Patrick Carpentier wanted to end his career on a high note. He chose the Nationwide race at his home town race track knowing he’d have a decent shot at a win and a very good chance at a top five finish. But after running up front early on in the race, two incidents (one involving Steven Wallace) ended his day early. And it was frustration for the Wallace incident coupled with another major factor, that led to Carpentier’s crew chief, Jerry Baxter, sending Wallace a message.
Carpentier being knocked out of the race early was not only an unceremonious end to his driving career, but it was also an abbreviated end to MWR’s #99 Nationwide Series team for the foreseeable future. Travis Pastrana was supposed to compete in seven races this season for the team, but his busted ankle put an end to those plans. Now the team is left without a driver or sponsor, and word is will be shut down until Pastrana is ready to go sometime next season. With that in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why Baxter was upset.
I don’t want it to seem like I’m justifying what transpired, as grabbing somebody by the hair on national television is nothing close to acceptable behavior, I just want it known that there are two sides to every story. And it was only a matter of time before somebody took a shot at Wallace off the race track.
In Baxter’s case, something tells me that he understood a fine or suspension was trivial considering his team’s situation, and he decided to take the opportunity to stick up for his guys and his driver. His method for doing so was misguided, but you can’t fault his intentions.
We’ll find out early this week if NASCAR took exception to Baxter’s actions, as penalties for the previous weekend are usually announced on Tuesdays. And it will be interesting to see just what NASCAR is willing to let slide under the “have at it boys” policy. Either way, it’s a shame the whole day went down like it did for all involved.
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Cue Gene Kelly singing a slightly different tune.
It took us 22 weeks, but we finally had our first rain out of the season after a close call at Pocono.
This of course moves the race to Monday on ESPN – a notably smaller audience and reach. In recent years this wouldn’t have been a problem for the Nationwide Series. Rain tires, windshield wipers and brake light have gotten the job done. For the Cup Series though, that option doesn’t exist. This delay has raised the inevitable question of why what’s good enough for the Nationwide Series is not good enough for the Cup Series.
And this morning, as you peruse the NASCAR press, there are a lot of opinions about the use of rain tires in the Cup Series – a move that would have kept the Series in it’s prime TV slot and maintained the audience.
NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton said:
“We feel at this level, it really throws a wild card in there… Our guys, we’re a series that doesn’t have experience on rain tires. It’s a lot to put on them. Nowadays the championships are so close and making the Chase is so close, it’s a lot of pressure to put on one race at this stage of the season.“
The fact is, he’s right. The series never has raced on rain tires and it would be nothing short of risky to put them out there under the present circumstances. Should preparations have been made for such a scenario though?
Obviously rain tires on an oval are out of the question. But the Nationwide Series has proven, if not with mixed results, that it can work on a stock car. It’s true that the racing is rough, sloppy and frankly not very good, but it is possible.
For NASCAR though ensuring the quality of the racing has to be a top priority. We’ve seen in the past when things have gone wrong and the damage it can do to the sport and to the venue hosting – I point you to the tire fiasco at Indianapolis in 2008.
Is it better to have a race because we can? Or should we be ensuring the conditions are optimal for the race we want?
I’ll admit, I thought some of Pemberton’s excuses were shaky. But I don’t necessarily think this is a bad policy for NASCAR. The races we’ve run in the rain have been entertaining only for the novelty of the event. I know I’d rather see a delayed good race on Monday than a forced bad race on Sunday.
Tell us what you think! Would you like to see the Cup Series on rain tires? Do you wish we’d raced on Sunday instead of Monday? Let us know.
By the way, check out the race at noon 10 am on ESPN.
Now that the future at Roush Fenway is becoming more clear, we can begin to look at the other RFR drivers awaiting their fates. If the #99 seat was vacated, it was assumed that Trevor Bayne or Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would be in line to fill it. But since that now won’t happen, Bayne and Stenhouse’s futures are unclear. USA Today’s Nate Ryan wrote yesterday that Bayne expects to run a similar schedule next season as he ran in 2011. And Stenhouse told ESPN’s David Newton that there is no current definitive plan for him next season, but that he’d like to run another full NNS schedule and possibly Cup races for Richard Petty Motorsports (which has room to expand). With these two young drivers in the pipeline, RFR looks to be in a good position. But the situation begs the question, who’s the better Cup prospect?
Looking over their young careers, the two drivers have very similar statistics. Stenhouse’s NNS numbers (two wins and more top five and top ten finishes) are a tick better than Bayne’s, but both of their average finishes are right near 16. Stenhouse only has one Cup start (11th at Charlotte) versus Bayne’s 12 starts. But outside of his Daytona 500 win, Bayne’s best finish is a 16th at Michigan. In a close decision, advantage Stenhouse in the performance department.
In saying that however, I think it’s important to point out that Bayne missed time this season due to illness, and he’s in his first season with crew chief Chris Andrews. Both have played a factor in his performance this season. Stenhouse on the other hand has had significantly more time with veteran crew chief Mike Kelley.
Being successful and having a long career at the Cup level isn’t just about performance though. Marketability is becoming ever more important in the era of tough to get sponsorship dollars. Bayne has a clear advantage over Stenhouse in this area. An emotional win in the famous #21 at the Daytona 500, the media opportunities that followed, and Bayne’s personality all contribute. Stenhouse isn’t as well known despite his success, and he isn’t anywhere near the fan favorite Bayne is. During driver introductions, Bayne’s cheers rival that of perennial most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All things considered, I think it’s very difficult to say one driver has more potential than the other. They both have long, successful careers ahead of them. I’m curious though, if you were a team owner with one open Cup ride, who would you pick?
The Indiana Business Journal reported this week that Crown Royal may be in negotiations with Indianapolis Motor Speedway to become the title sponsor of the Brickyard 400 weekend. According to their report the deal could be the richest title sponsorship in NASCAR at around $1.5 million annually. The multi-year deal could be announced in as soon as two weeks at the upcoming 400. If true, it would make the recent moves made by IMS make a lot more sense.
It was announced officially last week that the Nationwide Series would not return to Lucas Oil Raceway Park in 2012, and instead would shift over to IMS as part of the Brickyard 400 weekend. Also a part of the event, IMS has added a GRAND-AM Series race on the track’s road course. Both moves now appear to be an effort by IMS to sweeten the deal for Crown Royal. With waning attendance in recent years, the track had to do something to justify a price tag north of $1 million.
This report comes just two weeks after Crown Royal announced it would not return to Roush Fenway Racing next season as sponsor of Matt Kenseth’s #17 Ford. Along with their team sponsorship, Crown Royal had also been a title sponsor at Richmond with their “Your Name Here” 400 program. The announcement had some interesting phrasing regarding the future of this part of their NASCAR program:
The changes are made to allow Diageo to shift resources toward its annual “Your Name Here” program, in which Crown Royal awards naming rights to a Sprint Cup event to an adult fan, recently with a military background. “We look forward to elevating this program as well as continuing our presence in the sport through an experience that our fans have grown to love,” Briese said. Details about next year’s race sponsorship will be announced at a later date, she added. The “Your Name Here” event has traditionally been held at Richmond International Raceway, but there was no information immediately available Tuesday as to what track would host the race in 2012 and beyond.
The changes are made to allow Diageo to shift resources toward its annual “Your Name Here” program, in which Crown Royal awards naming rights to a Sprint Cup event to an adult fan, recently with a military background. “We look forward to elevating this program as well as continuing our presence in the sport through an experience that our fans have grown to love,” Briese said.
Details about next year’s race sponsorship will be announced at a later date, she added. The “Your Name Here” event has traditionally been held at Richmond International Raceway, but there was no information immediately available Tuesday as to what track would host the race in 2012 and beyond.
Knowing what we know now, it would appear that Crown Royal may be preparing to use the Brickyard sponsorship to escalate the “Your Name Here” program.
The loss of the NNS and Truck events from LORP has been an unpopular move (we wrote about it here and here). Initially, the move appeared to just be IMS attempting to boost fading ticket sales. But now, the changes make a lot more sense. While the track certainly hopes to see a boost at the gates, the added races make the sponsorship deal much more valuable for Crown Royal.
None of the three things I mentioned in the headline are connected, I just decided to write a hodgepodge post with a few different thoughts and observations. Feel free to comment on one or all (or not at all).
Fuel Injection The new fuel injected engines were on display for the first time on Thursday at Kentucky Speedway. The Cup teams were allowed to bring extra cars to an open test session in order to gather data on the new EFI systems. There is no shortage of information about fuel injection, and it sounds like the testing was pretty uneventful. Outside of the manufacturers using the new systems to develop technology, and the obvious marketing benefits, don’t expect much to change. The cars shouldn’t drive much different than they do with a carburetor, so the racing action should remain unchanged. Still no word on what this means for the superspeedways and restricting horsepower.
Jimmie Johnson Still think JJ is too vanilla or too corporate? Over the last five years, as he was running away with championships, one of the biggest criticisms of Johnson was that he didn’t have enough personality. He isn’t controversial like Kyle Busch or beloved like Dale Earnhardt Jr. Instead, he’s always polite and friendly in interviews, gets his Lowe’s mentions in, and has a hot wife and new baby. But this boring image might be starting to change a little bit. And it’s all thanks to Twitter. This season, Johnson has become quite active on his @JimmieJohnson account. He’s done everything from tweeting photos of himself in blond wigs to taking on fans who criticize him. There have also been tweets about golf and adult beverages, and he’s always good for a giveaway… or 10. He’s been able to show that he actually does have a personality and likes to have a good time. It’s just unfortunate that it’s taken this long for the public to see it. If you are active on Twitter, and don’t follow JJ, I’d suggest checking him out.
The Brickyard We got the official announcement this week that neither the Truck nor Nationwide Series will return to Lucas Oil Raceway Park (formally ORP and IRP) for the 2012 season and beyond. The NNS cars will become part of the Brickyard 400 weekend and a replacement event for the trucks is TBA. Journo wrote last week about how this move would be a mistake, and our fears have been realized. It’s a shame because racing at LORP was always great, and the stands were always full. Now, we are stuck with yet another companion event. Cup races at the Brickyard are usually not great, and Nationwide races will be even worse. If this were Twitter, NASCAR and the track people would get a big fat #fail.
Shortly after the end of Saturday night’s Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, a group of race team employees found themselves suddenly unemployed and without a way to get home to Charlotte. It was a sad example of what sometimes happens at the many “we don’t offer a 401K” race teams. In the era of the start-and-park, it seems as though anybody can own a race team and sometimes that’s not a good thing.
The plight of driver Tim Andrews and the now ex-employees of 2nd Chance Motorsports was first made known via Andrews’ Twitter account (@Tim_Andrews_) early Sunday morning. The ladies over at Skirts and Scuffs followed up and got the full story later on Sunday. From their post, here’s what went down in a nut shell:
After loading up the car into the team hauler Crew Chief Kevin Eagle informed Russell that he would be parting ways with 2nd Chance once they got back to the Charlotte area. Upon hearing the news Russell accused the whole team of leaving and instead of allowing Eagle to explain that he would be the only one leaving the team Russell fired everyone associated with the No. 79, including it’s driver Tim Andrews.
Russell followed the terminations up by telling all involved that they would need to find their own way home and that he would not allow them into the team’s van to collect their personal effects. Nothing like adding a little insult to injury.
After local police got involved the guys were later allowed to get their things, and with help from some other teams, get home to Charlotte. Thank god there are still plenty of really good people in racing.
If the name Rick Russell sounds familiar to you, it should. You might remember that he was the owner involved in the infamous Jennifer Jo Cobb incident earlier in the season at Bristol. The two parted ways literally minutes before the NNS race because Cobb refused to start-and-park. Andrews joined the team a short time later.
Situations like these with unscrupulous owners are nothing new in NASCAR. There are plenty of examples over the years of drivers and crew members getting burned by shady owners and fly-by-the-night operations. We’ve even documented a few on this website.
It’s certainly a shame, but with so much money surrounding the sport, it’s bound to happen. Short fields have made the barrier to entry much smaller, and in some cases that’s not good. We feel good and love to talk about independents like Tommy Baldwin Racing when they have success, but we don’t often hear about all those hurt by bad deals and teams gone wrong.
I must say that I don’t know a lot more about this particular story than what has been reported online. Russell may have a very different view of the way things went down. In any case though, I’m not sure how you justify stranding a group of people, of whom you had just previously called employees, nearly 800 miles from home. Hopefully all of those involved will land on their feet.
I get it. Kimi Raikkonen is a Formula 1 champion and believes he should be racing with NASCAR’s best. If there is one thing race drivers are often not short on, it’s confidence in their ability. It’s commendable that he wants to move up as quickly as possible, but if Raikkonen really wants to succeed, he needs to slow down. One Truck Series test coupled with a 15th place finish in a truck race does not qualify one for the Nationwide Series. And at this pace, when is he expecting to make a Cup attempt? Kansas?
You certainly would have hoped that Raikkonen and his advisers did a little research before they started writing checks. There are numerous examples over the last several years of other open wheel drivers thinking they can make a NASCAR career happen, only to find out that driving in circles isn’t as easy as it looks. Jacques Villeneuve, Scott Speed, Dario Franchitti, and Patrick Carpentier are all examples of of guys who’ve come and gone. And it could be argued that all were brought along too quickly. Juan Pablo Montoya and AJ Allmendinger experienced similarly quick paths to NASCAR, but it took both several years to be able to run well, consistently. Hopefully Raikkonen isn’t on his way to being the next flame out.
It’s ridiculous to think that a guy like Raikkonen would be able to come in and immediately be competitive against guys who’ve been on circle tracks their entire lives. I’m fully aware of Raikkonen’s pedigree, and his immense talent behind the wheel, but it takes a completely different skill set to be successful in a stock car. Not only that, but it would appear the young Fin isn’t even aware of NASCAR’s rules. Crew chief Rick Ren had to explain the “lucky dog” rule to him mid-race last Friday night.
I don’t want this post to come off as me hatin’ on Kimi. Worldwide interest is great for the sport, and drivers like Raikkonen open up NASCAR to new fans. I think it also helps NASCAR when guys from around the world want to come race here. It does nothing but add to NASCAR’s legitimacy. And how cool would it be to see a guy put a Cup Series championship on his resume next to his F1 title? Raikkonen could be the first. But it won’t happen if his development is rushed.
A few years back I heard a story about an open wheel driver I won’t name. In an early test session in his career, this driver supposedly told his guys over the radio that stock car racing was “child’s play.” Needless to say, he would find out later that this wasn’t the case. Hopefully Raikkonen isn’t under a similar delusion. He’s got plenty of talent and the resources to be here for a long time, but Kimi just needs to give himself the chance to learn how to be successful.
This season NASCAR forced drivers to select one series in which to compete for a championship. The general idea being it would limit the number of Cup regulars competing in and winning in lower series.
What’s the result been? Truck and Nationwide Series regulars lead the points in their respective series, but there have only been three non-Cup winners in 30 races across all three series. And guess what? Neither of our two points leaders is one of those winners.
Obviously, NASCAR’s efforts have, thus far, not been very successful. This weekend though, we saw the potential of the Nationwide Series.
To start off, Iowa is such a great facility with a great fan base. Did you see that crowd? Fantastic. Then came the racing.
Rain washed out qualifying, so starting on the front row were Drew Herring, a 23-year-old with just four Nationwide starts under his belt, and Michael McDowell. Young Austin Dillon started 3rd.
Through the early portion of the race it was McDowell and Herring putting on the show. We saw four different race leaders, including Reed Sorenson who led the most (and is great on short tracks). And in his 500th start Kenny Wallace finished sixth. While we did see Cup regulars and Nationwide Series champions Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski as competitors throughout, it was Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who fought down the stretch with Stenhouse as our eventual winner.
Stenhouse has really taken full advantage of this season. If you’ll remember just a year ago, he got yanked from his ride after a disastrous beginning pushed him outside the top-30 in owners points and he DNQed at Nashville. Now he’s a race winner and sits just 8 points out of the points lead. What a difference a year makes.
It was refreshing to sit and watch a Nationwide race where most of the competitors were series regulars. It was great to see some young talent showcased and some series veterans have a real chance. The fact is, Cup drivers are Cup drivers for a reason. And though the occasional start is certainly acceptable, having just 10% of your winners come from outside the Cup ranks is ridiculous. It totally defeats the nature of the lower series.
NASCAR is in a pretty good place at this moment, but this is definitely an area that still needs some work. That said, Sunday was great and truly an example of how things ought to be. Congratulations to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – it was a well earned and deserved win.
It’s always nice for the teams when we get to this part of the schedule, because with all three series racing in Charlotte, it means most get to sleep in their own beds. But a crowded weekend schedule, along with a trip to Iowa for the Nationwide cars, means some will have a very busy couple of days.
As we’ve talked about here many times before, there are some individuals and some full crews that pit race cars across multiple series. A few do it within their own companies, and others pit cars for many different race teams. You’d think Charlotte races would make for an easier weekend, but that isn’t necessarily the case.
Consider this example. The five guys that pit Trevor Bayne’s Cup car are also the same guys that pit Carl Edwards’ NNS ride. With their commitments between both cars, they will be pitting race cars four straight days. The Daytona 500 win made Bayne eligible for the All Star race, and his crew eligible for the Pit Crew Challenge. So his guys will spend Thursday at Time Warner Cable Arena for the Challenge. Then, they will head out to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday because qualifying for the All Star race includes that all important pit stop. On Saturday, the team will be busy working the All Star race. And they will close out their weekend with a nice short trip out to Iowa to pit Edwards’ Mustang on Sunday. Whew, I’m tired for them.
Besides this group, there are other guys and crews who will work Friday night’s Truck race, Saturday’s All Star race or Showdown, and then fly out to Iowa for the NNS race. The backup teams for the likes of Red Bull Racing and Hendrick Motorsports will have weekends similar to this. And many of these guys will be right back to their shop or other jobs on Monday morning.
Thanks to weekends like this, it isn’t uncommon for some guys to pit race cars in 70+ races a year. It can be extremely grueling and tough on the body over the course of a 10 month season. But for those that are willing to hustle, there is experience to be had and some nice money to be made.
With all eyes focused on the Montoya/Newman feud and Trevor Bayne’s health this weekend, you may have missed a NASCAR Series Director admitting they made an officiating mistake. Crazy, but true.
Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said that penalizing Carl Edwards for “servicing outside the box” in Friday’s race wasn’t correct because Edwards was within the three stall limit of his box even though he was past the end of pit road. Though the rule says you can’t push a car beyond the end of pit road, Balash said they need to give those teams who have stalls at the end of pit road, the benefit of the doubt.
Now that is refreshing. Balash said they looked at the penalty and it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway, but the sanctioning body admitting it’s not infallible says a lot.
In an age where everyone is a loveseat official and DVRs allow for instant playback (as if the playback the networks do isn’t enough), analyzing penalties, and then disagreeing with them has become a favorite past time of fans and journalists alike (we’re certainly guilty). This was a situation where there really wasn’t much controversy and Balash still admitted the call wasn’t right. You may not respect them all the time, but that you’ve got to respect.
This obviously didn’t get much run this weekend, but I think it’s a story worth repeating. NASCAR has a credibility issue with a portion of its avid fan base and I think moments like these can do a lot to restore that credibility. I personally think they get it right most of the time. Just like you and me though even the most informed people are capable of making a mistake every now and then. The important thing is admitting when those mistakes are made.
I know I’m probably going to get called out for being a “NASCAR homer” on this one, but I see a sanctioning body that’s moving into an era of openness. Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR VP of Racing Operations, is on twitter and we’ve seen him regularly answering questions and interacting with people. Even NASCAR as an entity is doing a fabulous job of talking to people on twitter. Never before have fans had this kind of access – and you certainly don’t get that from other major leagues or sanctioning bodies.
To quote English poet Alexander Pope, “to err is human, to forgive divine.”