Johnson Holds Off Late Charge From Edwards
Photo courtesy Hendrick Motorsports
Johnson Cruises To Victory and Points Lead
Jimmie Johnson seemed to have victory locked up in Camping World RV 400 at Kansas Sunday – until Carl Edwards rocketed past his No. 48 Chevrolet in turn 3 of the final lap.
“I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn’t plan on the wall slowing me down that much.” ~ Carl Edwards
Edwards had built up a head of steam coming down the backstretch and appeared to have never lifted his right foot off the accelerator.
Edwards’ pass was short-lived, however. He was carrying too much speed into the flat Kansas corner and drifted up to scrape the SAFER barrier with he right side of his No. 99 Ford – allowing Johnson to easily re-pass him on the way to the checkered flag.
I wondered out loud whether or not Johnson had seen the pass coming. “That car goes flying by,” Johnson said of Edwards’ pass. “I knew instantly, there was no damn way he’s making the turn. Just stayed on the brake, tried to get redirected and turned down. I was so in awe of how fast he drove it in, I watched him pound the wall and jump back on the gas. I thought, Man, he’s serious about this win, I better get back on the gas myself.”
The win puts Jimmie Johnson back on top of the Sprint Cup point standings. Johnson looks poised to win his third straight title – a feat not seen since Cale Yarborough first did it exactly 30 years ago in 1978.
Carl Edwards was unapologetic for hitting the wall, however. “My number one thing was make this slide job a real deep one so I don’t collect Jimmie and then hope for the best. You never know what’s going to happen. He can go in there and get surprised and it can all work out, you know.” You have to hand it to Carl for giving it everything he had in order to try to win on his home track – even though he could easily have paid a big price in points had the move gone wrong.
Montoya Disqualified From Pole Run
Juan Pablo Montoya Disqualified
Juan Pablo Montoya appeared to have his first career NASCAR pole today at Kansas Speedway — only to have his time disallowed die to a rules violation.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the No. 42 Dodge had excesive gas pressure in the car’s rear shocks.
Montoya posted a qualifying lap of 31.368 seconds at 172.150 mph in qualifying.
NASCAR allows teams to run a maximum pressure of 75 lbs. in the rear shocks, and Montoya’s car was found to exceed that.
It may seem like a trivial deal, but the higher pressures would have kept the rear wing in the air, creating more downforce and contributing to the fast run.
The 42 car will now start 42nd thanks to a provisional based on car owner’s points.
Allmendinger Leaving Red Bull
A.J. Headed to Ganassi
It looks like A.J. Allmendinger will be out of the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota – possibly before the end of the year.
Allmendinger is headed to Chip Ganassi’s No. 41 Dodge in 2009.
A former open wheel star, Allmendinger has struggled so far in NASCAR, but his performance seemed to be improving in the second half of this year. Compare that to his Champ Car stats, where he has 6 wins in just 39 starts.
Still, Allmendinger has just one top 10 for the year – a 10th place finish at Indianapolis.
I’m not sure if this is a good move for Allmendinger. Red Bull seems to be a team on the rise while Chip Ganassi racing continues to struggle. However, rumors continue to circulate that Ganassi will merge his operation with another race team – possibly Michael Waltrip Racing.
Brad Keselowski Headed to Sprint Cup
Dale Earnhardt Jr’s young protege Brad Kesekowski is headed to NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series for at least 2 races.
Hendrick Motorsports will enter 24-year-old Brad Keselowski in two Sprint Cup Series events in 2008, marking the successful young driver’s first foray into NASCAR’s top division.
Keselowski will attempt to qualify a fifth Hendrick Motorsports entry — the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet — for the Oct. 11 Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and the Nov. 2 Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Veteran crew chief Lance McGrew will direct the effort.
“We’ve gotten a glimpse of what Brad is capable of in the Nationwide Series, and that’s just scratching the surface,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “He has a load of talent and potential, and we’re excited to give him an opportunity at the next level.”
A Rochester Hills, Mich., native, Keselowski sits third in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship standings with two victories, one pole position, 10 top-five finishes and 16 top-10s in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The team, which is co-owned by Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr., has posted wins this season at Nashville, Tenn., and Bristol, Tenn.
“I’m focused on making the most of these first two races,” Keselowski said. “The Sprint Cup Series has always been a goal, and now it’s up to me to take advantage of the opportunity. I have to thank Mr. Hendrick, Dale Jr. and the folks at GoDaddy.com for showing so much faith in me.”
Keselowski, who already has tested the new Chevrolet Impala SS for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, will drive the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevy this week during the two-day Sprint Cup Series open test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord.
“I’ve already gotten a lot of seat time in the Impala SS and developed some great chemistry when testing with Lance, so we’re a little ahead of the curve,” Keselowski said. “Now I’ve got to concentrate on furthering my communication with the team and developing more of a relationship with my teammates.”
The two-race effort with Keselowski and the No. 25 Chevrolet will mark GoDaddy.com’s first primary sponsorship of a Sprint Cup Series team. The world’s largest registrar of domain names, GoDaddy.com joined JR Motorsports this season as a primary sponsor in the Nationwide Series.
Biffle Scores Again
Greg Biffle Wins at Dover
Perhaps no one was happier to see Greg Biffle press past Matt Kenseth Sunday with 9 laps to go that the soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Greg Biffle paid a visit there, along with Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman, to wish soldiers well.
“To see the dedication that these men and women have that have served our country and continue to serve our country makes you feel pretty small, compared to what they have done and what they do for us,” said Biffle.
Here’s how Biffle described his winning run:
“Well, it was an exciting day, to say the least. I think a lot of people got to see great racing, the fans, everybody. Dover always puts on a great race,” said Biffle.
“This place is so tough. I have to say that I thought I was going to let these guys down. I got the car too loose on Saturday, yesterday, for the race today. I guess I misjudged the weather, how sunny it was going to be, how slick the track was.”
“I had to pit only eight laps into the race, give up all my track position to tighten my car up. You know, didn’t know it was going to continue to be looser as the day went on and the sun went down some.”
“That was really what we fought. Once I was able to get the track position, get near the front, you know, it really worked out.”
TV Does Dover No Justice
Why You Need To See Dover In Person
This is a pretty awesome racetrack that sometimes doesn’t show it on TV.
Here is a view from the grandstands. It will get even better when this race goes under the lights.
NASCAR Drug Testing
NASCAR To Begin Random Drug Tests
In the wake of two highly publicized events NASCAR has announced they will begin random drug testing in 2009.
First there was Aaron Fike, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver who was arrested in Ohio while using heroin. Fike later admitted he had previously used the drug on the day of a race the week before.
Then Ron Hornaday, also a Craftsman Truck series driver, was called into question because of his use of testosterone that came from the same Florida clinic that was implicated in the baseball steroid controversy.
NASCAR has hired an independent firm to administer it drug testing program. Dr. David Black and his AEGIS Scieneces Corporation will handle the testing.
Steve O’Donnell with NASCAR described how the program would be handled:
Beginning with the 2009 season, we’re going to institute a baseline test that will take place for the drivers in Daytona during pre-season testing. Every driver who attends the testing session will be required to submit to a substance abuse test. All those tests will be administered by an outside agency, which is AEGIS, who will be on-site throughout the testing session.
Moving forward from there, we’re going to institute random testing that will begin, again, starting in 2009. People that will be subjected to random tests are all NASCAR Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series drivers. All over-the-wall pit crew members and, again, NASCAR officials will all be part of that program.
We’re also going to institute a mandatory test from the owners to all of their licensed crew members.
It is true that a driver, or anyone tested for that matter, who tests positive just one time could receive a lifetime ban, but I think we’re pretty on the record with three times is an automatic lifetime ban from the sport.
The substance abuse policy brings NASCAR more in line with Major League Baseball and the NFL.
Dale Earnhardt Jr Warrior Video
Behind the scenes with Dale Jr
Here’s an inside look at the National Guard ‘Warrior’ video starring Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Keep NASCAR Scanners Private
Stop Eavesdropping on Dale Jr
Both Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr have sparked firestorms recently with comments they’ve made to their crew chiefs over their teams 2-way radios.
Dale Earnhardt Jr said “We need a security guard over there watching those son of a b______!” Right after his pit crew installed a bad set of tires at New Hampshire Sunday. “I can’t figure out why we keep f___ing up,” Junior ranted.
Tony Stewart chided his crew a week earlier at Richmond after losing to Jimmie Johnson. “Good job, guys. We gave another one away today. Great job.”
Both drivers defended their comments by trying to claim that these conversations were private conversations between driver and team.
I guess they failed to notice that half the fans sitting in the grandstands had on a headset tuned in to those private conversations.
Well, here’s a suggestion. If race teams really want to keep their communications private they should stop giving out their radio frequencies for public consumption.
That’s right – keep the frequencies private and they can have a private conversation. Right now you can easily find the frequencies on one major racing site.
This will eliminate those embarrassing moments when a driver opens his mouth in the heat of the moment and fires off an insult about his tire changer, the crew chief, another driver, a NASCAR official, or that fan in turn 1 that just showed the driver he was number one in their heart .
Sure, the crew will still hear the tirades, cursing and complaining – but at least the words won’t be magnified by media scrutiny.
A little privacy might bring a competitive advantage, too.
Crew chiefs would be free to make strategy calls without competitors eavesdropping. If they want to call for a gas only stop late in the race why let everyone up and down pit road know about it?
Speedway owners may be a little cool to this idea, however. They make a small fortune renting headsets on race day.
Sirius satellite radio has a several driver to crew channels where listeners can tune in to their favorite driver during the race. They may not like the idea.
On NASCAR.com fans can sign up for Trackpass and hear the drivers during the race. They may not want to lose this feature either.
But if it increases competition on the race track I’m all for it. Let’s give the guys a little privacy.
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Photo Courtesy Hendrick Motorsports
Don’t Fire Tony Eury Jr Yet
A Pair of Juniors Can Beat the Full House
Photo courtesy Hendrick Motorsports
Some Dale Earnhardt Jr fans seem to feel that nothing short of Tony Eury Jr’s head on a stick will solve the No.88 team’s problems.
I don’t agree with that – not one bit.
With Eury’s help Dale Jr is running 4th in the points. If Eury is doing such a shabby job, then there are 39 other crew chiefs that are doing a worse job.
I am not saying that the No. 88 team is where it needs to be right now, but it’s not far off.
Rick Hendrick did not get to be where he is today by hiring people who couldn’t get the job done. Apparently Hendrick saw qualities he liked in Eury.
In fact, when Eury first came to Hendrick Motorsports the other crew chiefs were eager to debrief him and learn what he brought from DEI – which was quite a lot.
The only thing Eury needs to work on is the same thing Dale Earnhardt Jr needs to work on – communication.
The two need to learn how to better communicate with each other as the race wears on; they need to develop a plan to make the car faster with the right adjustments – not just throw barbs at each other when things don’t go well.
Once they do that sit back and hold on tight. The 88 car will be nearly unbeatable. How do you like that?
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