Motorsports FanHouse

Chasing Jimmie: Contenders Fading Fast

Holly Cain — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:45:00 EST

Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Lowes Motor Speedway, Chase for the Sprint Cup

CONCORD, N.C. -- For the past two days, one driver after another took the podium in the press room at Lowe's Motor Speedway and made his case that NASCAR's Chase for the Championship was far from over. Sure, Jimmie Johnson had taken the points lead last week and looked every bit the postseason form that won him the previous three Sprint Cup championships.

But the Chase wasn't even halfway over yet, we were reminded. And no way could anyone maintain a finishing average less than five in the most pressure-packed time of the year.

Turns out, it's all wishful thinking.

More Coverage: Race Results | Sprint Cup Standings

With his victory late Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Johnson became the first to win three of the opening five races of the 10-race Chase playoff. His average finish is an unworldly third place and he's turned a 12-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin into 90-point runaway as the series heads to Martinsville, Va. next week.

We might as well rename this Chasing Jimmie Johnson for the Championship.

Johnson's incredible run to a historic fourth consecutive Cup title is hardly Saturday's most shocking outcome. He's done this before.

The biggest shakeup in the championship came from the biggest surprise in the championship, Juan Pablo Montoya, whose title run was derailed with a 35th-place finish courtesy of a chain-reaction fender bender on an early race restart.

Montoya entered the race in third place -- the only Chase driver with top-five finishes in the first four races -- and was running strong early in the night. On a restart about a fifth of the way into the race, Clint Bowyer's Chevy checked up, Montoya got into the back of it and of all things, the driver directly in front of him in the standings, Martin, hit Montoya's car in the rear.

The contact relegated Martin to a 17th-place finish -- his worse of the Chase. But Montoya's No. 42 Chevy got the worst end of it and he went two laps down at one point. Worse still, he dropped from third to sixth in the standings, 195 points out.

"There was not much we could do, we worked as hard as we could, we did all we thought was possible and here we go, the best we could do is 35th,'' said Montoya, who was philosophical and subdued after climbing out of car.

"We made the Chase, up to today we had four Top 5s in a row, what's bad about it. We actually surprised everyone, including everyone on our team we were doing such a great job.

"Even today we had a faster car than the 48. This happens. It's one of those racing things that happen and you've gotta just move on. If you're expecting to have 10 clean races, then you're dreaming.''

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=512173&pid=512172&uts=1255843920

http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf

Latest NASCAR Photos

In this photo provided by HHP Images Jimmie Johnson takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Banking 500 Sprint Series auto race at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/HHP Photo, Gregg Ellman) ** NO SALES **

HHP IMAGES

Latest NASCAR Images

CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 DuPont/Transformers 2 Chevrolet, leads Joey Logano, driver of the #20 Home Depot Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jeff Gordon;Joey Logano

Getty Images

CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 DuPont/Transformers 2 Chevrolet, leads Ryan Newman, driver of the #39 Transformers 2 Chevrolet, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jeff Gordon;Ryan Newman

Getty Images for NASCAR

CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson

Getty Images

CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: (L-R) Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, celebrates team owner Rick Hendrick after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Chad Knaus;Rick Hendrick

Getty Images for NASCAR

CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: (L-R) Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, celebrates with his crew chief Chad Knaus and team owner Rick Hendrick after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson;Chad Knaus;Rick Hendrick

Getty Images for NASCAR

CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: (L-R) Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, celebrates with his crew chief Chad Knaus and team owner Rick Hendrick after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson;Chad Knaus;Rick Hendrick

Getty Images for NASCAR

CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, celebrates with his wife Chandra after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson;Chandra Johnson

Getty Images for NASCAR

CONCORD, NC - OCTOBER 17: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, celebrates with his team after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on October 17, 2009 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** Jimmie Johnson

Getty Images for NASCAR

If so, Johnson hasn't woken up yet.

He topped every practice speed chart, won the pole position for Saturday's race and took the trophy. His crew chief Chad Knaus considered it a perfect weekend -- the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet was best of every session on track.

When race runner-up Matt Kenseth was asked about competing against that kind of dominant car this weekend, he joked, "I think you have to lead every lap to have a perfect weekend, so he's still got some work to do.

"Seriously though, ever since those two guys [Knaus and Johnson] got together they've been the team to beat.''

And the challenge they have now -- a good challenge to have -- is convincing others that this championship isn't over yet. They are emphatic, genuine and serious when they talk about the work still ahead.

"There's no need for anyone to get too excited yet,'' Johnson said. "We're optimistic and have a lot of good tracks coming up, but also some danger too.

"One flat tire, one mechanical. ... one Talladega. ... 90 points is gone. I'm not trying to downplay where we're at, but there's a lot of racing yet.

"You never know what's going to happen. I feel very good racing for the championship if we don't have any problems. But we don't want to get too emotionally wrapped up in this thing and let our guard down.''

Or as team owner Rick Hendrick put simply, "I don't think you can have enough points, it's just too early.''

The good news for Johnson and the bad news for the rest of the field is that the series moves to the .526-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway next weekend. It's the lone short track in the 10-race Chase and for everyone else it's considered a wild card. For Johnson, who has won five of the last six races there, it's almost a gimme.

And so NASCAR's most underrated champion ever now must face a new criticism. There are ridiculous rumblings that his success somehow hurts the NASCAR product. That watching a master on top of his game is a bad thing.

Johnson can't win for winning.

"I'm just out there doing my thing,'' Johnson said.

"I don't think we've been stinking up the show. Everyone tunes in to watch Tiger [Woods] win, they watch [Roger] Federer do his thing on the tennis courts. I think a lot of people are watching and rooting us to win a fourth. The rest of them. ... I don't know.''

There's still plenty of time to win them over. And plenty of reason.

Chasing Jimmie: Contenders Fading Fast originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FanHouse Warmup: Banking 500

Geoffrey Miller — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:10:00 EST

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Lowes Motor Speedway, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Camping World Truck Series

The Essentials

Race: NASCAR Banking 500

Where: Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C.
Time: Saturday 7:30 p.m./EST
TV/Radio: ABC, PRN Radio
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, 40s, 20% rain
Distance: 334 laps (500.1 miles)
Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson
2008 Winner: Jeff Burton

The Storylines

Carl Edwards may blame last year's loss to Jimmie Johnson in the Chase for the Sprint Cup on a crash at Talladega, but a finish in last year's fall race at Lowe's Motor Speedway provided all the points Johnson needed to win his third consecutive title.

Or, rather, the necessary point.

More Coverage: Race Results | Sprint Cup Standings

Edwards suffered electrical issues early in the 2008 event at LMS that saw his No. 99 roll to a stop on the backstretch. The team got his car fixed in the garage, but he was only able to salvage a 33rd-place finish and earned 67 points in the process.

In his career, Edwards has now averaged a 10th-place finish at LMS. Pending that he would have finished at least 10th, Edwards would have earned 134 points, or 70 more than he did in this race a year ago. The final tally at the end of 2009 campaign between him and Johnson for the title?

69 points.

What, then, does this have to do with Saturday night's race? Despite the fact that -- cue former Arizona Cardinals head coach Denny Green -- the media has pretty much crowned Johnson the champ for 2009 (including yours truly) anything can happen. Silly, stupid things that are completely unexpected. Like electrical problems.

And who knows? A point Johnson misses tonight might be all another contender needs when the smoke settles in Homestead.

Jeff Burton, a.k.a the unofficial mayor of NASCAR, will reach a significant milestone in his long career in the sport when the green flag waves Saturday night.

Burton, the 43-year-old from South Boston, Va., will start his 850th race in the Sprint Cup Series during a season that has been quite a struggle for him and his Richard Childress Racing teammates. Burton is 18th in the standings with just six top-10 finishes in 2009, and tonight's race will mark the one year anniversary of his last Cup win.

As Burton reaches both anniversaries tonight, his hopes have improved after noting this week that he's seeing improvement within RCR.

"I think we've made a swing," said Burton. "I don't think we are where we need to be by any means but if you look at it individually, our teams are starting to run better."

Kurt Busch knows that his team has been decent during the Chase, and obviously he's looking to continue a pretty good run tonight at LMS.

"I feel like this is a great opportunity for us to continue our stretch where we've finished, on average the last few races, in 7.5," said Busch.

In years past, his level of "decent" would likely have been good enough to be in heavy, heavy contention for the title. But coming into tonight's race, he's trailing Jimmie Johnson by some 121 points.

"That's a good average finish, but we're getting beat by better numbers," Busch said. "In years past when Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. was winning championships, or Jeff Gordon, the magic number back then was seven as far as your average finish. With this new Chase format, seven will only get you sixth in points and 121 off the lead."

And he's right. At the moment, Jimmie Johnson is averaging a blistering 3.75 finish. That's tough to beat.

FanHouse Warmup: Banking 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Banking 500 Chat Recap

Holly Cain — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup

FanHouse readers joined Holly Cain at Lowe's Motor Speedway for a trackside chat before the green flag dropped for the Banking 500. The race marks the halfway point of NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Championship playoff.

Check out what topics the chat included, as readers asked questions about championship contenders and contributed their own opinion.

&lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;altcast_code=c13c897c77" &gt;Banking 500 Live Chat&lt;/a&gt;

Banking 500 Chat Recap originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Charlotte Track Sponsor Future Unclear

Geoffrey Miller — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:23:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Speedway Motorsports Inc.

The "Lowe's" in Concord, N.C.'s Lowe's Motor Speedway may or may not be around in 2010, depending on who you've listened to this weekend.

Bruton Smith -- he's the owner of the LMS' parent company Speedway Motorsports Inc. -- said Saturday that he doesn't envision seeing the home improvement store chain involved with the flagship track of the nine he currently he owns thanks to contract discussions that aren't even close to agreement.

Meanwhile, Smith's son Marcus heads the Charlotte-area track and disputed the report in the SportsBusiness Journal that the two sides had walked away from the bargaining table -- leaving lots of questions and not many answers.

The original SBJ report said that the track and Lowe's had been trying to find common ground between Lowes' offer in the neighborhood of $3.5 million -- the original 10-year naming rights deal on the track that started in 1999 was good for $34.6 million over the course of the contract -- while SMI was looking to significantly up the asking price to somewhere near $9 million.

SBJ cited a number of factors including the overall economic impact that has occurred lately in the home construction sector as well as what figures to be a heavily rising price for the other major NASCAR commitment for Lowe's, sponsorship of the three-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 ride.

The deal with Johnson is slated for renewal in 2010 and his on-track success is sure to up the asking price to the highest neighborhood of Sprint Cup sponsor pricing.

And so Bruton, talking with reporters at the site of Saturday night's IndyCar race at the SMI-owned Kentucky Speedway, figured his company will be looking for a replacement.

"I think we'll miss them," said Smith during one of his always wide-ranging press conferences. "Sometimes you're negotiating and maybe you ask to much, but I don't know."

Bruton's words came just hours after both his son Marcus -- he also has the title of SMI President and CEO -- denied the report that discussions with Lowe's had ended.

"We're still working on and discussing the components of another extension to continue our relationship," Marcus Smith told the AP. "Those components have not been finalized, but the process is moving along."

A representative from Lowe's also denied that anything official had happened in the discussions.

Confusion over what exactly has transpired has long been a tactic of Bruton Smith and SMI, as the man is quite saavy when it comes to business and getting what he wants.

For proof, just look at the deal he sewed up with a once-rebilious new wave of Concord, N.C. city council members who tried to stop construction of a new drag strip on the LMS property. Smith threatened to completely shut down LMS, abandon it and build a new one in another part of the region -- yes, his claims got that far into left field -- and scared the Council into backing off their decision and giving the track millions in tax abatements and such.

In other words, while we don't know what exactly is going on with Lowe's and the old Charlotte Motor Speedway, Smith undoubtedly knows and has likely used this weekend to his advantage at the bargaining table.

Charlotte Track Sponsor Future Unclear originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:23:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Humpy and IndyCar? It Could Happen

Geoffrey Miller — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:44:00 EST

Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Lowes Motor Speedway, NASCAR Tracks

The rumor that wouldn't stop after the shuffling of Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Tony George's job duties finally has some teeth.

Humpy Wheeler -- the longtime and now ex-President and General Manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway -- told the Indianapols Star this week that he and his company are in talks with IndyCar officials about promoting the American open-wheel series.

Humpy's name first entered the IndyCar fold after he attended the Indianapolis 500 instead of the 50th-running of the Coca-Cola 600 in May.

Wheeler's newly-formed business -- The Wheeler Company -- is looking to offer "promotional and marketing support" to the somewhat struggling league, said the article:

"Right now it's all in its infancy," he said. "We haven't made any deals yet; we're just in the talking stage."

IMS Corp. officials have not confirmed talks with Wheeler or his son, Trip, who runs the family business.

Wheeler, who in the 1960s worked with Firestone's Indy-car program, said there is a need to "objectively look" at the series.

"What's working, what's not working? What needs to be done, not only from a marketing standpoint, but also what's happening out on the racetrack," he said. "You can have the most beautiful Broadway playhouse, the greatest seats in the world and the greatest actors and actresses, but the content of the play has to be there also for it to work.

"If you've got something that's hot, you're going to get ratings. The question is, how do you make it hot?"

If there's anyone that can make IndyCar racing -- not just Danicamania -- "hot", there's not many other people to look to than Humpy Wheeler.

During his time at LMS, Humpy helped turn the 1.5-mile track into one of NASCAR's cornerstones and also into one of the most fan-friendly tracks in multiple ways -- from extravagant pre-race shows to making sure traffic flow in and out of the facility didn't scare off fans.

Wheeler's connections run deep, far and wide, and his experience for fanning the flames of dramatics in racing have certainly helped the stock car side of motorsports.

Humpy and IndyCar? It Could Happen originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:44:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Coca-Cola 600

Geoffrey Miller — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:48:00 EST

Filed under: David Reutimann, Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

Welcome back to another edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes, where even Noah couldn't keep his boat afloat after the non-stop rain at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Are you one of those lonely souls mad that David Reutimann snookered 'em -- yep, that's the first recorded use of that word on FH -- to win his first career race Monday afternoon?

If so, get over it. First time winners are fun to see, and when the race officially ended he was the car leading everyone else. Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and the rest of the field didn't have to pit, but they did -- and that's just the way it goes.

I'd still like an explanation as to why NASCAR decided on a start time of 12 p.m./EDT for the Monday make-up of its longest race.

It wasn't hard to see that the Charlotte region was to get a brief lull from the rain in the Monday morning hours, with the rain probability picking up steadlly as the afternoon wore on. And just on cue, showers hit the track just as the field took the green flag.

The reasoning behind that probably had something to do with a west coast audience with a three-hour time difference. My recommendation of a 10 a.m. start would have meant at 7 a.m. wake up call for fans on the left coast, and likely a drop in viewers.

That, then, brings back the question we had with the late start of this year's Daytona 500: what's more important, a race ran closer to completion or a few more bucks in advertising revenue? I think we're seeing what side is winning that battle.

Brian Vickers is gonna win one of these doggone races at LMS at some point. That No. 83 Toyota has now been more than good enough to win the last three Coca-Cola 600's.

In 2007, he had power steering issues that led to more issues. 2008 saw a loose lug nut break the wheel as he sailed into turn one, sending the tire bouncing into a trackside motorhome and Vickers into the turn one wall.

This year? He was the only car to pass Kyle Busch under green flag conditions during the Coca-Cola 340.5, just as he was Saturday during the Nationwide race. He's now led 339 career laps at LMS without a win after pacing 33 on Monday.

Wanna know how far Michael Waltrip Racing has come since its inception prior to 2007? Just look back two years ago at the Coca-Cola 600, when both Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann wrecked in qualifying and missed the show.

Now, they're in victory lane.

Joey Logano's brake adventures turned to a learning moment during Monday's rain-postponed and shortened race.

"We lost our brakes after one of the rain delays," said Logano. "I was taking care of my brakes and getting in (the corners) easier and actually was running faster that way. Apparently there's something there and hopefully it will help us in the future."

Monday, it was good enough for the now-19-year-old to tie his career-best Cup finish of 9th for a third time.

I wouldn't have said this at Daytona, but I'll be surprised if he doesn't win a Cup race this season. He's finding a major part of winning at this level -- confidence.

1988 Cup champ Bill Elliott made his 800th start in Monday's race, and afterwards he joked about the on-again off-again rain showers giving the aging driver a break from his laps in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.

"I told them it sure was nice of them to throw in a few 'old man cautions' in there with those red flags to let me get out and rest a few minutes," joked Elliott.

The No. 21 finished 15th.

Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Coca-Cola 600 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Tue, 26 May 2009 14:48:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Honorary Stop Great Move by NASCAR

Geoffrey Miller — Tue, 26 May 2009 07:05:00 EST

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

For once, NASCAR as a sanctioning body completely deserves a heaping of praise.

Nope, there won't be rubbing, questioning or accusing in this post because its actions Monday afternoon concerning the true spirit of Memorial Day in the States is something a lot of fans won't soon forget. And should they, on any level -- whether it involve a national anthem singer or the allowance of a foreign-owned manufacturer in the sport -- there's one moment to fall back on.

That moment came at exactly 3PM Monday when NASCAR threw the red flag over the Coca-Cola 600, brought the field to a stop, quieted the cars and stood at silent attention in honor of the service of the men and women of the armed forces.

It was touching and certainly tear-inducing, and most of all, it was completely unexpected.

Hardly anyone at the track knew what was transpiring when the caution flag waved just shy of the top of the hour. Persistent rain showers that had peppered the track all weekend and eventually turned the race into the Coca-Cola 340.5 were originally thought to be the culprit. But the rain wasn't falling then, and the quick red flag left several teams wondering what to do next.

"They must know something we don't," said Jeff Gordon over his in-car radio, prior to NASCAR's race director telling the team spotters what was going on. Gordon thought they had spotted more rain hitting the track.

With the exception of maybe the FOX Sports crew, most of the track was left in the dark and the sanctioning body never announced prior to the race that they would stop all activities prior to the race.

Nope, this wasn't a grandstanding publicity stunt.

Instead, NASCAR brought the field to the front stretch, stopped the cars and had them shut off, asked all pit crew members to form a solid line on pit road parallel with the pit wall and asked all spectators to rise. For nearly two minutes, the FOX broadcast showed nothing but pictures of the silent Lowe's Motor Speedway that had stopped in its tracks and stood in remembrance.

"We are under caution on our most solemn of holidays, Memorial Day," said FOX play-by-play voice Mike Joy during the broadcast. "There is no crash, no blown engine and no rain. NASCAR, in what I think is an extraordinary gesture, has elected to throw the caution flag so that was we come to the 3 o'clock hour -- the time at which our president has asked all Americans to honor all of those who have served in the defense and protection of our country -- NASCAR is going to bring all the cars the front straightaway, park them, and shut them off.

Latest NASCAR Images

Crew members perform a pit stop on driver Ryan Newman's car during the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Monday, May 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

David Reutimann celebrates his win in the CocaCola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on Monday, May 25, 2009. (Davie Hinshaw/Charlotte Observer/MCT)

MCT

David Reutimann celebrates his win in the CocaCola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on Monday, May 25, 2009. (Davie Hinshaw/Charlotte Observer/MCT)

MCT

Crew members for David Reutimann celebrate his win in the CocaCola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on Monday, May 25, 2009. (Jeff SinerCharlotte Observer/MCT)

MCT

David Reutimann (00) and Juan Pablo Montoya (42) race during the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Monday, May 25, 2009. Reutimann won the rain-shortened race. (AP Photo/Rick Havner)

CONCORD, NC - MAY 25: Team owner Michael Waltrip (L), driver of the #55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, and David Reutimann (C), driver of the #00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 on May 25, 2009 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Reutimann won the Coca-Cola 600 due to a rain out on lap 227. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** David Reutimann;Michael Waltrip

Getty Images

CONCORD, NC - MAY 25: David Reutimann, driver of the #00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 on May 25, 2009 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Reutimann won the Coca-Cola 600 due to a rain out on lap 227. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR) *** Local Caption *** David Reutimann

Getty Images for NASCAR

David Reutimann, second from left, celebrates after winning the rain-shortened NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Monday, May 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn)

"All the fans have come to their feet, all the flags have been lowered to half-mast and all of the crewman have come to the edge of their pit boxes all along pit road to aid in this solemn salute to all of those who have served."

The pictures, as they say, were worth a thousand words and then some. Mostly, though, they were worth chills and goosebumps to all of those who saw the events happening in front of them. It was a spectacular occasion that saw tears fall across the speedway.

On the Performance Racing Network broadcast, announcers Doug Rice and Mark Garrow mentioned that Hoots, the race director, said something across the NASCAR officials' radio channel to the tune of "Some things are much bigger than anything we're doing here" and he couldn't have been more spot on.

The race had reached a critical moment with more rain bearing down on the track, green flag pit stops nearing and competition starting to heat up. In fact, the rain arrived before NASCAR could resume the race under green flag conditions, but they eventually restarted the proceedings.

Still, to think that NASCAR had the guts to completely stop a competitive race at a moment with such high stakes really says something about the direction this sport is under no matter how many times we question it.

NASCAR, bravo to you, and of course, an even bigger hat tip to those serving and that have served in order for events like the Coca-Cola 600 to happen in the first place.

Honorary Stop Great Move by NASCAR originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Tue, 26 May 2009 07:05:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

David Reutimann Wins 1st Sprint Cup Race in Rain-Shortened Coca-Cola 600

FanHouse Newswire — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:57:00 EST

Filed under: David Reutimann, Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup, Michael Waltrip Racing

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- It took 75 races and three rain delays for David Reutimann to earn his first Sprint Cup Series victory.

When a fluke finally put him in position for a win in Monday's rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600, the journeyman driver nervously paced around his car on pit road at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Two hours later, he was declared the winner of one of NASCAR's crown jewel events when the race was stopped once and for all.

"It wasn't the prettiest win, but somebody has to win," he said. "When you envision yourself winning your first Sprint Cup race, you envision it different. But it's so hard to win these deals, we'll take it any way we can."

Reutimann didn't lead a single lap under green-flag racing. He had a mid-pack car as teams jockeyed for position just past the halfway point of the gloomy race, which was washed out on Sunday and carried over to Monday for the first Memorial Day running in its 50-year history.

Because the radar showed a long night of intermittent showers, no one believed the longest race on the NASCAR schedule would go the full 600 miles. So began the game of racing to the front in hopes of being in the right place when the event was finally called.

Latest NASCAR Images

Members of Kasey Kahne's pit crew stand on pit road during the third rain delay in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina May 25, 2009. REUTERS/Chris Keane (UNITED STATES SPORT MOTOR RACING IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Reuters

David Reutimann, right, and his father, Buzzie Reutimann, look at the sky during a rain delay in the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Monday, May 25, 2009. Reutiman was leading when the race was stopped. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)

David Reutimann sits by his car during a rain delay in the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Monday, May 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)

Michael Waltrip looks out from pit road during a rain delay in the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Monday, May 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn)

Fans wait during the third rain delay in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina May 25, 2009. REUTERS/Chris Keane (UNITED STATES SPORT MOTOR RACING)

Reuters

David Reutimann watches the rain during the third rain delay in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina May 25, 2009. REUTERS/Chris Keane (UNITED STATES SPORT MOTOR RACING)

Reuters

Ryan Newman laughs during the third rain delay in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina May 25, 2009. REUTERS/Chris Keane (UNITED STATES SPORT MOTOR RACING HEADSHOT)

Reuters

CONCORD, NC - MAY 25: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 on May 25, 2009 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Kyle Busch

Getty Images

CONCORD, NC - MAY 25: Robby Gordon (L), driver of the #7 Jim Beam Toyota, talks with Carl Edwards, driver of the #99 Aflac Ford, on pit road during a rain delay for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 on May 25, 2009 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Robby Gordon

Getty Images

Carl Edwards sits by his car during the third rain delay in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina May 25, 2009. REUTERS/Chris Keane (UNITED STATES SPORT MOTOR RACING)

Reuters

When rain brought out the caution 22 laps past the halfway point, leader Kyle Busch led a parade of cars down pit road. But Reutimann, Ryan Newman and Robby Gordon didn't follow, and the three moved to the top of the leaderboard.

They led the field for five laps under caution before NASCAR called the cars back to pit road for the third rain stoppage. Most drivers headed to their motorhomes to wait out the rain.

Not Reutimann.

He was joined at his car by his 68-year-old father, Buzzie, a racer with one career NASCAR start who still tears it up in dirt track events at East Bay Raceway near Tampa, Fla. The two didn't bother with an umbrella as they stood in a steady drizzle for just over 2 hours.

"The fact he's here - we always talk about the fact we were going to mess around and win one of these and he wasn't going to be here," Reutimann said. "Fortunately, whether the Truck Series or Nationwide Series or now in the Cup series, he's been here for all of them."

Reutimann's other NASCAR victories were a 2007 Nationwide race at Memphis and a 2005 Truck race at Nashville.

Newman, the pole-sitter, finished second and Gordon was third. Carl Edwards, who had changed into street clothes by the time the race was called, finished fourth, followed by Brian Vickers and Busch.

Reutimann, 39, didn't get his break in the Cup series until Michael Waltrip hired him in 2007 when he formed his own race team. But Michael Waltrip Racing was terrible, and Reutimann was not competitive as he struggled to even make races.

The team has made small strides in the past 2-plus seasons, and Reutimann has carried the banner. He's lingered around the top 12 in points all season and has given MWR credibility.

Now he's made MWR the first Toyota team other than Joe Gibbs Racing to win a Cup race.

Waltrip, who earned his second Daytona 500 title after a lengthy rain delay shortened the 2003 event, joined the father and son at the car midway through the final delay.

"Waltrip gave me an opportunity to go racing in the Cup series when nobody would have thought of giving me an opportunity," Reutimann said.

Rain ruined a race for Busch for the second time in three days. He led a race-high 173 laps and was out front when he pitted during the final caution. He wound up sixth.

Busch led 143 laps in Saturday night's Nationwide Series race, lost the lead during a round of pit stops, and never had a chance to reclaim it when the race was shortened by 45 miles because of rain.

Defending race-winner Kasey Kahne was also denied a chance when, as he was closing in on Busch's bumper, caution was called for rain. In second as they headed down pit road, he wound up seventh when the race never resumed.

It's the second time this season one of NASCAR's crown jewel events was ruined by rain. The season-opening Daytona 500 was shortened by 48 laps and Matt Kenseth was declared the winner after a short delay.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

David Reutimann Wins 1st Sprint Cup Race in Rain-Shortened Coca-Cola 600 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Mon, 25 May 2009 18:57:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Coca-Cola 600 Will Try Again Monday

Geoffrey Miller — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:29:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

CONCORD, N.C. -- For 49 years, the crown jewel of Lowe's Motor Speedway had never failed to run a lap on the day it was scheduled.

A heavy rain shower, though, thoroughly doused the 1.5-mile speedway seemingly just minutes before NASCAR was to give the Coca-Cola 600 field the command to fire engines, leaving the 50th edition to set a disappointing new benchmark for the nearly sold-out crowd.

Now, the race will fire off on Monday afternoon, with NASCAR saying the green flag will fall at 12:01 pm/ET and television coverage provided by FOX.

After the first round of rain hit the track around the original start time, the skies appeared to hold enough for track drying efforts to get a thorough start. But another round of rain hit the track and a persistant drizzle pulled the jet dryers off the track.

Finally, with NASCAR realizing that track drying efforts would likely be futile with more showers in the area, they called the race for the evening just before 8:30 pm/ET. The skies had cleared at that point, but at 9:30pm/ET more rain started to fall at the track.

The rescheduled start time on Monday is certainly quite puzzling. Rain is certainly a possibility Monday, as it is for the rest of the week in the metropolitan Charlotte area, and waiting until noon to start the longest race on the NASCAR schedule is only playing in to the hands of more weather impacting the race.

The 600 easily could have been started at 10am/ET Monday, but instead is leaving two hours to chance not getting the race in at all.

Coca-Cola 600 Will Try Again Monday originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 24 May 2009 21:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FanHouse Warmup: Coca-Cola 600

Geoffrey Miller — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:03:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

The Essentials

Race: Coca-Cola 600

Where: Lowe's Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 5:45 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, PRN Radio
Twitter: In-race updates at FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 64 degrees, 80% chance of rain
Distance: 400 laps (600 miles)
Pole Winner: Ryan Newman
2008 Winner: Kasey Kahne

The Storylines

First-time NASCAR winners have been commonplace at Lowe's Motor Speedway for quite a few years now. Jeff Gordon got his first there as did Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth and Casey Mears.

Sunday night, though, the favorites look to be of the veteran variety.

Perhaps its a coincidence that the three cars that looked the strongest prior to an incident last week in the Sprint All-Star Challenge will start the 600-miler from the first three spots, but more than likely those drivers (Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Gordon) will have strong runs Sunday night.

Jimmie Johnson, the former king of LMS victory lane and current owner of the best record in nearly every stat in the past 10 races at the 1.5-mile track, can't be counted out either. That 50-year-old kid Mark Martin? He'll be strong, as well.

I'm bringing up rain again because its held off nearly every time we've talked about it here on FanHouse. But looking at the Charlotte, N.C., radar doesn't look good with many bands of precipitation moving north to take aim at the region.

Here's to hoping we can get a little luck for the 600 miles scheduled for tonight.

This Carl Long situation is a major black eye for NASCAR -- their second one in as many weeks. You've got to wonder what the sport is trying to prove by levying a penalty against a guy who literally races only when he's got an extra bit of money after paying the bills.

Now, not only have they suspended a guy for just trying to make a few bucks by making a race, pending his appeal in June 2, he'll be out of a day job. Long is a crewman first in NASCAR and a driver when he and wife scrape up enough money to hit the track. Then, tack on the $200,000 fine that has to be paid before Long sets a foot back in the garage area.

All of that, of course, for a difference of .17 inches in a 358 cubic inch engine.

If NASCAR is looking to rid itself of backmarkers, they're doing a darn good job.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. led a bunch of laps a year ago in both races at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Both races resulted in him blowing a right front tire and hitting the wall.

Team owner Rick Hendrick this week said he's still got confidence in the driver and, more importantly, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. A bad run, though, at LMS could change a lot of that just knowing how well he ran there last year.

One thing that I think hasn't been said about the situation is that the problems facing Earnhardt Jr. aren't due to a lack of talent. This is a driver that has won multiple times in NASCAR's top level on many tracks, and one that contended for the championship heavily.

Are there problems with the team? Yep. But there were problems with Jeff Gordon's team in 2008, and he's leading the points now. Patience will be key.

The Storylines

The Coca-Cola 600 may not fire off Sunday night, and it may not even run the full distance. Knowing that, I'm going to go with a guy that nobody has been talking about but has impressed for two straight years in this race before mechanical problems. My pick? Brian Vickers

FanHouse Warmup: Coca-Cola 600 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 24 May 2009 13:03:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Mike Bliss Wins Another at Lowe's in Rain-Shortened Nationwide Series Race

Geoffrey Miller — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:47:00 EST

Filed under: Kyle Busch, Lowes Motor Speedway, Nationwide Series

CONCORD, N.C. - Mike Bliss has again found some tremendous success at the only track in NASCAR's Nationwide Series he's ever won at.

Five years after scoring his first career Nationwide win at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Bliss used a bit of pit road luck, a timely caution and an even more timely rain shower to win the delayed and shortened Carquest 300 that say yours truly and thousands of others walk out thoroughly soaked.

The win, and the right-time-and-right-place racing luck, also gave his Phoenix Racing team their second surprise win in a month in NASCAR competition.

Phoenix, owned by longtime NASCAR figure James Finch, also pulled into Sprint Cup victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway back in April with rookie Brad Keselowski behind the wheel.

But Saturday night, Bliss was hardly a factor until Kevin Hamlin slapped the wall in turn three before coming to a halt in turn four at the end of the race's second round of green flag pit stops. Bliss's No. 1 car was the only car left on the lead lap.

When the race restarted, Bliss started well back in the pack because he hit pit lane during the yellow flag period, allowing the race's previous leaders to cycle in front of him but not in front of the pace car. That put several drivers on the tail end of the lead lap and hoping a caution would come out soon thereafter to allow them to cycle around the the track under caution and back to Bliss' rear bumper instead of on the front of it.

Brendan Gaughan also benefited from the caution. Because his No. 62 was listed as the first car one lap down under caution, he received the free pass and actually passed Bliss after the restart. Bliss, though, got back around the No. 62 and the rain fell just thereafter to bring the race to a red flag.

Less than a half hour later and NASCAR nearly bringing the cars back on-track before a cloud again opened up on the track, Bliss was declared the winner.

If you followed the sporadic updates on our Twitter feed, you knew that Kyle Busch easlly had the car to beat. Busch qualified second in the race but was forced to start at the back thanks to an engine change. It was no matter for the No. 18 car with a driver who had won the previous two Nationwide Series races at LMS.

On the first lap, Busch powered to the outside in his now-trademark style and grabbed nine spots before seeing the flagstand again. Within a handful, he had picked up 15 spots before finding himself in the Top-5 before the first pit stop.

After the stops, Busch drove to the front and didn't look back until his car started to fade before what ended up being the race's final pit stop. Brian Vickers then caught and passed Busch and led briefly before heading to pit road. Vickers' No. 32 appeared to be about the only car that could challenge Busch's No. 18 that led the race's most laps.

Busch and Vickers wound up third and fourth, with Joey Logano finishing 5th.

Mike Bliss Wins Another at Lowe's in Rain-Shortened Nationwide Series Race originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 23 May 2009 23:47:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Bruton Smith Rips NASCAR Again

FanHouse Newswire — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:30:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Car of Tomorrow, NASCAR Testing, NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- NASCAR has a "town hall meeting" scheduled with its drivers next week.

The sport's longtime rival, Bruton Smith, held one of his own Saturday.

Smith, the outspoken, multimillionaire chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., ripped NASCAR for choosing not to disclose the banned substance involved in driver Jeremy Mayfield's suspension, for dropping record penalties on underfunded driver Carl Long and for the kind of racing created with the Car of Tomorrow.

Smith also criticized two former Kentucky Speedway owners who refuse to drop an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR. Their decision has delayed the track from getting a Sprint Cup race.

"I have tried everything to get that done," Smith said in a wide-ranging, 40-minute interview session at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I've tried to actually shame them into it because they have a moral responsibility because the state of Kentucky spent $96 million there and assisted on building that speedway. So there's 96 million reasons right there why they ought to drop that lawsuit. But it's still there."

Smith, whose company owns eight NASCAR-sanctioned tracks, was on hand to talk about the 50-year anniversary of the Coca-Cola 600. But he wasted little time taking the sanctioning body, the same one that helped build his fortune, to task on several hot topics.

He questioned the way NASCAR handled Mayfield's situation. Mayfield was suspended indefinitely over a positive random test that remains clouded in secrecy. He was the first driver to be suspended under NASCAR's new random testing policy, toughened up for this season after former driver Aaron Fike admitted using heroin - even on days he raced.

"I think we need some clarity on this," Smith said. "NASCAR, in my opinion, should come forth and say what the substance is. Why do we want all this secrecy behind it? I don't think you progress by being that secretive about something."

The 81-year-old Smith was even more critical of Long's suspension. Long was suspended 12 races and docked 200 points for having a slightly oversized engine at Lowe's last weekend. His crew chief also was fined $200,000. But if a crew chief can't pay a fine in NASCAR, it defaults to the team owner, which is Long and his wife. The record penalties could mean the end of Long's low-budget team.

"Why would you fine this man $200,000 for an engine that's a little bit over?" Smith said. "We've seen that so many times. What is it proving? I don't know who made that decision. ... In my opinion, they're dead wrong. Some of the things that NASCAR can do can disrupt and ruin a person's reputation, ruin their career. Two hundred thousand dollars? I've seen in the past where your engine may be a little bit over and maybe they take the engine."

Long said there's no chance he can pay the fine, and the suspension would prevent him from working his full-time job with another Cup team. Long appealed the penalties, allowing him to work until his June 2 hearing.

"I don't know Carl Long, but there's an injustice done there," Smith said. "I hope he wins his appeal. He can't race for 12 weeks? That's so cruel to try to ruin this man. That would absolutely financially ruin him, and it's just not right. I think you can prove your point a better way than that."

Smith didn't stop there, either.

He complained about NASCAR's bulkier car that has been blamed for less-than-stellar racing the last two years. He also suggested this year's testing ban has handcuffed teams and prevented them from finding solutions to the car's handling woes.

"Sometimes we forget these fans," Smith said. "When NASCAR does something that is so far out ... NASCAR loses a lot of fans when that happens. That's something you wouldn't think would happen in this country. It's too dictatorial and it's not good. We don't need to be making enemies. We need to make friends. We need to be fan-friendly."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Bruton Smith Rips NASCAR Again originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 23 May 2009 22:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Lessons Learned at Lowe's

Bob Dillner — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:28:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup, SPEED TV

Sometimes it takes a break from the norm to show us what we're missing. In this case, it was a non-points exhibition race, the May 16 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, that shone a microscope on the excitement lacking in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season. And we couldn't have hit on something with true potential at a more crucial time for NASCAR.

People are still raving about the final 10 laps of the All-Star Race and one of the key catalysts of that rousing finish was the double-file restart, which lines up lead lap cars in two lines instead of one, and positions cars down a lap or more behind them. This contrasts single-file restarts, in play in points races, that place lead lap cars in one line and those down one or more laps in the other.

Given the current economic climate and issues facing NASCAR in its bid to woo new fans and retain the ones it has, generating excitement is a priority and this alteration would be the best way to do it. There is no reason we can't implement double-file restarts in all points races in an effort to ratchet up enthusiasm. We already have the "lucky dog" rule that allows the first car a lap down to regain one when the caution flag waves, so we don't need to line up those cars next to the leaders on restarts and allow them to race to earn back their lap.

In a single-file restart, the field becomes strung out quickly, all but eliminating any jockeying for position between lead-lap drivers when the green flag waves. In the All-Star Race, fans were on their feet for every restart because the field was bunched up and guys running fifth, sixth and seventh still had a shot at charging to the front.

More Coverage: Get NASCAR on SPEED TV Schedule

The general consensus is that the beginning and end of our Cup races are riveting but the middle, the bulk of the events, is tedious. Double-file restarts just might give fans at home and at the track a reason to watch more than the concluding laps and the post-race highlights. And in this day and age, that's exactly what NASCAR should do.

Sweating the 600

A great debate about the marathon Coca-Cola 600 usually rages about this time every year. Some people consider this weekend's 600-mile event at Lowe's Motor Speedway the most boring event of the year but I'm a traditionalist and love the fact the race is unique in its own right by virtue of its length. It's a marathon. Drivers, owners and crew members require a different mindset than the ordinary weekends to complete this race and contend for the win.

The Coca-Cola 600 often features some different faces in Victory Lane. Of course, there are the Kasey Kahnes and Jimmie Johnsons who often dominate because they're stellar at this particular track, but in the past few years, we've also seen guys like Kyle Petty finish up front and Casey Mears win. Why? Because of fuel and tire strategies that result from the endurance factor at play in the race.

The All-Star Race generates a wealth of excitement but we have the complete opposite end of the spectrum this week with the 600, part of what is so cool about race weeks in Charlotte. These two weeks really set the tone for the remainder of the year as we head into a long stretch of consecutive weekends leading into the 26-race cutoff for the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The 600 can make or break a team's year or a driver's tenure with a particular team, or lay the groundwork for the balance of their season. Casey Mears is sitting on one of the hottest seats in the garage right now and didn't run well in the All-Star Race. Actually, none of his Richard Childress Racing teammates did, so RCR has to be looking at the 600 with a big question mark and feeling the pressure to make those cars perform better because something is terribly wrong.

Old School Racers

Some people complain about it but I love the fact we have teams like Joe Nemechek and Jeremy Mayfield's (driven by JJ Yeley in the interim) who are racing on a dime and helping return NASCAR to its roots. A lot of people won't give them the time of day but those guys work just as hard, if not harder, than the front-running teams. The crew guys at the track are the same guys who work in the shop. When Yeley showed up at the All-Star Race, there was no one back at the shop working on the 600 car because they were all at the track. We can't discredit these teams for not being the most competitive on the track because they are just as passionate about what they're doing as the rest of the group. And that's what this sport is all about.

Bob Dillner is a reporter for NASCAR Victory Lane, NASCAR Live and The SPEED Report, among other programs on SPEED. He has covered numerous forms of motor sports since his teenage years and got his journalistic start writing for Speedway Scene and Area Auto Racing News at only 15 years old. Dillner, owner of 51 Sports and operator of short-track racing website www.51SportsRacing.com, is a car owner/driver in the Aaron's Pro Challenge Series and a co-promoter for the Pro All-Star Series, a Late Model series in the South. For more information on Dillner or to access the NASCAR on SPEED programming schedule, please visit www.speedtv.com.

Lessons Learned at Lowe's originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Thu, 21 May 2009 15:28:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Mayfield's Lawyer: NASCAR Mistaken

Geoffrey Miller — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:45:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

Follow Motorsports FH from Lowe's & Indy on Twitter! FanHouse Racing

Suspended and embattled Sprint Cup driver and team owner Jeremy Mayfield has picked up a lawyer in his bid for NASCAR reinstatement, and the attorney feels the evidence in favor of his client is quite compelling.

"Somebody is going to have to come forward and acknowledge that, well, we thought we did what we were supposed to do, maybe we made a mistake, let's try it again," said Mayfield's attorney Bill Diehl, suggesting NASCAR's next step in the process that has suspended the driver indefinitely from the sport during an interview on Sirius Speedway Wednesday.

Given history has yet to show a single lawyer not confident in a coming case, the factors seem to making the case for Mayfield's reinstatement a little brighter.

In the last week, we've heard Mayfield talking about how NASCAR didn't fully disclose to him right away what exactly he tested positive for, about possible inconsistentcies with testing a primary and backup drug test in the same lab, character witnesses completely in disbelief that Mayfield would ever be a drug abuser and Mayfield's outright denial of the abuse.

As a result, it seems like Diehl is looking more at how NASCAR has run Mayfield's name through the mud -- an indication that he's pretty confident in evidence clearing Mayfield of drug abuse.

"I read a report where Mr. France gratuitously announced that the serious recreational drug use by Mr. Mayfield was very difficult, very bad and they weren't going to tolerate it," said Diehl during the interview. "Accusing somebody that's driving a race car a couple hundred miles an hour of serious recreational drug use, that's probably not too good thing to say about him. Especially if it's not true."

Diehl, it seems, is prepared to not only clear Mayfield's name, but also seek compensation from the sport for severely harming Mayfield's reputation as a driver in team owner.

Regardless, the situation is just plain ugly. Either way, neither party can really win at this point.

If Mayfield clears his name, he'll still have casual fans wondering about the rampant news reports tying him to recreational drug use. NASCAR in that case will be forced to seriously evaluate its newly instated drug policy and take a black eye for a PR hit.

On the other hand, Mayfield's case could fall short leaving the team owner in a situation where not only will landing sponsorship for his self-owned team be a tough measure, but also he'll be forced to attend rehab before begging NASCAR -- the same NASCAR he has now brutally fought against that can be quite political to teams who have rubbed it the wrong way -- to allow him back in the sport.

Either way, this Mayfield deal is nasty, ugly and a downright trouble for the sport.

Mayfield's Lawyer: NASCAR Mistaken originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Thu, 21 May 2009 12:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FH @ The Track: Indy 500, Coke 600

Geoffrey Miller — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:13:00 EST

Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup, IRL

Looking to land the best 1-2 punch on American motorsports coverage this weekend? Well don't move that mouse.

From the pageantry of the Indianapolis 500 to NASCAR's longest night in the Coca-Cola 600, FanHouse will be hitting Memorial Day weekend on all eight cylinders as Holly Cain will be checking in with stories from the Brickyard while Geoffrey Miller will be enjoying NASCAR's day-to-night excursion from the fan element.

We'll be Twittering, blogging, live-chatting and any-other-ing you can think of that'll help you take in these jewels of American motorsports from another angle. Got an idea? Leave it in the comments below.

Already on tap this week are a pair of live chats with two of IndyCar's biggest names -- Scott Dixon and Rick Mears. Between the two of them are a total of five Indianapolis 500 crowns, with Dixon looking to add to his Borg Warner Trophy count Sunday afternoon. Dixon will be taking your questions with Holly Cain Thursday at 12:30 PM ET while Mears will be on-hand Saturday at 11 AM ET.

In case you're into the Twitter thing, you can always follow us at the handle FanHouseRacing -- a location soon to include Holly Cain's 140-character words of wisdom. We'll have quirks, facts, breaking news and race updates, so be sure to follow us throughout the weekend and the season.

It may still be early in the week, but looking ahead to a weekend of racing and the official start of summer is always a good thing. And really, if you've got a question, comment or concern, just leave it in the comments below and we'll do our best to get an answer.

Enjoy the weekend, and enjoy the racin'.

FH @ The Track: Indy 500, Coke 600 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Wed, 20 May 2009 23:13:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

NASCAR Docks Carl Long $200K

Geoffrey Miller — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:46:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

NASCAR dusted off the ol' penalty paddle Wednesday, and did so in historic form.

Carl Long, a part-time driver that has likely sold fewer team T-shirts in his career than Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car number old or new, was slapped with a $200,000 fine after NASCAR found his engine to be too big during last weekend's All-Star festivities.

The dollar figure was the largest ever docked by the sanctioning body, and very easily could end Long's racing career.

In addition to Long's obviously substantial monetary fine, his crew chief was suspended for 12 Sprint Cup Series races and banned from the sport until Aug. 31. He'll remain on probation with the sport until the end of the year.

According to the Scene Daily, Long's violation occurred during Friday's practice for the Sprint Showdown at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Prior to the race in which Long drew a second-p[ace starting spot, he changed out the engine but still managed just three laps in the race before exiting the race.

Long was penalized the money, had a crew chief suspended and lost both driver and owner points thanks to engine that measured larger than the standard 358 cubic inches. Prior to the Showdown, Long had not qualified for a race in the Sprint Cup Series since 2006.

Without a doubt, Long's penalty reached the far end of the NASCAR spectrum thanks to their extensive work on keeping the engine packages among all teams extremely equal. What's even more interesting is that such an error isn't one that can be caused by a mistake, especially if the engine was purchased from a supplier.

Simply, engines don't just get bigger without human intent, much less do competitive engine shops keep out-of-bounds engine parts in their possession.

The 41-year-old driver has also doubled as the crew chief for driver Eric McClure in the Nationwide Series. It'll be interesting to see if Long can continue with his part-time and under-funded team with such a fine levied against him.

Though I'm not sure on how NASCAR treats such penalties, I'd imagine that they require the monetary penalties to be paid in full before Long's team could enter another race.

NASCAR Docks Carl Long $200K originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Wed, 20 May 2009 21:46:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes: All-Star

Geoffrey Miller — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:38:00 EST

Filed under: Tony Stewart, Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup, Joey Logano

Musings, rumblings and ramblings from Geoffrey Miller after Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Challenge

'Wooooooooo!' to LMS, NASCAR

I'm not sure who makes the final call on the All-Star race format, but Saturday night's version is about as a good as it gets. That 10-lap finale? Adjectives don't describe that, but honorary race director Ric Flair's trademark "Woooooo!" does.

'Woooooo!' Part Deux

The single funniest moment of the night? Joey Logano's Ric Flair imitation after being announced as the fan vote winner. [Watch here at 1:16]

Harvick Burns 'em Down

Kevin Harvick won the Pennzoil Victory Challenge -- a pre-race burnout contest on the LMS frontstretch -- but don't chalk it up to sponsor favortism. Harvick nailed his burnout and had smoke absolutely pouring from his rear tires.

In a shocking result, both the old and new versions of a hated driver on the NASCAR circuit -- Darrell Waltrip and Kyle Busch, respectively -- broke the rules of the contest and were disqualified. Go figure, eh?

Richard Childress Racing... who?

All-Star race magic wasn't in the cards for the RCR boys, though it isn't shocking after their dismal season so far. In the main event, Jeff Burton lost an engine in his No. 31 to finish 20th while teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer were never factors. They finished 15th and 12th.

Casey Mears allegedly ran the Sprint Showdown, too.

".............."

That's precisely what Kyle Busch had to say for his All-Star outing after an incident with Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman saw him fade to a 7th-place finish. He must communicate with his race fans in some weird, telepathic manner.

"I don't know if I'll even be conscious tomorrow."

So says the All-Star winner Tony Stewart. It must be nice owning your own team after a race win, eh?

I'll say he deserves a crazy night for the amount of work that team has done in the offseason to go from nobody to a contender.

Had enough Jeremy Mayfield drug talk?

I sure hope not.

Accused drug user and suspended NASCAR driver bought an infield pass for Saturday night's race before a contingent of media caught up with him after which NASCAR promptly asked him to leave. Before departing peacefully, though, he had some interesting words on the controversy surrounding him.

He said that he has lawyered up and is preparing to figure out what steps he can take legally, he won't enter rehabilitation because he claims a problem doesn't exist and he still doesn't know what substance NASCAR caught him with.

NASCAR has put themselves between a rock and a hard place in this situation, it seems, because Mayfield seems to think he has plenty of solid evidence that will clear his name. This won't just blow over for the sanctioning body any time soon.

Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes: All-Star originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 17 May 2009 23:38:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Bring On Two-Wide Restarts, NASCAR

Geoffrey Miller — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:48:00 EST

Filed under: Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

I can no longer grin and bear it.

Never again will I propose a slight substitute or alteration, nor will I pitter-patter around the bush when asked what NASCAR can do to make racing better. Consider this the start of a crusade -- likely a powerless one, but meaningful nonetheless -- to help NASCAR see the ills of its head in the sand ways.

Race fans, it's imperative we see this through: NASCAR desperately needs to implement a double-file restart rule with the leaders up front for every single race on its 36-race schedule.

After watching Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway -- and more narrowly, Kyle Busch's schooling of everyone on restarts -- there's no further evidence needed to state the case for the two-by-two race resumptions.

It's simple: they add gobs of points to the intrinsic value of a race's excitement level -- yep, that's a scientific measurement based on my overall edge-of-my-seat reactions to the All-Star event -- and they allow more than just the top two or, if we're lucky in the current state of stock car aerodynamics, three drivers a shot to make some noise for the race lead.

There aren't meaningless lapped cars to deal with and that evil clean air equation, while still there, at least takes a backseat for a couple of laps.

I'll give credit where credit is due in saying that NASCAR made a wise decision to go two-by-two in the much-hyped All-Star race. Hell, I'll give 'em a smidgen of credit for upping the current single-file restart rule (in which lapped cars are dropped to back of the field for any restart in the last 20 laps) this season from what was originally the 10 lap guise.

But it just isn't enough.

Today's NASCAR racing needs more excitement -- you know, like that heart-pounding action we got in the 10-lap dash Saturday night -- to help out everything from ticket sales to television ratings, and from sponsorship sales and souvenir dollars. And the sport has the ability to make turn that level up a few more notches with this restart rule change.

Right now, NASCAR lines up for restarts with the lead lap cars in a single file row in the top groove, while cars a lap or more down line up on the inside groove. The long-running theory is that drivers down a lap could drive past the leader, hope for a caution, and get a lap back the hard way.

That theory was great 10 years ago, but now, we've got the free pass rule that puts the highest running lapped-down car one lap ahead during each caution period, even if he's following the leader.

No, don't try to claim that it keeps drivers from getting back to the lead lap. Think about it: if those lapped cars were placed behind the leaders on a restart, shouldn't a driver who wants to get a lap back be able to pass the top-running lapped car for that spot, much less the leaders? And why should lapped cars have to deal with lead-lapped cars while battling for a significant position?

The same, of course, goes for the leaders. Today's restart rules late in a race often put a 5th-place car lined up in what really is a 10th-place spot thanks to the lapped cars on the inside.

Tell me, again, how that makes for good racing?

In reality, it goes against what NASCAR really wants out of its race day program by dramatically narrowing the chances of a driver even in the middle of the Top-10 late in an event. Let's face it: two or three cars battling for the lead is exciting but five or six in the same zip code is just that much more exciting.

There's a lot of stuff in NASCAR that doesn't make sense a lot of the time, but after seeing how well two-wide restarts worked Saturday night the sport looks nearly idiotic if it doesn't think the slight rule modification to its normal, points-paying races is worth making.

Such a change could even be made for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at LMS, but past experience proves we shouldn't hold our breath.

That doesn't mean, though, that race fans should give up the fight. Here's to hoping those efforts work out sometime this season, and NASCAR sees the light at the end of the double-file restart tunnel.

Bring On Two-Wide Restarts, NASCAR originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 17 May 2009 22:48:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

FanHouse Warmup: All-Star Challenge

Geoffrey Miller — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:07:00 EST

Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

The Essentials

Race: Sprint All-Star Challenge

Where: Lowe's Motor Speedway
Time: Saturday 7:00 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: SPEED, MRN Radio
Twitter: Updates at FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 63 degrees, 80% chance of rain
Distance: 4 segments, 100 laps (150 miles)
Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson
2008 Winner: Kasey Kahne

The Storylines

The last time rain affected the All-Star event at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon walled his primary No. 24 in a 2001 first-turn crash thanks to rain on the track and later won the event in his backup. While that's a legendary story, the rain isn't -- and it might take center stage tonight.

The forecast isn't even close to being good for tonight's activities with the National Weather Service calling for a 80 percent chance of rain in the area, with showers and thunderstorms primarily occurring between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. Sunday doesn't look a whole lot better with a 70 percent chance of rain.

I realize that several of our FanHouse Warmup posts have warned about rain without any later consequence, so perhaps acknowledging Mother Nature is the key to success. Let's hope that pattern holds true.

If you've been in the same zip code as a television with SPEED channel, you'll know how much they've been hyping tonight's race on the network with hour upon hour of special programming and what not related to the All-Star event.

Unfortunately for all of the exciting programming related to past All-Star events, don't be surprised to see another low drama affair tonight at LMS -- just as Kasey Kahne's win was a year ago.

The Car of Tomorrow hasn't been a great race car on the intermediate tracks, the tire while slightly softer than a year ago still isn't great for side-by-side racing at the track and too many teams are probably treating the race as a test session for next week's Coca-Cola 600.

Here's to hoping for the best, though.

NASCAR isn't divulging what drug caused Jeremy Mayfield's indefinite suspension a week ago at Darlington, and I argued earlier this week that the drug of choice shouldn't matter.

Many drivers feel the other way, but the single best idea about the issue came from ThatsRacin's Jim Utter. In his race preview post, Utter made the point that Mayfield has said he violation happened as a result of a combination of presciption and over-the-counter dugs, but he's yet to declare what those were.

Perhaps, Utter surmised, there's a reason he hasn't divluged.

Getting tired of Kyle Busch's habitual post-race 'woe-is-me'ing? I'd imagine so, and if you missed it Friday night, the 24-year-old was back at it again after a truck race in which he both finished 2nd and caused a big wreck on the backstretch to take out a pair of lead trucks.

Busch complained about how his Toyota was underpowered to that of eventual winner Ron Hornaday Jr. and then ended the radio portion of his post-race interviews by saying "These tires suck!"

I understand emotion, and I understand being unhappy -- but the dramatics Kyle puts on after every race that doesn't go well are getting old and getting there fast.

Hear about the new name for Charlotte's fall race? It's a darned mouthful. Instead of the Bank of America 500, it'll now be called the 'NASCAR Banking 500 only from Bank of America'.

The executives involved say it has nothing to do with the recent pull back of financial sponsors from numerous sporting events, but come on, don't kid around. I don't care what side of the aisle you're on when it comes to public policy -- it's absolutely stupid for these companies to be forced to pull back marketing efforts in an effort to save face publicly.

People aren't going to hate or love NASCAR racing anymore than they already do because Bank of America is a major sponsor.

The Predictions

Geoffrey Miller: Kyle Busch
Holly Cain: Tony Stewart

FanHouse Warmup: All-Star Challenge originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 16 May 2009 15:07:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Fun Qualifying Leaves Johnson On Top

Geoffrey Miller — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:32:00 EST

Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Lowes Motor Speedway, Sprint Cup

If NASCAR's looking for a good way to spice up qualifying, they've already got the format ready to roll.

But before we tackle that issue, Jimmie Johnson will lead off Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway after he and his team dropped a fast time of 121.416 seconds in the three lap and four-tire pit stop qualifying process.

Johnson will lead Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth to the green flag for the first segment after one of the most-enjoyable ways to qualifying for a race the sport has come up with.

This system of qualifying, mind you, is nothing new -- though Tony Stewart seemed to think it was during his run when he left the pit box after the jack dropped the right side of the car, sped away, stopped and told his team "I'll be right back" over his radio before reversing back to the pit stall for the left side work to be completed.

The mistake left Stewart with a time of 137.788 seconds, good for 15th of the 18 cars that took a time.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin rounded out the top-five, but Denny Hamlin failed to complete his run after breaking the transmission when leaving the pits.

Why, you ask, was Friday night's qualifying so much more interesting to watch? The reasons are numerous, I'll warn.

For starters, the in-car cameras that are typically installed after qualifying were already in place for qualifying on numerous cars, which gave viewers at home a great sensation of how hard these drivers push the car through the corner on the qualifying laps. Case in point? Jeff Gordon's first lap left some on the table because he had to lift exiting turn four -- something we saw live during his lap from his roof camera.

As for the format, though, it tested not only how well a driver could hustle a car for a qualifying lap, but also how well he could sail the car into the pits without going over the speed limit. The differences in methods aren't something that a race broadcast always picks up and left you on your toes to see who could one-up each other.

Of course, the pit stop added a cool team element into the event, which is a great thing for NASCAR as it tries to promote the fact that pit stops and input other than the driver can have a drastic impact on how a team does. Some teams even adjusted their car's amount of grille tape during the stop.

The best, most exhilarating part, though was when drivers had to leave pit road. The rules allowed drivers to exit their pit stall without a pit road speed limit, meaning that the drivers had to get the tires to stick to concrete as they left the pit stall and then maintain control as they flew up the gear box.

Jimmie Johnson was one of the fastest to do so and hit turn one going about 119 miles per hour, while Mark Martin nearly spun twice while climbing through the gears. From there, it was off for a quick trip back around the track to the finish line.

So, NASCAR, why not implement this format into the 36-race regular season schedule? It beats the pants off of the typical one or two-lap parade around the track of the the current qualifying system. What's not to love about seeing drivers truly pushing the envelope on a number of different race situations?

Sure, there would be some issues involved and hurdles to tackle. I'd imagine that transmissions would break pretty regularly under the high strain, and most teams don't have their pit crews at the track until race morning. Time might even be a factor, though qualifying for 50 cars with roughly 150 seconds per car would take just over two hours.

Perhaps, even, the format could avoid the pit stop and just require the driver to complete either a stop-and-go or a pass-through on pit road.

Anything, really, would be an improvement over the old standard method of qualifying based on the fastest car over a one-lap average for a race that his hundreds of times that long.

All I know is that Friday's All-Star qualifying was worth the price of my couch admission to watch the drivers negotiate the challenges and seeing that each weekend would make Friday's at the track just a little bit more exciting.

Fun Qualifying Leaves Johnson On Top originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 16 May 2009 12:32:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments