Danica’s first NASCAR stint gets an “Incomplete” (Yahoo! Sports)
February 27, 2010
LAS VEGAS – The first chapter of Danica Patrick’s stock car experiment ended with her asking for directions back to the garage – her vision impaired by the folded-up hood blocking her view.
Moments earlier, Patrick clipped Michael McDowell’s rear bumper, sending both drivers into a spin and, eventually, each other. Just 83 laps into the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, her race was over.
As Patrick wheeled her battered race car back toward the garage, she unloaded on McDowell, wondering what he and his spotter were thinking getting in the way of a faster car, especially when his car already was busted up from an earlier incident.
More From Jay Hart Storylines: Las Vegas Feb 27, 2010 Johnson cant feel the love like Tiger did Feb 26, 2010
“I went to go underneath him in [Turn] 1, and I think the red tape [holding] on the left-rear bumper should’ve been a big signal for me,” she explained.
McDowell immediately apologized to Patrick, taking full blame for causing the incident – “She has every right to be upset,” McDowell said – but that provided her little consolation. For Patrick, there is no next week because next week she goes back to her day job in IndyCar. Her next NASCAR Nationwide Series race won’t come until late June, meaning every one of these laps are precious.
At the time of the accident, she was running relatively well. Granted she was a lap down, but she had worked her way from 37th to 24th and was clocking lap times similar to those in the top 10.
“It would have been nice to have a decent finish, and I was doing better and better all the time,” said Patrick, who explained that during the race Kevin Harvick actually was directing her which line to drive on the track. “Learning from that, I would have been much better off in the second stint and probably no doubt better in the third stint again. But, you know, we never got a chance to do that.”
Looking back on the first three races of her NASCAR experiment, there’s not enough completed work to provide an accurate grade:
• Daytona: Incomplete.
She started 15th, avoided some trouble early, fell back and ultimately couldn’t avoid a wreck in front of her, ending her race on Lap 69. Patrick wound up finishing 35th.
Her reaction: “It’s important to have realistic expectations. There’s going to be spikes in performance, I don’t doubt that. But there’s also going to be tough days. And today, I would say, was more of a tough day.”
• Auto Club Speedway: C+
Though she was visibly upset with her performance afterward, Patrick did improve throughout the race. That was the good news. The bad news was she got caught speeding twice on pit road – in fairness, so did Carl Edwards – and finished 31st, which was about where she ran most of the day.
Her reaction: “I’m a competitor and I’m used to running up front. So it’s shocking when you’re that far back. But you know what? This is a whole new ball of wax for me, and it’s all different. And I have to disconnect from the results for quite some time, I think, because they’re probably not going to be what I’m used to.”
And she gets an incomplete for her work in Las Vegas, where it officially goes down as a 36th-place finish
For the next four months, Patrick returns her focus to IndyCar, which starts its season on March 14 in Brazil. She’ll compete in eight IRL races before her next Nationwide start, which will come June 26 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I am going to miss it. I wish there was a race next weekend,” Patrick said. “I’m sure I’ll keep in contact, and I’ll be watching all the time trying to pick up tips from anything I can.
“I’m proud of some things. I should be proud of everything, but that’s just me as a competitor, I guess.”
Jay Hart is the NASCAR editor for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jay a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Logano making huge strides at start of 2nd season
February 27, 2010
LAS VEGAS (AP)—There was nowhere to go but up this season for Joey Logano, who had a roller-coaster rookie season as the youngest driver at NASCAR’s top level.
He bounced off the walls at Daytona and barrel-rolled his car at Dover. He struggled with setups, didn’t understand the language his teammates used to describe their cars and often dreaded going to the track.
That he finished the year with one victory, seven top-10s and a 20th-place finish in the final standings was nothing short of a small miracle.
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“There were a lot of weekends last year where we were in nothing more than survival mode,” crew chief Greg Zipadelli said.
So Logano’s solid start to his second season has not been lost on anyone. That 43rd-place finish in his inaugural Daytona 500 was improved to a 20th-place this year. And he was 26th last season at California, but upgraded that last week to fifth.
It took Logano 17 races last season to notch his first top-five.
Much of it is credited to just how much Logano, now 19, learned over that rocky first year. But there’s also a new confidence that comes with the teenager getting comfortable in NASCAR.
“I feel more excited to come to the race tracks,” he said. “Last year, oh boy, California, we stunk there. I didn’t know if I wanted to go there. Now, you look at these places and you’re excited to go back to the race track because you think you’re going to have a good race car. We’re going to be good.
“That’s the biggest thing. You’re more pumped up about coming to the race track.”
Logano came into Las Vegas Speedway ranked ninth in the Sprint Cup standings, higher than teammates Kyle Busch (13th) and Denny Hamlin (22nd).
“I think it’s cool,” Logano said. “I was excited, ninth in points. Last year I would have been happy with 20th in points at this point in the season. so ninth is cool. I was joking around because I wished they’d start the Chase now. But we still have a long ways to go.”
First up is Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Logano will start sixth. Kurt Busch, a Las Vegas native, will start from the pole as 18 drivers beat the qualifying track record.
Logano isn’t thinking about a win for Sunday. Those come every day, away from Victory Lane, in the gains he makes with his No. 20 team.
The hype surrounding him was at surreal levels long before he ever got to NASCAR, and by the time he made his 2008 debut with Joe Gibbs Racing just days after his 18th birthday, he’d already earned the moniker “Sliced Bread” as in “he’s the next best thing since … “
But the plan was to ease him into the top level, give him a year or two in the Nationwide Series to adapt to stock cars and learn his way around the circuit. That was all fast-forwarded when two-time champion Tony Stewart opted out at JGR and the team had an open seat to fill.
“Remember, Joey wasn’t even supposed to be driving that car last season,” said JGR president J.D. Gibbs. “Tony was supposed to be in that car. So now we’ve got him in a car ahead of schedule, there’s no testing for him to get any additional seat time. It was a rough start. The first few months were really rough.”
So rough that Zipadelli believes there were times Logano feared for his job security.
It seems rather implausible that a driver with so much promise and potential, backed by a huge investment from JGR and sponsor Home Depot, would be in danger of losing his seat so early in his rookie season. But Zipadelli can understand Logano’s worries.
“The kid was learning, but it wasn’t easy and when you’re four laps down at Texas and two seconds off the pace, your confidence can get rattled,” Zipadelli said. “He had the speed, but there were other areas where we struggled.”
One of them was communication.
As open and eager as Logano was to listen and learn, a lot of the conversations could have been spoken in Greek and he’d have had the same ability to understand the message.
“It’s not like a light switch. I remember last year at this point, Kyle and Denny were telling me something, or Zippy was telling me something and I couldn’t make sense of it in my mind,” he said. “It was like `I don’t feel that. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m always like this, why can’t I get my car to feel like the way you do if my car is similar to yours. What’s different?’
“I think as I kept going with time, and kept thinking about what they said to me when I’m on the race track, I’ll think about it and then eventually I made sense of that. If it didn’t make sense at the time, I wouldn’t throw it out of my mind like it wasn’t there. I’d keep thinking about it.”
Zipadelli can see the difference, not in on-track results, but in how Logano communicates in the car and a sense of relaxation that didn’t exist last year.
Do they think they can stay ahead of Hamlin, the preseason pick to dethrone Jimmie Johnson for the championship, or Busch, a weekly contender?
“Why not?” asked Gibbs. “He could.”
Zipadelli doesn’t want to throw out a firm goal. Instead, he knows where he’d like the 20 team to be come September when the 12-driver field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship is set.
“With two or three races to go, I’d like for us to mathematically have an opportunity to race our way into the Chase,” he said. “That would be a success. If we make the Chase, perfect. But to be 13th or 14th or 15th, and a couple good runs could get us in, we’ll take that.”
RCR forms partnership with Hall of Fame Racing (NASCAR.com)
February 27, 2010
Richard Childress Racing has entered into a partnership agreement with a group led by San Diego Padres executives Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel.
Moorad, the Padres' chief executive officer, and Garfinkel, the team's president, will assist RCR in its business development and growth opportunities, and cooperate on other strategic initiatives. They will also participate on RCR's internal advisory group.
"Over the past three years, Richard has become a trusted friend," Moorad said. "We believe in NASCAR and this opportunity allows us to be a contributing part of a winning organization, led by someone who we respect and trust."
In 2007, Moorad, Garfinkel, and their ownership group purchased Hall of Fame Racing from NFL legends Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. The team suspended operations after the 2009 NASCAR season.
"I've gotten to know Jeff and Tom and feel that they can add a lot to what we're doing," said Richard Childress, president of RCR. "This allows us to bring our individual strengths together and benefit all involved. I have learned over the last 40 years that you have to keep innovating and improving to be successful. This new partnership will complement our already strong organization."
Keselowski wins Las Vegas Nationwide pole
February 27, 2010
LAS VEGAS (AP)—Brad Keselowski has won the pole for the Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Keselowski turned a lap at 185.427 mph to take the top starting spot for Saturday’s race.
Kevin Harvick has qualified third and is followed by Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.
Danica Patrick has qualified 37th. This will be her third NASCAR race, but last one before she begins a four-month hiatus to return to IndyCar racing.
Virgin owner Branson believes F1 needs new teams (PA SportsTicker)
February 27, 2010
BARCELONA, SPAIN(AP) —Virgin Racing owner Richard Branson believes Formula One needs new teams despite recent criticism over whether the rookies will make the season-opening race in Bahrain.
Branson expects Virgin to eventually give Ferrari, which has been critical of F1’s decision to allow four new teams onto the grid, “a run for their money.”
Branson believes Virgin, which alongside fellow rookie Lotus is testing in Barcelona this weekend, will show a private team on a smaller budget can compete. Campos Meta and USF1 are also hoping to reach the March 14 opener.
Branson says he preferred to start “from scratch” and build a new team than continue working with last year’s championship winner Brawn GP, which was eventually bought out by Mercedes.
Can Busch mature as racer and remain true to himself? (NASCAR.com)
February 27, 2010
The wins are coming in the Nationwide Series for Kyle Busch, but he has just one victory in his past 28 starts in the Cup Series.
Kyle Busch never met Dale Earnhardt. He saw him once, when he was around 16 years old, from roughly 50 feet away. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver keeps an even greater distance between himself and any notion that he's some second coming of the Intimidator, a menacing figure in the rearview mirror who won't be hesitant to use the front fender if and when the situation calls for it.
Goodness, just the mention of the two men in the same sentence is sure to get the traditionalists hopping, and guaranteed to make certain that the inbox is overloaded with missives of discontent. Let's be very honest—Busch is no Earnhardt, no seven-time champion, no larger-than-life figure, no icon of the sport. He surely realizes that, and treads carefully, almost sheepishly, around any questions that try to link him in any way with Big E.
In the same vein, though, it's foolish to see Busch's hard-charging driving style, to see his all-or-nothing attitude, and not think a certain man with a mustache would have nodded approvingly at the sight.
Such is the enigma that is Kyle Busch, the defending champion of this weekend's Cup event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his hometown race track. He's persona non grata among the many fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr., by virtue of the numerous on-track scrapes the two have had in recent years. And yet, from a racing standpoint, at least, you have to wonder if the same people Busch most appeals to are those who once enjoyed watching Junior's dad.
No question, there's a stark difference in terms of force of personality—despite his millions, Earnhardt was a sort of blue-collar figure who earned the adulation of the working man, something Busch has not and may never achieve. But give him a helmet and put him behind the wheel, and those differences blur.
"My biggest fan base, I guess, is the people who like the raw racer," said Busch, who has finished 14th in each of the first two events of this season. "They like the guy who wants to go out for wins. He doesn't settle for finishes. He doesn't take losing easily. Fans who don't like that are the ones who say I whine too much, or I complain, or I should live my life better, or don't live it good enough, or something like that. I have no problem living my life the way I live it. I just want to win. There's nothing wrong with wanting to win."
Winning is something Busch has done a lot of in recent years—21 combined victories on all three national series in 2008, 20 more last season, a Nationwide Series victory at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California last week. From a Cup Series perspective, though, the kid who grew up at the corner of Jones and Sahara avenues is enduring something of a rebuilding project after missing the Chase by eight points and changing crew chiefs late in 2009.
Busch has won just once at NASCAR's highest level since last spring, a Detroit Lions-like skid by his demanding standards. He may have more natural talent than anyone else in the garage area, and the relationship between him and crew chief Dave Rogers shows every sign of working. Even so, it's been too long since we've seen that bowing, pot-stirring Busch that people either love, or love to hate.
No question, the guy has championship material in him—nobody who saw him hunt down Jimmie Johnson on that final restart at Chicagoland Speedway two years would doubt that. But winning the championship is something else altogether, and it's natural to wonder if a racer with Busch's mentality can make it over the long haul of a 36-week season.
He almost did it in 2008, when he might well have won a ring had points not been reset under the Chase format, might be a champion today if a heim joint would have held at New Hampshire and an engine not failed at Dover. Almost, though, doesn't count. And you look at the way Johnson wins titles, so smooth and unflappable, knocking out top-five after top-five, and you wonder if a win-at-all-costs guy like Busch is capable of doing it his way.
Perhaps that is the next step in the maturation process of a driver who is only 24 years old. For all the comparisons to Earnhardt, it's easy to forget that the Intimidator had seasons like 1994, when he won his last championship with just one victory in the season's final 21 races, burying the competition under an avalanche of third- and fourth-place finishes.
God bless drivers who pledge to bring it to Victory Lane, or bring it home in a box. Those are the kind of people who electrify a fan base. And yet, you don't win seven titles without simply taking a good points day every now and then. Yes, it seems to run counter to what everybody, drivers and spectators alike, wants to see. But it's practical. The older he gets, the more Busch will see that bigger picture, and the more of a threat he'll become to win it all.
And yet, can Busch evolve into that more mature, more calculated championship contender, and still retain all the parts of him that are so much fun to watch? Therein lies the rub. All drivers adapt over time, and Busch will be no different. But can he be less of a hard charger, less of an all-or-nothing driver, and still keep those facets of his personality that some people love and some people hate? If he wakes up one day willing to trade 36 fifth-place finishes for a championship, will we lose the guy who smashes guitars and talks smack on the radio and plays the villain's role with more gusto than anyone since Jack Nicholson? Will we lose the very things that make Kyle Kyle?
Certainly, we hope not. A lot is changing in Kyle Busch's life—he's getting married, he's started a Camping World Truck Series team, he's trying to rebuild his Cup program, he's on the verge of being surpassed by Danica Patrick as NASCAR's preeminent foot-stomper. He is quite literally growing up right in front of us, and the Busch that emerges on the other end will likely be somewhat different than the one we know now. How different? Perhaps better suited to win a championship. And that's fine, just as long as he promises to wreck a musical instrument every now and then.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Mercedes’ Rosberg leads F1 testing in Barcelona (PA SportsTicker)
February 27, 2010
BARCELONA, SPAIN(AP) —Nico Rosberg gave Mercedes GP’s Formula One fortunes a lift by setting the fastest lap at a preseason testing session.
The German driver was more than seven-tenths of a second faster than Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso in Barcelona on Saturday.
Teammate Michael Schumacher said Friday that Mercedes is unlikely to challenge for victory at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix next month.
Defending champion Jenson Button finished just behind Buemi for McLaren, while Rubens Barrichello of Williams and Felipe Massa of Ferrari rounded out the top five.
Ferrari is among the early favorites for the title along with Red Bull, whose driver Sebastian Vettel was nearly 2.5 seconds back in eighth. He was limited to 51 laps because of mechanical troubles.
Schumacher: Alonso, Ferrari are F1 favorites (PA SportsTicker)
February 27, 2010
BARCELONA, SPAIN(AP) —Michael Schumacher believes Fernando Alonso and former team Ferrari are the favorites going into the Formula One season.
The Mercedes GP driver said Saturday there are “several teams that look very competitive” but the Ferrari pair of Alonso and Felipe Massa “at the moment, look the target.”
A day after saying it was unlikely he will challenge for the win at the season-opening Bahrain GP, the seven-time champion sounded more optimistic.
After studying data, Schumacher believes the German team is in “reasonable” shape going into the championship, although poor weather during testing had hampered preparations.
Alonso edged Schumacher for back-to-back titles in 2005 and ’06.
Kurt Busch wins pole at Las Vegas (PA SportsTicker)
February 27, 2010
By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer
LAS VEGAS(AP)—Kurt Busch visited Victory Lane last year at his home track.
He was there to congratulate his little brother, Kyle, who became the first Busch brother to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He wants his own party this year.
Kurt Busch shattered his brother’s track record Friday with a pole-winning role at Las Vegas, the track he and Kyle Busch consider to be among the most important on the series. The Las Vegas natives watched construction of the track, hopeful to one day get a chance to race there – and maybe even win.
“I’m pretty stoked,” Kurt Busch said. “It’s something you can’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched, but this would be a special win. It’s hard to play what-if.”
Busch grew emotional in his pole-winners press conference, having to stop to compose himself and wipe away tears when he recognized one of his father’s former racing rivals, who was at the track in a media role.
“I just love Vegas,” he said. “It’s the people that make it special to me. It’s just fun seeing everybody.”
Busch turned a lap of 188.719 mph to claim the top starting spot for Sunday’s race. Jeff Gordon was second with a lap at 188.646. Ryan Newman qualified third and was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch.
Kyle Busch held the previous track record of 185.995 mph. In all, 18 drivers bettered that speed.
Busch, who is winless in nine previous starts at Las Vegas, credited new crew chief Steve Addington for his strong qualifying run. Addington was Kyle Busch’s crew chief for Kyle’s win here last year. He was fired in October from Joe Gibbs Racing, and Kurt Busch hired him in December for his team.
“Steve Addington definitely has his game on for this place,” Kurt Busch said.
Only two drivers failed to make the 43-car field, Terry Cook and Casey Mears, who has missed all three of this season’s races.
Johnson can’t feel the love like Tiger did (Yahoo! Sports)
February 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS – Back when Tiger Woods routinely was compiling majors and girlfriends, fans couldn’t get enough of him. They reveled in Tiger accomplishing everything that Phil couldn’t, in him crushing the dreams of Rocco Mediate and they didn’t bat an eye when he sent Bob May back into oblivion.
It didn’t matter that Sundays had become a weekly exercise for second place. In fact, the more Tiger won the better because witnessing dominance on an unprecedented level was what many tuned in to see.
It’s worth recounting because last week when Jimmie Johnson won at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California, the victory was received like a mid-February nor’easter.
More From Jay Hart At the track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway Feb 26, 2010 Speed cuts through the bull Feb 26, 2010
Not again.
Johnson’s dominance is no less colossal than Tiger’s. Tiger wins about once every four tournaments, while Johnson wins once every fifth race, and each has won about twice as many events in the last eight years as his closest contemporary.
So why is it, then, that fans celebrate Tiger’s dominance but are put off by Johnson’s?
It’s a question that befuddles more than it frustrates NASCAR’s four-time defending champion.
“Shaun White is the best at snowboarding. Does it hurt their sport? No,” Johnson said. “You look at golf. Granted Tiger’s got some different issues now, but before that did it hurt golf? No. You go through tennis – [Roger] Federer. Did it hurt that sport? No, it helped. So I think a lot of it is the perception of the fan base, and in our culture, we don’t like to see dominance. We like to see the underdog kind of come through and prevail.”
The irony is Johnson comes from a blue-collar background himself, having grown up in a trailer park. His father drove a delivery truck, his mother a school bus. Johnson, as much as anyone, is the underdog.
With Johnson, it’s more complicated – more layered.
For starters, he’s unrivaled. Phil Mickelson may not win as many tournaments as Tiger, but he’s been in them, challenging Woods on a fairly consistent basis. Their rivalry forced fans to choose sides, giving them a vested interest in what happens regardless if Tiger wins or loses.
Johnson doesn’t have this sort of foe to tweak emotions on either sideline. En route to last year’s title, his closest challengers were teammates (read: friends), and even they were a distant second and third. With no push from another driver, there’s no reason for his fans to cheer any louder, nothing for his detractors to necessarily dislike.
It would help to see Johnson pull off the racing equivalent of hitting a golf ball 240 yards, sticking it within 10 feet of the pin, which Johnson does all the time. Unfortunately, racing doesn’t lend itself to this sort of visual.
Two weeks ago in the closing laps of a qualifying race for the Daytona 500, all the leaders pitted for fresh tires. Johnson, gambling for the win, didn’t. When the race went back to green, Johnson, skating around the track on worn-out tires, managed to fend off all comers – even those who were on fresh rubber – to win.
This is the racing equivalent of knocking a monster 2-iron around a tree, over water, between two sand traps and onto the green. But all fans in the stands and those watching at home saw was Johnson’s car leading the way. What they don’t see was him fighting the wheel, keeping his car off the wall, pulling off a shot (going back to the golf analogy) that rolled 10 feet from the hole – not 50 yards short or into the water.
Then there’s the fist pump. One of the knocks on Johnson is that he’s too vanilla – that he doesn’t show any personality. That’s debatable. What’s not is that Tiger Woods, off the golf course, is as bland as a Saltine cracker, refusing to show even a thimble’s worth of insight into his personality. The only thing keeping him from getting stamped with the “vanilla” label is the fist pump – a spontaneous outburst of raw emotion that makes Tiger humanistic and pumps up the crowd.
Johnson doesn’t have this luxury – to stop what he’s doing to celebrate – not when he’s got Tony Stewart banging on his back bumper. For him, any and all celebration comes after the race when all the drama is gone.
When all these things are thrown together – the void of a rival, the inability to see the athleticism, the lack of opportunity to show emotion within the game, which is when it’s at its highest – it’s a recipe for one big pile of ambivalence.
“I was thinking about this over the weekend,” he said when asked if his dominance hurts NASCAR. “When you’re a kid and you pick a hero, you’re going to pick a person that’s dominating. With that in mind, it cannot be bad for the sport. I know it’s frustrating for people that aren’t a 48 fan. That’s athletics; that’s sports. It happens, but it’s not bad for the sport.”
Actually it is, though it’s not Johnson’s fault. It’s just the nature of the sport he happens to dominate.
Jay Hart is the NASCAR editor for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jay a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
