Spending Monday with Dale Earnhardt, Jr October 23, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season.5 comments
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Spending Monday with Dale Earnhardt Jr.Ride Alongs, Giving a Kid a Helmet, One on One on his Crew Chief, Owner, Mood Headed Into Martinsville
By: Claire B Lang
Is it just me – or does it seem at times that when Dale Earnhardt Jr. yells on his radio or snaps that he “doesn’t care” at a reporter after a bad finish the exposure is massive? I’m not talking about coverage during a race, when he gets attention no matter where he qualifies or finishes. Earnhardt Jr. has a massive fan base that sticks by him. He often, however, also gets credit for not caring enough, for being lax, for being whatever the nay sayers want to say that he is not as a young man, as a human being, as a person, because of struggles on the race track. When he is something – shows tremendous character or does something extremely special, does it get as much attention?
I was invited to come out to Charlotte Motor Speedway this past Monday for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Foundation Day. It was my day off but I decided on a whim to stop by just to see what was going on. What I found was truly special.
Dale Jr. came to the track to raise money by doing ride alongs and meet-and-greets with fans who came from as far as Germany to take a ride along with him. The group included a doctor who pitched in $8,800 to charity to ride along, the head of an organization that raises money to feed hungry kids in the local area and Dillon, a young Make-A-Wish child, who got the surprise of his life from Dale that day.
Amy Laws is the wish director for the Make-A-Wish foundation. “Dillon is a local child,” she told me. “His one wish was to ride around in a race car with Dale Earnhardt Jr., which we all know is a very rare experience but one we were able to work with The Dale Jr. Foundation to make happen,” she said. “It’s something that’s so special. Dale Jr. has been an incredible friend to our foundation, not only providing incredible wishes to children but, in May, he actually granted his 200th wish to the Make-A-Wish Foundation on the national level. He’s one of only about a handful of people who have reached that level,” she said. “He really does put his money where his mouth is.”
Nine-year-old Dillon, the Make-A- Wish child, was star struck before he even met Dale. I asked him what he liked about the popular race car driver. “Mostly everything” he said. “I want to go at least 180 miles an hour,” he added. What are you going to do when you meet him?” I asked. “Probably goin’ to faint” Dillon said.
Stan Curtis is the founder of Blessings in a Backpack. Curtis told me how Dale Jr. provides children food in North Carolina at risk of not having any food on the weekends after they leave school on Fridays. “He packs backpacks with food in them and the kids take the backpacks home and have food over the weekend,” Curtis explained. He told me that one ride-along donation that day of $8,800 will feed 110 children for a whole school year. “Dale Jr., you know what he means?” Curtis asked. “He means a young generation of Americans who are standing up and being advocates for children,” said Curtis.
From Ontario, Canada, to Germany – came the fans who gathered to pitch in money and get a ride along from Dale. There was a young I-Racing winner and an 85-year-old man who just wanted to experience the thrill.
Rion Mariscal, from Rhode Island, won the ride through an I-racing contest. “I just want to feel the best adrenalin rush I can get,” he said before he climbed into the car with Dale Jr.. “I’ve been a fan of Dale’s since I started watching racing. My first race I went to was when I was13 days old.”
How much money did Dale, Jr. raise last Monday? His foundation folks say over $50,000 for an hour of Dale’s time.
Jr. Gives Dillon, with Make-A- Wish, his helmet
Dale Jr. got out of the car, after the final ride along of the day, this one with young Dillon. He leaned over, and handed Dillon his custom-made racing helmet, something that drivers rarely do.
Later, I asked Dillon about the experience. “It was really fun, 175 miles per hour!!” he said. “It was really, really fun. Was he nervous? “Just kinda, a little bit,” Dillon admitted. He said his friends at school would not believe him -so he was going to take the helmet to school to show them proof. “He said here, you can have this,” Dillon said about Dale giving the helmet to him. “He’s just got a big heart for kids.” What does he like about Dale? “Probably everything now,” he said. “I Hope they have a good time and they watch the race,” Dillon said about those who might hear of this story, adding, “Go Dale Earnhardt Jr.”
Charity contact information:
Check out the online donation program called the ‘Hard Card’ membership,that gives fans cool gifts when they donate to TDJF! That link is:
www.thedalejrfoundation.org/hardcard.html
www.blessingsinabackpack.org
Claire B. ONE ON ONE WITH DALE JR – INCLUDING HIS OUTLOOK ON HIS RACING, CREW CHIEF AND OWNER.
I was surprised to be given some time after the ride alongs to talk with Dale Jr. one-on-one about the experience and about how he’s doing these days. Here’s a transcript of the interview that I had with him.
Claire B: What did you think about that ride with Dillon
Dale Jr.: “I enjoyed it. I think he obviously enjoyed it more than anybody else but I enjoy meeting kids like Dillon and giving them an opportunity to take home a lasting memory and I know that this is a special memory for him. Hopefully he got everything he expected out of it. We enjoyed spending time with Dillon and working with Make-A-Wish and putting our best foot forward with our foundation and being proactive and making a difference in as many peoples’ lives as we can.”
Claire B: One of the things I think is really cool is that you got out of the car and gave it to Dillon and that doesn’t happen very often. What made you decide to take your helmet off and give it to the kid, Dillon. It’s awesome.
Dale Jr.: “I don’t know, you know he just, we had plenty of outlets to get new helmets. That was one that that is that I raced and used for a year or two and then we were using it as a test helmet here this past season. So it was something he could take home and would be a memento to help him remember what he experienced today and something he can show his family and take home to his relatives to show them what he took away from this event.”
Claire B: It’s really people get to see you when you are not racing. One today guy paid $8,800 for Blessings In A Backpack. That’s a lot of pressure on a ride along – an $8,800 ride along. What do you think when you take people on a ride along for a great cause.
Dale Jr.: “Well, I enjoy getting people in the car and showing them what the race track is like and the g-forces and everything. You know it gives them a good idea, they have a better appreciation for what’s happening out on the race track and what’s going on in the races when they’re watching them. They’ll have a better understanding for what’s happening. It’s fun for me to give people that experience and to be involved in their experience you know that they are having going around the track.”
Claire B: Do you remember a ride along you took when you were a kid. You know where somebody plunked you in a car and you never forgot it. You were always around cars a lot.
Dale Jr.: “Yea. I rode in a lot of cars. I guess I went for a ride in Myrtle Beach with my father one time in a Nationwide car back when it was the Busch Series. But, you know that’s one that I probably never will forget. That was a lot of fun for me. Course I didn’t have a seat like Dillon had today so I was sliding around on the floor board.”
Claire B: Can I ask you how things are going these days? You have had some good qualifying efforts and that razzes up your fans and they call in like crazy (when you qualify well) and the qualifying seems to have stepped up a little:
Dale Jr.: “Yea we’ve learned a little bit. We went testing at Homestead for Goodyear and feel like – I think we found a little bit of speed for the qualifying package. We gotta figure out a way to translate it over into the race set up, though, and get that program moving forward a little better. We just got a few races left in the season we want to capitalize – put some good runs together.”
Claire B: Do you know what you need? I mean has anyone figured out a direction where you know…I mean people always say well I could make a million dollars if I knew the answer to that question.
Dale Jr.: “Yea, well we’re really searching really hard and trying a lot of new, non typical ideas to see if we can find some speed out of the car and see what happens.”
Claire B. What about Martinsville?
Dale Jr.: “I enjoy racing there. It’s a fun track. I like short tracks, beating and banging and trading paint and it’s a good place to get it done. Hopefully, we’ll get the car rolling in the center real fast and keep the forward bite in it all day long and have a good run.”
Claire B. What about here today – all the people that you met. Do you take home all the people that you run into? It’s such a short shot to meet Dale Earnhardt Jr. but it’s a short shot for you to meet these people too.
Dale Jr.: “Yea, I met one of the fellows that we gave a ride to was from I-Racing. I’ll probably see him on line racing here over the winter time. So we swapped email addresses. Dillon has an open invitation to come visit us any time he wants. He’s a good kid and it’s fun to be around people like that got so much energy and enthusiasm for life like he does. He just enjoys being around race cars and maybe he’ll grow up to be a race car driver one day. Maybe this is a kick start for his career.”
Claire B: Also – People will say how is Dale doing? I know you’re struggling you guys are learning, you’re trying to communicate better; you’re pitching everything into it. When I come back they’ll be like how’s he doing, how did he look? What’s going on with him? Say something to your fans about how things are going (personally) with you.
Dale Jr.: “Well, we are struggling on the race track but our attitude is good and our personality and outlook is good for the future. I feel confident that things will cycle around and we’ll get back to where we need to be and will be more competitive as a race team. It’s been a tough year but we got a long ways to go before we’re going to give this thing up and we got a lot more we want to accomplish and I feel real sure we’ll get back there one day.”
Claire B – You want to stay with Rick Hendrick? There’s all these things floating around – about oh he leaves, and people have a dream team idea about you. Your fans do. That, oh if we just put him with this guy. But you and Lance (McGrew) and Rick (Hendrick) are you a team for a while where you are going to stick it out and figure it out?
Dale Jr.: “Well, I’m definitely dedicated to Rick – he’s been great to me. I’ve enjoyed working with Lance. I’ll just leave it in Rick’s hands as to what he wants to do. But, you know I believe in him obviously as an owner. My commitment’s 100% with him and what he feels is the best.”
Claire B: Recently Rick got on the radio and he gave you a compliment–said your communication was better. Is that something that is helping a lot?
Dale Jr.: “Well you try to communicate as good as you can. You know try to make it as easy as you can on the crew chief -try to decipher what he needs to do to the race car. The driver’s the only guy that can really do that. You give him the most information, and try to give it to him in a good honest and direct way.”
Claire B. What do you do for the rest of the day? Dale Jr. comes out on his day off. Mike Davis (PR person) says he doesn’t know if it’s really your day off cause you are working all the time. But, today’s your day off. What does Dale Jr. do now, when you leave Charlotte? What are you going to do?
Dale Jr.: “I’ll probably go over to JR Motorsports to sign some autographs. We got an autograph room full of stuff that still needs to get taken care of. Trying to get that done so maybe we’ll get over there and do some of that.”
Claire B. Well word to all your fans that you’re doing a good thing on your day off, raising a lot of money for your foundation, making a young boy happy with a big smile and giving him your helmet. It’s really awesome. Thanks for taking the time.
Dale Jr.. “Well, I hope you enjoyed it, you know. It’s all about Dillon and obviously those people that participated today. We raised a good amount of money in a short period of time for Make-A-Wish and hopefully Dillon takes a lot away from this experience and we can have more success with the Dale Junior Foundation in the future.”
Claire B. You got it have a great day.
Dale Jr.: “Thank you!”
PENALTY TALK September 24, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season, Teams, Trackside.Tags: claire b lang, claireblang.com, clint bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Dover International Speedway, jimmie johnson, NASCAR, New Hampshire, Richard Childress Racing, Sirius NASCAR Radio, Sprint Cup Series
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The aftermath of the RCR New Hampshire Sprint Cup Series #33 Penalty – Reaction here at Dover!
As you can imagine the discussion here at Dover with many of the drivers and crew chiefs is about the severe penalty for the #33 after New Hampshire. Below is what Clint Bowyer had to say about the matter this morning here at Dover in the deadline media room in the media center. Also listed below are comments from Jeff Gordon
Clint Bowyer (Media Center Appearance at Dover International Speedway)
TALK ABOUT YOUR WEEK
“You always want to win races. You’re very proud to win races and I’m still proud of that win. I don’t believe that we did anything wrong. I guess I’ll go on record and say that, first and foremost, in my opinion. I want my fans to know that. There is a lot of integrity that goes into this sport. I’m damn proud of being a part of this sport. I love this sport and I wouldn’t cheat to win a race in this sport. We have a lot more integrity for myself and our race team at RCR. Hopefully I only have to do this once. I woke up about 6 o’clock this morning, which is uncharacteristic for me. I just grabbed a notebook and wanted to make some notes. You know, for myself and for you guys. I know a lot of you guys have a lot of questions; trust me; there are a hell of a lot of questions that I have too. And I’m going to go through them. I like to have facts when something like this comes down. I’ve got a timeline of facts.
“I’m going to start with number one: We were warned after Richmond that the car was too close to tolerances. Number two: We were told by NASCAR they were taking the car after New Hampshire, no matter what; first or 43rd. Number three: The car passed pre and post-race inspections at the race track. Number four: Monday, the rumors started about all this and in my opinion, forced NASCAR’s hand to do something about it. Number five: Wednesday came and it was a 150-point fine. And the sixth thing, and at least an answer, you know, I’m looking for answers too. There are several things but one of them is a two-ton wrecker pushed me to victory lane.
“I’m going to elaborate on them. I think the first one (is) we were warned that both sides of the car were high after Richmond. Both sides. After the race in New Hampshire, after it got back to the Tech Center or whatever they call that place, just the left side was high. I think this shows that we definitely had it fixed; something within that race happened.
“Number two: after being told that they were taking the car, we made double-sure before it went to New Hampshire that that car was right. Who in their right mind, knowing that they’re going to take that car, wouldn’t have made triple sure that thing was right before it went to the race track? I could have hit the wall doing a burnout, I could have done a lot of things that other drivers have done and that other teams have done in a post-race celebration this year. I didn’t. We didn’t want to push that in NASCAR’s face. We appreciated them warning us on the fact and we tried to fix the situation. They told us about that situation Wednesday. Wednesday the car leaves. We had about two hours to jump on that car and make sure that thing was right.
“And number three: The car passed pre and post-race inspection, and three days later get such a huge fine? They take the car apart, completely apart to measure this thing and in my opinion that’s not the way the car was raced on the race track. I think that’s something to be said.
“Number four: Once the rumors started it wasn’t long before the penalty. I think NASCAR has a lot of problems with a lot of cars on the race track being out of the box and I think they needed to set an example with something.
“Number five: I don’t think the penalty fits the crime. Sixty-thousandths of an inch, folks. Grab a quarter out of your pocket (holds up a quarter). That’s sixty-five thousandths of an inch thick. Less than the thickness of that quarter right there resulted in a 150-point fine. Before or after this, grab that and ask yourself if that was a performance-enhancing thing right there.
“And the last thing, my question is, is it possible that a two-ton wrecker could bend the quarter panel of this thing sixty thousandths of an inch? You have to ask yourself that. I got hit during the race, turned a couple of times; racing is tough. Now if this thing was knocked out a half of an inch, I could see something being made. But if it passed the height sticks afterwards, the very height sticks the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) did not pass, then miraculously enough when that same pit crew pushed it back around after 20 minutes it passed, that was pretty amazing. You know it passed those same sticks.
“And, you know, my dad owns a towing business and has since I was born in 1979. I know a little something about wreckers. About 15 years ago they took them push bumpers off the front of them for this very reason. I remember back when people used to come (during) a snow storm and (say) please, push me out of the snow bank. You push them out of the snow bank and two days later they’d show up with a body shop bill in their hand, wanting you to pay the body shop bill for the damage you did to the back of their car. This could happen. That’s the only question I had for you guys (media) is to ask yourselves if it is possible for that to happen. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
YOU SAID YOU FELT LIKE NASCAR’S HAND WAS FORCED BY THE RUMORS THAT STARTED TO FLOW MONDAY MORNING. DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN THE PENALTY HAD THOSE RUMORS NOT COME OUT? THOSE RUMORS COMING FROM AN INSPECTION AT THE R&D CENTER, WHERE DO YOU THINK THOSE RUMORS BEGAN AND HOW DID THEY GET OUT AND ARE YOU ANGRY ABOUT THAT?
“I’m angry about the whole thing. This tarnished my win. It’s something you’re very proud of. I’m very angry about it. I’m angry for my fans for our sponsors. I’m angry about it. I think that there are a lot of things a lot of people don’t know about, media included, and I don’t understand it about as much as you do. So I found myself all week, instead of celebrating a win, trying to figure out what the hell they were talking about. The rumors, in my opinion, I truly believe that these rumors forced their hand in making a decision.
YOU SAID YOU THINK NASCAR HAS A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH A LOT OF CARS BEING OUT OF THE BOX. WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE CARS ARE ILLEGAL EACH WEEKEND? HOW DO YOU RESOLVE THAT ISSUE?
“I think NASCAR does a great job of policing and maintaining common ground. Look at the racing.
”Now last year and the last two years, when an organization was as dominant as they were, do you think they had something up on the competition? This year it’s as close as it’s ever been. I think it’s pretty damn good racing on the race track. I think it’s the best as we’ve had since this car was put into inception. So, I think they do do a good job. I respect the fact that what they have to look at each and every week. My personal opinion, I don’t like the R&D Center. I think what you bring to the race track is what they inspect. And, you know? Three days later the car the car (is) completely taken apart from something that you haven’t even raced. I mean it’s a completely different vehicle, you know? You take the suspension off the thing; these are all components that bolt on. It ain’t a decal you took off. These things are bolted on and could interrupt the way the car is measured. How can that possibly be kept in the same box?
“So I think there is a lot of cars that are close to being on the out of the box side. I think that’s what crew members and crew chiefs are paid to do and you know, yeah; I do think there are a lot of cars that are very close. I think they do a good job. I appreciated the fact that they warned us, you know? That’s why we tried to fix the thing. That’s why we did fix the thing before it went to New Hampshire so this wouldn’t happen. Not to rub it in their face and say well you know what you’re talking about, we’re going to continue to do this and don’t think you’re going to do anything about it. I mean you’ve got to appreciate this sport and respect the sport and we darn sure did and it bit us in the rear for it.”
THAT WIN HAD BEEN A LONG-TIME COMING FOR YOUR SPONSOR, CAN YOU JUST TALK ABOUT THEIR REACTION AND HOW MUCH OF A CONCERN THAT IS? “I hope they are happy. Like I said, if of any of you guys, or anybody else, think I won that race because not the quarter panels are high; not because the splitter is this much higher; because of some measurement that nobody even understands in this room or watching on TV, if that won me that race, I would gladly give it back to them. We won that race on fuel mileage is what it ended up being. If you want to start looking at something, look at our fuel cell. How could the quarter panels have won that race? I’m proud of that win. I am proud of giving General Mills their first win in this sport. They’ve sponsored this sport for a long time and that was a good win for all of us.”
WAS ANYONE WITH RCR ALLOWED TO GO TO THE TECH CENTER AND WITNESS THE INSPECTION EARLIER THIS WEEK? ALSO, HAS THERE BEEN ANY DIALOGUE AND WHAT HAS THAT BEEN LIKE WITH NASCAR OVER THE CONTENTION THAT THE TOW TRUCK PUSH ACTUALLY CAUSED THIS INFRACTION? “They do call you down there. At what point in the inspection do they call you down, who knows. Had they looked at the car before? Probably. That is the thing about the R & D center that I don’t like. It’s, it’s…who knows. You don’t know. To answer that question, I don’t have a clue. They were down there at one part of the inspection. I don’t know if it was the part that mattered or not. I do know, one other fact, the left rear quarter panel was split. The bumper cover from the quarter panel, the rivets were pulled out of it and the rear quarter panel was kinked. You know. We have a picture of that. I know that if it was hit hard enough to have split that…like I’m saying, it wasn’t a half of an inch. You are talking less than the thickness of that quarter right there. Could it have moved it that much? I would say that was my only explanation of the whole mess.”
ON THE DIALOGUE WITH RCR AND NASCAR OF THE TOW TRUCK DOING THE DAMAGE: “IN OTHER SITUATIONS LIKE THESE, WE HAVE SEEN DRIVERS GO THE PC ROUTE, NOT REALLY GO ON THE DEFENSIVE. WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO MAKE A STAND? “Because I feel like we were warned. We were told they were going to take the car. We had no reason to take that thing there out of the box. We knew they were taking that car and we knew that was our good shot at winning the race and it didn’t matter whether we finished 43rd or won. They were going to take that car and they were going to look at it. And after being warned, if it was out of the box again, they were going to penalize us. They already told us that. Why in the hell would you take a car to the race track knowing that they are going to take the car and they are going to penalize you if it is out of the box?
“We fixed the problem and that is the only reason I am defensive about this. Richard grabbed everybody, I’m telling you it was an ugly meeting after that warning. This isn’t something that was taken lightly. He took everybody involved with that thing from the fabrication shop to me to Mike Dillon…everybody. Scott Miller, crew chief and it was a butt-chewing and it was a make sure, make damn sure that car passes tech when we go. I’m telling you, everybody did that. That is why I am defensive.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT THE DOVER CAR THIS WEEKEND DID YOU TAKE IT TO R & D TO MAKE SURE IT WAS OK? “Good gawd, I’m talking about last week. It is hard to even focus on this week. That is what sucks. We are riding a momentum wave, huge boost of confidence over the last month and we get to Dover and all this mess. This is a good race track for me. Won two Nationwide races here and love this race track. I think we can win again. I sure hope so. I can’t wait to be back in this very room talking about ‘wonder if this thing is illegal?’. I bet not.”
DO YOU KNOW IF THE CAR’S ALREADY BEEN?
“I just answered that. I don’t know.”
DOES APPEALING THE PENALTY TAKE ENERGY FROM RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING RIGHT NOW? DOES THAT PULL CHAMPIONSHIP EFFORT THAT NEEDS TO BE MOUNTED WITH ALL FORCES?
“You know, it could. And that’s where all the frustration is. I apologize for coming in here and being stern. This isn’t me. This is completely out of character for me. I don’t like being in this situation. But if it paints you into the corner you’ve got to be able to react to it. Does it take away? I’m sure it does. I apologize to Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton and everybody at RCR for that very reason. This is something that shouldn’t have happened; something that’s completely complicated. I think there is about probably 80 percent of the people in the media and everywhere else that don’t understand what the infraction even was.”
JEFF GORDON:
GIVEN WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NO. 33, CLINT BOWYER AND THAT TEAM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, DOES THAT PUT YOUR TEAM IN ANY HEIGHTENED AWARENESS OR HEIGHTENED SECURITY TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS BUTTONED UP? “You have to remember, we have experienced what they have gone through in the past. So, we kind of feel like we were the first ones that were made aware of how tight the tolerances are and I’m not exactly sure of what are all the details of what went on there. I know there is an appeal. Because of we’ve been through this, we already are aware that this can happened to any of us at any time and that you really have to build the best race cars you possibly can but they have to be able to go to that (NASCAR) Tech Center and come back to your shop without the phone call from NASCAR.”
IF A CAR PASSES HERE ON SUNDAY, DO YOU THINK THERE ARE OTHER CARS HERE IN THE GARAGE THAT ARE PROBABLY ILLEGAL AND DO YOU THINK THAT DURING THE CHASE, ALL 12 CHASE CARS SHOULD GO TO THE NASCAR TECH CENTER? “I really wish that I had Steve Letarte (crew chief) up here to answer that question because he knows so many more details about the processes, how close those tolerances are. And that is the difference. Here at the track, the tolerances they can only get so close. When they go to the NASCAR Tech Center, they are checking it with lasers. I think that is when they can really get into the details of everything that is going on with those cars. All I can tell you is that since they started that process, it’s made it a whole different ballgame and a whole different process of inspection and how you build your cars. These days for us, we can run a car and we basically have to rebuild the sheet metal on that car just from a race without ever touching a wall. Without ever being hit by the two truck, anything. The body flexes and moves just from the banking or just from the torque, all those things. So, it’s tough for certain areas of the car to meet those tolerances just after a race. I think what I see with this situation, I guess there was something that they noticed after Richmond and so they focused on that area. If you notice, these cars now-days, they are going down the straightaways sideways. We have obviously learned that putting a lot of side force and twisting, we used to twist the bodies, now we are trying to run the car sideways through the toe of the rear-end housing; how we setup the straight line from front to back to basically run the body sideways on the car and that is all legal. We have all figured out how to do that within the rules. Because you realize that is helping the car, then you want to push everything maxed out to figure out how to get more side-force, more down-force. So, there is no doubt that is going to push everybody in the garage area to try to find out where that limit is. I’m not sure if that is what happened with the No. 33. I really don’t want to speculate. There is no doubt that this is racing and teams are always trying to find an edge. I wouldn’t be surprised I if…they don’t take ever car every weekend. It is hard to say how many would pass and how many would fail.”
THE PRECEDENT WAS SET YEARS AGO THAT THEY DON’T TAKE WINS AWAY. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THAT IS AND DO YOU THINK THAT THERE IS A GOOD REASON FOR THAT IN CASES SUCH AS THIS? “I’m sure there is a good reason. I don’t know what it is though. I’m not really sure. In my opinion, taking points away, might as well take the win away. I don’t know if I have ever asked that question before to be honest with you. I try to stay pretty clear of any discussion that have to do with points, fines, wins taken away. Those are usually not conversations I have with them.”
DO YOU AGREE THAT A WIN SHOULD STAND IN A CASE LIKE THIS? “There is still an appeal process going on. I think at this point, who knows what is going to happen. But, I don’t know. I have just felt like this is the process that we go through. This is what we know goes on in our sport and that is just the way they do it. Do I agree with it or disagree with it? Gosh, I mean I don’t know. I really don’t know. I would have to think about it a little bit more. Like I said, in my opinion, they’ve already taken the win away. I’m sure if you ask Clint, he would probably say ‘Might as well’ because the penalty is certainly very extreme. I don’t know. It seems like to me like there at least should be an asterisk next to the win.”
OTHER TOPICS:
THE DIFFERENCE -CONCRETE TRACK
ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 DELPHI/GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET: The good thing about a concrete track like Dover is that we’re not out chasing the track due to temperature changes. That just doesn’t affect concrete like it does on asphalt. The big challenges are where the rubber builds up on the racetrack and the joints where the concrete was poured. Dover is really bumpy. We tend to fight making the car run well over those bumps more than we fight the simple fact that it’s concrete
THE GAME PLAN (KYLE BUSCH)
Kyle Busch has two Sprint Cup wins at Dover. What is his game plan this weekend? Kyle Busch (Driver of the #18) “Our game plan is to try to repeat what we did in the spring. Obviously, we had a good race going. We qualified well. We raced well all through the event. Toward the end of the race, it came down to the final pit stop between Jimmie (Johnson) and myself and we were able to get out of there smoothly and cleanly. Jimmie didn’t. He got caught speeding on pit road. We’ll just go back there with our Interstate Batteries Camry and try to make the most of the event and the weekend and get a good, strong finish and keep our momentum rolling here and try to get through the final 10 races strong in order to get a shot at the championship come Homestead.”
NASCAR’s Four Car Team Limit Rule: Kasey Kahne in 2011 While at Red Bull September 2, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season.Tags: claire b lang, Hendrick Motorsports, Kasey Kahne, NASCAR, nascar rules, Sirius NASCAR Radio, www.claireblang.com
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I asked Kasey Kahne on the NASCAR teleconference this week if he is able to have unlimited contact next season with the Hendrick Motorsports group while racing for Red Bull in 2011. I wondered if there are any regulations or rules related to the four car team ownership rule that would restrict him from testing or limits as to what he can do with Hendrick Motorsports next season while he’s at Red Bull, since it is already arranged that he will move to Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.
Kahne answered, “Actually I was kind of wondering some of that same stuff. To this point I haven’t really asked a whole lot about it because I have been more worried about what I was going to do next year and what I was going to be doing the following year.”
Understandable. In the past – limitations have been managed by the teams themselves. If a driver is moving to a new team the next season – the team he is on and the one he is moving to (and the contract the driver signs) usually settle what, if any, limitations there are regarding team meetings, testing, information sharing and the like.
But this arrangement is a bit different. Since Kahne is only going to be at Red Bull only until the way can be cleared for a seat at Hendrick Motorsports in 2012 are there limitations related to the four car team limit? Well – technically Kahne is not Rick Hendrick’s driver until 2012. It’s drawn up simply as if he’s racing for another team in 2011.
I took a look into the four car team limit rule in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rule Book to see if anything applied. The outcome – I don’t think any rule covers this situation and it does not appear that there is any limitation outlined by NASCAR.
Here’s the rule:
3-7 Minimum Car Owner License Requirements
A. To secure and maintain a NASCAR Competitor License as a car owner, a NASCAR Member at a minimum must :
1) Be at least 18 years of age, unless the applicant is a business entity
2) Own a racing car
B. NASCAR will issue the license in the name of the car owner as named on the license application. If the car is owned by a partnership, corporation or other business entity, the license will be issued in the name of the partnership , corporation or business entity, and the license will further indicate the name of the individual principally responsible for the ownership and operation of the business entity. That person will be the party responsible for all communications and contact with NASCAR regarding all business (as opposed to racing competition) matters in connection with the car.
C. NASCAR will indicate on the license the car number assigned to the licensee by NASCAR, subject to sub-section 3-7D. The licensee may use the assigned car number on the car or cars owned by the licensee as follows. During an Event, the licensee may use an assigned number to identify a particular car. A number may not be transferred by the licensee to another car during the Event except as provided by sub-section 9-6F. At a subsequent Event, the licensee may use the number to identify a different car owned by the licensee,so long as the number is not transferred again during the Event except as provided in sub section 9-6F. Points and other prizes for car owners will be awarded to the licensee, depending upon the performance of the car identified by the number assigned to the licensee. If NASCAR changes a car owner’s number during the season, NASCAR, at its option, may transfer to the new number championship points accumulated using the previous number.
D. NASCAR reserves the right to revoke, reassign, or transfer car numbers to another licensee at any time. Car numbers are non- assignable and non transferrable, except by NASCAR.
E. A car owner Competitor License is non assignable and non-transferable. The licensee shall inform NASCAR Headquarters in writing promptly if the partnership is altered in any material manner or the corporation’s stock or assets are sold (other than routine daily stock sales) or become the subject of a merger or the business entity’s ownership interest materially changes. When NASCAR is informed of such a change by the licensee or otherwise, NASCAR, in its sole discretion, may revoke the license as of the date of the change or otherwise. If NASCAR revokes the License, the new partnership, corporation or business entity must submit a new license application. NASCAR may assign the old number or numbers to the new licensee, or it may assign a new car number or numbers. NASCAR in its sole discretion may assign to the new licensee championship points earned by the former licensee if doing so is in the interest of competition and stock car racing. NASCAR may make such other determinations regarding scoring, point funds and the distribution of the purse or prize monies, as it determines to be in the interest of competition and stock car racing.
F. (1) During a single racing season, unless otherwise authorized by NASCAR, NASCAR will not assign more than four (4) car numbers to Teams participating in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series that are owned and controlled by the same Car Owner or by a “Affiliate Group.” Two (2) or more Car Owners will be deemed an “Affiliate Group” if:
a. one (1) or more of the Car Owners is entitled to receive (or actually receives), directly or indirectly, from the other Car Owner(s) any financial consideration or other form of value based upon the participation, performance or degree of success of the car(s) entered by the other Car Owner(s); or
b. the Car Owners are subject to any direct or indirect form or amount of common, joint, or shared control, ownership, financing, management or revenue-sharing.
By way of example only, an Affiliate Group may include two (2) or more Car Owners that have formed a cooperative relationship for any race-related purpose , or that are controlled or indirectly by an automobile manufacturer and/or its intermediaries, or that supply or share at or below cost engines, chassis, parts, competitive engineering data, personnel, services, and/or any combination of the foregoing which creates a potential threat to racing competition.
2) The determination(s) whether Teams are owned or controlled by the same Car Owner or by an Affiliate Group or whether two(2) or more Car Owners constitute an Affiliate Group will be made soley by NASCAR and shall be final, non- appealable and non-litigable. In making such determination, NASCAR may consider all facts and circumstances with respect to the relationship between or among the Car Owners, including without limitation the following:
a. any ownership interest in the Car Owner, whether tat ownership interest is held directly or indirectly by or through another person or business entity and whether it is held as a limited or general partner, shareholder, trustee or other form of ownership: and/or
b. any financial interest in or of the Car Owner, including but not limited to the financial investment, underwriting, below market capital funding, below market private or public loans or other similar interest and/or
c. the scope and extent of management or other control exercized by, over or through the Car Owner, whether through the ownership of voting securities by contract, de facto, or otherwise: and/or:
d. any receipt or consideration of services, property and/or other form of value, or of the proceeds from the sale or barter of any services, materials, and/or competitive data on other than a free market basis basis.
3. If, after NASCAR has assigned car numbers to the Teams of one (1) or more Car Owners, those Car Owners enter into or otherwise become an “Affiliate Group,” NASCAR in its sole discretion may take any action deemed appropriate by NASCAR with respect to such Car Owners including but not limited to revoking its assignment of the car numbers, ceasing to award championship points, refusing to accept an entry, and/or prohibiting a Car Owner from competing in any Event. If NASCAR elects to revoke its assignment of car numbers to one (1) or more Car Owners in the Affiliate Group in order to limit the assignment of car numbers to the Affiliate Group to a maximum of four (4), NASCAR will consult with the Members as to which car number assignment(s) will be revoked but NASCAR’s decision in that regard will be final, non-appealable and non-litigable.
4. NASCAR may make reasonable requests for information from a Member, including without limitation a Car Owner or Car Owner Competitor License applicant as it deems necessary for purposes of making a determination regarding the existence and make up of an Affiliate Group. Each Member or Member applicant shall cooperate fully with NASCAR’s reasonable requests, under an appropriate confidentiality agreement. NASCAR may refuse to approve an application for a Car Owner Competitor License if the applicant fails to cooperate with such requests fully and on a timely basis. NASCAR may suspend or terminate a Car Owner Competitor License if the Member fails to cooperate with such requests fully and on a timely basis.
5) Not withstanding any other provision of this sub-section 3-7, a Car Owner may submit a fifth car number for competition in a maximum of seven (7) starts during the 2010 racing season for the purpose of enabling a rookie driver, as determined and approved by NASCAR under sub-section 9-4-D, to become familiar with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Competition.
The regulation as outlined above does leave itemsup to NASCAR’s discretion. It doesn’t appear that Red Bull is an “affilate group” of the Hendrick Motorsports Operation in any way. It would appear that there will be no limitations. But I am not an attorney – and, again, there is just enough open area in the above rule outline to make it subject to NASCAR interpretation and oversight.
Again, outside of what Red Bull feels is fair during the year Kahne races for themand that Red Bull has drawn up in the contract Kasey will race within, I’m not sure that there need to be limitations on testing or contact. One would think Red Bull would manage that and mandate in the agreement what is comfortable for them without the need for NASCAR to limit any contact or relationship that Kahne shares with is future employer, Hendrick Motorsports.
Your thoughts?
Hard-Earned Post Win Vacation For Kevin and DeLana! Body Shop for Most of the Field! July 6, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season.Tags: 4th of July, Dale Jr, Daytona International Speedway, Kasey Kahne, kevin harvick, NASCAR, Sirius NASCAR Radio, Sprint Cup Series, www.claireblang.com
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Greenhouse Down!
“Greenhouse Down” is a race shop term that means you leave the the roof and the A, B and C pillars on the race car but replace the rest. That’s what will happen to the cars that made it through the carnage at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday. Kenny Francis, the crew chief for Kasey Kahne (finished second) says their car will get the greenhouse down treatment.
For many of the teams more will be required, as much of the field ended up being towed off the track after multi car accidents.
Meanwhile, the perfunctory, “What happened?” that reporters normally ask drivers at the care center after a big wreck- resulted in a number of unclear answers simply because of the close racing and the melee on the track.
Jeff Burton: “No, I can’t (tell you what happened) I know the two car had a really big run coming and I was just coming down and I don’t know we just hit one of those bad wrecks that happens at Talladega and Daytona but I don’t really know what happened to be quite honest.”
Kyle Busch “I don’t know ……..the 42 was on my quarter panel and the air on both of our cars just started steering me right, right across the nose of his car. I mean I didn’t turn right to wreck myself why would I do that?”
You’ll have that….when racing at Daytona at high speeds.
The list of “I don’t know” answers just kept on coming because, frankly, the cars were nose to tail and the average speed was 130.814 miles per hour. There were 9 cautions for 37 laps, 47 lead changes among 18 drivers, ad the margin of victory was .092 seconds.
Happy Birthday DeLana
Meanwhile, Kevin and DeLana Harvick, who celebrated in Victory Lane, are enjoying a long-awaited vacation this week. “We are actually going on our vacation, a vacation we have not been on together in several years. So, (a win) is the best way to kick off a vacation. We are going straight to Chicago, not even going home,” DeLana told me in Victory Lane. “My birthday is Wednesday so if (Kevin’s) trying to get out of getting me a birthday present, it’s not going to work,” She added smiling.
The Club House in Victory Lane!
Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway is, as Dale Earnhardt Junior said Saturday night, a special place to be. “Victory Lane is like when you are a little kid and you got a tree house or you and your buddy has got a club house in the woods or whatever,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “That is what Victory Lane is to me and I like going there.”
I’m lucky enough to be LIVE in Victory Lane each week on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio after the race is over. There’s always a lot going on, and it is, as Dale Junior explained, not only something extremely special but for a brief few minutes one of the happiest places on earth.
Even the son of Crew Chief Gil Martin got in on the victory lane action – as Kevin Harvick dumped a bottle of champagne on the head of Martin’s son Ford. “That’s the first time I’ve been to victory lane in my life…14 years, and the first time I’ve ever been to victory lane,” young Martin told me.
Ford and his family went off to Universal Studios to celebrate after Saturday’s win. The young Ford said he was “praying like crazy” as the race was drawing to a conclusion.
You just won the Coke Zero 400 presented by Coca-Cola, what are you going to do now?
Going to Universal Studios!
Mail Bag:
Below are some of the emails that I got over the past few days. Write me at insidercbl@aol.com:
The Golden Horseshoe
Claire, I guess we still know that Harvick has that Golden horseshoe I sent him at the beginning of the year.
Jeff in California
(Note: Jeff, sent Kevin Harvick a gold horseshoe after hearing the comment about the strategically placed horseshoe of Jimmie Johnsons.)
Letter to Brian France from a Fan:
Dear Mr. France,
If you are looking to update or tweak the Chase format… I have the BEST way to do it.
You want to reward drivers for winning races, but if a driver doesn’t make the chase then those 10 bonus points don’t mean a thing. So first adjust the weekly race scoring. Make it so the winner of the race score a least 25-30 more points than second. That is incentive to go for the win. Make it so first place receives 210 points and second gets 180, then as usual from there. And still add on the bonus points for most laps and laps led. Then the driver receives an immediate reward for winning. And that winning helps him get into the playoffs.
Then for the chase, take the points they’ve earned and cut them to 10%. So if the driver in first leads second by 210 points, he starts the chase leading by 21. and if third place is 279 points behind, he starts 28 points back. In this fashion, a driver who is 570 points behind doesn’t start ahead of other drivers just because he won a couple more races. The drivers are rewarded for their performance for the ENTIRE regular season, not just a few races. It makes no sense for drivers to get a better position in the playoffs when they performed at a lower level during the season.
I’ve been a fan for years, and I appreciate you consistently trying to improve the sport. Some fans say “leave it as it is”, but they probably don’t like the forward pass in football either. If you don’t always look to improve, look to make things better, you will never get new fans and casual fans will lose interest, and eventually you will die.
Thank You
Stephen W Barnes
From a Jeff Gordon Fan:
CBL:
Talk about some hard racin’! Jeff survived by driving like he was on
a dirt track. It was awesome. He was sooooo close once again. He
just didn’t have all his teammates up there supporting him, like the
RCR guys. Several times tonight Jeff tried to get the 48 to help him
and JJ would either jump to the other lane or cut him off. The last
time JJ cut Jeff off, Jeff got shuffled and then the big one
happened. Where Jeff had been, there was JJ. And, therefore, the 48
got in the big one and not Jeff. Bravo to the 48 crew for pulling
Mark Martin out of his burning car! Hey! Jeff is second in points!!
Woohoo!!! I know it’ll get him a glass of yesterday’s ice water once
the Chase starts, but it’s still great. He seemed genuinely surprised
when someone told him at the press conference.Ann from Indiana
List of thoughts
One listener sent me this – a list of things that he was thinking
This is bigger than Jr:
1. What a shot in jr’s arm he can win if he or his fans thought different.
2. Should he re think running both races the drivers that do win more often ? U might have the % done for the radio.
4. Will a lot say it was the # and not the driver.
5. If I was jr I would drive out were dad died and got out and walk away from the car. What u think.?
6. If he wins tomorrow what are they going to say then? (sent after Junior’s win but before he finished 4th in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Race)
7. Was the noise louder than most wins ? It could have been the mike but it sounded like other fans were jr’s fans at end of race.
Thank you Ron
NOTE: Ron, the noise for Dale Junior is always loud at Daytona so it seemed very loud. But probably no more than it always is. I don’t see Junior getting out of the car and paying special note to his dad – I think he prefers to hold that close to the chest and mark it in his own private way. I think that is how he usually carries himself. Thanks for the note.
Email from Jennifer
Claire,
You do not know how happy I am to wake up….turn on my Sirius Radio…and hear you this morning! I am so happy to hear you on here! Too often, I have to work in the evening and I miss your evening edition on Dialed In Wednesday – Friday so I am really enjoying this opportunity this morning! Thank you so much for agreeing to do your show this morning!
In regards to Dale Jr and the 88 team….Dale Jr is doing the very best that he can out there and he is driving his ass off every week…but I am so fed up with Lance McGrew and his attitude during, and in some cases, after the race. The comment that Dale Jr made after the Cup race about the setup that was under his and Mark’s car…that really caught my attention. He knew what setup was under his car and he knew it was different than what the 24 and the 48 had and even he wondered why that was.
After all, he said they ran the same setup in February and they did not run well then either, several timely cautions just allowed Jr to move up through the field and finish 2nd in the 500. Why put that same setup in the car again?…especially under such different conditions because the weather was very different. Use the setup that the 24 and 48 were using…it couldn’t have hurt. It really makes you wonder if the 2 shops are truly sharing because if they were then they would all be working off the same setup.
Instead, Lance just seems to throw something up into the air, hoping that it works for them. It seems to me that his attitude is…if it works that’s great…if it does not work…oh well! Lance does not seem to care at all because he acts as if the way Jr ran at Daytona Saturday night is no big deal. Well, I want to let him know that Dale Jr running well at Daytona and Talladega…leading laps…contending for the win most of the time…is a very big deal. It is a very big deal to Jr and it is a very big to us as his fans! It’s time Lance figure that out and if he has not figured that out then somebody needs to tell him!
I know Jr cannot win them all at Daytona and Talladega. I realize things are going to happen to keep him from always winning or always running well so I am not asking for perfection….I just think the effort is not always there on the crew chief’s part to make him the best he can be at those tracks. I do not believe that Lance believes in Dale Jr like he should…that is a shame!
I know that Friday night’s Nationwide Race was perfect…Dale Jr won and it was perfect!…and I know that will not happen every time. However, I was…and still am…so impressed with the overall effort from Tony Jr and that entire team on the Nationwide side. I am not only just impressed with their performance Friday night…I am extremely impressed with the effort that Tony Jr and the team put forth leading up to the race as well. They were well-prepared….they were truly a very cohesive team and they all seemed to gel so well. I am just so proud of the effort and all of the hard work that Tony Jr put into the race. They worked hard and it shows in the finish. Tony Jr was truly so happy after that race was over with and it showed in his emotions!
I just wish Dale Jr had that advantage on the Cup side…unfortunately I do not see it out of Lance McGrew. Every week on that 88 Cup car something else goes wrong…there is another excuse for a bad practice…a poor qualifying effort…or a poor race or finish. Something broke….somebody made the wrong adjustment….something was put on the car wrong….somebody messed up a pit stop. It seems to me a lot of crap goes on over on the 88 Cup car and it seems to me that Lance puts up with it and shrugs it off. Something tells me that if it was happening to the 24 or 48…it would not be “put up with”….heads would roll over there! I just wonder what HMS has to say about the fact that the 88 team is lagging behind every other HMS team, and the crew chief does not seem to care??? It is just a shame to have a driver so upset about how he ran but yet nobody else sees a problem with it. A crew chief who truly cared, would see a problem with it.
You know, Friday and Saturday night there were a lot of similarities with the 2 races Jr was in. The driver, of course, was the same…Dale Jr drove in both races. The pit crew was the same. According to the drivers, the new Nationwide COT drove a lot like the Cup COT does. There was one difference between the two races….the crew chief! Tony Jr Friday night and Lance McGrew Saturday. Friday night Jr seemed to do very well with Tony Jr…an crew chief it was obvious was giving his all to winning that race….obviously so because he won!
Saturday night it all falls apart under the so called “leadership” of Lance McGrew. To me, that speaks volumes and it tells me that Tony Jr should still be leading Jr’s Cup team. It may not ever do any good put I will always be a Tony Jr supporter and a big supporter of him being Jr’s crew chief. From where I stand, Jr was in a much better position when Tony Jr was leading his team because Lance McGrew seems to be grasping at straws out there! I just wonder when Rick Hendrick is going to come around to seeing this and actually do something about Lance McGrew because it is not working!
Thanks Claire….I have so enjoyed listening to you this morning!
Jennifer in SC
July 5th “floating holiday”
(much discussion on air over whether July 5th is a real holiday and who was working on this day versus whom is taking the day off).
Claire,
Your schedule is insane. After that crazy Saturday/Sunday, now you are driving to Chicago tomorrow?
I know that is why we get all the news but you are only human. Really you need some rest this afternoon.
By the way, I am off today. I am a software engineer for an aerospace company and it was a legal holiday for us.
Paula
Points Discussion – One Word – “Golf”
Claire,
With all the hubbub about the points, I’ll throw my 2 cents in–1 word–GOLF scoring format..Take away all the bonus points and give the driver and owner the points of their finish..1 point for 1st —
2 for second and so on…..At the end of the year..THE LOWEST SCORE WINS!!!! The chance of a tie is almost impossible but if it happens use a no points race to break the tie…Its just an idea but I guess its as good as any…I drive a truck coast to coast hauling meat and listen to your show all the time–Keep up the good work and Love your show.
I root for the Busch brothers—-go 2 and 18.
Steve Neece
CBL On the Road Again:
I’m on the road again, and heading to the Midwest tomorrow. I’m traveling on the road to Chicago today (Tuesday) and then staying in the Midwest between Chicago and Indianapolis for the running of the brickyard.
I can’t wait to be in my home stomping grounds again for a while, see some family and cover the racing at the same time.
You can catch me on “Dialed In’ on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio or email me at insidercbl@aol.com.
Enjoy the day! Thanks for listening and for emailing.
Claire B
Repercussions of the NASCAR “Nudge” June 29, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season.Tags: claire b lang, claireblang.com, NASCAR, Sirius NASCAR Radio, Sprint Cup Series
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NASCAR’s Drivers Reevaluate How They Race Each Other
Imagine the choices that Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch had to make in the final moments of the Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire. There were milliseconds to decide what to do and anger involved as the two were fighting for the lead, for the money, for the points, for the pride, for the win.
Kurt Busch saw that he had a “last chance” opportunity to pass Johnson. He got in the corner deeper than Jimmie. He didn’t flat out wreck him, he didn’t drive over him. It was, as Busch called it, a “nice nudge.”
Meanwhile, the pilot of the 48 was red faced and, as he described it, was “livid” inside of his race car. That road rage, in which Johnson had “great visions” of causing a “spectacular crash,” almost had Johnson loose any opportunity to later pull off the win.
What is also at stake is that Jimmie does not want Kurt to think that he is soft, or that his peers can “Knock the 48 out of the way,” If Busch, “slipped and accidentally got into him,” Johnson says that’s one thing. But, if it was Bush’s intention, then that’s the first time in nine years of racing with Busch that Johnson has experienced that from Busch and then, Johnson says, it would have “definitely changed the way I race with him.”
Hmmm….
In the end, Busch did not wreck Johnson, so Johnson reconsidered. He filtered all sides in his brain, which holds a very specific racers’ Rolodex. Did Busch intend the move ? Heck yes. He “nudged” Johnson. Did he slip? No. But did he wreck him? No. So Johnson chose to “nudge” him back, pulled it off cleanly and won the race. No foul.
Now what? Does his view of Kurt change? Does he race him differently? Does he know next time that Kurt will “nudge” him and, if so, how does that change how they race together. How would this race end up if it was re-run with the two in the very same position in the fall during the chase?
Does Johnson now race everyone differently because of the nudge he got from Kurt? Everyone’s more aggressive now.
Was it a test Kurt applied to Jimmie and now that he knows how Jimmie will respond, coming back at him with a “nudge” does he still deliver the move. Or, knowing what he knows now, does Busch deliver the “nudge” differently or maybe not at all.
How to Race Each Other?
What happened with Jimmie Johnson was at the end of the race and was for the win. But drivers are racing each other differently early in the races as well. These drivers now have a choice to make.
After Pocono, Tony Stewart said that the “restarts were idiotic,” and chastised his fellow drivers. “For anybody who is looking for drama for the next couple of races start looking -cause I can promise I’m going to start making the highlight reel the next couple of weeks,” Stewart told us.
Stewart’s Crew Chief, Darian Grubb, says, of Tony’s comment, ” I’m pretty excited. That means that he’s just going to step up his game that much more every lap. He’s realizing now,” Grubb told me, “that you have to race that hard every lap. The other guys are going to do it and they are going to be idiots and wreck each other and stuff on lap one. Sooner or later, you are gong to do that too or you are going to be behind them before its over with.”
Grubb says he doesn’t want his driver to tear up equipment doing it but added, “Everybody’s starting to loose a lot of respect for each other as drivers and be in it early in the race because they realize how much track position depends on that. You have to decide how you’re going to run for the day, so they are starting to be idiots right on lap one. So, he’s just basically saying he’s going to be one of the idiots as well,” Grubb said.
Bobby Hutchins, Competition Director at Stewart Haas Racing told me, “We talked about it (after Pocono). I think the drivers will (change their style). If you’re going to be here to win races and stay up front – then you are going to try to change the thought process.”
As to the highlight reel comments – Hutchins says, “I’m hoping he will be a more little aggressive because if we give up anything it’s been on restarts this year. and we’ve been in a position a couple times in the top five, six or seven and we’ve lost six to seven spots on a restart and by the time you get it sorted back out you pass those six or seven cars back and then it’s time for a pit stop and you have a caution then you are in the same spot you were in or worse, so it’s a big part of racing and, hopefully, he figured that out.”
Stewart has begun to apply his new theory.
In the end
In the end – things have changed in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing. The new rules and related intensity have been forcing drivers to decide how much they will change and to reevaluate their style and the way they race each other.
Was Jimmie Johnson saying that after racing Kurt Busch for nine years, this is the first time Busch has raced him this hard, with a “nudge”. Or was he thinking the “nudge” was more than a “nudge.” Since Kurt pulled it off – Kurt does not get put into the fence. But – if he had messed up what would have happened? Would Johnson have destroyed his race car, being tested for the New Hampshire chase race to show that he can’t be pushed around. Likely not. Idle threat?
Are drivers just frustrated seeing Jimmie win all the time. So, if Johnson wins the title this year will it be the hardest won title he’s earned? No one will leave Johnson have a position on the track much less a win – they are not above nudging him out of the way. What about when others try it -and don’t pull it off like Busch did? Then what.
What about when we get to the end of the chase….when typically the drivers don’t take a guy in the chase out or drive “like idiots,” to coin a Stewart phrase, on the restarts early? What about when they now do drive ” like idiots” during the chase and everyone is doing it?
Drivers now don’t care about being so cautious and neither does NASCAR. The drivers have been unleashed. Things have changed.
It’s going to get interesting.
Krissie Newman Co-Hosting “Dialed In” with Claire B. Lang from Michigan June 10, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season, Fun Stuff, Live Show.Tags: Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Ryan Newman, Sirius NASCAR Radio, Sprint Cup Series, www.claireblang.com
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Pit Road Pets – Show Thursday Night 7-10 EST SIRIUS NASCAR Radio
Krissie Newman has agreed to co-host “Dialed In with Claire B. on Thursday night from Michigan International Speedway. Stay tuned for some wide-open, kick back and have fun for a good cause radio time! From the minute Krissie came on the circuit and married Ryan Newman she’s been one of the most well-liked wives out on pit road. The team guys love her cause she’s fun, she’s honest, she’s smart and she’s using all of those talents to help make a difference for animals. She’s also helping Tony Stewart build his new house, so even the boss man likes her! The racing community has rallied around the cause that she and Ryan selected to lend their time to and the second edition of the book “Pit Road Pets” featuring the stars and fans of NASCAR will be featured in a special autograph session at the track this weekend.
The Photo Shoot!
Photographer Karen Will Rogers took her camera equipment on the NASCAR road and behind the scenes to capture the love of the NASCAR community for their pets. In some cases she went to the homes of NASCAR personalities, and in other cases she captured them behind the scenes with their animals at the track. Fans were included in the camera shoot and featured in the book as well. What resulted is a close up look at NASCAR, through the eyes of the pets that they love.
The Radio Show! “Dialed In” Thursday, June 10th.
Krissie will be in studio at the track to co-host the show Thursday night (June 10th) which will feature a guest list of NASCAR drivers, crew chiefs and media people who appear in the book, telling stories about their pets and the shoot. The show will be packed with guests and good times in support of the book and the autograph signing on Friday evening.
The Autograph Session:
An A-list group of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, crew chiefs and their family members will participate in an autograph session at Michigan International Speedway on Friday, June 11 from 6-8 p.m. in the speedway’s Budweiser Acceleration Club.
The autograph session is open to fans that purchase the “Pit Road Pets:The Second Lap NASCAR Stars and Their Pets” . Fans can buy the book at the Ryan Newman Foundation’s display tent located near the Kids Zone in the New Holland Fan Plaza. Fans that have already purchased the first or second editions of the book may also bring their copy and participate in the autograph session.
The session is limited to 400 fans and passes will be handed out Friday beginning at 10 a.m. at the Ryan Newman Foundation display tent following their purchase of the book. The Newman’s and others will sign copies of the Pit Road Pets book and one other additional item per person.
Scheduled autograph participants are as follows and subject to change:
Ryan and Krissie Newman
• Kasey Kahne
• Clint Bowyer
• Marcos Ambrose
• Martin Truex Jr.
• Max Papis
• Kyle Petty
• Regan Smith
• Casey Mears
• DeLana Harvick
• A.J. and Lynne Allmendinger with dog Misty
• Aric Almirola with fiance Janice Goss
• Chad Knaus (Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief)
• Steve Letarte (Jeff Gordon’s crew chief)
• Tony Gibson (Ryan Newman’s crew chief)
• Darian Grubb (Tony Stewart’s crew chief)
The Book:
The newest edition of the book will be on sale from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Friday, June 11 for $24.95 each. Books can also be purchased at Newman’s trackside merchandise trailer, the MIS gift shop located in the track’s administration building or online at http://www.ryannewman.org. Proceeds from book sales during the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 race weekend will benefit the Michigan Humane Society.
Check out some of the behind the scenes shots with SIRIUS NASCAR Radio host Claire B. Lang and dog Dakota Rose that did not make it into the book…..
Photo Credit: Karen Will Rogers
Pit Road Pets The Second Lap – NASCAR Stars and their Pets
Photo Credit: Karen Will Rogers
Pit Road Pets The Second Lap – NASCAR Stars and their Pets
PHOTO CREDIT: PHOTOS BY Karen Will Rogers
RYAN NEWMAN
Sprint Pit Crew Challenge Night May 19, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season, Crew Chiefs, Crew Members, Fun Stuff, Pit Crew Challenge.Tags: charlotte, claire b lang, claireblang.com, Lowe's Motor Speedway, NASCAR, pit crew challenge, Sirius NASCAR Radio, Sprint Cup All Star PIt Crew Challenge, Sprint Cup Series
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The Boys Are Back In Town!!
It’s a highlight, back-home, bragging rights night in Charlotte, North Carolina tonight for the pit crews of NASCAR who are back in town for the All-Star Race activities and who will compete in the Sprint All Star Pit Crew Challenge. Opening ceremonies are at 6:45 p.m. EST at Time Warner Cable Arena.
There are 24 eligible teams who will each be able to bring five sets of tires and their own lug nuts to the event as well as air guns and jacks. Teams can bring four support members in addition to the seven competitors. The teams supply their own “push” car with tech requirements stipulated by NASCAR in the NSPCC Technical Bulletin. This stuff is serious!
All drivers, car owners, crew members and team members must have a valid NASCAR license that has not been suspended or revoked. Participating crew members have to be licensed to the team they are competing for and must be active on the current roster of “over the wall” crew members.
Seeding is done through the 2010 Sprint Cup Series Car owner point standings through Dover, and the top eight teams in points will receive a bye into the second round of competition. In addition to the fastest team in the event receiving the honors of champion, the fastest crew member at each station will be crowned as the individual champion and each of the winning individual crew members will receive a $10,000 cash prize.
The key to the event is the 40-yard push – where after completing their duties as jack man, tire carrier, tire changer, gas man, etc., the team must push their 3,200 pound race car (steered by their driver) across the finish line.
Speeds Coverage of the event begins at 9:00 p.m. (tape delayed) “Dialed In” on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio will begin LIVE coverage as the event begins at 7:00 p.m. EST
Last year, the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet pit crew outpaced the No. 43 US Air Force Dodge team to capture the team title. While doing so, the team set a new event record with a time of 22.115 seconds and earned a $70,675 payout, which equates to $10,096 per crew member or $3,195 earnings per second.
Individual winners in 2009 were:
Dennis Terry, Front Tire Changer No.1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy 14.855
Shannon Keys, Front Tire Carrier No.1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy 14.855
Jake Seminara Front Tire Changer No. 18 M&M’s Toyota 14.900
Kenny Barber Rear Tire Carrier No. 18 M&M’s Toyota 14.900
Preston Cordell Gas Man No.1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy 10.072
Eric Hoyle Catch Can No.1 Bas Pro Shops Chevy 10.072
Jeff Kerr Jack Man No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy 5.666
Take a look at the bios of the team guys on the roster for tonight’s event and you’ll see many of them are racers or who knew people who were in racing. These guys first jobs range from commercial fisherman, to golf course manager, log cutter, steel tower construction, air craft refueler, commercial driver and firefighter, to name just a few of the interesting occupations these guys held before their current team role in NASCAR. Trevor Lysne the Front Tire Changer for the No. 42 Target Chevy worked in a treatment center for troubled children before racing. Kenneth Purcell the jack man for the No. 48 Chevy used to work at his dad’s animal hospital before joining the team.
The team guys have nicknames within their teams, like Jeff Patterson the two-time individual champion gas man from the No. 14 Office Depot Chevy whose nickname is “Gooch” and Mike Morneau the rear tire changer for the No. 14 who the guys call “Shrek.”
And their teams have nicknames too. The over-the-wall teams nickname for the No.333 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy is the “Helping Hands pit crew.” Each crew member has the Hamburger helper hand on their firesuit doing their respective position. The jackman has the Hand holding the jack, the fueler has a gas can, etc.
Some, come from a long line of crew member or racing families. Take, for example Jeremy West from the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet. He and his father worked on David Gilliland’s car in the Winston West series. They won the championship in 1996. Jeremy changed and his dad, John, carried.
These guys have played football and rugby, wrestling, baseball and soccer in college and several have been semi-professional athletes. Shaun Peet the jack man for the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota is a former professional hockey player. Some of them have been carrying or changing tires for a race team for over years. Their pit crew coaches train them hard with everything from weights to yoga, aquatic and heat training.
These guys have seen their share of close calls on pit road and some have been hit in the line of duty. Eric Maycroft the rear tire changer for the No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota said, “Yes, (I’ve been hit) by AJ Allmendinger, the wing caught me and flipped me into the next pit stall head over heels.”
The pit road warriors who have their time in the spot light tonight at the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge are an integral part of winning in NASCAR Sprint Cup series that most of their drivers will attend tonight’s event to show support and these guys are scouted, under contract, and in the pressure-cooker that making up time on pit road presents must be at the top of their game physically and mentally to have made it to the level of pit crew member for NASCAR’s elite division teams.
Tonight, is their night. These guys are the best of the best and their families and their team members and their drivers and their fans will be there to cheer them on.
It’s a great event. For more information check http://www.pitcrewchallenge.com.
Media Pit Crew Event!
On Tuesday national and local media members competed in the NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge at Time Warner arena. The event, just for fun, pitted media members from various national and local broadcast and television entities against each other in the media pit crew competition. For the second year in a row as the driver of the car for the winning team, after surviving two heat races and the final face off against a team from the Carolina Panthers (pushing the car like it was Super Bowl Sunday) I felt just a slight sensation of what these guys will feel like tonight. Just as the final heat race was about to begin while filing a report, it was a rush to get into the race car in the nick of time, secure the steering wheel and be pushed to the line. The key to driving the car in this event (a role a number of driver’s wives will handle tonight) is to not brake while you are pushed towards a brick wall, and then just in the nick of time slam on the break. Ah, sweet victory!
See the photo of the winning crew, including my team mates Ray Dunlap, Phil Parsons and Jeff Hammond from Speed and Fox.
Hope you can make the event or catch it on Speed or SIRIUS NASCAR Radio tonight. It’s well worth it and one of the fun events of All-Star week in the heart of racing in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Claire B Lang
Victory Lane at Darlington May 10, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season, claire blang, Trackside, Transcripts.Tags: AJ Almendinger, claire b lang, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Dale Jr, Darlington Raceway, jeff gordon, NASCAR, Sirius NASCAR Radio, tony stewart, www.claireblang.com
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What a wild Saturday night – Sunday morning at Darlington. Victory Lane is the size of a living room at Darlington Raceway, fitting for the kind of down home atmosphere that makes that track special. Everyone is packed in for a really fun, tight-knit celebration. After interviewing Denny Hamlin’s Mother, his crew chief, his team president and team owner – I took a golf cart ride to the media center (hitched a kind ride with the folks rushing crew chief Mike Ford to the media center) and appreciate the lift greatly. We’re all squeezed on the golf cart and there was a Victory Lane Champagne bottle on board which became the topic of discussion during the ride. It was totally empty but going on the shelf at Mike Ford’s house and Ford talked about perhaps having to build a new shelf for more hardware and souvenirs of wins.
Finally, Denny Hamlin, stepped out of the media center and well into the early morning hours of Sunday I interviewed him live. I noticed something that I had not noticed before about him. For some reason Denny reminded me of Jeff Gordon. After all that had transpired, Hamlin was calm and focused during the interview as if he was devoting that several minutes entirely and with complete attention to what I was asking, even after a long day and on a night into early morning where all kinds of things were now being thrown at him. It struck me that this characteristic is something I have always noticed in Gordon. When you have those few minutes with Jeff either behind his hauler or after qualifying or racing – he pays complete attention to the moment and is not distracted. He is remarkably able to isolate each of the moments he dedicates entirely to what he is doing at that moment and he doesn’t give standard answers but truly answers what you are asking giving completely of himself to the moment. I have always notice this in Jeff Gordon and it struck me that this is why I like interviewing Hamlin, because from the interviews of him after his first pole to his firt win to now, he is the same way and it is a characteristic I see in the champion drivers.
Honestly, I am not sure if it is coincidence or the mark of great talent, but I have to believe that inner calm and stress free focus into the moment, allows a driver to enjoy what he’s doing more and excel in focus on the track. Interesting.
In interviewing the team after the race for the “teardown” to be broadcast on “Dialed In” this week – it was easy to pick up on the teams support of Hamlin, even in the tough times, certainly after a win. In the media center Hamlin said he has to believe his faith in his team demonstrated by staying in the car when he injured his knee has paid off with the team. “We have those good pit stops at the end. Is it coincidence?,” He asked. Talking with the team, their confidence and admiration of him was through the roof. This is a team that will not gloat but they feel they are championship level – without a doubt in their being.
Struggles – Dancing with the Lady in Black:
Interaction between driver and crew chief who appear on the same page – even after a frustrating run. it was a long night.
DALE EARNHARDT JR., AND CREW CHIEF LANCE MCGREW, NO. 88 AMP ENERGY /NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – Finished 18th:
SO YOU’RE NOT FRUSTRATED?
JUNIOR: “We ran really good at the beginning. Lance will go home and work on what he can.”
MCGREW: “I think the best thing is that now we have a notebook. We didn’t have that. And now we can go back and we can look and we see.”
JUNIOR: “We ran better this time than we did last time here. I think this has been one of the worst races I had last year.”
MCGREW: “Yeah, it was horrible.”
JUNIOR: “We see that we can do it. We’ve just got to be able to finish.”
MCGREW: “We overcame a cut right rear tire and that was good. You have nights like this.”
JUNIOR: “I enjoy working with Lance every week.”
Tony Stewart finished 23rd – on a frustrating evening for the #14.
From the start of the 367-lap race, Stewart had a racecar that was loose back to the gas each time he came off the track’s corners. Track bar, wedge and air pressure adjustments were used throughout the race to alleviate the car’s ill-handling ways, but adding to the team’s headaches was a slew of problems that only compounded their original difficulty in navigating the track’s tight confines. There was a chain-reaction crash that saw Stewart get into the back of Paul Menard’s Ford on lap 63, when traffic stacked up in between turns one and two. While Menard spun to the apron, Stewart received some cosmetic damage to the nose of his Old Spice/Office Depot machine. Then, on what was supposed to be the team’s third pit stop on lap 85, Stewart missed his stall when traffic clogged pit road and prevented him from angling into his box. The non-stop did have one benefit as it put Stewart into the lead when the race restarted on lap 89 – Stewart and team kept fighting. On lap 336, Stewart lost a lap to eventual race-winner Denny Hamlin, and it was a deficit he could not overcome. When the checkered flag mercifully dropped, Stewart was 23rd.
Note: I got a kick out of the writing of Stewart’s PR guy Mike Arning who gets full credit for noting that the checkered flag “mercifully dropped,” for Stewart. Touche Mike.
Bad night for AJ (and Jimmie Johnson)
Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet – At the infield care center after being caught up in AJ’s Brake rotor mess (see below) Johnson wasn’t sure what happened. He was wacked out of nowhere and calm as could be. I was surprised how a guy could be so laid back after being what he called “drilled” with no notice. When I asked him about it he said that they were running good times, and called it an “adventurous” night. He told me he felt like they were “doing their best,” and was positive that they were fast before being taken out. Not a good night for the 48 – but situation out of their control. He’s a master of not wasting time worrying about what is out of control and moving on.
So what did happen?
AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Insignia/Best Buy Ford Fusion (Finished 37th) – “The brake rotor exploded. The last 40 or 50 laps we were struggling with brake problems and just no brakes. We took all the brake cooling off and thought maybe we were gonna fix it, and when that yellow came out I went to hit the brakes to slow down and the brake rotors exploded. I’m not sure which one, but I was just trying to aim for the bottom and try to miss everybody. I’m sorry to Jimmie. It wasn’t his fault, but I had no brakes and couldn’t do anything about it.”
Looking ahead to Dover:
Hang on to your clothes –
Grammy-nominated country music artist Joe Nichols will sing the national anthem prior to the start of the “Autism Speaks 400 presented by HERSHEY’S Milk & Milkshakes” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on May 16, 2010 at Dover International Speedway. Nichols’ hit song “Gimmie That Girl” currently sits at No. 1 on the Billboard country music chart. The singer of country hits “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off,” ooh boy did you catch that race fans –it should be a wild weekend. LOL.
Jeff Gordon – #24 Dupont Chevrolet -“It’s high speed, really high banked — Dover is just one of those white knuckle experiences that you really feel the sensation of the speeds that our cars are capable of probably more there than any other track that we go to. It’s one of my favorite tracks. I love Dover because it’s got those big, fast high banked corners, but it’s great racing as well. The groove has really widened out. You can run high, you can run the middle and you can run low. We’ve seen a lot of different lanes there to race on. It’s challenging. Every lap, you’re on the edge.”
DOVER 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – (SIRIUS NASCAR Radio) 5:00 p.m. EST Friday
Interesting Note: Elliott Sadler returns to Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) to pilot the No. 2 Best Buy/Insignia Silverado for the second time this season. Despite the fact that Sadler has been competing in NASCAR’s top-3 series for over 15 years, he has NEVER made a Truck Series start at Dover International Speedway. Sadler has, however, made a total of 27 combined starts in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series at the one-mile concrete track. Sadler has led a combined total of 189 laps at the track, and has earned a best finish of sixth in both series (Fall of 2005 in Cup, Fall of 1997 in Nationwide). Is there any added pressure in returning to the truck that currently sits first in the owner’s points? “No pressure at all. I know it’s a great truck and I’m really looking forward to being behind the wheel of the Best Buy/Insignia truck at Dover. It’ll be a lot of fun.”
Did you know?
According to NASCAR’s Loop Data statistics, over the past four Truck Series races at Dover International Speedway – Ron Hornaday has gained more points than any other Truck Series driver. Hornaday has picked up a total of 771 points at the Monster Mile over the last four race events. Hornaday also holds the title of driver fastest early in a run at Dover.
Catch the Heluva Good! 200 NASCAR NASCAR Nationwide Series -(SIRIUS NASCAR Radio) 2:00 p.m. Saturday
Thanks for your Crown Royal #17 Pit Crew Name Suggestions!!– The #17 team is looking for a name for their pit crew, a creative challenge that is fun – especially with the new sponsor. I opened up the phone lines and email and got a ton of suggestions including, Royal Knights, Kings of the Road, Gold Diggers, Crown Over-The-Wall Bangers, The Barneys, The Royal Wrenches, The Purple Reign, Purple Predators, Purple People Eaters and more. Some of them were a bit royal and snobby in nature for a down and dirty pit crew, one that is not included to step out on pit road acting like they are more regal than everyone else. There lies the challenge of naming the crew with a name that matches a “Crown Royal” type hook. Hmmm. Send an email at insidercbl@aol.com if you have a suggestion. I interviewed Robbie Reiser, the GM of Roush Racing who reminded the listeners that the “Killer Bees” earned their nickname – and that the #17 pit crew earned that initial name they didn’t create it. Reiser is tough. I like that.
Newly Posted Photo: The Stewart Haas team guys with the ARMY Team at Fort Benning, with driver Ryan Newman. The trip to Fort Benning last week was beyond worthwhile – and we all had great pride over the pit stop that the team busted off before being thrown into the training course with the US ARMY Rangers. The Stewart Haas guys held up their end of the deal, they may have been pushed to the limit by the Rangers but they didn’t buckle. To the Army guys – thanks for all you do! Meeting some of America’s finest and chatting with them at Fort Benning – filled all of us with pride in what America represents.
Claire B.
Victory Lane at Phoenix International Raceway: Tears, Emotion, Celebration, First Win! April 14, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season.Tags: claire b lang, claireblang.com, NASCAR, Sirius NASCAR Radio, Sprint Cup Series, Texas Motor Speedway
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Tony Gibson sat down on the stage for my LIVE interview at PIR after the Subway Fresh Fit 600 – emotionally spent after his first Sprint Cup Series win. Sitting next to him – Krissie Newman, the wife of winning driver Ryan Newman.
Drivers sometimes sit down during the interview, after a race-hardly ever crew chiefs. But it wasn’t from lack of being in shape, nor from being tired, it was sheerly from the emotion of the moment. What was especially exciting, other than seeing the smiles from Ryan who, more than he lets on externally was bothered by the lack of wins since Daytona, 2008, it was the excitement from members of the race team. Many of the guys on this team came from DEI and many of them had not had a Sprint Cup Series win until this moment. After Victory lane I went to the teardown to talk to the team members – many of whom said that this day was a culmination of a dream that started for them when they were 8 or 9 years old. Later, as I went into the garage, Ryan Newman was back at the teardown getting a pat on the back from Series Director John Darby, who, like those who enjoy seeing history made in the sport, noted that we were seeing a historical moment as the #39 car got its first win in the series.
Ryan Newman is not an emotional guy, he’s a great, great guy. He doesn’t drink, at all, never smoked, makes himself wide on the race track, speaks his mind, is funny as all get out and extremely loyal to team and friends. I saw some emotion in him in Victory Lane that I rarely see – and it was sweet to see him showing that emotion in the winner’s circle – visited by the likes of Jimmie Johnson who along with Jeff Gordon stopped to congratulate him. He doesn’t throw his helmet or pitch a fit when he doesn’t win – but like many drivers who have been groomed to win since childhood – not winning is hard on the psyche.
There’s a moment that I wish the fans could see – it’s when the series director in the garage or NASCAR President Mike Helton in Victory Lane – walk to the victor and say “great race” and shake the hand of the winner. John Darby did just that to Ryan long after the race was over as Ryan visited his team tearing down the car in the garage. For the driver, no matter how seasoned, or not, no matter how few or how many wins, or how vocal the wheel man is – it always means a great deal to the driver to get the mark of respect and achievement from these guys.
One other note – It’s not often said how many team members have young children at home watching the race. Their kids call before bed on Sunday evening and say “daddy, how did you do?,” or watch the race on TV and think their dad at the track is a super hero and ask when he will win. Time after time in the garage at the teardown team members will tell me after winning how much it means to them to tell their kids that daddy was a winner that night – and many of them tear up while telling me that. Standing there looking at these guys busting their hump to tear the car down, full of sweat and grease and far from home, I am moved by the look in the eyes of the team member as he tells me about calling his kid to tell them that they won! It’s a special moment in the dark of the garage after the TV cameras have been turned off – that I will always treasure.
Texas Take – Spoiler Talk!
Spoiler questions will dominate at Texas
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the new spoiler. There were jokes at Martinsville from drivers who were making up funny statements on the supposed impact of the spoiler over the wing there to the, “It won’t make a difference until we get to Texas,” comment we are all familiar with. The spoiler, well and Denny Hamlin’s knee, has been the major conversation topic the past few weeks.
Well, we’re headed to Texas this weekend. So, get ready to hear endless questions leading into the race weekend on the new spoiler. To save some time, here’s the take of a host of drivers as to just how much of a difference the spoiler will make this weekend at Texas:
WON’T MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE:
Jeff Gordon, who will drive a specially-painted No. 24 DuPont/National Guard Chevrolet at TMS: “The true test is going to be at the 1.5-mile tracks – Texas being the first one.But I don’t think it’s going to change who’s going to be fast and who’s going to run well.
David Gilliland – Drivr No. 37 Taco Bell Ford : “I don’t think the spoiler will be a really big deal this weekend. Most people have an understanding how it has changed the cars. It’s not a huge difference. There are some small things that make the car handle differently, but we’re not reinventing the wheel with this change.
Matt Kennseth – Driver #17 Crown Royal Black Ford: “Texas to me is a track that’s more about real racing and making sure that you have a car that handles better than the rest of the guys, so that you can make sure you’re the fastest car around the track every lap. I’m a little unsure about how the spoiler change may effect the racing action this weekend heading into Texas. I don’t foresee any big changes, but we won’t know until we get all the cars on track for practice. Texas is a track that I really enjoy a lot and we’ve been very successful here, so I always look forward to racing at Texas Motor Speedway.”
ITS GOING TO BE INTERESTING:
Kurt Busch – Driver #2 Miller Lite Dodge – “I think teams will just really tip-toe up to speed there this weekend. It’s hard to know just how hard to push the car with it being the first time out. Then, we’ll make adustments from there. You may try to change some things and explore the aero situation. It’s not like we didn’t try some of the things when we did the tire and spoiler testing at Charlotte, but this will be the first real test..the first time that all the cars and teams will be there at the Texas track together.”
Martin Truex Junior – Driver of the #56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota: I think Texas will be the ultimate test for the new spoiler since it is one of the fastest tracks we go to. It will also come into play with all of the side-by-side racing we do. We’ll definitely see how this new change effects all of us and obviously, the teams that can figure it out should do well and I hope that is us.
Kevin Conway – Driver No. 37 ExtenZe Racing : “Texas is going to be a big test for everyone. We have to study what the car needs. It’ll definitely be the first test for us at a racetrack of that speed with the rear spoiler. Martinsville and Phoenix gave us some information, but nothing like Texas. It’s going to be interesting to see which teams can hit on something or not.”
NOT SURE – BUT NOT SO MUCH
Kasey Kahne – Driver #9 Budweiser Ford Fusion “Some of the cars have already tested there and didn’t say there was a huge difference. We (tested) at Charlotte and it didn’t seem like there was a huge difference. Once we get racing together and have a lot of cars on the track, whether it’s Sunday during the race or Saturday’s final practice, I think we’re going to all learn more than what we know right now. I’m kind of looking forward to that to really see what it changes, because it has to change something when you’re around 42 other cars.”
Jimmie Johnson – Driver #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet “From my standpoint, I feel that the cars drove very similar to the way that I have in the past. I didn’t even think about wing or spoiler on the back of the car throughout the (Phoenix) race. It seemed the same. The final test will be in Texas. And even to Talladega. There’s some things with this spoiler that should help the car stay on the ground and change the draft a bit at Talladega. So we have a nice progression in tracks to really evaluate what’s going on. But so far I think it’s going well and it’s driving a lot like it did before.”
Kyle Busch – Driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry: “Not a whole lot of difference, but definitely some change. Whether it’s change for the good or the bad yet, we won’t know until we get into a pack at a race. My initial thoughts after the Charlotte test would be that it adds a lot of grip to the car, makes the cars comfortable to drive but, to me, it might make it harder in traffic. I’m very curious to see how it changes the handling during a race, since this weekend will really be the first big test for the spoiler on an aero track.”
————————–
We may have to wait , yes, even until race day to tell how much of an impact the spoiler will have.
Kudos to Denny Hamlin for driving his race car, not complaining on the radio despite the car not running up front. I’m sure between the spoiler and Denny Hamlin’s knee, oh and how everything is bigger in Texas we’ll have a lot to talk about this weekend.
Texas is always big, fast and exciting. Stay tuned.
Claire B
Ty Pennington Joins Claire B. Lang on “Dialed In” Tonight! April 8, 2010
Posted by claireblang in 2010 Season.Tags: claire b lang, claireblang.com, jeff gordon, NASCAR, phoenix international raceway, pir, Sirius NASCAR Radio, Sprint Cup Series
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Jeff Gordon’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Visit
Extreme makeover Home Edition’s Ty Pennington will join me tonight (Thursday, April 8th – 7:15 EST [time edited] p.m. EST ) LIVE on “Dialed In”. I’m mostly a news junkie and don’t watch much television since I’m always on the road or at a race track. I have a weakness for this show- mostly because it takes seemingly impossible situations that average folks find themselves in and it rewards them with help that they so desperately need. Most of the time the people who are chosen for the program look at life with a glass that is half full instead of half empty and despite being faced with major adversity find a way to help others and see life through a positive light. The fact that Jeff Gordon will be featured on this weekends’ installment of the ABC program (Episode will air SUNDAY, APRIL 11 -8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) brings it even closer to home. I want to find out about Jeff Gordon on the set, and although I get to interview a lot of celebrities in my job I have asked to interview Ty Pennington for quite some time, ever since I heard Gordon was going to do a segment. I’m looking forward to the interview tonight. Wonder if Ty Pennington is a race fan?
The challenge: On January 11, 2010, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” traveled to Loris, South Carolina – with race car driver Jeff Gordon as the celebrity volunteer — to meet Amanda and Derrick Suggs, a young couple who had just started their own family when they adopted Amanda’s younger siblings to keep them from being separated in foster care. When Derrick and Amanda got married, they moved into the home Derrick inherited from his grandfather, who built it in 1953. The home came with a long list of needed repairs: a leaking roof, outdated and exposed electrical wiring, rotting foundation and cracked asbestos siding. Did Jeff Gordon grab a hammer? Stay tuned.
Phoenix International Raceway Challenges
Longer race, day to night, spoiler, green-white-checkered, have at it!
The challenges of this race track are many. It’s the first Saturday night Sprint Cup race of the year. This weekend’s Sprint Cup Race here will be an additional 63 laps and miles up from 312. The new distance will be 375 laps/miles.
Some Notes:
-Sam Hornish had a career best PIR finish (9th) in last year’s spring event.
-It’s Brad Keselowski’s second acareer start at Phoenix here and he improved six positions in NSCS driver standings in the last two races. Crew chief Jay Guy says “The new car we are bringing to Phoenix is one of the lightest cars that we’ve produced to date and we’re excited to see how it races.”
-Phoenix was Ryan Newman’s first ever NASCAR start.
-It’s not a self-cleaning track, expect a lot of excitement when an accident happens
-This weekend kicks off a long stretch in the season where we don’t see a break until July. Teams need to stay prepared because if you get behind in this stretch it’s hard to make up.
-You need to be up on the wheel and really drive this track.
-It’s Carl Edwards 200th Career Sprint Cup Series Start. They’ve had very fast cars in the past at Phoenix but Carl has yet to win a Cup race here.
-Qualifying is key – it can be hard to pass at PIR
-This track combines the speed of some of the bigger tracks and some characteristics of short tracks. Some have said it’s a small superspeedway with long straightaways and really aggressive restarts.
-As soon as the sun goes behind the suites in turns one and two, the temperature really drops and the track gains quite a bit of grip. The sun and the track temperature will be an issue. Jeff Gordon says the sun entering turn one during qualifying will be an issue. “We only get two looks at it while trying to set a very quick time,” he says of qualifying here.
-Three of the 27 Sprint Cup races here at PIR have been won from the pole.
-In 15 Sprint Cup Series starts at Phoenix, Dale Earnhardt Junior has scored two wins, four top-five finishes and seven top 10’s. He has led 460 laps. The 88 team will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No 88-586. This is a brand new chassis that has never been tested or raced.
-Engineering Challenges: Howard Comstock, Dodge Motorsports Engineering says, “With the new longer distance and a new earlier starting time, teams will face two new engineering challenges at this year’s Subway Fresh Fit 600. The change from 500 K to 600K will mean new fuel strategies and concerns of brake attrition. The earlier the start time for this race creates a daytime to evening race environment that is always unique when you come to the desert and race.”
Everybody but Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson!
I’ve got the field…except Kurt, Kyle and Jimmie, oh my!
Jimmie Johnson’s average finish at Phoenix is 5.1, Mark Martin’s average finish here is 8.8, Jeff Gordon’s average finish here is 10.8, Kurt Busch’s is 12.0, Kyle Busch’s is 14.5.
I had Tom Busch on the air last night, the father of Kurt and Kyle. He talked about bringing young 13-year-old Kurt Busch to Phoenix on November 3 of 1991 to watch his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at this race track. “We got to go down into the pits before the race and I thought that was so cool,” said Kurt. “When they fired up the engines for the race it was something like I had never heard or seen before.” Hard to believe that just over 18 years later Kurt is one of the favorites to take him on here at Phoenix International Raceway. Busch is second to Jimmie Johnson in NASCAR’s “loop data” statistics for the four most recent seasons. For example, Johnson’s leading average running position here of 5.066 to Busch’s second place 8.063 and Johnson’s leading driver rating of 123.0 to Busch’s runner up 104.6 rating. Even with one fewer race (Kurt did not compete in the Nov 2005 race) Busch is still second in laps led leading 411 (14.6 percent) of the laps.
Somehow I convinced Tom Busch, just for fun of course, to take Kyle and Kurt to win here at Phoenix this weekend in the Sprint Cup Series race. I mean I wasn’t going to pry the man’s boys from his arms for a mere sporting bet. We threw out Jimmie Johnson (neither of us could pick him) but I have the rest of the field. How did I pull that one off? I had FOX analyst Jeff Hammond on the air as a guest last night and his choice to win, he said, would be someone unexpected – like a Marcos Ambrose or a David Reutimann. It should be an interesting weekend.
Is Running the Nationwide race a greater advantage here?
Paul Menard thinks so! ” I think that running the Nationwide race will be an even bigger advantage than usual this weekend,” Menard says. “The schedule for Friday is pretty tight and the Cup Series doesn’t get any practice during the part of the day we race. So, I’m sure (crew chief) Slugger Labbe will stick around for the Nationwide so both of us are able to get a good feel at to show the track will change during the course of the evening.” “The good thing for us is that Paul is running the Nationwide race, so he’ll be able to tell us how the track changed and we can be ready for it Saturday night,” says Labbe.
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I’ll be on the air tonight (Thursday) 7-10 EST LIVE from Phoenix International Raceway on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio. Catch you then.
Claire B
"Dialed In" with Claire B Lang 