Rookie Takes The Pole At Loudon
Here’s another example of just how “out of it” I must be this season. I forgot Patrick Carpentier was driving the #10. Well, I didn’t forget, I think I just didn’t pay attention. I always associate the #10 with Scott Riggs. Sorry.
When rain interrupted Friday’s qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for 1 hour and 45 minutes, Reed Sorenson was on the provisional pole 24 cars into the session.
By the time qualifying was over, after 21 more cars had taken time trials on a cooler racetrack, Sorenson was a sixth-place memory, and another Dodge driver, rookie Patrick Carpentier, had claimed the top-starting spot for Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the Magic Mile.
That’s one thing I don’t like about qualifying. When qualifying is split up because of rain, or whatever, track conditions change, and one of the groups end up gaining a massive benefit because of it. I know it can’t be done because we don’t live in a perfect world, but I would like to see everyone qualify under the same conditions. If weather delays it, then those who went before should be allowed to re-qualify, if they want. No more champions provisionals, none of that. Everyone enters the race the same way, every time. Now that would be fair, but we all know that NASCAR != fair.
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Casey Mears Is Leaving Hendricks
I wasn’t too shocked to hear the news today. In fact, it’s been so long since I heard Casey Mear’s name that I completely forgot he was driving for Hendricks. I am not kidding. I honestly forgot he was driving the #5 car.
Hendrick Motorsports once again will have to find a driver for the No. 5 Chevrolet, and Casey Mears once again will have to find a new ride.
Hendrick Motorsports officially parted ways with Mears on Friday, announcing that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver will not return to the No. 5 team next season.
“We’ve put a ton of emphasis on the No. 5 program,” Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said in a statement. “It’s been a total team effort, and Casey has worked as hard as anyone to help us improve. We’ve tested more than we ever have, but the results just haven’t come.”
Hopefully he lands with a team that doesn’t have three other superstars driving for them.
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Kyle Busch Is Still On Fire
I thought the race this past weekend was quite interesting. The biggest surprise was listening to the crowd cheer for Kyle Busch. Talk about weird.
Busch won his fifth Sprint Cup Series race of the season Sunday when he rolled to victory at Infineon Raceway. With his first road course win, the newcomer and crew chief Steve Addington have grabbed as many victories as teammates Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart have combined for since the start of the 2007 season.
Congratulations Kyle. It looks like you are going to continue to show JGR what a good move they made. Good on you.
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Time Flies When You Work At DEI
ESPN seems to be in some type of time warp. See if you can catch their blunder.
NASCAR veteran Mark Martin will have a new racing home in 2009, ESPN.com has learned.
Martin was unavailable for comment Sunday. Officials for Martin’s current team, Dale Earnhardt Inc., would neither confirm nor deny the speculation, but did confirm that young Aric Almirola would run a full-time schedule in 2009.
…
Almirola has shared the No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet with Martin for the past two seasons. Martin has been pivotal in mentoring DEI’s young driving stable, especially Almirola and Regan Smith.
Did you catch it?
I’ll narrow it down for you.
Almirola has shared the No. 8 U.S. Army Chevrolet with Martin for the past two seasons
Almirola has shared the ride in the #8 with Martin for two seasons? Crazy. Didn’t Dale Jr. just leave the #8 at the end of last season? Oh Wow. Yeah. Oops.
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Scott Kalitta Killed Today
Sad news from the NHRA yesterday…
Two-time NHRA Powerade Series Top Fuel champion Scott Kalitta was killed Saturday when his Funny Car dragster crashed and burst into flames during a qualifying run at the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.
The 46-year old Kalitta was the son of NHRA legend Connie Kalitta and the cousin of current NHRA regular Doug Kalitta.
According to the Star-Ledger of Newark, Kalitta’s car exploded, hit a sand trap, then vaulted over a protective catch fence.
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Things Are Heating Up For The Drivers
The Car of Tomorrow is hotter than the old cars. How long will it be until we see some sort of cooling system added to the new car? You know it’s just a matter of time. If it gets too hot inside those cars, NASCAR is going to have to do something, else drivers will be passing out before lap 300.
The good news is that NASCAR testing for possibly unsafe carbon monoxide levels inside Sprint Cup cars during races has revealed that no such problem exists.
The bad news for the drivers who were worried about it is that the heat is on for this Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.
Temperatures at the track during practice and qualifying for the race on Friday soared above 100 degrees. Some relief is expected by race time on Sunday, with a high temperature of 87 degrees predicted — but the high on Friday was supposed to be in that range also and it ended up being closer to 102.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of the summer, which, just happened to start yesterday. Drivers are tough, but can they take the heat?
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Sphere: Related ContentJeff Burton’s #31 Grabs Caterpillar For ‘09
I was wondering if Richard Childress Racing would be announcing anything regarding the upcoming sponsor change for 2009. I’m gald to see Caterpillar jumping on board with Jeff Burton, that’s awesome.
Caterpillar Inc. and Richard Childress Racing have agreed to a multi-year partnership for the No. 31 Chevrolet driven by Jeff Burton beginning with the 2009 Sprint Cup Series season.
Burton, a 20-time winner in Cup Series competition, is currently second in the 2008 point standings with one victory, four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in the season’s first 15 races. The No. 31 team has made the Chase the past two seasons, finishing seventh in 2006 and eighth last year.
It’s funny though. I still think Sprint is a bunch of pansy-asses because they won’t allow the AT&T logo to remain on the car. Competition my ass. When it comes to the choice between AT&T and Sprint, their is no competition. People are going to pick AT&T 3 to 1 over Sprint, whether or not the AT&T logo is on the car.
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Two Big Wins This Week
Rookie Joey Logano won the Meijer 300 in Kentucky last Saturday. I must say, he’s a very impressive driver, and one of NASCAR’s rising stars.
Tom Logano had modest goals for son Joey when the 18-year-old prodigy made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut last month in Dover. The elder Logano thought it would take Joey maybe 10 races to reach Victory Lane.
The kid simply couldn’t wait that long.
Joey Logano became the youngest winner in Nationwide Series history Saturday night, cruising to victory in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway in his third series start. Logano, at 18 years, 21 days old, broke the age record of 18 years, 10 months, 9 days set by Casey Atwood in Milwaukee in 1999.
“Three starts, two poles, one win. He’s OK,” quipped crew chief Dave Rogers.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won at Michigan and I am sure there will be a lot of talk this week about how they went 55 laps without needing fuel.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is enjoying that old winning feel and he doesn’t much care what his detractors have to say about it.
“I can understand how it might look, especially if you’re not Dale Jr. fans,” Little E said Sunday after ending a 76-race winless by stretching his last fuel load beyond the limit at Michigan International Speedway. “I know exactly what they’re going to say Monday.
“I mean, my fans are happy and I’m happy for them. The other half are going to tear this apart on how we won this race. But I got the trophy and I got the points. I got to see my team and my owner and my family tonight as happy as they’ve been in a long time. … It’s a pretty big day for me.”
The most popular driver in NASCAR won this one by gambling, somehow going the last 55 laps on the two-mile oval, including three laps of overtime, without stopping for gas.
Congratulations to both of them. Both races were worth watching this week, one because history was made and the other because of the suspenseful ending. Can NASCAR hold my interest for two weeks in a row? We shall see.
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NASCAR Tests Air Quality Inside The Car Of Tomorrow
NASCAR acknowledges that something must be done about the heat building up inside the cars. They themselves are testing the cars this weekend for carbon monoxide levels.
Several Sprint Cup cars are being monitored this weekend for possibly dangerous carbon monoxide levels at Michigan International Speedway.
The decision to test several cars, including the No. 11 Toyota of driver Denny Hamlin, comes in the wake of complaints by some drivers that the new car being run full-time for first time this season is often unbearably hot inside the cockpit.
Of course, in the same breath that they announce the new tests, they also say that the heat build up can be solved by the teams themselves with options already available to them.
John Darby, Sprint Cup Series director, said NASCAR has been paying close attention to complaints about heat inside the car. But he insisted that the problem can be addressed easily, if only teams are willing to explore all options within the car that already are available to them.
If they can fix it themselves, why is NASCAR testing for carbon monoxide this weekend? Why not require the teams to use those “options” they already have to eliminate any chance of heat build up and carbon monoxide too?
I know why. Because those options, just like benefits of the car of tomorrow, do not exist. NASCAR marketed the new car so much, they are starting to believe the hype themselves.
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The N In NASCAR Stands For Negativity
NASCAR is tired of hearing the negative message some of the stock car sport’s driving stars have been sending to fans lately.
Too many complaints about the new generation car, bumpy race tracks and numerous other things, and not enough positive reinforcement for fans.
Why shouldn’t they complain? The FANS are getting bored out of their minds. The FANS can see how stupid the whole idea of the “Car of Tomorrow” was (and still is). The FANS don’t need positive reinforcement from the drivers, they need good races that allow those drivers a chance to mix things up and prove they can driver better than the next guy.
The FANS don’t care if one car doesn’t break down. The FANS don’t care who gets lucky on pit roads. The FANS are demanding more from NASCAR. The drivers can’t give the FANS what they want until the powers that be at NASCAR get their heads out of their asses and do something about the “car of yesterday”.
NASCAR president Mike Helton held a “mandatory” meeting Friday morning for drivers and the team owners who already were on hand at Michigan International Speedway.
Things apparently reached a critical mass last week at Pocono, where it appeared nobody was happy about the rough track or the so-called “Car of Tomorrow” that is still being developed, or the intense heat that had many drivers near exhaustion after a 500-mile race most of them believe should be no longer than 400 miles.
The FANS aren’t happy and the drivers aren’t happy. Get a clue NASCAR.
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