Last weekend at New Hampshire was a big weekend for Ryan Newman. Not only did he pick up his first Cup Series win of the season, but he also took down his third straight Whelen Modified win at the track. Newman won in a car owned and prepared by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion. Besides being their third straight NHMS win together, the win was also their fourth in four tries with that particular race car. Following the race however, Newman’s race car was impounded by NASCAR and taken back to the R&D Center in Concord, NC. On Wednesday last week, we learned why. The car was found to have an illegal intake manifold, and as a result NASCAR stripped Newman and the team of the win. This situation begs the question that if NASCAR will take lower series wins away, why will they not do the same for violations in the upper divisions?
We’ve seen plenty of examples over the last few years where drivers won a race, had race cars deemed illegal post race, received penalties, but were allowed to keep the wins. In most cases the points and monetary penalties issued pretty much erased the benefit of winning, but the wins were kept nonetheless. But apparently what’s okay for Cup, Nationwide, and Trucks isn’t good for the rest of NASCAR’s divisions.
I do applaud NASCAR in this case for one thing: making an example of Newman. If they’ll strip other drivers of wins, then Cup guys shouldn’t be subject to a different set of rules. Drivers like Newman are already full of talent, and they’ll come equipped with the best cars and crews, they shouldn’t think they can cheat too. My problem here is NASCAR’s different application of the rules for a lower series. They have the power to penalize as they see fit across all series, I just think they need to be consistent. I know many of you have begged for the same on countless occasions in the past, and this is just another example.
This situation really looks bad for all involved. NASCAR looks bad because they can’t seem to be consistent, and Newman and Bono look bad because they appear to be cheating to beat guys with a lot less resources. Hopefully this will be a lesson for all involved.
Now it’s your turn, should NASCAR have taken the win from Newman? Should they ever take any wins away? Are there certain instances where maybe that is too drastic of a penalty? The floor is yours…
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I’m going to start this off by saying that this post is just speculation on my part. We haven’t heard this is happening, but I wanted to explore it anyway because I think it’s a real possibility. Even though Jimmie Johnson came back to finish fifth on Sunday at New Hampshire, he was clearly not happy after the race. He took the time to voice his disdain for Juan Pablo Montoya’s driving (a topic for another day), but he also expressed his frustration with their pit crew issues. With the Chase only a few short races away, and Chad Knaus’ recent history, I’m wondering if another crew swap might be coming.
Late in Sunday’s race, Johnson was forced to pit twice under caution after a lugnut was left off during his initial pit stop. In his post race interviews, Johnson told reporters:
“If there is anything major that has to change, we need to do it before the Chase starts. I have no clue what that means. And obviously I’m speaking from frustration with a bad day. We’ve been working, we’ve been patient as a group trying to mature some guys and get stuff ready. But we can’t have these mistakes anymore. We are way to close to the Chase, and we need to be right.”
Johnson’s 48 team is in the situation they are with the pit crew, because following a rough end to the 2010 season, Knaus cleaned house. They brought in a group of younger guys and basically make them tryout for their jobs every week. I wasn’t convinced early in the year about Knaus’ plan, and as I wrote a couple weeks ago, things haven’t gone well all season. Sunday’s race was just another example of their struggles.
So what options does Knaus have? Barring a drastic turn around in the coming races before the Chase, it appears he has two. The first would be to try and find even more new guys to plug into the crew. I have heard they are looking for more guys, but I’m not sure there are really talented, experienced guys just out there floating around. And even if they were to bring in some new pieces, it would take a few races for everyone to gel.
The second option would be another crew swap. We saw last season at Texas that Hendrick didn’t have a problem swapping the 24 and 48 crews, and we may be on the brink of seeing that again. This time though, it won’t be the 24 and 48 swapping.
Since the 48, 24, and 88 are all (at least currently) in the Chase, it would appear to me that the 5 crew might be ripe for poaching. Mark Martin currently sits 20th in the points, and it would take a dramatic turn around to make up the 70 points that he is currently out of the Chase. Martin’s pit crew would be exactly what Knaus needs to get Johnson his sixth straight title; very solid and experienced. The current 48 crew would be sufficient enough to get the 5 through the remainder of the season, and then Knaus could form a new plan heading into 2012.
Now again, remember this is all speculation on my part. But don’t be surprised if something like this happens if the 48 crew continues to struggle.
What started out as a tension filled weekend between the likes of Kevin Harvick Inc. and Thorsport Racing ended up turning into a bizarre display of teammate on teammate crime. Hey Harvick, if there is one driver that you can be damn sure isn’t going to pull over for you, it’s Ron Hornaday.
After Thorsport driver Matt Crafton was involved in an incident at Gateway the weekend before that ended with point leader Hornaday in the garage with a destroyed truck, rumors began to circulate about possible payback at New Hampshire. Harvick entered himself into the race in a third truck and proceeded to harass Crafton in both practice and the race. But the big hit never came.
Instead, Harvick and Hornaday battled over the final laps while Kyle Busch ran away with the win. After the race, Harvick expressed his anger over Hornaday not letting him by. Harvick’s rationale was that his truck was faster, as he was on fresher tires, and if he could get by Hornaday he might have something for Busch. But Hornaday stood his ground and Harvick was not able to complete the pass. Harvick couldn’t understand why Hornaday’s spotter (Rick Carelli) and crew chief (Rick Ren) didn’t inform the veteran driver that Harvick wanted by.
You want to know why they didn’t say anything Kevin? Because Hornaday is racing for a championship. Isn’t that what you hired him to do? Win championships? You certainly don’t do that by letting people by.
Team orders don’t normally bear their ugly head in NASCAR, and are more often seen as part of the strategy in series such as Formula One (see Renault). In those cases though, teams have a clear number one driver. In this case, one would think that Hornaday is the number one driver for KHI. Apparently Harvick doesn’t see things that way.
What really shocks me about this whole situation though, is that Harvick really thought Hornaday should pull over for him. But if you know anything about Hornaday, you know that isn’t going to happen. This is a guy that has built his career on rootin’ and gougin’ his way to the front. He would just as soon wreck you as let you pass. He came up on the short tracks of the west and isn’t the most successful Truck Series driver ever for nothing. And Harvick, who followed a very similar path, should understand that better then anyone.
I’m sure the weekend recap meeting at KHI this week was probably an interesting affair. Hopefully though Harvick realized his error in judgement and apologized to Hornaday. But if he didn’t, and I was Ron Hornaday, I would politely (or not so politely) tell my boss to go pound sand.