in mind as a driver that could pop up and win the race.
With how dominate the Roush-Fenway cars have been this year on mile and a half tracks this season, you can’t ever count them out as proven once again with David Ragan winning the showdown and Carl Edwards winning the All Star. Don’t count of Biffle or Kenseth either. Greg Biffle lead a good majority of the first segment of the All Star race and Kenseth, for a while, had the fastest car on the track. Each one of these drivers would be great picks for the weekend.
If you want some sleeper drivers for the weekend, then look no further than here. Kasey Kahne won this race back in 2006. Kahne and his Red Bull Racing Team have really been picking up the pace as of late with fast cars. Although they don’t always finish the races, you can never count out a driver with speed to win a race. Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Martin Truex Jr and Jamie McMurray would all be good picks for this weekend as they have all either won or had good runs at Charlotte in the past.
Look for an exciting marathon this weekend in Charlotte!
Picks for the weekend:
Top Gear 300- Kyle Busch
Coca Cola 600- David Ragan
Elliott Sadler Happy Now But Doesn’t Want to End Career in Nationwide Series
Elliott Sadler made no bones about it when saying he felt given the right situation he’d be in the thick of things in the Sprint Cup Series. While in the midst of what might eventually be known as his rebirth in the Nationwide Series, Sadler isn’t willing to settle for not running with the big boys.
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[/media-credit]Speaking Thursday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway where the NNS is preparing for Saturday’s Top Gear 300, Sadler was candid about both his current and past situation. Even before he did so though, it was clear as it has been since the season started, that he’s perfectly happy racing for Kevin Harvick Inc in the NNS where he’s leading the points. He’s competitive, he’s happy and he’s relevant again for all the right reasons. But he did admit that some things just aren’t the same.
“I do miss the Cup Series,” he said. “I’d be lying if I told you I don’t miss racing on Sunday’s. Do I miss the situation I’ve been in the last couple of years? I don’t want to cuss, but heck no. I have learned that this sport is a lot more fun when you have a team around you and a supporting cast around you that believes in you and wants to do [well] at the racetrack week in and week out. That’s whether your racing go-karts, Trucks, Nationwide, Cup or what have you.”
It’s the reason Sadler says, that should he ever get the opportunity to race on Sunday’s again, he’s going to make sure he does so with a competitive team. With a team that acts as one and not, not ride around just for the sake of saying that he’s a NSCS driver.
“I’ve had the most fun this year I’ve had since I drove the 38 car for Robert Yates,” he said.
That was during a time when Sadler not only ran up front in the Cup Series but won races. Perhaps, the best years of his life. In 2004 he found the winner’s circle twice and finished eighth in points. But the last few seasons Sadler has been nowhere to be seen and struggled at Richard Petty Motorsports where he said he learned to bit his tongue.
Sadler though wasn’t done revealing. He stated that no matter how hard a driver works in the racecar if the team doesn’t believe in you, it’s not going to work.
Now with a team of proven winners and with many preseason predictions of a championship, Sadler doesn’t feel pressure. That’s easy when as he says, he’s got an “army” of guys around him and an owner who will do anything to make sure they’re fast. That, according the Virginia native is cool.
“I’ll give you a perfect example,” said Sadler. “I see all you guys in here with your cool computers and probably have the latest and greatest technology. Say I give you a story right now to break, it’ll be the biggest story ever and I give one of you guys a computer and I give one of you guys a hammer, a chisel and a stone. I want you to write the story before the other guy finishes it. If not I don’t want to hear no excuses, you should be able to do that. That’d kind of be the same thing I went through.”
It’s not what he’s going through now. But Sadler made it clear that he couldn’t say that he would be happy racing in the Nationwide Series the rest of his life.
“If my career ending as a Nationwide driver would I be happy, heck no. My goal is to one day make it back to Sprint Cup because I feel like I can drive circles around half the guys over there if I was in their equipment or in the same situation they were in. My goal is to win a championship this year in the Nationwide Series maybe next and if something good comes along, go back.”
