Nascar Racing Online

Archive for January, 2010

When you look at the last decade’s worth of Sprint Cup champions, from Bobby Labonte in 2000 through the four-year reign of Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team, you might be hard pressed to find a connecting factor. Indeed, the personalities and racing backgrounds of Labonte, Johnson, Jeff Gordon (2001), Tony Stewart (2002 and 2005), Matt Kenseth (2003), and Kurt Busch (2004) are all rather diverse. Each driver can tell his own tale of trials and triumphs before reaching the pinnacle of American motorsports, and only Gordon and Stewart, who each toiled the USAC ranks before making highly publicized swaps to stock cars, could claim a background that mirrored one another on any substantial level.

However, there is one minor detail that ties nine of the ten championship-winning rides together.

With the exception of Gordon’s championship at the wheel of a flourescent red flame-bedecked blue Chevrolet, each champion’s primary paint scheme prominently featured one mutual hue: black.

Labonte’s championship in 2000 was much more noted for the fact that his Interstate Batteries-sponsored Pontiac was a primarily green machine, but the then-Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s title brought to an end a drout for black that had dated back to Dale Earnhardt’s last championship in 1994.

After Gordon’s brightly-colored romp to the title in ’01, Stewart outdueled Mark Martin at the wheel of an orange, white, and – yep – black Pontiac. In addition’s, Martin’s runner-up Ford featured a primarly black paint scheme.

Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch brought Jack Roush the final NASCAR Winston Cup title and the first title of the “Chase” era, in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Whilte the two immensely different racers enjoyed immensely different runs to the top, their Roush Racing Ford Taureses each sported paint schemes with significant amounts of black, with Kenseth’s machine being a near half-and-half mix of DeWalt black and yellow and Busch’s ride featuring a full black paint scheme offset by metallic gold marks of primary sponsor Sharpie.

Stewart took his second title in 2005, at the wheel of an orange and black Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and the next year, Johnson began his stint at the top that is still ongoing with his silver, blue, and black Chevy with flourescent yellow trim. Is it any coincidence that prior to 2006, Johnson’s primary paint scheme was always silver, blue, and red?

Okay, so you may be thinking, “Whats the point? No, there isn’t a point, its just the most pointless article I think I’ve ever read. Certainly the most pointless one I’ve read on this website.”

Aha, not so fast, my friend! There is plenty of reason why this is relevent to the season that will begin February 6 with the exhibition Bud Shootout at Daytona: Johnson’s Chevrolet will not only for the first time since the last time another driver won the title be without the black, but its primary hue is the exact opposite on the color wheel: white.

Certainly it will take more than just a change in paint scheme and the dropping of one color and the addition of the complete opposite shade to bring the #48 team’s reign to an end, but it is certainly worth noting, none the less.

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via www.gjezarianracing.com

Grand-Am Rolex Series Starting Grid

 

Pos  No  Class   Car  Time  Name

1 10 DP Ford Dallara 1:40.681 Max Angelelli

2 60 DP Ford Riley 1:41.100 Oswaldo Negri Jr

3 6 DP Ford Riley 1:41.110 Michael Valiante

4 02 DP BMW Riley 1:41.147 Scott Dixon

5 01 DP BMW Riley 1:41.164 Scott Pruett

6 55 DP BMW Riley 1:41.463 Christophe Bouch

7 59 DP Porsche Riley 1:41.513 Darren Law

8 9 DP Porsche Riley 1:41.603 Joao Barbosa

9 75 DP Ford Lola 1:42.060 Ricardo Zonta

10 90 DP Porsche Coyote 1:42.074 Buddy Rice

11 77 DP Ford Dallara 1:42.606 Memo Gidley

12 7 DP BMW Riley 1:43.322 Ian James

13 2 DP Chevrolet Crawford Dane Cameron

14 95 DP BMW Riley Scott Tucker

15 99 DP Chevrolet Riley Johnson/ Gurney/

16 69 GT Mazda RX-8 1:49.282 Jeff Segal

17 30 GT Mazda RX-8 1:49.371 Jordan Taylor

18 70 GT Mazda RX-8 1:49.462 Sylvain Tremblay

19 07 GT Corvette 1:49.474 Paul Edwards

20 66 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:49.637 Andy Lally

21 88 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:49.831 Johnny Mowlem

22 67 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:49.855 Patrick Long

23 32 GT BMW M6 1:49.968 Max Hyatt

24 41 GT Mazda RX-8 1:49.971 Leh Keen

25 94 GT BMW M6 1:50.063 Joey Hand

26 71 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:50.271 Spencer Pumpelly

27 57 GT Camaro GT.R 1:50.274 Robin Liddell

28 48 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:50.662 Bryce Miller

29 43 GT Mazda RX-8 1:51.033 Wayne Nonnama

30 40 GT Mazda RX-8 1:51.122 Joe Foster

31 22 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:51.199 Darryl O’Young

32 64 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:51.449 Eric Lux

33 46 GT Pontiac GXP.R 1:51.816 Shane Lewis

34 20 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.235 Jos Menten

35 97 GT Camaro GT.R 1:52.321 Mike Borkowski

36 23 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:50.298 Martin Ragginger

37 44 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:50.722 Craig Stanton

38 14 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:52.580 Cory Friedman

39 63 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:53.004 Henri Richard

40 52 GT Ferrari F430 CH 1:53.088 Bob Michaelian

41 42 GT Mazda RX-8 1:54.393 Joe Sahlen

42 21 GT Pontiac GTO.R 1:55.482 Jim Briody

43 19 GT Corvette 1:57.357 Sean Paul Breslin

 44 18 GT Porsche GT3 Cup 1:58.932 Dan Watkins

I thought I’d put this up so that people would have a place to go and speak about whatever is on their minds while watching The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.  I myself won’t be here the whole time, nor do I expect anyone else to be either, but I will be dropping in from time to time over the next 30 hours to check up on everyone and post a comment or two while I’m here.

I hope to see some of you in the comment area – talk with you later!

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Sometimes, team owners should be seen and not heard. Because when you put a microphone in front of a guy who’s used to having everyone snap to at his every word, well, you might just get a little something unexpected and — dare I say it — offensive.

Exhibit A: Felix Sabates — you know, the special guest star in "Earnhardt Ganassi Featuring Felix Sabates" — who raised a few eyebrows and a few blood pressure rates in Detroit when he teed off on the state and Michigan International Speedway, calling the state and its people …

Wait a second, Detroit? Hang on, this calls for some musical accompaniment. Give us some Motor City-appropriate audio, Mr. Mathers:

Ah, yeah. Perfect. So anyway, Sabates had some choice words about which tracks should lose NASCAR races, starting with Michigan International Speedway. Why?

"I mean, there’s nobody left in Detroit other than the police and the
unemployed," Sabates said. "I’d cut Michigan off
the schedule altogether. Michigan — I’m talking about the state — is
never coming back to what it used to be, so why go there and throw good
money after bad money?"

Wow. Brilliant move there, Felix, kicking NASCAR right in one of its sweet spots. What’s next, saying "Sweet Home Alabama" sucks? Demanding all beer be removed from the infield? Come on, man, could you be any more out of touch?

Rather than tearing Sabates a new one, MIS president Roger Curtis took the high road:

"He races Chevrolets. His peers are Jack Roush and Roger
Penske — fine examples of Michigan’s resilience. Hopefully, they can
explain to him why NASCAR races at MIS," Curtis told The Detroit News. "We draw
100,000 fans on our worst day and a lot of those great fans make big
sacrifices to come here. I’ll make sure to invite him to sit with me
and the fans in the grandstands this summer. Then he’ll see what great
fans we have, the beauty of this area and why we race here. Even
in the economic conditions that we’re in, and attendance being down a
little bit last year, MIS is still a huge economic driver with our two
NASCAR weekends, and we’re very proud of that."

Yes, I’m sure Felix will be rushing right out to sit in the stands with the Great Michigan Unwashed after his comments. Still, seems like somebody — my money’s on Kid Rock — got to Sabates, and late Friday afternoon, he issued an apology:

"In an
attempt at humor I made some comments about the city of Detroit and the people
of Michigan that were in poor taste and that I sincerely apologize for,”
Sabates said. “I have worked directly or indirectly with the auto
industry for over 40 years as both an auto dealer and a NASCAR owner and it was
never my intention to put down the auto industry, its workers, the city of
Detroit or the state of Michigan. I have such respect for all of them.

"I am
so frustrated over the challenges that this tough economy has brought to
everyone in this country that I inadvertently joked about one of the areas hit
the hardest. Those of us that have the luxury of getting to work in such a
great sport like NASCAR owe a great deal to the city of Detroit and their
support of the auto industry because without either, the sport of NASCAR would
not be what it is today.

"In
fact, Michigan International Speedway, even in this tough environment drew an
impressive 100,000 fans to the track at their last race.

"My
sincerest apologies to anyone that I might have offended, it was certainly not
my intent."

All righty then. Nice gesture by Sabates, albeit way way way too late. Still, if you’re going to screw up like this, now’s the time to do it. By the time the Michigan races roll around this summer, nobody’s going to remember this.

Unless Bob Seger writes a song about it, that is …

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Fox 6 News Interview

Donations and sponsorships for Ricky Byers “Race for a Cure” fall short for Daytona
Uncategorized — posted by karen pistone on January, 29 2010 9:17 PM

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This weekend, several NASCAR drivers, including Jimmie Johnson and Juan Pablo Montoya, will participate in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, matching wits and wheels with many of the best drivers from racing series all over the world.

While it’s very cool to see familiar faces in unfamiliar environs, is it a good idea for NASCAR’s leading lights to risk their seasons in one-off events like this?

For the second year in a row, Jimmie Johnson has had a problem at the Rolex that could make observers wonder whether he ought to be doing this kind of thing with his offseason. Last year, Johnson sliced a tendon in his left middle finger while trying to cut a hole in his firesuit. And this year was almost much, much worse.

Johnson was tooling around the track in a Daytona Prototype in practice when a much slower GT pulled out in front of him. He swerved to avoid it, and ended up hitting an infield wall. Hard. So hard that for a time, the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings team considered junking it entirely. 

The car was eventually salvaged, and Johnson fortunately walked away unhurt. But just suppose he hadn’t? Suppose he’d gotten injured severely enough to affect the NASCAR regular season? How pleased do you think Rick Hendrick and Lowe’s would be at that point?

Over at Unrestricted, Jim Pedley makes the very good point that this could be the kind of thing that forces team owners to block their drivers from participating in other series. It’s the same question athletes in other sports face when they’re considering outside events like the Olympics. So what exactly is the challenge here? Pedley explains:

The Daytona
Prototypes are quite power[ful] and quite fast. The track they race on at Daytona is
quite fast and very tricky. Plus, the cars run through the night and share the
track with GT cars which are quite a bit slower and which can be driven by
people who barely meet the definition of professional driver.

All of which must make team owners just thrilled that their prize ponies are running in this race. Still, it’ll be tremendous fun to watch — and just try to tell NASCAR drivers not to race. See how far that gets you.

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The wait is over! A dozen lucky tracks will be the site of Danicamania this year, and Danica fans in Vegas, California, Miami and other locales can start officially making their race plans.

Danica Patrick and JR Motorsports have announced Danica’s 2010 Nationwide schedule, and it basically goes like this: Florida, Cali, Vegas, loooong time off, then most of the rest of the slate.

Still up in the air is whether Patrick will race in the Feb. 13 season opener at Daytona. She’ll be racing in an ARCA event on Feb. 6, and based on her performance in that race, she may be slotted for the seat in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. (The car’s already entered; it’s just a matter of whether Danica will be driving it.) Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be running the 88 in the Nationwide race at Daytona, and after that, Kelly Bires will slide into the seat of that car; Bires is available to run the 7 if Patrick isn’t deemed ready.

After Daytona, Patrick will race in California at the Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 20 and in Las Vegas on Feb. 27. She will then take a four-month break from NASCAR — she does have a day job, you know — and will return to the Nationwide series in late June at New Hampshire.

Here’s how the rest of her schedule shakes out: Chicagoland Speedway (July 9), Michigan International Speedway (Aug. 14), Dover International Speedway (Sept. 25), Auto Club Speedway (Oct. 9), Charlotte Motor Speedway (Oct. 15), Gateway International Raceway (Oct. 23), Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 6), Phoenix International Raceway (Nov. 13) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 20). She’ll be missing out on racing at Bristol, Talladega, Atlanta and Richmond, among other notable tracks. This schedule — heavy on the 1.5-mile cookie cutters — should give her a chance to get comfortable at some of NASCAR’s more straightforward, so to speak, tracks.

Already, tracks are capitalizing on Danica’s presence; emails from the tracks where she’ll be visiting are already showing up promising special Danica deals. She will bring in fans, and that’s not a bad way to start.

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This story starts, as all the great ones do, with Kyle Busch eating ice cream.

Seems that in 2006, Kyle was at a Mooresville, N.C. Bruster’s Ice Cream — is there more than one? — when he saw a sign that a young boy, Raine Angelley, needed financial help to get a kidney transplant. Raine suffers from polycystic kidney disease, a disorder that causes cysts to form in the kidneys. Raine’s kidney function had dropped below 20 percent, and he needed a transplant, but didn’t have the money. 

Enter: The D00D.

Kyle called the number on that poster and spoke to Raine’s father Rayce. He offered financial assistance and helped raise awareness of Raine’s condition, and in August 2006, Raine received the kidney from his birth mother.

But Raine’s tough times didn’t end there. He received a liver transplant in 2009, and tried to keep up with the rest of his high school class and graduate on time in 2010. With one semester left, Raine needed to complete 360 hours in the workforce to finish his degree.

Enter: The D00D, again.

Kyle hired Raine to work at the 18′s shop after school. Sure, he’ll be a gofer, but could you imagine a better gig for a high school kid obsessed with racing? (Well, Joey Logano probably could, but still.) He’ll get a racing education and complete what he needs to do to get his degree.

Anyway, good on Kyle for this one. Nice work all the way around.

Student, Kyle Busch brought together by illness [Statesville.com]

(Hat tip: Carol and Sheri.)

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Jason Leffler Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

The last four Nationwide Series champions have come from the Sprint Cup Series ranks, but will 2010 be the year of the Nationwide-only driver? Not since Martin Truex Jr.’s second-consecutive series championship in 2005 has the title trophy gone to a driver running only the Nationwide Series.

Series regulars got closer in 2009 than they had since that 2005 season to claiming that trophy for the Nationwide-only camp. At the end of last season, eight series regulars (granted Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch were regulars in the Nationwide Series, but they didn’t count in this equation since they were also full-time Sprint Cup drivers) finished in the top-10. That was the most since 2005, a season that also saw eight Nationwide-only drivers in the top-10 at season’s end.

It will help that, as of now, Kyle Busch, who pretty much stunk up the field throughout 2009, plans to scale back his Nationwide Series edeavors to focus on his still full plate of Sprint Cup racing, Camping World Truck Series multi-truck team ownership and part-time driver, and still-part-time driver in the Nationwide Series.

Still planning to run full-time in both Nationwide and Sprint Cup, though, is Carl Edwards. Running two series full-time has got to be becoming old hat to him by now. The 2007 Nationwide champ has become far and away the seasoned veteran of full-time double duty.

Brad Keselowski and Paul Menard will also be attempting both series full-time. It will be Menard’s first full-time Nationwide Season since 2006. Meanwhile, Keselowski will have so much on his plate — concentrating on his first full-time Sprint Cup season in a somewhat new ride (he only has three starts in the Penske No. 12 Cup car under his belt heading into 2010), he’s starting up a whole new Nationwide Series team at Penske, and he’s a Truck Series team owner.

Edwards will most definitely have the biggest target on his back as the Sprint Cup driver to beat for the Nationwide title, and Keselowski, a four-time race winner in 2009 and third-place points finisher the last two years, may still very well be a threat — even with a start-up team. Keselowski was, after all, breathing down Edwards’ neck until the checkered flag fell at Homestead for second-to-Busch honors in 2009.

Even so, 2010 looks to be the best shot non-Cup drivers have had in the Nationwide Series in awhile. Drivers out of last season’s eight who are returning and not running regularly in the Sprint Cup Series include long-time Nationwide veteran Jason Leffler, who finised fourth in 2009; last season’s rookie of the year Justin Allgaier, who finished fifth in 2009 and will have a teammate this year in Keselowski; Rusty Wallace Inc. teammates Steve Wallace and Brendan Gaughan, who finished out 2009 seventh and ninth, respectively; and Michael Annett, who will have a year of Nationwide experience under his belt after finishing out his rookie campaign 10th in points last season.

Of those series regulars, Leffler may be a favorite to play spoiler to the double-dippers. He returns with his Braun Racing team intact after a 2009 season that saw him as the highest points finisher after Busch, Edwards, and Keselowski. He’ll also have the benefit of Sprint Cup teammates who’ll make at least occasional appearances in the Nationwide Series, including Brian Vickers and Reed Sorenson.

Another favorite would probably also be Allgaier. After all, he finished fifth in points his rookie season of 2009. This season, he has a year of experience under his belt, and he’ll also have a teammate in Keselowski — two things he didn’t have working in his favor in 2009.

To read more from this author, visit NASCAR Nationwide Series Examiner, follow her on Twitter or become a fan of NASCAR Examiner on Facebook.

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Once you start getting paid to play a kid’s game, it’s no longer just about the game itself. Pro athletes these days must show at least as much marketing potential as on-field potential — in some cases, much more — and the way that they capitalize on that potential goes a long way toward demonstrating whether their latest big contract is their last, or merely a stepping-stone to even more zeroes in a paycheck.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek has released its list of the most powerful athletes in sports, and it’s one that takes into account both on-field performance and off-field marketability. A "routine" star in a popular sport can — and does — rank higher than a champion in one with a narrower appeal.

To craft the list, Bloomberg BusinessWeek worked with CSE, a sports brand management company, and "sports professor" Rick Horrow, and focused exclusively on athletes. The report tracks on-field performance over the last two years and off-field metrics including trustworthiness, appeal and influence.

And the winner was … Tiger Woods?

Yes, considering the bulk of this study was completed before Tiger’s travails of recent weeks, Woods took the top spot. The rest of the top five included LeBron James, Phil Mickelson, Albert Pujols and Peyton Manning.    

NASCAR claims eight spots on the top 100 list, headed by Jimmie Johnson at No. 21, ahead of Tom Brady and Kevin Garnett. Others included Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Danica Patrick.

What’s interesting about that is the fact that Martin, Edwards and Busch still haven’t quite broken through into the non-NASCAR consciousness. And Johnson, for all of his on-track success, still hasn’t cracked the top 20. Will his new HBO show and more relaxed persona affect Johnson’s public image? Will success on the track help Edwards or Busch rise higher in the public mind?

The entire list is a fascinating read, both for the surprisingly high (and low) rankings of some well-known athletes, and for its analysis of the impact of sports as a whole. Did you know that the sports industry is twice the size of the auto industry, and seven times the size of Hollywood? It’s true, Bloomberg says! For the full list, click here. 

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