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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.
Danica Out in Daytona
posted by Mike Lovecchio
Saturday February 13, 2010
A lap 79 crash abruptly ended Danica Patrick’s first career NASCAR start Saturday in Daytona. Patrick went a lap down early in the race and later got back on the lead lap on lap 55 via the “Lucky Dog” rule. As she began moving through the field, she was collected in an incident that involved 12 cars. “I’m just going to take away the fact that I know what it’s going to be like out there come next year,” she said. “I felt we would’ve finished strong if we would’ve finished, but as you can see it’s easier said than done.” |
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Are We There Yet? 2008 Season Plods Into Richmond With Chase Set To Begin - Is Anyone Really Paying Attention?
Voice of Vito · Vito Pugliese · Tuesday September 2, 2008
Mercifully, the Pepsi 500 at California’s Auto Club Speedway has come to a close. A race that has supplanted the beloved Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway over Labor Day weekend was the highlight of yet another exercise in futility at a track that has been criticized in recent years for poor attendance, poor racing, and generating all of the anticipation and excitement of a root canal. In that regard, it did not disappoint again, as the Nationwide race on Saturday night saw Kyle Busch lead all but six laps en route to his seventh win of the season.
Sunday evening was Jimmie Johnson’s night to hang one on the field, mimicking his dominance of the Brickyard 400, driving the same car to victory while leading 228 of 250 laps to earn his third win of the season. He did so while brushing off tepid challenges from Greg Biffle and the two Red Bull entries of Brian Vickers and A.J. Almendinger. This in front of a crowd of approximately 70,000 people — about 40 minutes from one of the largest cities and metropolitan areas on the planet.
Yawn.
Coming into the race weekend, it appeared as if there may be something worth talking about, although it didn’t exactly pertain to the action on the track. The end-of-race fracas between Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch the weekend before at Bristol saw the two winningest drivers in Sprint Cup this season placed on an innocuous – if vague – six-week probationary period. A brief war of words had many wondering what would become of this feud as we inch closer to the start of the Chase. Is this the new rivalry that NASCAR has desperately pined for? Might this be the catalyst for renewed interest for what just yesterday seemed like it was far and away the best motorsports had to offer? Could it be possible that a race weekend in Southern California may conjure up something other than fond memories of Darlington, SC and Sherman Ramsey’s minnow pond?
Hardly. And you can’t blame Hurricane Gustav, Barrack Obama or Sarah Palin for stealing the thunder for this one either.
The sun is setting on NASCAR’s appeal even with long-time fans due to less than stellar on track action.
So what gives? For the last two years it seems things have taken a left turn for the worse in our beloved sport. What once was a cottage industry and an underground pursuit compared to traditionally televised sports, NASCAR’s popularity and character has swapped ends faster than Sam Hornish’s ham-fisted maneuvering after getting out of the groove by half a car width — for a sport that was to rival the NFL and Major League Baseball in popularity, it failed to equal the attendance of Wrestlemania III.
When Bill Elliott captured The Winston Million in 1985 at Darlington’s Southern 500, 10,000 more people were witness to that feat than were privy to Jimmie Johnson’s manhandling of the Labor Day weekend event 23 years later. Granted, more people were able to watch it on television thanks to the advent of cable and satellite dishes, but this is a race that takes place right next door to Los Angeles, not modern day Mayberry in South Carolina.
So much for progress.
This is not to disparage Darlington, or any number of small towns in the South that have lost race dates – and tracks – in NASCAR’s quest to gain market share, increase brand awareness, or whatever other advertising and marketing jargon are conjured up to justify rolling out an inferior product in the name of gaining legitimacy amongst the sporting elite. I believe it goes far beyond that.
Explain to me how 20 years ago, CBS and ESPN could provide better race coverage with a handful of cameras and a crude in-car set up compared to today’s technological display of High-Definition cameras plastered anywhere and everywhere. How were Ken Squier and Bob Jenkins able to make me feel that something very important was always just about to happen, and that I quite possibly may miss auto racing history if I was to extract myself from my recliner to procure another bowl of homemade potato salad from the kitchen? That sense of urgency to tune in every Sunday or Saturday night has long since faded, and there is no one particular reason behind this. The term “death by a thousand paper cuts” comes to mind. As does a song that B.B. King once wrote entitled, “The Thrill Is Gone.”
Apathy has reached levels not experienced since the malaise that washed over the United States in the mid 1970s. Instead of Watergate, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, we have Magnetgate, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. It is ironic as well, that the cars that are being competed in are about as exciting, aesthetically pleasing, and as well received as those that were cobbled together by American automakers during that same miserable time period. Even more so, this was about the time that Japanese automakers began to seize upon America’s newfound inability to build anything remotely interesting beyond early examples of the B-1 Lancer and F-117 Nighthawk. Toyota has nearly accomplished the same feat in NASCAR’s two lower touring divisions; if not for Carl Edwards and his Ford Fusions, it could very well have seeped into Sprint Cup as well.
The reasons for this abrupt shift in race fan loyalty are many. Some blame the economy and lack of disposable income, others point to the rising cost of fuel prices. To counter that argument, I only need to take a look in my own backyard at the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers still manage to sell out games at a point in the season where they are closer to last place than first, playing in a city that has been the site of more heartbreak than anywhere with the exception of perhaps the Gulf Coast. Heck, even Lions fans manage to pack Ford Field, and this is a team that exhibits about all of the indicators of success that Ganassi Racing does.
NASCAR fans could once be counted on to endure virtually any malady, waiting out thunderstorms that would turn the infield into mug bogs and sippy holes, the occasional freak snowstorm in March, or even the loss of one its icons coupled with one of the greatest tragedies on American soil but seven years ago. Even the most ardent NASCAR fan and conscript has had his mettle tested, and it has reached a breaking point.
The simple fact is, the product on the track the last two years has been less than tolerable. NASCAR has missed the boat, jumped the shark, or whatever number of colloquialisms you wish to attach to it. Gone are the rivals and personalities of the past, as are vehicles that are distinguishable from one another. Stock cars stopped being cars that are stock over 40 years ago. That’s fine, but to only be able to distinguish one by it’s headlight or grille stickers – and even that’s difficult when the cameras are focused solely on one of the Hendrick heroes or Kyle Busch – has removed any sort of manufacturer identity or brand loyalty that the sport was built upon. Maybe this is at the behest of the automakers that are whittling out non-essential elements of advertising and promotion. And much like during the mid- to late-70s, our newfound cultural obsession with fuel conservation, has led racing to appear to be somewhat socially unacceptable or uncool.
Classic American musclecars were all the rage three years ago, fetching what most impending-foreclosure, middle-class homes sell for. Now hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles are en vogue.
What it all amounts to is little more than a collective shoulder shrug as the Sprint Cup Series heads into the final race before the 10-race slugfest for the championship. The only real questions that remain are: Will Clint Bowyer fall out of the 12th and final Chase spot? And can David Ragan or Kasey Kahne capitalize and make it in? What is absent is the nail-biting atmosphere that was present in 2004 or even ’05, when some of the biggest names in the sport were still vying for Chase placement – and the field was set at 10 drivers.
Yes, the Car of Tomorrow is a culprit, but even in the Nationwide Series where they still use the traditional car, there has been little to get excited about. The most interesting thing to happen in Sunday night’s race were the caution lights falling apart, and that was just plain dangerous with cars traveling at well over 200 mph — but probably no more dangerous than tires falling apart and blowing out every 10 laps like at Indianapolis. After all, we shouldn’t have to jeopardize people’s safety in the interest of trying to find something interesting at a NASCAR race.
That used to be a given. Now, it’s an afterthought. I don’t pretend to have all of the answers to NASCAR’s ills. It obviously didn’t get this bad overnight and cannot be rectified in such a short time, either. Whether or not the fans stick around to see when it does remains to be seen. If all of those empty seats Sunday night were any indication, the train may have already left the station. If anything, those vacancies let me take solace in the fact, knowing that I am not alone in my opinion.
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