Red Bull Racing re-evaluating Allmendinger's team
March 2, 2008
LAS VEGAS (AP) -Red Bull Racing is considering temporarily pulling A.J. Allmendinger from his Toyota as it reevaluates that struggling program.
Allmendinger failed to qualify for Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, making him 0-for-3 on the season. In contrast, teammate Brian Vickers has made all three races in the other Red Bull car.
``We can't keep missing races. It's just not an option,'' said general manager Jay Frye, hired in January to turn around the second-year Red Bull program.
``We're looking at several different ideas, all aimed at figuring out what's wrong with that program, how we can fix it and how we can get that car into races. But it can't continue the way it is. It just can't.''
One of the options being considered is pulling Allmendinger from the seat and replacing him with a veteran who can help assess the program and get the car into races. Among the available drivers are Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson, who are currently both pitching in to fill an open seat at Bill Davis Racing, and Sterling Marlin and David Stremme.
``We love A.J. and we're 100 percent committed to him and want to develop him,'' Frye said. ``This is not at all giving up on A.J. But we just can't do nothing and risk having a season like that team had last year.''
Allmendinger is in just his second season of NASCAR after a successful open-wheel career. The 25-year-old left the Champ Car Series to drive for Red Bull, and the team gave him a Sprint Cup ride he perhaps wasn't prepared for.
He qualified for 17 of 36 races last season, and his best finish was a 15th at Charlotte in October.
Red Bull is also working on securing seat time for Allmendinger in Nationwide Series and Truck Series races to help his adaptation to NASCAR. Options in the Nationwide Series are rides in a Joe Gibbs Racing or Chip Ganassi car, and there could be some seat time available in a truck owned by Billy Ballew.
``He needs seat time, there's no question about that,'' Frye said. ``But it takes time to put it altogether and we're working on it. We want A.J. in as many races as we can get him into, and we want him to gain as much experience as he can.''
HARD HIT: Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon was critical of Las Vegas Motor Speedway following his hard hit on the inside retaining wall late in Sunday's race.
Gordon's spinning Chevrolet went headfirst into the wall for the ``hardest I've ever hit'' after contact with Matt Kenseth. Gordon was upset the wall didn't have the SAFER Barrier that is pretty much standard on the outside walls.
``That kind of hit shouldn't happen,'' Gordon said. ``There is no reason why any track we go to should have that. I could have been really hurt bad.''
Gordon anticipated being ``really sore'' on Monday when he reports to Phoenix International Raceway for two days of open testing. The hit destroyed his car and tore the transmission out from under the hood.
``It took me awhile to be able to catch my breath and to get out,'' he said. ``I'm thankful that I've got an awesome team ... because they build a safe race car. Several years ago, those types of hits, you wouldn't be standing here right now.''
SETTLING FOR THIRD: Greg Biffle wasn't ready to celebrate following his third-place finish Sunday.
``I'm unhappy that I didn't win,'' Biffle said.
After two up-and-down years, Biffle is showing some consistency at the start of this season with two top-10 finishes. But with a fast Ford Fusion, he believed driver error cost him a shot at the win.
``I kept screwing up and never got my track position where I needed it,'' he said. ``But this is a bunch of confidence. I'm so excited about it that I can't wait 'til next week and those next couple of weeks to get some more race tracks and give it another shot because I felt like we could have won today.''
NO FOUR-PEAT: Jimmie Johnson came to Las Vegas searching for his fourth consecutive win in the desert. He never came close.
Johnson's No. 48 team seemed off all weekend, struggling to get through inspection when the track opened on Friday. He was off in qualifying and had to start 33rd, then never sniffed the front of the field on Sunday.
Johnson was two laps off the pace and finished 29th. The two-time defending Cup Series champion is currently 14th in the points.
``We don't really know right now what was wrong with the car,'' crew chief Chad Knaus said. ``We just didn't quite have the speed in it that we needed.''
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Las Vegas Edition
Matt McLaughlin
The Key Moment: On lap 237, Carl Edwards powered around Matt Kenseth to take the lead for the final time, eventually scoring his second consecutive win.
In a Nutshell: Oh well, at least it didn’t rain.
Dramatic Moment: When Jeff Gordon got into the rear quarter panel of Matt Kenseth’s car at the front of the pack with four to go a field decimating wreck was narrowly averted.
What They’ll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week
Carl Edwards wins two in a row three races into the season? If nothing else, it proves the futility of pundits making pre-season predictions.
During pre-race inspection, the cars of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth were found to have issues that the NASCAR inspectors didn’t like. The teams were told to fix the problem areas and get back into the inspection line. Yeah, there’s that option or they could have fined them a hundred grand, deducted 100 points and suspended their crew chiefs for six weeks. Somehow the officiating doesn’t seem very even handed these days.
How long do we have to wait before every track has SAFER barriers around the entire track inside and out? Jeff Gordon described his hit Sunday as the hardest of his career.
How weird did it have to feel for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to be congratulating Mark Martin on Saturday in Victory Lane? Martin took the wheel of Junior’s old 8 car at DEI after Junior moved on. He drove Junior’s car to victory but in doing so wrecked out the JR Motorsports car of Brad Kesolowski.
When did Jeff Gordon develop this speech impediment where he interjects “you know” two and three times a sentence?
Why is it only 300 miles separate Fontana and Las Vegas yet Bruton Smith can sell more tickets for Saturday’s Busch race than the ISC can peddle for the Sunday Cup race? It’s called “promotion.” Please don’t blame the weather last week in LA. Most race tickets are sold well in advance of the event.
Bruton Smith said this week a deal is in the works for Fontana and his Atlanta venue to swap race dates next year, with Atlanta receiving the Labor Day Weekend slot and Fontana receiving Atlanta’s traditional fall date. Like we used to say in that kid’s game, “You’re getting warmer.” The Labor Day date would only be one state away from where it belongs in Darlington, South Carolina. If the ISC would sell Bruton the Darlington track, maybe we could get the September holiday race back where it belongs.
In another hint of next year’s schedule, Smith also said he is reluctant to take a race date from the New Hampshire track he bought last year. He says he has big plans to reconfigure the track into an oversized Bristol and notes both race dates at NHIS are almost sold out. (As was Las Vegas this weekend.) Thus he puts the onus on NASCAR to find a way to give Las Vegas a second date without penalizing fans in New England, while promising to dramatically improve racing at the currently sedate track in New Hampshire through massive investment of funds. The ball is now in NASCAR’s court, but the solution seems obvious; give one of Fontana’s dates to Vegas.
Talk about getting cut off at the knees by your bosses! After last week’s debacle at Fontana track president Gillian Zucker went on record saying that the ISC would spend whatever money necessary to fix the weeping track problem. Since the track was going to have to be dug up anyway, she even threw her support behind Michael Waltrip’s insane notion to increase the banking to 32 degrees and make Fontana a plate race. If necessary, she said, the track might even postpone or cancel events to allow for the massive reconstruction. The words were barely out of her mouth when her bosses denied that any such major makeover was in the cards. Their solution is apparently simpler; just hope it doesn’t rain again in September. That’s the cheapest option. Ms. Zucker might want to contact Bruton Smith to see if that job offer is still open.
Eddie Gossage, head honcho at Texas, said this week he will pay $15,000 dollars to any driver who throws his helmet at a fellow racer in anger prior to the Texas spring race. The offer comes with one caveat; the tossed helmet will be added to Gossage’s collection. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone takes Gossage up on his offer and if the fine for tossing the helmet exceeds the payoff, what with NASCAR’s new “Show a Little Emotion” campaign. If Eddie gets his helmet, would somebody please throw a six pack of brew and ice inside it to remind him of his one major misstep since taking the reins at Texas; a campaign to get the politicians to allow beer sales at the track that would have cost the fans their rights to bring coolers to the facility.
Robby Gordon said this week that if he loses his appeal and isn’t in contention for the Chase come May, he plans to run the double, participating in both the World 600 and the Indy 500 on the same day. With the later starting time for Indy that’s going to be a logistical nightmare worthy of running the Dakar Rally. Note to Robby Gordon fans: Start booking those hotel reservations in Indy now.
Note to Self: Action item #1. Cancel Allstate insurance on cars in hopes loss of income will keep the company from making any more “Kasey and the Kreepy Chicks” ads. I don’t want to see where the next one is going.
Sprint/Nextel stock prices have declined precipitously lately, leading to rumors on Wall Street that the company is ripe for a hostile takeover. Among the companies said to be interested in acquiring the floundering cell phone provider is AT&T. You know somewhere Jeff Burton is laughing.
The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune
Tony Stewart’s dream season hit a major road bump at Vegas this weekend. He crashed hard out of both the Saturday and Sunday events. The lick he took on Sunday in the Cup event clearly left Stewart aching. Teammate Kyle Busch also suffered through an off song weekend, wrecking hard in Saturday’s race and finishing outside the top 10 on Sunday causing him to relinquish the points lead.
Jeff Gordon took a wicked hit late in the race after tangling with the 17 car while battling for second. It was Gordon’s second DNF in this season’s three points races.
Jimmie Johnson arrived at Las Vegas a prohibitive favorite, having won the last three Cup races at the track. The car was clearly out to lunch from the moment it was unloaded Friday and no changes the team threw at it seemed to make it any better.
Scott Riggs ran inside the top 10 most of the day before wrecking to bring out the sixth caution.
Brad Kesolowski seemed to have a legitimate shot at winning Saturday’s race until Mark Martin got into the back of Carl Edwards, eliminating both Edwards and Kesolowski.
The “Seven Come Fore Eleven” Award For Fine Fortune
Carl Edwards lost a lap after being penalized for a tire getting away from his crew on pit road. He fought his way back onto the lead lap only to have another tire get away from his team. Fortunately for Edwards’ sake, NASCAR judged a photographer not connected to the team had interfered with the crew man trying to retrieve that tire and Edwards was not penalized. After restarting the race third he made quick work of all potential challengers.
Kasey Kahne had an eventful weekend, having to start the race in his backup car, battling the flu, and going a lap down early. Still, he managed to rally back to a seventh place finish.
Greg Biffle had to overcome an early pit road speeding penalty to put himself back in contention for a win. He just barely avoided Jeff Gordon’s spinning car to finish third.
Denny Hamlin rallied from a lap down by tenaciously racing the leaders to stay on the tail end of the lead lap. A well timed caution got him back on the lead lap and Hamlin drove to a ninth place finish.
If an eighth place finish on a day when many of the big dogs faltered doesn’t help the 28 Yates team land a sponsor nothing will.
Worth Noting
* Edwards won back to back races for the second time in his career. Those four wins account for almost half of his nine race victory total.
* A Jack Roush prepared Ford won for the sixth time in the eleven Vegas Cup races run to date.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored his best finish since Pocono last year when he was also second. Junior has finished second three times since his last win at Richmond in 2006.
* Jeff Burton scored his first top 5 since Atlanta last fall.
* David Ragan drove to his best finish since Richmond last fall.
* Kasey Kahne is the only driver to score top 10 finishes in all three of this season’s races.
* Travis Kvapil scored the best finish of his Cup career.
* The top 10 finishers at Vegas drove four Fords, four Chevys, one Dodge and one Toyota.
* It was another tough weekend for the new guys with Dario Franchitti’s 33rd place finish the best by any of the ROTY candidates.
What’s the Points?
It’s still too early in the season and points standings are so volatile that there’s no sense in any driver celebrating or panicking yet.
Carl Edwards assumed the points lead and is the third different driver to lead the points this season.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved up eleven spots to tenth in the standings. David Ragan and Denny Hamlin each moved up eight spots to nineteenth and twentieth in the standings.
Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon all fell eight spots in the standings. They are now ninth, tenth and twentieth in the standings respectively. Jimmie Johnson fell six spots to fourteenth.
The top 10 drivers in the points compete in five Chevys, two Fords, two Dodges and a lone Toyota.
Given the right circumstances and finishing order, any driver from sixteenth place Bobby Labonte on up could leave Atlanta at least tied for the points lead.
While it’s too early to worry about being in the Chase, with two more races to go before this year’s top 35 in owner points determine who gets a bye into races some drivers just outside the top 35 currently need to step it up. They include Dario Franchitti, Robby Gordon and Sam Hornish. In the unlikely occurrence NASCAR overturns Gordon’s penalty Wednesday, he would move up to 21st in the standings safely above the cutoff. Dave Blaney, Casey Mears and Michael Waltrip are one bad race away from falling outside the top 35.
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. Two weeks into the regular season, the new car has failed to live up to the hype.
Next Up: The stock car series returns to its spiritual home in the Southeast. Tune in for Atlanta and pray for better weather across the Rio Grande-o.
frontstretch.com
Nationwide Series Breakdown: Sam’s Town 300
by Bryan Davis Keith
In a Nutshell: The old adage that the front of the pack is the safest place on the track did not hold true on Saturday. Mark Martin, chasing down the leaders with five laps to go, got into the back of Carl Edwards, taking out both Edwards and then race leader Brad Keselowski to win his 48th career Nationwide Series race.
Martin was subdued in Victory Lane, stating “I’ve got to apologize before we do any celebrating. I hate for that to happen. I didn’t intend for it to turn out that way. But I couldn’t stop it, once it started. I feel real bad for Brad, because he was so close to getting his first victory.” Nonetheless, Martin proclaimed himself honored to drive for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and for giving JR Motorsports their first victory.
Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards were not the only frontrunners to experience problems during the race. Kyle Busch, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, and polesitter Brian Vickers all were involved in crashes near the front of the field, and Jeff Burton had an engine fail while running second.
It was the best performance of the season for Nationwide Series regulars, as David Stremme, Mike Wallace and Brad Coleman all scored Top-10 finishes.
Tony Stewart retained the Nationwide Series points lead over Kyle Busch heading into Atlanta. Carl Edwards, in fourth, is the highest ranked driver running for the Nationwide Series championship.
Who Should Have Won: Brad Keselowski While the majority of the leaders stayed out during the 11th caution period, Brad Keselowski took a full fuel load. As the race went green for 40 plus laps, Keselowski found himself in position to pin the entire field a lap down as they began fuel stops. An untimely debris caution wiped out Keselowski’s fuel mileage advantage, but left him the race leader with ten to go. Keselowski was engaged in a furious battle with Carl Edwards and was holding the advantage on the high side of the track when Mark Martin spun the two leaders out on Lap 197. Keselowski put himself in position for his first win, and was deprived only by being a victim of Mark Martin. How many other drivers can say that?
Worth Noting:
David Stremme Rusty Wallace Incorporated has been running well all season, but both of their cars have been victims of bad luck. David Stremme finally got RWI a good finish, running up front all day and scoring a 5th place finish. Also of note is that this was Stremme’s fourth consecutive Top-5 finish in the Nationwide Series at Las Vegas.
Mike Wallace Wallace and his new Germain Racing team showed real signs of progress on Saturday. Wallace ran in the Top-15 all day, had strong pit stops, and scored a 7th place finish. It was Wallace’s first Top-10 finish since the July 2006 race at Daytona, and his first in the #7 Geico car.
Open-Wheelers Dario Franchitti had the strongest showing of his career in a stock car, qualifying inside the Top-10 and bringing his Dodge home 6th. Franchitti did remarkably well to adapt to the treacherous combination of a slick track and hard tires. Also of note was Patrick Carpentier, who was called into Saturday duty to replace an ill Kasey Kahne. Carpentier brought the #9 Dodge home 8th in only his fourth career Nationwide Series start.
Better Luck Next Time:
Brad Keselowski He’s leading the race with less than five to go, in position to win his first career race and gets taken out in a wreck caused by his teammate, Mark Martin! Let’s not forget that Keselowski also lost his first career truck win after a late race spin at the hands of Travis Kvapil. Sooner or later Brad, hang in there.
Jeff Burton Burton was running down leader Mark Martin about two-thirds through the race and had the crowd on its feet readying for another No. 5 vs. No. 29 battle at Las Vegas, only to have a fluke engine problem park the Holiday Inn Chevrolet for the day. Couple Burton’s misfortune with Bobby Labonte’s and it was a not a stellar day for RCR.
Joe Gibbs Racing Again the Gibbs Toyotas were the class of the field, but this time the results didn’t show it. Kyle Busch wrecked in qualifying, charged from the back of the field to second place in his back-up car, and then blew a tire and wrecked again. Tony Stewart led 61 laps and was well on pace to winning his third straight Nationwide race only to spin himself when trying to pass underneath David Reutimann in Turn 3. Stewart and Busch still lead the Nationwide Series points, but they also left the fabricators back at JGR with a lot of work to do.
Underdog Performer of the Race:
Stanton Barrett, the Hollywood stuntman, proved he’s still got some racing left in him. Barrett quietly and methodically moved through the field, running in the Top-10 for a good chunk of the race before settling for an 11th place finish. The race was Barrett’s best run since a Top-10 at Loudon in 2005.
“Nation Whacker” Watch:
14 of 43 starting positions in the Sam’s Town 300 went to Sprint Cup regulars.
43 of the 129 starting positions in the Nationwide Series have gone to Sprint Cup regulars this season.
7 Sprint Cup drivers finished in the Top-10 of the Sam’s Town 300.
3 of 3 races have been won by Sprint Cup regulars.
8 of the top 10 drivers in Nationwide Series points are Sprint Cup regulars.
Quotables:
“A great job by the whole Fastenal crew. The car was a little bit tighter than we had experienced in practice. We spent most of the day freeing it off. Brad [Parrott, crew chief] and the boys did a good call with the pit strategy and that got us definitely a couple of places today. It was kind of to have been out there on used tires and everybody else was on new but we were further up than we would have been so a great call by those guys. I’m really, really pleased for the whole team. Tomorrow is going to be more difficult with our Target Dodge. I don’t feel quite so confident about it.” Dario Franchitti on his career best stock car performance
“Well, we got in a wreck, Jamie [Little].” Tony Stewart after crashing out of the Sam’s Town 300
Next Up: The Nationwide Series heads to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Nicorette 300. Coverage begins Saturday at 1:30 PM ET on ESPN2 and 2 PM on PRN.
frontstretch.com
Junior Second-Guesses his Strategy
Sporting News
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Given a second chance, UAW-Dodge 400 runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. would have done things differently on the Lap 263 restart that changed the complexion of Sunday's Sprint Cup race.
Earnhardt closed up on leader Carl Edwards as the field approached the green flag with five laps left in the 267-lap event at 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon hung back, testing the limits of NASCAR's two-car length limit on restarts.
Earnhardt spun his tires, Gordon dived to the inside, and Kenseth passed on the outside as Earnhardt struggled to get up to speed. Moments later, Gordon's Chevy slid up into Kenseth's Ford exiting Turn 2. With so much of Gordon's car strewn over the track, NASCAR stopped the race for nearly 18 minutes to clear the debris.
After the red-flag period, on cold tires, Earnhardt had no chance against Edwards' dominant Ford.
"The 17 (Kenseth) and the 24 (Gordon) dropped back to get a run," Earnhardt said. "I'm the one who should have dropped back.
"I was spinning the tires real bad on restarts. I was trying to keep my tires clean, and I just couldn't figure out a way to keep from spinning them. I was trying to keep some distance on the leader so when he went, I could get in the throttle. But he (Edwards) lifted real hard right before he went and it caused me to stop my car. Then I jumped in the gas and it sparked the tires and I couldn't hook them back up.
"The No. 17 and No. 24 got around me and we were all hell-bent to drive down in that corner wide open. But it was getting tight, so I lifted a little bit and I got in line in front of (Kevin) Harvick ... at the bottom. The No. 24 just lost the racecar and went up the racetrack and got into the No. 17. It was hard, hard racing. That's the kind of drivers we've got in this series.
"It's fun to see those guys running so hard -- but unfortunate how those guys are going to finish. They had pretty good cars."
RacingOne Rewind: Las Vegas
RacingOne.com
A look back at Carl Edwards' second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, including news, notes and observations from the RacingOne staff.
Inside Line
Carl Edwards held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. to score his second straight Sprint Cup win and ninth of his career. However, his car did not pass inspection and Edwards may face a fine and/or penalty later this week.
Key to Victory Lane
Edwards outran Earnhardt Jr. to the checkered flag after a red flag stopped the race for an incident between Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth to score the win.
Zero to Hero
Kasey Kahne started 37th and battled the flu all weekend, but was able to score a sixth-place finish.
Hero to Zero
Gordon was in contention for his second career Las Vegas win until he clipped Kenseth with five laps to go sending both cars into the wall and out of the race.
Rookie of the Race
The rookies continue to struggle, with Dario Franchitti posting the best finish among the class of 33rd at LVMS on Sunday.
Notables
David Ragan took the green flag in 38th and came home seventh. Travis Kvapil wheeled the unsponsored Yates racing Ford from 29th to eighth. And Denny Hamlin started 27th and gave Joe Gibbs Racing a ninth-place finish.
Auto Club 500 Loop Data Leaders
# Average Running Position: Matt Kenseth - 4.9
# Fastest Early In a Run: Matt Kenseth - 174.191 mph
# Fastest Late In a Run: Greg Biffle - 172.458 mph
# Fastest Laps Run: Carl Edwards - 54
# Fastest on Restarts: Matt Kenseth - 170.713 mph
# Most Passes During Green Flag Conditions: David Gilliland - 102
# Laps In Top 15: Kevin Harvick - 261
# Most Quality Passes: Matt Kenseth - 48
# Best Speed In Traffic: Greg Biffle - 171.744 mph
Pit Stops
# Edwards captured his ninth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in his 124th start. Detailed Active Driver Wins
# Edwards won the 104th race for car owner Jack Roush. Detailed Active Car Owner Wins
# Edwards became the first driver to win at Las Vegas from the second starting-position, which is the highest starting position any one has won from at LVMS. He also became the 347th driver overall to win a race from that starting place. Starting Position Facts
# The UAW-Dodge 400 saw 19 lead changes among nine drivers, with Edwards leading the most laps in the race, a total of 86 laps. Lap Summary
# This was the 585th overall win for the Ford. All-Time Manufacturer Wins
# This is just the second time Edwards has posted back-to-back victories. He also won at Atlanta and Texas in consecutive events in 2005.
# Dale Earnhardt Jr. posted his third top-10 finish in nine races at Las Vegas. The second-place finish is his second top-10 of the 2008 season.
# Greg Biffle (third) posted his third top-10 finish in five races at Las Vegas and his second of 2008.
# Fourth-place finisher Kevin Harvick posted his second top-five and best finish at LVMS in eight starts.
# With his fifth-place finish, Jeff Burton posted his best finish at LVMS since joining Richard Childress.
# Kasey Kahne came from 37th to post the best finish (sixth) for the Dodge camp.
# David Ragan (seventh) posted his first top-10 finish at LVMS in his second year racing there.
# Eighth-place finisher Travis Kvapil posted his first top-10 in Cup competition since the fall Phoenix race in 2005.
# Denny Hamlin was the highest finishing Toyota in ninth.
# Mark Martin posted his ninth top 10 in 11 starts at LVMS.
# The UAW-Dodge 400 saw 11 cautions for a total of 44 laps.
# The UAW-Dodge 400 lasted three hours, eight minutes and eight seconds.
Lug Nuts
# Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth sure are attracted to each other on track sometimes, aren't they?
# Robin Leach was back out of mothballs to do the pre-race introductions at Vegas.
# Someone give Jeff Hammond a coupon to a spray tanning booth because we're getting scared of that sun-drenched George Hamilton look he has going. That can't be healthy.
# Remember this is going to be the year of Hendrick vs. JGR.
# We love Vegas, but the traffic getting in and out of the track has to rank in the top three worst on the schedule.
# Tony Stewart couldn't wait to do his best Nicolas Cage impression and leave Las Vegas.
# Memo to Mike Joy, enough of the "knock out" qualifying references already. It's only a week and that's old already.
# Do some people really believe the world will end when a Toyota eventually wins a Cup race? Same people running around with an "Archie Bunker for President" button.
Garage Talk
# "(Jack Roush) told me this week he's going to start making Bob (Osborne) wear a helmet. I asked him why. He said, 'Cause the stuff that's going on between his two ears is really important and we need to protect it.'" - Carl Edwards
# "I've got two things to say: Bruton (Smith, owner and founder of Speedway Motorsports Inc.), you need a soft wall and to change the wall back there on the back straightaway. Thankfully Hendrick Motorsports and everyone with this DuPont / Nicorette Chevrolet builds an unbelievable race car because that's the hardest I've ever hit." - Jeff Gordon
# "Shoot, I had a shot to try to beat Carl. We had some pretty good restarts during the race. I should have been paying a little more attention to what the 17 was doing, trying to lay back a little bit myself to get a better start." - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
# "Well, I'll argue that I had the fastest racecar today on the racetrack and the driver just screwed it up. I mean, you know, I got caught speeding on pit road." - Greg Biffle
# "These things (COT) -- they sit on the splitters, as soon as you blow a tire it sits on the splitters and does just like an Indy Car. It just slides straight. It used to be you could kind of try and turn a little bit. They're not going to do it now." - Tony Stewart
RacingOne Rating
On a scale of one to 10 fabulous Vegas showgirls, we'll give Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400 a seven. The racing with the new car wasn't exactly rip roaring, but it wasn't that bad. There were too many tire problems and as well as cars spinning into the wall all weekend. Saturday's Nationwide finish was slam bang as was Sunday's Cup round, so all in all a pretty good race and a solid weekend. Now the COT gets another baptism, this time at the high-speed Atlanta Motor Speedway for next Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500.
Traffic jam on Victory Lane
Edwards' back-to-back wins for Roush Fenway Racing indicate the Sprint Cup chase will be wide open, not the Hendrick-Gibbs show many expected.
LAS VEGAS -- Only four weeks ago, before the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR talk centered on the potential dominance of two teams: Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hendrick had won 16 of last year's 36 races in the premier Sprint Cup Series, including 10 by reigning champion Jimmie Johnson. And Gibbs had added the hard-charging Kyle Busch to its team of two-time title winner Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin.
But after three races neither team has made it to Victory Lane. Instead, it's been Carl Edwards of Roush Fenway Racing who's won two of the three events.
That included his win Sunday in the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which followed by six days his victory at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Ryan Newman of Penske Racing won the Daytona 500.
And other Roush Fenway cars have been strong. At Las Vegas, the team's Greg Biffle finished third and David Ragan was seventh.
However, there is the prospect that Edwards' latest win could be tainted.
In post-race inspection, NASCAR found that the lid was off the oil tank in Edwards' No. 99 Ford. The car was impounded for further inspection by officials. NASCAR said if any action is taken it probably would be announced this week.
Last month at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR found that the oil-tank lids were loose on five cars in its second-tier Nationwide series. The cars' drivers were each docked 25 points and their crew chiefs were suspended for six races.
Unlike conventional cars, where the oil is stored in the main engine compartment, Cup cars use a dry-sump system with the extra oil stored in a square steel reservoir tank behind the driver's seat.
Generally speaking, a missing lid would enable more air to flow into that area of the car, which, at speeds of nearly 200 mph, could provide a slight aerodynamic advantage and more power.
Setting that issue aside, the season's start underlines how, at least for now, the competition is wide open in NASCAR's premier series. That's not lost on Roush Fenway's veteran co-owner Jack Roush.
"We aren't as good as it would appear to be for having won the last two races, and we weren't as bad as it looked like we were when we couldn't win a race for part of last year," Roush said.
He knows how winning seasons in NASCAR, as in most every sport, can move in cycles.
It was only three years ago that Roush Fenway drivers won 15 races, including six by Biffle, and all five of its drivers made the series' Chase for the Cup playoff. (Gibbs' Stewart won the title that year.)
Then the team's dominance tailed off in 2006-07 as Hendrick and Gibbs flexed their muscles. One reason: Roush Fenway was slow to develop its version of NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow, which was phased in at 16 races last year before becoming the only Cup car in 2008.
Many NASCAR watchers agree that Hendrick adapted to the new car better than most, and more quickly, which contributed to its stellar year.
Roush conceded that his team lagged for a while, but believes that the gap has been closed.
"I think we're caught up. I certainly don't feel that we have an advantage. I think on any given Sunday, there's probably 20 cars that could win the race. Four or five of them are our cars," Roush said.
Edwards has proved that. "We are close to the form that we were in 2005, where it just seemed like a Roush Fenway car would win every week," Edwards said. "That's what I'm really excited about."
latimes.com
Edwards Penalized 100 Points by NASCAR
By JENNA FRYER
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Carl Edwards used two straight wins to take the Sprint Cup points lead for the first time in his career.
On Wednesday, NASCAR said his Las Vegas victory was tainted and slammed Edwards and his Roush Fenway Racing team with its strictest penalty yet. Edwards was docked 100 points — knocking him out of first place — and stripped him of the 10 bonus points he would have carried into the Chase for the championship.
In addition to Edwards' penalty, crew chief Bob Osborne was fined $100,000 and suspended six weeks, and Jack Roush was docked 100 owner points.
The penalties stem from post-race inspection Sunday when NASCAR discovered the cover was off the oil tank in the race-winning No. 99 Ford.
Rival competitors on Monday circulated a photo via e-mail of Edwards doing a celebratory backflip off his car, and the cover is clearly not attached to the oil tank. It's believed that by opening up the oil tank trunk, the air is able to circulate through the car and create as much as 10 percent more downforce.
NASCAR did not comment on the penalties because it expects the Roush team to appeal.
Edwards declined immediate comment after the penalties were released. Earlier Wednesday, while he was awaiting word on his punishment, he said he wasn't concerned with whatever NASCAR handed down because "it's not going to change how I drive, so I'm not going to sweat it."
That likely changed after NASCAR's ruling, which is the toughest to date toward infractions on its Car of Tomorrow.
NASCAR has shown an intolerance toward any modifications to the car it spent years developing and began using full time this season. And the infraction was expected to be tough based on recent precedent: NASCAR suspended five Nationwide Series crew chiefs two weeks ago because their oil tank covers were simply loose.
Some of those teams have appealed, and the National Stock Car Racing Commission this week overturned one of the penalties and amended several others.
But Edwards' cover was actually off the tank, which is a far bigger grievance with less room for reasonable explanation than a loose cover.
Because NASCAR does not typically strip teams of victories, the penalty did the closest thing to it. Under a tweak made last season to the championship Chase, drivers earn 10 bonus points for every victory earned during the 26-race "regular season."
Those points are used to seed the 12-man field for the Chase. Before Wednesday's announcement, Edwards already had earned 20 points. With the 100-point penalty, he dropped from the top of the standings to seventh.
Commission gives Robby Gordon points back
FOXSports.com.
The National Stock Car Racing Commission has overruled the penalty levied against Robby Gordon after the Daytona 500 and has reinstated the 100 driver/owner points NASCAR fined him after discovering the nose on the No. 7 Jim Beam Dodge had not yet been approved.
"We see this as good news," said Gordon. "We are grateful the commissioners rescinded the points penalty and suspension but disappointed by the fine. Still, we see this as a victory for Robby Gordon Motorsports. We feel like justice was done and appreciate NASCAR creating a system that allowed us to take our appeal to the National Stock Car Racing Commission. Now we plan to put this issue behind us and concentrate on making the Chase in 2008 as well as getting the Jim Beam Dodge into Victory Lane.
"Our goal is to be a model team in the future and never go through something like this again."
Crew chief Frank Kerr also earned a victory in the appeal, as he was able to have his six-race suspension dismissed by the three-person Commission. However, the monetary fine against him was raised from $100,000 to $150,000 and he remains on probation until the end of the year.
"I think it was fair to be honest with you," said Kerr, after the four-and-a-half-hour hearing. "It just proves that the system does work, and I'm happy with the results."
The additional 100 points raises Gordon's position in the standings to 21st and keeps him well within the Top 35 in the owners standings. That position is crucial because the top 35 teams in the owner standings are guaranteed a starting position every race, regardless of where they qualify.