»
S
I
D
E
B
A
R
«
Bobby Labonte Replacing Marcos Ambrose in No. 47 Next Year
Jul 28th, 2010 by Bob Zeller

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: , , , ,

On the heels of Tuesday's announcement that Marcos Ambrose is leaving JTG Daugherty Racing and the No. 47 Toyota at the end of the season, the team announced Wednesday that 2000 Sprint Cup champion Bobby Labonte will take the wheel of the car in 2011.

"JTG Daugherty Racing is a solid race team that has come close to winning races with Marcos Ambrose and I'm looking forward to developing our new partnership in 2011," Labonte was quoted as saying in a statement released by the team. "The team is thriving and their technical alliance with MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) in intact. It's great to have next year already set in stone so when this season ends, we can begin focusing on next year right away."

"We are really happy Bobby has decided to join our teams because I have known him for a long time and I have always admired him as a professional driver and as an individual," said team co-owner Brad Daughterty, the former basketball star who has become a team co-owner and ESPN race broadcaster.

It won't be terribly surprising if something more happens in this situation before the end of the year. Teams often decide to go ahead and make a driver switch early so the driver and team have a few races to become acclimated before the following season gets underway.

On top of that, Labonte has had to ham-and-egg it this year to keep racing and keep alive his consecutive start streak, which reached 600 straight races (starting in 1993) at Indianapolis last Sunday. Labonte has driven for three different owners this season, has had to go through the start-and-park routine several times and may have to continue to find random raid for the rest of the season. The huge advantage he has is that he is a former champion, and there is a provisional starting spot in every race for ex-champions.

This is JTG-Daughterty's second year in the Sprint Cup series, and with Ambrose having posted only two top-10s thus far, it has been a letdown from a surprisingly strong debut season for the team, when Ambrose posted four top fives and finished a respectable 18th in points.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Marcos Ambrose Leaving Team at Season’s End
Jul 27th, 2010 by FanHouse Newswire

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: ,

HARRISBURG, N.C. (AP) -- Marcos Ambrose is leaving JTG Daugherty Racing at the end of the season.

Team co-owner Tad Geschickter said Tuesday the organization is disappointed to see the Australian driver leave after five seasons. Ambrose started with the team in the Truck Series, and helped it expand to NASCAR's premier Sprint Cup Series.

"After five years, I personally felt it was time for a change," Ambrose said.

Ambrose debuted with the team in a 2006 truck race at Martinsville. He won two Nationwide Series races for JTG, and nearly won the Cup race at Sonoma last month. He lost the race when, while trying to conserve fuel under caution, he turned his engine off and couldn't maintain reasonable speed.

Ambrose did not say where he will drive next season, but he's believed to be close to finalizing a deal with Richard Petty Motorsports.

"I would like to continue in NASCAR and finish off what I started, but I have not discounted returning to Australia," Ambrose said. "I'm grateful to JTG Daugherty Racing for giving me an opportunity to become a NASCAR driver and I wish them the best in the future."

JTG said it will make an announcement soon as to who will drive the No. 47 Toyota next season.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Ambrose Joins List of NASCAR’s Greatest Mistakes
Jun 23rd, 2010 by Geoffrey Miller

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: ,

On Wednesday's episode of Showtime's "Inside NASCAR," Marcos Ambrose shows how incredibly distraught he was after giving away his first Sprint Cup win Sunday at Infineon Raceway.

"I really would like to be in a cave right now, hiding from everybody," Ambrose said.

Certainly, such is a natural feeling for a guy who lost the race after shutting his engine down under caution to save fuel that, as it would turn out, would be unnecessary. The engine wouldn't immediately re-fire for Ambrose, and NASCAR moved him out of the lead due his failure to keep pace with the caution car.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Ask The Insiders Wednesday #80
Jun 23rd, 2010 by T.C.

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

With road course racing in the rear view, both the Cup and NNS cars head north to Loudon this week.  After what transpired at Infineon, the Magic Mile may play host to a little payback for some drivers.  While they ponder their revenge, we’ve got more reader questions and answers.  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 Ric:

Do teams inform the NASCAR Pit Road Inspectors what they might be doing to the car so they are not in the way?

It’s certainly not a rule, but often times one of the pit crew guys will let the officials know what’s going on.  There are a few that don’t pay attention sometimes, and it’s not uncommon for an official to either get hit, or come very close to getting hit. – T.C.

2. From Christopher:

Maybe this is a little off-topic, but I’ve been watching Inside NASCAR on Showtime this year. I noticed in the first bunch of episodes none of the track radio chatter was censored. Lots of swear words made it through, which I thought was kinda neat- gave you a little more reality than what you hear during the race. All of the sudden, they beep out anything offensive. Not a big deal, just wondering if anyone knows what gives?

You know I noticed that too. And I honestly don’t know why they all of sudden started censoring it. I think it’s probably the only show on Showtime that has any censorship. Perhaps people (within the garage) were complaining about being uncensored, but I don’t know. Sorry. – Journo

3. From Bob:

Here is a question that only Rick Hendrick and NASCAR can answer, but how can Hendrick have Kasey Kahne under contract for 2011 and not be considered his car owner? I can’t think of any scenario that would not somehow include arranging for a sponsor and/or paying the salary directly. Will NASCAR really go for this? Help me out here.

Oh yeah NASCAR will go for this. The issue isn’t Rick Hendrick employing people (he could employee every driver in the garage). It’s Rick Hendrick owning more than four cars. If Kasey is contracted out to someone else (even if Hendrick is still paying him), they are well within the rules. – Journo

4. From John:

Hey guys, love the site. Say a Nationwide Series team gets a sponsor last second during the weekend. Because the series has impound rules, do they have to get permission to wrap the car and when the car has to have the decals applied is there a NASCAR official supervising the process to make sure there’s nothing done to the car on the side?

If it happens that late in a game, all the team has to do is get permission from Joe Balash and the officials to put on decals.  And if they are allowed to do it (which they would be), there will most certainly be at least one official there to supervise the team. – T.C.

5. From Floyd:

What was your take on the way Jeff Gordon was driving?? I think that some other drivers would of been penalized for rough driving.

I think the proper penalty would have been for stupid driving. But seriously rough driving isn’t really applicable in this situation. I don’t think he was being malicious, he was just making very poor decisions and unfortunately other teams paid the price. I’m sure Martin Truex Jr. won’t soon forget though. NASCAR wasn’t giving Jeff Gordon any special concessions. He certainly wasn’t alone in his stupid driving this weekend. I heard guys afterward comparing the amount of damage to the cars in the field to Martinsville and Bristol – something you don’t normally see at a place like Sonoma.  – Journo

6. From Steve:

The last caution Sunday was (seemingly) due to Keselowski backing onto the racing lane instead of moving forward, a move that I viewed as his attempt to draw a caution which would keep him from losing as many positions than if the race stayed green. The caution likely cost Ambrose the win. I know Ambrose has no recourse but does NASCAR ever take action against drivers who game the system? On road courses, do you know why NASCAR doesn’t use yellow flags the same way the other road racing organizations do, where the yellow applies only to the specific area and not to the entire track? I like Jeff Gordon but to whine one week about somebody pushing him around and then to do the same to others. Am I wrong to think that the standard seems to be simply ‘if it’s done to me, it’s a crime, it I do it to someone else, sorry, but that’s racing’?

To your first question, NASCAR will (and have) penalize cars who they feel intentionally bring out cautions. I think though NASCAR made the right call with Brad K. To the caution question, it’s just the way it is. They do give quite a bit of leeway to cars straightening themselves out, but I agree it can be a bit daunting with larger courses (Road America for instance). The policy does make it safer for all safety crews involved however. And to the Jeff Gordon question, well, I’m not going there. – Journo

7. From MS:

What is NASCAR’s rationale behind using carbs instead of injection? Are teams in favor of going to injection?

This is one of those “we’ve always done it this way” situations.  There is not a rational reason for why NASCAR hasn’t changed.  And I think it doesn’t really matter to the teams whether they use carbs or injection.  Injection will certainly cost the engine builders a little more money, because they need to re-tune engines, but it won’t be a huge deal. – T.C.

8. From Marcus:

Being this is sort-of an opinion based site I have a different type of question for you guys. After watching what unfolded during the last 7-8 laps at Infineon do believe that NASCAR gives wins to Jimmie Johnson? Let me explain. When Brad Keselowski spun they called a caution with 7 laps to go. Now all day cars had been spinning and they didnt call a caution. Even after Johnson got the lead 3 more cars spun. Then under caution Marcos Ambrose stopped on track when he was trying to save fuel. NASCAR then pulls out this rule that NASCAR fans had never heard of but the NASCAR community has heard of. They put Marcos Ambrose in 6th I believe and then wind down the laps to 5 to go. Thus ensuring that Jimmie wins. So that is why I asked you, Do you guys believe that NASCAR gives Jimmie Johnson wins? Because after a situation like that I certainly do. And I did before. For Instance “Jimmie Cautions”? Just wondering.

As we have said here before, NASCAR does not benefit from Jimmie Johnson winning every other race and the last four championships.  If anything, it would have benefited them more to have Ambrose win.  A foreign driver gettting his first ever Cup win would have been a big story.  So all this talk about NASCAR favoring Johnson is crazy.  The officials just made the call they needed to make in this particular situation, and Johnson happened to be the one who benefited.  There is no underlying conspiracy at work here. - T.C.

I agree with T.C. – Journo

9. From Michael in SoCal:

Nascar.com lists the owner of the 24 & 88 as Rick Hendrick, the owner of the 48 is Jeff Gordon, and the owner of the 5 is Mary Hendrick. That said, obviously all of these cars are ‘owned’ by Hendrick Motor Sports. So does the listed owner come into play in any way with the 4 car per team limit?

No not at all. All of Jack Roush’s cars don’t have Jack Roush listed as the owner either. Same at Childress, Gibbs, Penske, EGR etc. What matters is what organization really owns and operates the cars. – Journo

Sad to see what happened to Ambrose and I am not here to necessarily to defend him, but maintaining the pace car speed rule and its enforcement leaves me a bit perplexed. Marcos obviously stopped when the engine would not turn over momentarily causing him to fall below the pace car speed. As no warning was given by NASCAR like “hey 47 you better get up here and keep your position,” how is that any different than others that have exceeded pace car speed and actually passed the pace car, only to be told to back and get back in line, or else. Or better yet during the caution when the leader on an oval slows near the pit entrance commitment cone, is passed on track by one or more cars that stayed out, only to void his pit, stay out and accelerate back up to the rear bumper of the pace car.

Ambrose was not allowed to pull back into his original position because he pretty much stopped on the track and had to restart the engine.  I’m not sure you can really compare this situation to the others you mentioned.  I’m not sure I remember seeing an instance where a car purposely passed the pace car trying to gain some sort of advantage, only to be told to go back behind.  Usually the only cars that need to pass the pace car are the lucky dogs.  Also, when a car is faking to pit road, they don’t usually come to a complete stop.  Ambrose was attempting to save fuel under the caution, and he got bit.  It’s really as simple as that.  – T.C.

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!

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

Late Marcos Ambrose Mistake Helps Jimmie Johnson Win at Infineon
Jun 20th, 2010 by Nancy Gay

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: , , , , , , ,

SONOMA, Calif. -- Jimmie Johnson may have won four NASCAR Sprint Cup championships but he's never been able to conquer the winding road course at Infineon Raceway. In Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, a crucial mistake by Aussie driver Marcos Ambrose opened the way for Johnson to finally win his first road course event in 17 starts.

Johnson, who started second behind pole-sitter Kasey Kahne and led for 55 laps of the 110-lap race, moved in front for good with five laps remaining for his 51st career victory and fourth of the season, thanks to a boneheaded mistake by Ambrose.

During the race's seventh caution, Ambrose inexplicably shut off his engine hoping to conserve fuel - a rules violation if the car slows to a crawl or a stop.

Drivers are told to maintain caution speed (translation: pace car speed) during yellow flag periods, and Ambrose's car was unable to start initially after he shut down the engine.

His No. 47 Clorox/Kleenex Toyota slipped back in the pack and the penalty dropped Ambrose to seventh after the restart.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Marcos Ambrose Needs Infineon Rebound After Rough Start
Jun 18th, 2010 by Geoffrey Miller

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: ,

A year ago, Marcos Ambrose left Infineon Raceway with a smile after turning in an impressive last-to-third-place finish.

Sure, Ambrose had watched Kasey Kahne improbably dominate the Sprint Cup Series' annual visit to California's wine country, but he had turned a whole lot of bad news on Saturday into a pile of good on Sunday with smart pit strategy and even better driving.

After qualifying third, Ambrose suffered engine troubles in the final practice -- forcing him to start at the back.

"We had a bad day yesterday. We were in the hole pretty good," Ambrose said after the 2009 race, having recorded his now second-best Cup result. "They just rallied around me and gave me the support I needed, the confidence to go out there today to just get aggressive and get to it and not skip a beat."

The finish left Ambrose 18th in the point standings, solidly ahead of so many teams and drivers that had grown up in oval-rich American racing scene. Ambrose, an Australian, made his way by dominating his home country's V8 Supercar series -- a racing form that only competes on road courses.

Ambrose, who occasionally spends time off panning for gold, wrapped up 2009 in honorable fashion, with four top-fives, seven top-10s and just two DNFs.

For his sake, we hope Ambrose has had some luck with his gold-panning, hobby because 2010 has been an oft-repeating nightmare on track in his No. 47 Toyota.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Struggling Marcos Ambrose Takes Lead in One Category: Crashes
Jun 15th, 2010 by Bob Zeller

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Filed under: , , ,

With a burst of futility not often seen in stock car racing, Aussie driver Marcos Ambrose has spun and crashed his way from the middle of the pack to the front of the field in just four races to take the lead in the FanHouse crash roundup for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

After 15 races, Ambrose has been involved in 10 yellow-flag incidents for spins or crashes. Just four races ago, he was at the perfectly average number of four, but two incidents at Dover, two more in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and one each at Pocono and Michigan has vaulted Ambrose into the lead.

"We've just had a rotten time of it, and we'll bounce back from it," said the driver of the No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Toyota.

And who might be doing the best job at keeping his nose clean this year?

His name is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

After five races, Earnhardt was one of nine drivers who had managed to avoid being involved in any yellow-flag crashes or spins. But with 10 more races in the books, Earnhardt is the only one who remains crash-free.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Are Rotating Sponsors Affecting Your Interest?
May 28th, 2010 by Journo

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

I know this seems like a weird question, but it’s a legitimate concern for many of the sport’s marketers.

Michael Smith, who among other things covers NASCAR at Sports Business Journal, wrote a piece this week looking at the changing face of the NASCAR sponsorship – namely the proliferation of fragmented sponsorship deals. He notes there are just 10 teams (he missed the #37 Extenze sponsored car, so 11) that carry the same sponsor for the entire season (of those, three are owned by the sponsor).

Through this, many in the sport and around the sport are questioning the effect it has on fans – many are even suggesting it drives fans away. The thinking is that it becomes hard to associate the driver, the team and their corporate partner – in other words they all look different every week. It certainly is a strange new world.

From the beginning of sponsorship in the sport one of the real values has been the ability to tie a sponsor to a driver, and vice versa. Think GM Goodwrench and Dale Earnhardt, STP and Richard Petty, Skoal and Harry Gant, and many, many others. This, so the thinking goes, builds fan loyalty.

Today it’s almost difficult to tell who sponsors whom, when. Carl Edwards has four? sponsors, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have three, and Marcos Ambrose has six different products and/or companies adorning his car at various times throughout the season. It’s impossible to keep up with.

Now my question to you is, does this make any difference to your enjoyment of the sport? Does it change the way you see your favorite driver or team?

I don’t know if I necessarily believe it’s driving people away from the sport, but I can see how this might make it hard to follow for someone who is new to the sport. It would be like the Chicago Cubs calling themselves three different names during the season. You know the players play for the same team, and you know the Cubs are also the Pups and the Fawns, but you can’t keep your apparel straight and you’re not sure when you go into the stadium just what team you’re following.

As the article suggests this fragmentation and confusion dilutes the sponsorships and the brands. It’s hard to see how anyone is getting any value from these few race deals, or from ever changing paint schemes. And I can’t imagine fans are connecting all that well.

What do you think about all of this? Since this is likely the future of sponsorship in the sport, will that change how you feel about NASCAR? Do you find this frustrating? Is it a non-issue?

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

Ambrose Feeling The Sophomore Blues
May 18th, 2010 by T.C.

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

As we watched Marcos Ambrose blow a second tire and hit the wall on Sunday at Dover, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy.  After a very strong rookie campaign in 2009 that saw him finish 19th in the points standings on the strength of four top five and seven top ten finishes, 2010 has been difficult at best.  Ambrose and his #47 JTG Daugherty team only had two DNFs all last season, and they already have four through twelve races.  A difficult first third of his sophomore season isn’t exactly what the Australian had in mind.

Much of the trouble for Ambrose this season has been just plain bad luck.  At Daytona, he blew an engine 21 laps before halfway.  He then had to retire a week later at California after only 170 of 250 laps because of an overheating problem.  Wrong place, wrong time wrecks at Bristol and Talladega continued the stretch of bad luck.  And handling and engine issues at Darlington, followed by two blown tires at Dover on Sunday only added to the struggles.

It hasn’t been all bad though.  Besides their good runs in 2009, four top eleven finishes this season at Atlanta, Martinsville, Phoenix, and Richmond have shown this team can compete.  Ambrose certainly has the talent and with support from Michael Waltrip Racing, JTG Daugherty has the necessary equipment and resources.  Now the Frank Kerr led team just needs to find a little luck.

Their may be relief on the horizon though.  The upcoming schedule has stops that favor Ambrose.  Races at Pocono and Sonoma, where he ran well last season should help, and the small successes he’s had this season should bode well for Charlotte and Loudon.  A little luck at Michigan and Daytona would also go a long way in helping this team dig out of 28th place in the standings.

The sophomore slump, whether real or imagined, seems to affect many young drivers.  It’s difficult to point to a reason why it happens, but it might be as simple as raised expectations cause the driver to push too hard at times.  What’s good for Ambrose though, is while he may be in only his second full Cup season, he is not an inexperienced racer.  A solid career in Australian V8 Supercars, followed by plenty of seat time in the Truck and Nationwide Series should aide him in dealing with the adversity.

It’s anybody’s guess when Ambrose’s bad luck will finally end, but make no mistake, Ambrose is a contender.  There is no reason why he couldn’t be a first time Sprint Cup winner in 2010.

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

Ask The Insiders Wednesday #73
May 5th, 2010 by T.C.

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for this weekend!  Both the Nationwide Series and Cup Series are headed to Darlington, and if you are like me, you can’t get enough of the “Track Too Tough To Tame.”  Don’t worry though, this week’s round of reader questions shouldn’t be too tough to tame.  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 Ella:

What has happened to Carl Edwards and his team this year? Seems he has been lagging behind his teammates as well as other top drivers. Will he stay with the same crew chief?

Jack Roush is a big fan of moving crew chiefs when things aren’t going right. I’m not saying I’ve heard anything, but if Bob Osborne doesn’t turn things around soon he may very well be out of a job. Roush as a whole had performance issues last season and Carl just hasn’t overcome his slump. It’s hard to say exactly what the issue/s is/are, but something is wrong. If their performance doesn’t improve soon, expect changes on that team. – Journo

2. From Kevin:

TC, regarding Woogeroo’s question about impound races, is Richmond (my favorite track – bit biased on that) an impound race too. If so, why? I guess I will find out in a couple of days.

I don’t know if you found out during the race broadcast or not, but Richmond is not an impound race.  I believe only the Talladega races and the July Daytona races are impound races. – T.C.

3. From Mike:

I’m wondering if you can tell me if Marcos Ambrose will be back in the #47 car next year, 2011?

I don’t see him going anywhere. JTG and Waltrip are certainly pleased with him and there aren’t really any open rides for him to go to, so I’d expect him back there next season. – Journo

4. From Brad:

Any discussion of the Dale Jr. story in the National Enquirer? I’m interested to know if you guys have any scoop….

We don’t know anything more than what was reported.  While it certainly could be classified as “inside” info, even if we did know something more, we wouldn’t share it.  Both myself and my partner leave that type of stuff alone when it comes to writing for the site.  Want rumors and info about the sport and the competition?  We are the right place to stop by.  Rumors and gossip about people’s personal lives is probably best left alone. – T.C.

5. From Allen:

Do you think the Camping World Truck Series is going to eventually become the IROC Series? (i.e disappear)

I don’t think NASCAR will abandon the series, but I do think they need to consider making changes to it. If you remember 10 years ago the stands would be packed at races (that was partly because they were racing at smaller venues in smaller markets), not the case today. The TV audience is good, but the series has its issues. It’ll be interesting to see if NASCAR is willing to try and breath new life into it. – Journo

6. From Marcus:

Is the Air National Guard really sponsoring the #26 Latitude 43 Motorsports car driven by David Stremme? I remember when they 1st ran it at Bristol they said it was for showing what the Air National Guard can do. But 5 races later the decals are still on the car and they have pit suits and everything. Also they are starting to run full races. Just wondering if you guys know because i’m curious. Thanks!

As far as I know, the Latitude 43 team is still not being sponsored by the ANG.  The “tribute” that was run at Bristol was officially extended to include Martinsville as well, but no further announcement has come out regarding their involvement.  You would think that if the ANG did in fact come on board as a sponsor that the team would put out some sort of release, and they haven’t done so.  Maybe they are hoping that by showing some good will towards the ANG that eventually they will help out. – T.C.

7. From BJ:

Watching the truck race on Sunday, with Johnny Benson & his glasses, got me wondering if any other drivers in the big 3 NASCAR divisions have less than 20/20 eyesight. Are there drivers there with contact lenses or laser-corrected vision? What about other kinds of everyday impairments that they have to deal with like diabetes, severe allergies, hearing loss? (I’m not asking you to ‘out’ anybody; just curious if things like that tend to winnow down the talent pool.)

The two examples that come immediately to mind in terms of any kind of impairments are John Wes Townley and Steve Wallace.  Townley used to wear glasses when he drove, but doesn’t anymore.  I believe he has had laser surgery.  And Wallace suffers from Tourrette’s Syndrome.  I’m sure there are many others, but as you might imagine, making that kind of info public would be a tough thing to do.  When it comes to these types of conditions, if it’s something that severely limited a driver’s ability to perform, or could potentially be life threatening, I doubt they would have made it to this level. - T.C.

8. From Michael:

Two questions for you guys: 1) Why do the COTs sometimes have white plastic pieces sticking up from the splitter at times, mostly during practice? What purpose do these plastic pieces serve? 2) Why does Darlington have two pit roads? Thanks TC & Journo!

Those white plastic pieces you see are wear indicators.  It helps the team figure out how low the nose of the car is getting in the corners.  Teams will also spray paint the bottoms of the splitters, so they can see if and where it’s rubbing through the turn.  And Darlington used to be like Bristol is today.  Some cars would pit on the frontstretch, and some on the back.  But in between the 1999 and 2000 seasons, the track extended the frontstretch pit road to include all 43 stalls.  When they did that, they just didn’t take out the old pit road. – T.C.

9. From windowlicker:

As we get close to our first Hall of Fame induction ceremony, I wonder about some of the inductees. In baseball there are tons of Hall of Famers who are considered to be jerks. What do people in racing think of Richard Petty? Is he a nice guy? Good to work for?

I’ll say this, there are people that love Richard Petty and there are people that don’t. I’ve never worked for the man, so I can’t say how that is. He’s certainly a fan favorite, and very good at glad handing. I think it’s important to point out though that Richard Petty isn’t getting into the Hall of Fame because he is universally liked; he’s there because of what he has done in the sport and done for the sport. I don’t think you’ll find anybody who’ll disagree with his inclusion in the first class. – Journo

10. From BJ:

Everyone at my workplace knows who my driver is. I am definitely not a neutral observer of NASCAR. My question is: Do the journalists who cover NASCAR have favorites? I don’t mean does a writer skew his/her pieces to favor a particular team. I mean that with 10 laps to go and a GWC looming do journalists turn into fans? What’s it like to walk that line between remaining an unbiased reporter & secretly needing to stand and cheer for your guy to take the checkers? Without blowing your cover, Journo, can you share any anecdotes of your experiences in balancing work vs. being a fan.

After you’ve been in this sport, or any sport for any length of time athletes lose their luster. In reality they’re pretty normal people. Personally I love NASCAR, and racing in general, so I like a good show and a good story. I can’t speak for everyone, but I think that’s pretty universal. Certainly there are teams and drivers that are more pleasant to work with, but as far as people rooting for someone in particular, that kind of goes out the window. As a result I can’t say I personally have any anecdotes. Sorry. – Journo

11. Neon:

How many more TNI followers were hatched after the Mike Joy plug?

You know, that’s a tough question to answer.  We definitely saw a traffic spike after the mention, and we’ve had several folks send emails and leave comments saying they came to the site because of the mention, but it would be difficult to put a number on it.  Even if it’s only one or two, we’re glad they are here! – T.C.

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!

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

»  Substance: WordPress   »  Style: Ahren Ahimsa
<