Chase Media Day Discussion All About Stopping Jimmie Johnson
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 15, 2011) – NASCAR’s Chase Media Week ended Thursday, with all 12 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers converging on Chicago’s LaSalle Power Company for the annual Chase Media Day.
Drivers were ushered from television to radio to print media to a fan Q&A during the day-long session, and a familiar theme dominated each conversation: Who’s going to end five-time champion Jimmie Johnson’s unprecedented reign?
For his part, the typically cool Johnson sounded confident, despite entering the Chase with just one win – the fewest of any of his previous eight Chases. Said Johnson, “We’re in a good spot. Our win total isn’t what it’s been in the past, but we’ve had opportunities.”
Jeff Gordon ranks among the top candidates to unseat his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. Gordon, a four-time champion (1995, ’97, ’98, 2001), won all four of his titles in the pre-Chase era. A runner-up in 2007, Gordon believes this might be his best shot in the Chase. “I’m excited about going to the race track every weekend. When I won my four championships, it was under the old format. You had to be consistent, and yeah, you had to win, but at the end you were trying to beat two or three guys. With this format you’re going up against 11 other guys. But I do think this is the best chance we’ve ever had at winning the championship [in the Chase].”
Kevin Harvick, who finished third after battling to the bitter end in last year’s Chase, says the No. 48 team is still the favorite. When asked if Johnson was more vulnerable this year, he said, “I heard the same conversation last year. They’re still the team to beat. They’ve won it so many different ways.”
Kurt Busch, who has tangled with Johnson throughout the season, spoke about the rivalry between the two past champions. Said the 2004 champion, “The Chase is intense. Every year you have your rivalries. I have a sibling rivalry with my brother Kyle, too. But you have to put that stuff away.”
But Chase newcomer Brad Keselowski might’ve uttered the most sound reason why Johnson’s end might be near. Said Keselowski, simply, “He is human, right?”
Every Driver Gunning For Jimmie Johnson is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Awesome Race Fans
NASCAR® driver Tony Stewart will race a special “Honoring Our 9/11 Heroes” paint scheme on his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala during Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ race at Richmond International Raceway (Saturday, Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m. EDT, ABC).
As the world marks the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001, Stewart’s red, white and blue scheme will honor the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives that day.
“Like so many others, September 11th, 2001, is a day I will remember forever,” Stewart said. “I’m humbled and honored to help pay tribute to the thousands of heroes we lost. Their stories and acts of courage live on, and we will never forget them or the families, friends and loved ones they left behind.”
Stewart’s “Honoring Our 9/11 Heroes” paint scheme will be produced as a Lionel NASCAR® Collectables diecast car for purchase. A portion of the proceeds will go to The Stephen Siller “Tunnel To The Towers” Foundation. The Foundation’s logo will be featured on Stewart’s car as part of the special scheme. Siller was a firefighter who lost his life on 9/11 after bravely running through the tunnel into the World Trade Center towers to rescue people who were trapped. His family created the Foundation in his memory, which works to support firefighters, children who have lost a parent and military who have been seriously injured in the line of duty.
Tony Stewart Special Paint Scheme is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Nationwide Race In Montreal
Danica Patrick returns to the series this weekend, making her stock-car debut on a road course. This will be her first series race since July at Daytona, where she finished 10th. This has lead me to a thought. Will Danica be in front of Maryeve Dufault when the race is over. I have seen Maryeve drive in a few races and I like the way she handles the car. Nothing against Danica but I think Maryeve will finish higher when the race is over.
Maryeve Dufault is making her Nationwide debut and should be very popular with her home country rooting her on. Speaking of Canadian drivers there will be a few in the race. Jean Francois Dumoulin, Louis-Phillipe Dumoulin, Ron Fellows, Alex Tagliani, Andrew Ranger, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Patrick Carpentier and last but not least Jacques Villeneuve. The track bears the name of his late father.
It will be fun to watch these two battle it out and it is a fun subplot to watch play out. There are some very talented road course racers in the field and I expect a good race.
You can see the race at 2pm on ESPN. The race is 200 miles = 74 laps.
Nationwide Race In Montreal is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Awesome Race Fans - By Awesome Race Fans for Awesome Race Fans
NASCAR Interviews From Pocono
Photo Courtesy of NASCAR Media
News and Notes From Pocono – Here are some of the questions asked to the drivers this afternoon after they practiced for the Sprint Cup race on Sunday at Pocono.
Jeff Gordon:
HOW WAS YOUR BIG BIRTHDAY?
“It was great! It was really sweet. My daughter came in in the morning, singing Happy Birthday to me. That was very special. And throughout the day, you start thinking wow, I’m 40. Every once in a while it kind of sinks in, but again it’s just another day and it’s been 40 great years. Especially after having that spectacular run at Indy; and the way we did it, it made for a great week.”
HOW WAS PRACTICE?
“We struggled today. We pretty much came back here with the same set-up that we had here the last time; very similar, we’re trying to make a few improvements in our qualifying runs because we’re afraid it might rain tomorrow. We’re pretty far off. We looked at our notes from the last time we were here and we pretty much have the exact same situation. We struggled in practice for qualifying runs but we qualified really well. So hopefully it doesn’t rain tomorrow and we can get that run in. If not, we’re going to be starting middle of the pack. And when we went in our race runs, I thought we were pretty competitive.”
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ‘SWEEPING’ BOTH RACES AT POCONO SO TOUGH?
“Well, the conditions; even though it’s a short period of time that goes by (between the two Pocono race dates), it just seems like the track conditions are quite a bit different when we come here the second time. The first time usually it’s a little cooler and I don’t know what it is, but the track just seems to have a little more grip. When we come the second time we just really struggle to get the grip in the car. We’ll find out. So far, it hasn’t been really super-hot here today or anything. So far, it seems like the conditions are fairly similar to what we had the last time.”
HOW DOES THE WILD CARD IMPACT THE SEASON?
“It’s making it very interesting. I think it creates a lot of story lines. It basically keeps everybody in it. In the past, when you were outside the top 12; let’s say you’re 16th or 18th, you pretty much feel like you’re out of it. Where now, especially somebody like (Brad) Keselowski, who has won a race, you know he wins one more race and his chances of being in there are very, very good. I like the fact that it pushes people to take a little extra risk to try to win races. I wish Paul Menard hadn’t taken quite as much of a risk as he did last weekend (winning at Indy), but I think that’s what it opens the door for is somebody who is capable of winning races to still be in the Chase. So, I like that.”
Tony Stewart:
HOW WAS YOUR CAR DURING PRACTICE? “I think we’re all right. I feel like we are better on both qualifying package and race package than we were last time we were here. We’ll wait and see but I am cautiously optimistic that we are better.”
HOW HAS THE WILD CARD IMPACTED THE SEASON? “I think it has definitely opened up opportunities for guys that may not make it in the top-10 but that one win is going to be a big deal. I think it has a lot of potential to add a spot for somebody that’s had a lot of bad luck in the year but was still able to put together that good day and put themselves in the Chase because of it.”
DO YOU GUYS LOOK AT IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU? “I don’t know. We are kind of in the that weird spot in the points where we are trying to make it in on what we’ve got and not have to not rely on that wild card spot. If you finish 11th in points and you didn’t get one of those wild card spots, you’d say it hurt you. Hopefully we’ll get in on our points and won’t have to worry about it.”
IS THERE ANY IMPACT PSYCHOLOGICALLY WHEN YOU ARE NINTH IN POINTS VERSUS BEING 11TH? “Not really because one day can still change all that. You still just have to take it a week at a time. You really don’t think about it during the race. I don’t think about it from the driver’s side, I don’t know if Darian (Grubb, crew chief) thinks about it. From our side every week, just trying to win the race and not really worry about the points side of it. There is nothing you can do, you just have to go out and get as many points as you can and that s the same thing you do to try to win the race each week so it just makes it easy.”
Clint Bowyer:
TALK ABOUT COMING HOW YOUR TEAM IS PERFORMING RIGHT NOW: “We ran well at Indy. We didn’t finish well. I felt like we had a shot at even winning the race there at the end before that last pit stop. We just played our cars wrong. It seems like that’s what these races are coming down to anymore is the pit strategy and making the right decision and then having a little bit of luck involved in that. That is the thing. At Kentucky, it bit everybody and what everybody thought. Obviously at Indy, it stayed green and Paul (Menard) won the race. That was probably the neatest thing about Indy was seeing my teammate who had never won a race win one of the biggest races of the year. I was really excited about him winning that race. Bummed out about where we finished because we had a lot better car than that. Biggest thing was the huge boost in confidence going into to Pocono that we have got things turned around. We had speed back in our car. We learned some things. I feel like we will have a good weekend here at Pocono.”
SINCE CARL HAD MADE HIS DECISION, WHERE DO YOU FIT IN? “We’re working on it. That is the biggest thing as far as contract stuff. I feel like we are getting close and we are working on it and hopefully we’ll have that done. But right now, I’m not worried about that at all. I’m worried about getting this thing back in the Chase and taking care of business on the race track. Those two DNFs in a row killed us. That took us from seventh-eighth in points to 12th, outside looking in. The wild cards are obviously taken it looks to me like and we’ve got to focus on gaining as many points as possible in the next six races and get ourselves back in. I think that is our best chance of making the Chase is consistency and running up front and racing our way back in the Chase. That is what we are made out of with our race team and the organization at RCR. That is what is going to be getting us back in the thing as we do.”
IS IT GOING TO BE TOUGH FIGHTING FOR A SPOT WITH YOUR OWN TEAMMATE? “No, because I’m not really fighting him. I’m not racing him. I’m racing Junior, Denny Hamlin…the guys in front of me…Stewart, Newman. Those are the guys you are going to have to race for ninth and 10th. Paul looks like he has a really good chance of being in the Chase using one of those wild cards. But I feel like I racing to be able to race my way in for ninth or 10th place.”
DO WE NEED TO GET RID OF THE WAVE AROUND RULE AND OPEN UP PIT ROAD ALL THE TIME, NO MORE CLOSING TO IMPROVE COMPETITION? “I’m not on-board with that. You are on your own with that. There are so many things they (NASCAR) has done good to get the product better on the race track. I feel like the wave around rule if you need it, it is very handy. But if you don’t need it, it costs you points. If you are points racing, if you are trying to catch up, it makes it difficult because somebody can have a bad day and at the end of the race how these cautions come out sometimes can put them right back on the lead lap and get a decent finish when they would have had a really bad finish and you could have gained a lot of points there. But, I’m telling you on a day when you need it, it makes it pretty handy. It just depends on what side of the fence you are on. As far as the fans, there are two ways of looking at it. Obviously it makes a difference on the points side of it if your favorite driver doesn’t. But if your favorite driver gets that wave around and gets back and in the race and is able to run up front, there is a lot of different ways of looking at that. I think that as far as that goes I am satisfied with what we have right now because even if you get it, you still have to race hard to get back up through the traffic even if you are on the lead lap. You are in a bad predicament right there in trying to dig yourself out still.”
Ryan Newman:
HOW IMPORTANT IS NUTRITION TO YOU AND WHAT IS YOUR DIET BEFORE YOU GET IN THE CAR?: “I just did the Goodyear boot camp and I made it in a minute three seconds on my first round and 42 seconds on my second round. I made some improvements and I’m up here sweating like a pig. I’m not the best guy to ask that question to. I know for me it’s really important, as you can see right now, I sweat a lot even when it’s this cool and humid, I do sweat a lot so inside the race car I sweat even more. Staying hydrated is a big part of staying fit because once you become dehydrated, your body locks up and therefore your mind locks up and then you get a little frustrated inside the race car. For me, I’m all about staying stretched, staying limber and staying hydrated. I have enough muscle mass, I just have to make sure I get to the end of the race.”
WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR THE NEXT SIX WEEKS BEFORE THE CHASE?: “We’re by no means locked into the Chase because of our victory. We’re in a good position and we’re in a much better position after the last three weekends than we were before that. I don’t think we go out here and try anything. I don’t know if there’s anything that we try as far as a setup or anything like that. We have things that we always want to try with the testing policy and procedure the way it is, there are things that we have a list on that sometimes you don’t have the guts to try on a race weekend because in hindsight you say, ‘I wish I hadn’t of tried that,’ more often than not. Ultimately, we do what we think we need to win and sometimes when it calls for thinking out of the box or trying something because we’re struggling and we need to try something, that’s what you do. That’s usually up to the crew chief more than it is the driver to figure out what you’re struggling with and making those calls.”
WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN FROM DANICA PATRICK AND WHAT KIND OF SPRINT CUP TEAMMATE DO YOU THINK SHE WOULD BE?: “I see just like you guys do, the things that are written, the things that are speculated and at the same time, if you were to grade Danica’s (Patrick) NASCAR success’ and failures, what would that grade be? I think she’s done a good job. I’ve said before and I would say again, and I don’t mean this at all in a negative way, if she wasn’t a she, she wouldn’t have gotten as many chances as she has. I know she’s got plenty of talent. I’ve said from the very beginning that when I saw her save, I think it was in qualifying a few years back at Indy, she saved the race car when it got loose and most people can’t do that whether it’s a she or a he. She’s got a ton of ability and she’s been put in an extremely new situation and we’re in a roundabout way, a bunch of wolves as drivers. When she came to NASCAR, she took a big step and I don’t think she’s tripped or fallen. I think she’s had to lengthen her stride a few times, but she’s done a fair job in my opinion.”
Kevin Harvick:
WE’VE GOT SIX RACES LEFT BEFORE WE START THE CHASE, YOU’VE GOT THREE WINS, OBVIOUSLY YOU WANT MORE THAN THREE WINS, TALK ABOUT THAT A LITTLE BIT AND TALK ABOUT YOUR TEAMMATE PAUL MENARD WINNING THE BRICKYARD. “The whole dynamic of the way that the wild card situation works I think has really made it exciting leading up into these last few weeks because you have a situation like Paul’s last week that leads you into not only your first career win and a great moment for him and his family and the team but it puts you in the championship contention of making the Chase with that win. It really revitalizes the enthusiasm in the team. A lot of the other guys are in the same situation and when you look at how many people have won this year I don’t think anybody would have thought as many people, different drivers have won races and its made it really interesting to see how it’s all going to play out. When it comes down to one win its going to come down to who is the highest in the points. For us it’s a little bit different. We’re trying to make our way through a lot of scenarios with our set ups and taking too many chances and sometimes they’ve worked out and sometimes they haven’t. Right now I still feel really good about where our team is. I think we have a good plan for the Chase and some good R&D projects that are coming up over the next couple of weeks and we’ll see how it all plays out. So far so good and we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and keep trying things.”
YOU AND CARL EDWARDS HAVE COME TO TERMS AND MADE PEACE, WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THE DRAMA THAT’S PLAYED OUT OVER THE LAST MONTH OR SO WITH HIS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS; IT’S OBVIOUSLY BEEN A DISTRACTION TO HIM. “Being in that situation before it’s a tough situation to be in with your team just because all the guys look at you like man why are you leaving, things are going pretty good. Really the way he’s handled it has been very quiet and kind of his own way and it looks like it all worked out. So I think the guys that it effects the most, you know as a driver it really doesn’t affect you, it’s kind of just part of it and you kind of just do what you do but the guys on the team and the part that you affect the most if you’re in a situation where you don’t have sponsors, it’s impossible to get a sponsor, so I think that’s probably what it came down to more than anything, was when it’s time to resign your sponsors and you don’t have a driver you’re not going to sign a sponsor.”
YOU TALKED ABOUT R&D PROJECTS, THE NEXT SIX RACES ARE PRETTY UNIQUE TRACKS, WHAT CAN YOU LEARN THROUGH THAT THAT YOU CAN USE IN THE FINAL 10 RACES? “I think everything applies. No matter where you go. It may not be exactly the right bump stops or this or that, the little detail things that you do at every race track but overall you have the basic car and set ups and aerodynamics and all the things that come with that, they’re going to apply everywhere. You’re not going to have that fine tune, you’re not going to have the right travels with the front of the car and things like that but overall if it’s better at one place it’s going to be better at the next.”
Paul Menard:
A BIG VICTORY FOR YOU AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY. TALK ABOUT WINNING THE BRICKYARD 400, ABOUT YOUR WEEK, AND COMING INTO POCONO. YOU’RE OUTLOOK HAS GOT TO BE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT NOW THAN IT WAS BEFORE
“Yeah, I’ll try to talk up. I’ve been nursing a little bit of a sore throat here. I woke up Sunday morning with a little bit of a sore throat and this was not a good week to help that. It was just a really neat deal that the marketing team and everybody had set up. Obviously we won the race, but it was four hours after the race by the time w got back to the airport. I went home and had maybe two or three hours of sleep. Woke up at 5:30 Monday morning and got on a NASCAR plane to go to Bristol, Connecticut and ESPN and got to see how SportsCenter and all the different programs up there work, which was pretty cool as a lifelong sports fan. We got back at a decent hour and I finally had some time to sit by myself Monday night and have a drink and just enjoy the moment, I guess. And then Tuesday was a little bit slower. I actually worked out with my trainer Tuesday morning and got a little sweat going, so that was good. I did all the SPEED studio stuff on Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday, I took my guys out for lunch and spent the day up at the shop between RCR and KHI; and here we are at Pocono. I actually got about 11 hours of sleep last night trying to kick this cold and its helping.
YOU SAID YOU ARE SICK THIS WEEK. HOW IMPORTANT IS NUTRITION WHEN YOU’RE OUT THERE DRIVING? DO YOU HAVE A DIETICIAN OR A NUTRITIONIST? WHAT IS YOUR DIET LIKE? WHAT DID YOU EAT BEFORE THE RACE AT INDY LAST WEEK?
“Oh, I had pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. That was the first time all year I had pancakes. Normally I have cereal or oatmeal. So I think Jennifer is going to be cooking pancakes a lot this year! During the week I try to watch what I eat; low sodium stuff. If you go eat out, obviously sodium is your worst enemy. I just try to watch my sodium intake and if I have too much, then I definitely know it on Friday or Saturday when I’m sweating in the car. It’s nothing special. I don’t have a dietician or anything. Thirty years of living, you kind of know what works for you.”
WE’VE SEEN GUYS WHO GET A WIN AND SOMETIMES THEY RATTLE OFF TWO OR THREE MORE; AND SOMETIMES THEY GO YEARS BEFORE THEY WIN AGAIN IF THEY DO. WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES THE DIFFERENCE ON THAT?
“Yeah, I hear you. I’ve got a really strong race team. We won a fuel mileage race. I understand that, but we also had a really good car all day long and we’ve had good runs this year with three or four top-fives. If we just kept knocking on the door, I felt like we were going to get one (win) if things just kind of played our way. We’ve had fast cars. Some guys maybe had to stretch fuel mileage a little bit differently or just kind of lucked into one. I don’t feel like we lucked into one; and I feel like we can get a few more.”
HAVING HAD A WEEK NOW TO TAKE IT ALL IN (WINNING THE BRICKYARD 400), WHAT IS THE SENSE OF VALIDATION IS THAT DAY FOR YOU?
“It’s hard to say, but on my cell phone, and this is probably the coolest part, I have a picture of us in victory lane and that’s something that I’ll probably have on my cell phone for the rest of my life, do you know what I mean? It’s just something that I’ll always have with me. As far as myself personally regarding validation or anything like that, I’ve spoken to that before, they’ll still be detractors or whatever and I don’t really care about that. But we won the Brickyard 400 with Slugger Labbe and Richard Childress and all the guys that have put so much work into that car. It was a brand new race car. And I held off Jeff Gordon to do it and got my dad his first win. That’s validation enough for me.”
NASCAR Interviews From Pocono is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Win a Toyota from M&M’s Racing
Disclosure – We were given some M&M’s as compensation for writing about this contest. We would have shared this story with you anyway but the good people at M&M’s Racing sent us some nice sweets to enjoy. Here are the details of the contest and good luck.
M&M’s Racing is Having a Cool Contest Where Fans Can Win a Toyota.
5 Characters 5 Cars
M&M’S® MAKES RACE DAY MORE FUN WITH NEW 5 CHARACTERS, 5 CARS PROMOTION
M&M’S® Let’s NASCAR Fans Shift into 5th Gear for Chance to Drive Off With One of Five New Toyota Models
M&M’S® fans, start your engines! Mars, Chocolate North America announced today that it is revving up race day excitement among all consumers with the launch of the 5 Characters, 5 Cars…Pick the Car You Want! promotion. Consumers will purchase participating M&M’S® items from specially marked displays in stores and enter a UPC code online for their chance to win one of five Toyota models from the sweepstakes drawing.
Each car is aligned with a different fun-loving M&M’S® Character: Red with the Toyota Tundra, Yellow with the FJ Cruiser, Green with the Camry, Orange with the Prius and Blue with the 4Runner – as consumers enter the sweepstakes, they will choose which of the five cars they would like to be eligible to win. With each sweepstakes entry, consumers also have a chance to instantly win additional prizes including NASCAR® merchandise, gas cards and cash.
“As ‘The Official Chocolate of NASCAR,’ we take pride in connecting with race fans to Make Race Day More Fun, and this promotion allows our consumers to combine the things they love the most –M&M’S, driving and winning,” explained Debra A. Sandler, Chief Consumer Officer at Mars Chocolate North America. “We’re thrilled to launch this promotion with Toyota to further elevate our commitment to NASCAR and the most dedicated fans in sports.”
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M&M’S PUTS NASCAR® PUSH IN FAST LANE
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Mars Chocolate North America is the North American chocolate operations of Mars, Incorporated. In 1911, Frank C. Mars made the first Mars candies in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen and established Mars’ first roots as a confectionery company. In the 1920s, Forrest E. Mars, Sr. joined his father in business and together they launched the MILKY WAY® bar. In 1932, Forrest, Sr. moved to the United Kingdom with a dream of building a business based on the philosophy of a “mutuality of benefits” for all stakeholders – this vision serves as the foundation of the Mars, Incorporated we are today. Based in McLean, Virginia, Mars has net sales of more than $30 billion and six business segments including Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks and Symbioscience. More than 65,000 Associates worldwide are putting our Mars Principles in action every day to make a difference for people and the planet through our performance.
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Win a Toyota from M&M’s Racing is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Kurt Busch Wins Race at California
Image courtsey of NASCAR Media
Well it was a day of paybacks as Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers exchanged being the dumper and dumpee (if that is even a word). There were some banging and bashing going on and that was only the first part of the race.
It isn’t every week that the best car wins but Kurt Busch‘s car was dialed in right today. Through many restarts his car took off and opened up a lead every time. His car was very dominant and in front most of the race. It isn’t a bad spot to be in when the” Boys are having at it” behind you.
The top 10 finishers in order were, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex jr, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski.
The amazing part of the drivers in the top ten were there was some really damaged race cars. Kevin Harvick’s car was banged up all over the place and I am sure he is happy with a top 10.
Juan Pablo Montoya seemed to be running into everyone once again on the road course. I don’t think the other drivers like his aggressiveness. Juan isn’t going to change his driving style any time soon though.
Dale Earnhardt Jr had a bad day, he was involved in someone else’s mess and his car was junk after that. They later pulled into the garage after his car caught fire from a hole in the engine somewhere. Here is his interview after the race.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET, INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR INCIDENT IN TURN 11 ON LAP 38, RETIRED FROM RACE AS A RESULT OF DAMAGE TO RADIATOR RESULTING IN ENGINE FAILURE: WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? “We had made the car better during that first stop. They had a big ole mess getting into (turn) 11 and we jumped in there and got part of it and banged up the nose a little bit. It knocked a hole in the radiator and it ended up hurting the engine a little bit so I think the engine is done. It has a hole in the side of it so that usually isn’t good. I ran it a couple of laps and the temp was fine on the water so we thought maybe it was just a pinhole in the radiator and maybe we could just run around 10 or 20 laps and just fill it back up with qualifying cycle machine that we use to push water through the motors on qualifying day. But, I guess the motor didn’t like it and it knocked the side out the motor, so it’s done.”
WHAT WAS ISSUE? “We just got in a little bit of a bang up there in turn 11 with a bunch of guys and knocked a hole in the radiator and drained all the water out of it and hurt the engine. The engine is ruined so we won’t be able to get back out there. We had made the car better. It was a really rough race but it was fun though. It just sucks to be out this early.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE OUT THERE, WAS THERE A LOT OF BEATIN’ AND BANGIN’ OUT THERE? “I was seein’ beatin’ and bangin’ but that is just the way the road courses are. This place…it is the way these races here have been for awhile. You know what you sign up for when you show up on Friday. You kinda want to get up in the middle of it ya know. You want to get in the middle of it and have fun. Everybody is bangin’ around but your car can’t survive it. They just spun out in front of me in (turn) 11 and I just kinda ran into somebody with the front of my car. But the beatin’ and the bangin’ was kinda fun.”
YOU SAID ON FRIDAY YOU WANTED TO MAKE THIS YOUR FAVORITE TRACK EVENTUALLY HAVE YOU LEARNED TO LIKE IT ANY BETTER? “I’m not a big fan of the place, but, maybe one of these days. We were havin’ a pretty good time of it out there. We weren’t the worst car. There are some guys out there that have some real good speed. It should be interesting how this race plays out.”
ARE YOU KIND OF GLAD TO GET OUT OF THIS STRETCH OF RACES AND HEAD TO DAYTONA AND A FEW PLACES YOU LIKE? “I’m not looking forward to going to Daytona, not with the way the drafting is there. But, we’ll just have to see if we can get lucky out of there. What is after Daytona? Will be glad to go there. New Hampshire? I love that place. (LAUGHS).”
It was nice to see Dale Jr with a smile on his face after his day. Here are some other questions and answers and of course everyone wants to know what Tony had to say.
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OFFICE DEPOT/OLD SPICE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 39TH AFTER TWO-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 87 THAT SENT HIM TO THE GARAGE FOR REPAIRS: WHAT HAPPENED? “I dumped him earlier for blocking and he got me back later on. If they block, they are going to get dumped. It is real simple. I mean I don’t blame him, I don’t blame him for dumping us back. But, I don’t race guys that way, I never have. If guys want to block then they are going to wrecked every time. Until NASCAR makes a rule against it, I am going to dump them every time for it. He did what he had to do, I don’t blame him, there is nothing wrong with it.”
WAS THAT ANYTHING OTHER THAN FLAT PAYBACK? “I probably had it coming because I dumped him earlier but I dumped him because he was blocking. If anybody wants to block all year that’s what I’m going to keep doing so they can handle it however they want. It was payback, but I dumped him first and I dumped him because he was blocking. I’ve been complaining about the way guys have been racing all year. I like Brian, I’m not holding it against him at all. I don’t care if it was Ryan Newman I would have dumped him too. If they want to block that’s what is going to happen to them every time for the rest of my career.”
IS THE LACK OF RESPECT MORE PREVELANT THAN EVER? “I don’t know if its lack of respect or guys just pushing the envelope and not working with each other. There wasn’t any reason at the point of the race where he started blocking in the first place. It didn’t make sense to do it and I’m not going to tolerate it. I don’t race guys that way and I’m not going to let anybody race me that way. So if they block they get dumped. Plain and simple.”.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO 48 LOWE’S/JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: HARD-FOUGHT SEVENTH PLACE FINISH: “Yes, it was. The strategy worked against us, but we still had a decent car and could get up there and get a top-10. So, we’ll take it.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 RHEEM TANKLESS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH: ON HIS ROLLER COASTER OF A DAY: “It was all strategy. I mean, we got up to about 14th or 15th there and just kind of stalled. The car was really loose. Then we got in a little wreck and tore it up even worse. As the run would go on, we would just get so loose. The car has a lot of damage on it. A lot of credit to these guys for getting it fixed for the strategy. It was the best ninth place finish I can ever remember.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 COTTONELLE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22ND AFTER LATE-RACE CONTACT RELEGATED HIM DEEP IN THE FIELD: YOU CAME IN FOR TIRES LATE AND YOU GAVE UP A LOT OF TRACK POSITION DOING THAT, DROVE AGGRESSIVE HAD CONTACT WITH THE NO. 2 AND NO. 4, WERE THE TIRES THE RIGHT CALL? “Yeah, tires were the right call. The No. 4 was the first car, I got beside him and he knocked me a couple of times and they just don’t give me any room so it was hard. The No. 2, I got on his bumper moved him a little bit, got beside him and passed him and he just plain and simple wrecked us. It’s hard when people don’t know how to race on road courses and think they do. It’s okay. We had fun, we have a good car. This Cottonelle Chevy was amazing today. It’s nice to run good here.”
ARE YOU GOING TO TALK TO THE NO. 2? “Ask him, he’s the one that wrecked me. We through the corner and I just got on his bumper a little bit and moved him a little. Got a good run and I guess he didn’t like it. I mean, it is just hard to run with people who have never run well on road courses or have no experience at it. It cost us a ton of points today. But no, you have to talk to smart people.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: OUTSIDE THE TOP 20 AT ONE POINT THE CAR WAS PLOWING, SIDEWAYS LOOSE WAS THIS A STATEMENT KIND OF DAY WHEN THE TEAM SALVAGED THEIR DAY? “It certainly was. It was as much a statement to us as anything else. You know a great effort by this DuPont Chevrolet team and Alan and everybody. It was a struggle. I’ve got to tell you we really missed the set up at the beginning of this race. I don’t know jsut the adjustments we made were that good or the track position or the track changing at the end. It looked like a lot of guys were really, really struggling with grip there at the end and our car was actually pretty good. We were fast and I think we were faster than the leaders. That felt awesome to start there with old tires and be able to work through traffic all the way up to second, man that was amazing.”
YOU’VE GOT JEFF GORVETTE ON THE CAR AND I GUESS KURT BUSCH MUST HAVE BEEN LIGHTNING MCQUEEN TODAY “I guess so. I tell you what, Jeff Gorvette came on there at the end and you know what, I’ve just got to say thanks to this team. I know we do that all the time. But if you guys were watching that No. 24 car, you know it was a struggle today. We were way in the back and not moving forward. We just missed the set-up at the beginning of this race. Alan and all the guys came together and made some good adjustments and that was a great call there at the end to stay out. We didn’t know. I thought really, even there at the end, that we were probably going to get beat up by some of the guys on newer tires. But the car just really stayed good there and we were able to even beat a lot of the guys in front of us and run them down. So that was a lot of fun. I was just so thankful the car finally came together there at the end. We were really, really struggling. So it was a great team effort.”
HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR PATIENCE WHEN YOU’RE DEALING WITH A ROUGH BEGINNING OF THE RACE? “It was hard. You’ve got to ride it out. You’ve got to keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble. There were a lot of guys doing some silly things that were wrecking and causing themselves a whole race instead of just trying to survive. When the car is like that you kind of have to give up the spots and not fight the guys off too much, which is just the toughest thing to do. You want to race. But we just didn’t have what it took there to do that and so we just were patient and that’s part of being old. I’m going to be 40 this year and I’m more patient nowadays than I used to be. So I just appreciate this team hanging in there. It was not fun for any of us to see that but boy to hang in there and to come back and fight for second there at the end with Carl (Edwards) and to get a second place out of this day, wow. It was a great effort by this DuPont Chevrolet team.”
CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 CHEERIOS/HAMBURGER HELPER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: ON HIS RACE: “Well, we didn’t really weather the storm but it was a lot of fun. Thank you guys for coming out here and enjoying this place. It is a hell of a place race. It was a lot of fun. It is always fun to race in front of a great crowd like this. Our Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet was pretty good all weekend long. It was about a second to fifth place car is where we were all weekend long. So, a good finish in fourth.”
JEFF BURTON, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21ST: ON HIS RACE: “We never were able to get ahold of the handling on the Cat Chevy today. Todd (Berrier, crew chief) made a number of changes to the setup and we would run well for a couple of laps but then rear grip would just disappear again.”
NASCAR News and Notes:
Kurt Busch won the 23rd Annual Toyota/Save Mart 350, his 23rd victory in 380 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. He ties Ricky Rudd for 23rd on all-time victory list. This is his first victory and ninth top-10 finish in 2011. His last win was May 30, 2010 in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He breaks a 38-race winless streak.
This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in 11 races at Infineon Raceway. This is his first road race victory. His best previous road race finish was second last year at Watkins Glen International. His previous best Infineon finish was third in 2005. Jeff Gordon (second) posted his 15th top-10 finish in 19 races at Infineon Raceway. It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2011. Carl Edwards (third) posted his third top-10 finish in seven races at Infineon Raceway.
Andy Lally (35th) was the highest finishing rookie. Carl Edwards leads the point standings by 25 points over Kevin Harvick.
Kurt Busch Wins Race at California is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Race Recap from Charlotte Coke 600
After a crazy finish in the Indianapolis 500 I couldn’t wait to see what the NASCAR race at Charlotte had in store for us. I enjoy this race as it goes from day to night and adjustments are crucial.
The race got off around 6:20 with Brad Keselowski leading the field to green and leading the first lap. Carl Edwards had a good car early on and took the lead on lap 8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr didn’t get off to a good start and hit the wall in the early laps.
Carl continued to lead and built up over a 4 1/2 second lead until the caution came out on lap 74 for debris. Jeff Burton wins the battle off pit road followed by Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. We go back to green on lap 79.
Dale Earnhardt Jr’s car seems to be running better now that the sun is setting, he is up to 5th. Also moving up is Jimmie Johnson as Jeff Burton is dropping back. Denny Hamlin is the new leader and battles with Jimmie Johnson until caution comes out when Bobby Labonte spins on lap 99.
On pit road a few drivers are complaining about the heat and get bags of ice. David Ragan wins the battle off pit road. Kasey Kahne gets a speeding penalty.
Green flag on lap 103 track is cooling down to 120 degrees. David Ragan leads the group followed by David Reutimann, Juan Montoya, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Lap 108 Matt Kenseth passes David Ragan and by lap 118 he has over a 2 second lead. On lap 140 Denny Hamlin is complaining about his engine. He is still running well but says the engine is giving way. We had a long green flag run and cars start to pit on lap 147.
As cars cycle through it is still Matt Kenseth in the lead. Kurt Busch had a loose wheel and had to pit on lap 161. Matt Kenseth has over a 6 second lead and is putting some good drivers a lap down. Caution comes out on lap 171 for debris.
Marcos Ambrose wins the race off pit road and on lap 175 we go back to green flag racing. Jamie McMurray passes Marcos on the next lap for the lead. Matt Kenseth passes Jamie on lap 181 and Jamie McMurray blows an engine on the next lap and caution comes out.
Matt Kenseth leads the field back to green on lap 187 but Landon Cassill gets into Casey Mears as the field checked up on the restart. Green flag again on lap 193 with Matt Kenseth as usual leading.
Marcos takes the lead shortly and Matt gets it back a few laps later. Dale jr is moving up and his car seems to like the night time portion of the race. Another long green flag run and Tony Stewart takes the lead as pit road cycles through. Kurt Busch takes the lead when Tony pits on lap 232. Caution comes out on the next lap as Mike Bliss car stalls on the entrance to pit road.
Green flag on lap 237 with Marcos Ambrose in front, Kyle Busch takes the lead on the restart. Another yellow flag as Paul Menard hits the wall, Martin Truex also has damage. After green flag gets us back racing on lap 245 and its Marcos and Kyle at it again.
Another long green run and some drivers like Dale jr and Jimmie Johnson are moving up in the field. Lap 278 starts green flag stops. Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin cars are starting to become better. Jeff Gordon takes the lead. Lap 282 we have a caution for debris. Green flag on lap 287 and Kyle Busch takes the lead.
Caution out again on lap 289 for David Star hitting the wall. Green flag on lap 293 and its still Kyle Busch in the lead. Caution again on lap 295 for Landon Cassill as he spins. We have only 26 cars on the lead lap. We go back to green on lap 301.
Lap 302 brings out another caution as Mark Martin and David Gilliand get into a wreck that also collects Ryan Newman who are all done for the night. It takes almost 9 laps for them to separate the cars as they were really hung up on each other like teenagers in love.
We go back to racing on lap 310 and Jeff Gordon takes the lead. He leads for 8 laps until the caution comes out for Kyle Busch spinning through the infield grass. His car is not as damaged as Carl Edwards was after he spun last week through the same spot. Green flag has Kasey Kahne leading as he stayed out of the pits. Kasey Kahne stays in the lead for a while until lap 343 when Kyle Busch takes another spin. He is not having a good night now. Jimmie Johnson has a penalty during the pits as he left a wrench in the car.
Jeff Gordon leads the field back to green followed by Greg Biffle, David Ragan, Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne. The caution came out at a great time for Kasey Kahne as he was coming to the pits soon for fuel. Greg Biffle takes the lead on lap 351. With 40 to go Greg Biffle has built up a nice lead but Kasey Kahne is coming. Jimmie Johnson had to restart 24th on the penalty and is up to 19th after only a few laps. He is driving like a man possessed.
With 20 to go it is still Biffle and Kasey Kahne who are both gambling on fuel mileage. Dale Jr is 3rd and not far behind and reports say he can make it on fuel. Only 2 seconds separate the first 4 cars with 11 to go.
Jimmie Johnson blows his engine with 5 to go and now it will be interesting because of fuel on green white checker finish. Everyone is low on fuel, some leaders are really sweating it out. Greg Biffle has to pit and will take 2 tires and a splash of fuel. He will surrender the lead. Dale Jr takes the lead and there was a wreck but no caution. Dale jr comes around to get the white flag. On the final lap on the last turn Dale jr runs out of fuel and Kevin Harvick passes him to win the race.
Race Recap from Charlotte Coke 600 is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Matt Kenseth Wins at Dover
Jimmie Johnson took the green flag to start the race and led for the first series of green flag runs. First ten laps we had 2 or 3 cars loose and hit the wall including Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers. The sun came out on lap 14 and took everyone by surprise, Lets hope it holds up for the whole race. Some rain is expected in the area about an hour into the race so the sun is a welcomed surprise.
Caution out for Joey Logano as he spins in turn 2 around lap 20. Most of the leaders didn’t pit as there will be a competition caution near lap 40. Jimmie Johnson has led every lap so far and he chooses the outside line for the restart on lap 25. Johnson pulls away from everyone. Carl Edwards is up to 3rd and he looks like he has a good car today. Kyle Busch is up 19 spots as he dropped to the back for an engine change.
Jimmie has over a one second lead and Carl Edwards is up to second, Harvick is third. Mike Skinner has parked his car and is the only car of track. Joey Logano is a lap down. Lap 40 and Jimmie Johnson is catching lapped traffic. Caution is out for competition caution at the completion of lap 40.Leaders are all coming to pit road.
Carl Edwards beats out Johnson from the pits and takes the lead. Some cars only took 2 tires it will be interesting to see how that makes out. Jimmie Johnson takes over the lead again and once again pulls away. Greg Biffle having issues and drops back to 40th.
AJ Allemdinger is running second and Carl Edwards is back to third. AJ seems to have a good car today as he has been near the top 5 so far. So far the Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch issue has been a non factor with Kyle fighting a bad car that is plowing in the 13th position and Kevin is running 4th as we approach lap 60.
Leaders are still the same as we approach lap 100 and it looks like a long green run is here. They just showed a weather radar of the area and it looks like storms are east and west of the track. So far Johnson has led all laps except for a few where some cars stayed out during the competition caution. There are 24 cars on the lead lap as Jimmie Johnson just put Ryan Newman a lap down. Green flag pit stops are under way with Montoya leading the way on lap 107.
Leader pits on lap 108 and David Ragan spins at the entrance of pit road and has blocked Jamie Mcmurray and Tony Stewart from coming down pit road clean. No caution as he gets back underway. Lap 110 brings a lot of the rest of the cars to pit road, looks like it will cycle through quickly. Jimmie Johnson back in the lead.
Approaching lap 130 and Jimmie Johnson is out in front by a second as the guys behind him are racing each other and helping the #48 pull away. Tony Stewart is having a bad day and is now 3 laps down. Lap 144 we have a new leader as Carl Edwards is the new leader with only 19 cars on the lead lap.
Track conditions are making the cars very slick and handling is going away. This was the main reason for Jimmie dropping back. Dale Earnhardt Jr has hit the wall but continues on. You can see that the track is starting to take rubber in one of the turns causing everyone to slide through the turn.
Another long green flag run but I think some guys are gonna come down early to work on their cars. Aj Almendinger seems to have blown his engine and is dropping back. Caution is out for rain at lap 163. Rain drops are all over the windshields and they had to throw a caution.
Carl Edwards is leader, Jimmie Johnson second and everyone is pitting. Kurt Busch has been in the wall again, they are having some bad luck. Jimmie Johnson beats Carl Edwards off pit road. Aj Allmendinger stayed out to lead a lap since he has a blown valve and probably won’t be racing much longer. Denny Hamlin to fast on pit road and will have to do a drive by penalty. Aj Allendinger heads to the garage.
Lap 170 puts us back under green and Jimmie Johnson once again gets a great start. He was told under caution that his tires looked great when they came off the car. Handling issue is just the rubber on the track making things slick. Kevin Harvick is 7th and Kyle Busch in 9th so that may be something to keep an eye on. Mark Martin has been in the top 10 since taking only two tires on the first stop to gain track positions.
Marcos Ambrose is up to second and his car looks good but Carl Edwards is right on his bumper. Marcos got loose and Carl passed him on lap 183. Martin Truex is having a good day and has been in the top 10 all day. He is up to 4th position as he passes Matt Kenseth. Carl Edwards takes the lead as Jimmie goes high in the corner. We have hit the halway point and it looks like the sun has come out again and rain will not be a factor anytime soon.
Kyle Busch got a bump from Jeff Gordon and pushed him out of the grove and he almost hit the wall. Jeff is 12th Kyle is 14th on lap 206. Harvick is reporting a vibration, probably blaming Kyle for it. There are only about 18 cars on the lead lap. Caution is out for debris on lap 217. All the leaders are on pit road and Carl Edwards gets out in from followed by Marcos Abrose, Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie dropped 2 spots on pit road as they made an adjustment.
So far we have had 8 leaders, with most of them coming during pit stops. 18 cars on lead lap so far. Kasey Kahne is up to third and Johnson is catching Carl Edwards who is the leader for now. 150 laps to go and Carl Edwards is catching lap traffic as he pulls away again. It seems like whoever is in the lead they get a 1 second lead. Leaders are still the same Edwards, Johnson,Kahne and Bowyer. We seem to be into another long green run and the sun is still out making the track slicker.
Lap 262 and its still Carl Edwards who has led 97 laps and Jimmie has led 160 of the laps so far. It has been these two cars all day and at this point I see no one challenging them for the win. Carl has a 2 second lead over Jimmie and he has a 2 second lead over Clint Bowyer. Dale Jr is up to 8th and seems to have his car working better. Tony Stewart is very loose and not having a good day. His teammate Ryan Newman is doing the same thing. Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch are trading paint. Jeff bumped Kyle early in the race and it looks like Kyle just returned the favor.
Green flags stops should be coming soon. The tire wear has been minimal but the rubber on the track has cars taking the turn higher for grip. David Reutimann is the first car to take to the pits. Rest of the leaders should be on pit road soon. Lap 284 brings the leaders to pit road, small adjustment for him as he likes his car. Juan Pablo takes the lead but he has not pitted yet. Johnson is ahead of Edwards as they spent extra time making sure Carl got all his fuel in. Johnson passes Montoya on the track to take the lead. Andy Lally spins coming to pit road but no caution.
100 laps to go and Johnson is in the lead Edward second followed by some Richard Childress cars, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick. There are 19 cars on the lead lap but Johnson is quickly catching last weeks winner Regan Smith.
Carl Edwards was passed by Clint Bowyer and then the two traded paint and Clint was knocked out of the grove. Jimmie is in the lead with 75 to go and green flag stops are expected with about 50 laps to go. Jimmie and Carl are battling again for the lead but Jimmies car is running better in the high grove. They are coming up on slower cars of Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Caution out for Kasey Kahne as he has a tire go down. Kasey was running in 8th at the time. Pit road is open.
Clint Bowyer wins the race off pit road with Carl and Jimmie right behind. The TV broadcasters are saying the cars can make it from here but I am not so sure with 63 to go. Clint Bowyer takes the green and quickly jumps out to the lead. Paul Menard brushes Montoya and has a tire go down but makes it to pit road. Kyle Busch is 6th and Harvick is 7th. %0 laps to go its Bowyer, Edwards,Johnson, Kenseth and Jeff Burton.
Caution out for Juan Pablo Montoya spinning right in front of the leaders on lap 362. 6 cars only took 2 tires and Mark Martin did not pit. This should be interesting restart. I don’t think Mark can make it on fuel. Clint Bowyer is in 8th Edwards is 9th and Johnson is 11th. This race is anyone’s at this point. Kyle Busch making good time on four fresh tires. Mark Martin on old tires is hanging on for second with 25 to go. Looks like the right call if he can make it on fuel. 7 laps to go and Matt Kenseth still in the lead and not much has changed in the front. Mark Martin still holding to second. Logano hit the wall but made it to pit road without a caution. Looks like maybe Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson should have stayed out on the last caution.
Matt Kenseth wins Mark Martin second. Lots of second guessing going on after this race.
Matt Kenseth Wins at Dover is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Dale Jr Press Confrence From Martinsville
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Martinsville Speedway and discussed racing at Martinsville, the tire situation for Sunday’s race, Texas Motor Speedway, Kimi Raikkonen and other topics.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TIRE SITUATION HERE THIS WEEKEND? “It is pretty disappointing. Just hopefully we can figure out what is wrong; why the tires aren’t as good as they should be and get it fixed.”
WHAT IS IT DOING FOR YOU? “Same thing it does for everybody else.”
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT TEXAS? “The car needs to move around. The track is pretty wide. It needs to work in several different groves; roll the center of one and two real good and get out of that corner real good. It is real loose off of two if you ain’t careful and tight in the center of one and two.”
YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NIGHT RACE AT TEXAS? “Either way is fine. It will be good.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS WEEKEND’S SCHEDULE? “It’s all right. It doesn’t matter one way or another. It is fine like this, it’s good.”
AT TEXAS IT WILL BE 100 RACES SINCE YOUR LAST WIN IF YOU DON’T WIN HERE ON SUNDAY, DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? “You come to the race track every week to try and win the race. I don’t really keep count, but it has been a long time. I feel closer to victory lane than I have I have in the most past. It is going to take some luck to make it happen this weekend because of the tire deal. We’ll just have to see how it goes. Texas is a good track for me.”
WITH THE SUCCESS JIMMIE (JOHNSON) HAS HAD HERE, BEING IN THE SAME SHOP NOW, DO YOU THINK THAT HAS HELPED YOU AT ALL? “He helped me just as much in the last several years. We knew what their setup was and we’ve run pretty good here. He was a big help over the last several years just being in the same camp as him as they were doing really well here and trying to see what they were doing. But, everybody has a little bit different setup here. When you come to this track, you like a little bit different feel. Jimmie’s probably going to have a great race. Hopefully this package we have in our car is good. I’ve always really liked running here and liked this place. The tire is really crappy, but, that is just the way it is, there ain’t much they can do about it.”
LIKING THE TRACK HAS A LOT TO DO WITH YOUR SUCCESS HERE DOESN’T IT? “Yeah. I guess. I like the track because I run good here. It is hard to tell which one came first.”
HOW ARE THE TIRES GOING TO IMPACT THE RACING TOMORROW? “I don’t know. After 12 laps, everybody was kind of falling off pretty fast. There was no rubber built up and there was a lot of marbles. You couldn’t get out of the bottom groove. You had to run right next to the curb. If you got in the marbles, it would ruin you. Once you got in the marbles, you ruined that set. I mean, there is no way to get them off. We don’t go fast enough here to really grind them off. It was messy. It was just real messy all day.”
IS IT GOING TO CHANGE THE FAVORITES HERE? “I really don’t know. I mean, I think that is secondary to what the real problem is and what our concerns should be.”
THIS IS THE SECOND TIRE PROBLEM IN THREE WEEKS, IS THAT JUST COINCIDENCE? “No, it is not coincidence. I think there’s a good explanation for it. I talked to some people at NASCAR and got a good explanation and you guys can probably go get the response that I got and it made a little bit of sense. We’ve had some good events here and hopefully we’ll get lucky and the track will rubber up. But it’s not looking so good right now.”
SHOULD THEY BE TESTING WHENEVER THEY CHANGE THE TIRE? “I think that would be the best thing to do. But, It is hard….of course, if you are going to make a change…obviously. They needed to make a change. There was a reason they made a change. They had to make a change. A lot of people assume ‘Ah, what are they doing messing with the tire. They didn’t need to mess with it’. But there was a reason they had to make a change. But if they are not sure about what is going to happen, then we probably should have some reliable data from testing to make sure it is going to be ok.”
IS TESTING THE SOLUTION? “I don’t know what else you can do. How else do you put a tire on the track and make sure it works?”
WHY DID THEY HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE? “I’m not real sure. I can’t even recall really what all the wordage was for the reason I got but it sounded legitimate. So, just go ask somebody at the big trailer and maybe they will tell you.”
WHY ARE YOU GOOD AT MARTINSVILLE? “I don’t know, I just like racing here. It is a good short track and I have fun racing here. I like different tracks for different reasons. The place is close to home and just fun.”
A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THE MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACKS ARE JUST COOKIE-CUTTER TRACKS, WHAT MAKES TEXAS DIFFERENT THAN THE OTHER MILE-AND-A-HALF TRACKS? “It’s not. It’s the same…it is in that group. It has some really, really, really weird transitions like the exit to turn two is just strange as heck. But it is what it is so….”
KYLE BUSCH IS GOING TO RUN KIMI RAIKKONEN IN A TRUCK AT CHARLOTTE, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT A GUY MAKING HIS DEBUT AT THAT TRACK? “I think Kimi Raikkonen has got enough experience to debut at a place like that. I’m sure they will go and get him a good amount of seat time and Kyle’s trucks are amazing. It is great equipment. You couldn’t ask to be in better equipment there. I think it will be fine. Should work out great.”
HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN IN A TRUCK FOR KICKS? “No. I mean, I am curious as to what racing them would be like and I hear they are good fun and I will probably do it before I hang it up. But no hurry right now.”
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PASS TOMORROW IF THE UPPER GROVE IS ALL GUMMED UP? “You just won’t want to be in the second groove. If you go into the second groove, if there is marbles there, you don’t want to get them on your tires, they won’t come off. So, you wouldn’t want to be up there at all.”
WHAT WAS YOUR TEAM DE-BRIEF LIKE YESTERDAY AND HOW CHALLENGING IS THIS NOW? “It is real challenging. If the track rubbers up, it will get real, real tight. It has not even made one little step toward that direction. But I think as a crew chief, you’ve never been to a race track that hasn’t, you know? There have been some rare occasions we’ve seen like at Indy and those weird deals like that. But you just have to assume that the law of averages says it is going to rubber-up. So we don’t really want to tighten our cars up too much. We’re going to kind….they don’t drive really good after 12 laps. They get real, real loose, but we are just hoping that the track is going to do what it normally does and that will mean that the track will come to our setup. Hopefully that happens. You just have got to take that gamble; that is the problem. As the driver, you want to make the car comfortable for how the track is right now but as a crew chief, I think you want to assume that the track is going to rubber up and know how to the target the car for that kind of build-up and that kind of track condition.”
HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE IN THE CAR?
“Normally, if it’s a green race track, say if it rains on Saturday, it takes about 40 to 50 laps. But it may take the whole race. This tire just comes apart and just marbles-up the race track and doesn’t really build rubber into the race track. But hopefully the trucks today will rubber-up the track a little bit and start that process. You’re wishing for the best. Goodyear is trying to make some changes to their tires and changes to the way the tires are make or whatever. I don’t know. There’s obviously got to be a reason for why they’re making changes. You just don’t make changes just to be making changes. So, hopefully they get it figured out. This is not as serious as the situation we had at Indy, it’s just going to be a slick race track and the drivers are just going to be asked to buckle down and do a little bit more after 12 or 15 laps when the tires fall off like they do. And that’s just what we’ll have to do tomorrow.”
WHEN OTHER GUYS FROM OTHER SERIES COME OVER, HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT DOES IT MAKE IT FOR THAT GRASSROOTS STOCK CAR GUY THAT CAME UP THE WAY YOU DID?
“I don’t think it makes it any more difficult than it already is. It’s super, super challenging for those guys and nothing really can make it more difficult, I don’t believe. And I don’t think it matters what direction, really, you came in or how you got here. I think it’s all good and fair here however you want to call it. I don’t really think that Kimi (Raikkonen) comes in here and steals anybody’s opportunity. I think it’s a neat situation. I’m excited to see how he takes to the sport. It would be kind of neat it Mr. Schumacher would come over here and give it a try. We’d all really be thrilled to see it. Whether you thought it was great or right or wrong, we’d all be watching. So, it’s kind of neat to see some of those guys have an interest in our sport because there is definitely such a big difference between the two. What we do here in America and what happens over in Europe, there’s a big difference. They have such an appreciation for what they’re doing and we’re very proud of what we do and it’s kind of cool when the two kind of get to check each other’s sport out and they come over here. It’s kind of nice to see their impression of our sport and it’s often a lot more intricate and impressive to them than they first assume coming in.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA SAID YESTERDAY THAT HE STILL GETS EMAILS FROM F-1 TYPES. DOES THAT SURPRISE YOU THAT THERE’S THAT LEVEL OF INTEREST FROM THEM IN OVAL TRACK RACING?
“I’m not really that surprised. I think that we have great popularity and there’s tons of intrigue and it’s natural for any kind of race car driver to know what the other half lives like, you know?”
WHAT IS IT ABOUT OLDER DRIVERS WHO HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SO MUCH IN OTHER RACING VENUES TO COME OVER TO NASCAR?
“I think number one is the popularity of the sport. That has pretty much everything to do with it.”
NOTHING ABOUT THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS WHERE THEY MIGHT BE ABLE TO ENDURE MORE HERE? DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH THE MONETARY OPPORTUNITIES?
“Yeah, popularity; that kind of all runs into the same.”
THIS IS THE TOP LEVEL OF RACING IN THE AMERICA. DID YOU HAVE TO WISH FOR A GOOD RACE? YOU USED THE WORD ‘WISH’ ABOUT THE TIRES. SHOULDN’T YOU KNOW?
“Yeah, you should know, but we don’t. We didn’t do any testing. We don’t really know what the tire is going to do. It should not be a debacle by any means. There may be some grumblings by the end of the race about it still, but we’ll get through it.”
ON RUNNING QUALIFYING TODAY, JUST TWO LAPS, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?
“It doesn’t matter to me. Whatever they want to do, whatever they say the rules are and whatever they say the schedule is, is fine by me. I really don’t have an opinion either way. This is kind of unique but it’s the same for everybody. It’s an even playing field.”
YOU WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SPEED CHART AFTER PRACTICE. IS THAT WHERE YOU FEEL YOU’RE AT OR DO YOU FEEL ANY BETTER OR WORSE?
“For qualifying, that’s where I feel like I was. We were having good speed in qualifying, but I felt pretty decent about my car in race trim. It drives, I feel, as competitive as I’ve been here in the past. But we didn’t find the kind of speed we were looking for in qualifying.”
YOU HAVE A GOOD RECORD AT MARTINSVILLE. HAVE YOU DEVELOPED A COMFORT LEVEL WHEN YOU COME HERE? ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT COMING TO MARTINSVILLE?
“Yeah, I look forward to coming here. I really enjoy the racing here and the race track itself and the fact that it’s close to home. So I do look forward to coming here. It’s a fun place to race, it really is. And the races are always good. They always come down to exciting finishes and they’re fun to be a part of.”
Dale Jr Press Confrence From Martinsville is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Timothy Peters Coming Home To Martinsville
Timothy Peters has always had a good feeling headed into a race at Martinsville Speedway. He’s never felt as good, though, as he is headed into the Kroger 250 Craftsman Truck Series race in two weeks.
The historic Virginia oval is Peters’ home track, so of course he should feel a bit of confidence. And there are the two wins he has at Martinsville, one in the Kroger 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in 2009 and the other in the big season-ending Late Model Stock race in 2005.
“It’s no secret how much I love Martinsville,” said Peters during an off week before the Kroger 250 on April 2 and the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 on April 3.
There could be even more love going around this time, thanks to the addition of veteran crew chief Butch Hylton to Peters’ Red Horse Racing Team in the off season. The two have had pretty fair success at Martinsville the past couple of seasons. Peters won the Kroger 200 in the fall of 2009. Hylton was on the pit box for both Martinsville truck series winners in 2010, Kevin Harvick in the spring and Ron Hornaday in the fall.
“With Butch working with me after being at Harvick (Kevin Harvick Incorporated) the past two seasons, it’s helped me a lot. He’s done so much to improve our equipment,” Peters. “Butch and I spent one whole day this week going over his notes and my notes from Martinsville back to 2009. Hopefully that will all help some.”
Peters had mixed results at Martinsville a year ago on his way to a sixth-place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points standings. He finished fourth in the Kroger 250 and wound up wrecking out in the fall.
“There’s always a lot of pressure at Martinsville because it’s home and because we run well there. But after last year, I’ve tried to relax that pressure a little bit coming in there,” said Peters.
Peters is off to a consistent if not flashy start to the 2011 season. He was 11th in the season-opener at Daytona, 12th the following week at Phoenix and sixth at Darlington last Saturday night. He’s third in the points headed to Martinsville on April 2 in what is an amazingly tight points race. Just nine points separate leader Matt Crafton and fifth place Johnny Sauter. Peters is seven points back.
“We’ve been consistent. Phoenix should have been better, but I tried to put the truck somewhere I shouldn’t have and wound up spinning through the grass,” said Peters. “But we’re still in pretty good shape in the points.
“The points are tight and are going to get tighter as the season goes on. With the new points system it keeps the window of error really small. You really can’t afford to have that bad day.” And a bad day is something Peters doesn’t expect at Martinsville.
Tickets for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 on Sunday, April 3, the Kroger 250 on Saturday, April 2 and the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Truck Series Practice Day on Friday, April 1 are on sale and can be purchased by calling 1.877.RACE.TIX. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.martinsvillespeedway.com. Tickets for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 start at just $25.
Timothy Peters Coming Home To Martinsville is a post from: Awesome Race Fans