Filed under: Brian Vickers, NASCAR
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Ever since this story first leaked out over the weekend, there has been a ton of discussion about Kasey Kahne’s move to Red Bull for the 2011 season. While the official announcement from the team answered a few questions for Kahne and Hendrick going forward, it created a bunch more for Red Bull. Looking over what we know about the deal, it appears to me that the only party who is benefiting from this move is Hendrick Motorsports.
Think about it. Hendrick found a way to bring Kahne in when the team was ready for him, supposedly not pay a dime for Kahne’s temporary seat, and keep Mark Martin in the #5 for the remainder of his deal. Put a nice big red bow on it, and you’ve got yourself a nice little package.
Here is why this deal doesn’t really help anyone else out.
First, what exactly is Red Bull getting out of having Kasey Kahne for one season? Red Bull’s GM Jay Frye attempted to compare this deal to when the Vikings brought in Brett Favre, saying the team will benefit from having a proven winner driving for them. That would be all well and good if Red Bull actually had the pieces in place to win. From what they’ve shown all season though, it appears as though that isn’t the case. The #83 team had a very solid 2009 season, winning a race with Brian Vickers and making the Chase, but that success from last year did not equate to continued performance this season. In the 11 races Vickers drove before the blood clots forced him out, his average start and average finish were down significantly from the previous year. He did have two top ten finishes, but he also had four finishes of 29th or worse, including two DNFs. And with Scott Speed’s struggles, and the driver merry-go-round in the #83, it will be very difficult to gain any momentum or make gains for 2011.
I also think it’s important to note what this means for Red Bull’s teams and drivers for the future. If Vickers cannot return and Kahne fills the seat in the #83, where does Red Bull go after 2011? If Speed is released, and Kahne takes his ride, who replaces Speed for 2012? In both cases, Red Bull loses a year of developing a driver and his chemistry with the team for the future. If Red Bull starts a third team specifically for Kahne, what happens to that bunch after Kahne leaves? Is it really worth opening a team for one year, just to shut it down?
For Kahne, the whole reason for him leaving Richard Petty Motorsports was to join a team that would make him a perennial contender. Obviously HMS is an upgrade from RPM; but Red Bull arguably is not. So what good does this deal do for him if he gets in a Red Bull Toyota next year and struggles worse then he did in RPM equipment? With the way the #83 and #82 have performed this season, it’s difficult to believe this team will make the quantum leap into real contention next season. And don’t expect Red Bull to get any support from HMS. While Kahne could certainly use the help, it would be a very bad deal for Hendrick to give Red Bull anything, seeing as how they are competitors and they don’t share a manufacturer. So what Kahne ends up with is a throw away season that is just serving as a place holder until he moves to HMS. Not good for a driver’s confidence or his brand.
It’s also not good that Kahne is essentially under contract with HMS, but is going to work for a team that has ties and partners that conflict badly with those at HMS. Most notably Red Bull vs. Pepsi and Toyota vs. Chevy.
So while I do give kudos to Mr. H. for finally finding a spot for Kahne, and doing it to his advantage, on the other side I think it’s a mistake. This deal just doesn’t make a ton of sense, and it appears it could be another in a long line of questionable calls made by Jay Frye and Red Bull’s management.
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The Watkins Glen road course provided some great racing this weekend, but while the action on track was interesting, so were some of the rumors floating around the garage. We heard a few different bits this weekend that we wanted to share, and I figured I’d weigh in on them with some of my own thoughts.
First up, we reported on Twitter (follow us @nascarinsider) yesterday that we’d heard NASCAR took a box of lugnuts from Marcos Ambrose’s Nationwide Series team during the race. Word is that they were illegal in some way. Don’t be surprised if the team is penalized this week. I don’t expect NASCAR will take the win away however. Quick Update: Scenedaily.com’s Kenny Bruce reported via his Twitter page that NASCAR did indeed take lugnuts from the #47, but later decided there was no issue.
The most ridiculous rumor that we’ve heard on a few different occasions recently, is that Red Bull Racing is shutting down at the end of the season. I know the team’s performance has been abysmal this season, and question marks surround both of the team’s normal drivers, Brian Vickers and Scott Speed, but this is one I just don’t believe. There was even a report late this evening that Red Bull may be where Kasey Kahne ends up for the 2011 season. Some major changes are probably in order for this team internally, but don’t expect them to close down any time soon.
While Red Bull’s future is probably safe, we have heard that Kevin Conway’s days might be numbered at Front Row Motorsports. It sounds like the team has grown tired of Conway’s poor performance, and this group will struggle mightily to make races if the #34 falls out of the top 35 in owners points. They are currently 35th in the standings, only 182 points ahead of 36th. A few more bad finishes, and Conway will be on the outside looking in. To this point in the season, Conway has had a guaranteed starting position in every race, due to some fancy number wrangling by owner Bob Jenkins. With one team already outside the top 35 however, thanks to the tire debacle at Pocono earlier in the year, Jenkins can’t afford to have another team fall out. Word is that Extenze would continue sponsoring the team, but another yet-to-be-named driver would be brought in.
Richard Petty Motorsports officially announced on Friday that AJ Allmendinger had signed a multi-year agreement to remain the driver of the #43 Ford. With that settled, a number of other questions still plague this organization; namely sponsors and other drivers. With the rumblings that Paul Menard is taking his family sponsor to RCR, Kahne’s known departure for Hendrick, and Elliott Sadler’s apparent dissatisfaction, Allmendinger is short a few teammates for 2011. We are still hearing that Ambrose will probably end up in either the #9 or #19 next season, and a deal may be close between the two parties, pending sponsorship. Another name that has popped up as a potential replacement for RPM next season is Aric Almirola. Almirola has revived what appeared to be a fading career this season with a strong NCWTS campaign to this point that currently includes two wins. The young driver also impressed folks a few weeks ago with a third place finish at ORP driving for JR Motorsports #88 NNS team. If the team can find sponsorship, Almirola would be a decent addition.
Like I wrote on Friday, it’s certainly been a crazy Silly Season, and there are still plenty of dominoes left to fall. It will certainly be fun to see what plays out.
I wonder if we will ever quit referring to driver and sponsor movements as the Silly Season. It was initially called that because it referred to a specific part of the season when all this started happening. Now it seems that it starts in February at Daytona. Sorry, I digress…
Has the 2010 Silly Season not been extremely odd? Looking at what we know and still don’t know about who will be where in the future is really interesting. We’ve had all kinds of crazy things happen already, and it’s only August!
Let’s review. First, it was announced in April that Kasey Kahne would leave Richard Petty Motorsports at the end of 2010, and that he’d signed a deal to drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2012. The move certainly raised a ton of questions, namely, where in the heck Kasey would be driving for the 2011 season. In the four months that have followed, we’ve heard everything from Kasey to Stewart Haas, Kasey to stay at RPM, Martin out at HMS early, and so on and so forth. As it sits today, we still don’t have a single answer about where Kahne will be in 2011. With other teams having open seats, and some considering adding teams, was this move the best for Kahne? Should he have waited to make a move? The ball is in Mr. H’s court.
A few weeks after the Kahne announcement, we learned that Shell-Pennzoil would be leaving the Richard Childress #29 and Kevin Harvick to join Penske Racing and Kurt Busch for 2011 and beyond. It was an interesting move at the time, as trouble was brewing and it appeared Harvick was on his way out at RCR. Besides the chance to sponsor a NASCAR Cup champion, a big reason for the move on Shell’s part was the chance for rights to sell their oil in all of Penske’s auto dealerships. Shortly after the initial announcement however, Harvick won at Talladega, and later decided to re-sign with RCR. Even with the business opportunities for Shell at Penske, this move was still an odd one. You don’t often see a sponsor leave a team at or near the top of the points standings. It may be a little awkward at season’s end if Harvick ends up winning the championship.
The strangest driver change of this season though, just might be the most recent one. On July 27th, Marcos Ambrose announced he would leave JTG Daugherty Racing after the 2010 season. The move ended a five year relationship with team owner Tad Geschickter that took Ambrose from the Truck Series to the Cup ranks. JTG wasn’t driver-less for long, as only a few short days later they announced that Bobby Labonte would replace Ambrose for 2011. What’s odd here though, is Ambrose is now without a ride for the future. We’ve seen plenty of lame duck situations with drivers over the years, but how often has the lame duck driver not had a spot for the next year already locked up when he made his announcement to leave? I can’t think of one off the top of my head. The persisting rumor is that Ambrose is headed over to RPM to replace one of their vacating drivers in either the #9 or #19, but no announcement has come and there are indications that RPM doesn’t have a sponsorship deal lined up. Some have floated that Ambrose may be wanting to return to Australia, but I feel if that were the case, he would have already told us that. He may just be caught in the middle right now waiting for a deal to come together. Either way, the whole situation is very odd.
Besides the situations and questions that I mentioned, there are plenty of other holes to fill for 2011. There are strong indications that Paul Menard is bailing from RPM and taking his family sponsor money to help RCR restart their fourth team for next season. The deal may already be done. If that happens, where does that leave RPM? What happens to Elliott Sadler, who by most indications appears to finally be on his way out? With Brian Vickers health still in question, and Scott Speed’s unflattering 2010 performance, who will drive the Red Bull cars next season? Is Sam Hornish going to be out at Penske at season’s end, or does Roger keep him on? Could Justin Allgaier be bumped up to the third or possibly fourth team for Penske next season?
Where’s the Advil, my head is spinning…
Week in and week out I continue to be surprised by the performances of the two Red Bull Racing cars – it’s not a good surprised though. Despite its position as one of the better funded teams in the sport, in its fourth season Red Bull continues to struggle consistently performing well – and from what we keep hearing, team owner Deitrich Mateschitz is starting to lose his patience.
The man answering the tough questions to Mateschitz back in Austria is team GM Jay Frye – the architect behind the current iteration of Red Bull. In the years before his ascension to the helm at Red Bull, Frye worked as an executive at the now defunct MB2/Ginn Racing. When he joined Red Bull, Frye was heavily touted as an answer to Red Bull’s woes – and after an abysmal first season, Frye’s leadership was a change.
Through 2008 and 2009 the performance of the team looked to be improved. Brian Vickers scored the team’s first win last season and made the Chase. Despite the improved performance, 2010 hasn’t been good to the #83 (or the team as a whole).
This season Vickers struggled through the opening weeks scoring only three top-tens in 10 races. With him now sidelined Casey Mears has been in the car the last two weeks, but he hasn’t been able to finish on the lead lap. For as mediocre as the #83 has run, Red Bull’s second car has performed worse.
Scott Speed, in his second season in the Cup Series, has only finished on the lead lap in five of 13 races. While he is improved over last season, Speed has only one top-10 to his credit in 2010.
As a GM, Jay Frye has struggled to make Red Bull a contender in NASCAR. Where other Toyota teams were able to overcome bad first seasons (Michael Waltrip Racing most prominently), Red Bull still hasn’t found the success of many of their counterparts.
And it’s no surprise. What’s been Frye’s answer to improving the team? Bring on many of his former MB2 employees (including Ryan Pemberton), and maintain the Red Bull extravagance. Oddly enough their performance has been about as good as MB2’s. Strange how that works.
This weekend two of the Front Row Motorsports cars actually finished better than the Red Bull cars. That’s a problem for Frye and those in charge of performance. Things need to change very quickly or those rumors we’ve been hearing will become reality.
Race week in Charlotte is in full effect. Fans will descend on the QC this week to watch the Coca Cola 600 and to check out all there is to see in the center of the NASCAR universe. In case you are coming to town and are looking for stuff to do, we’ve put together a nice list to get you started (see it here). If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here. So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us. On to the questions…
1. From Bill:
With Bruton Smith offering up $20M to run in and win both the Indy 500 and Coke World 600, I got to thinking… It obviously wouldn’t be possible to run the Grand Prix of Monte Carlo, the Indy 500, and the Coke World 600. But, could someone run in Monte Carlo and Charlotte in the same day?
Well the Monaco Grand Prix took place this year on May 16 (Red Bull’s Mark Webber won). Last year it was the day before the 600. If they fell on the same date would it be possible? The race starts at 8 a.m. eastern standard time (Monte Carlo is six hours ahead). If the race lasts, say two hours (and you figure another hour to get to the airport and take-off – flying private of course), and the flight is about 9 hours (so the Internet tells me) that would put you back in Charlotte at 8 p.m. – too late to make it in time for the start of the 600 (which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.). – Journo
2. From Sue:
Does it really make a difference for team morale when a driver shows up at the shop daily or weekly vs those who rarely do?
I certainly don’t think a driver coming into the shop regularly is a bad thing. Guys know the drivers are busy and some, like Montoya, don’t even live in Charlotte, so shop visits aren’t always realistic. But the occasional visit is good for everyone, I think. – T.C.
3. From Gabi:
The cameras at the track record in 720p format or in 1080i? Thanks.
I believe the cameras Fox and ESPN use shoot in 720p, but don’t quote me. Maybe someone else knows for sure? – Journo
4. From Bristol_B:
First of all, thanks for sharing your insight, and perspective. Your website is a must read for any race fan! Now, I’m confused about the All-Star Race eligibility. Is it the car or the driver? Brad Kesekowski won last year in James Finch’s #09, but that car is not entered. Keselowski is entered in the #12 Penske car. Red Bull has entered the #83 with Casey Mears as the driver in place of recovering Brian Vickers. So if it’s the car why isn’t the #09 entered, does Finch need special dispensation due to a driver change? Thank you in advance for clarification!
All Star race eligibility is based on the driver’s accomplishments, not the team or car’s. With the situation surrounding Brian Vickers, NASCAR made a special exception to allow Casey Mears to pilot Red Bull’s #83 in the race. That is why Keselowski is in the race, and the #09 Finch car is not. – T.C.
5. From Christopher:
Cup teams generally bring two cars to a race, correct? What if they outright total both of them during practice? I know this is a stretch, but I could see it happening at Talledega, where you do have to practice dangerous drafting moves. Secondly- has this ever happened?
If I remember correctly, this happened a couple of years ago when Casey Mears was driving for Hendrick. He wrecked both his backup and primary at a race. I believe he ended up using one of his teammate’s backup cars in the race. This also happened to Ryan Newman at Daytona last year. He wrecked his primary in the 150 qualifier and his backup in final practice. I believe a third car was brought from Charlotte for Newman to race with. So if they are close enough, a car could be brought from the shop, if not, a teammate’s backup would work. - T.C.
6. From Steve:
Your thoughts on Vickers/Red Bull/Mears? Given the investment Red Bull has in both Vickers and Speed, would you agree that Red Bull needs Mears to do badly, at least worse than Speed does and worse than Vickers was doing? Any better, and it raises the question of why they wouldn’t keep Mears next season. And yet while Red Bull doesn’t want Mears doing too well, Mears knows this is a great shot at impressing people to earn a ride next year – a bit of a conflict, perhaps?
I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Casey Mears has seven full Cup seasons under his belt (all together 255 series starts) and one full Nationwide season (with a total of 93 starts). Scott Speed on the other hand has 52 Cup starts, 13 Nationwide starts, and 16 Truck starts. I would hope Casey performs better than Scott. Speed is very much a driver in development (not at all the case for Casey), so I think it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Speed still has the potential for growth – with Casey I think what you’ve seen is what you get. It is true however that this is Casey’s fourth opportunity with one of the sports top teams (recall Ganassi, Hendrick and Childress) to show he can be competitive (I’m not holding my breath). – Journo
7. From Melissa:
Between the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 weekend do the haulers return to their shops or do the crews replenish what they need and switch out cars using other transports?
Being so close to home, and seeing as how there is no track activity all week, the haulers go back to the shops. The Cup haulers will return to the track on Thursday to park for the weekend. – T.C.
8. From Emanuel:
When we’re watching the race at home, they allow us to “ride along” with the car, with the roof mounted cameras. Sometimes junk ends up on the lens, and you can see the lens rotate, and tada!, no more junk. Does the lens constantly spin, or does it “sense” when it get junked up, and then rotate itself to get the junk off the lens?
There is a little tape mechanism inside the cameras (it’s clear and in front of the lens) that allows the production crews to ensure the view from the camera is always clear. Check out this great NASCAR.com article for everything you wanted to know about onboard cameras. – Journo
And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!
Filed under: Brian Vickers, Casey Mears
When a driver becomes a Cup Series champion a certain amount of gravitas is permanently attached to him. Being a champion puts a driver in the league with the sports all-time greats and marks him permanently in the annals of history in the sport. He’ll forever be introduced as a Cup Series champion. I digress.
There had been rumblings for a while that TRG would begin starting-and-parking. Given their limited sponsorship and their history with the practice it seemed incredibly likely that it would happen again this season. The one caveat I heard though was Bobby Labonte would not participate in the practice.
Unfortunately on Sunday Bobby did just that. After 65 laps, the TRG car pulled into the garage and ended its day early citing “electrical” issues. I think we all know what that means.
After 19 seasons, 594 starts, 21 wins, and one championship Bobby Labonte deserves better. He owes it to himself and to his legacy to not ever start-and-park again.
Now a lot of drivers have had less than spectacular years toward the end of their careers. Think Dale Jarrett, Darrell Waltrip and others. Still they went out with their dignity intact, knowing that they left nothing on the table. It’s just not realistic, especially in this day and age, to leave the sport (or any sport) on the very top, Ned Jarrett-style. What Bobby Labonte did though was far below not making races or running in the back.
At age 46 Bobby Labonte isn’t going to have a Mark Martin or Jeff Burton-esque rebirth or renewal. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I feel comfortable in saying Bobby Labonte’s best years are behind him. That said, I don’t have a problem with the guy continuing to race if that’s what he wants to do. He deserves better than a start-and-park ride with a mediocre team though.
As good a guy as he is, I’d much rather see him retire or look for opportunities in lower series, than to see this continue. Here’s hoping Bobby Labonte, the man and the Cup Series champion, realizes he and his legacy deserve better.
Casey Mears Is In the All-Star Race? What!?
If I was James Finch at this moment I would be furious. I would be on the phone wearing out Mike Helton, John Darby and anyone else who would take my phone calls. Why you ask? Because NASCAR allowed Casey Mears to sub for Brian Vickers in the All-Star race – something Casey neither earned nor deserved.
This puts James Finch in exactly the same situation as Red Bull – both had teams that won a race, but don’t have the winning driver in the car. Red Bull is allowed to sub a driver, Finch and Phoenix are not.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the seriousness and unexpected nature of the situation at Red Bull. It stinks for the #83 team that Brian Vickers is unable to compete because of his health. Certainly this was beyond Team Red Bull’s and Vickers control.
Still, NASCAR has a duty out of fairness to every competitor to uphold their rules (note these are THEIR RULES). If something unexpected happens the sanctioning body should not change set rules or guidelines to accommodate a particular organization or driver.
This is a admittedly a bit of a stretch, but NASCAR didn’t give Denny Hamlin his position back this past weekend after he was wrecked under caution by Clint Bowyer. Hamlin couldn’t control what Bowyer did – it certainly was unexpected. But there is no precedent for giving a driver his position back and it would have been unfair – NASCAR didn’t do it. This situation should not, in my opinion, be any different.
My point here is, it is ridiculously unfair to change the rules in the middle of the game and not make concessions for others in a similar position. Incidents like this do absolutely nothing to help the credibility of NASCAR as a sanctioning body – let’s be honest it makes them look wishy-washy. It says they’ll change the rules depending on who you are and whatever unfortunate extenuating circumstances you may be facing. Bad move NASCAR.
It’s a bit of a weekend off for teams, as even though we will be at the track this week for the All Star and Truck races, at least we get to sleep in our own beds. If you are in Charlotte for the races, don’t forget that the Pit Crew Challenge is tonight at Time Warner Cable Arena in Uptown Charlotte! Before it kicks off though, here is the 75th edition of ATIW to help you get through your hump day. If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here. So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us. On to the questions…
1. From Ron:
Excellent site. Withthe new spoiler package they are controlled and dispensed at each event by NASCAR. How is it that some cars have their’s color matched if they are distributed randomly? I would think the teams wouldn’t know what spoiler[s] they would get each race.
Unlike the now extinct wing, NASCAR does not issue the spoilers to the teams. They are put on at the shop and then teched when they get to the track, just like they used to be. That’s why some teams have color matched pieces. - T.C.
2. From Jerry:
Guys what happens if Brian Vickers car owners points make the chase but his own drivers points don’t. Are Chase births given to the car or the driver.
Great question! There are actually two Chases. One for the driver championship and one for the owner championship. It’s no different then when Carl Edwards won the Nationwide Series driver championship in 2007, while RCR took home the owner championship. We don’t often see another driver run a car that is so high in points, so to this point, it hasn’t been an issue. - T.C.
3. From Kim:
This may be the silliest question you’ve gotten, but when a driver like Casey Mears subs for different drivers, what firesuit do they wear? Do they quickly doctor up a suit with the appropriate sponsor logos?
There are no silly questions here. Casey actually wore a generic firesuit at Dover. I would imagine if he continues to drive the #83 that he would have a Red Bull firesuit going forward. It really depends on how much time the team has. If they have some advance warning, they can get a firesuit ready. If not, the sub driver either has to wear one of their own, or hope they fit into one of the current driver’s suits. – T.C.
4. From Christopher:
At Darlington, Jeff Burton was penalized for running over the air hose. I’m curious- what is the rationale behind this type of penalty? I understand speeding on pit road- it’s a safety issue with other drivers, and it gives you an unfair advantage. But driving over a hose doesn’t give you any advantage, and can only really hurt yourself.
Running over an air hose is a definitely a safety concern. The combination of an impact and the hose getting kicked up by the tires can be very dangerous. If an impact were to hit someone, it could do some serious damage, and the air hose is connected to a Nitrogen bottle that has 2,500 lbs of pressure in it. – T.C.
5. From Kyle:
What do you know about the ownership situation at Red Bull Racing? There are rumors the company wants to move into a sponsorship only role. Any idea what team the sponsorship would go to if this were to happen?
The team is wholly owned by Red Bull owner (or perhaps more accurate, majority stakeholder) Deitrich Mateschitz (just like the Red Bull F1 team). So short of Red Bull deciding, without Mateschitz, that they no longer want to be in the NASCAR sponsorship business, it’s not too likely. Though I suppose if you looked at it from it’s purest form Red Bull really is just a sponsor now (albeit a very large one). – Journo
6. From Christopher:
When people talk about start-and-parkers, they often complain that they’re keeping better (serious) drivers off the track. If money and sponsorship were no issue, which drivers could be competing well in the Sprint Cup?
That’s a good question (it’s not something I necessarily buy into). Start-and-parkers are filling a void. Certainly there are exceptions every now and then but in the absence of the start and park teams we would likely have less than full fields. If money and sponsorship were no issue? That’s tough and I’m no driver development expert – this is something even the best driver development people have failed at (ex. Reed Sorenson, Casey Mears). Sorry. – Journo
7. From Allen:
Who makes the call to hand down penalties or park a car in the middle of a race? Brian France? Mike Helton?
Those calls generally come from the series director – Wayne Auton in the Truck Series, Joe Balash in the Nationwide Series and John Darby in the Cup Series. When drivers get to the trailer though, they sometimes get to meet with both the Series Director and Mr. Helton. – Journo
8. From yankeegranny:
Ok, what’s the story; was there a steering problem with the 88 at Dover, or not? If there was, what was it, and if there wasn’t has my fav driver become delusional? Seriously, what could be wrong with the car to make a driver say he had to turn the wheel 90 degrees to the left to get it go straight on a straightaway? Did he hit something/someone early in the race to knock something loose?
It is my understanding that there was, in fact, no problem at all. The marbles at Dover can be pretty bad, and if a driver picks them up on his tires, he can think all manner of things are wrong. It is not uncommon for drivers to think they have a flat tire or some mechanical issue. That’s why you see drivers swerving back and forth under caution to clean their tires. Dale Jr. isn’t crazy, and he wasn’t the only victim of the marbles this weekend. It’s just another example of the horrible luck and circumstances that continue to keep this team down. – T.C.
9. From Sann:
With all the drivers that get right front flats and smack the wall, would it be possible to run a liner in just that tire to prevent hitting the wall?
At Dover, Goodyear runs inner liners in all of the tires. When a tire blows out though, there isn’t much that is going to stop a car from heading straight for the wall, inner liner or not. The inner liner may make the hit not hurt so bad, but it’s inevitable. – T.C.
10. From yankeegranny:
In this age of mega teams with mega bucks, simulators, windtunnels, and 7-post whatever they ares, how can a team unload a car that misses the needed race setup completely. Some cars seem to be pure garbage from the time they come off the truck and nothing seems to improve them. On whose shoulders do we lay the blame..somehow it seems that this is one that we can’t blame on the driver?
Well it depends what team/s you’re talking about. Lesser funded teams don’t have the resources to spend a lot of time at the wind tunnel or at the 7-post – many of those teams are also running sub-par and used engines. When you see these teams run like garbage it’s often because their using sub-par equipment (having Chad Knaus on the box and Jimmie Johnson in the car wouldn’t do them any good). In the case of well funded teams you can blame the driver and/or the crew chief for missing the mark. Something to consider too is changing conditions. If a team practices in sunny/hot conditions and they race in cold/cloudy conditions their setup is going to get messed up. – Journo
11. From Walt:
When a driver says that they are tight or pushing in one corner and then tight or pushing in the next corner how can you adjust for both corners?
Usually, just adjusting for the overall tight condition will help in both corners. At a place like Darlington, where 1 and 2 are different then 3 and 4, a happy medium has to be found. It’s very difficult to make the car run well through both sets of corners. – T.C.