Archive for March, 2009

Stewart and Newman are doing awesome.

Stewart-Haas Racing rolled off the truck in Daytona a brand new team, but six races into the season you certainly can’t tell.

Driver and team co-owner Tony Stewart ran consistently within the top five Sunday at Martinsville Speedway and had nearly flawless pit stops all day en route to a third-place finish, his first top-five of the season.

Teammate Ryan Newman had a tight battle with Dale Earnhardt Jr. near the end of the Goody’s Fast Relief Pain 500, but he prevailed and left with a sixth-place finish, his second top-10 of the season.

I won’t be surprised if these two both find themselves in the Chase at the end of the season.

Yesterday’s race was a good one. I am really getting back into the NASCAR spirit this year. I just wish they would allow the cars themselves to be more competitive (aka get rid of the Car of Tomorrow).

Jimmie Johnson found his way back to Victory Lane.

The three-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion nudged Denny Hamlin up the track with 16 laps remaining, and cruised from there to win the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.

Oh yeah, and I would have preferred it if someone else won, but I can live with this one.

Congrats Jimmie.

Persistent rain forced postponement of Saturday’s Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

The race has been rescheduled for noon ET on Monday at the .526-mile short track. Rick Crawford won the pole for the Kroger 250 during Saturday morning’s time trials before rain washed out the race itself, as well as two scheduled Sprint Cup practice sessions.

I was real busy today, so it’s nice to know I can still watch the truck race on Monday.

The headline reads Martinsville coming at a good time for Earnhardt Jr.

Why is this a good time?

All the talk this past week — shoot, the entire Sprint Cup season — of the need to split up Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his crew chief/cousin, Tony Eury Jr., obscures two noteworthy facts:

First, Earnhardt is a mere 66 points out 12th place, the final Chase-eligible position, and second, there are 21 races before the field for the Chase is set in September at Richmond.

On Wednesday, team owner Rick Hendrick made it clear on a national teleconference he was not going to split up the two juniors. “I am 100 percent behind this group,” Hendrick said. “I have no intentions of making any changes. I have all intentions of making it better.”

No, really, why is this a better time than any other?

Jeff Gordon will start from the pole position in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway after steady rain washed out qualifying Friday.

Being the points leader also earned Gordon the prime stall on the cramped pit road of NASCAR’s tricky, 0.526-mile oval. He will be seeking his eighth victory at Martinsville, tops among active drivers, and his first in 47 races.

The qualifying rainout, he figures, only helps his chances.

I hate it when rain cancels qualifying, and I hate it more when rain calls the race. Let’s hope it all clears up before Sunday.

Uh oh.

The last time I heard that a team was behind a driver or a crew chief, they let him go within a few weeks. Wait. Come to think of it, I don’t think there is a time that a crew chief or driver has been let go, the team owner makes a statement that they are “behind the driver 100%” just before the ax drops.

The pairing of Junior and Junior isn’t going anywhere.

Car owner Rick Hendrick said he fully backs the combination of driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Tony Eury Jr., the latter of whom has endured a barrage of criticism from fans over the driver’s slow start to this season. Earnhardt is 19th in points entering this weekend’s Cup Series event at Martinsville Speedway.

Will the lesser known Earnhardt’s make a bigger splash this year than Dale Jr.?

Kerry and Jeffrey Earnhardt have joined Rick Ware Racing in the Nationwide Series. Kerry will debut with the organization April 4 at Texas in the No. 31 Chevrolet. His son Jeffrey, 19, is scheduled to make his Nationwide Series debut May 30 at Dover.

Kerry, son of seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, has 70 career starts in the Nationwide Series and has three top-five and six top-10 finishes. He competed full time in the series in 2002, finishing 22nd in the standings. He last raced in the series in 2008.

I hope so. I have always been a fan of Kerry Earnhardt, and I always felt like he was overlooked by many in the industry. I hope he and Jeffrey both make a commanding entrance this year.

The brothers Busch can both be “difficult” at times. When Kurt lashes out, it’s kind of cool. When Kyle does it, he’s just a turd.

Kyle Busch was furious when his pit crew cost him a win at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he angrily ditched his car on the race track and headed to his motorhome on foot.

A day later, he drove it to Victory Lane.

Busch bounced back from one of his many Bristol heartbreaks with a dominating win Sunday, leading 378 of 503 laps for his second Sprint Cup Series victory of the season. Ironically, it was his crew that deserved much of the credit.

His Joe Gibbs Racing team got him out front ahead of teammate Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson on the final pit stop—critical track position that helped him hang on for the win.

“I told the ladies to `Man up, get the job done on the last stop,’ which they did,” Busch said. “I’m proud of them for doing that. When the time mattered most, they got the job done.”

Kyle, you’re a great driver, but your team carries YOU. The reason we know this, is because they don’t have temper tantrums and leave the car in turn 3 on the track for YOU to retrieve it. It’s time for YOU to man up, as you put it.

In the 14 previous races they had together at Bristol Motor Speedway, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart had each beaten the other man seven times. But Newman beating the boss in Sunday’s Food City 500 was no doubt his biggest advantage.

Newman finished seventh in his No. 39 Chevrolet to Stewart’s 17th in the No. 14, scoring his best finish since he was sixth at Bristol last August — 17 races ago when he was driving for Penske Racing. It was Newman’s eighth top-10 finish at the track

It’s about time we saw the Rocket Man back in the top ten. Now, how about another win?

Kevin Harvick proved just how strong his organization is Saturday by winning the Nationwide Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway in his own race car.

Harvick led 44 laps in his Kevin Harvick Inc.-owned Chevrolet, his first victory in a car fielded by the race team he built with his wife.

“It is very emotional, he’s tried so hard, so long in his own stuff,” Delana Harvick said in Victory Lane. “Today was his day.”

Congratulations, Kevin.