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NASCAR Will Use New Spoiler At Martinsville
posted by Jay Pennell
Wednesday March 17, 2010
During a press conference for the Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte, N.C. today, NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton confirmed the Sprint Cup Series would officially make the transition to the rear spoiler beginning with the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at the Martinsville Speedway. Pemberton said 83 spoilers had been sent to the teams on Monday. Teams tested the new rear spoiler on Tuesday at the Talladega Superspeedway, where the cars reached speeds well over 200mph in the draft. Throughout the test, NASCAR tried different combinations of spoiler height and restrictor plate size. Next week there is a two-day (Tuesday and Wednesday) test planned at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, where over 50 teams are scheduled to participate. Along with the return of the rear spoiler, Pemberton explained NASCAR is still working on other changes to the aero package on the Sprint Cup cars that will go into effect at all the tracks, possibly starting as soon as Texas in April.
High speeds in Talladega at first CoT spoiler test
posted by Doug Turnbull
Tuesday March 16, 2010
The highly anticipated first official spoiler test for the Car of Tomorrow may be noteworthy for other reasons. In an attempt to break up the large packs of cars, a notorious characteristic for restrictor plate tracks like Talladega, NASCAR allowed teams to try plates with larger holes – they started with a record size plate of 66/64th of an inch before shortening to 62/64ths of an inch after speeds were listed as too high. Just how high did those speeds go? Sources tell Frontstretch.com that this change, combined with the replacement of the rear wing with the traditional spoiler and the lowering of the front edge of the rear quarterpanels on both sides of the race car, allowed cars to approach straightaway speeds of up to 208 mph and average laps over the 200 mph mark. To set a mark for comparison, Juan Pablo Montoya’s April 2009 Talladega pole speed was 188.171 mph. Since speeds were in the 200 mph range, the same source says that NASCAR may consider having teams change the gear ratios on the cars, instead of decreasing the plate holes going forward, so the packs will remain broken up. Interestingly enough, the higher speeds come in light of the infamous Brad Keselowski-Carl Edwards race car flipping episode at Atlanta Motor Speedway two weeks ago, Ryan Newman’s incredible end-over-end flip at Talladega last October, and Keselowski turning Edwards airborne into the Talladega frontstretch catchfence last April. Read Wednesday’s Frontstretch.com Newsletter for more details on the Talladega spoiler test.
Edwards Placed On Probation For Three Races
posted by Jay Pennell
Tuesday March 9, 2010
NASCAR President Mike Helton addressed the media Tuesday afternoon following Sunday’s late-race incident between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Well over 100 laps down, Edwards intentionally spun Keselowski through the tri-oval while Keselowski was running sixth. The No. 12 car lifted in the air and slammed the outside wall with the driver’s side window. NASCAR parked Edwards for his actions and ordered him to the NASCAR hauler for further discussion on the matter. Tuesday, Helton explained Edwards would be placed on probation for the next three races and the drivers and their teams would meet with NASCAR about the situation. “Following that incident we asked the driver of the 99 to visit us in the hauler, and we made it very clear to him that these actions were not acceptable and did go beyond what we said back in January about putting the driving back in the hands of the drivers,” Helton said. “We believe the driver of the 99 understands our position at this point.” For NASCAR, the biggest issue emerging from Sunday’s incident was the fact the No. 12 car lifted into the air. “But the bigger topic is the 12 car getting airborne at a mile-and-a-half track which we typically don’t see,” Helton said. “It’s been years since we’ve seen that. So a lot of our effort yesterday, today and until we find resolve to it is figuring out how it happened, why it happened and what we can do to prevent it from happening in the future.”
Keyed Up and Key Motorsports split
posted by Doug Turnbull
Saturday March 6, 2010
If missing the first three races to date was not enough drama for the No. 90 Keyed Up Motorsports Chevy team and Casey Mears, organizational upheaval may tip the scales. A member with the team tells Frontstretch.com that Raymond Key’s Cup operation, originally formed with ties to Curtis Key’s teams in the Nationwide and Truck Series, has become its own entity. As of Monday, the team began a move into Tommy Baldwin Racing’s old shop while planning to continue trying to qualify on Cup races. However, if sponsorship for the team fails to pan out, Keyed-Up may vie for a partial schedule similar to that of the Wood Brothers and only run about 12 races the rest of the year.
Wood Brothers running FR9 for now, Roush says no big problems with new motor
posted by Doug Turnbull
Saturday March 6, 2010
Ford’s new FR9 motor has not made a speedy entrance to the Sprint Cup Series, mainly because the Ford teams need adequate supplies from the engine parts vendors and not because of performance problems, says team owner Jack Roush. Claiming the engine will perform well over the long-term, he still expects the new design to be “the Ford engine of the future” and fully in use by the end of 2010. While his four Ford teams are not running the revamped engine, Roush revealed that the Wood Brothers Ford team will run the FR9 this weekend at Atlanta and in April at Texas. Beyond that, either Roush nor Ford officials have announced a set schedule for full or future implementation of the power plants.
Crawford says truck team is 'close' on sponsorship
posted by Doug Turnbull
Saturday March 6, 2010
While never a standout in the Camping World Truck Series, Rick Crawford has experienced moderate success over his long career in NASCAR’s third-tier. After losing sponsorship at the end of 2009, his Circle Bar Racing team finds itself on the ropes, wondering how many races the future may hold. The veteran Crawford, though, remains optimistic a deal is imminent. “I would say we’re pretty close on signing a sponsor for the 2010 season and 2011 and beyond. [Not starting 2010 with a sponsor] was a matter of losing a sponsor late last year and [the prospective sponsor] getting its marketing efforts done. We’ve got the contracts ready; we’re waiting to get that signed.” Crawford started 2010 with a DNF at Daytona, placing 28th.
Justin Marks Wins The ARCA Race!
posted by Thomas Bowles
Saturday February 27, 2010
Justin Marks won a rain-shortened event at Palm Beach Saturday, collecting his first ever win in the series. Robb Brent, Blake Koch, Tom Hessert III, and Steve Arpin rounds out the top 5. Stay tuned to Frontstretch.com for plenty of post-race coverage on both the website and our Newsletter.
Looking For ARCA Coverage? We Got It!
posted by Thomas Bowles
Saturday February 27, 2010
While the ARCA race at Palm Beach may not be televised … we’ve got you covered. Our own Bryan Davis Keith is at Palm Beach all weekend and will be posting news, commentary, and features from the Florida road course both on the website and in our newsletter. Don’t miss out! And don’t forget, our own Tom Bowles is spending the weekend in Vegas, too … so we’ve got you covered from all angles. Just another reason why we’re the best seat at the track and the best view on the ‘net!
Carter Simo still plans 2010 Cup races
posted by Doug Turnbull
Friday February 19, 2010
One story lost in the shadow of Speedweeks in Daytona was the absence of Carter Simo Racing’s No. 08 car. Much of the team’s equipment was put up for auction Tuesday; however, a source tells Frontstretch.com the operation still plans to field a car in 2010, with a limited schedule of races TBD. CSR may also try and field a car for the Talladega ARCA race in April; until then, most of the team’s employees have been temporarily released and are working for other teams in the sport. In mid-2009, team owner John Carter bought the assets of beleaguered owner/driver Jeremy Mayfield, using the newly purchased equipment and Toyotas to field entries in five races with two-time champion driver Terry Labonte. Equipment issues kept the team from cracking the top 30 in those races. Road course ringer Boris Said also wielded No. 08 Fords last year at both road course races, scoring the team’s season-best finish of 24th at Infineon. Later on that season, Said and longtime partner Mark Simo split, creating the newly-named Carter Simo racing with Labonte behind the wheel. On Tuesday, CSR only placed the equipment purchased from Mayfield on the block, including five Toyotas, a race hauler, and other pit equipment and tools. However, the source says that the team still owns three old Yates chassis and an old Ganassi piece (all of which they converted to Dodges last year) in the shop, with plans on returning to the track midseason pending sponsorship. The move is similar to what happened with Carter Simo last year, in which they took a four-month break between Daytona and Infineon while preparing to race at specific tracks. CSR, which still splits its time between its shops in Charlotte and in Toccoa, Georgia, just has to modify the top of the noses on their cars before returning to the track, due to a minor, lightly-discussed rules change before the season. As for CSR’s 2009 drivers and whether they will return to the team, Boris Said currently is driving the No. 26 for Bill Jenkins’ Latitude 43 Motorsports, and is working on a long-term deal that should remove him as an option. Terry Labonte is also out of the running; he and former owner Bill Stavola formed Stavola Labonte Racing in 2009, but are currently sidelined due to a lack of sponsorship. According to sources, Labonte was offered but initially turned down a return to the No. 08. A John Carter-owned car did participate in the ARCA race at Daytona on February 6th. Former CSR driver James Hylton borrowed a car from Carter, then leased it to driver Jill George for the race. But George infamously crashed the No. 48 roof-first into the wall just 25 laps into the 80-lap Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200, finishing 31st in the 43 car field.
Parrott In As Crew Chief For Kenseth
posted by Jay Pennell
Wednesday February 17, 2010
Less than a week into the 2010 season and Roush Fenway Racing has already made a switch at the crew chief position. News broke on Wednesday that Todd Parrott would take over atop the pit box for the No. 17 team with driver Matt Kenseth, replacing Drew Blickensderfer. The Kenseth-Blickensderfer combination won last year’s Daytona 500 and backed it up by winning the next weekend at the Auto Club Speedway. Despite their strong start out of the box, the No. 17 team failed to live up to expectations in 2009, scoring seven top-5s, 12 top-10s and failing to make, along with missing the Chase. Now after an 8th place finish in Sunday’s Daytona 500, Blickensderfer is headed to the Roush Fenway Racing R&D Department and Parrott is taking over as crew chief. |
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With The Chase Halfway Done, Experience -- Not Youth -- Has Already Won
Thomas Bowles · Monday October 13, 2008
As one of the younger NASCAR writers on the beat, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding a changing of the guard in this sport. So early on, it came as no surprise I was ready to jump on board with a season in which Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards spent the Spring and Summer trading punches back and forth in their battle for Sprint Cup supremacy. A seemingly unstoppable force on the track and off it, one of the two appeared ready to rise as the first 20-something champion since Busch’s brother Kurt in 2004. And if that wasn’t enough, these men had personalities about as volatile as Mt. St. Helen itself. They didn’t like each other to the point they loved trading verbal barbs, and a title Chase between the two seemed destined for its own set of National Enquirer headlines.
But as August turned into September, both men got busy figuring out the code needed to go from self-important to self-destruct. By September, it was Jimmie Johnson, not those two, which had the upper hand, carrying out this year’s playoffs to perfection in marking his territory across the Sprint Cup leaderboard. And with each passing week, we’ve discovered that the edge Johnson owned could suddenly be chalked up to both Carl Edwards’ and Kyle Busch’s major weakness: experience.
Five races into the Chase, that word permeates anything and everything that’s transpired through the first half of these playoffs. While Jimmie Johnson has the edge on his third straight title, it’s none other than Jeff Burton nipping at his heels after scoring his second victory of the season at Lowe’s – the first time he’s accomplished such a feat since 2001. Together, the men – along with third-place longshot Greg Biffle – have formed a trifecta that includes 73 wins and over 950 starts in NASCAR’s top-level series. How did the veterans work their way to the front? The answer, my friends, is in the noun which turned Busch and Edward’s bid into a no-no: experience.
Experience means keeping a level head. Early on this season, Jimmie Johnson was left for dead after a poor Las Vegas run in March led to a disappointing 28th place finish. With 1.5-mile intermediate tracks making up five of the ten Chase races, most thought Johnson’s CoT was so far off the team simply had no chance. “We’re just experimenting,” crew chief Chad Knaus said, but that wasn’t enough to calm the masses, especially when the team remained out of contention through March despite three pole positions in the first five races of the season.
But Johnson never let the early season troubles tarnish his long-term goals. He and Knaus stuck to their plan of doing a little playoff preparation during the regular season, knowing the team was strong enough to finish well within the 12-man cutoff. And at the end of the summer, when those tests were applied under race conditions, Johnson railed off two straight wins to close as the sudden favorite for his third straight title.
Compare that to Burton, whose five straight finishes outside the Top 20 in August left him no higher than 10th on most writer’s Chase prediction sheets. In Burton’s case, the challenge wasn’t so much sticking to the plan as much as getting the team to rally around it. But even when all looked bleak, Burton never panicked, and a solid Top 10 at Richmond in September quieted the crowd and got him reset to make the type of championship run we thought this team was capable of early in the year.
“We’ve come into this thing very relaxed,” Burton said Saturday after Victory Lane. “We’re committed to having a good time, committed to having fun. This year we just said, You know what, we’re going to go, have a good time, race hard, we’re going to do the best we can, and it will be what it will be.”
Compare that with Busch and Edwards, who both have lost their cool under the tremendous pressure of expectations. Busch has appeared visibly frustrated after multiple parts failures left him with an insurmountable deficit, while Edwards’ temper flared in an incident with Kevin Harvick following his Talladega mistake. Busch in public and Edwards in private have both given the impression that it’s been hard to stay loose … when as the top two seeds, they should have been the loosest ones out there.
Experience means veteran knowledge. Five races into the Chase, four of them have been won by the three oldest drivers to qualify: Burton (41), Greg Biffle (38), and Tony Stewart (37). Add in the two-time championship experience of 33-year-old veteran Jimmie Johnson, and it’s clear this title race is tilting towards those who’ve been there, done that, and want more.
For Burton especially, each year counts down the number of chances he has left at a title. There aren’t many 40-somethings left in the sport, period, let alone those good enough to qualify for the playoffs. And with the experience of winning both the Trucks and Nationwide title, Biffle has the knowledge gap to make up for missing the cut each of the past two seasons. He’s unfazed by when the competition steps it up a notch, crucial for when he’s ready to step it up for the five-race stretch run.
After entering the Chase with high expectations, a dark cloud of bad luck and poor performance has rained on Joe Gibbs’ three-car Toyota parade.
Compare that to Edwards and Busch, who have a combined 297 Cup starts up through now. That’s just 47 more than Johnson and 209 behind Burton, leaving them short in another category in which they’re struggling to catch up. One could also say Busch’s manufacturer, Toyota, was also completely caught off guard by their rookie debut in the playoffs. Entering the Chase with a seemingly insurmountable lead in the manufacturer standings, parts failures on Joe Gibbs Racing cars Denny Hamlin and Busch have allowed both Chevy and Ford to creep back into the fray with just five races remaining. The engine / rear end double disaster at Dover was clearly a low point for both the No. 18 and No. 11. While this wasn’t the first rodeo for JGR, the first playoff appearance by Toyota Racing Development will become a lesson in how to push the limit without crossing the line.
Experience means consistency. Johnson and Burton remain the only drivers with Top 10 finishes in all five races of the Chase. Like it or not, both have utilized the point system to their advantage, focusing more on finishing well than leading laps and making a statement up front. However, both know you need to win races in order to tie up your championship bid, so they’ve taken advantage of strong cars at both Kansas and Lowe’s, respectively, to up their victory totals heading into the stretch run.
Meanwhile, Busch has been consistent in another direction – just plain bad – failing to score just one Top 5 finish and one Top 10 start over the past five weeks. Riding his longest winless streak of the season – nine races – the 23-year-old’s consistency has been focused on seeing the title run slip away.
Experience means leadership. As the final races near, Johnson has and will continue to depend on the decision-making skills of Chad Knaus on pit road. Neither driver nor crew chief seems to step over the other, with an inherent trust that comes from having long-term success and sticking with it.
In the meantime, his challenger has picked up Richard Childress Racing by the bootstraps and taught them how to points race. Kevin Harvick, once a subscriber to “wreckers or checkers,” took a streak of nine Top 10 finishes deep into the Chase. Clint Bowyer, last year’s Cinderella wonder, has yet to finish lower than 12th the second time around. While Edwards wrecked his teammate at Talladega and Gibbs’ team simply falls apart, the three-car RCR juggernaut is suddenly the only one of the Big Four to have all three cars within the Top 6. And if it wasn’t for Burton’s steadying hand, who knows if that would even have come to fruition.
There’s no telling what the next five races will bring. After all, Burton took the lead at Lowe’s two years ago only to give it up the very next week at Martinsville. Should Johnson have a similar calamity, the standings could change in a heartbeat. But for all intents and purposes, it’s the old guard that’ll be left standing when this title Chase is complete – and that’s nowhere near what we thought as little as seven or eight weeks earlier.
There’s an old saying that goes, “In youth we learn; in age we understand.” For Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch’s sake, here’s to hoping they learn from those above them so next year, they start anew. For in a year in which we all got fooled by change, they’re the two who suffer most of all from the status quo.
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