I’ll admit I’m a bit of a lurker. I like to hang around on Twitter, Facebook, and some forums to see what the fans are talking about. It really helps when searching for new topics to write about for TNI. Something I’ve seen a bit recently that I wanted to address has to do with comments about pit crews. When things don’t appear to go well during pit stops, some are quick to jump all over the guys doing the service. And while mistakes do happen, spots lost on pit road are not always the fault of the pit crew.
With the tires that Goodyear has been bringing to the track this year, we’ve seen crew chiefs playing a lot with tire strategies. At any point in the race, we’re seeing no tires, two tires, and four tire stops. This is the first place to look when you’re favorite driver makes big jumps up and down the leaderboard following a round of stops. If driver X takes four tires, and everyone else takes two, it’s impossible to hang on to any track position. No crew on pit road is good enough to beat teams out when they’re getting two more tires.
Another place to look when your driver loses ground on pit road is adjustments. Small changes like air pressure, track bar and wedge adjustments can be done without losing much time. But when bigger changes are needed, the crews will need more time. Doing things like pushing in or pulling out spring rubbers, pulling out or putting in front end shims, and putting clicks in shocks can result in lost track position.
The last way that a team can lose track position on pit road that I wanted to mention is damage repair. Not all damage that the cars suffer results in a caution, or is shown on television. Things like wrinkled fenders and damage to noses must be addressed, especially at the big tracks. And while often not major, repairs sometimes can’t be completed in 13 seconds.
So, while mistakes do occur and pit crews are sometimes to blame, it isn’t always our fault. We are often tasked to do things that just can’t be completed during the course of a normal pit stop. At that point, it’s more important that we get things right than it is that we have a quick stop.
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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.
If there is one thing you can always be sure of, it’s that no matter what changes with the cars and drivers, the short tracks will always provide a good show. Saturday night’s race at Richmond was no exception, and it gave us everything we’ve come to love about short track racing: beating and banging, tight battles, and flared tempers.
Montoya v. Newman Whether you believe it was warranted or not, Juan Pablo Montoya predictably retaliated against Ryan Newman because of the incident between the two earlier in the race. Montoya has shown in many previous cases that when he feels he’s been wrecked, he will retaliate. Denny Hamlin’s post race comments made it clear that every driver knows it too. And as part of NASCAR’s “have at it” policy, neither driver was penalized or called into a post race meeting with NASCAR. Both drivers were clearly still upset after the race, and with no penalty coming from NASCAR, don’t be surprised if Newman and Montoya tangle again in the future. Both drivers felt wronged, and it’s hard to blame either side.
Martin Truex Jr. The troubles for MTJ continued at Richmond, when his race was effectively ended by a bad pit stop. Truex had to come back to pit road after the front changer had lugnut issues (clearly a loose wheel), and his frustrations exploded into a tirade over the radio in which he “fired” his entire pit crew. This comes only a few weeks after Truex was angry with his team over a hung throttle that ended his day at Martinsville. I wrote a couple years ago about drivers and their love/hate relationship with pit crews, and in this case the hate was on full display. Hopefully front changer Corey Quick doesn’t lose his job over the incident, but if he does, he won’t be the first to be replaced this season (see Denny Hamlin).
Jimmie Johnson On a night when he didn’t have a particularly stellar run, somehow 4-time 5-time again found a way to finish in the top ten. You really have to hand it to this bunch because they never give up. But what I really wanted to say about Jimmie, is that he proved on Sunday that social media is a beautiful thing (and entertaining too). When a fan thanked him for “running over the 20″ on Twitter, Johnson responded with “he ran me across the apron. I’m sure it looks easy from the couch.” Nice.
Now it’s on to Darlington, where the “Lady in Black” will make sure 2011′s drama continues.
Do you follow NASCAR on Twitter? I noticed this week, in comparison to other sports sanctioning bodies, NASCAR’s Twitter following is pitiful (TC and I would take in a second though).
Consider this:
So the question with the Twitter accounts becomes, is there a correlation between follower count and the popularity and quality of an account, and if so, why is NASCAR’s account getting beat by even retired drivers of the sport? Is it inadequate, or are NASCAR’s fans just not so engaged with the technology?
I suspect its a mixture of both.
Move to Facebook and NASCAR is still behind. While they do much better, NASCAR with well over 1 million likes, still finds itself behind most of its counterparts.
They don’t have a YouTube account for video content, and short of the blogs and forums on their own website, are not otherwise engaged in social media.
The content on these pages is neither earth shattering nor unengaged. It appears to me they do a better job communicating directly to fans through Twitter than other leagues, but they’re perhaps not getting the full value out of the medium.
I think to some extent they recognize that too. With their announced reorganization of the public relations department, they will be adding a director of social media and presumably a staff member or two to work on them. Social media presents a golden opportunity to address your key public right where they live and build that very important brand affinity – and right now for NASCAR, building and maintaining brand affinity is vital.
So what do you think about NASCAR’s social media efforts? Could they better? Would you to see when doing different things? Do you want them to use it as an aggregator for press releases? Let us know what you think!