Tag Archives: Scott Wimmer

Surprise, surprise. Joey Logano won the pole. Joey Logano won Saturday night's Nationwide Series race at Kentucky. And Cup regulars finished 1-2-3, with Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski playing bridesmaid to Logano, whose win marked the third consecutive season he's won the Kentucky NNS race from the pole dating back to his first career win. Though a few drivers were able to keep up with his No. 20 car on restarts, the long run proved to be a boon for JGR's Toyotas as Logano was uncontested coming to the checkers. Fortunately for the fans watching, both Scott Wimmer and Brendan Gaughan (who each banked top 10 finishes) were able to keep up with Sliced Bread for at least a few laps. Mike Bliss also got around the No. 20 at lap 156, but he would spin late after losing the lead, finishing 24th.

Well bubble fans it looks like we’re losing one of our bubble dwellers, again. During the week it has been reported that David Stremme will be replaced in the No. 12 Team Penske Dodge by rising star Brad Keselowski in 2010 if not sooner. David was just not getting the job done for team Penske, sitting in 31st in the owner’s standings while driving for an organization that has seen the resurgence of Kurt Busch and a huge improvement with Sam Hornish Jr. With Keselowski, Roger Penske gets a driver that has equaled the number of top ten finishes posted by Stremme and has done it in just eight races this year compared to 98 career starts for David. And while Stremme has yet to win a race at NASCAR’S top level, Mr. Keselowski has the dramatic win at Talladega back a few months ago on his resume. So with news of his impending departure, would Stremme get up on the wheel and go out with a bang or just fizzle out? Read on to see how David and the rest of the bubble teams did at Bristol Motor Speedway in this week’s edition of the Bubble Breakdown.

While Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was being interviewed on 60 Minutes, he said that there’s a Dale Earnhardt, Jr. or a Jeff Gordon on short tracks around the country. In sports--in the entertainment industry in general--there are thousands of talented people who toil away for the best years of their lives and never get noticed. And obviously, no one knows their names, or maybe they manage to make a splash for literally just a shade longer than 15 minutes and are then forgotten. Luck matters more than everything else in both show business and professional sports. All of the big name record companies rejected the Beatles. But with NASCAR’s two development series probably receiving more attention and relative coverage than in possibly any other sport, save for perhaps college football or basketball, the story of the driver who performs and does everything he is asked and yet is still not offered a legitimate shot at the big time is often there for everyone to see. Scott Wimmer is that ongoing story right now.

Déjà vu. Last year, Carl Edwards shook off a disastrous run at Kentucky and a weak start to his defense of the 2007 Nationwide title with a breakthrough win at the Milwaukee Mile. That’s exactly what happened on Saturday night, again. Edwards, who stalked the race leaders for much of the event, finally got past Kyle Busch with 44 laps to go, and never looked back, holding Busch off on two late race restarts to score his first Nationwide win of 2009.

Something that both the Nationwide and Truck Series do share is a two-driver breakaway in the points standings. However, while one of those battles is just heating up, the other threatens to cool down as soon as Kansas in two weeks considering one or both of the drivers involved may not run the full schedule. Which championship in which series am I talking about? Find out by checking out the HOT, WARM, and COLD drivers of NASCAR's second and third biggest series. Not surprisingly, the way things are these days, you will notice a familiar name or two from Sprint Cup on the list.

This weekend’s upcoming race at Texas Motor Speedway will mark the fifth event of the season for the Nationwide Series and the final race before reverting to the 2009 owner points standings to determine who is locked into the field each weekend. Looking at the current standings, there are a number of teams that are all but locks to be in the Top-30 cutoff after Saturday’s 300-miler. Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 16 team, Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18, NEMCO Motorsports’s No. 87 and Braun Racing’s No. 10 are all operations that will likely breath a sigh of relief when they go to qualify at Nashville two weeks from now… because they won’t have to.

Carl Edwards did everything he could to try and steal his second consecutive Nationwide Series crown. Qualifying on the outside pole, Edwards ran in the top five all race long and led a third of the race (66 laps). Edwards also managed to pass Kyle Busch’s vaunted No. 18 Toyota with 34 laps to go on an intermediate oval, scoring his second consecutive win and seventh of the season. But it wasn’t enough.

For the 23rd time this season, a Sprint Cup driver proved that they had the awe-inspiring mettle to dominate NASCAR’s AAA series. For the eighth time this season, Kyle Busch proved to race fans that he is indeed deserving of a full-time ride in the Cup ranks, because he’s such a darned good Nationwide Series driver. And for the second time in the four races since Joe Gibbs Racing was “penalized” for its involvement in a cheating scandal at Michigan, its No. 18 team and their “substitute” crew chief dominated the field. Though several drivers had excellent race cars, Mike Bliss’ car took too long into a run, while Brad Keselowski had repeated issues on pit road that lost him valuable track position, allowing neither to challenge Busch, who led 157 laps.

The Nationwide Series took to a short track for the second time in three weeks and, also for the second time in three weeks, Clint Bowyer dominated the race. And nonetheless, for the second time in three weeks, Bowyer failed to score the win. Despite leading 195 of the 250 laps run, Bowyer’s car went to the loose side late in the running, allowing fellow title contender Carl Edwards to sneak by late and score his fourth Nationwide victory of the season. Bowyer finished third, after he was passed by Scott Wimmer with less than 15 laps to go.

The term “Silly Season" implies much joy and frivolity, sort of like a middle school dance that pays really well. Fans, for the most part, seem endlessly fascinated by the latest "Silly Season" rumors, as witnessed by the success of Jayski’s site that contains that very phrase. As a fan as well as a writer, I am not immune to finding the latest rumor, gossip, and deliberate mistruths spread by agents trying to advance their clients' futures -- but I’ve also seen the dark side of the carnival. In what amounts to a huge game of musical chairs, some drivers and team members end up losing big, finding themselves still standing without a place to sit when the music stops. These are real people with real dreams, aspirations, obligations, and families who -- having once been in the Big Top -- find themselves abruptly tossed from the circus like a shovelful of elephant crap.