Fanhouse Motorsports - darlington

Nothing Can Stop Kyle Busch at Darlington

Geoffrey Miller — 2008-05-11T00:10:00 00:00

Filed under: Joe Gibbs Racing, Darlington Raceway, Kyle Busch

Whether it was jeers from a large contingent of Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans during driver introductions or a plethora of lug nut problems, Kyle Busch wasn't close to being contained Saturday night at Darlington Raceway. Busch, 23, drove to his seventh-career Sprint Cup win in the Dodge Challenger 500.

Busch's win in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 secured him as the youngest winner in the history of the 58-year-old speedway.

In the prerace ceremonies, Busch was heckled by Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans angry about last week's incident between the two at Richmond. Busch played right along as he waved his hands, cupped his ear to hear the crowd, and pretended to cry on his pre-race ride along tour. ThatsRacin' even says he flipped off a crew member from the No. 88.

All of that, of course, was before the green flag. Greg Biffle led the field to the green and proceeded to lead 95 laps before suffering a loose wheel and then a broken timing belt.

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Fanhouse Warmup: Dodge Challenger 500

Geoffrey Miller — 2008-05-10T09:05:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Greg Biffle, Darlington Raceway, Sprint Cup

What: Dodge Challenger 500
Where: Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C.
When: Saturday May 10 (Green Flag Approx. 7:20pm/ET)
Distance: 367 laps, 501.3 miles
Weather: Sunny, then isolated showers after 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 60. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
2007 Winner: Jeff Gordon
Predictions: Keep Reading

Top Weekend Stories from Darlington Raceway

Wrecks Galore in Practice Sessions
Greg Biffle Claims Coors Light Pole
Tony Stewart Makes it Six Straight for JGR
Is Kyle Busch the next Intimidator? You decide.

Little Bit of 'Dis, Little Bit of 'Dat from Darlington

Say Hello to the Lady - This will be Darlington Raceway's 58th consecutive year of hosting a NASCAR race after it all began when Harold Brasington decided that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wasn't the only place in the world race fans would go to.

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Extra Darlington Practice Brings More Wrecks

Geoffrey Miller — 2008-05-09T16:55:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Crashes

Darlington Raceway has apparently not lost a single bit of its dangerous edge.

At least three backup cars rolled off Sprint Cup haulers Friday afternoon after no less than 9 drivers had an incident in the practice sessions leading up to both qualifying on Friday night and Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 400. For the third week in a row, the cars will be impounded immediately after qualifying until the race.

Most notably of the four drivers heading to a backup car was Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson, who used his primary No. 48 in the early session, and then in the final practice, spun again. The damage to the backup will be repairable, though.

Additionally, Reed Sorenson and Paul Menard will head to a backup car before the qualifying session.

The wrecks came Friday on a weekend schedule for the Sprint Cup Series that differed quite a bit from the norm. Instead of simply practicing and qualifying on Friday and racing Saturday at Darlington, the teams were given extra track time Thursday afternoon and evening after the legendary speedway was repaved over the off season.

Last week's winner at Richmond Clint Bowyer, Kyle Petty, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan, and Robby Gordon all got a piece of the wrecking action as well on Friday. Numerous other cars earned a "Darlington Stripe" after scrubbing the wall. Hamlin ended the final session with the top posted lap speed.

Qualifying starts at 5:00pm/ET Friday live on SPEED.

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Time to Send the Hounds for Burton?

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-06-18T09:26:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Gossip, Nextel Cup, Richard Childress Racing

Remember that time when Jeff Burton was the pitter-patter of every fan's heart?

He had just won at Texas and was sitting a nice second in Nextel Cup points. Average finish? Fifth.

The Jeff Burton from the late 90's was back, and back in style. Second in Nextel Cup points and looking ready to take the top spot from Jeff Gordon.

So what exactly happened then?

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NASCAR Scared Junior Out of Appeal

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-06-01T04:18:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt Inc., Crew Chiefs, Darlington Raceway, Nextel Cup, Pit Crews

Man, I've gotta get me some satellite radio. First, Smoke blows a lid, and now Junior is making waves.

On Junior's XM Radio show "Dale Jr. - Unrestricted", the hottest free agent in like, ever, talked up some more about the infraction at Darlington.

Junior's No. 8 Chevy was found to have illegal wing brackets in pre-race inspection for the COT race. NASCAR was none too pleased and took away 100 points from Dale Jr. and suspended his crew chief Tony Eury Jr. 6 races.

Originally, DEI planned an appeal on the huge penalty, but suddenly dropped it. Thursday night, Junior elaborated.

"Well sometimes you can go get your appeal and actually get a worse penalty and there was a possibility, there were some discussions about forcing the eight car to have to qualify into every event...Taking away our top 35 exempt deal where we were automatically locked in the field, so we were worried that if we went to appeal and it didn't go, you know somebody said a cross word and upset somebody or something didn't go right it could become a worse penalty and decided to drop it and just take our lickings," said Junior.

Interesting. For Junior to publicly state something like that, you'd think that NASCAR was wanting to throw the whole tool shed at the No. 8 team.

After my first up close look at the COT, I can understand how NASCAR is so picky about that wing and the brackets. Not only are they the base of the entire template system, but the brackets themselves are some large, large pieces and if altered or different from the legal versions, a significant aero advantage could be gained.

I'd rather have myself locked in the field, too, Junebug. Good call.

HT: Jayski for owning sateliite radio.

(Photo by Streeter Lecka, Getty Images)

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NASCAR, DEI Offer Different Opinions on Infraction

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-19T10:21:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt Inc., Crew Chiefs, Darlington Raceway, Nextel Cup

The difference between what NASCAR says and what the people at DEI say is very cut and dry.

NASCAR trumps all. Easily.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team was penalized earlier this week for an unapproved mounting bracket on the COT wing. Tony Eury Jr. is appealing the $100,000 fine and 100 point loss in both driver and owner points.

Eury offered this explanation.

"It's not a deal where you're trying to screw NASCAR every way you can. This was an honest mistake," said Eury Jr.

He earlier added that the bracket was one used on an earlier version of the COT and was unintentionally put/left on the No. 8 machine before Darlington last week.

NASCAR's Robin Pemberton disagreed, more than just a little bit.

"It was just wrong. I can't weigh in whether I thought it was intentional. There's no such thing as an old piece. This car isn't that old to have a lot of old pieces laying around," said Pemberton.

That's a pretty damning statement for Eury Jr.'s explanation. "No such thing as an old piece" would leave me to believe that the No. 8 team is trying to find an excuse for trying to bend the rules.

At first, I thought the penalty didn't exactly fit the crime. However, Larry McReynolds mentioned yesterday on SPEED's Nextel All-Star Challenge practice coverage that the bracket for the wing is one of NASCAR's most precious areas.

Not only can the brackets dramatically alter the angle of the wing for downforce adjustments, but the new template checking system in inspection is based on those brackets -- allowing for a minor inconsistency at that point to mask large ones at other points on the car.

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Hamlin's Crew Chief Ford Drops the Ax

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-16T11:23:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing, Crew Chiefs, Darlington Raceway, Lowes Motor Speedway, Nextel Cup, Pit Crews

Denny Hamlin's had enough. And, apparently, his crew chief Mike Ford has, too.

Crew chief Mike Ford made several changes to the crew after Sunday's pit road mistake at Darlington Raceway, the latest in a series of blunders dating to last season that have kept Hamlin out of Victory Lane.

Hamlin was second heading into a late stop, but fell to 16th after two lug nuts were knocked off on a right front tire change. He rallied to finish second, but felt he should have won.

The No. 11 Fedex crew deserves some backlash from their miserable performance on Sunday.

[Ford] moved the rear changer to the front and brought on a new front tire carrier. He replaced the rear tire changer with an employee at Joe Gibbs Racing that has been training for the position and moved the gas man to jack man.

He made a temporary change to the gas man and will continue to look for a long-term fix.

According to this Jayski chart, the guys that got moved around include Dennis Terry (former front tire changer), Barry Cook (new front tire changer), Chad Edwards (former front tire carrier), and Scott Wood (new jack man). The new additions to the squad aren't known.

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Even Gordon's Mom Thought He Wouldn't Win

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-14T14:37:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Darlington Raceway, Nextel Cup

When Jeff Gordon's mom saw that her son's car was overheating with a lot of laps left Sunday at Darlington, she bolted. As did Gordon's dad, sister, and nephew. The race couldn't be won, right?

"They bailed on me. Man, I had my mom, my sister, my nephew, my dad and I can't wait to call them when I get done because my sister's never been to victory lane nor my nephew and they always come to Darlington being the Mother's Day weekend and I cannot believe that they left," said Gordon.

Maybe they were worried about traffic?

Gordon's day did look a little bit sour when the No. 24 Chevy was spouting steam under caution. Somehow, it lasted, and Gordon held on for his third win of 2007. His family, Darrell Waltrip, and much of NASCAR nation felt that his engine would blow.

"It was very cool to have mom-to-be [Ingrid] in victory lane. But yeah they bailed on me. I can't wait to call them when I get done here and chew them out," said Gordon.

I wonder if Jeff's mom would have done that if he played Little League baseball when he was growing up?

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New Points System Helps Letarte Give Gordon 7th Darlington Win

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-13T18:18:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports, Darlington Raceway, Nextel Cup

With Jeff Gordon's Dupont Chevrolet steaming under caution, this year's new format of the Chase to the Championship finally paid dividends.

Caution was out with 23 laps to go when Gordon's car, which had been overheating all afternoon, ran second behind Jimmie Johnson. The field had just been to pit road about ten laps prior and half of that was run under green. Johnson, and half the field, pitted for fresh tires.

Listening to crew chief Steve Letarte, Jeff Gordon stayed on track and inherited the lead. He would go on to win his 78th career race over 2nd place Denny Hamlin.

Gordon's pit crew had removed all of the grille tape from the No. 24 in successive pit stops late in the race to aid the heating problem. Bits of rubber and other debris were lodged in the radiator to prevent adequate cooling, however, and the engine continued to boil. Letarte, however, must have been looking ahead.

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Darlington and Richmond: Kinda Like It Used to Be

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-13T13:56:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Darlington Raceway, Nextel Cup

It's a cloudy Sunday afternoon in Darlington and you've gotta know that the old-time NASCAR fans are jumping for joy. Because of last night's rain delay, what has become a typical Saturday night race at the "Lady in Black" looks more like the time when Sunday was the only time that NASCAR raced at Darlington.

Today's rain-delayed Nextel Cup race started at 1pm/ET.

As FOX's Mike Joy said going to an early break in coverage, "it's like stock car racing used to be".

The past two Saturday night races for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series have had that decidedly old school look to them. Caused by successive rain delays, both races have started at 1pm/ET on the following Sundays.

With NASCAR's current television package, most races now start after 2:30pm/ET on Sundays-- mainly to draw in more Pacific coast fans.

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Sabotage on the #8 Car? Team to Get First COT Penalty?

tallglassofmilk — 2007-05-12T22:10:00 00:00

by tallglassofmilk

Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Crew Chiefs, Darlington Raceway

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s #8 Budweiser Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection at Darlington Raceway after officials discovered illegal brackets were used to mount the rear wing.

The #8 will maintain its 21st starting position, but series director John Darby said the illegal part could result in the first COT penalty. He will follow up with crew chief Tony Eury Jr. further next week.

I'm not typically a conspiracy theorist ... but when is the last time the #8 Budweiser team was guilty of an illegal part infraction?

Junior has expressed his feelings that some within DEI are upset ... Could any be that upset they'd set him up for failure the remainder of this season?

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Qualified to Tame the Lady In Black

tallglassofmilk — 2007-05-12T16:35:00 00:00

by tallglassofmilk

Filed under: Brian Vickers, Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip, Scott Riggs, Darlington Raceway, Nextel Cup, Ricky Rudd

Leader of the Outside the Top 35 Pack
Kenny Wallace raced his Furniture Row #78 Chevrolet into the show for the seventh time this season. He will start 6th tonight at Darlington Raceway, matching his best qualifying effort of the season last week in Richmond.

Good thing, too, because Kenny really wants to race in Charlotte and now he gets another chance to remind fans to vote for him:

"The 'Vote for Kenny' campaign has grown its own legs and developed into a huge deal. I am very appreciative to Furniture Row for being such a supportive sponsor by getting behind the 'Vote For Kenny' campaign. I don't think that many other sponsors, if any at all, would give up the hood of their racecar for a weekend to promote voting their driver into the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge. Being voted into this race would be a huge deal, not just for me, but for my Furniture Row Racing team too!"

Following The Leader
Ken Schrader also starts in the top 10 in the 8th position. David Reuitmann starts 14th.

Both Red Bull racers are on track this weekend for just the second time this season, the first being Bristol. Brian Vickers starts in the 15th spot and A.J. Allmendinger starts 20th.p>Paul Menard starts 23rd in his eighth race of the season, Dave Blaney starts 27th and Ricky Rudd 40th.

Kevin LePage will start his first race of the season after attempting to qualify for 9 of the previous 10 races.

Losers of The Week (DNQs)
Scott Riggs, who has been outside the top 35 since the beginning of the season, failed to qualify for his first race in 2007 in Darlington.

Michael Waltrip (10), Jeremy Mayfield (8), Mike Bliss (7), Dale Jarrett (2), Ward Burton (6)

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Raceday Warmup: Darlington

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-12T12:05:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Media Watch, Nextel Cup

More Rain Tonight?
For the second straight week, the word rain is involved in tonight's forecast. While the threat doesn't seem as bad as it did last week in Richmond, the forecast for tonight's race calls for a thunderstorm to occur across 40% of the forecast area, leaving the potential for rain hit or miss. The temperature will fall to around 64 degrees for an otherwise comfortable evening. Follow the Darlington radar here.

Tradin' Paint Before Hitting The Track
Jeff Gordon will be the driver co-host of the SPEED show "Tradin' Paint" this afternoon. The program is scheduled to air at 4pm/ET. "Tradin'" involves a driver sitting down with a motorsports journalist to discuss the issues at hand in NASCAR, and often leads to nice viewpoints from each side of the window net.

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Bowyer Wins Pole, Biffle Paces Happy Hour

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-11T20:41:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Roush Fenway Racing, Darlington Raceway, Nextel Cup, Richard Childress Racing

Greg Biffle is well on his way to defending his 2006 victory at Darlington and Clint Bowyer scored his first pole Friday at Darlington.

The Biff has won the past two races at Darlington, and in Friday night's practice he looked much the same. Over 26 laps, Biffle averaged 158.028 mph to lead the session. The rest of the average top 5 included Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Casey Mears.

Mears ran the most laps of the group at 39. Denny Hamlin, who had the 8th fastest average, ran 55 laps in the final session.

Jimmie Johnson ran the fastest lap in practice at 160.706 mph. The stat often never matters at Darlington because the tires lose their grip and speed very quickly on the rough, abrasive surface. Johnson had a very nice save late in the session when his Chevrolet closed on the rear of Tony Stewart's quicker than anticipated. Johnson slammed on the brakes and turned left entering turn 3 and slid his Impala all the way around to the exit of turn 4 without touching a thing.

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Stewart's Mom: Maybe We Should Have ...

tallglassofmilk — 2007-05-09T15:45:00 00:00

by tallglassofmilk

Filed under: Tony Stewart, Darlington Raceway

What's it like being Tony Stewart's mother?

Pam Boas says it depends on the day and what her son has said on his radio show.

One thing's for sure, he was taught to always be honest and he took the lesson to heart:

"We taught Tony that if you stretch the truth, it will come back to you, or us. And if it comes back to us, it's going to get to you. Maybe that's why Tony is so brutally honest. That's the way he was raised, to tell the truth. Maybe we should have spent a little more time on tact."

Nah. We love him just the way he is.

Thanks, Ma.

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NASCAR FanHouse Power Rankings: Darlington

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-09T14:43:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Darlington Raceway, NASCAR Power Rankings, Nextel Cup

Last year's Nextel Cup action saw Greg Biffle head to victory lane for the 2nd year in a row at Darlington. He'll try and make it 3 in a row Saturday night when FOX picks up coverage of the Dodge Avenger 500 live from the Lady in Black. Coverage starts at 6:30pm/ET live on Saturday night.

1. Jeff Gordon - The last time the FanHouse picked a Hendrick driver to win, the occasion was Easter. Since then, Hendrick Motorsports has won 3 of 4 races. We're getting on the bandwagon late, but how can you pick against them in a COT race? And Gordon has a pretty nice record at Darlington.

2. Greg Biffle - It's been two wins out of the last two tries for the Biff at Darlington. COT or not, he's been stout there, and it's a nice way for Ford to show that it actually races in the Nextel Cup Series again.

3. Jimmie Johnson - Before Biffle's 2-fer, Johnson had the same feat, winning two in a row. Can you honestly pick against those eyebrows -- ever?

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Darlington Sells Out for 3rd Straight Year

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-05-08T05:18:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Darlington Raceway, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Fans, Nextel Cup

Track officials at the egg-shaped Darlington Speedway announced this week that this Saturday night's NASCAR Nextel Cup event has sold out for the third straight year. Which, of course, begs the question.

Why, NASCAR, aren't we racing at Darlington on Labor Day? If they can sell it out on Mother's Day weekend...

...well you get the point.

It's good to see the Lady in Black shimmering in some glory. New grandstands, lights, and other capital improvements have all done wonders from the speedway and more are still on the way for one of NASCAR's crown jewels.

It's just gotta make you feel darn good inside to realize that NASCAR fans still understand what a good race track is -- no matter the location.

I'd be down for a Saturday night, Labor Day Weeked, knock-em out,drag-em out Southern 500 for sure. We'll get to that point in baby steps, though, especially if sell-outs keep happening.

50th Daytona 500 Tickets On Sale Tomorrow [May 9]

Tickets will be available for the 2008 edition of the Daytona 500 starting Wednesday morning. The 50th running of the event is sure to be one heckuva spectacle, and if the finish is 20% of this year's race to the checkers, the cost of admission is worth that alone. Get the good ones 'fo they gone.

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Darlington to Get Many Improvements; One Still Missing

Geoffrey Miller — 2007-04-05T13:54:00 00:00

by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Darlington Raceway, Nextel Cup, Craftsman Truck Series

Darlington Speedway track president Chris Browning is really happy this morning. His historic race track in central South Carolina is getting fresh pavement, concrete pit stalls, and a larger infield access tunnel. Among other improvements, this $10 million project is the second large investment that parent company International Speedway Corporation has put into the track in the past two years.

"I think that this shows the commitment our company has to this racetrack," Browning said. "If you really look at the scope of what they approved, the track surface was really what needed attention."

That's all fine and dandy, but I'm looking for one improvement that wouldn't cost a dime.

The new pavement? It's a needed investment, as much as some drivers don't think it is. The track apparently met with Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton during a recent Goodyear tire test and discussed what needed to be done. In my book, if you've got the Jeff and Jeff approval, you're good to go.

After all, weren't they two driver who battled for one of the most memorable Southern 500 finishes ever in 1997?

Oh, wait, what was that? Southern 500? Why can't we have that improvement too?

Sure, it's been written about, complained about, and discussed many, many times. But eventually, you would think that NASCAR would listen. That static noise about one of NASCAR's forgotten crown jewels can't end, because one day, they'll have to listen. I'm not patient with having a single date there -- unless one of those falls on an early fall weekend.

NASCAR and Labor Day don't equal California, they equal the sandy soil of South Carolina.

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