As Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick battle for the points lead and the Gibbs cars make their performance surge, a story few have been talking about is the race at the other end of the point standings – that is the race to stay in the top 35 in the owner standings.
For most of the last 11 weeks as NASCAR has traversed the country and this season’s plot lines have developed and grown, Front Row Motorsports (collectively) and Robby Gordon have been trading that dreaded 36th spot in the points standings.
Front Row Motorsports for its effort has three drivers – Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland and Kevin Conway - that it’s been attempting to keep in the top-35 and locked into races. With a limited budget, and old Roush-Yates motors, the team has performed admirably. The story of Bob Jenkins and his little team that could has been one of the feel good stories of the year.
The team’s main goal has been to keep the fully sponsored, but struggling Kevin Conway with a guaranteed starting spot. Conway has traded his number/team with teammate David Gilliland twice now. Though it’s purely a surface thing (the team even changes the number on the hauler), it’s worked. Conway hasn’t missed a race. Perhaps more remarkably, neither has Gilliland.
Front Row’s main foe this season has been the independent Robby Gordon. Gordon, like Front Row, faces some adversity – he’s under-funded and under-supported- still Gordon has been able to fight against the start-ups and even Front Row’s three car assault and keep his team in the top-35 (most weeks).
Gordon though may or may not compete the whole season. And this week’s penalty didn’t help him in his bid to keep his team with a guaranteed starting position. After losing 25 points for unapproved additional door braces, Gordon is now just 18 points ahead of David Gilliland and that 36th place position.
As these teams fight to maintain their very valuable points positions every little mistake will be amplified and every position will count. As we continue through the summer and the season (barring anyone falling way behind) this will one fight to keep your eye on.
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When the Cup Series heads to Bristol this weekend, it marks the fifth race on the 2010 schedule. It will be the final race that the top 35 in the owners standings from 2009 will have a guaranteed starting spot. The following weekend at Martinsville, the 2010 owners points will decide who is in and who is out. Bristol will be crucial for those who are floating right around that 35th spot in the standings.
Those who are on the outside looking in right now include Kevin Conway, Boris Said, Robby Gordon, and Max Papis. A good run at Bristol for any of these drivers could mean the difference between racing and going home at Martinsville and beyond. For Said, Gordon, and Papis who all have limited sponsorship, the idea of not having a guaranteed starting spot could drastically affect the health of their race teams and their ability to continue competing.
The drivers who are in currently, but are dangerously close to being out, include Mike Bliss, Travis Kvapil, Brad Keselowski, David Gilliland, Sam Hornish, Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman, and Marcos Ambrose. A bad finish at Bristol, combined with some good runs by the competition, could knock any of these drivers out of the top 35 and that vital guaranteed starting position.
Two drivers who stand to benefit following Bristol are Mike Bliss and Scott Speed. Speed is very solidly in the top 35 (currently 12th) after a difficult 2009 season left him having to race his way in to the first five of 2010. But his team has rose to the occasion this season, and their performance has improved markedly. Bliss currently sits in the final guaranteed spot in 35th, which, if he could keep it would be a huge boost to his Tommy Baldwin Racing team. This team continues to run severely underfunded, but a locked in spot in every race could help this team secure more sponsorship.
Bristol is always an exciting race anyway, filled with drama from start to finish. And this season’s spring stop in Thunder Valley will be no different. But if the usual story lines don’t grab you, take a look down the leaderboard a ways. You will definitely find a tension filled race for many teams./
All three series have one more trip out West for the year. While the haulers make the long trek to Phoenix, we’ve got another question and answer post for you. If you don’t know what this post is, until further notice, we will be answering 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 Savannah:
Hey Guys, does the COT become airborne in accidents more than the old style car? In several wrecks, the cars seem to be flipping more than the older car. Does the wing on the back of the car cause it to loose the downforce and then the flipping starts? I am just curious. I apologize if you have already responded to this type of question in the past.
I’ll be honest with you, I can’t really give you a great explanation of this. Diandra over at Stock Car Science though does have a good explanation of why this is occurring with seemingly more frequency. By the way Stock Car Science is a great blog; the woman who writes it, wrote The Physics of NASCAR. – Journo
2. From Doug in CA:
I was reading about tire testing at Daytona. How much tire testing goes on? Do Cup drivers participate in most? Very little? It seems to me that there are plenty of drivers out there who don’t have rides (Blaney, Riggs, Raines etc.) who would appreciate picking up a few bucks for running laps for Goodyear. Why do busy guys like Johnson or Busch do this job?
It happens a few times a year. Goodyear will pick certain tracks they need to work on, and go from there. Tire testing happens for the Cup cars the most, but it does happen for the other series too. The thing to remember about driver participation, is that Goodyear doesn’t supply the cars. Teams show up with all of their own equipment, So out of work guys wouldn’t really do Goodyear any good. Guys like Jimmie and Kyle will do it because it allows them to learn, and to help their teams learn. Especially now with the testing ban, any extra track time is a huge positive for a team and driver. – T.C.
3. From Blair:
Sitting here watching the race and though I’m a little tickled at the fact that Jimmie Johnson is stuck in the garage it has made me wonder. As far as the car goes, what all can be changed during the race as far as engine pieces and all that? Obviously you can’t change the original chassis but what all can you change? Or maybe the easier list would be what can’t you change? Thanks guys! Love reading your blogs!
Outside of replacing the car (chassis) and engine, everything is pretty much fair game. Rear ends, suspension, body, really anything else is okay to work on. – T.C.
4. From Scott:
Hey Guys, following Jimmy Johnson’s big wreck on Sunday his crew really pulled together and did great work to get his car back out there. Clearly this shows part of the reason that he is in position to win another championship and highlights the team aspect of NASCAR, which I don’t think gets enough coverage. However, with all the parts being changed I was wondering about a couple of things. I heard during the race that you can change just about everything except the motor and NASCAR lets you back on the track for your attempt to get back up to speed. What I’m wondering is this, what allowances does NASCAR provide for how the car measures up in post race testing? While its doubtful that after that type of crash a car would havea competitive downforce advantage is this something NASCAR checks? As always, great website, great columns and commentaries, love Ask Wednesdays, keep up the great work!
Post race inspection usually only happens to the top five (I think) and a random. So unless NASCAR decided to be ridiculous, a team in a situation like Jimmie’s won’t have to go through tech after the race. There is no point in checking a team for cheating when they were a few seconds off the pace, 120 laps down. – T.C.
5. From windowlicker:
Hey guys. During the Busch race at Texas, a car (I think it was Justin Allgaier) came out after a wreck with no front end. NASCAR black flagged him for not maintaining minimum speed. He went back in they did something & he came back out & finished the race. I thought once you got black flagged for not maintaining speed, NASCAR parked you. You didn’t get a second chance.
I think that was his one chance. The car comes out of the garage, NASCAR sees it doesn’t make minimum speed, then you are allowed one chance to make it right. That is how I always understood it. When a car is wrecked and comes out of the garage, the team doesn’t really know what it has to work with. If the rule is as I understand it, NASCAR gives the driver and team one chance to feel it out and make the car better. – T.C.
6. From J and D:
After seeing some of the recent wrecks in NASCAR races, we got to wondering: when a car is torn up badly but still able to finish a race, how on Earth do they pass post-race inspection? We’ve seen some cars with no front ends, jacked-up rears and much more. What’s left to measure?
Like I said above, unless a wrecked car finishes top five, they won’t be inspected after the race. Once a car is wrecked and goes many laps down, there really is no point in inspecting them. – T.C.
7. From Red Kneck:
Why does Marcos Ambrose’s 47 car have yellow rookie stripes but is not listed in the Rookie of the Year Standings?
It’s because he ran too many races last season to run for the Rookie of the Year Award (11 in 2008), but he is still considered a rookie (hence the rookie stripe). – Journo
8. From Michael:
I know racing in general money is money no matter the funding entity. However, do guys like Conway, Nemechek (Extenze) & Martin (when he was sponsored by Viagra) face much ribbing in the garage area?
Yes, absolutely. I would say the crew guys are the ones that face the majority of the ribbing though. Can you imagine walking around the garage with Extenze or Viagra on your chest? I’m just glad it’s not me. – Journo
9. From Christopher:
During the Texas Sprint Cup race, we all saw the shots from the hour or so the 48 team was re-building Johnson’s car. It seemed that Jimmy stayed in the car the entire time. Is this normal? Is there any reason- knowing it was going to take awhile- that Jimmy wouldn’t have gotten out? Maybe to help- or at least take a stretch?
In this situation I think Jimmie was trying to make a point that he was committed to going back out. Likewise he was still very much in that zone, so I think he wanted to avoid distractions like the media. Generally, I would say whether or not a driver stays in the car depends on the driver and the situation. -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!