Yeley breaks Newman's pole win streak
June 15th, 2007
Brooklyn, MI (Sports Network) - J.J. Yeley captured the pole for Sunday's Citizens Bank 400 at the Michigan International Speedway, ending Ryan Newman's three-race pole win streak. The No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet driver circled the fast two-mile oval in 38.399 seconds (187.505 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was the first of Yeley's Nextel Cup career.
"This is awesome," said Yeley. "We needed this."
It was also just 0.001 seconds faster than runner-up 2006 Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Johnson was also looking for his first pole of the season, but he owns nine career poles.
"That would have been my quota for the year," said Johnson, who has nine career pole wins in six years of "Cup" racing.
Kyle Busch (38.538), the soon-to-be free agent after this week's Hendrick Motorsports signing of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Newman (38.586) will make up row two.
Series points leader Jeff Gordon will start sixth.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Denny Hamlin (7th), Martin Truex Jr. (8th), Jeff Burton (9th), Carl Edwards (12th), Mark Martin (15th), Earnhardt Jr. (23rd), Matt Kenseth (26th) and Tony Stewart (41st).
Michael Waltrip will race for the second time in three weeks. The improving No.55 NAPA Toyota team was 18th quickest.
"We're going to get this thing straightened out," said a smiling Waltrip.
With 14 races completed and 12 to go until the "Chase" begins, the race for the final spots in the playoffs couldn't be much closer.
Martin currently holds down the 12th and final position, but he has consistently said he will not change his part-time schedule to make the "Chase." That makes Newman the "de facto" holder of the final spot.
Newman has been on a roll of late, winning three consecutive poles and finishing second at both Dover and Pocono. He is 685 points behind Gordon.
Behind Newman is Earnhardt Jr. (-33) and Jamie McMurray (-77).
Drivers holding the ninth through 11 positions are also not a "lock" and will be points racing over these final dozen races. Kevin Harvick in ninth, is just 117 points ahead of "Junior." Kyle Busch and the suddenly formidable Truex Jr. have even less of a hold on their "Chase" positions.
The race for the "Chase" should be great summer fare. It starts this weekend at MIS.
Newman to No. 1 with a bullet in Motown
FOX Sports
The Penske Racing South cars are outperforming the other Dodges, week in and week out.
If the caution had flown 50 feet later at Pocono, Ryan Newman may have notched his first win since 2005. You could see the frustration on his wife Krissie's face on top of his pit box. I wouldn't be surprised to see her husband get his third win at Michigan International Speedway.
Who to Watch
# Ryan Newman: Getting frustrated with back-to-back runner-up finishes, you've got to believe that frustration will fuel his determination to pick up the car, put it on his shoulders and bring it home first. Look for him to be strong.
# Kasey Kahne: We may have an opportunity to see a resurgence from Evernham Motorsports. The defending race winner, Kahne has been waiting for this kind of racetrack to have a good run.
# Carl Edwards: Showing some flashes along the way, Edwards didn't finish up the way he wanted to at Pocono, but Michigan could be a good track for him. With the focus on engineering and aero, this track plays to crew chief Bob Osborne's expertise.
# Jeff Gordon: You can't rule out any of the Hendrick cars, whether it's Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears or Kyle Busch. All of them have the ability to win, and Gordon was the last Chevrolet to go to Michigan's victory lane in 2001.
# Denny Hamlin: I feel about the same way about Joe Gibbs Racing as I do Hendrick Motorsports. Hamlin and Tony Stewart are running really well. Notching a win for Chevrolet — which has only won twice at Michigan in the last 11 years — would be huge at the closest Cup track to Motor City.
Who not to watch
Toyota is going to struggle because they have a little bit more engine work to do. If you do something to help the bottom-end, it can hurt top-end power. You've got to have the right kind of combination of bottom-end torque along with the ability to run at the end of the straightaway. It's got to keep pulling. While Toyota won its first Craftsman Truck race at this track, this engine doesn't perform like a truck engine. The Toyota teams probably wil have their hands full this weekend.
What to Watch
# May the sideforce be with you: Drivers need great sideforce so when they are working through the turns, they won't get loose at over 200 mph. Therein lies the challenge, but therein also lies the fun at this racetrack. It's big and sweeping, and if the drivers get their cars working well, they can run on the bottom and let it drift up. Or they can run high around the top. It's a racer's racetrack.
# Pit window closes, opens pit road for mistakes: At one time, you could get by on three green-flag stops at lap 50, 100 and 150. With this year's smaller fuel cell, everbody understands the cars won't go quite as far. The smaller cell will back up the race as much as 10 laps so it's going to force teams to make an extra pit stop. As usual, crews and drivers can't beat themselves on pit road, like Mark Martin did at Pocono when he passed his pit stall. It took them out of a shot at a win, but a 7th-place finish was a great recovery.
# What a drag: Drivers are running similar speeds to the ones they run at Daytona, but Michigan doesn't have the forgiving banking of the World Center of Racing so you've got to have a car with really solid drag numbers.
Wins will come for solid No. 12 team
Larry McReynolds
Penske Racing South has been working very hard on their aero package, trying to find the right balance with the new Dodge Charger nose. But just because it's exactly what Ryan Newman is looking for doesn't mean Kurt Busch will get in the same car and like it so Newman's setup can't help all Dodge teams with their setup struggles this year.
The No. 12 team is carrying the banner for everybody that's not a Chevrolet. Newman and crew chief Mike Nelson are complimenting each other well, and they have a similar demeanor and mentality. They are also very solid on pit road. Newman certainly had the premium pit selection at Dover because he won the pole, earning him the first pick. But I don't think the No. 12 crew ever lost the fight off of pit road under caution. They won the Nextel All-Star Pit Crew Challenge, too. They're very close to breaking down the gates to victory lane. When they get one win, we may see them win several races.
If you compare their first eight races (avg. finish 25.5) to their last six (avg. finish 10.3), it's almost like the whole team, driver and car have changed. For a while, they couldn't qualify or race well, and then they would sit on the pole but would fall like a rock. Finally, both things are working right now. They're qualifying and racing well right now.
Who to Watch
# Ryan Newman: Based on past performance at Michigan with two wins and four top-five finishes in 11 starts but more importantly his runner-up finished in the last two races, Newman should be a dominant factor.
# Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth: Michigan never has been a Chevrolet track. The Bowtie Brigade hasn't won there since Jeff Gordon went to victory lane in 2001. Jack Roush puts pressure on himself to win at Ford's home facility so his drivers should run very well. Edwards has three top-5 finishes and four top-10s in five starts. Kenseth has two wins and 10 top-10 finishes in 15 starts.
# Kyle Busch: After Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s announcement that he will be going to Hendrick Motorsports, Busch will be a man on a mission. Don't be surprised if he wins a few more races this year. I'd be surprised if he doesn't win again in 2007 because he wants to prove Rick Hendrick made the wrong decision.
# Casey Mears and Martin Truex Jr.: Notching their first wins and top-5 finishes in two of the last three races, Mears and Truex Jr. are running on momentum right now so they'll run well.
# Joe Gibbs Racing: While it's not a Chevy track, all of the Chevrolets should perform well there because they've won all but won race this season, including 12 consecutive victories.
What to Watch
# Pocono package will work: Michigan, like Pocono, contains every element of the competition side of our sport. You've got to have a better aero package this week. You've got to have good mechanical grip and a good handling package. With long green runs, you're going to be on the track for 35 to 40 laps on tires. Some teams may carry their Pocono cars straight to Michigan. If your car handled well and had good balance at Pocono, you're probably going to be fine at Michigan.
# No brakes, aggressive setup: The only element we had at Pocono that will not exist at Michigan is brakes because teams won't use a lot of brake at Michigan, which is actually fairly smooth so you can get pretty aggressive with shocks and coil-binding in the front.
# Importance of horsepower: You've got to have solid bottom-end torque to pull you off of the corners but good top-end power as well because the RPM doesn't fall too low.
# Playing games with fuel, tires: Strategy will probably play a role, whether it's something that someone does with tires or whether it comes down to fuel mileage, which Michigan has been won and lost on many times.
# Toyota turnarond? In the second race of the year at Michigan's sister track, California Speedway, Brian Vickers ran awfully well, earning Toyota's first top-10 finish in Nextel Cup. Fontana has a little less banking than Michigan (14 percent to 18 percent). Is Toyota ready to win a race and go to victory lane? I don't know if I can ring the bell and say that's true, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some Toyotas perform well there, knowing how far they've come with a lot of things since that second race of the season. Dale Jarrett certainly knows how to win there with four victories.
# Making manufacturers happy Whether you run a Dodge, a Chevrolet, a Ford or a Toyota, you want to win anywhere you go. It doesn't matter if it's Martinsville, Richmond, Loudon or Sonoma. But there's a little bit more pressure to win at Brooklyn, Mich., just an hour south of Detroit, the home of Chevy, Dodge and Ford. Many of the manufacturer's executives were there on race day when I was with a strongly-supported Ford team, Robert Yates Racing, from 1991-1996 and a strongly-supported Chevrolet team, Richard Childress Racing, from 1997 to 2000.
Edwards stays atop Michigan practice chart
SCENEDAILY.COM
BROOKLYN, Mich. - Carl Edwards, who paced the morning practice at Michigan International Speedway, matched the feat in the afternoon session, turning a lap of 184.800 mph.
Jimmie Johnson was second-fastest during the final practice of the weekend, with a speed of 184.672 mph. Clint Bowyer - who was the only driver in the top five in all three weekend practice sessions - was third, followed by Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick.
Tony Stewart and Elliott Sadler swapped sheet metal midway through the session. Both drivers lost practice time, but their crews repaired the damage to their cars.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. scraped the wall early in the session, but his crew repaired the cosmetic damage and he continued, posting the 36th-fastest lap.
Green Flag: Citizens Bank 400
Carl Edwards may very well be the best of the Roush group this week.
The Irish Hills will be smiling on someone this week, but fantasy owners will have a tough time deciding on whom. Unlike tracks such as Bristol Motor Speedway or the restrictor-plate SuperSpeedways, Michigan International Speedway is not a wildcard track because of its "Big One" crashes. The racing is so smooth and wide that there are not that many wrecks in the course of an afternoon in Brooklyn. This week, fantasy owners will have to worry about which drivers have the best fuel mileage.
Michigan's set-up is both the beautiful and frustrating aspects of the racetrack. The best cars can get out front and stay there in Brooklyn without too much fear of being caught in a wreck. The problem is that there are few caution flags because the racing is so smooth. Those long green flag runs mean green flag pit stops and few cars on the lead lap. In the end, the best car and driver do not always win. The best part for owners is that a track like Michigan opens up the dark horse options.
Tier One
Matt Kenseth always bring his "A-game" to Michigan and California. He had his best run of the season at Fontana, earning his only win this year in convincing fashion in February. Accompanied with his first at Michigan last August, that gives him back-to-back wins on the two-mile unrestricted, intermediate speedways. He enters Brooklyn with seven top-10s in the last eight races there and he has never finished lower than 17th in the Irish Hills.
Tony Stewart will be a factor in Sunday's win. He will have some tough competition to get to victory lane, but he will be up to the challenge. "Smoke" won there in just his third career start and has accumulated 10 top-10s in his Michigan racing career. In his last five outings there, he has three top-fives and a ninth. He was eighth at California earlier this year and is currently on a hot streak with six finishes of eighth or better in the last eight races.
Carl Edwards will start 12th on Sunday, making him the best qualifier for Roush-Fenway Racing. So far in his career, he has great numbers on the two-mile unrestricted, intermediate speedways. In five starts in the Irish hills, he has four top-10s, three of which were inside the top five. At the sister track of California, his 21st in February was his only finish lower than sixth there. He has been hot lately with four consecutive top-20s.
Tier Two
Ryan Newman has back-to-back second-place finishes, which gives him a whole new level of confidence that he has not had in years. If he had a few more laps at Pocono Raceway, he likely would have gone to victory lane. Be that as it may, he is ready to crack open the bottle of champagne in the winner's circle. Newman won consecutive races at Michigan in August 2003 and June 2004, the latter of which was a fuel-mileage race, showing that he knows how to conserve gasoline. Since then, he has not had another top-10 there, but he does have four straight top-20s.
First-time winners are all the buzz lately after Martin Truex Jr. and Casey Mears have been to victory lane in the past month. That should give J.J. Yeley a little extra bounce in his step. While he did not finish better than 37th at Michigan last year, he does have three consecutive top-20s at the sister track of California, including an eighth in February 2006. Joe Gibbs Racing has a winning reputation to uphold at Michigan and Yeley is out to do just that after his pole-winning run on Friday.
Greg Biffle would appear to be a logical choice for Michigan. He has two wins and five consecutive top-10s there entering this weekend's race. The problem is that he has been very inconsistent for more than a year now. Week in and week out, Biffle goes to tracks with great numbers on his side. More times than not, he has disappointed his fantasy owners. That shows in his lone top-10 since April. Unless his practice numbers are outstanding, leave him parked this week.
Tier Three
Jeff Burton has never won at Michigan, but he has been consistent. Since 1996, there have only been three times when he failed to record a top-20 result. The only problem for fantasy owners is that he has not had a top-10 there since he was fourth in August 2002 and he has not yet picked up a top-10 at Michigan while driving the No. 31 Chevrolet. However, Burton was strong at California earlier this year and finished fourth in that race, so there is hope.
Tier Three is mostly a dark horse haven this week. There are few drivers who deserve the dreaded red flag status, but hardly any are true green flags. That being said, Joe Nemechek is someone fantasy owners will want to consider for Sunday. He is starting fifth, which is his best start so far in the No. 13 Chevrolet. In 2005, he piloted the No. 01 Chevrolet to two top-10s at Michigan and he ran well at California earlier this year. This season, he was a respectable 14th in Fontana.
Jamie McMurray has not been able to get things going his way in recent weeks. After his run of five top-10s in seven races from March 11 to April 29, he has not been able to earn another top-10 finish. His best run since that fifth at Talladega SuperSpeedway was a 16th a month ago at Darlington Speedway. It does not help matters that he is entering a track where he has just one top-10, and that was while driving the No. 42 Dodge.
Tier Four
Juan Montoya is well-suited for racing at Michigan. He has already proven that he can drive on an unrestricted, intermediate speedway—he was fifth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March and eighth at Texas Motor Speedway in April—and he has experience on the two-mile sister track of California. Montoya has shown that he does well when he has room to race and can drive the car a little deeper into the turns, which is more like driving on the open-wheel circuit. That is what he can expect at Michigan, so fantasy owners can expect him to crack the top 20 by day's end.
Brian Vickers is not likely to visit victory lane this week, but he will make a bid for the top 10. After failing to make the Daytona 500 field, he picked up Toyota's first top-10 with a 10th at California the next race. Only last month, he reached another milestone for Toyota when he was fifth at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He has done well at Michigan in the past while driving for Hendrick Motorsports, with three consecutive top-20s there entering this weekend's race, and now he has the chance to do the same thing for Team Red Bull.
www.fanball.com
Citizens Bank 400: Junior Eat World
by Brian Gabrielle
Has your world stopped shaking yet?
The news that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will join the Evil Empire, a.k.a. Hendrick Motorsports, will surely reverberate around Michigan International Speedway this weekend, and will continue to do so at every Junior-merchandise-soaked track for the rest of the year. Remember those Budweiser ads over the past couple years, where Little-E jokes about changing his number from '8' to something different? Well, it might be coming, and if it does, you can expect a fair proportion of the southern U.S. to hold some apparel-burning bonfires.
Junior's daddy, it goes without saying, would never have joined Hendrick (whom he considered one of his fiercest rivals). Knowing this, you can imagine what the most dyed-in-the-wool Earnhardt fans are thinking. Here's a hint: it rhymes with "Schmenedict Arnold."
Whether or not Earnhardt Jr. winds up winning a championship because of this move, or if Kyle Busch goes on to lead a successful resurgence at DEI (or Ginn Racing), or if Martin Truex Jr. goes on to prove you can win tons of races in DEI equipment, the die has been cast. Junior's no better than Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez and the cast of thousands that have paraded through the Bronx in the 2000s. He's a mercenary.
Last Week: The rain continues to have fun with our wagers. Denny Hamlin had the day's best car, and Tony Stewart was probably second-best, but Jeff Gordon played it smart by short-pitting and then barely keeping the lead when the raindrops came out for good. However, our selection of Stewart over Kurt Busch was a good one, so we logged our third consecutive winning week, and fifth in the last six. For the week, we wound up ahead a net 0.41 units on 1.5 units wagered (a return of 27.3%); for the season, then, we're at a positive 3.06 units on 21 units wagered (a return of 14.6%). (Note that if you'd eschewed the conservative betting scheme we outline below, and simply bet one unit per wager on everything we recommend, you'd have lost 2.09 units last weekend, but you'd still be up a net positive 8.76 units on 56 units wagered for the year, a return of 15.6%.)
Take Carl Edwards (+1000), 1/6th unit. I just like King Carl on this track style. His career on the two-mile, high-banked tracks is sweet; at Michigan, he's finished 10th, fifth, fourth, second and (most recently) 22nd, and at Fontana he's finished sixth, fifth, fourth, third, fourth and (most recently ) 29th. I grant you, neither of the most recent finishes at these two venues was good, but he qualified 12th for Sunday's race and then put up the fastest times in each of Saturday's practices. He had the best car here for the Father's Day last race but got rained out before he could take the win, and he's due.
Take Tony Stewart (+800), 1/6th unit. The smarter play here might be Matt Kenseth (+500), because he's the defending champ at this track, and won at Fontana earlier this year. However, I remember that race back in February, and Stewart had the best car on the track that day, but suffered a blown engine late to hand the race to Kenesth. I give them equal chances of being near the front when the race ends, but considering the price on Stewart isn't nearly as steep as it is on the #17, I'll look his way.
Take Greg Biffle (+1800), 1/6th unit. This is another shot at a home run (I took one with Brian Vickers (+7500) last week), but it's not without a great deal of logic. Biffle runs terrific at Michigan (as do most Roush drivers): he won back-to-back events here in the summer of '04 and the spring of '05, and has backed up those wins with finishes of sixth, fourth and seventh in the three races since. He qualified just 14th for Sunday's race, but was in the top five in both Saturday practices. I know Biffle's contract situation is up in the air, and I know he wasn't happy to have his crew chief changed (plus he currently sits an ugly 19th in points). But this is the best value bet on the board.
www.spreadexperts.com
Edwards snaps 52-race winless streak
June 17, 2007
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -Carl Edwards won four races in his first full season, finishing an impressive third in the Nextel Cup standings.
That quick success made Edwards believe wins would be easy to come by. Instead, it took him 19 months to race his way back into Victory Lane.
He finally did it Sunday, overcoming an early speeding penalty and holding off Martin Truex Jr. to win at Michigan International Speedway and snap his 52-race Nextel Cup winless streak.
``It was very difficult to stay composed, especially when Martin was closing in,'' Edwards said. ``To me, second place would have felt the same as chopping off my arm. I wanted to win. That's it.''
But Truex, who has not finished lower than third the past three races, brushed the wall in the closing laps and lost his momentum. It cost him a chance to run down Edwards, who handily beat Truex to the line to grab his first win since Nov. 11, 2005, at Texas.
``Is it really over?'' Edwards excitedly asked his crew as he closed in on the finish line.
Edwards celebrated his fifth career Nextel Cup win with his trademark backflip off the window ledge of his car. He then shared an emotional hug with crew chief Bob Osborne, who was with him in 2005 but was moved off the crew for most of 2006. The two were reunited at the end of last season.
``It's been a long time, for both of us,'' Osborne said. ``I know he's been dying to get back in the winner's circle. He's extremely competitive, awesome race car driver. So, you know, Carl Edwards, I would go to battle for him any day.''
Edwards then gleefully took a pair of scissors to team member Tom Giacchi's shaggy beard, clipping off a chunk of hair that had been growing since the two vowed in late 2005 that Giacchi wouldn't shave until Edwards' next win.
``When they made that silly wager, I had no idea it would be this long,'' car owner Jack Roush said. ``Carl and Bob won four races the first year. I was even surprised it took this long to get it going this year.''
The victory gave Roush his second win of the season - first since Matt Kenseth won Feb. 25 at California - and temporarily sidetracked Hendrick Motorsports' season-long domination. Hendrick cars have won 10 of the 15 races this season.
Roush, who has company headquarters in nearby Livonia, makes winning at Michigan a priority for all his drivers and he celebrated twice this weekend - Travis Kvapil also won the Truck Series race Saturday.
Edwards' victory was only the second of the year for Ford, and it snapped a 13-race winning streak for Chevrolet. No other manufacturer has won a race this season.
``Ford has given us every technical support, all the money that we've asked for to help us put in equipment and be competitive with the other manufacturers, with the other teams,'' Roush said. ``They deserve more, and I'm just embarrassed that it took us this long to really celebrate it with Carl and the guys.''
Truex, who had his first victory two weeks ago at Dover, finished second after overcoming a spin on the backstretch 100 laps into the race. Truex, who led 54 laps before the early spin and has climbed to 10th in the series standings, heaped praise on his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team.
``It was a great day for us,'' he said. ``The team did another awesome job. I think it was the best pit stops we've ever had on pit road. Awesome race car, and probably the best engine I've ever had. Guys are doing great, man, and I'm loving life right now.''
Two-time series champion Tony Stewart, winless this season, was third. Stewart had a strong car in practice Saturday, but an accident with David Gilliland caused heavy damage and he wasn't sure how good his car would be during the race.
He was supposed to start 41st, but deliberately hung back at the green flag to fall into 43rd place at the start.
``With what happened (in practice) and where we qualified, it was two strikes against us,'' Stewart said. ``I made sure I went across the start-finish line in 43rd, so wherever we ended up I could say we went from dead last. From 43rd to third is a pretty good day.''
Casey Mears, on a roll since his first career win on May 27, was fourth and the highest finishing Hendrick driver.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth to give DEI two cars in the top five, and the showing moved him into Chase for the championship contention. He's 12th in the standings - where he was before a 100-point penalty last month knocked him down to 14th - and is trying to end his time at DEI on top.
Earnhardt, who agreed to a five-year deal this week to drive for Hendrick Motorsports starting next season, congratulated Truex, his teammate.
``Martin did good, he did such a good job today. That team has found something - I might sneak over there and find out what it is,'' Earnhardt said. ``We had a good car. We were as good as anybody at the end of the race, just ran out of laps.''
Kyle Busch, who is losing his ride at Hendrick to make room for Earnhardt, was sixth and was followed by Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray and series points leader Jeff Gordon, who was ninth and the last driver on the lead lap.
Michael Waltrip, racing for just the third time this season, was a surprising 10th and even led one lap. He was with the leaders most of the race, and was lapped with one lap to go.
``It's just a great, great feeling to run that well,'' said Waltrip, who has failed to qualify 12 times this season.
``Overall, I'm very pleased. My guys are rusty, but you'd never know it. It was a hot day and I hadn't got to race this much, but I felt just as good at the end as I did in the beginning.
``When the checkered fell then I felt hot, tired and glad it was over.''
Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson had been running in third, but ran out of gas seven laps from the finish and wound up 19th.
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud : Michigan Edition
The Key Moment – Martin Truex, Jr. was closing fast on Carl Edwards in the waning stages of the race but slapped the wall in his charge towards the front. Edwards drove on to an uncontested victory.
In a Nutshell – What it lacked in drama, the race made up for in brevity.
Dramatic Moment – When Jeff Green and Ryan Newman had their little run in while laps down shortly after a restart, it ruined the day for some fast cars and almost ruined the day for others.
As is typical at Michigan, there was some good racing for a few laps after the restarts, but the racing soon petered out all together to a parade with cars separated by several second intervals.
What They’ll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week
What’s everyone going to be talking about? The Earnhardt / Hendrick deal, of course: the whys, the ifs, the whens, the whats, and everything else right down to the most minute detail. Make no bones about it, this is Dale Junior’s world…the rest of us just live here.
Things we can all do without immediately: any more grave analysis on the potential economic impact of souvenir sales of Dale Junior changing his car number, in-car interviews with drivers on pace laps, and that weird new Wendy’s commercial with folks kicking trees in the woods being cajoled by a schizophrenic in a red wig.
Well, things have heated up another notch in the great war between AT&T and NASCAR. NASCAR is now suing the phone folks for one hundred million (100,000,000!) dollars claiming that AT&T’s defiance of their wishes has undermined their control of stock car racing. Looks like NASCAR is trying to build a war chest to pay off the folks in Kentucky when they lose that suit next year or buy the track if they win. You know what? The exorbitant amount of the lawsuit may be bigger news on Wall Street Monday than last Wednesday’s announcement that Junior is going to drive for Rick Hendrick.
What was Chad Knaus thinking? There was no way Jimmie Johnson and the 48 car was going to make 51 laps on a tank of gas. All I can think is that Knaus was gambling there’d be a quick caution period after that final stop and everyone would pit again.
Did it seem every time there was an on-track pass for the lead TNT was away in commercial?
A race run on a Sunday afternoon without rain and ending around five? What a concept! Of course, you’ve heard the jokes about dear old dad receiving yet another lame tie for Father’s Day rather than a quad, power tools, or a Beermeister. Michigan offered race fans a tie on Sunday afternoon.
OK, Newman, you’re running up front again. It’s time to start acting like you belong there.
When Stephen Leicht won at Kentucky Saturday night, it was the first Busch series victory for a regular in that season since either Paul Menard at Milwaukee last year or David Gilliland at Kentucky last year. (Menard ran just seven Cup races in 2006.) That doesn’t speak well to the future health of the series, which has become….well…Cup Leicht.
You’ve got to imagine Bud execs were dismayed to hear Dale Junior say “he could care less” who his sponsor is next year on the pre-race program. That’s the thing about having to talk constantly. Eventually, you’ll say something that you wish you could take back.
Are there any current NASCAR team owners whose operations aren’t up for sale to outside partners right now? Both Robert Yates and Ray Evernham are said to be close to sales agreements.
Hopefully, young drivers coming up through the ranks are keeping a close eye on the trials and tribulations of 22-year-old Kyle Busch. It should be instructive to them that even if they possess unquestionable talent and win a few races, if they make a pain in the ass of themselves long enough they’re going to get sent packing.
F1 rookie phenom Lewis Hamilton scored his second straight victory at Indianapolis on Sunday, which turns up the heat on NASCAR as far as diversity goes, says none less an expert than Humpy Wheeler. Look for rumors that Hamilton will replace Casey Mears in the No. 25 car or at least try to qualify a Dodge at the Brickyard to surface soon. Meanwhile, I think the diversity challenge will truly be met when fans and media alike comment only on a talented young driver’s incredible success without taking note of the hue of his skin. Right now, there’s some snidely note going around that anyone could win a McLaren-Mercedes. I’m sure F1 fans would point out the same appears to be the case for drivers in Hendrick Chevys. The downhill spiral of stock car racing towards F1 levels of excitement (or lack thereof) continues at an alarming pace. Oddly enough, the FIA is ready to implement dramatic and controversial changes to their cars to spice up the action next year too. Do they call it the Car of Mañana?
The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune
Once again the (newly remanned) No. 11 team pit crew threw away a potential victory for their driver Denny Hamlin. Of course, Hamlin’s ill-tempered battle with an equally enraged Clint Bowyer on track didn’t help his day any, either.
J.J. Yeley clearly had high hopes after winning the pole on Friday. But on the first lap of the race he fell from first to sixth, and it was all downhill from there. Yeley finished 28th.
Ryan Newman was running third when he cut down a tire. The tire’s carcass wrapped itself around the rear end housing and Newman lost three laps in the pits to get it fixed.
Greg Biffle’s car was just flat awful all weekend.
Matt Kenseth got caught up in a wreck not of his own making well before he started his regular late race surge to the Top 10.
Brian Vickers has trouble qualifying for races, but once he makes the show, he does pretty well. He seemed poised to score another Top 10 finish when he got caught up in the ugliness that that precipitated the day’s third caution flag.
The “Seven Come Fore Eleven” Award For Fine Fortune
Carl Edwards‘ chances at a win seemed torpedoed below the water line when he got caught speeding exiting pit road and sent to the end of the longest line. Somehow, Edwards fought his way back to the lead and a long overdue win.
Martin Truex’s team decided to go with two tires on the first stop and it was clearly a mistake. Thus, he was mired in the pack after the next stop and got caught up in the Newman / Green incident, a wreck that could easily have ended his day. But in a bravado performance, the No. 1 team came all the way back, and he still escaped Michigan with a second place finish.
Tony Stewart had to overcome a lot of adversity this weekend. He qualified poorly. He wrecked in the final moments of practice and tweaked up his Chevy. He made little forward progress early in the race. Yet, he leaves Michigan with a third place finish.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. may be the Charlie Brown of equalized tires this season, but Sunday, a cut down tire may have saved his race. Earnhardt was dropping rapidly through the field and running at a greatly reduced pace with a flat right rear when the big wreck erupted ahead of him.
The way his season has gone, a Top 10 finish had to feel like a victory for Michael Waltrip. How far has Waltrip fallen from grace? The perennial most interviewed driver in the sport didn’t even get a post-race interview despite a notable achievement.
While it wasn’t commented upon, either, Bill Elliott drove the Wood Brothers’ Ford to a solid eleventh place finish. Of course, both Elliott and the Woods have won a ton of races at Michigan, but a strong run was still a shot to the arm for this struggling team.
Carl Edwards coach driver Tom Giacchi finally gets to shave off the beard he swore he would wear until Edwards won a Cup race again. Some folks look good in beards; take Jerry Garcia and Bruce Springsteen, for example. Tom wasn’t one of them. Some sites report that Giacchi has even had problems with parasites in his beard. More information than I needed, thanks.
Worth Noting
Ford scored their second victory in fifteen races. Chevy’s drivers have won the other thirteen victories, while Dodge and Toyota are still trying to put points on the board.
Two Roush Fenway Fords managed Top 10 finishes, joined by seven Chevys and a lone Toyota. The top finishing Dodge was Reed Sorenson in 23rd.
As widely reported, the win was Carl Edward’s first in 52 races. But it was his third Top 5 in the last six races, which accounts for his entire output in 2007.
Martin Truex has finished first, second, and third in the last three races. You have to imagine the folks at DEI are giving out huge sighs of relief.
Tony Stewart enjoyed his best finish since Phoenix.
Casey Mears scored his third Top 5 finish in the last four races. Winning a race does tremendous things for a young driver’s confidence and a team’s morale…as does not getting replaced by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Kyle Busch had his best finish since Richmond, back when he had a job for next year lined up.
Kevin Harvick scored his first Top 10 since Richmond, while Jamie McMurray scored his first Top 10 since Talladega.
Michael Waltrip managed his first Top 10 finish since Michigan in June of 2005. Bill Elliott had his best finish since Michigan in August of 2005. Paul Menard had his best finish since Atlanta early last year.
Denny Hamlin failed to finish on the lead lap for the first time since Atlanta.
David Reutimann had easily the best finish of his young Cup career with a 15th place run. Oddly enough, his second best finish came in his very first Cup start.
Paul Menard in twelfth was the top finishing rookie, although Reutimann (mentioned above) wasn’t far behind.
Matt Kenseth failed to finish a Cup race for the first time since Martinsville last spring, ending a streak that saw him complete every lap of every race this season entering Sunday’s race.
What’s the Points?
Jeff Gordon maintains the points lead and is now 264 points ahead of second place Denny Hamlin. Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson each advance a spot to second and third, while Matt Kenseth falls two spots to fourth. Jeff Burton maintains fifth.
Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart swap back sixth and seventh with Edwards having the advantage this week. Harvick and Bowyer swap eighth and ninth with Harvick now ahead of Bowyer. Martin Truex moves up a spot to gain a coveted seat in the Top 10 while Kyle Busch drops a spot to eleventh. Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has already overcome his 100 point penalty to regain the twelfth place position that currently has him in the Chase. Mark Martin falls to thirteenth, which is still pretty good considering he sat out three races.
Other notable drivers making strides forward include Casey Mears (up four spots to nineteenth), Michael Waltrip (up five spots to a still miserable 51st), and Robby Gordon, up a pair of spots to 29th and heading to his best track on the circuit after a credible run at Michigan.
Drivers losing sight of the head of the pack include Ryan Newman (down two spots to fifteenth), Juan Pablo Montoya (down another two spots to 23rd), and Tony Raines (down two spots to 27th.)
Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans with one being a stinker and a six pack an instant classic) We’ll give this one two cans of lukewarm generic stuff with an extra half can thrown in for the fact Mother Nature finally didn’t rain on our parade and our Pops.
Next Up – Prepare yourself for the unseemly site of stock cars slithering around a road course, many with hired guns at the wheel. After that, it’s on to New Hampshire, the restrictor plate madness at Daytona, then Chicagoland….I mean, wow. I sure hope TNT didn’t pay too much for one of the most tedious stretches of the season.
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Rating the Nextel Cup Rookies: Michigan Edition
Tony Lumbis
Rookies in the Starting Lineup: Juan Pablo Montoya (33rd), David Ragan (34th), Paul Menard (38th), David Reutimann (40th), A.J. Allmendinger (43rd).
Unofficial Finishing Positions: Paul Menard (12th), David Reutimann (15th), David Ragan (21st), A.J. Allmendinger (31st), Juan Pablo Montoya (43rd).
Rookie of the Race: Paul Menard. The No. 15 Johns Manville / Menards Chevy spent the majority of the day both on the lead lap and in front of the rookie contingent, as Menard brought home a season-best 12th place finish in the Citizens Bank 400. Interim crew chief Dave Charpentier helped guide the young driver quietly through the field from his 38th starting position, as Menard provided the exclamation point for a day in which DEI landed all three teams within the Top 12 in the final rundown.
Tony’s Take: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has been the focus of the civilized world while Martin Truex, Jr. picks up Top 5 finishes like clockwork (three in a row after Sunday). Paul Menard has quickly fallen further into “other guy” status over at DEI. With that being said, its safe to assume that there will be life after Earnhardt at the team founded by his father should the “other guy” begin to establish similar consistency. It’s still early, but Dave Charpentier may shed his label of “interim” crew chief if the No. 15 team continues to perform this well under his leadership. Since Charpentier took the helm following the Dover race, Menard has had his second best career start (19th at Pocono) and finish (12th on Sunday, second only to his 7th place finish in the 2006 Spring Atlanta race), leaving this team only 152 points out of the coveted 35th points position and a “locked in” qualifying spot.
As a side note, it was really difficult not to choose David Reutimann for this category, as he enjoyed what was by far a career best 15th place finish, giving Michael Waltrip Racing its first weekend of two cars with Top 15 performances. Menard, however, ran well throughout the entire race while Reutimann struggled early on, falling a lap behind and needing a timely caution to get himself back in contention; in the end, that gave Menard the slight edge for this award.
Rocky Rookie Performance/Rookie Wreck of the Day: Juan Pablo Montoya.
It was a bad start to the afternoon for Montoya, as he found himself among the large group of cars to lose a lap during the 51-lap green flag segment that began the race. However, the Texaco Havoline Dodge was running well enough to be in the right position to earn the “Lucky Dog” when the first caution of the day was waved for debris. It would be a short-lived Good Luck Charm, though, as the No. 42 of Montoya was sent hard into the turn two wall shortly thereafter, blowing a tire to cause the wreck. This marks the seventh time in the past eight races where Montoya has finished outside of the Top 20 (last week’s 20th place run at Pocono being the lone exception). If expectations mean anything, that streak should end when the series makes its first visit to a road course at Sonoma next weekend; frankly, that race couldn’t come at a better time for a team in need of a boost.
Who Wasn’t Here?: Nobody. For the second time in 2007, all Nextel Cup rookie competitors qualified for two consecutive races (Richmond and Darlington were the first pair). Unfortunately, it will be hard to go for the hat trick next week, as the rookies will face challenges that they have not dealt with yet this season on the road course out West.
Rookie Quote of the Week:
David Reutimann shared his feelings on his career best 15th place finish, all while sharing a new NASCAR term that many fans may be unfamiliar with: “twitchiness.”
“It was good, a lot of fun. The guys did a good job for us, (especially) as horrible as we did in practice. So, I thought it was a very good recovery.”
What was the biggest change you made during the race?
“We started the race, and the thing was so loose. We just did a bunch of stuff to try to take downforce off the front, and that took away some of the twitchiness and some of the freeness in the center. But it also hurt our exit, which is where we were suffering at the end. Good effort for all the guys (though); we got out of here with a decent finish and gained a couple of points.”
UNOFFICIAL Raybestos Rookie standings:
Montoya 159
Ragan 155
Menard 104
Reutimann 92
Allmendinger 72
Brandon Whitt 2
Next Up: It’s time for some road course racing, as NASCAR travels to Infineon Raceway for the Toyota / Save Mart 350, held on the 1.99-mile serpentine track in Sonoma, CA. Next week’s adventure in the Wild West presents some interesting scenarios among this year’s rookie class. While only Paul Menard has previous Cup experience under his belt on a road course (Watkins Glen in 2000, ’03 and ’05), two of his counterparts, A.J. Allmendinger and Juan Pablo Montoya, have mastered the twists and turns in the CART and Formula One series, respectively. Furthermore, this event always features road course ringers, and Nextel Cup rookies Marcos Ambrose, Ron Fellows, Klaus Graf, and Marc Goossens are among those rumored to be making an attempt to qualify at Sears Point.
Also of note, it was announced this weekend that P.J. Jones will both qualify and race the No. 00 Toyota Camry, as David Reutimann will be off competing at the Milwaukee Mile for the entire weekend.
Tony’s Top Finishing Rookie Pick: Many say that momentum is a powerful concept in sports. The same can be said for predictions, too. After accurately selecting the top rookie in four consecutive races, I’ve now missed the mark for the past two events. Paul Menard surprised me this week, as both he and David Reutimann outdueled my pick of David Ragan, who came home with a disappointing 21st place finish.
You Make The Pick: Unfortunately, I have brought you down with me. David Ragan was also your choice, as 33% of you believed the AAA Ford Fusion would best the rookie class. Yes, that’s right, 33% was enough to win the vote, as you had various opinions on who would finish on top this week. Don’t forget to vote again this week, it will only take five seconds of your time.
Tony’s Pick for Next Week’s Top Finishing Rookie:
This is actually one of the more difficult picks of the year when one considers the road course ringers. However, I will still stick with one of our five regulars to be the best of the rookies out west. Juan Pablo Montoya has not meet expectations for the past several races, and, as some would argue, the entire year. However, he is once again expected to perform well at a road course, having won a Busch Series race in Mexico earlier this season; this time, I think he will come through on the Cup level with a strong run in Sonoma.
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