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Archived Columns (Page 5)

NASCAR Champs Wrap Up Season at Homestead

November 20, 2007 - Matt Kenseth won the battle, but Jimmie Johnson won the war by taking seventh place in the Ford 400 in Homestead, FL to notch his second consecutive championship in NASCAR’s Nextel Cup series.

Kenseth was ‘hooked-up’ all day, seemingly getting out front at will regardless of restarts. Oh, there were others out front for a while such as Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Newman. But, no one led more laps nor had a handle on the track like Kenseth all night.

When the checkers fell, crossing the line behind the Roush-Fenway Ford Fusion driver were the cars of Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards.

The overall final Nextel Cup (next year renamed to Sprint Cup) race was kind of a sleeper…the TV announcers surely kept us up to speed as to the battle between Gordon and Johnson throughout the race. Johnson kind of stayed to himself and Gordon’s group tried a few tricks to get out front, but never really got a super handle on the changing track conditions, especially from bright sunlight to dark.

So, Johnson racks up his second title and Gordon ponders what went wrong not to earn a fifth large cup. After all, the four-time champion won six times, set a new record (30) for the most top tens in one season, had numerous poles and averaged about a fifth place finish throughout the Chase….but came up short.

The big difference here was Johnson’s team concentrating on the WINS! With 10 wins on the season and an extra 10 points or so for each made the biggest difference (77 points).

For a few drivers, this finale had extra significance, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Ricky Rudd.

For seven years, Dale Jr has only driven for DEI in a No. 8 race car. This was the final hoorah and there wasn’t much to cheer about as the Budman wound up getting spun twice early in the race, finishing a disappointing 36^th and slipping to 16^th in the final standings. All plans are etched in bronze for him to pilot a No. 88 car for Hendrick Motorsports for next year and beyond.

For Rudd, this was truly his last turn behind the wheel as the iron man hangs up his helmet after more than 900 starts over 32 seasons. Great guy and fierce competitor…he will truly be missed.

The final curtain on the Busch series came down with Jeff Burton controlling the closing stages of the 200-lap race at Homestead despite the series’ winningest driver, Mark Martin’s best efforts. The 26 year history of racing in NASCAR’s No. 2 series ends as Nationwide Insurance becomes the series name starting in 2008.

The overall race was controlled by a slew of Buschwackers, something that may not be around if NASCAR gets some guts to change the rules, such as any top 35 Cup driver being ineligible to earn points.

When the final checkers flew, Burton notched his 26^th career win and fifth on the season. The latest win for the RCR driver earned owner Richard Childress his fifth Busch series title.

Crossing the line behind Burton were the cars of Martin, Matt Kenseth, 2007 series points champion Carl Edwards and rookie Stephen Leicht.

The final race weekend began with the Craftsman truck series race on Friday night. Mike Skinner entered the race with a 29-point lead over nemesis Ron Hornaday Jr.

The early stages of the race found Skinner in a familiar situation, that being out front. But, the 1995 truck champ felt a bad vibration and pitted for right side tires, putting his Toyota at the back of the pack while Hornaday Jr was sitting well among the top ten.

Skinner was working his way back to the front, until the rear left wheel left the truck, sidelining the potential two-time champ for 11 laps while the hub was replaced.

That put Hornaday Jr’s Chevy in a very comfortable position to cruise around and wind up winning his third title, tying Jack Sprague in the process.

Out front, Kyle Busch was setting fast times until a green-white-checker situation found the young driver passed by a very strong running Johnny Benson who went on to capture his fourth win of the year and ninth career trophy.

Others in the top five included Busch, Rick Crawford, Kevin Harvick and Jason Leffler.

Hornaday carefully finished seventh, winding up 54 points ahead of Skinner, giving Harvick his first truck title after six years of trying.

Hornaday and Sprague will certainly be a one-two punch as teammates at KHR next year.

From Rumorville - Looks like John Andretti will return behind the wheel of the BAM Dodge for next year as the team strives for a second team sponsor.

--- Several current full-time Cup drivers are still on the outside looking in for next year in a quest to find a ride. They include Johnny Sauter, Tony Raines, Jeff Green, Ward Burton, David Stremme, Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader. Some of those seats were filled by open wheelers Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier. Throw in Jacque Villenueve and Sam Hornish Jr alongside sophomore Juan Montoya and you’ve got quite a foreign influence on what was ‘once upon a time’ strictly a deep South sport.

Did you know? There will be about 5-600 Cup cars for sale now that the final race for the outdated cars has crossed the finish line. So, where do they wind up? Many will go to the ARCA ranks, some will be turned into Busch and West cars and yet others will be turned into school cars, demonstrators and touring show cars. With the COT car rules in effect full-time, it is too different a vehicle to change over in a cost effective manner. Need a show car in your living room or den? They can be purchased at bargain rates!

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review some of the final stats and facts for the NASCAR series and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Johnson and Busch dominate Phoenix

November 13, 2007 - Kyle Busch had an easy time winning the Craftsman Truck race followed by his third checkers in the Busch ranks, but Jimmie Johnson’s fourth consecutive Cup win on Sunday in Phoenix was just plain uncanny.

Once again, the team made no mistakes. On or off the track, they dialed in their car and the driver left nothing on the table, many commenting he was not driving like he was in a tight battle leading teammate Jeff Gordon by only 30 points. Instead, the points leader made several daring three-wide moves en route to his 10^th win on the season.

Johnson was among the top ten, until the final 20-30 laps. That’s when they really seem to hit the afterburners, get to the front and stay there, despite the best late-race challengers.

Gordon struggled once again with the handle on his Dupont Chevy, staying among the top ten, but barely.

Rounding out the top five in this one included Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman.

The race started with polesitter Carl Edwards leading most of the first 100 laps, until his Roush engine let go, sending the Office Depot driver home early and suffering a big hit in the points down to ninth.

Another driver with a short day was Dale Earnhardt Jr, his day over with a driver error, losing the car a third of the way in, winding up at the very bottom of the charts. This season can’t end soon enough for the fan favorite.

Johnson leaves the West with an 86 point lead over Gordon as they head for the finale in Homestead, Florida. The Lowe’s Chevy driver has only to finish 18^th or better to wrap up his second consecutive title. My opinion? It’s his to lose….and I still don’t like the Chase format as it really doesn’t reward the best driver. It’s created two seasons, one a 26-week and the other a 10. Under the old system, Gordon would have wrapped up his fifth title by more than 300 points. Now that the third year of Chase is over…will it go away anytime soon? Nah! NASCAR likes it and has implied there will be no changes of any kind in the near future. What do you think? Drop me a line.

--- As mentioned earlier, Kyle Busch won the truck race on Friday night, but not without battling the likes of Ron Hornaday who has been on an overaggressive mission of late.

Once again, Hornaday fought…correction…beat his way into the lead, only to fade at the end while Busch rocketed into the lead and stayed there for the win.

Wrapping up the top five included Hornaday, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler and Kevin Harvick.

Points leader Mike Skinner wound up eighth, lost part of his lead over Hornaday who now sits just 29 points back with one race to go. As I’ve said before, this battle will probably go down to the final turn of the last lap. The gloves are off…big time with these two grizzled veterans. Might be the best show of the weekend.

--- Over on the Busch side, Kyle Busch led the most laps and despite a strong effort by Matt Kenseth, notched another win, his 11^th career by the end of the day. A big pat on the back for Kenseth however, as he competed most of the race without power steering, a Herculean effort for anyone.

Completing the top five included Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Scott Wimmer and Harvick. Newly crowned champ Carl Edwards finished seventh.

Open wheelers Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr finished 29^th and 39^th respectively.

From Rumorville - Speaking of Hornish Jr, it was officially announced by Penske that the IRL Champ and Indy 500 winner will pilot a third stocker alongside Kurt Busch and for now…Ryan Newman, for next year and beyond. Hornish Jr will drive a Mobil 1 sponsored No. 77, and may wind up using Busch’s points to make the first five shows of next year. Hornish finally made his first Cup race on Sunday, finishing two laps down in 30^th. He’s got a ways to go to get a grip on the ‘taxi cab’ line.

--- Petty’s gone? Well, not exactly, but after more than half a century, the Petty’s have made a very big decision to move out of Level Cross and down the road to Mooresville, alongside most of the competitors. This reluctant move is necessary however, to keep up with the ‘Jones’s’ in some of the latest technologies, something the Petty’s have fallen behind in over the past decade in particular. Look for the move to be completed by the end of the year.

Did you know? Despite Jeff Gordon’s odds of winning a fifth title is slim to none, the four-time champ racked up his 29^th top 10 finish (in one season) over the weekend, something only Dale Jarrett did in 1999.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the final madness in Homestead, Florida and discuss the season’s NASCAR champions and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Johnson does Texas two-step

November 6, 2007 - Jimmie Johnson is on one of those rolls most drivers can only dream about. After coming into the weekend’s race nine points behind teammate Jeff Gordon, he emerged 30 ahead after taking the lead of the race in Texas from Matt Kenseth with less than two laps to go.

Talk about rising to the occasion….Johnson has now won nine Cup races on the year and three in a row over the past several weeks.

Gordon struggled for most of the day, trying to get a handle on the mile-and-a-half track, yet came up seventh in the final rundown, now sits 30 points behind his teammate with two races remaining.

The overall race was a snoozer until the final laps battle between the two ex-champs. The top five wound up as Johnson, Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman.

Clint Bowyer finally fell from grace, netting a 19^th, and slipping 181 points behind Johnson. Kyle Busch moved up two spots to fourth and Carl Edwards had suspension problems for more than half the race, finishing three laps down in 26^th, slipping a spot in the Chase to fifth.

Soooooooo, we’re down to Phoenix and Homestead for the Cup title decision. Gordon or Johnson are only separated by as little as six spots on the track. This could very well come down to the final turn of the final lap in Florida.

What do you think? Will Johnson repeat as champion or will Gordon notch his fifth big trophy? Drop me a line.

The triple header of NASCAR racing started the weekend with Friday night’s wild finish to the Craftsman truck race.

When the smoke cleared, it was veteran racer Ted Musgrave standing tall in the winner’s circle after Jack Sprague and rookie Chad McCumbee took each other out on the final restart.

On the previous restart, top contenders Ron Hornaday and Mike Skinner battled with Hornaday slipping up into Skinner while young McCumbee zoomed by.

Hornaday’s truck was pretty much junk and Skinner was able to rejoin the fray and miraculously lucked out to claim a third after starting seventh.

Musgrave was in the right place at the right time to earn his 17^th career win and first in 66 attempts.

Musgrave, Brendan Gaughan, Skinner, Mike Bliss and Rick Crawford wrapped up the top five finishers.

Skinner left Texas with a 57-point lead over Hornaday (after 18^th place finish) and two shows to go.

The Busch race on Saturday looked as if Greg Biffle would add yet another Texas win to his resume. But the Roush-Fenway driver felt a serious enough vibration to make him think he had a tire going down while in the lead. Unfortunately the tires were fine, and Biffle had to settle for 16^th while the lead and an easy win went to Kevin Harvick, his 32^nd career and sixth on the season.

Others in the top five included a disappointed Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth.

Carl Edwards cruised home to an 11^th place finish, good enough to wrap up his first NASCAR title and second Busch title for Roush.

From Rumorville - With Bruton Smith shelling out a record $340 million in purchasing New Hampshire International Speedway, many feel there are methods to his madness, namely buying the New England track to give one of his other tracks a second date…namely Las Vegas. While the cagey billionaire says he has no plans right now to do just that, you can take that bet to the bank with almost certainty that Las Vegas will get that second date. He did the same thing with buying North Wilkesboro and Rockingham. The only thing different with this move were additional zeros to the equation.

When it does happen, and it will, not in 2008, but in 2009, it will once again take away a date on the right coast to fluff up the West coast. Can’t fight it. What do you think? Drop me a line.

--- Penske’s Better Idea - What do you do when you have a talented open-wheel driver that can’t seem to qualify for a Cup race? Why, in this case with Sam Hornish Jr, you read the rule book a little closer and create a guaranteed situation for Hornish to get started with. How? Take the top-35 status of Kurt Busch and hand it (the number) over to Hornish. After all, if Kurt doesn’t make a race for some strange reason, he’s got his ex-champion’s provisional to fall back on. Right now, that’s what appears to be on the agenda for next season as Hornish as yet to make a Cup race after six failed attempts to get in.

Did you know? Out of 159 competitors in the Busch series, only NINE have competed in all 33 races so far this season. That means there were only nine season ‘regulars’. That’s pretty sad, and I look for NASCAR to turn situation that around and soon.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the NASCAR results from Phoenix and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Johnson lucks into win No. 8

October 30, 2007 - Jimmie Johnson had to have walked away from Atlanta Motor Speedway mumbling the credo, “I’d rather be lucky than good.”

The current runner-up in the Chase to teammate Jeff Gordon lucked out to win his eighth Cup race of 2007 in the final few laps of Sunday’s Pep Boy 500 when Earnhardt’s left rear wheel left the Budmobile, ending the green-white-checker situation early. The ensuing wreck took out several cars including a hapless Jamie McMurray who appeared en route to a top-five instead of a 26^th place run.

Carl Edwards had been poised to pounce onto a familiar outside pass for the win deal, only to have the race end early. He may have repeated his narrow win over Johnson similar to his first Atlanta win.

So, the top five were awarded as Johnson, Edwards, Reed Sorensen, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton after checking the previous lap scoring loops.

The race started with Greg Biffle out front, but the Roush-Fenway driver faded to mid field.

Kyle Busch led many of the laps on the day as did a strong running Martin Truex Jr. But, a late race restart found a stumbling Denny Hamlin’s car not take off and Truex plow into his Chevy and out of the race.

Busch’s day went all wrong on the final pitstop when his jackman didn’t raise the car high enough, costing the soon-to-be ex-Hendrick driver to lose more than a dozen spots on the ensuing restart. Needless to say, he was less than thrilled with his crew’s performance or lack thereof.

Jeff Gordon and teammate Johnson ran among the top 15 most of the day, but surely were nothing to write home about.

Then, there was that final pitstop where strategies were all over the map from not pitting at all to four tires and various combos in between. Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus made the right call by taking two and being out front, especially when the plug was pulled after Dale Jr’s tire went awry.

Junior has to be thinking what can happen next with this DEI piece of junk. If it’s not one of seven blown engines, now I have wheels and tires leaving without warning? It has surely been a season to forget for the fan favorite.

With the final stats in, Gordon left Atlanta with a slim nine point advantage over Johnson with just three shows to go.

Third place Chaser Clint Bowyer wound up a very respectable sixth but remains 115 back. It’s still down to either of the dynamic duo Hendrick drivers to stand at the top of the heap in New York.

--- The Busch race at Memphis on Saturday afternoon wound up a wreck-a-rama with no less than 25 caution flags….yes, I said 25. Most of this race was run 5-10 laps, wreck, repeat.

The man at the front all day though was none other than David Reutimann. Not making the Cup field seemed to have the young man put the bit between his teeth from the drop of the flag.

Points leader Carl Edwards had a shot at wrapping up the title, but once again being in the wrong place at the wrong time sent him down the finishing charts to a very undeserving 25^th. The Roush-Fenway driver will have to wait until next week where I’d predict the title will be his once and for all.

Capping off the top five finishers in this marathon wreck fest were the cars of Mike Bliss, David Regan, Marcos Ambrose and Jason Leffler.

--- The Craftsman truck race on Saturday afternoon at Atlanta saw Kyle Busch win, although any of the top five in the closing laps could have wound up in the winner’s circle.

They included a very aggressive Ron Hornaday, Johnny Benson, Mark Martin and Mike Skinner.

Hornaday now leads Skinner by a mere four points with just three races remaining. These two truck veterans have been around the block many times before. It would not surprise me to see this battle go down to the last turn of the last lap of the last race.

From Rumorville - It looks as if the only driving position for Cup driver David Stremme at this point is a part-time ride for Rusty Wallace in the Busch ranks for next year. …I mean Nationwide series. Stremme deserves more than this on his plate.

--- The biggest talk of last week was of course the scenes after the race at Martinsville between Edwards and Kenseth. In case you’ve been in a cave for the past 10 days, while leaving the racetrack on foot, Carl spotted Matty about to be interviewed on TV. The muscular driver gently pushed Matt away from the cameras talking briefly, then jumped over the wall to exit the track. But, before actually leaving the area, faked a pretty scary punch to Matt, whereupon he flinched with fear in his eyes. (Video clip - 400,000 hits on YouTube).

Was Carl wrong for his actions? Should these teammates’ discussion been dealt with off camera or not at all? What do you think? Drop me a line.

Did you know? How many Busch series drivers competed in a Busch race this year alone? Would you believe 159 different drivers competed in a Busch race this year with Michael Waltrip currently sitting in 158^th.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the NASCAR runs from Texas and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Johnson triples up at Martinsville

Octobor 23, 2007 - On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Virginia, three of the four Hendrick cars continued to show why they are the leaders of the COT performance curve.

It started with pole sitter Jeff Gordon leading most of the opening laps before a loose lug nut relegated him to the back. Kyle Busch led for a while, but it Jimmie Johnson who stole the show by battling with Gordon and a late hard charging Ryan Newman to rack up his third consecutive win at Martinsville Speedway.

Whoever was going to win this race would have to get through a record setting 21 caution periods (126 laps) for mostly minor incidents. There was the usual rubbin’ and shovin’, resulting in hard feelings and broken cars. Throw in some blown engines and it was an atypical day at the paperclip.

Rounding out the top five finishers included Newman, Gordon, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth.

The latest results saw Johnson claim his seventh win of the season, 30^th of his career, yet still sits back of Gordon in the Chase by 53 points.

Clint Bowyer sits third after a ninth place finish, slipping to 115 back of the top spot.

Most of the remaining Chasers didn’t exactly have banner days, and with four races to go, it certainly appears as a two-man Hendrick battle to the end.

The teams move to Atlanta for the next round where Gordon and Johnson have both won races.

The Craftsman truck race on Saturday resembled more of a short track demo derby than a professional auto racing competition.

There were wrecks everywhere, in fact, one late in the go looked like something from a ‘big wreck’ at ‘Dega. The whole back chute was blocked with trucks strewn about the pavement.

When the smoke cleared at the end of the 200-lap mess, it was Mike Skinner standing tall in victory lane. The ex-champ narrowly edged Jack Sprague, Ron Hornaday (who was a man on a mission for most of the race), David Starr and Rick Crawford.

Two notables, newcomers Dario Franchitti and Jacque Villenueve endured for a while anyway, the wrath of rock ‘em sock ‘em pick ‘em up racing. While Villenueve got as high as 13^th, he and Franchitti were both roughed up by several drivers ending their days early against the fence. I guess their only saving grace is that they both are making races whereas fellow open-wheeler Sam Hornish Jr is now 0 for 5 in making a NASCAR event.

Skinner now leads Hornaday by a scant 11 markers with only four races remaining. I suspect they’ll beat and bang on each other until the final lap of the final race. Hornaday has been especially brutal this year, shoving aside most that get in his way.

Open Wheel News – The final chapter of the Champ car series for 2007 ended over the weekend in Australia with a final exclamation point by the now four-time champion, Sebastien Bourdais. The new champ leaves the series with numerous wins and four consecutive titles while heading across the pond for a full-time F-1 ride. He’ll miss winning, because the team he’s headed for is junk.

--- One F-1 team that certainly was not junk was that of Team Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel. The mumbly speaking driver surprised many with the final win of the year and first F-1 title, eclipsing rookie Lewis Hamilton and two-time champion Fernando Alonso on Sunday in Brazil.

Kimi took the win in front of Felipe Massa and Alonso with Hamilton a distant seventh. It certainly has been a more interesting season than most in recent memory.

From Rumorville - Don’t be surprised to see Bobby Labonte wheeling the Petty No. 45 Dodge before the end of the season. It appears the idea of taking advantage of using a champion’s provisional has spread to Petty Enterprises with Kyle being real close to falling out of the top 35. These days, especially with the first five races of next year being worth so much money and it’s within the rules to play these games, it’s something teams have to do to survive.

--- It was a surprise to me the other day to hear there may be an opening for Johnny Sauter (normally driver of the HAAS No. 70) in a second Cup car at Robby Gordon Motorsports for next year. They could be quite a combo if you think about it.

West Coast Racing - I watched two nights of the All-Star racing from California, featuring the best of the East and West junior Busch leagues. I especially enjoyed seeing 17-year-old Joe Gibbs development driver Joey Lagano barely hold off local Danville driver Peyton Sellers. The young driver picked up $33,000 for his efforts while Sellers had nothing to hang his head about with a great runner-up spot and $22,000 to get them back to Virginia.

Did you know? With Jimmie Johnson’s latest win, he now sits 18^th on the all-time win list with 30. Current nearby career winners include Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart with 32.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the NASCAR battle from Atlanta and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Gordon can do no wrong to win Lowe’s

October 16, 2007 - A stumbling car starving for the final sips of gas, or snookered on a start didn’t deter Jeff Gordon from winning for the second consecutive week, this time at the night show at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte.

Unlike last week’s stay-at-the-back zoom-to-the-front late-in-the-race plan, Gordon ran near the front all night on the mile-and-a-half track.

On a less than 10-to-go restart, Gordon’s car stumbled a bit out front (with fuel pressure concerns) and Ryan Newman zoomed by, appearing to be well on his way to his first win in more than two years. But, the Penske driver threw it away, losing control and smacking the fence, citing a tire going down…the jury is still out on that one.

The final laps were green-white-checker with Gordon coming out ahead of Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards. It was interesting to hear team owner Rick Hendrick come on the radio to Busch, saying he didn’t want any wrecks between he and Gordon when they were poised to re-start one-two. Many figured Busch to take out Gordon just on general principles, but the 22-year-old driver said and did the right things, surprising many, myself included.

Teammate Jimmie Johnson led most of the laps on the night, but for the second night in a row, spun by himself off turn 4 mid-race. Car damage was minimal, after quick repairs wound up 14^th and now sits second in points, 68 markers back of Gordon.

Clint Bowyer once again showed he is a force to be reckoned with by notching yet another runner-up finish, sitting 10 markers back of Johnson. Several of the Chasers fell on hard times, but none harder than Matt Kenseth. The Roush- Fenway driver was involved in no less than three on track incidents, each one shortening up his ride. The DeWalt Ford driver now sits way back in 12^th more than 442 points back of Gordon.

Kevin Harvick had another round of mysterious flat tires, finishing seven laps down in 33^rd.

Tony Stewart bounced off several cars on pit lane, but recovered to finish 7^th; Denny Hamlin was OK until late in the go when his transmission locked up (finished 20^th) and Kurt Busch wound up down the charts (26^th) with one less cylinder working than everyone else.

So, the overall picture is Gordon on top with Johnson and Bowyer down about 70, then Stewart sits fourth, yet 198 back with Edwards fifth, 240 points back and so on. You can pretty much stick a fork in anyone’s chances to challenge for the top spot beyond Hamlin, especially those drivers more than 240 points in arrears.

One final note about Saturday night’s race and that is kudos to Ricky Rudd for earning an 11^th place finish after being sidelined for five weeks with a separated shoulder.

Many race fans and media alike are already saying it’s Gordon’s (title) to lose…that he’s on a roll…he’s got the momentum, etc. Me? With five races remaining, anything can happen. If Gordon rolls on to a bunch of top tens, the rest will fight for the scraps. But anything can happen, so stay tuned.

What about you? Drop me a line how you feel about Gordon wrapping up his fifth title or not.

The Busch race (soon to be Nationwide Series) on Friday night saw numerous wrecks, especially those cars getting loose off the final turn.

Once again, Jeff Burton took the class to school with yet another dominating win, his fourth on the season. Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer wrapped up the top five. For much of the weekend, Dale Jr ran his Chevy high and wide, often meeting with the fence. He came away with a good run on the Busch side, but only a 19^th on the Cup side.

Points leader Carl Edwards ran strong, but I feel the team got a little greedy in trying to get an already great car better with a lengthy stop, which put him deep in the field and caught up in a wreck he probably would not have been a part of. He still leads David Reutimann by 638 points with four shows remaining.

From Rumorville - The big questions floating around the NASCAR Cup pits is who will fill the second seat at HAAS CNC Racing (No. 66 and No. 70). Obviously Scott Riggs has the first seat, but rumors persist as to David Stremme or others to fill the bill.

--- Look for Dale Jarrett to trade in his helmet after the first six races next year in favor of a microphone on ESPN. The well-seasoned veteran will turn the reigns of the UPS Toyota over to Reutimann at that time.

Did you know? It’s been eight years since Jeff Gordon won a Cup race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Pretty amazing when you consider his overall record and the fact he has four previous wins at the mile-and-a-half track.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the carnage from the Cup and Craftsman truck races at Martinsville, see who becomes this year’s Formula One champion after the final race in Australia and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Gordon outsmarts field at ‘Dega Debacle

October 9, 2007 - He hung out in the back all day. Got a pit lane violation, went to the back, but within the final couple of dozen laps, four-time champion Jeff Gordon started to move to the front.

In what appeared to be a Hendrick runaway with Jimmie Johnson out front, was turned around with a bold move by Gordon on the final lap. He moved alongside Johnson on the high side, only to be blocked. Instead, he wound up right in front of a closing Tony Stewart who gave him a good enough shot to punt the No. 24 ahead of a hard charging pack of cars and into the winner’s circle.

Gordon led only one lap on the day, but obviously, it was the most important one. Johnson wound up second with Dave Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman rounding out the top five. Stewart got shuffled back to finish eighth along with Casey Mears and Kurt Busch in front of him.

Most of the race was a snoozer and yes, there were two major wrecks, both started with flat tires, one by Bobby Labonte and the other by Michael Waltrip. Half the field had some kind of damage and three of the DEI/Childress engines blew up (Martin Truex Jr, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Burton)well before the end.

Many of the Hendrick and Roush-Fenway cars hung out at the back of the pack for most of the race, trying to avoid ‘the big one’. For some it worked, but for Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray, they were caught up in wrecks, ending their race early.

The weekend’s results finds Gordon out front, but only by nine over Johnson and 63 over Clint Bowyer. The rest of the pack, starting with Stewart at 154 are pretty much toast with any kind of reasonable title shot….unless the ‘dynamic duo’ slip up with six to go.

The latest win for Gordon was his fifth of the year, sixth at ‘Dega and 80^th career trophy. Did I mention he won both ‘Dega races this year? At this point, it’s a safe bet to say the ‘big cup’ will go to Gordon, Johnson or Bowyer.

On the Craftsman truck side of things, Todd Bodine took the pole and a very narrow three-a-breast win over Rick Crawford and Johnny Benson at ‘Dega on Saturday afternoon.

Ron Hornaday left the Alabama track with only a 14 point lead over Mike Skinner with the rest of the field fighting for the remaining top spots.

Cup Qualifying Mess - If the results of the Cup qualifying from Talladega doesn’t wake up NASCAR officials to the idea of their qualifying system being a joke…it never will.

Who’d a thunk the top 11 qualifiers would be ‘go or go homers’, but they were. Imagine AJ Almendinger, Boris Said and Scott Riggs telling their sponsors they qualified 9^th, 10^th and 11^th respectively, only to be sent home because of this top 35 garbage.

I’d have to say it’s a safe bet that never in the history of racing have members of the top ten in qualifying been sent home in such a large field. Imagine besting 40 other cars and not be allowed to compete. This whole deal is wrong, wrong, wrong!

This whole idea of provisional’s started towards the end of Richard Petty’s career when it appeared the ‘King” wasn’t going to make races. They came up with this special champion’s provisional and the idea expanded from there to the current top 35 in points are guaranteed to make the show. It’s all junk.

To me, the fastest 42 cars and one provisional, either highest in points or ex-champion should make the show. If Jeff Gordon stumbles during qualifying and is slow, he goes home. They are professionals. They are supposed to be able to be fast at the drop of a hat and be professional about it. If not, you go home.

Only NASCAR takes this provisional stuff to the current extreme.

In NHRA drag racing…this year alone, legends John Force and Kenny Bernstein weren’t fast enough…they went home. Earlier this year, when the King of the Outlaw Sprints Steve Kinser wasn’t up to snuff, he went home.

I’ve talked about this many times before, but Saturday’s qualifying wound up a joke with all eight non-qualifiers being quicker than the bottom of the starters pack. What do you think? Drop me a line.

From Rumorville - Nationwide Insurance was named last week as the new sponsor of what we’ve known for decades as the Busch series. They have ponied up about $10 million a year for the next seven to sponsor NASCAR’s No. 2 series. First, it will take some getting used to as far as saying something like, “Hey, did you catch the Nationwide race?” But bigger problems arise already for one major current Busch sponsor, namely Geico. The insurance company that has spent major dollars on sponsoring a car and countless commercials will have to pull up stakes after 2009, as not to conflict with the new major sponsor. Sound familiar? More silly stuff.

--- You can also look for Scott Riggs to move over to the Hass race team in either the No. 66 or No. 70 for next year and beyond. It appears a special phone call from Rick Hendrick himself to Scott swayed the young man to make the move from GEM Racing. Hass does use the Hendrick power plants and more.

Across the Pond - Rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton went into the penultimate round of F-1 racing in China with a 12 point lead over teammate Fernando Alonso. The young Brit took the pole and was leading the rain soaked race when, while pitting, drove off the track and into a gravel trap, throwing away what appeared to be a sure win….and title.

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen went on to take the win over Alonso and Felipe Massa. The F-1 gang heads to Brazil in two weeks where the top three, Hamilton, Alonso and Raikkonen are only separated by a scant seven points.

Did you know? What current Cup crew chief has the most career wins to his credit? Greg Zippadelli with 32 wins leads the group with Todd Parrot (29) and Chad Knaus and Jimmy Fennig tied with 27. Retired chiefs Tim Brewer (53) and Ray Evernham notched 49 before hanging up their clipboards.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the action from Lowe’s Motor Speedway and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Biffle crawls to win Kansas madness

October 2, 2007 - When last year’s winner, Tony Stewart crawled across the finish line out of gas, in the Cup race at Kansas Speedway, he was declared a lucky winner.

Sunday’s Cup race at Kansas ended in a similar manner, only it was Greg Biffle rolling across the line, and yet there was more than one driver upset about it. “He didn’t maintain pace car speed,” they cried. Yet NASCAR said he needed to maintain a ‘reasonable speed’.

Who’s right and who’s wrong appears to be a moot point at this juncture as NASCAR declared the Roush-Fenway driver the winner with a whining Clint Bowyer in second and Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and Jeff Gordon rounding out the top five.

Funny….it wasn’t that long ago before Bowyer took his first win in New Hampshire, you didn’t hear much about the mid-Westerner not winning a race. Now that he’s on top of his game, it seems he should win all of them.

The end of this rain-shortened race was a mess. They shortened the race twice, had two lengthy rain delays along with numerous yellows. When Juan Pablo Montoya smacked the outside fence with two laps to go in practically dark conditions, NASCAR simply cried ‘uncle’ and ended the madness with Biffle out front.

I say they did the right thing. What about you? Drop me a line with your opinion.

The race began with polesitter Johnson starting from the back, the result of a practice crash requiring the use of the backup car.

That put Scott Riggs out front, yet it was short-lived. Matt Kenseth took over and led the majority of the race laps, but not before an early race rain delay and a mid-race rain delay threw a giant wrench in the ‘works’.

Similar to last week’s debacle at Dover, this week wasn’t much better for the Chasers as several had days to forget, namely Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr, Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, and a pair of very upset drivers ending their race early in separate incidents, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.

Enter Greg Biffle. The ‘Bif’ took over late in the ‘go’ with a strong car. Over the final dozen laps, Bowyer broke clear of the pack, setting his sights on catching the leader. He got within one second with two laps to go when Montoya’s blown tire brought out the final yellow. The pack crawled around for the final two laps with Biffle running out of gas within sight of the checkers, coasting across the line. Bowyer ran behind him, Johnson passed Bowyer and the final few feet turned into a free-for-all.

The bottom line was NASCAR declaring Biffle the winner, citing he maintained a reasonable speed to the line. Could there be some kind of rule change in the future? Perhaps.

Johnson sits atop the points, but only by six markers over Gordon and a scant nine over Bowyer. The rest of the pack starts with Stewart a steamy 117 back.

On the Busch side of racing, Kyle Busch pulled into victory lane for the third time this year, but only after a good tussle with Matt Kenseth.

A slew of Buschwackers followed across the line, including Casey Mears, Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurray.

Points leader Carl Edwards was running strong until his buddy and teammate Matt Kenseth tagged him in the left front wheel and tire. The damage eventually sidelined the Roush-Fenway driver, his first DNF in over a year. Edwards was less than thrilled with the situation, stating he figured Matt was mad that he was being passed on the outside. The personable driver still leads the pack by nearly 700 points in the ‘big’ picture.

Across the Pond – It seems that when there’s an F-1 race in Japan, there’s always some controversy or title decision making news when the final flag waves and this year’s run was no different. First of all, it rained for the entire race and I mean RAIN! Unlike the roundy-rounders, F-1 runs in the rain whether there’s standing water or not.

As soon as they stopped following the pace car for about 20 laps, drivers slid off and the chaos began. Even eventual winner Lewis Hamilton spun, yet recovered to pace the field with numerous fast laps. His teammate and reigning champ Fernando Alonso, his day ended in the Armco with all four corners rearranged. His title hopes are up against the wall as well with only two races remaining.

Heikki Kovalainen was the runner-up with Kimi Raikkonen finishing third.

From Rumorville – Don’t be surprised if major retailer J.C. Penny has their corporate logos on someone’s NASCAR racer next year. The domestic goods operation is said to be considering several opportunities among the stock car set.

--- Ex F-1 ace Jacque Villenueve will attempt to make his NASCAR Cup debut at Talladega this week and several Cup drivers are not too happy about it. Both Hendrick drivers Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch spoke out to reporters citing a track like ‘Dega not a place to get started. I concur and I am a big Jacque fan.

--- Look for candy maker M & M’s to make an announcement this week in regards to joining the No. 18 Gibbs car driven by Kyle Busch for next year and beyond. Not exactly sure how friendly Mr. Personality will be with the fans…

--- Don’t be surprised to see Jeff Green out of his No. 66 Cup ride and Scott Riggs named as his replacement…possibly this year, yet more likely for next.

On the local level, I spent Sunday at Martinsville Speedway for the annual Bailey’s 300 with some of the finest Late Model drivers in the country in attendance.

After the four 25-lap heats won by Jonathan Cash, Jamie Yelton, Brandon Butler and Clay Greenfield, polesitter David Scites and 2006 National Champion Philip Morris brought the 42-car field to the stripe.

Scites led most of the opening laps, yet Morris led at the half, claiming the $2,500 that goes along with it.

They inverted the top six for the second 100-lapper, putting Deac McCaskill out front. But, it wouldn’t be long before NASCAR veteran Dennis Setzer moved out front on lap 110 and never looked back en route to his first big Late Model win ($25,000) at the half-mile track. Jamey Caudill, Scites, 16-year-old Matt DiBenedetto, Matt McCall and Morris rounded out the top six finishers.

Did you know? What driver had the most career starts without a win? If you said, J.D. McDuffie, you’d be correct. The veteran racer lost his life at Watkins Glen many years ago, but not before racking up 653 starts without a single Cup trophy. Next on the lifelong list is Buddy Arrington with 563 and currently, Kenny Wallace has started 341 races without a trip to the winner’s circle.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the Cup and Craftsman Truck results from Talladega and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Edwards tames the Monster

September 25, 2007 - It looked more like a Saturday night short-track demo-derby than a top-shelf NASCAR Cup race.

When the smoke and flames finally cleared, nearly four hours from the start, Carl Edwards was flipping his way into victory lane at the concrete palace of pain, The Monster Mile at Dover.

Fellow Roush-Fenway driver Matt Kenseth appeared to have the strongest car of the day, coming away with leading the most laps. But a rare blown Roush-Yates engine sidelined the DeWalt driver very late in the race, dropping him to 35^th in the race and 10^th in the Chase.

Edwards was able to hold off a hard-charging and freshly tire-shod Greg Biffle in the final handful of laps with Dale Earnhardt Jr, Mark Martin and Kyle Busch capping the top five finishers. Tough race? You bet. There were only SIX cars on the lead lap.

The race was wreck-filled with 13 caution periods and two reds. The biggest wreck coming late in the race when it appeared something broke on Kurt Busch’s car, sending his Dodge into the wall, bounced off into the middle of the pack, taking about a dozen cars with him.

And yes, there were Chasers involved in that one as well, such as Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr and of course, Busch.

There were other members of the Chase having problems on the day, the least of which were Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. Harvick suffered more flat tires, reminiscent of the last race and Hamlin ran into Kyle Petty, sending the King’s son hard into the fence. Hamlin finished way down the charts.

The two drivers…ahem….discussed it later with Petty slamming the young drivers face shield down while seated in the car. Hamlin jumped out of the car to retaliate, but numerous crew members held him off where cooler heads prevailed.

With Edwards third win of the season, he moves into third in the Chase, just three points back of new leader Jeff Gordon, one point back of Tony Stewart and one point ahead of Johnson. Close stuff.

Not so close are the cars of Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin, both about 150 points back with eight races remaining. They both will have a long road to hoe to make an attempt at a title. For Busch, this was his second dismal week in a row.

To have the top six Chasers at this stage separated by only 18 points is pretty amazing.

The Busch race on Saturday afternoon at Dover saw Denny Hamlin win in convincing fashion over Martin Truex Jr, Matt Kenseth, Mike Bliss and Reed Sorensen.

Edwards finished sixth after being taken out by a lapped car, yet extended his points lead over David Reutimann by a whopping 753 points.

The Craftsman truckers competed in Las Vegas over the weekend with Travis Kvapil besting the rest for the third time this year. Todd Bodine led for while in his Toyota, yet Jon Wood led the lion’s share of laps in the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford.

At the line, it was Kvapil, Johnny Benson, Wood, Terry Cook and Eric Darnell.

Points leaders Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday had problems in the night race, coming home in 13^th and 22^nd respectively. Skinner is now back on top, but by only three points over Hornaday. Didn’t these two fight like this more than 10 years ago? You bet.

Drag Racing News - Fourteen-time Funny Car Champion John Force escaped life-threatening injuries in a wreck over the weekend at a track in Texas. Force is reported to have a broken leg, fractured ankle, hand injury and more. He is expected to fully recover, but many wonder if the very popular veteran racer is ready to hang up his helmet.

From Rumorville - By the time you read this, you may have seen a decision by NASCAR concerning the possibility of penalizing Edwards’ Cup team for the car failing post-race inspections in regards to the rear right corner of the car being too low. Talk about a wrench in the works….stay tuned.

--- Latest rumors from the Wood Brothers race shop for 2008 indicate a three-driver lineup for the No. 21 Cup car sponsored by the Air Force with veteran Bill Elliott, road race ace Marcose Ambrose and Jon Wood the pilots. Have you noticed a trend of more and more driver and sponsor combos? It’s called creative marketing in the ever increasing world of money needed to compete among the ‘bigs’.

Did you know? Last week’s Cup race in New Hampshire saw the first time since NASCAR implemented the 43-car rule in the early 90‘s, that all 43 cars finished the race. Amazing!

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will discuss the results of this week’s run in Kansas, Late Model results from Martinsville Speedway’s big Bailey’s 300 and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Bowyer takes top spot in New Hampshire

September 18, 2007 - What a time to take your first win.

Clint Bowyer felt bad that he was the only Chase member with a blank in the win column.

That all changed by the end of Sunday afternoon’s Cup race when the 28-year-old driver pulled into victory lane for the first time in his short Cup career.

Bowyer started the weekend with the pole and dominated most of the race by leading the most laps. Sure, several of the top guns in the Chase were nearby such as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and others, but none of them had anything for the Childress driver on this day.

Capping off the top ten included Gordon, Stewart, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth (up from 30^th!), Casey Mears, Ryan Newman and J.J. Yeley.

Bowyer may have come into the Chase at the bottom of the pack in 12^th, yet he emerged from the New England track in fourth, just 15 points back of tied leaders Gordon and Johnson.

Stewart sits in the middle at third and notably Kurt Busch had a tough day, something about carb problems which dropped the 2004 champ to a 25^th finish, now sits 12^th.

The Craftsman truckers took to the track on Saturday afternoon where points leader Ron Hornaday Jr took the field to school in winning a record setting 33^rd ‘pick ‘em up’ event. Others in the top five included Eric Darnell, Mike Skinner, Todd Bodine and Mike Bliss.

Hornaday comes away with a slightly larger lead over Skinner and Travis Kvapil in the ‘big’ picture.

Across the Pond, the Formula One teams competed in Belgium where Kimi Raikkonen had an easy time beating his teammate Felipe Massa and McLaren driver Fernando Alonso on Sunday.

The race results were wildly underscored by the recent decision by the FIA in fining McLaren a staggering $100 million for industrial espionage involving an-ex Ferrari employee divulging team secrets to McLaren.

If that’s not bizarre enough, team McLaren has been excluded from being part of the manufacturer’s championship.

You’ve heard me say it before…I love the cars, like some of the drivers, but absolutely can’t stand the ridiculous rules and money involved in what is supposed to be the fastest and highest tech form of racing on the planet…and yet they use treaded tires. Strange stuff.

From Rumorville - After the many weeks of speculation, it appears that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be driving a No 88 race car next year with a few soft drink products from Pepsi. For those of you with an ‘8’ tattoo, you’ll only have to add yet another ‘8’ to proclaim your favorite. Look for an official announcement this week.

--- If you haven’t heard by now, the recently dismissed J.J. Yeley will replace Tony Raines in the Gibbs related No. 96 for next year and beyond. Look for that team to also change branding to Toyota.

--- Pony Cars in NASCAR? That’s right…don’t be surprised to read about the Busch series in 2009 moving over to Mustangs, Camaros, some kind of Toyota and Dodge Challengers. I think it’s a great idea for all concerned. Brand identification and eliminating the ‘closeness’ of current Busch and Cup cars just for starters. What do you think of this idea? Drop me a line.

On the local level, reigning National Champion Philip Morris just earned his 10^th win at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, earning him a fifth track title. He is also among the top three in the country, close enough to attempt a second National title.

The Ruckersville driver brought three cars to test at Ace Speedway last week, only to have the Friday night event rained out. Morris will attempt the second title effort by trying to win two or three more races at Ace and Caraway over the next couple of weeks, then compete in the big 200 lapper at Martinsville. Stay tuned.

Did you know? That as of Aug. 15^th, a legal NASCAR Late Model can compete with NASCAR approved fiberglass bodies. I understand this was adapted in order to cut down on expensive and questionable metal panels. Teams report an approximate 38 pound weight saving.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the NASCAR action at Dover and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Johnson Jumps to the top of the Chase after RIR

September 11, 2007 - Jimmie Johnson took the win and the top spot in the Chase after the checkers fell at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night.

While the Johnson camp was all smiles, Dale Earnhardt Jr’s team was bitterly disappointed to have yet another DEI engine expire with only six laps remaining while running among the top three. The latest disappointment has NASCAR’s poster boy on the outside looking in to this year’s list of Chaser’s.

The overall race started quietly with Johnson on the pole, but teammate Jeff Gordon swept into the lead on the opening circuit.

Gordon went on to lead the most laps, and joined by Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards as lap leaders.

Edwards rocketed to the front, looking quite in charge, only to succumb to a blown engine on lap 182.

Johnson moved out front late in the show, watching Stewart, Jr and Gordon in his rear view mirror fight for the runner-up spot. While a great clean fight ensued, Johnson pulled away and into victory lane for the sixth time this year.

The latest win was important in an effort to wind up on top of the Chase due to the 10 point bonuses involved for each win earned during the first 26 weeks. That puts Johnson 20 points ahead of Gordon, 30 ahead of Stewart, 40 ahead of Edwards and Kurt Busch and 50 or more ahead of the remainder of the Chase dozen.

Stewart, David Ragan, Gordon and Johnny Sauter capped the top five race finishers.

Kudos to rookie Ragan for earning his highest Cup finish to date, a third, passing the likes of Jeff Gordon in the closing laps, this after a rough start to the event. We have not heard the last from this 21-year-old Roush-Fenway driver.

The weapon of the race award has to go to fill-in driver Kenny Wallace. The youngest of the Wallace brothers was driving for an injured Ricky Rudd and wound up in no less than three scuffles, read wrecks before the race was over. If Kenny continues to block leaders from passing and causing wrecks next week (first Chase race), he’ll have more than a wrecked car to worry about.

The Busch race on Friday night was all Kyle Busch leading more than 95% of the laps before all was said and done. The soon-to-be ex-Hendrick driver had an easy time of it, passing more than half the field in the process. Points leader Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth and Mike Bliss rounded off the top five.

Open Wheel News - The most exciting finish to a race series so far had to be the ending of the Indy Racing League race at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday afternoon. What seemed to be a sure win and series title for Scott Dixon all went terribly wrong within sight of the checkered flag.

Dixon and Dario Franchitti stayed within sight of each other all day and whoever beat the other would take this year’s title.

With Dixon out front off the final turn of the race, Franchitti made a slingshot move to the outside, only to see Dixon fall to the wayside for the lack of a few sips of ethanol.

Franchitti wound up with the win and his first IRL title. Very exciting ending for sure.

Across the Pond, the Formula One GP of Italy saw McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton take the win and runner-up spots respectively with Kimi Raikkonen third. Only three points separate points leader Hamilton from Alonso in the big picture.

From Rumorville - With Franchitti winning this year’s Indy 500 and the IRL title, strong rumors indicate team owner Chip Ganassi offering a top shelf Cup ride for the open wheeler with a multi-year contract involved. Yet another open wheeler to join the ranks of the taxi cab set. I just can’t get used to the idea.

--- Robert Yates announced stepping down from owner of RYR, handing over the reins to his son Doug. Other changes for the Ford team include the signing of Travis Kvapil to drive the No. 88 for next year and beyond.

Did you know? How many Cup rookies have won more than one race in a single season? The list is short…1987: Davey Allison, two; 1999: Tony Stewart, three; 2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr., two; 2001: Kevin Harvick, two; 2002: Jimmie Johnson, three; 2005: Kyle Busch, two and 2006: Denny Hamlin, two .

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the opening round of Chase competition in New Hampshire, Craftsman trucking in New England and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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California Kid Wins California Race

California native Jimmie Johnson had the strongest car by the end of the Sunday night’s California Speedway NASCAR Cup race, only having to hold off a hard charging Carl Edwards in the closing laps to earn his fifth win of the year.

Several drivers led the race during the long night, most notably Kyle and Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Martin Truex Jr, Tony Stewart and even Brian Vickers Toyota took a turn out front.

But Johnson’s Chevy was the class of the field, going on to earn his second win at the West coast track and 28^th career trophy.

Rounding out the top five finishers included Edwards, Kyle Busch, Burton and Dale Jr.

Points wise, Jeff Gordon’s dismal 22^nd finish didn’t help or hurt the 4-time champ and still leads Stewart by 317 at the top of the points charts.

At the other end of possible Chase entrants, Dale Jr remains outside by 128 points with Kevin Harvick on the bubble in 12^th.

Next week’s action track, RIR will decide the final dozen for this year’s Chase. Harvick or Kurt Busch will have to do something pretty radical to fall out of place. I predict the current roster will remain the same after the checkers at RIR.

Overall, the Cup race was a bit of a snoozer as many of the prior races have been. I didn’t see every seat filled and saw a lot of empty seats the night before at the Busch race.

The Saturday night Busch race at California Speedway wound up being a big track wreck-fest, the worst of it being a multi-car wreck with A.J. Almendinger and Brad Keselowski involved. After Keselowski was carefully extricated from his badly torn-up car, he was air-lifted to a local hospital where he was checked out and released for further observation.

A late-race pit stop for Jeff Burton catapulted him into the lead with a great setup over Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer.

This race might have been called the Buschwacker 300 as the top 15 qualifiers were all full-time Cuppers as were the top 11 finishers.

Over at Gateway Speedway, the Craftsman trucks took to the track with Ron Hornaday leading most of the laps. Points leader Mike Skinner wound up smacking the fence, the result of a right front flat and finished well out of the running for the day.

Hornaday appeared well on his way to yet another victory, but Johnny Benson’s freshly tire-shod Toyota was too strong for Hornaday’s Chevy as Benson made a late race pass for the win.

Ted Musgrave, Todd Bodine and Regan Smith wrapped up the top five. Hornaday now tops the charts for the first time this year, just four points ahead of Skinner.

The Indy Racing League ran their penultimate race at Belle Isle in Detroit with an action-packed ending involving Tony Kanaan winning and Buddy Rice, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti getting together on the final lap.

Danica Patrick moved from fifth to second as a result with Dan Wheldon third. Dixon leads Franchitti by just a few points with only Chicagoland Speedway remaining on the schedule.

From Rumorville - The big news this week will be the announcement from Joe Gibbs Racing to proclaim their new manufacturer relationship with Toyota starting next season, this after a very long relationship with Chevrolet.

As I stated several weeks ago, this will more than likely create Toyota’s first Cup win…can a title be far away?

--- With Ricky Rudd announcing his plans to hang up the ole helmet after Homestead, J.J. Yeley and Kenny Wallace are said to be the next in line for the Yates ride.

Did you know? Of the small group of drivers that have won races in all three of NASCAR’s premiere divisions, which driver has the most wins? Mark Martin has 89 wins among the three classes, 35 Cup, 47 Busch, and 7 Truck. Second in the group is Greg Biffle (total 45) with 11, 18 and 16. Impressive stuff to rack up that many trophies in all three divisions. They say if a driver is good, he can drive anything.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the race action from Richmond and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Edwards Bests Boring Bristol

August 28, 2007 - It was supposed to be the toughest ticket in town race with a history of cars, parts and tempers flying in all directions.

After all, when you put 43 NASCAR Cup cars on a half-mile high banked track, the usual scene found drivers rooting and gouging each other out of the way. While the fans may have been rooting for their favorite drivers and there may have been some price gouging going on at the local motels, the action on the track was less than stellar…..read boring.

Never did I think the words boring and snoozer would enter the vocabulary of a Bristol night race description, but in this case, they’re appropriate.

While the $8 million dollar remake of the track created a lot more side-by-side racing, it has all but destroyed the idea of beatin’ and bangin’ on each in order to gain a spot.

We could also point to the Car of Tomorrow design as the recent Busch and Craftsman Truck races were exciting.

Kasey Kahne led the opening laps and appeared to possible have turned a ho-hum season into something worth while talking about. Despite Kahne leading the most laps, Carl Edwards wheeled his Ford Fusion into the top spot with a little more than 100 laps to go, going on to claim his second win of the season and a guaranteed spot in the Chase.

After performing his famous back flip off the door sill of his car, the Roush Fenway driver proclaimed the win to be the greatest of his career at what used to be the palace of pain.

Rounding out the top five included Kahne, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

At the end of a typical Saturday night Cup race, many of the cars would have the battle scars of being in a tough race with plenty of crowd pleasing rubbin‘…the average car looking more like a survivor of a demo derby, rather than a stock car race. Most of the stats indicate five to ten cars dropping out because of too much damage to repair and a badge of honor would have to include at least a few ‘black donuts’ down the sides of the cars.

Looking at the final stats for Saturday night’s race finds only two cars not crossing the finish line, those being Denny Hamlin, the result of a rare blown Gibbs engine and David Ragan, the result of well…too many spins.

Is there a fix to return the track’s action level back into what it once was? Well, I guess we could ask them to take out the progressive banking, but after many months of work and $8 million spent, that’s not about to happen.

I think the next time the cars come back to the Tennessee track, Goodyear will have developed a compound to help out the ‘action’ factor and by that time, some other changes to the COT may help. Otherwise, we have a lifetime of watching ho-hum races at a track that used to be the most exciting.

On Friday night, the Busch series took to banks of Bristol and the race was more than entertaining, especially the final few dozen laps when Kasey Kahne, Jason Leffler and Ryan Newman were rubbing more than paint.

There was three-wide action produced after the ever-widening Newman made passing nearly impossible. Kahne decided to take the high lane, while freshly-tire-shod Leffler worked better on the bottom.

Kahne made the final pass for the lead with all three cars bumping on the back chute and Kahne pulling away for his second Busch win of the season.

Newman fell to wayside with a flat, while Leffler, David Reutimann, Kyle Busch and Scott Wimmer made up the top five finishers.

The Craftsman Truck series kicked off the busy week at Bristol on Wednesday night with Travis Kvapil well in control of the lead until visitor Kyle Busch took himself and Kvapil out of the equation.

Is there a race Busch doesn’t hit someone or something? Not many.

That handed the lead and eventual win over to Toyota pilot Johnny Benson, edging Brendon Gaughan, Mark Martin, Mike Skinner and Rick Crawford at the stripe.

Open Wheel News - Felipe Massa took his third trophy of the season after winning the Formula One race in Turkey with Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen second and Fernando Alonso third.

Closer to home, Scott Dixon took over the lead late in the race from Dario Franchitti at Infineon in California, going on to win his fourth race of the year and into the Indy Racing League points lead with just two races remaining.

From Rumorville - The rumormill has been in overdrive lately as to who will be driving the No. 8 for DEI next season. The latest reports indicate it will be none other than Mark Martin and rookie Aric Almirola. We should hear a formal announcement in a few weeks at the race in Richmond.

What do I think of DEI’s choice? Well…I’ve been a Mark Martin fan for a long time, but splitting a top-shelf ride such as the coveted No. 8 between a seasoned veteran and a rookie should leave most DEI race fans holding an empty card of enthusiasm.

--- Look for two more open-wheel drivers, namely Sam Hornish Jr and Jacque Villenueve to test the stock car waters before the end of the season. Hornish is slated for several Cup starts later in the season and Villenueve is expected to test and race a Craftsman truck for Bill Davis Racing quite soon.

Did you know? Based on all-time wins, who is the most prolific active driver in Cup? If you guessed Jeff Gordon, you’d be correct. The four-time champ has won (79) nearly 16% of 500 races entered over the past 15 years. The only other driver with double digit stats are Tony Stewart (32 - 10.4%) and Jimmie Johnson (27 - 13%).

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the Cup and Busch results from the big California Speedway and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Hamlin Hammers Home Busch Win at MIS

Denny Hamlin led the lion’s share of laps en route to his fourth career Busch win, this one at the big Michigan International Speedway.

The young Virginia driver’s biggest nemesis of the day was a constant pressure from fellow Cupster Matt Kenseth, who just couldn’t muster the right stuff to make the pass stick.

Hamlin has surely risen nicely out of the Late Model ranks of Virginia and North Carolina into one of the outstanding talents in NASCAR.

On any given day, the personable young man can challenge the best of them, whether it’s Cup or Busch.

On Sunday, he bested Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle.

Points leader Carl Edwards had yet another tough day, this time getting turned around early in the show by Reed Sorensen, ending up 28^th, one lap down.

The Roush-Fenway driver now has three poor finishes in a row and still sits out front of Harvick by 700 points.

Of note in this one is the performance by Toyota driver Brian Vickers and Chevy driver (still can’t get used to saying that) Mark Martin.

Vickers led for a while and had one of the fastest cars on the track. Had it not been for a problem with refueling, we may have been talking about a second Busch win for Toyota.

Martin did his usual great job behind the wheel, running fourth within sight of the checkers only to run out of the go-juice, finishing 12^th on the day.

From Rumorville - In case you didn’t hear, Dale Earnhardt Jr will not have his familiar No. 8 on the sides of his Hendrick race car next year. Why? You want the simple answer? Money. The long answer? It appears from interviews with Dale Jr. that step mom Teresa wants more than a few bucks to release the number.

Besides a healthy figure, my guess is a half million or more, Cruella Deville of the racing world wants a percentage of royalties for the number forever and after Dale Jr retires, wants the number back!

I think Dale Sr is rolling over in his grave with those ideas. Jr has used the number for the past eight years, his grandfather and father ran the number and it would have just been the ‘right’ thing to do, especially under the circumstances of Jr. leaving DEI. Would that have been such a terrible parting gift? Now the relationship will be strained forever.

For you Earnhardt fans out there, Jr says he is working on a new number, perhaps, 81, 83 or ? Once announced, gentlemen, start your tattoo machines. What do you think about this topic? Drop me a line.

--- Sounds as if Iron Man Ricky Rudd has unofficially announced his retirement at the end of the 2007. He will wind up as the driver with the second most career starts (911), with only the ‘King’ Richard Petty with more at over 1,000.

--- And the world’s worst kept secret was released this past week with the announcement of Kyle Busch signing a multi-year deal with Joe Gibbs Racing. Is this a good fit? Can the Shrub get along with teammate Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin? At 22-years-old and four career wins, you’d think this could be the dream team or could it?

Throw in the idea of Gibbs possibly switching to Toyota and this could be a very interesting combo.

My opinion? Leave it to Toyota to spend whatever it takes to get ‘top shelf’ stuff, stuff in this case being the talents of Gibbs Racing. We predicted this when the idea emerged and reminded everyone whatever racing series Toyota has entered over the years, they eventually have been successful. I predict if Gibbs leaves Chevy after an 18 year relationship, you’ll see one of those three drivers in victory lane next year in the Toyota.

Did you know? Who holds the NASCAR Cup record for the most poles? Richard Petty holds the all-time record with 126 and David Pearson with 111. Modern day records have Jeff Gordon at the top of the charts with 62. Bill Elliott has 55 and Mark Martin 40.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review NASCAR runs at Michigan and Bristol along with other racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Stewart Endures to Win at The Glen

August 14, 2007 - Gordon was leading…Tony led…Tony spun…Gordon led…Gordon spun…Tony wins!

That’s the long and short of the Cup race on Sunday at Watkins Glen. Jeff Gordon started on the pole due to qualifying being rained out.

The four-time champ led a pile of laps on what seemed to be a good day for the Hendrick driver. It was until the two-to-go sign dropped and he overcooked it into the first turn, the same exact location Stewart over did it earlier in the race.

With less than two circuits remaining, Stewart had only to hold off a hard charging Carl Edwards to earn his third win of the season.

Rounding off the top five finishers included Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Ron Fellows and Robby Gordon.

Edwards over drove his Ford into one of the final turns, driving off the track and into the kitty litter, leaving him with an eighth, just ahead of Jeff Gordon in ninth.

The ‘water cooler’ story for this week has to be the contact between Kevin Harvick and Juan Montoya in a first turn restart. It occurred with less than 20 to go. The field flew into turn 1, when unbeknown to Harvick, Martin Truex Jr was pushing on Montoya as the field bunched in the middle of the turn.

That sent Montoya into Harvick, then Jeff Burton had nowhere to go and smacked into Montoya as well.

The ensuing discussion between Harvick and Montoya will be fodder for conversation for quite a while. Both drivers got out of their cars, walked towards each other, when the heated discussion began. There was a little shoving, some helmet grabbing, yet no punches thrown.

The crowd loved it. I’m NASCAR officials did not and we’ll hear more about this during the week. I’d expect fines and penalties to be announced by Tuesday.

Gordon still heads up the points battle, now 344 over Hamlin and 432 over Matt Kenseth.

Not quite as wild as the mess in Montreal, this week’s Busch race at the Glen was won by Kevin Harvick. None of the

‘hired guns’, such as Boris Said, Scott Pruett or Ron Fellows affected the outcome of the race.

The Childress cars of Harvick and Jeff Burton remain strong whether its ovals or roadcourses. Harvick topped Burton, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and rookie Brad Coleman.

Points leader Carl Edwards had a tough day, breaking suspension parts on the back of the car, finishing six laps down in 32^nd after lengthy repairs. He still maintains a comfortable lead in the big picture, although a little less at 766 over David Reutimann.

The Craftsman trucks got cranked up at Kentucky where Travis Kvapil notched his third win of the season, this one over Ron Hornaday, points leader Mike Skinner, Todd Bodine and Brad Coleman. Skinner still leads the pack by 82 markers over Hornaday.

Open Wheel News - The Indy Racing League competed on Saturday at Kentucky with Tony Kanaan coming away with the win over Scott Dixon and A.J. Foyt IV (his personal career best).

Danica Patrick spun after coming out of the pits too fast, then wrecked on the lap back to the pits, ending her day towards the back of the pack. Her visible reaction was childish.

From Rumorville - It appears that J. J. Yeley has been apprised of looking for a job elsewhere for next year. Replacing the personable driver will be none other than Kyle Busch. The papers have not been officially signed, but you can expect an announcement any day from Gibbs Racing.

Where will Yeley go? Some think DEI, others to the Wood Brothers, but most feel he will land a full-time job somewhere for next year and beyond.

--- Look for John Andretti to drive the No. 49 BAM Dodge this weekend at Michigan. Sure has been a bunch of different drivers behind that wheel this year.

Did you know? Who owns the title of the most consecutive Cup starts? None other than four-time champ Jeff Gordon with 495, curiously only one more start than fellow Cup driver Bobby Labonte. Third on the all-time list is Jeff Burton with 398.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will include results from Michigan for Busch and Cup along with more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Kurt Busch Dominates Pocono

August 7, 2007 - From the drop of the flag, Kurt Busch had the car to beat at the big tri-oval known as Pocono Speedway. The ex-Cup champion had things go all his way, something not exactly happening for the Dodge driver for most of this season.

Of late, his stock has risen with good finishes, but for the past 51 races, he has gone without a win. That changed on Sunday afternoon when Kurt dominated the show, leading all but 25 laps of the 200-lap event.

Running to second was none other than ex-Chaser Dale Earnhardt Jr. By mid-race, the Bud car seemed to be junk. Then, there was a flat, which gave them the opportunity to make some other changes (front shocks) which turned around Dale Jr.’s day. The soon-to-be Hendrick driver rallied back to finish a very strong second to the man who took his place in the overall standings, 12^th.

Both drivers will have to ‘get up on the wheel’ to become part of this year’s Chase with only five races remaining to decide same.

Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson rounded off the top five finishers.

Those drivers not exactly having a day to remember were headlined by Jamie McMurray, the victim of no less than three incidents, none of his doing, yet was finally crashed out late in the show with a 40^th place finish.

Fellow Roush-Fenway driver Carl Edwards also had a tough day with pit-lane violations due to the consistent errors of his inept pit crew. It seems like every week, the poor guy is subject to stupid errors by his crew. Get on the stick guys!

The Busch race in Montreal was one of the biggest NASCAR debacles to date. There were numerous wrecks from impatient drivers, lots of torn up cars and seemingly more than one winner at the end.

What should have been one of the best races of the year became a late race demo-derby with drivers running amuck and NASCAR not having the guts (fill in your own word here) to make the right decisions as to penalties.

Several top guns, read hired guns, such as Patrick Carpentier, Ron Fellows, Boris Said, etc. led the race at one point. Busch regular and hot shoe when it comes to roadcourse racing Marcos Ambrose led a good portion of the laps, only to be denied a win.

Late in the race while Ambrose was leading, Robby Gordon passed him clean in one of the ‘esses’. Ambrose immediately retaliated by dumping Gordon in a yellow flag waving section of the track. Behind them at the same time was a mess kicked off by a revenge-full Kevin Harvick after punting Scott Pruett. The ensuing mess created a large multi-car wreck.

What does NASCAR decide to do?

Ambrose is put back to the lead, Gordon is sent to start in 13^th and Harvick? Nothing.

Gordon disagrees with the call and repeated calls to his car to move back. He ignores the threats of not scoring him any more.

NASCAR re-starts the race with Gordon directly behind the guy that took him out. Do you want to guess what happened next?

Anybody that knows anything about Gordon could have placed a very safe bet he would retaliate and so he did in the very first turn.

He goes on to distance himself from the pack, crossing the finish line first with Harvick in second.

Final result? Gordon is set down to 18^th place in the race, Harvick is handed the win and Ambrose is awarded 7^th.

There were a lot of things right and wrong here. Gordon should not have been put to the back after Ambrose punted him in a yellow flag area. NASCAR should have never started that race with the two drivers right behind each other….certainly a recipe for disaster. They should have stopped the race, put Gordon in 13^th or out of the race and restart the show.

By the way, they also set down Gordon for the Cup race on Sunday for his actions on Saturday leaving PJ Jones to compete in the car on Sunday where he finished 37^th. I predict more fines will be announced this week.

Carpentier, Max Papis, Fellows and Stephen Leicht wrapped up the top finishers in a race they’ll be talking about for a long time.

Open Wheel News - The Indy Racing League wrapped up their final visit to the big Michigan Speedway with a long rain delay and wreck-filled race, including a scary upside down ride for points leader Dario Franchitti. Dan Wheldon touched wheels with the Andretti-Green driver, kicking off a multi-car wreck, ending many drivers days early.

Tony Kanaan managed to hold off his teammate Marco Andretti for the win with Scott Sharp taking the final podium position of the seven cars running at the end.

From Rumorville - It appears that the new business partner (George Gillett) with for Evernham Racing will be announced any day now. The rumors involving Budweiser joining forces with Evernham, Kasey Kahne and Dodge are close to becoming a reality. Criticism of Evernham becoming involved with Erin Crocker increase with every passing day, citing personal time interfering with the job at hand…running a three-car operation. More later.

--- A.J. Foyt deep sea diver? Well, not exactly. Living legend race car driver A.J. Foyt escaped injury when the large bulldozer he was operating fell into a lake, forcing the 72-year-old Texan to escape the upside down heavy equipment and call for help. Fifteen minutes later he was rescued, more concerned about retrieving his dozer than anything else.

Did you know? What NASCAR Cup driver has competed the most times without a win? In the lifetime slot, it is the now deceased J. D. McDuffie with 653 starts and no checkers. Currently, the answer would be Kenny Wallace with 336. Personally, I see no change in this department for the personable Wallace as he rides out the final few years of Cup competition.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the lefts and rights of NASCAR competition at Watkins Glen and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Stewart Doubles Up Brick Collection

Tony Stewart was the strongest car of the day, leading the most laps en route to his second Brickyard 400 trophy, the last coming just a few years ago.

The Indiana native made it interesting over the final 20 laps, battling with his buddy (maybe not) Kevin Harvick, trading paint more than once with Stewart coming out ahead.

Harvick would later express his displeasure with a heavy side swipe of the orange car on the cool down lap. Also later saying if he had known Tony would run him like that, he would have slammed him on the back stretch.

Harvick slipped back to finish seventh by the end of a long day. There were many others that had even longer days with much worse results in what can be considered to be the most wreck- filled Brickyard race to date.

Take for example the cars of Jeff Green and Jimmie Johnson. Both cars were badly damaged and done for the day early.

Then, there were several multi-car wrecks, namely Ryan Newman, Tony Raines, Casey Mears, Johnny Sauter, Jamie McMurray among others. Of the dozen cars not to finish, most failed because of accident damage, and then there were those with mechanical failures such as Dale Earnhardt Jr whose engine let go with less than 25 laps remaining, this after leading the race and running well.

Conversely, those with good runs on the day included Juan Montoya with an amazing second, Jeff Gordon seemed to cruise to third with Kyle Busch fourth and pole sitter Reed Sorensen fifth.

With Tony winning, Gordon still running among the top five, Denny Hamlin having a dismal day (22^nd), the four-time champ has extended his lead to 371 over Hamlin in second place.

Some final words on this race have to include kudos to Mark Martin for running sixth and Kurt Busch earning an 11^th, now just a few points behind Dale Jr in entering Chase status.

Stewart comes away with nearly a half-million dollars in prize money along with another spot higher in the points standings to fifth, yet 452 behind Gordon.

Did I mention last place Jeff Green earned over $140,000? Nice paydays, eh?

--- The weekend started with the Craftsman truck race at ORP. Ron Hornaday bumped and banged his way to a 32^nd career victory and even close to points leader Mike Skinner who could only manage a 22^nd place run.

Others in the top five included Johnny Benson, Travis Kvapil, Rick Crawford and Kenny Schrader.

--- The Busch race on Saturday night turned out to be an entertaining slugfest with Jason Leffler coming out on top with a first Busch win for Toyota. Some feathers were ruffled on the way to the front, but nothing more than good hard short track racing.

Greg Biffle led a lot of laps, using the high groove around the small track, but with four fresher tires Leffler had the field covered. Biffle, David Reutimann, Carl Edwards and Ron Hornaday wrapped up the top five. Edwards has a monster lead (even with a dislocated right thumb, the result of a dirt track accident last Sunday) with 852 points over Reutimann in the big picture.

From Rumorville - It appears more and more that Kyle Busch will wind up in a third or fourth car with Gibbs Racing. Part of the situation there is whether or not they will keep J.J. Yeley. Seems like ‘Pinball’ Busch has not felt a warm and fuzzy feeling from the Childress or DEI camps. I’m still thinking about how well he’ll be received with Stewart as a teammate…or most anyone else for that matter.

--- Still no word as to where recently fired drivers Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin will wind up. For Marlin, there may be a space for him in a second car with Kenny Wallace and Nemechek is said to be on the verge of re-opening his Busch operation.

Did you know? What manufacturer has the most Cup wins in NASCAR? If you guessed Chevrolet, you’d be right. As of Sunday the Bowtie brigade brand has amassed 612 checkered flags. Next in line is Ford with 579 and Dodge with 195. Toyota? 0, yet they notched their first win in the Busch ranks over the weekend. How long before a win in Cup? Not this year, but it could happen next year.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will discuss the results from this weekend’s big bad Pocono Speedway Cup results, the Busch cars competeing on a road course in Canada and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Sorensen wins Demo-Derby 250 at Gateway

July 24, 2007 - From the outset, it was a wreckfest. There were cars in the wall and into each other many times throughout the Saturday night Busch race in Illinois at Gateway International Raceway.

Reed Sorensen hadn’t won a Busch race since this particular event exactly two years ago. The young Ganassi driver led the most laps and passed strong leaders Carl Edwards, Todd Bodine, Scott Wimmer among others to go on and claim his third career win.

Points leader Edwards led laps as well, but fought an ill-handling car for most of the night, not to mention re-arranging the sheet metal on his car on more than one occasion.

I have to laugh at the millions of dollars spent on aero improvements to the cars, yet Edwards’ car ran well enough to finish sixth despite hardly a straight panel on the car at the finish.

Eighteen cars for one reason or another, mostly wreck damage, did not finish the race.

The Toyotas ran strong with three finishing among the top ten. Can a first win be close? You bet.

Others in the top five in this one included Wimmer, David Reutimann, Jason Leffler and David Regan.

With the Cup teams off this week, there would be plenty of strategizing for the final 17-week stretch of competition. Yes, I said 17 weeks! That is quite a grind in any sport, let along one that requires four to five days a week of travel and work for crews and drivers.

Many feel the current top 12 in the Chase will remain there. I concur. What do you think? Drop me a line.

Open Wheel News - Scott Dixon took his third consecutive win in a Indy Racing League event, this time at the beautiful Mid-Ohio roadcourse. The Ganassi driver took the lead from polesitter Helio Castroneves in yet another strong show of talent from the English driver.

Capping off the top five in this one were the cars of Dario Franchitti, Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and a career best fifth for Danica Patrick.

--- Over in Edmonton, Canada, Sebastien Bourdais won yet another race among the Champ car set with many feeling the French driver will extend his Champ Car titles to a fourth later this year. He really needs to move over to F-1. There’s nothing left in the states for him to prove.

--- Speaking of Formula One, they had quite a mess in the GP of Germany on Sunday. The race started dry, only to have the skies open up within the first few laps, setting off a string of cars flying off the racetrack.

The weekend began with rookie phenom Lewis Hamilton having a rather large shunt (read accident) during qualifying, leaving the young star to take a ride to the hospital, yet cleared for race day.

He started 10^th, was caught up in the rain, sliding off the track, yet managed to climb back to a very respectable ninth place finish.

Out front, it was Ferrari driver Felipe Massa in control until succumbing to a pass by reigning champion Fernando Alonso. The Spanish driver went on to claim his third win of ‘07 and more importantly climbed within two points of the overall points lead. Eight seconds back at the line was Massa with Mark Webber more than a minute in arrears.

From Rumorville - Seems that the Silly Season of driver swaps knows no boundaries. Enter Ginn Racing. They came in like gangbusters, hiring the likes of Mark Martin to turn things around in the No. 01 Army car. Exit Joe Nemechek, well, at least not until last week. He drove the No. 13 sometimes with a sponsor, sometimes without and now, not at all.

After a half season of searching for the proverbial almighty dollar, Ginn has closed the doors on the No. 13 and yanked out both veteran drivers Sterling Marlin and Nemechek in favor of Regan Smith and Aric Almirola. Well….let’s see…take out two drivers with an average age of 47 that are heading down the road to retirement in favor of two talented and marketable drivers whose ages don’t even add up to 47! Any questions?

--- Schrader back to racing? Yes, but not in the Woods Brothers No. 21, rather a one off deal back with old friends at BAM Racing (No.49) for this week’s Brickyard 400, then Mike Bliss will return full-time after leaving the team about a month ago. Silly, huh?

On the local level, Dustin Rumley of McLeansville, NC surprised the fans and his fellow racers by taking his first checkers in Late Model competition at Ace Speedway on Friday night. You see this rookie driver is only 17 years old and won the race starting from eighth place, defeating many of the strongest runners such as Robert Turner and Scotty Warren. Rodney Cook finished second with Todd Massey third.

Mebane driver and eleven time winner Speedy Faucette sat out this race, still working on severe damage suffered from last week's feature.

Did you know? How many wins veteran drivers Marlin and Nemechek have to work with on their resumes while looking for work? Ten for Marlin and four for Nemechek is the correct answer with 31 years of competition for Marlin, his most notable wins (2) at the Daytona 500.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the Brickyard 400 from Indy, the Busch and truck races from nearby O'Reilly Raceway Park and more racing news from around the globe. Don’t miss the 400 as this is a very important race, with a lot of money and prestige on the line. Only the Daytona 500 pays more.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at racinwithruss@comcast.net

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Stewart takes Chicago Snoozer 400

July 17, 2007 - After smack talking about his teammate last week, Tony Stewart turned things around the second half of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway by taking his first win of the season.

In a race dotted by an occasional tire failure and little side-by-side racing, the Home Depot driver held off strong advances by Roush-Fenway driver Matt Kenseth in earning his 30^th career victory.

Jimmie Johnson’s day ended prematurely when a tire unexpectedly let go, sending the Lowe’s Chevy hard into the wall and out of the show. He took a three place hit in the overall standings.

Others in the ‘tough day’ department included Dave Blaney, Ward Burton, Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr, David Stremme and Robby Gordon.

Carl Edwards made a late race charge to the front winding up third in between teammate Kenseth and Kevin Harvick.

Points leader Jeff Gordon hung around the top 15 most of day, making a charge to wind up ninth by days end. The latest result for the four-time champion leaves him with a little larger lead over Denny Hamlin, now 303 back.

The boys rest up this week, but the next series of races kicks off with the Brickyard 400, a very important event.

The Busch series took to the banks of Chicago on Saturday afternoon with Harvick barely holding off Matt Kenseth in the closing stages.

Others in the top five included Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch. Points leader Carl Edwards had yet another bad pitstop, yet fought back to claim a 20^th spot, still leading the pack by a comfortable 716 over Harvick.

Trucking in Kentucky saw Mike Skinner pick up his fifth win of the season in convincing fashion. The Toyota driver led most of the race en route to his latest win over Travis Kvapil, Ted Musgrave, Ryan Mathews and returnee David Green.

Skinner extends his lead over Ron Hornaday by 164 and 288 over Kvapil. He certainly is on one of the biggest winning streaks of his career, not to mention leading laps in every race this season.

Open Wheel News - Scott Dixon took his second win in as many weeks after leading the Indy Racing League pack across the finish line at Nashville Superspeedway. Points leader Dario Franchitti took second with teammate Danica Patrick third.

From Rumorville - For those die-hard Dale Earnhardt Jr fans proud to wear the Budweiser colors…your days are numbered. This past week, the beer giant basically announced they’ll be ending their longtime association with one of NASCAR’s fan favorites. Over the past few weeks, Dale Jr has signed with a few little companies such as Adidas sneakers and SONY. But, there are more wholesome family favorites about to adorn Jr’s cars, namely Pepsi products or? Seems that some of Jr’s new advisors are switching his followers from beer-drinking fans to family concerns. Remember that commercial where Dale announces changing his number to 6.7? Funny stuff.

--- Don’t be surprised if NASCAR changes some of its rules pertaining to the top-35 qualifier situation. I don’t see them doing anything this year, rather developing a plan and implementing it for 2008. Will it be the number of those locked in or simply a grouping together of those ‘go or go-homers’ during qualifying still remains to be seen. They need to do something as week after week, not all of the fastest cars are making the races.

On the local level, Robert Turner swept both Late Model races at Ace Speedway over the weekend, leaving Mebane driver Speedy Faucette on the sidelines after he blew a tire and smacked the fence in the first race. That left Dustin Rumley and Rodney Cook to fill out the top three in the opener, swapping spots in the second.

Other winners at the Altamahaw track included Randy Butner (Modifieds), Jay Dalton (Limited Sportsman) with Corey Agee and Daryl Gwynn splitting the Southern Ground Pounder Modified shows.

Next week’s RWR will review this week’s Busch action at Gateway while the Cup and truck teams have the week off. Other topics to be covered include open wheel news, some local notes and more racing news from around the globe.

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McMurray nips Busch at Daytona

July 10, 2007 - It had been a long dry spell.

Jamie McMurray hadn’t pulled into a winner’s circle in nearly five years and some 166 races since his very first Cup checkers.

The next one wouldn’t be easy.

The 31-year-old driver ran up front early in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, only to succumb to a NASCAR penalty for running below the yellow line, which sent him to the back of the pack.

But with a strong car, getting ‘up on the wheel’, some breaks in traffic and a few drafting buddies along the way, McMurray barely edged Kyle Busch at the stripe by just .005, the second closest margin of victory ever in Cup.

Busch was less than thrilled with the finish, citing the lack of Hendrick teammates in aiding to his next win.

“I guess the bliss is over at Hendrick,” he would later say.

He needed to keep in mind when it comes down to the final few laps, most drivers will help anyone if they feel it would help them in any way to a better finish…basically, the gloves are off.

The race started with points leader Jeff Gordon out front, but Denny Hamlin took over that spot fairly quick…that is until teammate Tony Stewart took both of them out on lap 13...yes, I said lap 13. I know….that’s very early in the race and what the heck was Tony thinking taking out a teammate or anyone so early in the show?

Well, it gets more bizarre when you listen to the Home Depot’s response afterwards saying that Hamlin just came to a stop in the corner and essentially he needs to learn how to drive.

Hello…Tony….anybody home?

You ran into the back of your own teammate! He didn’t slam on the brakes, rather breathed the gas pedal while you took out both Gibbs cars and your buddy Dale Earnhardt Jr in the aftermath.

Why is it that Tony blames the guy in front that HE runs in to?? We’ve been down this road before.

Many feel in this case, the young Virginia driver (Hamlin) is outperforming the two-time champ and he can’t stand it…no matter what the reason.

I sure hope Joe or J.D. Gibbs sits down Mr. Hothead and gives him some kind of reality check in response to his latest of many bizarre actions. So far however, Joe Gibbs seems to feel that they are both hard driving competitors and these kind of things may happen. Nonsense! If that’s the coaches true feelings, then he has lost the guts to ‘get real’ with his drivers.

I digress.

Several drivers led the big nighttime race including Busch’s Kyle and Kurt, Casey Mears and lap leader Clint Bowyer.

During the final 40 laps, the traffic up front was thick. Two, three and sometimes four-a-breast action kept the crowd on their feet. The potential for the big wreck was just a breath away. But overall the boys behaved and produced one of the most exciting finishes of the year.

Rounding out the top five included Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon.

Gordon’s latest top-five combined with poor finishes by Hamlin, Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr and Kevin Harvick has him 277 points ahead of Hamlin and 383 ahead of Matt Kenseth.

--- Over on the Busch side, Kyle Busch dominated the field to claim his first Busch race of the season. The soon-to-be ex-Hendrick driver narrowly beat Kevin Harvick, Dave Blaney, Stewart and Clint Bowyer in the rain-delayed Saturday morning Daytona event.

Carl Edwards wound up 11^th, yet still leads second place Harvick by 798 points in the big picture.

Open Wheel News - For the second consecutive Formula One race, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen took the checkered flag, this time in England over Fernando Alonso and points leader Lewis Hamilton.

In Canada, Will Power nailed down his second Champ Car win of the season while three-time champ Sebastien Bourdais crashed out, now sitting third in points. Robert Boorndos finished sixth, yet comes away with a narrow point lead over Power.

After Helio Castroneves crashed out of the lead at the Indy Racing League run in NY at Watkins Glen, Scott Dixon had an easy time notching his third