Jeff Gordon and Ingrid Vandebosch Give Birth To NASCAR’s Next Superstar
Congratulations are in order for Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Dupont sponsored Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and his wife Ingrid Vandebosch on the birth of their son Leo Benjamin.
Gordon’s second child from Vandebosch weighed in at seven pounds, two ounces.
Leo Benjamin entered the world at 8:53 a.m. ET, and is 19 inches long.
Gordon became the fifth NASCAR driver to have a baby this season, and the other four were his teammate Jimmie Johnson, Roush Fenway driver Carl Edwards, Richard Petty Motorsports driver Elliott Sadler, and this past weekend’s winner Juan Montoya who drives for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
“He’s happy and healthy, and Mom is doing great,” said Gordon who will still participate in this weekend’s race at Michigan Speedway.
Gordon who finished 10th this past weekend at Watkins Glen International Speedway, is sitting second in points behind Richard Childress driver Kevin Harvick.
It’s official: Chicagoland to open 2011 Chase
NASCAR and Chicagoland Speedway officials confirmed Monday that the 1.5-mile oval in Joliet, Ill., will open the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. It will replace Auto Club Speedway among the 10 Chase tracks.
Chicagoland has had a race in July—the week after the July 4 weekend race in Daytona—since its first race in 2001. Next year’s race will be Sept. 18. Since the Chase started in 2004, New Hampshire has opened the Chase.
“When we were offered the opportunity to get this race and relocate our event on the schedule to the first (Chase) race, we jumped at it,” Chicagoland Speedway president Craig Rust said.
The move puts the first Chase race in the nation’s third-largest media market, although it replaces Auto Club Speedway in California—which is considered the Los Angeles market (second nationally)—among the 10 Chase tracks. Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations, said no other Chase venues will change.
“Chicago will be the only new race in the Chase and our biggest market,” O’Donnell said Monday. “Chicago has a huge sports background. It’s a track that is a fast track and has some unique qualities that we can bring to the Chase.
“We’ve got a tremendous fan base in the Midwest that will get behind this date. It’s no secret that a lot of sponsorships, a lot of big companies are based in Chicago, so it makes sense for us.”
Track operating company International Speedway Corp., which owns several tracks, is expected to announce the realignment of a Cup race from Auto Club Speedway to Kansas Speedway on Tuesday as well as the dates of the Kansas events. Auto Club Speedway is expected to have its lone Cup race March 27; Kansas likely will have a June date for its first race and then keep an October date in the Chase.
“What we’ve done is ultimately give each track the best opportunity to succeed,” O’Donnell said. “California … we think has a much better date for them, kind of back to their traditional date they used to have in the California marketplace that worked well for them.”
Auto Club Speedway had sold out its Sprint Cup races each year from 1997 to 2003 when it had only one event.
NASCAR is expected to release the complete 2011 Sprint Cup schedule this month.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Answers To Another Poor Season Are Not in the Chase
Time is of the essence with only five races remaining before the Chase begins, and already the fans around the social sites are looking into the future of Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr in his car during last weekend’s Sprint Cup Series events at Watkins Glen. Earnhardt is currently 16th in points, trailing the 12th place cutoff by 121 points. (Russell LaBounty/Autostock)
Current Driver Points
| Pos | Driver | Points | Chase |
| 1 | Kevin Harvick | 3210 | +579 |
| 2 | Jeff Gordon | 3025 | +394 |
| 3 | Jeff Burton | 2895 | +264 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | 2892 | +261 |
| 5 | Jimmie Johnson | 2882 | +251 |
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | 2872 | +241 |
| 7 | Kyle Busch | 2866 | +235 |
| 8 | Tony Stewart | 2865 | +234 |
| 9 | Carl Edwards | 2821 | +190 |
| 10 | Matt Kenseth | 2806 | +175 |
| 11 | Greg Biffle | 2743 | +112 |
| 12 | Mark Martin | 2641 | +10 |
| 13 | Clint Bowyer | 2631 | -10 |
| 14 | Ryan Newman | 2558 | -83 |
| 15 | Jamie McMurray | 2547 | -94 |
| 16 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2520 | -121 |
| 17 | Kasey Kahne | 2508 | -133 |
| 18 | David Reutimann | 2475 | -166 |
| 19 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 2436 | -205 |
| 20 | Martin Truex Jr. | 2401 | -240 |
With plenty of time still left on his contract, the consensus is that maybe a changing of the guard is what’s needed to put NASCAR’s most popular driver back into victory lane.
The fans, along with anyone else who has taken an interest trying to dissect what is happening with Earnhardt, have come up with some pretty good explanations as to why he is having so much trouble trying to get win No. 19.
It’s not so bad when a driver consistently has bad finishes and has never shown any promise while racing in NASCAR’s premier series.
However, if that same driver, at one time, was considered a top contender, while proving along the way he has the tools to someday become a champion, then it becomes more noticeable when he strings along three or four seasons of less than mediocre stats. His fans try to play it off as another bad year while telling those who will listen that he is a race or two away from breaking out of a phantom slump.
There will always be those who will either show some compassion for what he is going through, and just like a double edged sword where the sharpest edge is the one that does the most damage, which come in the form of the harsh comments from the nay-sayers.
Something is definitely wrong when he begins faltering during his prime, and it doesn’t take much to sit back and begin to wonder where did things go wrong.
The answers are not blowing by him and his crew chief Lance McGrew like the wind, where with one breath they can be taken in, but instead they are much deeper and, so far, each week they become more and more visible as the season slowly comes to a close.
The average race fan is looking for some sort of quick fix with a magical pre-manufactured solution which even in this day and age is not part of a normal way of thinking.
Now in keeping with his current situation, the answer will not be found in the, “What if” scenarios, nor will they be found if indeed he does make the chase.
When Earnhardt last made the chase in 2008, he finished 557 points behind eventual Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson, and 57 points behind 11th place finisher Matt Kenseth who went without a win.
The last time Dale Earnhardt Jr. made the chase was in 2008. He finished 12th in the final Sprint Cup Series points that year. (Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images)
What good would it be to make the chase, if you cant be competitive once you finally make it?
There is no added glory in finishing 12th compared to maybe finishing 13th other then the fact that he made the chase.
Looking at Earnhardt’s season from a sensible perspective, the team does not have some magical solution which they can go to in times of need.
Instead, when the sun looks as if it is getting ready to shine down on them, a black cloud quickly covers the rays of hope and once again they are left in the dark.
Whatever direction the team takes from this point on, realistically speaking, the chase should be the farthest thing from their minds, and their No. 1 priority should be to work on more consistent finishes.
Sugar coating is no longer an option, and neither are all the hypothetical scenarios that are written each time Earnhardt finishes outside the top-10.
What Earnhardt really needs will not be found at Richard Childress Racing, nor will it be found at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
Instead the only place it can be found is when NASCAR’s most popular driver makes the decision to dig deep within himself, just as he did when he first began driving full-time in the series back in 2000.
Notebook: Kurt Busch bides his time and steals second
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.—From his position in third place, Kurt Busch had the best view of Sunday’s battle between race winner Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.
Busch, however, wasn’t content to watch, and on the next-to-last lap, he passed Ambrose for the runner-up position.
“Those guys were right on that edge all day,” Busch said of Montoya and Ambrose. “I felt like I kept my car at 97 percent, 98 percent—left that extra two percent just for that edge.
“I can’t deny the fact they’re just better than me on a road course. When I saw two (laps) to go and Ambrose slipped up big in Turn 1, I chewed away. He had 15 car lengths on me. I chewed away 11 of them. I said, ‘I’m going to let it rip, take that extra chance, go for the second place, put the feather in the cap for the guys and myself.’ I got in there (Turn 1) light, he drove in heavy. He ended up overshooting the corner a little bit.
“Maybe I did leave a little bit out on the table all day today, but I don’t think I could have caught the 42 (Montoya).”
Martin squeezes into top 12
Less than an hour before the start of Sunday’s race, Mark Martin’s crew was busy with repairs on the No. 5 Chevrolet, replacing a brake reservoir. Martin’s car was one of the last through prerace technical inspection, as was the No. 88 of shopmate Dale Earnhardt Jr., which had a brake caliper issue.
Martin’s car wasn’t fast enough to compete for the win, but Martin made the most of his 19th-place finish. He gained enough ground on Clint Bowyer, who lost three laps while his crew welded a broken trailing-arm mount, to supplant Bowyer in the top 12 in the Sprint Cup standings with four races left before the Chase field is set.
The prerace repairs were emblematic of the efforts of crew chief Alan Gustafson and the No. 5 team.
“Alan Gustafson was just a rock today,” said Martin, who leads 13th-place Bowyer by 10 points. “All weekend we were way off on speed, and we worked so hard throughout the practice. We made some improvements. We started the race, we were pretty far off, and every time we stopped, they improved the car—which is hard to do on a road course.”
Martin nevertheless realizes how tenuous his position is in the top 12.
“We’ve got to keep getting better,” he said. “We got better at Chicago, Indy and Pocono. Now we need to get better yet at Michigan (next Sunday’s race). If we can do that—keep gaining momentum in these last four—then we’ve got a shot at it.
“But if we trip and stumble anywhere, it will be curtains.”
Troubles for the big winners
The two drivers who lead the Cup series with five victories each—Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin—both had rocky days at The Glen, where they were clobbered in the same accident.
After fighting back from a flat tire that forced an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 15, Johnson was running ninth when contact from Jeff Burton’s Chevrolet, after Kyle Busch dived under Burton, turned the No. 48 Chevy in Turn 7.
Johnson, spun into the guardrail, and Hamlin slammed into Johnson’s car, which was hidden by a cloud of smoke.
“I had just been working my way up through there and had the contact from behind,” said Johnson, who limped home to a 28th-place finish. “I had so many troubles—that flat tire, lost track position, trying to overcome that—that I just got back in that part of the field.”
Hamlin’s disappointment had a sharper edge, and he didn’t pull punches when it came to Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.
“I really didn’t see who took out the 48, but I know in front of me the 18 (Kyle Busch) dive-bombed the 31 (Burton),” said Hamlin, who finished 37th. “The 77 (Sam Hornish Jr.) dive-bombed me. There was just nowhere to go.
“The 48, when he spun, he just lit (his tires) up where nobody could see anything, and I just hit him and had nowhere to go. We were racing for 10th place, we weren’t racing for a win. It’s just lack of respect out there for each other, and that’s the way these races have gotten towards the end.”
Montoya shows his strength in win at The Glen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.—Welcome, Juan Pablo Montoya, to the Chip Ganassi party.
Saving his best for the end of Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen, Montoya pulled away from Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch over the final 16 laps at Watkins Glen International and notched the second NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of his career.
Winless in 113 races since his first Cup victory at Sonoma in June 2007, Montoya added another success to the already magical year his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team owner has enjoyed. Jamie McMurray, who finished sixth Sunday, won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 this year, and Dario Franchitti added an Indianapolis 500 victory with Ganassi’s IndyCar organization.
Busch passed Ambrose at the start/finish line on Lap 89 of 90 to steal second place from Ambrose, who came home third. AJ Allmendinger, fresh from a contract extension with Richard Petty Motorsports, ran fourth, followed by polesitter Carl Edwards, who collected his sixth straight top-10 finish.
Montoya, however, had the field covered when it counted, leading 74 laps and crossing the stripe 4.735 seconds ahead of Busch.
After a disappointing run at Pocono a week earlier—during which Montoya chastised crew chief Brian Pattie and the team when the No. 42 Chevrolet lost positions on a late pit stop—Montoya, Pattie and Ganassi met Saturday at Watkins Glen to make sure they were headed in the same direction.
“I think yesterday we had a good talk with Chip,” Montoya said. “Last few weeks have been really frustrating for the whole team because we’ve been so close to victory. Seemed to keep slipping away.
“To come out here today and get the job done the way we did today, it was big. I feel more relieved than happy right now. It’s been a really hard road in a way. It’s been a lot of fun; it’s been frustrating.
“(Saturday) it was all about making sure everybody is on the same page, everybody has to do their job, and we came out today and everybody executed. It’s something Brian keeps saying, ‘Keep saving the car, keep saving the car, keep saving the car.’ And it paid off.”
Ambrose, who had won Saturday’s Nationwide Series race and had realistic hopes for an unprecedented weekend double at The Glen, was Montoya’s equal until the final pit stop for both drivers under green on Lap 59.
“Something went wrong on the last pit stop,” lamented Ambrose, who had outbraked Montoya for the lead in Turn 1 on Lap 41 and held the top spot for five laps thereafter. “We lost the handle on the racecar—maybe a different set of tires, slightly different spring rate in the tires.
“I had nothing for Montoya there towards the end. Congratulations to him—he drove a heck of a race. Just a lot of fun racing a guy with that much talent. He was swinging around the corners, jumping curbs, locking tires. It was just a really good battle, something I’ll take away from this weekend as a memory I’ll never forget.”
Montoya and Ambrose may have dominated the action at the front of the field, but what happened at the back tightened the race for the final spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Clint Bowyer broke a trailing-arm mount and spent three laps in the garage for repairs, a calamity that knocked him out of the top 12.
Bowyer finished 32nd and swapped positions in the standings with Mark Martin, who came home 19th. Now 12th, Martin is 10 points ahead of Bowyer with four races left before the Chase field is set Sept. 11 at Richmond.
Edwards streaks to first pole since 2008
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.—Carl Edwards wrote the next chapter in the resurgence of Roush Fenway Racing in indelible ink—not just by winning the pole for Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen but by blowing away the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup field in the process.
Edwards sped around the 2.45-mile road course at Watkins Glen International in 70.882 seconds (124.432 mph), just .084 seconds off Jeff Gordon’s 2003 track record. Jamie McMurray was second in Saturday’s qualifying session at 123.814 mph, followed by his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, at 123.699 mph.
Edwards won the fifth Coors Light Pole Award of his Cup career and his first since he started from the top spot at Bristol in August 2008. AJ Allmendinger, who announced a contract extension with Richard Petty Motorsports on Friday, was fourth at 123.619 mph. Kurt Busch (123.524 mph) qualified fifth.
Last Sunday, Greg Biffle gave Roush Fenway and Ford their first victory since November 2009. Edwards’ pole was the first for Ford since Kasey Kahne won the top starting spot at Sonoma in June.
“They asked me when my last pole was, and I had no clue—it’s been a long time,” Edwards said. “You guys know how much we’ve struggled and how hard things have been. This last month, we’ve been going in the right direction, and it feels good.
“It means a lot, all the folks who have stuck with us—(sponsor) Aflac, Ford, (owner) Jack Roush and (general manager) Robbie Reiser. Nobody’s given up. Hopefully, we can just keep moving forward. That’s what we need.”
Edwards, who picked up nearly .8 seconds from Friday’s final practice session, was at a loss to explain his qualifying lap.
“A couple of people were questioning whether I had made the bus stop (chicane) or not,” Edwards said. “I thought that was pretty funny. With that lap time, I would have said the same thing. I don’t know where we made up the speed. The car is just fast. When you’ve got a fast car at a place like this, it’s so much fun.”
Montoya, who was the ninth driver on the course, set a formidable target early in the session, only to see it surpassed by both McMurray and Edwards. McMurray thought he had a pole-winning lap until the final two corners.
“I thought I got through the first part of the racetrack really, really well and had a little brake fade coming back toward the pits through (Turns) 6 and 7,” McMurray said. “I thought it was a really good lap.”
JJ Yeley, Dave Blaney and Tony Ave failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
Earnhardt turns in worst qualifying effort since 2006
Hendrick Motorsports’ Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t known for outstanding qualifying efforts or his success at road courses. However his 41st qualifying effort for Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen will be his worst starting position since March of 2006 when he started 42nd at Las Vegas.
Earnhardt was the last driver guaranteed a starting position to go out for Saturday’s Sprint Cup Series qualifying session at Watkins Glen. After making his lap around the road course, Earnhardt said his lap wasn’t good.
“It’s not good,” Earnhardt said. “We’re not good this weekend. This is the worse car I’ve ever had here by far, a couple of seconds off. Normally, we’re mid-pack at worse here and we’re just not good.”
His teammates at Hendrick Motorsports — Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin — also didn’t show up with their normal dominance at Watkins Glen, but all out-qualified Earnhardt by at least 16 positions, with all holding spots in the top-24.
However, it took large gains by his other three teammates to get there.
To open up the weekend with the first practice at Watkins Glen, none of the Hendrick teams were in the top-24 fastest laps. Martin was 25th fastest and led the Hendrick brigade as Johnson and Gordon were 29th and 30th, respectively. Earnhardt was 38th fastest in the session.
In happy hour, HMS was absent from the top-12 fastest drivers, with Johnson holding the 13th fastest lap. Martin was 21st fastest, Gordon was 39th and Earnhardt was 42nd.
“The other guys (at HMS) have gained a little bit over the past 24 hours,” Earnhardt said. “We all showed up pretty bad. I guess we’re putting the same stuff in that they are, but it’s not working.”
Earnhardt’s previous worst qualifying effort at Watkins Glen was a 32nd starting position last year. He has two starts inside of the top-five, three in the top-ten.
Last year, Earnhardt finished 38th.
AJ Allmendinger Extends Contract With Richard Petty Motorsports
Concord, N.C. (August 6, 2010) – Richard Petty Motorsports announced today that driver AJ Allmendinger has signed a multiyear contract extension with the organization. Allmendinger will remain behind the wheel of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
“I am really excited about my future here with Richard Petty Motorsports,” said Allmendinger. “It’s been such an honor to be behind the wheel of The King’s No. 43 car. I am happy to be able to continue to be his driver and feel for the first time in my NASCAR career I have the chance to build on something. Everyone at RPM and Ford Racing has worked hard to be successful this year and I know we’re right on the verge of big things.”
“We are very pleased to have AJ as a part of the RPM family,” said team owner Richard Petty. “He has proven without a doubt that he is a very talented racer. His passion for the sport is second to none and his desire to be at the top is clear each and every week. I believe in him and what he can do and everyone at Richard Petty Motorsports is thrilled to be able to continue the relationship.”
The 28-year-old, California native is in his fourth full season in the sport’s top level of racing. Allmendinger, who joined RPM for the final five races of the 2008 season, is in the midst of his most successful season to date. In 21 races this season, he has collected his first career pole award, three top-10 and 10 top-15 finishes.
Success at The Glen par for the course for Stewart
There is a sizable handful of Sprint Cup Series drivers who, from the sound of it, are relying mainly on things like crossed fingers and hopeful talk to get them through Sunday’s road race at Watkins Glen International.
Fast facts
What: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen
Where: At Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
When: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN, noon ET
Radio: MRN/Sirius Satellite Ch. 128
Track layout: 2.45-mile road course
Race distance: 90 laps/220.5 miles
Estimated pit window: 30-32 laps
Qualifying: Saturday, 11:10 a.m. ET
2009 winner: Tony Stewart
2009 polesitter: Jimmie Johnson
Points leaders: 1. Kevin Harvick, 3,080; 2. Jeff Gordon, 2,891; 3. Denny Hamlin, 2,820; 4. Jimmie Johnson, 2,803; 5. Jeff Burton, 2,757; 6. Kyle Busch, 2,724; 7. Kurt Busch, 2,722; 8. Tony Stewart, 2,719; 9. Matt Kenseth, 2,682; 10. Carl Edwards, 2,666; 11. Greg Biffle, 2,652; 12. Clint Bowyer, 2,564; 13. Mark Martin, 2,530; 14. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2,435; 15. Ryan Newman, 2,426.
Not Tony Stewart. Not with his numbers.
Stewart can put his faith in his incredible history of success at The Glen—he has finished first or second the past six years and has five wins overall.
“There are some drivers that don’t look forward to the road-course races, and with us, we actually look forward to it,” he said. “We like the change in pace and doing something different for a weekend. That’s something we always look forward to, and it kind of gets us boosted up for the weekend.”
He then called racing at The Glen “fun.”
Fun? Going to the brake-toasting, fender-shredding, 2.45-mile, seven-turn Glen road course five races before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins is fun?
Some don’t think so.
Like 14th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr., who said, “I’m nervous about losing points and not making the Chase. Just having a bad week.”
Or 12th-place Clint Bowyer, who said, “I think we’re going to be better than we’ve been in years past.” But then quickly added, “I seem to struggle at Watkins Glen, though.”
But Stewart has those seemingly impossible numbers at The Glen.
His five victories are the most among all drivers—active or retired. He has nine top-10 finishes in 11 starts. His average finish is fifth. He has led 225 laps, two short of leader Jeff Gordon, even though Gordon has six more starts.
And DNFs? Those are for others, as Stewart has finished every race he has started.
Mama.
So, while others will start Sunday’s race hoping to hold serve as the Chase relentlessly moves closer, Stewart will be looking to improve on his current eighth-place points position. Perhaps, by winning.
“When you’ve won five races,” said Stewart, who is 189 points ahead of 13th-place Mark Martin, “it gives you that confidence that you know how to win and know what you have to do to get to victory lane.”
Stewart will arrive this weekend with his routine nailed, and although he says that is huge every week, it is especially so at a road course.
“I know what I feel I need when we get here,” Stewart said. “It’s just a matter of going out and practicing and putting yourself in that position. We seem to have taken to the road-racing side of it fairly well, and we just have had good luck with it.”
Weather forecasters are calling for warm temperatures and abundant sunshine on race day. That’s just fine with Stewart.
“I like it when it gets hot and slick there,” he said. “It’s kind of played into our hands for the last 10 years it seems like. This part of the year when the temperatures are at their highest, we tend to pick up. I think we can handle the slicker conditions sometimes a little better than some of the guys around us. A lot of guys panic because they know it’s going to get slick. I get excited when I know it’s going to get slick.”
Yep, sounds like fun.
Atlanta losing one Cup date next year
Atlanta Motor Speedway announced Thursday afternoon that they will be hosting only one Cup Series event next year. Atlanta is the first track to announce a lost Cup Series date, after hosting two Sprint Cup Series events per year for the past 50 years.
Atlanta’s only race next season will be the first weekend in September. It will be the third consecutive year that Atlanta has hosted a Cup race on Labor Day Weekend.
“We were thrilled with the acquisition of the Labor Day date two years ago and are proud to host such a prestigious, historical date on the NASCAR schedule,” speedway president Ed Clark said. “This track produces some of the greatest racing the circuit sees, it remains one of the drivers’ favorite tracks and we will continue to build a platform that sets this one date apart from the rest.”
Atlanta Motor Speedway is owned by Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Smith has been adamant about getting his recently purchased Kentucky Speedway onto the Sprint Cup Series schedule, a move that could only be maneuvered by taking away on his track’s dates.
NASCAR is expected to announce the schedule for next years’ national touring series in the coming weeks. There is no word if Kentucky will be on the schedule.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen
This week the Sprint Cup Series ends its 2010 road course sojourn with a trip to western New York and Watkins Glen International. Home of fine wines and fast cars, the track hosts this weekend’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen.
I attended the IZOD IndyCar Series race at the Glen earlier this year, and let me say that any traveling race fan that hasn’t experienced a weekend at the track doesn’t know what they’re missing. Watkins Glen is a quaint little town with all the amenities and brand names one could ask for, and the track provides fans with many prime spots from which to watch a race. And if you were impressed by the show that IndyCar put on, just imagine multiplying the crowds and fanfare by a significant number, and you have an American race fan’s dream.
So who’s going to take the checkers this weekend?
History (and a 5.3 average finish) suggest that Tony Stewart is the man to beat this weekend. Stewart has an incredible five wins in 11 Glen starts, and nine top-10s. Of his two worse finishes, one was an 11th place. He’s never failed to complete a lap there, much less accrue a DNF, making him the undisputed king of the track.
I’m not sure if you can call Marcos Ambrose a total dark horse at the Glen, seeing as his average finish is 2.5, but he’s never sealed the deal in a Cup race, and a killer mistake at Infineon robbed him of what should have been much closer to a victory, suggesting that he and his team still have a little way to go to pull it off. Ambrose has taken the checkers in Nationwide races at the Glen, though, and it will be interesting to see if his apparent mastery of the track will offset any doldrums that come with being a lame-duck driver at a midpack team with bad luck thus far.
Three more, because tradition says so:
Mark Martin’s got three Glen wins in 20 starts and hasn’t failed to complete a lap there since 1986 (excluding the 2007 and 2008 races, which he skipped). The wins came during an incredible three-year stretch from 1993 to 1995, where he won the pole and led 183 of a possible 270 laps. There are just as many knocks on him, though. First of all, this has been a tough year for the team; second, he hasn’t led a lap at the Glen in his past seven starts; finally, his last two Glen finishes have been 20th and 23rd, respectively. Pick carefully.
Robby Gordon is always a threat at the Glen, having scored seven top five finishes in 11 starts and a win in 2003. Normally the only knock against Gordon is failed alternate pit strategy that doesn’t work out in the end. Fans can always count on the independent to put on a good show, especially with the added data from a second, P.J. Jones-piloted car each time the series turns both ways.
Finally, A.J. Allmendinger is a decent pick that can be expected to exceed his previous finishes at the Glen – 11th and 13th in two career starts. The ex-Champ Car star’s future is now set at Richard Petty Motorsports, with a multi-year contract extension in place, and the confidence that comes with being the team’s new number one driver should allow him to open up a little this weekend and show off the road course talent that convinced Red Bull to bring him to stock cars in the first place a few years ago.
Allmendinger re-signs with Richard Petty Motorsports
Free-agent Sprint Cup Series driver AJ Allmendinger will stay put after signing a contract extension with Richard Petty Motorsports, Sporting News has learned.
The contract, signed Tuesday, is a multiyear deal, according to sources close to the situation. The team is optimistic about the prospect of re-signing Allmendinger’s sponsor, Best Buy, though sponsorship was not settled before Tuesday’s contract signing.
A formal announcement will take place Friday at Watkins Glen International.
Allmendinger has three top 10s in 21 starts this season, with a best finish of sixth at Atlanta in March. He won the first Sprint Cup pole in April at Phoenix.
The driver of the No. 43 RPM Ford is 22nd in the series standings. Now that Allmendinger has decided to remain in the organization’s flagship car, RPM will work toward filling the remaining slots on the team.
Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler have announced plans to depart at the end of the season. Marcos Ambrose, who will leave the No. 47 JTG/Daugherty Toyota team at season’s end, is a leading candidate to fill the seat of one of the RPM Fords.
Paul Menard, who drives the No. 98 RPM Ford, has not announced plans for next year but has talked to other teams, including Richard Childress Racing, according to multiple sources.
Biffle’s Crew Wins Tissot Pit Road Award at Pocono
The No. 16 pit crew, which played a vital role in Greg Biffle’s Sprint Cup victory Sunday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, won the weekly Tissot Pit Road Precision Award.
It was the first Tissot win of the 2010 season for the No. 16 crew, which captured the 2009 Tissot season championship with six wins.
The quick two-tire pit stop by the No. 16 crew in the closing stages of Sunday’s Sunoco Pennsylvania 500 helped Biffle score the first win of the season for Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle dedicated the win to team owner Jack Roush who is recovering from an airplane crash.
Biffle’s No. 16 3M Ford Fusion spent the least amount on pit road during the 200-lap, 500-mile race. Coming in second was Carl Edwards’ No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion and third was Tony Stewart’s No.14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet.
“It’s great to see the Pit Bulls back in Victory Lane,” said No. 16 crew chief Greg Erwin. “Their execution was key to the win. We were able to restart on the front row after a terrific two-tire stop late in the race and get the clean air we needed to break away from the four-tire cars.”
The No. 16 over-the-wall crew consists of: Todd Zeigler (front-tire changer), Collin Pasi (front-tire carrier), Kyle Power (rear-tire changer), Kevin McDowell (rear-tire carrier), Rodney Fetters (jackman), Billy Manchester (gasman), Ryan Dextraze (catch can) and Chris Elliott (windshield). The team’s crew chief is Greg Erwin and the pit crew coach is Andy Ward.
Greg Gordon’s No. 24 DuPont crew leads in the Tissot standings with four victories. Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/McDonald’s crew is second with three wins.
The winning pit crew in each Sprint Cup race will earn $5,000 and a Tissot V8 Quartz Chronograph watch. The team with the most Tissot Pit Road Precision Award wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule will receive a $105,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the over-the-wall crew members and driver.
Tissot has been the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR since 2006. The company is also the official timekeeper for a number of other sports, including the MotoGP World Championship, the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Cycling World Championship.
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2010 Tissot Pit Road Precision Award Standings
Pos Team No. Pit Crew For Wins Prize Money
1 24 Jeff Gordon 4 20,000
2 1 Jamie McMurray 3 15,000
T3 56 Martin Truex Jr. 2 10,000
T3 17 Matt Kenseth 2 10,000
T5 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 1 5,000
T5 12 Brad Keselowski 1 5,000
T5 33 Clint Bowyer 1 5,000
T5 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1 5,000
T5 00 David Reutimann 1 5,000
T5 39 Ryan Newman 1 5,000
T5 18 Kyle Busch 1 5,000
T5 2 Kurt Busch 1 5,000
T5 26 Boris Said 1 5,000
T5 16 Greg Biffle 1 5,000
2010 Tissot Pit Road Precision Award Winners
Daytona, 2/14 Juan Pablo Montoya Team
Fontana, 2/21 Jeff Gordon Team
Las Vegas, 2/28 Martin Truex Jr. Team
Atlanta, 3/7 Martin Truex Jr. Team
Bristol, 3/21 Brad Keselowski Team
Martinsville, 3/29 Clint Bowyer Team
Phoenix, 4/10 Matt Kenseth Team
Texas, 4/19 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Team
Talladega, 4/25 David Reutimann Team
Richmond, 5/1 Ryan Newman Team
Darlington, 5/8 Jamie McMurray Team
Dover, 5/16 Matt Kenseth Team
Charlotte, 5/30 Jeff Gordon Team
Pocono, 6/6 Kyle Busch Team
Michigan, 6/13 Kurt Busch Team
Sonoma, 6/20 Boris Said Team
Loudon, 6/27 Jeff Gordon Team
Daytona, 7/3 Jeff Gordon Team
Chicago, 7/10 Jamie McMurray Team Indianapolis, 7/25 Jamie McMurray Team
Pocono, 8/1 Greg Biffle Team
All comments aside, NASCAR’s new car proves its mettle
Once again—in one of the most brutal and potentially dangerous crashes since its introduction in 2007—NASCAR’s new racecar vindicated the enormous time, effort and money required to design and produce it.
At the same time, it proved that a war of words, no matter how negative, is far less important than actual performance on the asphalt.
On Lap 165 of Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500, Kurt Busch spun into the outside wall when Jimmie Johnson’s attempt at bump-drafting went awry. Busch slid back across the racetrack, and ESPN’s cameras followed his wild slide through the infield grass.
As the field accordioned behind Busch’s wreck, Elliott Sadler slowed. Drivers behind him didn’t react as quickly, and Sadler was launched on his own wild ride. Sadler’s trip ended suddenly and violently, as his No. 19 Ford slammed nose-first into the infield guardrail and triggered an explosion of dirt from the berm behind it.
The force of the impact ripped the engine from Sadler’s car and destroyed the front clip. Because ESPN was following Busch, all that was recorded of Sadler’s crash was one distant camera angle, but even that was enough to show the driver whiplashed against the harness that prevented him from flying into the steering wheel and windshield.
Miraculously, Sadler was only sore and short of breath from the violent jerk of the belts but otherwise intact.
“It’s definitely the hardest hit I’ve had in a racecar,” he said. “These new cars are built to be safer, and if I can get out of that and walk through that, I think it did its job.”
Todd Parrott, Sadler’s crew chief, provided a more pointed assessment.
“I walked out of the infield care center with a guy that probably—four or five years ago—wouldn’t have lived through that wreck right there,” Parrott said.
Though the crash wasn’t as spectacular as Michael McDowell’s barrel roll at Texas Motor Speedway in April 2008, it was perhaps the most convincing test to date of the efficacy of the new car, where safety is concerned.
No one who witnessed the Sadler crash would dare echo the inflammatory opinion Kyle Busch voiced after winning the inaugural race in the new car at Bristol in 2007.
“This car sucks,” Busch said in victory lane, in what was widely viewed as a boorish lack of decorum for a race winner.
Though the criticism was leveled at the handling characteristics of the car, NASCAR believes Busch’s remark broadly and materially tainted the perception of the new car within the sport’s fan base. In justifying recent secret fines to drivers who disparage the sport, Busch’s comment—though made before any such fines were levied—was front-and-center as an example of speech that should be discouraged and punished.
In reality, many fans, who are quite capable of making up their own minds, were viewing the new car with a jaundiced eye long before it made its competitive debut at Bristol. Why? Because an anomalous rear wing, which bore no familiarity to stock car tradition, was part of the design, giving credence to the perception that manufacturer identity—so long a staple of the sport—was disappearing as Sprint Cup evolved toward a spec series.
Early returns on the car’s performance suffered after runaway wins by Martin Truex Jr. at Dover and Clint Bowyer at New Hampshire. Over the past three years, however, the racing has improved dramatically as teams have explored and exploited the nuances of the new chassis.
The belated scrapping of the wing in favor of a traditional blade spoiler this past March mooted fans’ primary objection to the car’s appearance.
The bottom line is that actions speak louder than words, and that, despite the recent embargoes against negative speech, what happens on the racetrack is far more important than what someone says about it, whether in earnest or in jest.
Just ask Elliott Sadler.
Notebook: Johnson takes responsibility for big wreck
LONG POND, Pa.—Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500 isn’t likely to thaw the icy relationship between four-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and 2004 Cup champ Kurt Busch.
On Lap 165, Johnson’s attempt to bump-draft Busch on the Long Pond straightaway went awry, and Busch turned into the outside wall before slinging back across the track and through the infield grass. Elliott Sadler’s Ford was collateral damage in the incident, and Sadler took a brutal hit when his car plowed into the inner guardrail and the berm behind it.
“I came up to bump-draft him and push him along down the back straightaway,” Johnson said. “So, we did make some contact. He was already wobbling, and I bumped him, and then it (Busch’s No. 2 Dodge) was wobbling some more, then eventually it did a lazy turn to the right and into the wall.
“I certainly feel bad. I’m glad the No. 19 (Sadler) is OK. I understand he took a heck of a hit. Last thing I wanted to do was cause a wreck or crash the No. 2 or anything like that. I feel bad about that, but we were all just racing real hard down the back.”
Understandably, Busch, who finished 33rd, took a dim view of the incident.
“I got wrecked on the straightaway,” he said. “Jimmie Johnson drove straight through us.
Johnson wasn’t surprised by Busch’s assessment.
“Kurt isn’t very fond of me,” Johnson said. “He never has been. I think when he has a chance to take a shot at me, he’ll probably do so. But certainly nothing intentional, and if he’d like to talk about it, I’m more than willing to talk about it.”
Strong pit work helps Stewart
Polesitter Tony Stewart didn’t get his first win of the season Sunday, but fast work on the part of his pit crew helped him surge to a runner-up finish in the closing laps.
Stewart was the first car with four new tires off pit road after a stop under caution on Lap 167. After 13 laps under yellow, punctuated by a 17-minute rain delay, Stewart restarted 11th behind 10 cars that had taken either two tires, fuel only, or—in the case of Sam Hornish Jr.—hadn’t come to pit road at all.
In the final 21 green-flag laps, Stewart charged to the second spot as Greg Biffle ran away with the race.
“I thought we were going to be in bad shape when we had to come in for the four there at the end,” Stewart said. “But our guys did a great job of getting us out first car on four tires out of the pits, and that got us the opportunity to get by some of the guys that took two tires or no tires there at the beginning of the run.
“From there, we were just able to race hard with (third-place finisher) Carl Edwards and the 77 (Hornish) and (Kevin) Harvick (fourth). It was a fun day.”
Short strokes
It’s no secret that Richard Childress Racing won’t be fielding cars in the Nationwide Series next year. In fact, RCR has been helping to support Morgan Shepherd’s racing program with its Nationwide equipment. RCR general manager Mike Dillon said Sunday at Pocono that future Nationwide efforts would be run through Kevin Harvick Inc. … Tom Westman, season 10 winner of CBS’ “Survivor” reality show, spent Sunday as an honorary crewman for Clint Bowyer’s No. 33 Chevrolet. Westman, a 20-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department currently employed as an account executive at The Hartford (Bowyer’s sponsor for the race), appeared in support of the Hartford 200 program.
