Archive Page 7

Archived Columns (Page 7)

Busch and Toyota Sweep Chicagoland

July 14, 2008 - For what seems to be the umpteenth week in a row, Kyle Busch swept both checkered flags, this time in Nationwide and Sprint Cup series action at Chicagoland Speedway over the weekend.

The current Cup series points leader started on the pole by virtue of a rained out lineup. Several drivers led the first half of the snoozer, I mean race, including Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle among others, yet Kyle ran away with most of the second, passing Jimmie Johnson within the final laps.

The win marks his seventh of the season and 11^th career, topping the nearest race winner, Carl Edwards, by four in this year’s win column. Remember, each one of those wins represents a 10 points bonus going into the Chase.

During the Sprint Cup race, it still appears the Toyota’s have a distinct advantage in the overall horsepower department. How many times have we seen a Toyota driver simply pull out and pass someone with or without drafting help? Many.

Even when a Toyota driver goes down a lap, or is dropped deep in the pack for myriad of reasons, the Toyota’s rally back to the front, and not just with Busch behind the wheel. It could be Vickers, Stewart, Hamlin…pretty much whomever can move back to the front.

Along these lines, I like the line Clint Bowyer was quoted as saying when referring to the nine wins of the Gibbs No. 20 Nationwide car, “That car is so good, a monkey could win in that car!”

As mentioned, Kyle Busch won the Nationwide race earlier in the weekend on Friday night, with little or no challenge. Rounding out the top five were the cars of Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers and David Reutimann.

Clint Bowyers’ seventh place finish was good enough to extend his lead atop the standings over Keselowski by 183.

Footnote: You’ve heard me moan about why the non-Toyota teams don’t cry foul about the advantages Toyota is enjoying right now. Well, some of the teams must have said something as NASCAR impounded no less than 10 Nationwide power plants in Chicago for further examination at the NASCAR Concord, NC Research and Development Center. Stay tuned.

Open Wheel News - Scott Dixon and teammate Dan Wheldon rolled the dice to have enough fuel to be out front while series officials pulled the plug on the end of the Indy Racing League race at the Nashville SuperSpeedway. No, they didn’t have the fastest car, that honor should go to Tony Kanaan, but they chose to pit while the others stayed out, relegating the Brazilian to a fourth place run, one spot in front of teammate Danica Patrick. Manica whined about making a potential move, only to have it backfire on her…losing spots. It’s called talent Manica…keep looking.

Helio Castroneves ran well, but settled for a third place run. Dixon’s latest win extends his points lead over Castroneves by 623 markers.

From Rumorville - Ripped from the pages of prior rumorville notes is the recent announcement of Tony Stewart leaving Joe Gibbs Racing in favor of being part-owner of his own team. But, what a deal…obviously they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse…that being 50% owner of the fledging CNC-HAAS race team with current Chevy No.’s 60 and 77. Throw in some serious change from Chevrolet to have Gibbs release him from his contract a year early, and you’ve got a very tempting offer for guy like Tony that enjoys controlling his own destiny. After all, the current Home Depot driver owns a couple of tracks and race teams right now and enjoys the fruits of his labor.

The rest of the rumors surrounding this deal is Office Depot backing Stewart and Ryan Newman appears to be at the head of the list as his second driver. Me? I’m not convinced about the choice of Newman.

So, can Stewart turn this so-so team around and into a winner? Yes, he can raise the right sponsors, and probably gather the right help….but all this leading to victories is going to take a while…read…years.

OK…OK….I know…you’re wondering who’s going to fill the seat in the No. 20 Home Depot car? All signs point to rookie sensation Joey Lagano.

Did you know? The Busch brothers have now won four Sprint Cup races in a row, Kyle three and Kurt one. The last time members of the same family won four races in a row were the Flock brothers in 1955. Tim won three and Fonty one.

That’s it for this week. While the Sprint Cup teams are off, next week’s RWR will review the Nationwide action from Gateway, notes from Kentucky with the Craftsman trucks, IRL open wheel news from Mid-Ohio along with more racing news from around the globe.

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

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Toyota Continues to Dominate at Daytona

July 7, 2008 - It doesn’t seem to matter what adversity Kyle Busch faces during a race, the young Toyota driver manages to rally back for a decent finish or in Saturday night’s case in Daytona, rack up yet another win for the non-crowd favorite.

Busch had another problem with the power steering, similar to his circumstance earlier in the season at Bristol.

The big difference on Saturday night was despite falling back to the rear of the pack, he was able to pass Jeff Gordon and hold off a hard charging Carl Edwards in a green-white-checker finish to claim his sixth Cup win of the season and tenth career checkers.

I don’t know about you, but the dominance of the Toyota teams in NASCAR is wearing a little thin on me. With drafting help or not, they manage to get out front. I still don’t understand why more of the non-Toyota teams are not jumping up and down in NASCAR’s face to complain about the visible horsepower difference, especially on the big tracks. Most post-race dyno reports indicate a 15-30 horsepower advantage.

The overall race was filled with wrecks and several leaders out front, including polesitter Paul Menard, Dale Earnhardt Jr (led the most laps), Carl Edwards among others.

Jeff Gordon led many of the final laps, driving a tight line to the bottom of the track. Inexplicably, with a handful of laps remaining and Busch all over him, Gordon drifted to the top of the track, seemingly testing the waters up high…bad move. Busch’s Toyota zoomed by with Gordon later stating that was an obvious mistake on his part.

A green-white-checker set up a Busch, Gordon, Edwards lineup. Busch got a good jump, Gordon drifted down the track just a bit, Edwards tapped him around and into 31^st place.

The rest of the pack zoomed around the big track until all heck broke loose behind the leaders. Edwards had pulled alongside Busch, but when series officials watched the tapes, Busch was out front by a nose.

The final results for the top five included Edwards in second, followed by Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and David Regan.

The latest Cup results has Busch out front by 182 over Dale Jr and 202 over Jeff Burton.

--- The Nationwide race on Friday night at Daytona saw more fast Toyotas up front with Denny Hamlin coming out of nowhere to claim his latest win, this one over Kyle Busch, Earnhardt Jr, Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski. Bowyer now leads Keselowski by 202 and Edwards by 218. In case you’ve lost track, that’s 13 Nationwide wins (out of 19 run) for the Japanese manufacturer. Is there an advantage somewhere? You bet. What do you think? Drop me a line.

Open Wheel News - The Indy Racing League race at Watkins Glen saw one of the biggest messes in IRL history. Cars were spinning out and hitting each other during the pace laps, and not just the likes of Milka Duno and A.J. Foyt IV, but the talents of series points leader Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe! Then, just when things couldn’t get any weirder, Danica Patrick nearly hit three crew men when she lost control of her car on pit lane! This further proves what I’ve been saying all along, she can’t drive a nail….only now I can say she can’t drive on or off the track.

When all of the craziness settled down and the smoke cleared, first time winner Ryan-Hunter-Reay took the checkers in front of Darren Manning and Tony Kanaan.

--- Across the pond, the Formula One race in England saw the most spinning racers I’ve ever seen in any race, let alone an F-1 run.

Almost every driver spun at least once or in the case of Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, some four times! At the end of the race, the sun finally broke through with Lewis Hamilton the winner in front of Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello. The latest results has a three-way tie at the front between Hamilton, Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

From Rumorville - Out of the rumormill and into reality is Mark Martin being appointed as driver of the Hendrick No. 5 car full-time in 2009 and a part-time gig for 2010. I know, you’re saying, I thought Mark wasn’t going to run a full-time schedule anymore and you’d be right…ordinarily. Only, this deal was too good to let slip for the wiley veteran to pass up. After all, here’s a guy that’s been around a long time and one of the true consummate professionals without a title. He’ll have one more shot and what better place than a Hendrick car with what has turned out to be the star studded team of the decade. Think about it, four-time champ Jeff Gordon, two-time champ Jimmie Johnson, fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr and veteran Martin….wow! Can it all work? We’ll see next year.

Did you know? How close the standings are in the race for the Chase after the Coke Zero 400? Kenseth is up to ninth, which is amazing considering not so long ago, he was mired down in 22^nd; Bowyer is only 10 points away from falling out and Stewart is only two points ahead of Kevin Harvick for the final spot. Very close stuff!

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

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

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The Other Busch Wins Soggy New Hampshire

June 30, 2008 - With many of this year’s NASCAR highlights featuring young Kyle Busch’s wins here and there, big brother Kurt Busch has been struggling for some success since his second place run at the Daytona opener.

Busch’s crew chief Pat Tryson rolled the dice on track position and what tires or gas to take or not, yet wanted to be out front late in the race, just in case those ominous rain clouds halted the racing action. NASCAR officials parked the cars because of a light rain. The rain intensified, they called the show and Busch and several others lucky enough to roll the dice on not pitting wound up with uncharacteristic finishes.

They include second place ‘rain man’ Michael Waltrip, last week’s non-qualifier J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex Jr and Elliott Sadler.

Tony Stewart led many of the day’s laps, but taking on two tires on the final stop when most drivers took gas only found the orange and white Toyota finishing 13^th.

Other ‘up front’ drivers for most of the day, yet ‘caught out’ on that last stop were Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon, all of whom wound up ninth through eleventh respectively.

The overall race was rather ho-hum, yet the final laps of Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya were more than entertaining and I’m looking for a way to have the footage as my desktop in a closed loop format.

The scenario was Kyle and Juan trading a little paint a few laps before their finale. You know…some squeezing, some bumping and you know neither one will back down from each other, especially surrounded by 3400 pounds of ‘mean machine’.

Montoya had taken enough of Busch’s shoving around and turned the young driver around on the back chute while under caution, unfortunately while the Toyota was spinning around, caught Montoya’s car in the process.

Both drove away with bent cars and even more bent feelings, both pointing fingers at each other.

What have I been saying about the Kyle’s shenanigans on and off track? Ye reap what ye sow….or payback’s are…ya know. This is only the beginning of many similar stories to come.

--- The Nationwide race on Saturday afternoon in New Hampshire saw Cupster Tony Stewart win his fifth series race this year in only seven starts. This is the same car that his teammates Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Lagano have all won in this year.

Capping off the top five were the cars of Hamlin, Busch, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards. Clint Bowyer still tops the standings, some 182 points ahead of Dave Reutimann and Carl Edwards.

--- The Craftsman truck race at Memphis Motorsports Park was dominated by now series points leader Ron Hornaday. His rapid Chevy stayed out front for most of the race with Eric Darnell, Matt Crafton, Rick Crawford and David Starr rounding off the top five finishers.

Open Wheel News - The Indy Racing League race at Richmond International Raceway resembled more of demolition derby than an Indy car race by the time the checkers flew for Tony Kanaan as winner. A record number of cautions at nine and more than 100 laps wiped out more than half of the 26 car field out, the results of wrecks were a very bizarre scene to see. Helio Castroneves wound up second with points leader Scott Dixon third. The field moves on to the lefts and right of Watkins Glen this weekend. Can’t wait…it should even the playing field between the ex-Champers and IRL regulars.

From Rumorville - This department is in overdrive these days with the first domino falling from the Hendrick Motorsport’s announcement concerning Casey Mears contract ending after 2008. While the rumors are rampant, they range from Mark Martin in a one year shot at that elusive Cup title driving the No. 5 to the seasoned veteran sharing driving duties with Brad Keselowski to Tony Stewart driving the No. 5.

I don’t know about the later…can you see Tony teaming with Dale Jr, Jeffey and Jimmie?

--- Many of the daily conversations this week involve Stewart still departing from Gibbs and buying into Haas Racing, those cars being the No. 66 and 70. Potential sponsors for this idea include Office Depot for Stewart and his hiring of Ryan Newman for the second car with Burger King helping to foot the bills. Stay tuned.

Did you know? Kurt Busch’s latest Cup win on Sunday was his first of the year and 18th career trophy putting him at No. 38 on the all-time list. The Penske driver has now moved into 18^th place in points, up four spots from last week.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the Cup and Nationwide results from Daytona, the IRL action at Watkins Glen and more racing news from around the globe.

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

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Busch Continues to Win

June 23, 2008 - Odds makers wouldn’t have given much of a chance on Kyle Busch to win the road race venue at Infineon Raceway after seeing where the Gibbs driver qualified in 30^th. The No. 18 Toyota driver said they unloaded as junk, yet between a lucky break in an early pit situation and a car that seemed to come to life as the race wore on, the current Sprint Cup points leader notched his fifth win of the season.

The 23-year-old driver was able to pull away from challengers during several restarts, whether it was Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards or others that came up empty in a quest to the front.

The West coast race started with Jimmie Johnson leading most of the early laps, yet Busch was able to get out front, the benefactor of specific caution flags.

Late in the race, Kevin Harvick overdrove his car, which led to a domino effect of top five cars hitting each other, namely Jamie McMurray into a hapless Tony Stewart.

A possessed Stewart came back from mid-pack to a top 10 finish, but not before using his Toyota as a bulldozer, pushing into Scott Pruett, who in turn pushed into several cars including Stewart’s teammate Denny Hamlin…cars spinning on and off the track.

Ordinarily a mid-pack runner, David Gilliland rose to the occasion, falling back on his West Coast series experience to land a second place with Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and Casey Mears wrapping up the top five.

Carl Edwards led briefly and was among the strongest cars, but bad timing with yellows had him work very hard just to come back to a ninth place run.

The latest Sprint Cup results finds Busch extending his points lead over Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr by more than 100. With five wins, let’s remember he would start the Chase with a bonus of 50 points, 10 for each win.

--- Carl Edwards got up on the wheel at Milwaukee on Saturday night to capture his first Nationwide win in over a year. He did so by gently moving aside leader Clint Bowyer, who took exception to the move in post-race interviews.

Edwards car was good, it was the first race with new crew chief Drew Blickensdorfer and quite frankly, the buff driver had heard enough of, “when ya gonna win again?” and finally nailed down a win, a little unorthodox, but a win none the less. I also found it a little ‘pot, kettle’ that Bowyer has not won a race in that method…please.

Edwards latest win came by besting young Joey Lagano, Bowyer, David Ragan and David Reutimann, which keeps Bowyer atop the standings by 188 over Brad Keselowski.

--- Johnny Benson had a fairly easy time of winning his latest Craftsman truck race at the Milwaukee Mile. He did it by besting Matt Crafton and first-timer Landon Cassill, age 18. Benson now leads Todd Bodine by 50 and Crafton by a bit more. Long way to go.

Open Wheel News - The Indy Racing League held their latest round of competition at the oval in Iowa. Dan Wheldon wound up at the top of the heap with Hedeki Mutoh besting Marco Andretti, Scott Dixon and A.J. Foyt IV. They’ll be in Richmond this weekend.

--- Across the pond in France, the F-1 set saw Ferrari ace Felipe Massa beat teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli at Magny-Cours.

From Rumorville - Mark Martin out? In? Latest tid bits from the Cup pits has the seasoned veteran possibly leaving DEI at the end of the season where Aric Almirola will take over full-time. What’s in store for Mark? Hendrick driver Casey Mears is said to be vacating his No. 5 seat and it appears Mark may fill the bill in a last attempt at full-time in Cup and a run at a very elusive title. I’ll keep on top of this one? Plausible? Oh yeah, especially with his son announcing he was giving up his racing career for now in favor of more formal education.

--- Other rumors for next year include a related story involving ARMY leaving DEI and heading for Bill Davis Racing. That move doesn’t make any sense to me, but we’ll see what happens.

Did you know? Kyle Busch’s latest Cup win is his ninth notch in the win column out of 130 starts. It was also his 11^th top ten of 2008. The boy is up on the wheel…now if we could just work on that ‘attitude’ of his.

Sad News Dept - I would be remiss in not mentioning the passing of two-time top fuel dragster champion Scott Kalitta over the weekend. The 46-year-old father of two was a lifelong racer, son of the famed Connie Kalitta, passed away in a nasty funny car wreck in New Jersey on Saturday. Seems like I’ve been watching Scott race for several decades. God’s speed Scott…you will be missed.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the Cupper and Nationwide series action from New Hampshire, the Craftsman trucks competing in Memphis, the IRL cars zipping around RIR in Virginia along with more racing news from around the globe.

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

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Junior’s New Lucky Number is 76

June 16, 2008 - For some people, their lucky number is seven.

After Dale Earnhardt Jr coasted across the finish line on Sunday at Michigan Speedway on fumes, his new lucky number has to be 76 for the amount of races since he last visited a Cup points race victory lane.

He did it by nursing the car, shutting it on and off during the final caution flag laps and being lucky enough to have a green-white-checker event end early with a small multi-car wreck on the final lap.

With Kasey Kahne breathing down his neck and plenty of go-juice in the tank, I and many others feel he would have been the winner. Most of the final lap was run at pace car speed and Junior ran out across the finish line. Had they been at the normal near 200 mph speed, I think the AMP Chevy would have sputtered out of fuel with a turn or two to go.

None the less, the team rolled the dice and came out with their first win with Team Hendrick and first in nearly two years of competition.

Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and Tony Stewart wrapped up the top five spots. Points leader Kyle Busch was not much of a factor, yet finished 13^th and expanded his lead over Jeff Burton, who now sits just 32 markers back.

Jimmie Johnson led the lion’s share of laps, yet saw others such as Brian Vickers lead for a while, as did Stewart, Edwards and David Ragan.

Towards the end of the race, the big two-mile track turned once again into an economy run, filled with gambles and strategies. Some drivers pitted for a splash and go, others went for two tires, some four and some just didn’t come in at all.

Such was the case for Earnhardt, doing all they could to stay out front and get that next seemingly elusive win. They did and finally brought home his 18^th career trophy, something the crowd favorite was elated about as was the “Junior Army”.

This week, the Cupsters travel West to the lefts and rights of Infineon Raceway, one of my favorites. Now, we’ll see who can really drive.

Young superstar Joey Lagano continued to impress the world by not only taking his second consecutive pole, but came away with a convincing win in the Nationwide race in Nashville on Saturday night. The 18-year-old driver not only displaced his Toyota teammate Kyle Busch, but spanked the rest of the pack to earn his first win in only his third start.

Nicknamed ‘sliced bread’ as in best thing since, this kid is the real deal and I can’t wait for him to mix it up with more of the current Cup drivers in either the Nationwide or Cup ranks.

Yes, I said Cup ranks, as it appears plans are being made as we speak to put this kid in a Cup car before the end of the year. The future…I predict Lagano will drive the No. 20 in Cup next year. Some of you are quick to realize, “What a minute, that’s Tony Stewart’s ride”. Remember how Tony has spoken about leaving? Do the math.

Capping off the top five in the Nat race were the cars of Scott Wimmer, Mike Wallace, Brad Keselowski and Bryan Clauson.

By the way, is there a new pattern of young drivers in the NNS? You bet, with no less than four teenagers finishing in the top 15.

The Craftsman Truckers ran at Michigan on Saturday afternoon with numerous lead changes before this one was all over. The final laps saw Scott Speed, Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine and Eric Darnell battling right to the stripe with Darnell winning by inches or more exactly .0005 sec.

It was the first Ford truck win of the season with Benson a gracious second and Speed, Bodine and Brendan Gaughan wrapping up the top five.

On the final lap, Kyle Busch once again caused problems by purposely taking out points leader Ron Hornaday. Hornaday and team owner Kevin Harvick met the young Toyota driver in his pit after the race to discuss their displeasure where Busch felt nothing was intentional. I watched the replay several times…Busch went out of his way to move up the track and take him out. His ’day’ is coming. Someone is going to knock some sense into him real soon.

From Rumorville - This past week, Team Petty took on a business partner to help the team come back to life, so to speak. It’s been nearly 10 years since a Petty race car pulled into victory lane and the money to get there increases every year. They recently moved from Randleman, NC to Concord, but still needed a partner to get them back on the winner’s list, enter Boston Ventures. One of the first items taken care of was signing Bobby Labonte to a multi-year contract. Next on the list of things to do will be to establish a third team. Can they get back in the winner’s circle? Yes, but not any time soon, maybe in a year or two, or……

Did you know? Joey Lagano’s win puts him as the youngest driver to ever win a Nationwide race at the tender age of 18 years, three weeks. That eclipses Casey Atwood’s accomplishment when he won at 18 years, 10 months and nine days at Milwaukee in 1999. They’re getting younger all the time, eh? I would say Lagano’s record will NEVER be broken. The odds of someone turning 18 and getting in the win column sooner than three weeks is very far fetched.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review all the action from Infineon Raceway for the Cuppers, the results of NNS and Trucks at the Milwaukee Mile, the IRL competing in Iowa, the F-1 set in France along with more racing news from around the globe.

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

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Kahne Kontinues as Konqueror

June 9, 2008 - After not winning for nearly two years, Kasey Kahne has recovered to take three wins over the past month starting with the million dollar All-Star race, then the Coke 600 and yesterday the young Dodge pilot endured the heat and a pit road penalty to win the 500 mile Sprint Cup race at Pocono.

The weekend started off correctly for Kahne and crew by capturing the pole. Kahne did lead the lions share of laps, but several other drivers appeared as if they might land a win by day's end. Among them were Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle and most notably Brian Vickers, who for a while appeared poised to land his second career trophy, although it would have been a first for his Red Bull team.

But, despite numerous restarts for minor incidents and the oppressive temperature conditions, Kahne zoomed away from the pack handily over the closing laps, going to claim his second points win of the season, his ninth career.
The Gillette-Evernham driver has now moved up three places in the overall standings to sit ninth.

On the other end of the success spectrum would involve stories concerning Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart. Busch came to Pocono to wrap up his nationwide tour of three tracks in three days. On Saturday, he stuffed his car hard enough in practice to bring out the backup car. Then, early in the race while passing Jamie McMurray, he stuffed the second car in the fence. While he came out later in the race many laps down, he spun again and finished 43rd. The end results was a BIG hit in his points lead, which has now been reduced to only 21 over Jeff Burton. Stewart had been running well all day, that is, until NASCAR deemed he was speeding exiting a late race pitstop. That sent Stewart's demeanor into the stratosphere and deep in the final results to 35th.

Rounding out the top five in this one saw Vickers second with Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Burton among the top runners.
The Nationwide race at Nashville Superspeedway turned out to be one of the most exciting races of the year. First time winner Brad Keselowski took over the top spot from Cup driver Clint Bowyer with a handful of laps remaining.

The DEI driver certainly needed to 'get up on the wheel' to do so, much to the crowd and crew's approval. The action behind the leader was just as hot as David Stremme tapped Bowyer aside to claim second with David Ruetimann third, leaving points leader Bowyer fourth and David Ragan fifth.

Boy wonder Joey Lagano started his second ever Nationwide race in fine style by capturing his first pole, then led most of the early laps before getting tangled up in a three-wide pass. The result saw a dejected young driver finishing in 31st, but having nothing to hang his head about.

Bowyer leaves Nashville with a healthy 166 point lead over Reutimann and 188 over Kyle Busch. Busch's 'triple' effort over the weekend found him with mechanical problems and a 20th place finish.
The Craftsman truck race on Friday night in Texas saw a spirited battle between teammates Jack Sprague and eventual winner Ron Hornaday. Kyle Busch came from the back twice, but ran out of steam to mount a challenge, settling for second, but ahead of Johnny Benson, Sprague and Todd Bodine.

Hornaday's latest win vaults him back on top of the points with Matt Crafton and Benson not far behind.

Open Wheel News
The Indy Racing League had a large starting grid of 28 cars at the Texas Motor Speedway where Scott Dixon ran away with yet another win, this one over Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe. Dixon has also extended his lead in the overall points standings over Castroneves.

The Formula One series ran in Canada over the weekend with Robert Kubica picking up his first F-1 win in his brief career. Lewis Hamilton ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen on pitlane, sidelining both. Kubica edged Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard and now leads the points.

From Rumorville
Word through the pits indicates Tony Stewart has made up his mind as to where he's going and what he'll do for the foreseeable future, only he's not quite ready to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. My thoughts are he will leave Gibbs by the end of the year, move to another team with partial ownership. Stay tuned.

With Verizon's impending purchase of Alltel, things are looking bad for Ryan Newman's backing on the big blue Dodge. Here we go though another phone sponsor debacle. It also appears that Verizon wants no part of NASCAR team sponsorship.

Did you know?
After Ashley Force recently became the first woman NHRA Funny Car driver to win a major event, this past weekend, the women keep adding to the record books as Melanie Troxel became the first woman to set fast time of day with stats of 4.752 at 327.27 mph. Who says women can't drive?

That's it for this week. Next week's RWR will review the NASCAR action from Michigan along with more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ

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Toyota Sweeps ‘Monster' NASCAR Weekend

June 2, 2008 - They don't call the Dover racetrack, "The Monster Mile" for nothing, as the opening laps of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup 400-miler clearly illustrated.

A 10-car wreck kicked off the day's racing with a resounding... bang. The lengthy red flag started at lap 22.

Polesitter Greg Biffle certainly showed the field the fast way around for the first half of the race, until electrical gremlins slowed his progress.

Carl Edwards led for a while as did Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon, but for the fourth time this year, the Toyota of Kyle Busch whooped up on the field, lapping all but the top six by races end.

Edwards wound up second with Biffle surviving to third and Kenseth and Gordon rounding out the top five finishers.

Busch's latest win extends his points lead over Jeff Burton by 142 and a staggering 271 over Dale Earnhardt Jr, the result of a 35th place finish by being caught up in the early race melee.

Notables on the day have to include early departures and/or bottom of the barrel finishes for Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte and Scott Riggs.

Over on the Nationwide side, Denny Hamlin took the field to school in the Heluva Good! 200 where the Virginia driver beat Carl Edwards, David Stremme, David Reutimann and Biffle to the stripe in his No. 18 Toyota.

While Hamlin's Cup teammate Kyle Busch led for a while, he was taken out by his Nationwide teammate Jason Leffler for a sub-25 finish.

Hamlin had an easy time notching his latest win, this one, his second on the season. When the green flag dropped, many eyes were on 'newbee' Joey Lagano starting his first Nationwide race ever. The talented 18-year-old qualified ninth and finished sixth, certainly an impressive start and someone to keep an eye on. I still can't wait for the young upstart (driving a Toyota) to mix it up with the likes of Stewart, Busch or Harvick. He's got 17 other starts in the series slated for this year along with some ARCA races.

The Craftsman trucks took to the Monster Mile first on Friday afternoon with Kyle Busch leading early. The Toyota driver later pitted in a plume of mechanical problems, finishing many laps down, deep in the pack.

Ron Hornaday led for a while, but it was rookie and ex-F-1 pilot Scott Speed (great race car driver name, eh?) sweeping into the lead and staying there, the result of a gambled late two-tire stop.

The young and gracious Toyota winner took his first checkers in only his sixth start, certainly an important footnote.

The rest of the top five finishers included Jack Sprague, Ron Hornaday, Travis Kvapil and Matt Crafton.

Rick Crawford's ninth place finish coupled with points leader Todd Bodine's dismal 29th place finish (blown tire/crash), has him atop the points by only 20 over Crafton and 24 over Hornaday.

Note: Many race fans have written to ask why doesn't NASCAR do something about this Toyota domination in all three top divisions? After all, when the legendary Hemi engines kicked butt... NASCAR said, no more. When the large wings on the Chryslers dominated in the 70's, NASCAR stepped in to level the playing field.

I've seen less dominate situations cause owners to jump and down. Why haven't they? I don't have a good answer. To be so overpowering in most all stats such as wins, laps led, etc. and not have teams be more vocal is a mystery to me. I'll work on it.

From Rumorville
Some silly season stuff is ramping up into high gear, when it comes to driver's futures. Among the talk has Stewart, Montoya, Reed Sorensen among others losing or gaining rides. If Stewart was to leave Gibbs, could he be replaced with a disgruntled Montoya? With such a poor performance year for Sorensen, one way he may keep his job is if Montoya leaves. It'll get more complicated as we go.

In other driver job talks, it appears Biffle and Martin Truex Jr are about to ‘re-up' with their respective owners.

Open Wheel News
The Indy Racing League ran at the famed Milwaukee Mile on Sunday with youngsters Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal starting on the front row.

Andretti led for a while, until Penske prot�g� Ryan Briscoe took over, holding off points leader Scott Dixon under a yellow/checker finish.

Danica Patrick wound up ninth, third car down a lap, best lap time among the eighth worst... translated, never a factor. Is there a pattern here?

Did you know?
Out of the 35 races run this year among NASCAR's top three divisions, Toyota has won 20 times (10 of 14 in NNS), and racked up 13 poles. Mechanical advantage? Better drivers? Both? Neither? Drop me a line.

That's it for this week. Next week's RWR will discuss the results of NASCAR running at Pocono along with more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ

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Kahne Sweeps LMS Sprint Cup Races

May 26, 2008 - Kasey Kahne became the recipient of a late race gift from Tony Stewart when the Home Depot driver had a tire go down in the final few laps of Sunday‘s Coke 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway. Kahne becomes only the sixth driver in the history of NASCAR to claim both the All-Star and Coke 600 race wins in the same season.

The race became long at times with Kyle Busch once again showing the fast way around and it appeared the Gibbs driver was about to notch yet another win.

Instead, his Toyota had electrical problems forcing numerous pitstops to correct the problem. All-in-all, the young driver still rallied back to a third place finish and extends his lead atop the Sprint Cup standings.

Crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr led for a while much to the obvious approval of the partisan crowd. The crowds excitement was deflated however when the National Guard car rubbed along the wall, forcing additional pitstops. Earnhardt, despite being out of sync with the rest of the pack, managed to roll the dice with gas mileage, as did Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon, all ending among the top ten.

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson also led for a while with a strong Chevy, yet the bowtie motor let go, sending him deep into the final standings and slipping several spots down to ninth.

--- The Nationwide race was once again an all Kyle Busch romp. The night time event saw the field race around LMS and once again despite problems, Busch rallied back to earn his fourth Nationwide race of the year.

Denny Hamlin and Brad Kesolowski battled hard for second, on and off the track, with Hamlin getting the spot. Both crews got into it a bit after the race where cooler heads finally prevailed. Fines? Penalties?

Capping off the top five were the cars of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Brian Vickers.

Between the three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Busch, Hamlin and Stewart, they have racked up nine wins of the 13 races run. Unfair advantage? You bet. Why aren’t the teams jumping up and down to NASCAR that something is amiss? I just don’t know.

Do I see any end in sight? Not in the foreseeable future.

--- Out in Mansfield, Ohio, the Craftsman trucks ran on the tough half-mile with ex-Modified champion Donny Lia grabbing a last lap, three-wide pass on David Starr, after Starr led most of the race. Several drivers commented on how rough the rookie’s path was in getting to the front…the method will not be forgotten…driver’s never forget.

Starr, Todd Bodine, Terry Cook and Mike Skinner wrapped up the top five. Bodine now heads up the points after Ron Hornaday was sidelined early after a self-inflicted situation dropped him 100 laps down.

Indy Car News - Scott Dixon drank the milk in victory lane after winning this year’s Indy 500. The race wasn’t the most exciting, yet the numerous single car incidents brought out the caution flag numerous times. The Ganassi boys, those being Dixon and Dan Wheldon led most of the day with a sprinkling of Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan out front.

Kanaan dropped out after giving room to teammate Andretti, which caused him to run a little high…and into the dreaded GREY area…spun off turn 2 and hit by a hapless Sarah Fisher. Both cars were done.

Another Andretti-Green driver, Danica Patrick, ran among the top ten for a good part of the day until a late race pit stop produced a run-in with Ryan Briscoe on pit lane, ending both driver’s day.

Manica did her little foot stomp upon exiting the car and proceeded to walk down to Briscoe’s pit to discuss the matter. She never actually got there and all I could think of was watching something akin to a rabid Chihuahua jumping on a 300-pound gorilla. She was never a factor (read, potential winner) all day, instead the TV folks played back her complaints about the car being ‘slow‘. She was also warned about blocking when in front of Castroneves during the race.

I still need to see a real side-by-side, threshold braking, slidin’ slightly out of control pass, and win to convince me of her ability. Not the winner of an ‘economy run’ such as in Japan, where all the top drivers fell out or ran out. I digress.

Rounding out the top five in this year’s big ‘500’ event were the cars of Vitor Meira, Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves and Ed Carpenter.

Across the Pond - The Formula One race on the streets of Monaco saw young Lewis Hamilton walk away (after an early flat tire!) with a wet and dry track surface throughout the length of the event. There were several spins and an incident with then points leader Kimi Raikkonen running into another car, as he was not able to whoa his red Ferrari down. In the end, it was Hamilton claiming his sixth career win in front of Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa.

From Rumorville – With potential superstar Joey Lagano (now 18) starting his NASCAR big-time career with an entry into this week’s run at Dover in the Nationwide race, I keep hearing rumbling as the Gibbs development driver winding up the possible departure of Tony Stewart. Sound impossible? I’ve also heard of eight Nationwide races, an ARCA outing or two and who knows, by season’s end, a stab at Cup. His first four outings should be an indication of ability. I also like the idea of Joey and Kyle going toe-to-toe or should I say door-to-door?

Did you know? The oldest and youngest driver’s in this year’s Indy 500 were the first two cars out. Graham Rahal (age 19) spun on his own, as did Marty Roth (age 49). Interesting…and by the way, off the same turn, same spot.

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

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

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Kahne Tops All-Stars

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

May 19, 2008 - Oh…excuse me. I was watching the NASCAR All-Star Race and, well…you know.

After months of pre-race hype, this year’s All-Star race was less than spectacular with Kasey Kahne winning by a comfortable margin over Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. I was hoping, no expecting more of a 'gloves off' event, some door-to-door, beatin' and bangin', fists wavin' event. Instead, it was a so-so race with an unexpected, yet capable winner.

The first amazing part is how Kahne gained eligibility into this short-race, big-buck formatted main event.

He could have been among the top two qualifiers in the Showdown Race, but that went to a ‘loose’ A. J. Almendinger and a surprisingly fast Sam Hornish Jr.

Kahne finished fifth, but the fan’s vote went strongly to the fan favorite having him start scratch on the field.

After finishing 13^th, 8^th and 7^th respectively in the first three rounds of the All-Star, Kahne’s crew chief rolled the dice with a ‘gas only’ stop during the final round of pitstops.

That put Kahne’s Dodge among the top five for the start of the final and most important segment. Johnson led briefly, as did Denny Hamlin, but Hamlin’s Toyota engine expired similar to teammate Kyle Busch after he won the opening round, going away.

Kahne got out front with only Biffle in the same time zone. Biffle’s Ford made one attempt, yet the car tightened up during the final dozen laps, not able to catch the Dodge at the line.

Kahne picked up a little over a million dollars for the evening, while Biffle collected about half with Kenseth taking $134,000 for his trouble, finishing in third.

--- The Friday night truck race started looking as if Rowdy Busch, a.k.a. Kyle Busch would notch yet another win among the truckers. Eric Darnell led for a while, as did Ron Hornaday Jr and Todd Bodine.

But, the action heated up late when Hornaday slipped up into Busch, taking both out of the equation. Then, Hornaday sliced off Bodine whereupon Todd returned the favor gently spinning the Chevy out of the way. NASCAR felt it was intentional on Todd’s part and sent him to the rear.

I had to laugh when Hornaday was interviewed as he said, “Imagine spinning someone out on a straightaway?”

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black….let’s turn the clock back a while ago when Hornaday did just that to then race leader Mark Martin in a truck race on a restart. How quickly we forget.

In the end, surprise winner Matt Crafton held off a strong charge by Chad McCumbee and Brendan Gaughan to finally notch that first illusive win.

Indy Car News - The field for the 92^nd running on the Indy 500 is set. The final round of qualifying found ‘96 winner Jacque Lazier, A.J. Foyt IV and Marty Roth barely getting and making up the final row of the 33-car grid.

The same three women that made the show last year are in the field again, those being Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno.

It is a very diversified field, especially after the recent Champ Car/IRL merger. Ganassi drivers Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon along with Penske show Ryan Briscoe make up the front row.

This is a can’t miss race. Even if you are not a Indy car fan, you need to watch this race. Besides, it’s before what most readers will watch, the Coke 600.

The green flag is set to fly on Sunday for the 500 at 1 p.m.. Winners? I’m going to say, Dan Wheldon or Marco Andretti. We’ll compare notes next week.

Across the Pond - The biggest race of the year in Formula One is probably this weekend’s run around the streets of Monaco. Tight corners, running through tunnels and around hotel swimming pools in front of loyalty and super stars of various persuasions all add up to a great event. For me, the 19,000 rpm engines screaming through the tunnel is the most exciting part.

The Ferrari’s are tough right now, but I feel a different manufacturer will win this weekend. If history repeats itself, the action level is always up a few notches for this one. If there’s only one F-1 race to watch all year…this is the one. We’ll compare notes next week.

From Rumorville – I keep hearing more and more about UPS leaving Michael Waltrip Racing. It appears the big shipping company may move over to Roush with Carl Edwards or perhaps, Martin Truex Jr with ________? (Fill in blank)

--- Have you noticed some of the Sprint Cup cars ‘crabbing’ down the straightaways lately? Seems that some of the teams, like Roush and Penske have figured out by crabbing the body to the right helps the COT design to turn better in the corners. Problem is some of the teams have taken this idea to an extreme too far out of the grey area in the rulebook. We can expect some changes, read restrictions, on this idea soon. You can’t blame the teams for stretching the envelope.

Did you know? The last place driver in the 33-car Indy 500 field will be awarded over $270,000 and the winner of the race will walk away with, drum roll….over $2.5 million! The purse has been increased throughout the field by $2.3 million over last year. Wow!

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the busiest race weekend of the year. From the Coke 600 to the Indy 500, we’ll review the results along with more racing news from around the globe.

Holiday Note: I’ve known race fans to make a very long day (Sunday) of watching auto racing on TV from 8 a.m. for F-1, 1 p.m. for the Indy 500 with the Coke 600 to start around 5:30 p.m. or roughly 15 hours of racing. Imagine.

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

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Toyota’s Continue to Win

May 12, 2008 - Are you getting tired of those Toyotas dominating NASCAR’s top three series? Well, I’d say get used to it. As predicted months ago, Toyota does not have a budget to be successful. Their motto might as well be, “Whatever it takes”.

Between Joe Gibbs three drivers, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, they’ve already racked up more than a dozen wins between the three top series and I don’t see any end in sight.

The younger Busch brother still rose to the occasion as one of the toughest tracks to win at, Darlington, in capturing his third Cup win of the season on Saturday night.

And, for sure, the win wasn’t easy. Imagine going down a lap, having loose lug nuts, smacking into the Darlington walls a handful of times and still, walked away with the big trophy.

Stewart had a bad opening to the race when Elliott Sadler got loose, the two ground along the wall for a while before stopping. Sadler wound up many laps behind and Stewart, despite being two laps down drove through the field, TWICE before finishing a very credible 22nd.

When I watched how Stewart and Busch passed cars, and I mean top cars like Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon or Carl Edwards…it was like they were tied to stumps!

I’ve heard the Toyotas have come up some 30 horsepower ahead of the competition during post-race dyno tests and I certainly believe it…if not more!

When will the competition (read Ford, Dodge, Chevy) jump up and down to complain about the clear advantage the Toyotas are experiencing. NASCAR has a history of evening the ‘playing field’, but I haven’t seen any changes or even hints of one.

Have you seen the laps led charts in either the Nationwide or Cup ranks? The Toy’s are way ahead of the competition by either hundreds or in some cases a thousand laps or more!

The race started with Greg Biffle being top dog, but faded as the race wore on with pit stop problems and finally engines woes to sideline the Roush-Fenway driver.

Carl Edwards was strong for a while, but he too was passed by Busch and could not mount a challenge to take the lead, settling for second, just ahead of Gordon, Dale Jr and David Ragan.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty tired of the domination by the Toy’s and wait for something to be done to even things out. What do you think? Drop me a line.

As the teams leave Darlington, many of them with heavy Darlington stripes, they are about to prepare for the big weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the running of the big buck All-Star race on Saturday night. More Toy’s in the winner’s circle? Could very well be.

--- On the Nationwide series side, the action on Friday night was, well….all Toyota as Tony Stewart took the field to school on how powerful these cars really are.

Between the fine preparation of Gibbs Racing and talent pool involved, they are becoming a tough force to be reckoned with.

Stewart led the most laps (90 of 149), hardly being headed at all en route to his fourth consecutive Nationwide win in the No. 20 Toyota.

Rounding out the top five were the cars of Clint Bowyer, David Reutimann (Toyota), Todd Bodine (Toyota) and Steven Wallace.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Open Wheel News - The first day of Indy 500 qualifying took place on Saturday with Ganassi drivers Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon heading up the front row with Penske shoe Ryan Briscoe on the outside.

The top 11 are locked in for the 92^nd running of the Great American classic, including Danica Patrick in fifth and Marco Andretti in seventh.

Second day qualifying was rained out, leaving the final spots (12-33) to be filled this coming weekend.

I look for this year’s Indy 500 to be one of the better ones in recent memory due to the recent reunion of Champ and IRL drivers.

From Rumorville - Sounds as if Terry Labonte is about to come out of early retirement by filling in for Kyle Petty starting next month for a handful or more Cup races. One week Kyle will be out of contention is for his daughter’s wedding and even more weeks are scheduled to be in front of the TNT cameras as commentator. Throw in some appearances by Chad McCumbee and Kyle’s driving stints are getting shorter and shorter. Bad thing? Good thing? Drop me a line.

--- Looks like John Andretti will take a break from the stock car set by attempting to qualify for this year’s Indy 500. I was glad to hear of this and wish him the best of luck.

Did you know? Who’s eligible for this week’s All Star Cup race? Winning drivers from the past two seasons along with past winners of the event will include Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, Martin Truex Jr., Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and as yet to be named, the 2008 Sprint Showdown winner and runner-up in addition to a fan vote winner.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review all the action from Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Cup and Craftsman Truck series, Indy 500 qualifying news and more racing news from around the globe.

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

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Bowyer Inherits Wild Win at RIR

May 6, 2008 - After Kyle Busch got into leader Dale Earnhardt Jr during the final laps of the Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night, the door opened for third place runner Clint Bowyer to move into the top spot and go on to a second career win.

Busch had thrown his car into turn 3 a little too hard, drifted up into Earnhardt, punting the fan favorite into the wall backwards. The crowd went nuts as Busch contemplated his method of leaving the racetrack without being pelted with various objects, or worse… from the fans.

The final restart saw Bowyer pull away as Mark Martin fought with Busch for second place. The wiley veteran nearly pulled it off, coming up less than a half-car short at the line as Bowyer took the checkers.

The final standings saw Busch come up second, Martin third with Tony Stewart and Martin Truex Jr rounding out the top five.

Busch chalked up the incident with Earnhardt as a ‘racing deal’, sorry that he may have taken a win away from him….kinda…sorta.

Earnhardt commented about the problems Busch would have in leaving the track…that he drove hard…had a top three car (which he did) and got wrecked.

If Busch thinks he’s been ‘booed’ before during driver introductions, he’s in for a rude awakening when the occasion arises this weekend in Darlington.

There are a few rules in life….you don’t yank on a junk yard dogs chain (remember the song?), you don’t pull on Superman’s cape and you DON’T wreck the crowd (series) favorite…Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The underlying story of this race was hometown favorite Denny Hamlin leading 381 laps (a new record) before succumbing to a right front flat tire.

Hamlin’s heartbreaker was felt throughout the partisan crowd, especially after winning the Nationwide race the night before.

We can’t leave this race without speaking of the ‘big wreck’ Richmond style which took place very early in the race. It started with J.J. Yeley, Dave Blaney and Carl Edwards…just racing. When the rest of the pack tried to avoid spinning cars, all heck broke loose into a 14-car melee.

Of note were the badly damaged cars of Kurt Busch, Patrick Carpentier, Jimmie Johnson, David Gilliland and Matt Kenseth among others. It was ugly and unavoidable, just unusual to see a ‘Dega-like’ wreck at a short track.

Note: Michael Waltrip’s on-track behavior after Casey Mears made contact with him late in the race was disgusting. Mears moved up and into the series tallest driver by accident. Waltrip mashed the gas and pushed Mears down the front chute and into the fence. NASCAR parked him, but I’d like to see a healthy fine as well. Totally inexcusable! At that point Waltrip was using his car as a lethal weapon, by stuffing Mears back into the fence. Did he really think Mears did that intentionally? No way. We’re talking one of the most mild mannered drivers on the track….in fact, maybe we should nickname him Clark Kent.

--- The Nationwide race on Friday night at RIR was a battle between long time leader Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick. Has it not been for yet another bad pitstop by Edward’s crew, he would have been out in front of Harvick in the closing laps. But, it turned out to be a moot point as the top three drivers refused to pit while most of the remaining top drivers stopped for fresh sneakers.

When the green flag dropped, Hamlin rocketed into the lead, going on to take the win in front of Harvick, Busch, David Regan and Steven Wallace.

By the way, did you catch the shenanigans going on between Kyle Busch and Steven Wallace at the end of the Nationwide race? Funny stuff.

Busch goes over to Wallace to confront him about the final lap incident, which wasn’t much of anything. Busch made the mistake of sticking his helmeted head close to Wallace’s open window, whereupon Wallace reached out and grabbed the opening in Busch’s helmet. Busch yanked back, motioning Wallace to ‘com’on out’. The crews broke it up before Wallace even got out of the car. Later Busch commented that Wallace was a boy in a man’s sport and if he wants to play rough, he’ll return same. Let’s see….Kyle is a ripe old 22 and Steven is a feisty 19. Funny stuff.

From Rumorville - There are reports of Bobby Labonte staying with Petty Enterprises for next year and beyond, but I don’t buy it. I still think he’ll move over to the fourth Cup car at Childress for next year. How about you? Drop me a line.

--- Hot off the rumor mill is the possibility of Martin Truex Jr going over to Penske with UPS on the quarter panels….Heard Carl Edwards associated with UPS as well. The silly season is well under way and we’re not even halfway through the season.

Did you know? Clint Bowyer earned $226,550 for his surprise win on Saturday night? And how about ole Mark Martin, I mean Mr. Part-Time Super Driver? The guy is driving on a part-time basis and consistently comes home with a whole car and top finishes. Martin nearly took second before settling with a third and $174,108. I’ve never seen a more prolific driver in a fill-in role be as successful as he is.

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

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

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Busch Wins Scrap Yard 499

April 29, 2008 - In what turned out to be one of the ugliest races at the big track, Kyle Busch wound up the winner of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega.

Busch had been fast all day, even came back from being a lap down to take his second win of the season in NASCAR’s premiere division.

Both of the 22-year-old driver’s teammates, those being Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin spent time out front, but didn’t quite put themselves in the right spot at the right time in this high speed game of chess.

Hamlin wound up third, yet Stewart landed in the fence more than once, landing deep in the standings back to 38^th. The rest of the top five included some surprises such as Juan Montoya as runner up, David Regan and Brian Vickers.

The race started innocent enough with the three Gibbs Toyotas out front (Stewart, Hamlin and Busch). Then, crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr led for a while with a strong Chevy.

Ryan Newman had a shot out front, Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip sniffed around the top spot, but when the smoke cleared from at least two ‘big wrecks’ (not to mention the final few lap melee), Busch was standing tall in the winner’s circle.

Gordon was running second with a few laps to go, made a move to the outside, thinking the car behind him would go with him. They hooked up, but only briefly, leaving the No. 24 high and dry and into a less than stellar 12th place finish.

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson gave a big help to Waltrip in the closing segment, pushing the big blue and yellow NAPA Toyota out front, yet that was short-lived.

There was lots of jockeying around, often three and four abreast, five six rows deep with both driver and race fan holding their collective breaths not to see the big wreck, but they were inevitable.

The list of damaged cars is long and deep.

Have I mentioned I don’t like these kind of races? It’s just a crap shoot as to when the big wreck will happen and they usually do. The track has turned into a foot-to-the-floor-turn-left deal with little talent behind the wheel with the exception of who’s going to help you and when. Just listen to the drivers in post qualifying interviews…they all say to a man, “It wasn’t me, the crew set up a great car.” I’ve heard other drivers say that a trained monkey could drive a stock car around ‘Dega‘.

But, the crowds are rabid, often standing on their feet rooting their favorite driver on to victory.

Many of your top drivers don’t like the ‘plate’ races, such as Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Sr. I know…some of you are saying, ‘what a minute…Earnhardt won a lot of races…why, he could see the wind!’ Yes, he won races, but on many occasions interviews from the seven-time champ exclaimed his dislike for them.

Moving on, the teams will spend most of the upcoming week licking their wounds from the big bad racetrack as they prepare for the action track, Richmond International Raceway.

Points leader Jeff Burton left Dega with a slightly damaged car and a 17^th place finish, yet good enough to keep him atop the standings. The Virginia driver now sits 22 ahead of Busch and 79 ahead Earnhardt Jr. as they enter round 10.

--- Tony Stewart led the most laps including the final one in Saturday’s Nationwide race at Dega. There was one BIG wreck around lap 70 when Kevin LePage lost his mind in pulling up in front of a snarling 200 mph pack of cars. The end result was a 16-car fiasco involving Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer and a host of others.

The good news was no one was hurt, although Dario Franchitti suffered a broken ankle in an earlier incident involving Larry Gunselman, who also must have lost his mind (the impact occurred eight seconds after Dario was sitting still).

--- The Craftsman truck race ended with Ron Hornaday taking his 34^th career checkers, this one in front of teammate Jack Sprague and youngster Colin Braun.

Open Wheel News – Indy Racing League driver Dan Wheldon won a snoozer race in Kansas in front of Tony Kanaan and teammate Scott Dixon, who led many laps. Manica dropped out with mechanical woes after touching the wall earlier. Helio Castroneves leads the points over Wheldon as they prepare for the month of May and Indy.

The Spanish GP saw F-1 ace Kimi Raikkonen win in flag-to-flag style over Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton. Kimi leads Hamilton in the big picture by nine points.

From Rumorville – The biggest news from this department has to be the rumblings from the Home Depot Toyota team of Tony Stewart. It appears not all is well on the home front with the Indiana driver. Sounds like he wants out of his current contract which is to expire in 2009 to pursue other possibilities such as owning his own team and not drive a Toyota, rather a Chevy.

Rumors continue to swirl around him buying part or all of the No. 66 and No. 70 teams, which could certainly use a shot in the arm of experience and money. No surprise to me here.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the action from Richmond’s Cup and Nationwide action along with more news from around the globe.

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

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Busch Wins Back-to-Back-to-Back Nationwide

April 22, 2008 - In a race where many wondered if it would ever end, Kyle Busch out drove some of the best ‘left and right’ stock car talents on the planet to win in Mexico City, his third Nationwide series trophy in a row.

Amid numerous, read seven caution periods for 18 laps (nearly one quarter of the 80 total), two red flag periods for track repairs (28 minutes) the twisty roadcourse wound up the scene of many multi-car wrecks. The most notable between road racing aces Marcos Ambrose and Boris Said with Said sidelined and Ambrose going on to finish a close second. Said was rather vocal about a future retaliation.

Ambrose attributed his best finish to date to good hard racing… nothing on purpose.

The lap leader on the day was Scott Pruett in his Dodge, but his car faded in the waning laps when Busch’s Toyota with more horsepower and more tire zipped on by.

Nineteen-year-old Colin Braun impressed everyone with earning his first pole, yet finished deep in the field in 33^rd due to contact on the track. We will hear more about this young talent.

Points leader Clint Bowyer finished in sixth, just behind Patrick Carpentier and Carl Edwards.

The teams move on to Talladega with Bowyer topping the points, now nine ahead of Edwards and 66 ahead of Busch.

Open Wheel News - Certainly the highlight of this department is Danica Patrick winning the Indy Racing League race in Japan on Sunday. The 26-year-old walked into an economy run style win by having enough sips of fuel to pass Helio Castroneves with three laps remaining while all of the leaders had to stop for a splash and go.

Manica, as I affectionately call her, was around seventh to ninth all day when the crew, late in the go, decided to bring her in and stuff whatever gas they could in the car, rolling the dice on no cautions.

With less than five to go, the likes of long-time lap leader Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan got gas (ethanol), joined the field, but it was too little, too late as Manica passed a floundering Castroneves (nursing every ounce) with a few to go.

Patrick becomes the first woman to ever win an open wheel race of any major series. Certainly a dubious distinction, after all, her last win was more than ten years ago and in a go-kart. Yes, I said go-kart.

My opinion? I have said for several years that she would never win a race and if she did, it would be under some mickey mouse circumstances, like an economy run or someone being DQ’ed.

I maintain, until she can go wheel to wheel with another driver, male or female, and duke it out to the finish line and win, she lacks the talent to be called a ‘real’ competitive driver.

She has been and now will certainly be a marketable commodity in the world of racing, but fast or competitive right to the end? No. Disagree? Agree? Drop me a line.

---Champ Car - Will Power won the final Champ Car race on the tricky street course in Long Beach, CA. The points from this race for the drivers were combined with the IRL results, yet Helio Castroneves still tops the list.

From Rumorville - BAM Racing appeared to be ‘on track’ to recovering back into some kind of full-time racing operation with Toyota and Microsoft backing. That concept only latest for one race and now the word is they may be back for a few races before the year is out.

--- Ken Schrader, driver of the No. 49 BAM car has been tapped to pilot the No. 70 for this weekend’s Cup race at Dega.

--- The upcoming ARCA race at Rockingham Speedway is shaping up to be a real barn burner. Especially when you have 50 cars for 500 miles, ARCA regulars mixed up with the likes of Ken Schrader, Scott Speed, Joey Lagano, Bobby Hamilton Jr, Chad McCumbee and Bobby Gerhart among others. The Carolina 500 is slated for May 4th, marking the first big event since the purchase by Andy Hillenburg.

Did you know? That in the same weekend Manica won her first race in the ‘bigs’, the winner of the Formula Atlantic race in Long Beach was Swiss driver Simona De Silvestro. Not since Katherine Legge won an Atlantic race in 2005 has a woman won an open wheel race of that variety and De Silvestro becomes only the second one to do so. Could she be challenging Patrick sometime soon? Time will tell.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the NASCAR results from Talladega, the IRL and Craftsman trucks competing in Kansas and more racing news from around the globe.

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

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Johnson Wins Econ-O-Run 500 in Phoenix

April 15, 2008 - You would have thought they were in Las Vegas the way NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chiefs and engineers gambled on making it all the way on what sips of gas were left in the tank.

The TV announcers has a field day playing out the various scenarios for each top runner over the final 20 laps in Phoenix.

Pit…don’t pit…save me some gas… gas only…gas and two tires…decisions, decisions…were the final topics.

In the end, crew chief extraordinaire Chad Knaus talked his driver Jimmie Johnson into saving enough fuel on each of the final dozen circuits to land the Hendrick champions back into the winner’s circle for the first time this year. There was even enough for some smokey burnouts, yet the Lowe’s Chevy ran out of gas, coming up short on the way to the winner’s circle.

Johnson didn’t have the fastest car…no, that honor, most would agree goes to Mark Martin. The wiley veteran was taking the field to school for most of the day, wheeling his Army Chevy out front until having to stop, as most did, for a splash and go…or more with less than 10 to go.

Dale Earnhardt Jr led 86 laps, polesitter Ryan Newman led the opening segment, but Johnson led the most with 120.

The rest of the top five included Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, a resurgent Carl Edwards (coming back from an early pit lane violation, setting him back to 34^th) and Martin.

Current points leader Jeff Burton illustrated why he’s on top with yet another top 10, this time an impressive sixth after starting deep in the pack.

Burton leaves Phoenix with an 80 point lead over Kyle Busch, 86 over Hendrick driver Earnhardt Jr., 99 in front of Johnson and 100 over teammate Kevin Harvick.

Notes: The Dodge contingent had a rough day with three of their best finishing at the bottom of the field. They included Ryan Newman’s blown engine about a third of the way in, same deal for Elliott Sadler and young Reed Sorensen’s Dodge succumbed to two bouts with the retaining walls.

--- The Nationwide series competed at Phoenix on Friday night with Kyle Busch zooming to the front early and often to rack up his second win of the year. Had it not been for an error during his final pitstop, Carl Edwards may have been standing tall in victory lane.

Capping the top five included a rapidly charging Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and David Ragan.

Clint Bowyer tops the overall picture, yet only 20 markers ahead of Edwards.

From Rumorville - It’s the third race in a row for Team Petty to leave the track early as the No. 45 did not qualify for the race in Phoenix. Was the big move to be among the rest of the competition the right way to go? Or not? What’s next? Will Kyle get back in the car? Or will it be Chad McCumbee or ?? Stay tuned….

--- It appears that full-time Nationwide driver David Stremme has been tapped as Penske’s test driver to fill a possible void in the race and practice schedule of the No. 77 usually piloted by Sam Hornish Jr.

Seems that Roger (Penske) has an extra car with the No. 77 on it just waiting for Hornish Jr for this year’s Indy 500. I like the whole idea. Stremme is a good shoe that deserves some kind of Cup ride and I still can’t get used to seeing Hornish wheel the taxi cab.

Did you know? The kind of money current Cup drivers are making? The numbers are staggering and it would be a safe bet to say the Cuppers are competing in the highest purses in auto racing…period.

Looking at the top ten in points, the average driver is earning $150-300,000 per race where most of the top 40 are making around $90,000 per race!!! Yes, I said per race!

In startling contrast, the average winnings for a top ten driver in the Craftsman Truck series (currently) is $24,000 per race.

That’s it for this week. While the NASCAR top trio is off, next week’s RWR will review the action from open wheel series’ Indy Racing League and Champ Car from Japan and the U.S. along with more racing news from around the globe.

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

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Edwards Wins Texas Two Step

April 8, 2008 - Several drivers led the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Texas on Sunday afternoon, but it was Carl Edwards leading the most laps on the day, bringing home his third win on the year.

The overall race was a bit of a snoozer until the closing stages found Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch hunting down, or at least trying to catch a very fast Edwards Roush-Fenway Ford Fusion over the final laps. They couldn’t do it.

Dale Earnhardt Jr started on the pole, but faded by day’s end to 12^th, still trying to get a better handle on his car, which was a popular problem with many of the drivers.

Among those were Jeff Gordon who never really got a grip on dialing in his car as it quickly dropped from mid-pack at the start to dead last, claiming they just have been junk since unloading the car off the truck. Long before the half, Gordon smacked the fence with the ill-handling Chevy, throwing in the towel, declaring it a test day.

The latest finish has dropped the four-time champ five spots to 14^th, some 282 points behind leader Jeff Burton who finished sixth. Edwards latest win elevated him four spots to tenth in the big picture.

Other notables included Mark Martin (8^th), David Regan (13^th) and David Gilliland (15^th).

The Nationwide Series races on Saturday found Kyle Busch and his Toyota spanking the field into submission to claim his second win of the year. He now sits fifth in the standings and it is still undecided if he will compete in every race. Clint Bowyer leads Carl Edwards and David Reutimann in the big picture.

Jeff Burton, Bowyer, Bobby Labonte and Jamie McMurray capped off the top five finishers.

Open Wheel News - Felipe Massa drove away with the Formula One win in Bahrain with relative ease, his teammate Kimi Raikkonen the only driver within sight at the checkers. Polesitter Robert Kubica wound up a very credible third with last year standouts Fernando Alonso and young Lewis Hamilton a disappointing 10^th and 13^th respectively.

Raikkonen now leads Nick Heidfeld and Hamilton in the overall standings.

Closer to home, the Indy Racing League held their second race of the year, this one a street course in St. Petersburg, FL. As expected, the newly arrived Champ car drivers would fair much better then the first race on an oval.

By the checkers, seven of the top ten finishers were ex-Champers including a very impressive 19-year-old Graham Rahal in his very first IRL race taking the win, despite an early spin and rainy conditions. Others in the top three included Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan.

From Rumorville - Lots of grumbles out of the Petty camp this week, and they’re not good. First came the announcement from General Mills, or more specifically Cheerios is leaving the building after this season. Then, strong implications that Bobby Labonte will follow over to the fourth team at Childress are running rampant.

If that wasn’t enough headaches, word comes down that Kyle Petty did not make the decision to step down this past week, rather V.P. of Operations Robbie Loomis. Petty declaring something along the lines that he is around to race and if Team Petty doesn’t want him, going elsewhere is not out of the question.

Good luck with that Kyle…a 48-year-old driver with eight career wins over a 30 year period and the last win earned in 1995. Not exactly what a potential owner is looking for, eh?

Did you know? In the 16 years of competing in NASCAR Cup racing, Jeff Gordon has only finished 43^rd one other time and that was at Texas in 1999. Between never winning at this track and the recent finishes, I’d say this is one place Gordon would like to see off the schedule.

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

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

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