October 15, 2011  – Charlotte Motor Speedway

Before getting into any discussion of this weekend’s NASCAR action, I would be very remiss if I did not take a moment to mention the death of Dan Wheldon during the IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas…

You may wonder why I’m doing so in a “NASCAR” column.  Let me explain:  I am not only a fan of NASCAR but of many forms of motorsports.  I have the deepest respect for the people involved and particularly for the drivers who strap themselves into the seat and press the accelerator.  They do it because they love it and, despite the inherent risks, there is nothing else they would rather do for a living.

Racing is a risky pursuit.  On Sunday, we were reminded of just how much this is true.

Enormous gains have been made in all forms of racing to assure driver safety.  Unfortunately, open wheel racing still has two glaring areas for improvement:  The prevention of the “launch” effect of one car overrunning another and the exposure of the driver (particularly the head) in the open cockpit.

Wheldon’s crash was far too reminiscent of the 1996 accident that claimed the life of Jeff Krosnoff and the 1999 wreck that killed Greg Moore.  All three flew into barriers making contact with the vulnerable topside first; Krosnoff and Moore were killed instantly and speculation exists that Wheldon was also dead before being removed from the car.

Both Wheldon and Krosnoff made contact with the catch fencing above the normal walls/barriers intended to absorb the initial impact of an out of control race car.  In Krosnoff’s case, his helmet struck a light pole on the opposite side of the fence.  It would not surprise me if something similar did not happen to Wheldon, as reports indicate that the upper part of his car, including the roll loop, were ripped off by the fence.  The official cause of death was blunt force head trauma.

Catch fences at race tracks are intended to do one thing:  Protect the spectators and others outside the track.  They are designed to catch a speeding race car and assure that it does not pass through.  They are generally very successful in performing their jobs, although debris can still pass beyond them and result in injuries.  Anyone who has ever seen a race car get up into a catch fence also knows just how destructive they are to the vehicles involved, ripping and shredding them apart and frequently sending them into even more violent tumbles.  Perhaps it’s time to improve on that design so that an increased degree of driver safety can also be built into them.

Dan Wheldon had dedicated much of this season to working with the IndyCar series as the test driver for new chassis being designed for next year.  As a driver, he provided invaluable feedback to the performance and safety of the new car, the results of which he will leave behind as a fitting legacy.  Sadly, Wheldon will never see the finished vehicle in competition, nor will he ever have the opportunity to take a checkered flag in it…

Dan Wheldon was 33 years old.  His engaging personality and charm endeared Dan to all those who encountered him.  For those who followed his career, Dave Despain and Robin Miller said it best in stating that Dan was an Englishman who came here and truly lived the American dream.  Left behind are his wife, Susie, two young sons, Sebastian and Oliver, his parents and siblings, friends, fans and the entire worldwide racing community.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this loss.

Godspeed, Daniel Clive Wheldon; you will be missed.

That said, I have little enthusiasm left to pour over the details of NASCAR’s race Saturday night…  Suffice it to say that not much of interest occurred until the later laps of the race – again.  I actually found myself longing for the days when television coverage of races was limited to a highlight reel aired as filler material by the networks.

The scariest moment of the night was Jimmie Johnson’s violent, high-speed impact with the wall.  After losing control while trying to pass Ryan Newman on lap 317, Johnson’s car careened hard right, making contact at about a 45-degree angle with the right front corner.  The force of the impact lifted the entire car off the track and sent a ripple of energy along the SAFER barrier, which helped spare Johnson from serious injury.

Relegated to a 34^th place finish, Johnson now faces an uphill battle if he is to win a sixth straight title.  Never count Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus out of the running – if anyone can manage this sort of comeback, they’re the ones to do it.  However, you have to wonder if this is the year the luck runs out and the streak is broken…

Making a strong showing as of late and gaining the attention of the analysts, Matt Kenseth managed to hold off Kyle Busch for the last 25 laps to take the win.

Rounding out the top ten finishers at Charlotte were:  Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose, Kevin Harvick, A.J. Allmendinger, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman.  The remaining Chase drivers finished as follows:  Kurt Busch – 13^th, Brad Keselowski –16^th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 19^th, Jeff Gordon – 21^st and Jimmie Johnson – 34^th.

Carl Edwards’ third place finish was just enough to maintain a five-point lead in the Championship Chase.  Here are the championship points standings at the half-way point:

1.       Carl Edwards, (2203 points)

2.       Kevin Harvick, (2198 points,-5)

3.       Matt Kenseth, (2196 points,-7)

4.       Kyle Busch, (2185 points,-18)

5.       Tony Stewart, (2179 points,-24)

6.       Brad Keselowski, (2178 points,-25)

7.       Kurt Busch, (2176 points,-27)

8.       Jimmie Johnson, (2168 points,-35)

9.       Dale Earnhardt Jr., (2143 points,-60)

10.   Ryan Newman, (2142 points,-61)

11.   Jeff Gordon, (2137 points,-66)

12.   Denny Hamlin, (2117 points,-86)

Next: The last five races of the season kick off this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway!

OK, very few people will get this obscure reference.  Don’t worry about it.

Funny how that happens when I’m behind and trying to catch up…  Look at it this way:  You’re getting a “two-fer”.

What can I say about that race at Richmond Saturday night?  I believe it had just about everything but Rickey Bobby stripping and running down the front stretch.  Dang, that was one heck of a race!

Teams with even the slightest chance of making The Chase were playing every angle to try to do so.  Teams already in the chase were ready to go to battle for another coveted win to boost their beginning Chase standing.  Everyone else wanted to make a statement that they’re not just “also-rans” by stealing the spotlight for a brief moment.

And it showed:  The race had a track record tying 15 cautions for a total of 85 laps.  Pretty much name a driver and they either hit something, were hit by someone else or had a night filled with narrow escapes.  Tempers flared.  Sheet metal was bent.  Crew chiefs earned every penny of their paychecks.

Hands down, the grittiest performance of the race – and Ugliest Car Award – have to go to Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Any of you who happened to be listening to Dale Jr.’s  radio during the race know that it was a far cry from the man you saw interviewed afterward.  The pressure and then relief of making The Chase were no more vividly illustrated than in Junior’s transition from profanity-filled rants to one happy fellow.  This type of race may have been just what Earnhardt needed going into The Chase – he must assume the underdog role and go out and take what he wants in order to be a factor.

The initial cause of Dale Jr.’s misery was Clint Bowyer’s lap eight drift into pole-sitter David Reutimann, which sent Bowyer into a sideways spin.  Had Bowyer held his brakes long enough for traffic to pass, the track-blocking logjam might not have been quite so bad.  Instead, he came rolling down into the middle of the track before stopping again and collected Earnhardt as a result.

Speaking of rolling downhill, Bowyer’s performance in the last two races before The Chase (he tangled with Juan Montoya and the wall at Atlanta before finishing 36th) may unfortunately be a sign of things to come…  While in contract negotiations with Richard Childress Racing, Bowyer indicated that he wanted to test the waters and see what interest he might garner from other teams.  Richard Petty Motorsports was apparently interested.  Now it would appear that Bowyer may not be welcome back at RCR and has been told to pursue other opportunities – except that RPM has backed away and apparently is no longer interested.  Hmmm…  Sounds like he may really get to find out his true worth on the open market.  Anyone willing to wager that Bowyer might be out of a full-time Cup ride next season?   Regardless, this is certainly a long way from Clint’s securing the final Chase position in last fall’s Richmond race.

The “Goober of the Race” award HAS to go to The Enforcer – you may know him as Mr. Five Whine – Jimmie Johnson.  After coming down onto Kurt Busch (who locked up his front tires in an effort to avoid Johnson) and making contact, Jimmie decided that (once again) he was not going to let Kurt get away with that sort of stuff…  So he went out and wrecked himself trying to spin Busch.  Funny, I don’t seem to remember the #3 doing it that way.

Kevin Harvick managed to take the lead from Jeff Gordon coming out of the pits under yellow with 15 laps to go, then held off a late charge by Carl Edwards for the win.  Gordon held on for third place.

Rounding out the top ten finishers at Richmond were:  David Ragan, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Tony Steward, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin.

Ultimately, the top twelve teams in points managed to all stay there, with Golden Tickets to The Chase being awarded to (in seeding order):  Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick (tied with 4 wins each), Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin.  The reset points have only twelve markers separating the twelve contenders for the championship.

Next: It’s ON, baby!  The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship is underway and you can expect things to get very serious when the boys line up to race at Chicagoland Speedway!

If “life is like a box of chocolates”, then the Sprint Cup series is like a box of those little hard-shelled chocolate bits so near and dear to Kyle Busch.  You ALWAYS know what you’re going to get, they just come in different colors (and some have nuts inside).

In this era of NASCAR’s micro-managing efforts to mandate parity among all race teams (I’ve even suggested that the “S” in NASCAR should be formally changed from “Stock” to “Spec”), many fans have said that much of the excitement has been taken from the races.  For the most part, I strongly agree with those sentiments:  Give the race teams enough freedom to experiment and innovate and be fair and consistent in enforcing breaches of the rules.

However, major changes in NASCAR’s rules and cars are highly unlikely to come about quickly.  Those teams who succeed are the ones who can make the most of what they’ve been given.

Queue Kyle Busch.  Watching him in all three of NASCAR’s top series, I feel pretty safe in saying that nobody in the sport consistently kills the competition on restarts they way Kyle does.  Just watch him on each restart during a race and count the number of positions he gains throughout the race.  Whether you like him or not, it’s a thing of beauty and something I’d love to see from other drivers.

Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, a green-white-checkered finished allowed Kyle the opportunity to showcase his skill as he used that last restart to blow away Jimmie Johnson.  Jimmie Johnson.  ”Mr. Five-Time”; a guy who does a pretty good job of making the best of his car on any given weekend.  Could this be the changing of the guard, especially with Kyle leading the championship points?  If it comes down to a late lap restart to determine the title, let’s just say that my money would be on Jimmie’s championship streak ending.

Unfortunately, much of the MIS race was forgettable – a few lead changes, no major incidents and a lot of single-file, high-speed parade laps.  Even my hotshot on-the-scene pit reporters said that the most interesting part of the day was the flurry of pre-race activity, during which they got to watch the EGR guys replace Montoya’s fuel filler connection.  They bailed and left to beat the traffic once Kyle began dominating the race.  The only thing they missed was the aforementioned last restart and jockeying in traffic with Mr. “8 Beers & Counting” who was sitting in their section.

So, just who warrants a shout out from the race?  Here’s my list:

·         Brad Keselowski.  Ran toward the front and finished in third place for his third top three finish in a row since breaking his ankle and getting the stuffing beat out of him at Road Atlanta.  Between Brad’s recent performance and Denny Hamlin’s post knee operation run at the championship last year, crew chiefs may start dropping banana peels around the drivers’ motor coaches.

·         Greg Biffle.  Snagged the pole, led 86 laps and definitely looked like the driver to beat Sunday.  Unfortunately, his car didn’t respond nearly as well in traffic and he finished 20^th.

·         Steve Letarte.  Can you give a negative shout out?  With Dale Jr. running in the top ten, what on earth were you thinking bringing him into the pits for tires with just TWO laps to go – a call that cost him several positions at the finish?  Mr. Hendrick should demand an explanation for that one.

·         Last, but certainly never least, NASCAR Girl and her Mum who served as my first time ever on-the-scene pit reporters.  Congrats to the whole family, who attended their very first race and promised it won’t be their last!

The remainder of the top ten finishers were:  Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth.  Both Denny Hamlin (wall contact, blown tire) and Carl Edwards (electrical problems) took hits in the championship chase, dropping to 14^th and 4^th in points respectively.

Next up: Just when tempers had a chance to cool a bit at MIS, it’s off to Bristol.  The August night air probably won’t be the only thing that’s hot before the night is over!

My apologies for the late column; sometimes life gets in the way of our best laid plans – kind of like the rain that came on Sunday, delaying the start of the Watkins Glen race until Monday morning.

However, this was one race that was just too good to let pass by without a few comments!  I’ll just hit the high points at this late date so hopefully none of you are relying on this column for race results (if you are, then I’d really better start taking this whole thing a lot more seriously).

First of all, the entire week leading up to the race (as well as all pre-race shows) was consumed with the Jimmie Johnson-Kurt Busch dust-up from the race at Pocono.  Every time a microphone was in front of Jimmie’s face, he was puffing up and talking tough about Kurt and saying how he just wasn’t going to let Kurt “run his mouth.”  Really Jimmie?  Exactly what are you going to do about it if he does?  Tell you what:  Punch Kurt in the nose and then you can talk about it all you want.

I have had an increasing problem with Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus lately.  Not because of their success – which I have great respect for – but for the attitude they both seem to have.  Anytime another driver races Jimmie hard, he complains and whines like someone stole his pudding cup (hence, I will be calling him “Mr. Five-Whine” in the future).  The other aspect of this mentality is that Chad and Jimmie don’t seem to believe they have to play by the same rules as everyone else.

Case in point:  During practice at The Glen, NASCAR explicitly told all of the teams to make sure they had plenty of fuel before going out on the track because several drivers were attempting mock qualifying runs and they absolutely did not want anyone stopping on the track to interrupt practice.  Guess who promptly went out and ran out of gas because they were testing their fuel mileage?  Yep, there was the 48 sitting there bigger than anything, ruining qualifying runs for probably 10-15 teams.  I can’t believe Chad and Jimmie were able to keep straight faces while playing stupid and saying that the car had plenty of fuel in it…

OK, to the race now…  How cool was it to see Richard Petty Motorsports’ A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose starting 2^nd and 3^rd respectively?

Sunday morning the weather was not looking promising at Watkins Glen; likewise for the IndyCar race scheduled at New Hampshire.  Note to NASCAR:  “Hurry up start” should mean more than cutting one warm-up lap.  NASCAR had the full pre-race show on TV and it started raining heavily before the race ever got started.  IndyCar gave the command to start engines within the first two minutes on the air and were able to run their race uninterrupted by the rains until the very end.  Hmmm…

Jump to Monday morning:  Nobody likes going to work on Monday morning, especially when that’s normally your day off.  NASCAR drivers are no exception – an extra day on the road and a compressed schedule for the next week.  Take all of that, throw them onto a road course and it could get ugly.  This time it did.  Very ugly.

It didn’t take long for tempers to flair as Kurt Busch, a lap down early due to a lap 4 spin, decided to knock leader A.J. Allmendinger out of his way in order to get his lap back on lap 9.  Allmendinger’s shot at the win were ruined and Busch’s day ended with a lap 49 crash.

The remainder of the race went as expected with the usual road course give and take, bump and run action.  Denny Hamlin suffered a brake failure that led to a horrifying head-on crash into the barrier.  Luckily, Hamlin was uninjured and walked away.

The most serious accident of the day occurred on the last lap of the race, as Boris Said made contact with the rear of David Ragan’s car.  Ragan was hooked into the outside guardrail, bounced across the track and collected David Reutimann on his way toward the inside guardrail, where both made hard contact.  Reutimann’s car then flipped, airborne all of the way back across the track and had another hard impact with the outside railing.

The crash also involved veteran road racer Ron Fellows, who described it as the hardest hit of his career.  Although winded and battered, none of the drivers were seriously injured and all were released from the infield care center.

Apparently that wasn’t quite enough for Said, as he made a beeline for Greg Biffle as soon as the race ended.  The two exchanged words and Boris threatened to find Biffle to finish settling the score.  I like Boris Said.  A lot of NASCAR drivers like Boris.  What we saw on the last lap of this race and afterward, I don’t like.

Practically lost in all of this, Marcos Ambrose out-dueled Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski to earn his first Sprint Cup victory.  Considering that Marcos almost gave up on his NASCAR dreams to head back down under, I suspect that he is quite happy he stuck it out.  I know that I am – Ambrose seems to be one of those genuinely nice guys who loves what he does.

The finishing order behind Marcos Ambrose were:  Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jr., Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Juan Pablo Montoya, A.J. Allmendinger, Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson.

After the race, several drivers reiterated the need for SAFER barriers at all tracks – and high-speed road courses like The Glen are no exception.  That was all too graphically pointed out during the race.  Let’s not wait until someone gets seriously hurt or killed before NASCAR requires them.

Next Up: Big track racing at Michigan!

Most NASCAR fans realize the basic differences between the tracks but drivers and crew chiefs must break down each track corner by corner – understanding the subtle differences between the individual corners of a particular track can be the difference in critical tenths or hundredths of a second in lap times.

They don’t just call Pocono Raceway “The Tricky Triangle” because Geometry bogged down many a good high school student through the decades…  The differences between the three corners of this track are about as subtle as a Honey Badger with a chainsaw.  Remember when you had those little race car tracks as a kid?  The ones that have a spiffy oval or figure eight layout on the box?  Were you like me and “customized” them into shapes the manufacturer never intended, sometimes coming up with really interesting, car launching, results?  That’s Pocono.

Frequently grouped with other “tri-oval” tracks, Pocono is much more of a true triangle shape than an oval course with a bend in one straight.  With a superspeedway 2.5 mile length, Pocono’s corners are not highly banked (thus keeping speeds down enough to eliminate the need for restrictor plates).  Each of the three straights has a different length and each corner has a different radius and banking.  (Throw in a very bumpy tunnel turn and an aging track surface just to keep it interesting.)

Teams must decide where they want their cars to handle best and then find the right balance to get around the track quickly.  The corners are so sharp and the front straight so long that drivers shift up and down for the best acceleration and speed at Pocono – something very unusual for anything but road courses.  Crew chiefs and engineers earn their pay with all of the variables to consider here.

Saturday brought rain to the track; so much rain fell that the remainder of the Camping World Truck race and the entire ARCA series race had to be postponed until Sunday morning.  As green flag time approached for the Sprint Cup race, dark, low clouds hung ominously over the track but the radar did not show any rain in the immediate area.

However, the rains came again and resulted in a red flag at lap 124 (of 200 scheduled).  Knowing that it was imminent, the drivers jockeyed for position on the gamble that they would be finished once the race was stopped.  As the cars pulled to a stop, pole sitter Joey Logano held the lead with Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in 3^rd and 4^th, respectively.  Betting against everyone else, the two Penske cars pitted for fuel and tires just prior to the rain and parked in the 25^th and 26^th positions.

After approximately an hour and forty minute stoppage, the track was dried and racing resumed once again – although the threatening clouds lingered throughout the drying process, the sun eventually peeked out as the drivers got back on the track.

That big gamble by the Penske teams paid immediate dividends when everyone else pitted after the red flag, placing drivers Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski at the front of the field where they stayed for the remainder of the race.  Keselowski, driving with a broken ankle, ailing back and too many sore spots to count (received just five days earlier in a testing crash at Road Atlanta), had the stronger car and took the win.  Kyle Busch slipped past his older brother for second place, while Kurt prevailed in a good old fashioned battle with Jimmie Johnson to hold onto third.  Jimmie was obviously displeased with Kurt and a heated discussion ensued on pit road, with Jimmie accusing Busch of darting toward him (although replays looked pretty clearly to me that Jimmie made a sharp cut toward Kurt and had nothing to complain about).

The remainder of the top ten finishers were:  Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Paul Menard.  By finishing ninth, Dale Jr. was able to gain a little bit of confidence that his position may hold up well enough for a spot in the championship chase.  The race had 23 lead changes among ten different drivers.

Soapbox Time: NASCAR really needs to step it up in demanding that tracks install SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers on every fixed wall that is exposed to the race track or pit lane.  Pocono still only has SAFER barriers through the corners.  This is a track where some of the most violent impacts have been seen in areas still lacking them.  Don’t say it’s too expensive; we’re talking about drivers’ lives here.  NASCAR needs to give tracks a firm deadline to install them or lose their races.

Soapbox Time (Bonus!): Let’s see some of those chatty NFL players who don’t think NASCAR drivers are “real athletes” crash hard enough to break bones and require airlifting to a hospital, then climb into one of these cars for a 500 mile race five days later – and WIN it.  No cast, no braces, not even an over the counter pain medication.  Just an oversized driving shoe to fit his swollen left foot and more guts than you can imagine… on a track that requires both feet to shift gears and feather the brake (on every corner) to boot.

Next up: Off to the road course at Watkins Glen International, where the drivers have to turn left AND right – and car set-up poses a whole other set of challenges!