Nascar Racing Online

Archive for February, 2010

It’s Vegas week for NASCAR, and that means you’re likely to be choked with awkward gambling puns from here on out. So let’s go all-in and lay our cards on the table, shall we? Jeff Gordon’s going to take the pot while Kyle Busch will bust out. Kurt Busch has the pole; here’s hoping he doesn’t pawn it for more chips.

That’s my take. What’s yours? Make your best guesses here, and chat here with your fellow race fans, or come hang in the main Yahoo! Sports NASCAR chat. It gets crowded in there, so arrive early and post often. Enjoy the race, everybody!

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To save space on the front page I am now going to be putting the complete starting lineup after the jump.

Complete list after the jump.

Between the race and the Gold Medal hockey game today I’m going to be a very busy boy.  No offence to my US readers but Go Canada Go!!

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	188.719	28.614	Leader
2	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Pepsi Max / DuPont	188.646	28.625	-0.011
3	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Tornados	188.180	28.696	-0.082
4	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	National Guard / Amp Energy	188.173	28.697	-0.083
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	188.153	28.700	-0.086
6	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	187.611	28.783	-0.169
7	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	187.598	28.785	-0.171
8	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	187.500	28.800	-0.186
9	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Old Spice / Office Depot	186.942	28.886	-0.272
10	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	186.793	28.909	-0.295
11	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Crown Royal	186.748	28.916	-0.302
12	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac / Kellogg’s	186.554	28.946	-0.332
13	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Cheerios / Hamburger Helper	186.548	28.947	-0.333
14	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Mobil 1	186.445	28.963	-0.349
15	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	FrontRowJoe.com	186.355	28.977	-0.363
16	12	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Penske Racing	186.245	28.994	-0.380
17	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	Tums	186.233	28.996	-0.382
18	6	David Ragan	Ford	UPS	186.188	29.003	-0.389
19	9	Kasey Kahne	Ford	Budweiser	185.995	29.033	-0.419
20	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools	185.963	29.038	-0.424
21	13	Max Papis	Toyota	GEICO	185.497	29.111	-0.497
22	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	185.395	29.127	-0.513
23	82	Scott Speed	Toyota	Red Bull	185.236	29.152	-0.538
24	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	McDonald’s	185.109	29.172	-0.558
25	34	Travis Kvapil	Ford	Long John Silver’s	185.058	29.180	-0.566
26	98	Paul Menard	Ford	Moen / Menards	184.773	29.225	-0.611
27	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	184.615	29.250	-0.636
28	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	184.590	29.254	-0.640
29	71	Bobby Labonte	Chevrolet	TaxSlayer.com	184.552	29.260	-0.646
30	36	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	KimKardashian Fragrance / Sephora.com	184.540	29.262	-0.648
31	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	184.458	29.275	-0.661
32	47	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota	Kingsford / Scott Products	184.445	29.277	-0.663
33	55	Michael McDowell	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	184.439	29.278	-0.664
34	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Pennzoil Ultra	184.080	29.335	-0.721
35	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Gold Filters	183.961	29.354	-0.740
36	66	Dave Blaney	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	183.955	29.355	-0.741
37	19	Elliott Sadler	Ford	Stanley	183.467	29.433	-0.819
38	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	181.965	29.676	-1.062
39	37	Kevin Conway*	Ford	Extenze	181.843	29.696	-1.082
40	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Valvoline	181.026	29.830	-1.216
41	26	Boris Said+	Ford	Sacred Power / Southern Pride Trucking	176.586	30.580	-1.966
42	7	Robby Gordon+	Toyota	Monster Energy	-	-	-
43	09	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet	Phoenix Racing	183.038	29.542	-0.928
Did Not Qualify
44	190	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	Keyed-Up Motorsports	182.248	29.630	-1.016
45	46	Terry Cook*	Dodge	Whitney Motorsports	180.705	29.883	-1.269

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie

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In order to dave space on the front page I’m now going to be putting the starting line up for the races after the jump.

One thing to note is that Danica’s qualifying speed was less than the speeds of 5 of the DNQs.

See you on the other side.

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	22	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Discount Tire	185.427	29.122	Leader
2	33	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Rheem	185.027	29.185	-0.063
3	60	Carl Edwards	Ford	Copart	184.495	29.269	-0.147
4	20	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	Interstate Batteries	184.250	29.308	-0.186
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	Z-Line Designs	184.168	29.321	-0.199
6	98	Paul Menard	Ford	Richmond Water Heaters / Menards	183.306	29.459	-0.337
7	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.*	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	183.100	29.492	-0.370
8	11	Brian Scott*	Toyota	Stop Repair Bills.com	182.852	29.532	-0.410
9	27	Greg Biffle	Ford	Red Man Moist Snuff	182.747	29.549	-0.427
10	32	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Dollar General	182.673	29.561	-0.439
11	16	Colin Braun*	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	182.359	29.612	-0.490
12	88	Kelly Bires	Chevrolet	HendrickCars.com	182.309	29.620	-0.498
13	12	Justin Allgaier	Dodge	Verizon Wireless	182.125	29.650	-0.528
14	21	John Wes Townley	Chevrolet	Zaxby’s	181.843	29.696	-0.574
15	66	Steve Wallace	Toyota	5-Hour Energy	181.830	29.698	-0.576
16	1	James Buescher*	Chevrolet	Phoenix Racing	181.720	29.716	-0.594
17	96	Dennis Setzer	Dodge	Stratosphere	181.531	29.747	-0.625
18	99	Trevor Bayne	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	181.525	29.748	-0.626
19	70	Shelby Howard	Chevrolet	Foretravel Motorcoach	181.080	29.821	-0.699
20	09	Scott Riggs	Ford	RAB Racing	180.620	29.897	-0.775
21	42	Parker Kligerman*	Dodge	Smith Iron Works	180.620	29.897	-0.775
22	87	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	FrontRowJoe.com	180.114	29.981	-0.859
23	15	Michael Annett	Toyota	Pilot Travel Centers	180.084	29.986	-0.864
24	156	Kevin Lepage	Chevrolet	Start Energy Drink	180.000	30.000	-0.878
25	05	Willie Allen	Chevrolet	31-W Insulation / CertainTeed	179.922	30.013	-0.891
26	62	Brendan Gaughan	Toyota	South Point Hotel & Casino	179.892	30.018	-0.896
27	107	Danny Efland	Chevrolet	Shred 360 / M&W Towing / Stratosphere	179.862	30.023	-0.901
28	40	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	Bad Boy Buggies / Buck Commander	179.360	30.107	-0.985
29	31	Stanton Barrett	Chevrolet	Fuel-Doctor.com	179.217	30.131	-1.009
30	90	Danny O’Quinn Jr.	Chevrolet	D’Hondt Humphrey Motorsports	179.069	30.156	-1.034
31	38	Jason Leffler	Toyota	Great Clips	178.926	30.180	-1.058
32	43	Scott Lagasse Jr.	Ford	Dr. Gadget / EverybodyGets1.com	178.212	30.301	-1.179
33	81	Michael McDowell	Dodge	Monte Carlo Resort & Casino	177.772	30.376	-1.254
34	01	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet	Monster Diesel	177.317	30.454	-1.332
35	10	Chad Blount	Toyota	Braun Racing	177.078	30.495	-1.373
36	24	Eric McClure	Ford	Hefty	176.869	30.531	-1.409
37	7	Danica Patrick+	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	176.638	30.571	-1.449
38	28	Kenny Wallace+	Chevrolet	Federated Auto Parts	176.303	30.629	-1.507
39	61	Josh Wise+	Ford	Stratosphere	174.848	30.884	-1.762
40	34	Tony Raines+	Chevrolet	Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino	173.572	31.111	-1.989
41	23	Robert Richardson Jr.+	Chevrolet	Southern Pride Trucking / Stratosphere Hotel	171.816	31.429	-2.307
42	26	Brian Keselowski+	Dodge	Stratosphere	170.315	31.706	-2.584
43	49	Mark Green	Chevrolet	Jay Robinson Inc.	178.690	30.220	-1.098
Did Not Qualify
44	35	Jason Keller	Chevrolet	TriStar Motorsports	178.165	30.309	-1.187
45	92	Johnny Chapman	Dodge	K-Automotive Motorsports	178.018	30.334	-1.212
46	73	Derrike Cope	Dodge	AssetProtect	177.673	30.393	-1.271
47	104	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	Boudreaux’s Butt Paste	177.357	30.447	-1.325
48	91	Stephen Leicht	Chevrolet	D’Hondt Humphrey Motorsports	176.823	30.539	-1.417
49	183	John Borneman III	Ford	Super Seal Construction Products	175.222	30.818	-1.696
50	102	Andy Ponstein	Chevrolet	CarLocate.com	174.588	30.930	-1.808
51	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	Lagina Plumbing	173.449	31.133

-2.011

Something of interest here; Danica’s qualifying speed was less than the speeds of 5 of the DNQs.

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Check that photo out. You know what that is? It’s Danica Patrick! I know, a photo of Danica on a NASCAR site — who’d'a thunk it? But you’ll note that she’s in an Indy car. That’s because her grand NASCAR experiment is reaching the end of its first phase; after Saturday’s Vegas Nationwide race, she’ll be running in the IRL for four months. So here’s your last chance to Danica-praise or Danica-bash for a little while. Offer up your thoughts on Saturday’s race right here. And soon enough, we’ll get back to talking about those underappreciated Nationwide drivers like Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart. You never hear anything about those guys.

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If you’ve been reading this blog for the last few months then you will know about Ricky and his quest to go racing against cancer with all of his winnings being donated to cancer research.

Ricky at ARCA Daytona Testing December 2009.  Photo used with permission from Ricky Byers.

Ricky came up 30 grand short in making it to the Daytona ARCA race, which is something that I’m still upset about.  I mean really how can someone not sponsor him?

The man’s cause is just.

Everyone has been either directly or indirectly effected by cancer at some point in their lives yet no one wants to sponsor him.

I just don’t get it.

I guess it isn’t as glamorous as other causes out there.

I am totally baffled by the lack of interest in companies to sponsor Ricky.  He has his team set up as a charity so the sponsorship would also be classed as a charitable donation which means that the sponsor gets to write off the sponsorship.

About a week before the Daytona race I was personally involved in negotiations with 3 potential sponsors for Ricky.  At one point I was on a conference call with Ricky and his media adviser while web conferencing with one of the prospective sponsors about sponsorship for the Daytona race.

If obtaining a sponsor could be measured in linear units I literally came within inches of getting that sponsorship for Ricky.  I honestly thought it was a done deal, although I didn’t tell that to Ricky I didn’t want to get his hopes up yet again.  Good thing too because the deal fell through.

Ricky at ARCA Daytona Testing December 2009.  Photo used with permission from Ricky Byers.

I also had a sit down meeting with a high profile Canadian corporation about sponsoring Ricky for Daytona, and threw everything at them that I was able to (and probably some stuff that I wasn’t allowed to offer them either), including donating some of the winnings to Canadian cancer research facilities but they wouldn’t commit.

We’re still working on the third possible sponsor for either the Texas or Talladega race.  We’ll keep you updated.

Man I just don’t get it.  I know its a recession and all, but there is still a lot of money out there for this sort of thing, especially just 30K for a nationally televised race featuring the female Messiah of racing, Danica Patrick.

SPEED reported the ratings for the Daytona ARCA race were up over 60% compared to last year – that’s over 2 million viewers people!  You can’t buy that kind of advertising in any medium for 30K, you just can’t.

Instead Ricky’s been getting a slew of “Thanks but no Thanks” and a few ”Maybe Next Year” rejections along with the pinnacle of nos, “Wow what a great cause!  But we’re are unable to help this year as were are (Insert reason here).

Despite the setbacks Ricky has kept his eye on the prize; raising money for cancer research.  Ricky is just as dedicated now in racing to find a cure as he was 5 months ago and he is not resting until he finds that elusive sponsorship deal to get him in the show for good.

He will not do any start and parks either and trust me he’s been offered a few of those but the man is going to race for a cure, not park for it!  The more you race the more awareness you’ll bring to the cause and you can’t do that after running one lap.

The latest thing Ricky is focusing on is perhaps winning a legit sponsorship from Prilosec OTC, I mean why not  after all the stress he’s been through trying to get a sponsor in time for the Daytona race Ricky could probably attest first hand to this heartburn medication.

But Ricky needs your help with this, he needs to be voted in to keep moving on in the judging and that is where you come in; just go to the site, register, and vote and then keep voting everyday!

What Ricky needs right now is for everyone to step up to the plate, do this, and see it through to the very end.  Think of every vote as a donation towards cancer research.

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Jimmie Johnson participated in the usual prerace press conference on Friday in Vegas, and took some harder-than-usual stances on the question of his luck and his legacy.

While Johnson still kept calm and cool, he was clearly more than a bit tired of having to justify the fact that he’s a reigning four-time champion, one who’s still posting wins. He took dead aim at those who suggested that he got lucky in winning last weekend’s Auto Club 500:

"Luck didn’t have us lead 101 laps," he said. "Luck didn’t hold off the 29 car. Luck put us in position, I’ll be the first to admit that, but I still had to win the race." 

Johnson also took the opportunity to answer the question of whether his dominance was actually bad for the sport of NASCAR. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t agree — he pointed to Shaun White, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer as examples of players who have dominated their individual sports without harming that sport.

"In our culture, we don’t like to see dominance," he said. "We like to see the underdog … I know it’s frustrating for people who aren’t a 48 fan … but it’s not bad for the sport."

And he was asked if he felt he was given enough credit for his many achievements, or whether his detractors were failing to see his skills: "Hell with ‘em," he said dismissively. "There are some that may not want to give us credit. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a fan or a competitor. They know this 48 team is the real deal."

Any more questions?

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Did you know that the Dale Earnhardt Foundations 1^st Annual Celebrity Poker Tournament at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino was happening this past Thursday.

Celeb NASCAR persoanlities who will be in attendance include Kenny Wallace (look for lots of Tweets from him)  Casey Mears, Matt Crafton, Regan Smith, Aric Almirola, Eric McClure, Todd Bodine, Scott Lagasse Jr, Andy Ponstein, Danny Efland, and many others including car owner Tommy Baldwin.

Some of the stuff they are giving away is kind of interesting, like autographed pictures of Dale Jr.  I wonder if they are from his Budwieser days or his Amp days?

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The Jamie McMurray Daytona 500 media onslaught tour continues! Give the guy credit, he’s spreading the NASCAR gospel far and wide. Really wide, as he’s gone from Letterman to "Sports Soup." The Soup guys seem like nice fellas and they’re trying hard, so I’ll just let you make your own judgments about this appearance:

Shoot, if this keeps up, he might wish he’d let Dale Earnhardt Jr. win after all.

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We’re back with another Chrome Horn, and this time we bring you a cat who’s currently feelin’ fine high up in the standings, Rawhide himself, Mr. Clint Bowyer.

It was a rough 2009 for Clint, and we talk a bit about that, as well as the prospects for 2010. We discuss what it’s like trying to fight for a Chase berth — you know, because we both have a lot of experience at that — and how you deal with a lost season when you miss out. Finally, we talk a bit about the "Gillette 500" program, and Clint reveals how thankful he is that he got to share a cab with Carl Edwards and not a shower with Denny Hamlin in those commercials.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations on the podcast. Hit me up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com, or feel free to call our direct podcast line at 678-389-9173 and leave a comment or question for use on a future podcast. For now, though, click the little arrow below to play the podcast or right-click the link to download, and hit the iTunes site linked below to subscribe. Enjoy!

The Chrome Horn, episode 31: Clint Bowyer

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Jake Elder 1980. Credit ISC Archives/Getty Images via nascarmedia.com

Former NASCAR Crew Chief “Suitcase” Jake Elder passed away today due to natural causes, he was 73.

Elder earned the nickname “Suitcase Jake” because he frequently changed teams.  What it boiled down to he would get mad at something or disagreed with the way things were running and he’d leave, but he wouldn’t be unemployed for long because he was so good at what he did other teams would readily pick him up.

Perhaps for me Elder is best known as being Dale Earnhardt’s crew chief during his Rookie of The Year season, but Elder had been around for a while and won Championships in the late ’60s with David Pearson.

I wish I would have had the opportunity to meet him and listen to his stories about NASCAR just once.  That would have been an experience.

Here is what NASCAR had to say about Elder’s passing;

“J.C. “Suitcase Jake” Elder was one the first crew chiefs in NASCAR to achieve celebrity status with our fans. He was a pioneer in that regard, and his celebrity was well-deserved. He was truly one of the greatest crew chiefs of all-time, winning two championships with David Pearson. Our sport has lost one of its legends, with his passing.”

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