Archive for NASCAR
NASCAR Season Off to a Rough Start
Posted by: | CommentsNASCAR Sprint Cup drivers appeared a bit rusty in today’s practice sessions for Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. When the smoke cleared, six Cup cars were trashed by crashes involving seven drivers.
The first incident occurred just 20 minutes into the first practice session when Denny Hamlin tapped Mark Martin going into turn 1, triggering a wreck that also collected Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer (subbing for an ill Kevin Harvick) and Jamie McMurray.
The second practice session didn’t fair much better, as Juan Montoya bumped Kurt Busch into the frontstretch wall just three minutes after the track went green.
All but Juan Montoya had to pull out back-up cars.
Jeff Burton topped the first practice session at 193.303 mph. Kasey Kahne was fastest in the second session at 191.673 mph.
Two practice sessions are scheduled Friday for the Daytona 500 (2:00pm ET and 4:00pm ET). The Budweiser Shootout will kick off the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season at 8:00pm ET on Saturday.
Mustang to Make NASCAR Debut in 2010
Posted by: | CommentsFord Motorsports announced Tuesday that its Mustang model will make its NASCAR debut in 2010. It’ll be the first time the Mustang brand has competed in NASCAR and the first Ford coupe in the Nationwide Series since the 1997 Thunderbird. The new Mustang will be coordinated with NASCAR’s transition of the Nationwide Series’ cars to the “Car of Tomorrow” platform. The platform will be nearly identical to that currently used in the Sprint Cup division, however the plan is to use different body styles in the Nationwide Series.
Image of 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Ford Mustang, courtesy Ford Motorsports.
NASCAR expects to phase in the new car over 5 or 6 races in the 2010 season before employing the car full-time in 2011. The Chevrolet, Dodge and Toyota manufacturers have not officially announced which model they intend to submit for the new car design, however Dodge is rumored to propose its Challenger brand for 2010. NASCAR is interested in differentiating body styles from its highly-criticized Sprint Cup COT. According to a release made available from NASCAR.com, the new Nationwide car will sport a rear spoiler (rather than a wing) and a spring front suspension (rather than bump stops). The front splitter will apparently carry over from the Sprint Cup COT.
Ford Motorsports claims the Mustang has accumulated over 2,000 professional race victories. The fifth-generation Ford Mustang has enjoyed success in the KONI Challenge, SCCA Speed World Challenge and Formula Drift events. Ford has competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series since its inception in 1982 under various brand names: Fairmont (1982-1986), Mercury Cougar (1984), Thunderbird (1987-1997), Taurus (1998-2005), and Fusion (2006-Present).
Click here to read the press release from Ford Racing.
Here’s my take on it: I think this is a great step in the right direction for NASCAR and the car manufacturers. It seems that NASCAR is taking a conservative approach with the new car’s debut; I think they could have been more aggressive though. While it’s certainly an improvement over the Sprint Cup COT — “let’s just put headlight decals on the thing and pretend it’s a stock car” — they could have gone a little further and allowed a more stock body and — dare I say — allowed the various makes to have different downforce numbers.
Why not take the guts of the COT platform (e.g., the frame, etc.) and throw a fully stock body on top of it? Drop in a front valence and rear spoiler for safety and then let them drive it. No headlight decals allowed. Whoever builds the better car wins. And it would be great to have something that handles dramatically different than the Sprint Cup cars to throw those drivers for a loop. Let the manufacturers duke it out for a little added drama.
We’ll see how it goes. It has to be better than the Fusion.
Happy Harvick Not So Happy?
Posted by: | CommentsTim Tuttle at SI.com, citing “multiple sources”, is reporting that Kevin Harvick is asking out of his contract with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) after this season. Harvick has another year remaining on the contract, but according to the report he is looking to move over to Stewart-Haas Racing, perhaps taking sponsor Shell/Pennzoil with him.
RCR has had a poor season so far in 2009 and Harvick is mired back in 25th in the point standings, pretty much putting him out of contention for the championship. Meanwhile Tony Stewart has had a remarkable season with his new team, posting fifteen Top-10s and two wins. Stewart leads the driver standings by 175 points over Jeff Gordon. The NASCAR Sprint Cup season passed the halfway point after Sunday’s race at Chicagoland.
Harvick stepped into the RCR #29 team after Dale Earnhardt was fatally injured at Daytona in 2001. The team changed numbers from 3 to 29 out of respect for Earnhardt. In just his third start for the team, Harvick posted his first win in a photo finish at the Atlanta race in March.
Harvick has not won a Sprint Cup race since the 2007 Daytona 500.
Weatherman For Hire
Posted by: | CommentsI find it interesting to see how often drivers are able to “steal” a victory of sorts by gambling on the weather. Oftentimes it’s the teams that can afford to actually take the chance (e.g., those that have little to lose) that actually go through with it, but it’s not unusual to see a team successfully pull it off once or twice a season.
With the modern advances in both weather and computer technology a team is capable of making much better judgments about the changing weather conditions than, say, 10-15 years ago.
Weather radar can now be brought down to street-level precision — more than enough to identify a race track on the map. Precipitation is displayed real-time with both direction and speed, allowing for one to determine whether the shower is going to affect the track and if so, exactly when it should arrive. Furthermore, rainfall rates and duration can be analyzed to determine if the shower is going to just wet down the track, or be enough to wash out the remainder of the race.
Now I’m not necessarily suggesting that each team go out and hire a certified meteorologist (though I wouldn’t be surprised if teams had them already, perhaps to predict the weekend’s forecast to help the crew chief with the car’s setup), but in these large teams that have 50, 100, or 200+ employees, you’d have to believe that they would have 1 or 2 that are weather enthusiasts that are sufficiently equipped to find and interpret weather data.
If rain is forecast for race day… wouldn’t you want such a person in your pit area?
John Calla is a professional meteorologist. He has over 15 years experience watching The Weather Channel and 25 years experience shoveling snow. He also took an introductory level meteorology class in college. Mr. Calla will work for food.
FOX: GM to Scale Back NASCAR Support
Posted by: | CommentsUnder its bankruptcy restructuring plan, General Motors is expected to scale back support of NASCAR Nationwide and Truck Series teams, according to a report from FOXSports.com, which attributed the story to the SportsBusiness Journal.
The cost-cutting measures are likely to have the greatest affect on larger organizations, such as Kevin Harvick Inc., which fields teams in both series, and Rusty Wallace Inc. and JR Motorsports, which field teams in the Nationwide Series, according to SportsBusiness Journal’s Michael Smith, who wrote the story.
As Smith points out, support from manufacturers typically comes in the forms of engines, parts and cash. In most cases, factory support goes to larger, more substantial organizations, while smaller teams receive little assistance, if any.
GM participates in NASCAR’s top three touring series under the Chevrolet brand.
Eury Jr. Out, McGrew In
Posted by: | CommentsHendrick Motorsports announced today that Tony Eury Jr. will be replaced as crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Lance McGrew will step in as acting crew chief effective with the June 7 Pocono 500. Eury will move on to a research and development position within Hendrick Motorsports.
McGrew has one Sprint Cup win, the 2006 Talladega 500 with Brian Vickers.
“Our performance hasn’t been where it should be,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “It’s impossible to pin that on any one factor, but a change is the right decision at this point. We have a plan in place, and we’re going to move forward with it.”
This change has been a long time coming. Earnhardt Jr. is mired back in 19th in the points standings and since moving to Hendrick Motorsports has only a single win on a fuel mileage run at last year’s Michigan 400. Meanwhile teammates Jeff Gordon (points leader), Jimmie Johnson (4th) and Mark Martin (12th) have experienced wins in 2009.
See the full press release from Hendrick Motorsports.
Town Hall Meeting?
Did anyone else get a little queasy when they heard that NASCAR held a “town hall”-style meeting on Tuesday? The purpose of the meeting was to examine some of the difficulties facing the sport in recent times (read: declining interest / TV ratings). I mean at first it sounded like a great idea… until I heard that it was going to be for car owners and drivers only.
I applaud NASCAR for acknowledging that there are problems and looking to address them before it’s too late. Ostrich-like behavior, after all, is rarely ever rewarded. But NASCAR needs to stop listening to car owners and drivers and start listening to THE FANS.
Most of the tumultuous change heaped on the sport in recent years — often pushed by the car owners and drivers through NASCAR — has been met with much opposition by the fan base. The “Car of Tomorrow”. The schedule “Re-Alignment”. All the crazy rules they have now. Fans didn’t want any of this stuff… they complained when it was proposed… they complained when it was implemented… and now they’re voicing their complaints with their feet and remote controls.
Hopefully NASCAR will listen to the right people before it’s too late.
Was Carl Long in Attendance?
Carl Long is both an owner and a driver… I wonder if he was invited to the town hall meeting? His mere presence would have been enough to point out what’s wrong with the new NASCAR.
Long is a throwback to old-school NASCAR: an average guy with not a lot of money running an independent team — all for the thrill of racing. He attempted to enter the non-points paying Sprint All-Star event through the Sprint Showdown qualifier. Before the race he blew his motor and sent it to NASCAR for tech inspection where they found it to be oversized by 0.17 cubic inches. Yeah, that’s right — 0.17.
His crew chief, Charles Swing — another average guy –, was fined $200,000 (!) and both he and Long were placed on a 12-race suspension. Long was also penalized 200 championship points, which is interesting since he currently has ZERO because he hasn’t qualified for any 2009 events.
Now where the hell is this guy going to get $200,000?
It’s clear: NASCAR’s intention is to simply ruin the guy, plain and simple.
Briscoe, Gordon Lead Practice Sessions
Posted by: | CommentsTeam Penske on Top
Ryan Briscoe turned the fastest lap early during practice Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His fastest lap speed was 225.981 mph. Second-quick was Penske teammate Helio Castroneves at 225.438 mph. Balancing out the top five were Dario Franchitti (224.984 mph), Scott Dixon (224.822 mph) and Danica Patrick (224.755 mph).
Practice was run under threatening skies all day but was only interrupted occasionally for light drizzle.
There were two on-track incidents during the day. Early on rookie Robert Doornbos hit the turn 2 wall and coasted to a stop on the back straightaway. Later in the afternoon, Scott Sharp lost control of his car exiting turn 1, spun and made hard contact with the turn 2 outside wall. Sharp climbed from his car apparently uninjured but the car sustained heavy damage.
Pole Day Qualifying is Saturday, May 9.
Gordon Shows the Way
Jeff Gordon posted the fastest time (177.633 mph) in the final seconds of practice for Saturday night’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Moments before, Jeff Burton turned a lap at 177.608 mph. Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, and Mark Martin rounded out the top five.
Rain, Rain Go Away
Nationwide Series qualifying for Friday night’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington was rained out, giving the front row to points leaders Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman. The thunderstorm delayed Sprint Cup qualifying by more than a half-hour, but rain is not expected to interfere with the remaining weekend’s events.
A Sign of the Times?
At Indianapolis, 32 drivers took to the Speedway for IndyCar practice. Meanwhile in Darlington, 45 Sprint Cup drivers practiced in an attempt to qualify for the Southern 500. Will there even be a need for Bump Day at Indy?
Also, Sprint Cup practice was televised live on SPEED while Indy boasted no television coverage of practice. An outsider might wonder which event is more prominent. I wonder if the Southern 500 will pull in a higher TV rating than Indy?
