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Looking in the Rearview Mirror: Charlotte Speed Weeks and Iowa

Heather Meyer — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:52:49 +0000

The weekend started with the Pit Crew Challenge, early rounds had penalties with the final round coming down to the #11 Fed Ex crew against the #48 Lowes crew. The Lowes crew won giving them first pit stall selection for the All Star race.

Ty Dillon took the pole for the Camping World Truck Series race and lead at the wave of the green flag.

Trucks were 3 wide by the time they got to turn 1.

Caution on lap 3 for Newberry as he spun. Cobb also got a little damage by Newberry’s spin.

Restart on lap 7 Dillon jumps to the lead

Lap 9 Top 5 running order Dillon, Crafton, Leffler, Kezelowski and Coulter

Lap 12 Chastain loses an engine

Lap 17 Dillon retains the lead on the restart.

Lap 20 top 10 is Dillon, Keselowski, Buescher, Peters, Crafton, Coulter, Leffler, Gale, Sauter and White.

Lap 24 King into the wall

Restart Lap 30 Ryan Sieg to the lead.

Lap 31 Buescher to the lead

Lap 34 Buescher, Keselowski, Sauter, Dillon, Sieg are the top 5

Lap 41 Keselowski to the lead

Lap 56 Keselowski, Sauter, Buescher,

Sauter runs out of fuel while running second.

Lap 71 Newberry does a slide/spin again

Restart lap 78 Peters to the lead

Caution lap 81 Buescher and Harraka get together

Restart with 44 to go Lofton to the lead.

Caution with 41 to go Piquet Jr in the wall.

38 to go Lofton, Bodine, Hornaday

16 to go Keselowski to the lead.

15 laps to go caution, Piquet Jr in the wall again

Lofton to the lead on the restart

Caution for debris

Restart 5 to go Lofton, Keselowski and White

Lofton got a great restart. Lofton wins for the first time.

Lofton takes the points lead with Peters in second 1 point back.

Bowyer wins the burn out contest.

Allmendinger on the pole for the Show Down.

McMurray to the rear for adjustments made during impound.

Allmendinger has a flat tire during parade laps and pits as the green flag comes out.

Earnhardt Jr to the lead on the first lap.

Lap 10 Earnhardt Jar, True Jar, Burton, Montoya and Almirola are your top 5

End of the first segment, Earnhardt Jr leads.

Earnhardt Jr, Truex Jr, Ruetimann Stremme, Bliss, Raines did not pit.

3 drivers caught speeding.

Start of second segment and Earnhardt Jr to the lead.

What a save Burton as he was 3 wide between Montoya and Almirola

Earnhardt Jr is the winner; Allmendinger finishes second to transfer into the main event. LaBonte got the fan vote to race in the main event.

Kyle Busch on the pole for the Main Event, and the lead on the wave of the green flag.

Lap 16 Johnson takes the lead

Lap 20 ends of first segment and Johnson wins.

Hamlin, Menard, Ambrose, Keselowski, Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr, Kurt Busch all stay out.

Hamlin to the lead as the second segment starts as its 3 wide for 3 rows

Caution lap 26 as Edwards’s blows engine

Restart lap 31 Hamlin to the lead

Lap 37 Kenseth to the lead

Lap 40 end of second segment Kenseth wins while Bayne kisses the wall

Keselowski, Kahne, Harvick, Stewart, Biffle, Martin, Smith, Bayne and Earnhardt Jr stay out.

Keselowski to the lead on the third segment restart.

Lap 60 great battle between Keselowski and Kahne with Keselowski winning by inches.

Lap 62 Kurt Busch and Earnhardt Jr battling with Earnhardt Jr getting the lead on lap 63

Caution Lap 68 Biffle blew an engine

8 cars stay out.

Lap 80 Earnhardt Jr wins segment 4

Johnson is the first off pit road.

Johnson to the lead on the start

Winning his 3^rd All Star race Johnson ties Earnhardt and Gordon for most All Star victories

Sadler on the pole for Iowa Nationwide race.

Kurt Busch and Joe Nemechek start from the rear since someone else qualified their cars.

Hornish Jr jumps to the lead on the wave of the green flag.

By lap 20 eight cars have start and parked.

Lap 31 Stenhouse Jr to the lead.

Lap 72 caution Green driving for McClure blew a right front tire

Stenhouse Jr first off pit road

Restart lap 84 Stenhouse Jr retains the lead.

Lap 85 Allgaier to the lead

Lap 87 Stenhouse Jr to the lead again

Lap 114 Caution for Danica as she has a tire issue causing her to get into the wall

Whitt off pit road first with a 2 tire change

Caution with 70 to go as Malsam had a right front tire go

Stenhouse Jr first off pit road

Restart with 62 laps to go and Kurt Busch to the lead

Getting racy between Kurt Busch, Stenhouse Jr and Sadler

With Stenhouse Jr finally getting the lead

Pastrana brings out the caution as his car has electrical issues.

With 43 laps to go Stenhouse Jr to the lead

White flag lap Kurt Busch and McDowell lean on each other

Hornish Jr blew a tire.

Stenhouse Jr wins making it 3 in a row at Iowa.

Sadler, McDowell, Dillon and Kurt Busch round out your top 5.

In post-race inspection the #2 car was low.

Chase Elliott won the K&N race in Iowa.

Chevrolet Announces New SS Performance Sedan

Webmaster — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:45:29 +0000

Chevrolet today announced the return of a V-8 powered, rear-wheel-drive performance sedan to the U.S. lineup, the Chevrolet SS. The SS will also be Chevrolet’s next NASCAR Sprint Cup racecar and will debut in its race configuration at the 2013 Daytona 500.

The limited production version of the Chevrolet SS will be a 2014 model and will arrive in dealer showrooms in late 2013. It is the first time in 17 years that Chevrolet will offer a rear-wheel-drive sedan for sale in the United States.

Chevrolet has a long history of using the SS (Super Sport) designation on high-performance models of some of its most enduring nameplates. The SS designation first appeared in 1957 on a Corvette prototype race car built under the guidance of Zora Arkus-Duntov with the plan to enter it in the Le Mans 24-hour race.

The first production vehicle offered with an SS option was the 1961 Impala – 453 were built with the performance upgrades which included a modified chassis and suspension, power brakes, a steering column mounted tachometer and unique wheels and tires. The latest SS model in the Chevrolet lineup is the fifth-generation Camaro, which debuted in 2010.

The Chevrolet SS will be a derivative of the award-winning global rear-wheel-drive architecture that spawns performance vehicles like Chevrolet Camaro and Holden’s upcoming VF Commodore. The much anticipated Australian-built car will benefit from significant technology advances which enhance overall performance.

“As a passionate race fan and performance enthusiast, I am thrilled that Chevrolet will deliver a true rear-wheel-drive NASCAR racecar in the SS that is closely linked to the performance sedan that will be available for sale,” said Mark Reuss, president of GM North America. “The Chevrolet SS is a great example of how GM is able to leverage its global product portfolio to deliver a unique performance experience that extends beyond the track. I am personally looking forward to driving it.”

Chevrolet was America’s best-selling performance car brand in 2011 with Camaro and Corvette accounting for one out of every three sports cars sold in the United States. The addition of the SS should strengthen Chevrolet’s position as a leading performance brand.

Holden to announce export of the Commodore to U.S. as Chevrolet SS

Webmaster — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:05:56 +0000

Holden will announce tomorrow an export program for the Commodore, which will see the Adelaide [Australia] made car become a race and showroom star in the United States. Though sales of the Elizabeth-produced sedan continue to slide in Australia, a Commodore V8 will be exported to America where it will be sold with the Chevrolet SS Performance badge. In that guise, it would also star for the heartland brand in the NASCAR stock car racing series, which runs second only to Formula One in global popularity. Holden has been testing left-hand drive cars on public roads in Victoria in recent weeks and running it head-to-head with one of its strongest potential rivals, the Dodge Charger, as it finalises its end of the important new deal. Motorsport sources in the USA hint that an announcement of the Chevrolet SS program is imminent, including the Holden connection. The coming VF Commodore as the donor car for the program ticks the boxes for American muscle car fans, and NASCAR stock car racing as well, thanks to its V8 engine, large body and rear-wheel drive. Former GM Holden president Mark Reuss, now the head of GM operations in the US and a known fan and supporter of the Commodore, dodged Carsguide’s questions on a link between the SS program and the Commodore. Holden chairman Mike Devereux also refused to comment on the strengthening rumours in the US, which were triggered by the announcement. Full-scale testing of the racer is expected to begin soon, and the bodywork expected to be revealed at the same time.(Jayski)

Looking in the Rearview Mirror: Darlington

Heather Meyer — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:04:10 +0000

Who earned their “Darlington Stripe” this time?

Stenhouse Jr starts on the pole for the Nationwide race.

Stenhouse Jr jumped to the lead on the start of the race.

Caution lap 3 for Blaney, Miller and Clements wreck in turn 2.

Restart on lap 9 finds Stenhouse Jr back to the lead.

Lap 19 Hamlin finds the lead.

Lap 35 Mike Wallace has a tire issue in turn 4.

Hamlin keeps the lead on the lap 42 restart.

Logano finds the lead on lap 43

Hamlin finds the lead again on lap 44

Lap 46 caution brought out as Bell bounced off the outside wall then the inside wall.

Lap 51 restart finds Kurt Busch in the lead

Lap 53 Hamlin finds his way back to the lead

Lap 91 green flag pit stops start and cycle through to Hamlin in the lead.

Lap 103 finds only 14 cars on the lead lap.

With 21 laps to go Kurt Busch finds his way into the wall with right front tire issues

Sadler is the first off pit road with two tire strategy.

Restart is with 15 laps to go Sadler leading Logano and Hamlin.

Ten laps to go find the caution waving again for Gaughan in the wall

Restart with five to go is Sadler, Logano, Hamlin and Dillon.

Caution as Sadler is spun by Logano.

Green White Checker finish with Logano winning. It’s Logano’s second race win in a row.

Top five in points:

Stenhouse Jr

Sadler -23

Dillon -35

Hornish Jr -59

Whitt -82

Biffle will start on the pole for the Sprint Cup race.

Biffle jumps to the lead on the start.

Danica making her big start at Darlington in cup is put a lap down on lap 27.

By lap 40 there are 6 cars off the track.

Green flag pit stops start on lap 47 with Kezelowski and Kyle Busch taking the lead after stops cycle through.

Biffle regains the lead on lap73.

Lap 80 finds only 24 cars on the lead lap

Green flag pit stops start on lap 96 and when they cycle through Johnson is the leader.

By lap 120 only 16 cars can be found on the lead lap.

By lap 132 only 14 cars can be found on the lead lap.

Johnson has a 6.411 second lead on lap 142

Green flag pit stops start on lap 145 and cycle through with Johnson still in the lead.

Lap 176 we finally see the yellow flag wave. This is the longest green flag run at Darlington. Caution was for debris

Kyle Busch takes the lead on the restart at lap 179

Lap 194 found Gordon with a tire issue bringing out a caution from tire debris

Hamlin stayed out and Kahne was the first off pit road.

Restart on lap 200 with Kahne taking the lead.

Lap 206 found Gordon with another tire issue.

Lap 221 found Gordon going to the garage with a third tire issue

Lap 231 for debris in turn 3, only 15 cars on the lead lap at the restart, with Hamlin taking the lead

With 88 laps to go Green flag stops start, Earnhardt Jr stays out to lead a lap for those all important points, when cycle done Truex Jr is the leader.

Caution flag waves with 70 to go as Labonte spins

Truex Jr retains the lead on the restart

Caution flag waves lap 308 as Smith spins on his way to pit road

Johnson stayed out and takes the lead on the restart.

Kyle Busch to the lead with 55 laps to go

Allmendinger and McMurray get into each other bringing the caution out 52 to go

Restart with 48 laps to go and 21 cars are on the lead lap with Kyle Busch taking lead

Johnson back to lead with 43 to go

Yellow flag waves again with 37 laps to go as Sorenson spun

Restart has Johnson leading with Stewart jumping to second, Can Stewart finally get a win at this track? Does Johnson have enough gas to get HMS their 200^th win?

Yellow flag waves again with 7 laps to go for Kurt Busch and Newman spinning. Interesting things happen between these two in the pits.

Green White Checker finishes with Johnson getting the win followed by Hamlin and Stewart.

Johnson’s win was Hendrick Motorsports 200^th win. It was Johnson’s 56^th Sprint Cup win and his 3^rd at Darlington.

Danica finished 31^st but running at the end.

The Newman Busch incident continued some after the race with some going to the NASCAR hauler. Not sure if there will be any penalties from this or not.

This week is the All Star race, fireworks expected for sure.

Track Trash – Big D’s Stripe

Racing Maniac — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:57:34 +0000

I missed it. It was like missing seeing (from afar) an atomic bomb exploding.

A huge plume…..das Kurt. They equated the same on Saturday night in Darlington.

And I missed it.

Heaps,

He’s Baaack: We thought Jerry Maybefield would walk into the sunset and (hopefully) be forgotten. But no, his life seems to have more chapters to be written. (a) His wife filed bankruptcy; obviously well thought out and very timely so as to keep the clock ticking. (b) He now owes the postal worker $1M in damages due to his dogs savagely biting her. As far as I’m concerned, since she is a federal employee, Jerry coulda gotten far worse (like being sent up the river). But even though she went through (and is still going through) hell as a result of the mauling, she’ll probably never see a nickel. Bummer. How can he look at himself in the mirror?

Smoke, etc.: His sarcastic rant after Talladega still lives on. Most of the drivers are now openly applauding Smoke for his comments, and think something has to be done to decrease the possibility of bad wrecks. Not necessarily due to this, NA$CAR recently changed a rule relating to the height of the side skirts above ground level in the hope to allow less down force and greater passing ability. This kind of tweaking isn’t over by a long shot.

Danica: She just signed with Coke, which makes this her first major sponsor. But if you thought she was under the microscope before, then wait and see how much more pressure the Coke sponsorship will garner. It’s like a new golf pro signing with Titleist….and never making the cut. In order to get the monkey off her back, she’s gonna have to at least run in the tip 5 a lot of the time (and learn how to bump draft).

Mattyboy: All this hype about him getting a new number may just be that……hype. They’re trying to spotlight the new (part time) sponsor, and slipped something in about a new ‘number’. Well, Mattyboy isn’t buying it, so why should we?

All Star Race: I’m still gonna miss next weekend’s race, and no one has offered to sub for me. I’m gonna DVR it, so may just send out a (very) late issue if it is worthy of comment. If anyone wants to offer to do it, speak up. You don’t have to follow any format, you get to vent on any issue/driver/team, and you don’t have to sign your name (ah, the glory of the internet).

Mikie: Mikie on the mike. For some reason, his hairdo is looking weird. He had his bangs coming waaay down, and with the natural twang he has, he almost looked like a buffoon. Then later in the program he again over-acted in some laborious ramblings, and I actually wrote down “SHUT UP” in my notes. He’s one of those like/hate kind of guys.

Da Race: The first 45% of the race was outright boring. 172 laps of green flag racing where everyone was playing ‘nicey’ is almost too much to swallow. If nothing else, NA$CAR oughta enact a new rule whereby under (way too long) green flag runs, there oughta be a ‘competition yellow’ thrown after 100 miles (or so many laps, depending on the track). When it goes that long (45% of the race) and there are only 17 cars on the lead lap, even the most rabid fan gets a tad bored.

Radio: I listen to the radio on most restarts and during TV commercials, cuz it unfolds in a whole new manner. Because of the layout at Darlington, the radio led the TV commentary by two laps. So listening to the radio will alert you in advance of any wrecks, or who actually is leading the restart.

Second Half: Let’s say we all agree that the first half of the race was boring. Well, the second half lived up to the advance billing, cuz it turned out to be another rock ‘em/sock ‘em race. The second half had 7 yellows waving at the appropriate times, and had most of us on the edge of our seats.

Gordo: The year of 2012 will go down as Gordo’s ‘Hall of Shame’. Admittedly, most of his problems were not of his making (including 3 blown LR tires in 28 laps), but in total he probably needs a new paint job, a new hairdo, a new mustache…..something that will get him out of the jinxed mode he’s in right now. If it were me, I’d start by releasing one of his sponsors. I can’t believe he’s uber left like AARP is, so this is a jinx if I’ve ever seen one. Come on, Gordo. Get a backbone. You wouldn’t endorse the manufacturer of pink slime, would you??? Just my humble opinion…..

Das Kurt: I admit it. I turned the TV off too early. And I was about to offer kudos to das Kurt for his driving skills….and then I decided to read some race news. I’m a little dumbfounded about Kurt’s catastrophic meltdown after his accident with 7 laps remaining (that also collected Newman). I missed it when he blew his top (again, as he has in the past). He apparently missed a few of his anger management sessions, cuz he did a number of dastardly things (read about them) that probably will be unfolding next Wednesday (the typical day for NA$CAR to drop the shoe). So much talent….continuing to go down the tubes.

Danica ll: Just a wild thought. If Danica is in the Coke 600 in Charlotte, how many laps down will she be at the end? Based upon her Darlington results, I’d guess it’ll be past 5. I’d love to follow the Vegas odds on that one……

Kudos: To JJ for finally giving the Rickster his 200th W. To Denny and Smoke for some late race thrills. To Marcos for digging himself out of a huge hole.

Heaps of 3’s all over yer local Lowes store,

Racing Maniac #3

Looking in the Rear View Mirror: Talladega

Heather Meyer — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:22:44 +0000

Heather takes a look in the rear view mirror back to Talladega!

Thursday started out as Tech for Nation Wide cars and practice for ARCA cars.

The Penske Nation Wide cars got caught this week for their noses for the same thing that 6 cars got caught for last week. Wonder if the penalties will be a little stronger this week.

Since rain canceled things on Thursday the ARCA and Nation Wide races were set on owners points so those times on Friday could be used for practice.

Lofton was on the pole of the ARCA race. Cars were 3 wide on the first lap.

Lap 7 there was already a car 1 lap down.

Lap 12 Caution coming to tri oval, Gerhart, Duno, Coulter, Harmon, and Bowman get together.

Race is red flagged to clean up.

Restart lap 17, Lofton retains the lead.

Caution with 43 to go for debris.

Restart with 38 to go, Reed spins before lap complete bringing caution back out.

Chad Hackenbracht leading.

32 to go Caution for Duno and Kile spin.

20 to go Affarano flips 7 times and comes to rest on its side, most of the innards of the car are strewn all over the track.

Restart with 10 to go Hackenbracht to the lead.

Caution for debris from the Reed with 7 to go.

Restart with 4 to go and Lofton and McReynolds to the lead.

Final lap Hackenbracht gives McReynolds a shove.

McReynolds wins coming through Tri oval.

A few stats for the Nationwide series

Bayne has missed 3 NNS races but is still ahead of 7 drivers who have made every start.

Only 18 drivers running for points have made all 8 starts in NNS this year (and some of those are not competitive)

Sadler is on the pole for the Nation Wide race.

Lap 6 Dillon to the lead.

Lap 9 Buescher to lead

Big leads with the tandem drafting.

Lap 15 Wallace Brothers to the lead tandem. Then Logano and Sadler to the lead tandem

Lap 18 Busch brothers tot eh lead

Caution lap 21 Long blew up

Kyle Busch off pit road first, Kurt Busch had issues on pit road.

Lap 26 Earnhardt Jr to the lead.

Caution 39, Ky Busch, Scott, Shepherd, Bowles

Restart lap 36 Earnhardt Jr to the lead.

Logano to the lead on lap 36

Caution 53 to go Sweet into the wall, McClure spun and Townley damage

Dillon 1st off pit road.

There are a lot of the 2 car tandems with the front runners in this race.

Lap 72 Kenny Wallace to the lead

Lap 73 Earnhardt Jr emerging with the lead as its 3 wide.

40 laps to go Danica leads.

39 laps to go Earnhardt Jr to the lead.

Caution Richards has a tire go.

Harvick first off pit road.

31 laps to go restart with 26 cars on the lead lap. Harvick to the lead.

10 laps to go and it’s a 4 wide battle for the lead with Logano getting the credit.

Caution with 9 to go for Bliss spin

Caution with 4 to go Kenny Wallace to blame for this one taking Mike Wallace and Efland for spins

Green White Checkers Ky Busch to the lead

2 to go and the BIG ONE!!! Harvick spun by Annett. Collecting McClure, Richardson Jr., Danica, Malsam, Dillon, Keselowski.

Race red flagged for cleanup and to extract McClure from the car. He was air lifted to Birmingham for treatment. Released Monday evening, doing well family reports that he had a concussion and internal bruising.

Green White Checker #2 there are 19 cars on the lead lap. Kyle Busch the leader.

Sam Hornish Jr made a great save.

Nemechek has a tire rub.

Final lap Kyle Busch in tandem with Logano Whitt and Stenhouse Jr.

Last second pull out from behind has Logano the winner. Logano wins by 34 thousandths of a second.

Hornish Jr and Danica have a late race altercation with retaliation occurring during the cool down.

Stenhouse Jr takes the points lead over Sadler by 5 points.

Jeff Gordon on the pole has had at least a pole in the last 20 years.

Ambrose to the lead through half the first lap with Stewart to the lead by the start finish line.

Caution lap 16 for Smith Blowing an engine

Kenseth first off pit road.

Allmendinger and Gilliland caught for speeding on pit road and Bowyer had a very bad stop.

Restart lap 21 Kenseth to the lead.

Lap 25 Waltrip to the lead.

Lap 44 Newman over heated.

Lap 46 Johnson to the lead

Lap 53 Kenseth to the lead

Kahne’s spotter Hamlin had laryngitis and handed duties over to Clayton Sproles, Nemechek’s spotter

Green flag pit stops start on lap 58.

Johnson cycles through to the lead.

Lap 65 Johnson has white smoke oil pump/belt

Lap 65 Earnhardt Jr to the lead

Kenseth to the lead.

Lap 89 Kahne to the lead.

Lap 90 Kenseth to lead

Lap 97 Montoya to the lead

Lap 99 green flag stops start and cycle through with Biffle to the lead.

Lap 12o Rickey Bobby to the lead oops I mean Kurt Busch

Lap 122 Kenseth back to the lead.

54 to go Kurt Busch back to the lead

53 to go Kenseth to the lead

Burton, Harvick, Kurt Busch out of fuel or having a fuel pick up issue

Caution with 46 laps to go, Truex Jr, Gordon, Edwards, Blaney, Logano, Montoya, Almirola and Cassill involved

38 to go and Keselowski to the lead

26 to go Mears to the lead

25 to go Bowyer to the lead

22 to go Hamlin to the lead

21 to go Kenseth to the lead

Kenseth has led the most laps for the first time in a restrictor plate race.

Caution with 13 laps to go Kurt Busch spins and drives down pit road the wrong way.

Restart and wreck at the same time Menard, Stewart, Harvick, Hamlin, Logano, Allmendinger, Waltrip, Bowyer and Richardson Jr Involved

Green White Checker finds 19 cars on the lead lap

Kenseth the leader on start

Keselowski the leader on the white flag lap

Keselowski winner, Kyle Busch, Kenseth, Kahne and Biffle are your top 5

Keselowski is 1st driver in last 5 Dega races to take white flag and hold on for the win.

First Dodge win at Dega since Marcis in 1976

NASCAR took 5 engines dyno for testing they are Kahne, Allmendinger, Burton, Kyle Busch and Kenseth

There were 5 caution periods for 24 laps with 19 drivers failing to finish the 194 lap race.

Biffle leading points.

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