Knaus not close to contract extension
November 25, 2009
Chad Knaus believes he and Jimmie Johnson can continue to add to their championship total for years to come.
But the crew chief first needs a new contract.
Knaus on Wednesday denied an ESPN report that he’s agreed to lead Johnson through 2015, the length of Johnson’s new contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports.
Knaus is working under an extension signed in 2006 that runs through next season. He says he’s only just started conversations on a new contract, and nothing has been agreed upon.
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End of the season? But it’s just starting to get good (NASCAR.com)
November 25, 2009
Can we have just one more race?
Maybe just hang around Homestead-Miami Speedway, and run some kind of Thanksgiving eve special? Or see if Bruton Smith has Lowe's Motor Speedway booked for Friday night? Or talk to the folks in Las Vegas about holding some kind of 10-car postseason exhibition there prior to the awards ceremony next weekend? As long and as draining as the NASCAR season is, you hate to see it end just when it's getting good.
And no, we're not talking about Jimmie Johnson's record-breaking four consecutive titles—with apologies to the champion, who rightfully celebrated until the wee hours Monday morning on South Beach. We're talking about anger. And revenge. And drama. And the kind of heated words and mechanical vendettas that NASCAR could honestly use a little more of. We're talking about Tony Stewart verses Juan Montoya, and Denny Hamlin verses Brad Keselowski, and how terrible it is that they have a whole three months to cool off before they potentially tangle on the race track again.
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So is it too late to add one more race weekend? Hey, Kentucky Speedway wants one, right? Sure, it could be a little brisk outside of Cincinnati this time of year, but the running Nationwide Series feud conducted by Hamlin and Keselowski would surely heat it up. And just imagine Montoya and Stewart, parked next to one another in the Sprint Cup garage area for one more week, and the tensions that would exist in that small space between them.
Just to be clear here, we're not advocating violence. Yours truly does not prescribe to the "go out and hit someone" mentality that some track promoters seem to have. We have to remember that the possibility for danger and injury exists anytime cars are competing against one another at high speeds, and intentionally dumping someone absolutely deserves the kind of two-lap penalty that NASCAR levied against Montoya on Sunday—although how Stewart got off without suffering the same sanction, we're still not sure.
But goodness, the season-ending weekend in metropolitan Miami was terrific fun, and we're not even including the nights out on Ocean Drive. It all started on Friday, when Hamlin fired a not-so-subtle warning shot across Keselowski's bow.
"I've been wrecked four times by him. I've not wrecked him any. So, it's a one-sided scale that eventually has to even up. Maybe not fully, but that scale has got to tip a little bit," said Hamlin, rapidly becoming the most outspoken driver in the garage. "I've gotten the short end of the deal every single time, and it's not just me. He's wrecked our cars. He's put our fabricators through hell. And it's not just us. [There are] four guys at Memphis that he wrecked. There are just a lot of guys, and that's the part he's going to have to work on. He's got the speed and everything. It's just he thinks that the way he does things is the right way, and truthfully it's not. Anybody inside this garage that knows anything about the sport will tell you that it's not."
And Saturday he did his part to even those scales, booting his rival in the Nationwide event and deadpanning afterward that he couldn't see because the sun was in his eyes. The crowd loved it, and series champion Kyle Busch defended his teammate by proposing that five drivers team up and wreck Keselowski in each of the first five races of the 2010 season so he has to qualify on time in the sixth. "I'm going to be the leader," Busch said. "I'm going to ante up everybody else. Maybe you shouldn't have let the cat out of the bag."
Evidently, Montoya took notes—because the next day, after a series of on-track incidents that ended with Stewart spinning the Colombian, Montoya patiently waited for his car to be fixed. Then he came back out with one thing in mind, and it was Stewart's turn to go around. NASCAR warned Montoya that one more incident, and he'd be parked for the remainder of the event. By then, though, the message had already been sent.
Neither driver spoke afterward, but Montoya succinctly summed up his feelings with a post on his Twitter page. "I always said pay back is a b—-h," he wrote, without using the dashes. In a post of his own, Hamlin joked that he must have inspired Montoya. After his victory in the Sprint Cup finale Sunday night, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was asked if he had set a trend.
"I think everyone has got a little fight in them every now and then, especially when they get done wrong or anything," he said. "… I think it's just maybe [Montoya] looked at it and said, 'Well, it's worth it.' I thought [Saturday] was worth it, and maybe he thought [Sunday] was worth it. It's a self-policing sport. NASCAR does a really good job of letting us handle it. They don't want to get involved, but if it's something blatant, they've got to do it. They don't have to, but they feel like they need to do something about it, otherwise they'll hear repercussions from fans saying 'Why didn't you do anything about it?' I won't say anything else."
He didn't need to. To NASCAR's credit, the sanctioning body hasn't exactly come across as heavy-handed in all this. There have been on-track penalties, to be sure, like the one-lap punishment Hamlin served for punting Keselowski on Saturday, and Montoya's two-lap sentence a day later. There have been talking-tos, as there was a day after Hamlin and Keselowski made contact three times in the Nationwide race at Phoenix. But we haven't even heard the threat of fines or point deductions, at least not publicly. No question, NASCAR is watching all this. But to a large degree, they're also letting the drivers handle it themselves.
"This garage has a very good way of taking care of its own problems, and usually if you cause the most problems, you'll have the hardest time," said Kevin Harvick, who's had his share of run-ins with a number of other drivers over the years. "It's pretty simple. It's self-teaching. I went through that whole road. A lot of times you can fix things by not doing it in a race car. I didn't see what happened [Sunday], but you have your moments where you lose your mind and lose your temper and you want to just run over the top of somebody. If turnabout is fair play and it's penalized, then it needs to be penalized. We just all need to know the rules. But I think there's probably a lot better ways of handling it."
From a driver standpoint, though, probably none more gratifying and from a spectator standpoint, probably none more fun to watch. As long as drivers don't start openly slugging one another, NASCAR seems to welcome the energy and drama these incidents create. That much comes straight from the top.
"What we want is drivers who are driving hard, that are driving to win," chairman Brian France said. "When that happens, you're going to have some situations where there's contact. We're a contact sport. You didn't see us over-respond when that happened. What happened in the Nationwide race in Phoenix, what you're always worried about, with retaliation, all those things, is escalation, unintended consequences. But on balance, there's no question, we're encouraging drivers. When Carl [Edwards] last year made the last-lap attempted pass [at] Kansas City, you heard us applauding that. You didn't hear us saying anything other than that was a daring move by one of the better drivers. So we're pretty much committed. But we also regulate the events. You have to make sure that there are limits to hard driving and rivalries and whatever. But we certainly want them."
So there you go. Let the feuds continue, within reason. But really, do we have to wait until February to see if these guys are still mad at each other? Is Rockingham or North Wilkesboro available on short notice? Can't we just have one more race?
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
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Don’t get stuck in the cold: Car battery tips for winter (NASCAR.com)
November 24, 2009
As the heart of your automobile, the battery is the source of power for the ignition system and the starter to crank that engine. Without it, your vehicle doesn't move.
So as winter sets in and the holiday season is in full swing, proper car battery care takes on a whole new level of importance. The last thing you need during this festive time of year is a car that won't start because of an unexpected problem with your battery.
When temperatures turn colder, turning over an engine can take up to twice as much current as is needed under more favorable conditions, and low temperatures can significantly decrease battery output.
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Instead of risking roadside breakdown due to a dead battery, learn some basic winter battery care. Regardless of battery type, all motorists should:
• Check the condition of the battery visually—if you see any cracks, leaks or other damage, replace it immediately.
• Periodically check the terminal connections for tightness and corrosion. If the terminals are corroded, simply clean them with a brush (such as a discarded toothbrush) and a light application of baking soda and water.
• Make sure the battery is firmly secured to its mounting bracket. An unsecured battery that shifts around can become damaged, and possibly cause short circuits.
• Always remember to keep your battery case clean. Dirt conducts electricity, which can discharge the battery. Just like terminal connections, battery cases can be cleaned with a solution of baking soda dissolved in warm water.
Lastly, batteries come in many different sizes. So when replacing a car battery, make sure you choose the right size for your car. For optimal power, performance and durability in the harshest conditions, make sure you've got a battery that can go the extra mile. For more information, visit www.exide.com.
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Hendrick turns attention to Earnhardt
November 24, 2009
Getting Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team back on track is Rick Hendrick’s top priority now that Jimmie Johnson has his record fourth consecutive NASCAR championship.
The owner of Hendrick Motorsports says Earnhardt’s team will be the organization’s primary focus this offseason.
Johnson gave Hendrick his record 12th championship in Sunday’s season finale, and Hendrick drivers swept the top three spots in the standings. But Earnhardt finished a distant 25th after one of the worst seasons of his career.
Hendrick says he wants all four of his drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship next season.
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Yanks’ Damon helps Johnson celebrate Cup crown
November 24, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—Johnny Damon knows how difficult it can be to win achampionship. After all, it took him four years to finally win the World Serieswith the Yankees.
That’s why even he marvels at Jimmie Johnson, who wrapped up anunprecedented fourth consecutive Cup championship on Sunday at Homestead-MiamiSpeedway.
“We haven’t seen that in baseball in a very long time,” Damon saidTuesday, during a ceremony honoring Johnson at the Empire State Building. “Ibelieve in NASCAR it could be tougher, because every week these guys are goingfor you. It’s kind of like putting on the pinstripes.”
Johnson was at Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of the World Series, then watchedfrom afar as the Yankees clinched their record 27th world championship bydefeating the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6. Johnson would have liked to see acouple more games, but he was too busy chasing his own record.
He finally returned to New York this week for another whirlwind celebrationfilled with interviews, morning show appearances, photographers and othercommitments.
In the grand entrance to the Empire State Building, Johnson flipped theswitch—as if changing gears in his car—that lit the top of the skyscraper inthe familiar blue, yellow and white colors of his Hendrick Motorsports team. Healso received a proclamation from the mayor’s office designating “JimmieJohnson Day” in a city where many people don’t even own cars.
“I’m not sure what authority comes with my position,” Johnson said, “butI think everyone should have the day off and go have margaritas.”
Indeed, Johnson is living a charmed life.
The most dominant driver of the decade finished fifth in the season’s finalrace when 25th would have sufficed. He’s been in NASCAR’s top division for eightyears and already his title total trails only the seven won by Richard Petty andDale Earnhardt.
The 34-year-old Californian also gave team owner Rick Hendrick his record12th overall championship.
“Rick’s personality is he doesn’t want to feel like the big dog,” Johnsonsaid. “He has the mindset he wants to pull for the underdog, because he wantsto keep thinking he’s the underdog. And he’s not.”
Sound familiar?
“When we step on the field, we know everybody is giving us their bestshot,” Damon said, referring to the Yankees. “It’s the same way with them.”
Damon grew up in Orlando and became a NASCAR fan while watching thousands offans make pilgrimages to Daytona. As the sport exploded over the past few yearsand fresh faces like Johnson came onto the scene, Damon became even moreenamored of the sport.
He said the Yankees have a fantasy racing league that he tried to join whenhe arrived in 2006, but Damon learned it was only for coaches and staff.Longtime trainer Gene Monahan, manager Joe Girardi and even former manager JoeTorre have been part of it.
“I like to pop in the office and give them a couple hints,” Damon said,smiling widely. “Maybe one day they’ll let me in.”
One thing is perfectly clear: Johnson doesn’t need hints from anybody.
He’s been called the NASCAR version of Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and LanceArmstrong. Damon instead compared him to Michael Jordan and John Wooden, whotook entire teams and made them into champions.
Along with crew chief Chad Knaus, the No. 48 team may only be gettingbetter.
Johnson signed a five-year deal to drive for Hendrick through 2015, andKnaus has confidently predicted the same rate of success for the next severalyears. The team won seven races in 2009, including four during the 10-raceChase, and has won 18 of 60 Chase races since the format began.
All of which resulted in a very familiar post-race party Sunday, whereJohnson found himself standing on a sofa at 2 a.m. belting out the chorus toQueen.
“They played ‘We are the Champions,”’ Johnson said, “and you know what?That song doesn’t really mean much until you’re a champion.”
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Designs by Darenda has special date close to heart (NASCAR.com)
November 24, 2009
Darenda Darnell is a brave woman.
The owner of Designs by Darenda Flowers and Gifts in Homestead, Fla., Darnell is engaged to be married in July 2010. As if there weren't already enough details for the bride-to-be to fret over, she's handling her own floral arrangements.
She wouldn't have it any other way.
"I have [had advice to turn the responsibility over to someone else], but I am going to do most of the arrangements myself," Darnell says. "It's going to be a tremendous amount of flowers for the wedding."
Then again, she's giving herself one heck of an employee discount.
"It's going to be on the house," Darnell says with a laugh.
About 10 minutes from Homestead-Miami Speedway, Darnell has operated the flower shop for about 10 years now. Before that, the store was opened by her grandmother, Josephine, in 1977. It means a lot to Darnell to be able to work in a business started all those years ago by a family member.
"It's carrying on the family tradition that was started by my grandmother," Darnell says. "She's the one who taught me how to design flowers when I was a little girl, so it just brings back memories. It makes her happy that the tradition is still going on. We're still serving south Dade [County] families with flowers."
Designs by Darenda specializes in upscale designs that incorporate any number of kinds of flowers. Darnell is accredited by the Florida State Florists' Association as a master designer, which means that she has underwent extensive testing and judging.
An upscale design put together by Darnell is something far more than a bouquet of roses.
"The arrangements can range anywhere from a bouquet of roses all the way up to something gigantic for an event," Darnell continues. "Flowers (can be) anything from orchids, tropical flowers, Holland flowers, South American flowers. We use so many different things here, and we have shipments of flowers every day."
We're talking about anything from a $35 get-out-of-the-doghouse arrangement on up to productions in the $700-1,000 price range. Darnell has done quite a bit of work at the race track for NASCAR, Ferrari and Porsche events, although she's not a fan of the sport.
For all the work that she's done, Darnell can't come up with a most memorable arrangement.
"I do so many events and so many weddings, there are so many different and unique arrangements that leave the shop here, there isn't one that sticks out in my mind," Darnell admits. "We've had some that have just been solid bouquets of orchids that have been so detailed, that it's taken a few hours to put together."
That'll change in, oh, about eight months, when she does the flowers for her own wedding.
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F1 team Force India to test Di Resta, Hildebrand (PA SportsTicker)
November 24, 2009
SILVERSTONE, ENGLAND(AP) —Force India will give British driver Paul di Resta and American J.R. Hildebrand a chance to test for a full-time role with the Formula One team.
Team owner Vijay Mallya said Tuesday the drivers will be considered for a test and reserve-driver positions for next season. The session will be in Jerez, Spain, from Dec. 1-3.
The 23-year-old Di Resta, a cousin of IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, finished third in German touring series DTM with Mercedes last season. The 21-year-old Hildebrand is the IndyLights series champion.
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Jimmie Johnson celebrates crown, with Damon assist
November 24, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—Jimmie Johnson has put together the kind of winning streak thatJohnny Damon and the Yankees can certainly appreciate.
It took Damon four years to win his first World Series in New York. Johnsonhas won an unprecedented four straight championships in NASCAR’s premier series.
Johnson received a proclamation from the mayor’s office designating Tuesday“Jimmie Johnson Day” in New York City. He also flipped the switch that lit thetop of the Empire State Building in the blue, yellow and white colors of hisHendrick Motorsports team.
Damon said during the ceremony that baseball hasn’t had a team win fourstraight titles in a long time, and it may be more difficult in NASCAR becausecars are supposed to be evenly matched.
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Briatore asks court to overturn suspension (PA SportsTicker)
November 24, 2009
PARIS(AP) —Former Renault boss Flavio Briatore has asked a French court to overturn his lifetime suspension from motor sports and force Formula One’s governing body to pay him $1.5 million in damages.
The French court said Tuesday that a decision is expected Jan. 5.
Briatore’s lawyer, Philippe Ouakrat, said the Italian denied having a role in ordering Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash his car to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the Singapore Grand Prix last year. FIA, the governing body, ruled in September that Briatore was behind the scheme.
Former Renault chief engineer Pat Symonds also asked the court to overturn his five-year suspension from the sport. Neither Briatore nor Symonds attended the hearing.
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Hard work, determination finally pays off for Jenkins (NASCAR.com)
November 24, 2009
Do you want to know who the ultimate racer is?
It just might be a guy like Bob Jenkins who's probably spent millions—yep, millions—attempting to do it right as he tries to gain a foothold in Cup racing. And before you say "so what, racing costs money," you need to know it's the guy's own money that he's burnt through.
Jenkins first appeared in the Cup owners' standings in 2004, when he made a couple unsuccessful attempts in a No. 92 car. He was one of 10 owners in the same 0-fer boat that season. But the difference between Jenkins and the rest—two-thirds of whom no longer have any discernible involvement in the sport—is that Jenkins in 2009 made a quantum leap toward achieving his ultimate goal.
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The goal is a solid position in the Cup Series garage. And while locking-in the 35th position in the owners' standings last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which came via a 33rd-place finish after rebounding from a crash 101 laps into the 267-lap race, might seem tenuous—it's actually priceless.
His Front Row Motorsports team did it with less funding, less personnel and less technology than probably anyone who finished ahead of them in the standings. But they certainly didn't lack in any of racing's intangibles, like creativity, resourcefulness and commitment.
"I went out and got some really good people," Jenkins said of his 2009 plan. "This economy has generated a lot of talented people that are out of jobs, so we were able to assemble a team that with funding could compete with most of these guys—not everybody, like the Hendricks of the world—but that's been a huge benefit."
And now it can't help but give Jenkins a hefty bargaining chip as he looks ahead to Speedweeks 2010 at Daytona. Not only is he locked-into the sport's Super Bowl—the Daytona 500—his lead team is guaranteed a starting position in the first five races, which was the same thing that got them off to the start that ultimately led to their impressive finish last Sunday.
"No, I honestly didn't think we could be here at the beginning of the year, but from the beginning we concentrated on doing the best we could," driver John Andretti said. "When we were at Daytona, we were still building the team and we didn't even have a race shop. Our goal was to make it to the first Talladega and see where we were and it's all the people here who have made this happen, with reliable, consistent cars."
But there's already no mistake about something else: Jenkins has already earned a ton of respect, and so have his guys.
"It's amazing," Andretti said. "After the race at Texas, I got a text from Mark [Martin] saying 'good job today.' Here's a guy running for a championship—what's he doing texting me? But it makes you feel good that they know, and they can see that we overachieve in a lot of ways, because we're a good group."
"We just want to be in the position where we're competitive," Jenkins said. "Maybe not to win races yet, but to consistently be improving and offering a solid program. And we've achieved that. This season we've not lost one [crew] person who said 'I've got a better job down the street and I'm leaving.'
"I kind of credit that to an attitude that we're like a bunch of 12-year-old boys working on our bikes in the neighborhood. That's what these guys do, without the pressure of sponsors or a big team. I have one engineer on this team, for everything, and it's his clear canvas to paint, same as it is with the crew chiefs, who are running their own programs."
Andretti said it's Jenkins' personal involvement that's the difference.
"It says a lot for the guys, and it's all about competition, because every weekend you want to be the best that you can be, and I think that we are because we push really hard to be that way," Andretti said. "And Bob, he's involved with the people on the team, he knows everyone's names, and about their families and you don't get that with a big team."
Respecting their achievement, which was attained with a group that numbers fewer than 40 people from administrative help to the race teams that field two Cup cars and another full-time effort in the Nationwide Series for driver Tony Raines, who finished 20th in that series' owners' standings, has to be a given.
Jenkins knows all about NASCAR's infamous "top 35 rule," the guideline that grants the top 35 teams in the car owners' standings an automatic starting position in each successive week's race. It's even more critical at season's end because 2009's owners' standings guarantee 35 teams starting positions in 2010's first five races.
"With my two cars, to be honest with you, we live out of those purses," Jenkins said. "So it's just critical to be in every race, to get points and continue on to next week's race."
Jenkins' Front Row Motorsports made it stick with its No. 34 Chevrolet, which was driven in 34 races by John Andretti. Andretti skipped two races in May to compete in the Indianapolis 500. When he returned from Indy, the situation wasn't overly promising with the car only about 40 points ahead of 36th.
But Andretti, a versatile, capable driver who's won in Cup cars, Indy cars, IMSA sports cars and NHRA top fuel dragsters among other classes, teaming with crew chief Steven Lane, a veteran mechanic who came to Front Row through its initial alliance this season with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, got the job done.
"I've been with some big teams and I've seen what kind of resources and man-hours are out there," Lane said. "We've tried to concentrate on five races at a time and to do what we needed to do to stay in the top 35. Honestly, if you would have asked me at the beginning of the year if we'd be there 10 races in, I'd have said that'd be tough.
"So it's been a big achievement, and we've done it without a lot of money, and that's the thing. I know what kind of budget Red Bull [which finished behind them in the owners' standings] has, so it's a big thing."
And now they get the reward, which is stability and, Jenkins hopes, something solid to offer potential partners.
"It certainly helps, because those first five races are some of the biggest races of the year," Jenkins said of Daytona, Fontana, Las Vegas and Atlanta, a corporate business center. "It's critical."
And for Andretti, for whom family means a huge amount, it's time to get with his friend and team owner to decide if they'll continue the battle next season. Jenkins said the next two weeks he'd hope to know what direction he was going, but he didn't see "any wholesale changes taking place."
"This race team needs to be sponsored, but I don't want having sponsorship be the deciding factor in whether or not we can race," Jenkins said. "We've tried to build a nucleus that can survive in a down economy, that's consistent and solid, so that when good times do come around, we become a logical choice for somebody."
For team owners Kevin Buckler, Joe Nemechek, Tommy Baldwin and Phil Parsons, the current economic downturn created an opportunity, both in equipment and personnel that enabled them to experience a dream in 2009, of establishing themselves in the Cup garage.
Jenkins' Front Row team has been here, and to hear Andretti tell it—now they're truly established. And for Jenkins, it doesn't get much better than that.
"Our attitude, from day one since we started this team, is that we realized that you just can't walk into this sport and say 'here I am,' and that sponsors would just line up to sponsor us," Jenkins said. "Our position has always been that you have to make your own place at the table—nobody's gonna give it to you.
"It's been ugly over the years and it's hurt at times, but establishing the consistency we have and to be locked into the top 35 at an attractive price will help us to attract a sponsor for the next couple years. For us it's kind of been racing in its purest form, maybe without a big budget, but guys working on cars and enjoying the fruits of their labors.
"For these guys, they set out at the beginning of the year to accomplish this and it's a big deal for them. They feel like they had a plan, they've come together and they did it."
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Front Row Motorsports 2009 Cup Stats Races49 Wins0Top-fives0Top-10s0Running at Finish36Lead Lap Finishes8Best Start10 (J. Andretti/Michigan)Best Finish16 (J. Andretti/Loudon)
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