NASCAR’s bond with the military continues to soar (NASCAR.com)
June 30, 2010
NASCAR and the military—it’s a bond you don’t see anywhere else in the sports world. From pre-race entertainment to sponsorship, from flybys to honored guests at the track—no one group is as closely partnered with NASCAR than the U.S. military.
But how did the marriage come to be? And why does it work so well?
The relationship is where it is today after some hard work, some controversy and some serious thinking outside the box. But one thing is for sure—the bond between NASCAR and the military is as tight as it’s ever been, and for those inside the sport, those serving our country, and those watching in the grandstands, it’s a partnership in which all who are involved are very proud.
Following the Korean War (1950-53) and the Vietnam War (1955-75), some would argue that patriotism was near an all-time low in America. NASCAR at that time was on the verge of exploding in popularity, but in the late ’70s still was a predominantly Southeastern sport.
As hard as it is to believe, NASCAR and the military didn’t have a partnership at that time. The two were as distant as possible—until Humpy Wheeler had an idea.
Wheeler, president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway from 1976-2008, had a thought about his track’s annual Memorial Day weekend race. It’s a thought that makes one scratch their head as to why it took so long, but Wheeler’s thought was a simple one: “Bring the military to the race.”
For a couple of years, it was a tough sell. The military had no interest in being recognized at a NASCAR event. Why would it be there? What would it cost the taxpayers? The connection just didn’t make sense.
Humpy puts the wheels in motion
But in 1980, Wheeler finally had an idea that would bring the military to NASCAR and create a partnership that would span decades.
On Nov. 4, 1979, 66 Americans were taken hostage in Iran. Thirteen of those hostages were released a couple of weeks later, but 53 remained in Iranian control. On April 24, 1980, the United States attempted to rescue those hostages but the mission failed when one of the helicopters crashed during refueling, killing eight American soldiers.
The number easily could have been nine if not for Airman 1st Class Ronnie Tole.
“The helicopter was burning and an airman, Ronnie Tole, jumped out of the plane he was in, went over to the helicopter and went right through that fire and pulled the captain out,” Wheeler said. “[Tole] burned himself severely doing it, particularly his legs.”
Wheeler had heard about the failed rescue, and learned that Tole was at Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio.
“I got [Tole] on the phone, two weeks before the [World] 600 and I asked him if he would come up to Charlotte for the race,” Wheeler said. “His wife and baby were there [with him] and he hadn’t been out of the hospital in six weeks. He said, ‘Yeah I would love to come up there.’”
Wheeler took care of all the financial arrangements, but there was one hiccup that shocked Wheeler—one that had to be addressed immediately.
“The Air Force wouldn’t let him go in public and be recognized with his uniform on,” Wheeler said. “And I just went berserk when I heard that.
“So I called this congressman I knew, and I told him we are going to introduce this guy in the pre-race and they won’t let him wear his Air Force uniform. Well, [the congressman] fixed that real quick.”
On May 25, 1980, there were about 130,000 fans in the grandstands. Pre-race festivities were under way. All 43 drivers had been introduced and it was time for the NASCAR world to meet Airman 1st Class Ronnie Tole.
“Over the PA system,” Wheeler remembered, “we said, ‘We have a very special guest here today. He’s been chosen as the honorary starter. He was a hero in Iran, when he pulled a captain to safety and sustained severe injuries doing it.’
“[Tole] said, ‘I want to go up on the stage myself.’ Well, it’s a flatbed truck with stairs on it and he’s on crutches with his uniform on. As he starts up the stairs, Cale Yarborough broke rank from the drivers and went down to help him. When Cale touched him to help him up the stairs, the people in the grandstands went totally crazy.
“I thought to myself, ‘Well, patriotism is really back in the U.S.”
The emotional story found itself told throughout the military and Wheeler decided now was the time to try and expand on his idea. So, the consummate promoter went to Fort Bragg, 126 miles east of Charlotte, and talked with officials about doing some military maneuvers pre-race at the speedway.
“They have to do a certain amount of maneuvers a month,” Wheeler said. “Whatever tactical thing they are doing. So I said, ‘Why not have a particular maneuver at the speedway instead of Fort Bragg? And in return we will give your Army recruiters access at the track to hand out stuff at the track.’
“So [in 1983] we had the first invasion. And when we had that invasion, nobody knew it was coming. We practiced it three or four weeks beforehand. It was a full-on invasion with Apache helicopters and Chinooks, and Special Forces rappelling down, etc.
“And when those helicopters came in behind the grandstand, the [fans] didn’t know what was going on—they were shocked. These guys are rappelling down the ropes, and they are dropping these 105 Howitzers out of the helicopter and then started firing them at this mythical enemy.
“The people just went nuts. They’d seen something you just can’t see anywhere and certainly never seen it at the track. The fans were ecstatic. The guys from Fort Bragg were ecstatic because it made them look good and the recruiters had a field day because they’ve never been anywhere where there were more potential candidates for recruitment.”
The next year, Wheeler took it a step further and brought the Air Force into the equation, forever changing the NASCAR pre-race.
“I knew these guys from Sumter [S.C., Shaw] Air Force Base flew by the speedway during the week when there were no races and they’d do a turnaround. They’d use the speedway as a landmark,” Wheeler said. “I asked them, ‘When we have the national anthem, can you do a maneuver? You just fly over the speedway at the precise time the national anthem happens.’ I thought that was a pretty cool idea because they were going to have to do it anyway.
“So that was the first time the so called flyover happened. It really worked out well because the people loved it.”
From there, a tradition was born.
Every Memorial Day weekend race at Charlotte, Wheeler involved the military more and more. One year, a replica Navy battleship was in Turn 2. Another year, a replica aircraft carrier was built on the frontstretch. There were more invasions, more explosions, more patriotism.
In the ’90s, in response to Desert Storm and the Gulf War, thousands of soldiers were brought to the track each year as a way to show thanks and give the soldiers just one night to relax and enjoy racing.
“After we did it for three or four years, some of the other tracks wanted to get into the act,” Wheeler said. “So it began to be something that became just a part of racing after a while.”
Sense of pride
1st Sgt. Michael Barrett has served two tours of duty in Iraq. After what happened in his first tour, one would think that would have been enough. But not for Barrett. That’s just not who he is.
“[In my] first tour, I was wounded by a roadside bomb in 2004,” Barrett said. “A roadside bomb hit our truck and shattered my femur, [put] a couple holes in my legs, cut an artery, [suffered] a lot of nerve damage in my lower legs, burns on my right hand and arm, eardrum blown out. I have a titanium femur now with screws.
“It was a long battle of recovery and rehab, lots of issues—but hey, I’m still alive.
“I made it through that and 553 days later, I reenlisted and deployed again back with my Marines, back to where I was wounded.
“I had some serious injuries, but like any Marine, [there’s] a steadfast devotion to serving our country, serving next to our brothers in arms. Just the will alone to stay in the fight gets you through that [recovery] and rehabilitation to back up your Marines and do what it is we’re supposed to be doing which is defend our country.”
The Marines is all Barrett knows. He joined right out of high school. The Marines are his life, and even though it’s been six years since his injuries, he still gets emotional when telling his story.
“It was a long battle. Scary days. I didn’t know what the future laid ahead,” Barrett said, holding back tears. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to stand and lean forward. It was rough but the support of my family, my wife, my parents, the Marines around me, it made getting through rehab a lot easier, if that’s a good word.
“Because of them it kept me strong mentally, physically. It got me back in the fight to be next to my Marines once again. I’m blessed to be able to do what I do today.”
Barrett, a Purple Heart recipient, is currently based out of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and works with the Wounded Warriors at Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A casual NASCAR fan, Barrett is overjoyed at the support the NASCAR community gives to the U.S. military.
“I can see that NASCAR truly cares,” Barrett said. “Open arms, open hearts. You can’t put into words how supportive they are of our sisters and brothers that serve our country in uniform. It’s just phenomenal.”
Lance Cpl. Pierce Acosta agrees.
“It’s really good to see NASCAR is supporting the Armed Forces. Some of the other professional sports should try and follow the lead with that because it really does mean a lot to us,” he said. “I get a sense of pride anytime I see any kind of big organization that really could overlook us and they take the extra step to support us.”
For retired Marine Cpl. Selvyn Wyatt III, an admitted novice to the NASCAR world, he is blown away by the support the sport gives the Armed Forces.
“It makes me feel good because instead of seeing people that don’t care, I see a lot of people do care,” Wyatt said. “I get more of an appreciation, more of an understanding, more of an acceptance to come back home.”
Wyatt, also a Purple Heart recipient, served three tours in Iraq beginning in 2003. In ’05, he was wounded during a battle in Fallujah and suffered a traumatic brain injury that essentially ended his military career.
The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May was Wyatt’s first NASCAR race. And while he was impressed with the sport, it was the military presence that left an impression on him.
“It makes me miss it. It makes me miss being in a uniform,” Wyatt said. “That’s always gonna be in me, it wont go away. I don’t want it to go away. It makes me feel really good that people see what type of hardware we got, and all the advances we have and it pretty much lets them know when we go out to battle, we got some of the best equipment out there.”
Brings out the tears
The bond between the military and NASCAR goes deeper than pre-race shows and sponsorships. NASCAR fans have an appreciation for the military, maybe more so than any other sports’ fan base in America.
NASCAR fans relate to the military on a personal level. Many fans either served, or are related to someone who served. But even if the direct connection isn’t there, there is an appreciation that can’t be denied.
“You got middle America there,” Wheeler said. “The grandstands had always been full of working people. They always were, they still are and they always will. Race fans are down in the grandstands drinking beer. It’s middle America, it’s red white and blue. This fan base is totally an American, God-fearin’, flag-wavin’ people. It’s like an NRA convention every Sunday.”
Alan Kepple, of Illinois, is one of those people. Drafted in the Vietnam era, Kepple thinks the NASCAR/military bond is fantastic.
“I think it’s great,” Kepple said. “I’m an old military person myself—in the Air Force for 10 years—and I think it’s wonderful. These guys are real heroes.”
Ronald Smith is a lifelong NASCAR fan who goes to Charlotte and Martinsville on a regular basis. A Navy veteran of the ’70s, Smith likes the fact NASCAR doesn’t shy away from the military—when it could be easier not to get involved.
“My son, Ronald Smith Jr., is based at Ramstein Air Force Base [in Germany], and I’m very proud of him and I’m proud of all the guys,” Smith said. “I’m really happy that NASCAR has embraced the military and is putting them in the forefront.
“I just get all welled up with pride, for our country and for the guys that are defending our freedom.”
Holly Ball also gets emotional when it comes to the bond between NASCAR and the military. Ball is the wife of a 22-year Navy veteran, and she thinks more needs to be done to recognize the sacrifice of this country’s veterans.
“[My husband and I] have been coming to Charlotte since 2008, both races. I really like the military aspect,” Ball said. “We should be doing more for our vets, more for our military members. I think in actuality, the military, they live below the poverty level. If you put their pay scale against other pay scales, they live below the poverty level. A lot of our homeless are military and that’s horrible.
“My hats off to all of them; it brings tears to my eyes.”
The one thing that seems to resonate with the fans and soldiers more than anything else is the flyover. A brief moment in a long NASCAR weekend, but one that has so much meaning.
“It’s awesome, words can’t describe it,” Ball said. “I love it. It’s one of the things I look forward to. It makes you feel proud.”
“I’ve seen them before at football games and baseball games and other military events,” Barrett said. “But when you hear those screamin’ engines flyin’ over, if you don’t get chills in your heart, you’re not a true American.
“I get chills every single time I see it. It does not get old, that’s the sound of freedom flying over our heads.”
A mutual respect
From Cale Yarborough’s selfless gesture in 1980, to today when nearly every Cup driver in the garage has some sort of tie to the Armed Forces, the marriage between NASCAR and the military is as strong as ever.
Sure, the sponsorships are out there: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the National Guard, Ryan Newman and the Army, past sponsorships with the Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
But the marriage wouldn’t work if there wasn’t a mutual respect. The soldiers appreciate what the drivers do but more importantly, the drivers in the garage have a ton of admiration four our nation’s soldiers.
“I think that people in this sport really appreciate effort,” Jeff Burton said. “As technical as we try to make this, we know this is a blue-collar sport. We like to believe we are soldiers too, but we know they are the real ones.
“This garage is always supportive of the military. It’s been unbelievable. This garage does a lot of cool things but the way the military is supported is second to none and I’m real proud of everybody for what they do for the military.”
For Burton, it all comes down to one word: sacrifice.
“Those guys ain’t doing it for the money. And they aren’t doing it because they get to spend a lot of time at home,” Burton said. They’re not doing it because it’s the easy way. They’ve taken the hard way and they’ve made a tremendous sacrifice for everybody else’s good and that takes a special person.
“When they join, they know what they are possibly getting into but until they get into it—that takes a [lot] to go do that. It’s pretty cool to be around them because they never act like tough guys, they never act like I’m badder than you, I’m tougher than you. They are always polite, mild-mannered; but you know, you don’t want to get on the wrong side of them.”
David Reutimann sees a common bond between NASCAR and the military, and that’s why the two American institutions are as connected as they are.
“I think NASCAR has just got behind the military wholeheartedly. I think all the race teams have, as well,” Reutimann said. “You’ve got soldiers, they’re sports fans, they like football, baseball, racing and things like that. It’s a nice bridge to be able to go back and do things.
“They work so hard and do so many things and they know about what it’s like to be a team, be a part of a team. And that’s why the racing world connects with them. It’s all about teamwork, whether it’s a race team or the military. NASCAR fans are some diehard, patriotic fans as they should be and I think that’s why it works really, really well.”
Whatever the connection, those who serve this country, who put their lives on the line for this country, are grateful a sport like NASCAR puts their sacrifice in the forefront. The soldiers don’t ask for the gratitude, but they are thankful it’s there.
“It makes me feel great to know that there are a lot of great people who appreciate us, appreciate what we do and have a high level of support for us,” Barrett said. “NASCAR does a phenomenal job of that.”
Reutimann needs sudden hot streak
June 30, 2010
LOUDON, N.H. (AP)—David Reutimann’s lofty preseason expectations at making the Chase have been whittled to a bundle of frayed nerves with nine championship-or-bust races to go.
He has no desire to scan the points standings to check how far away he is from landing a spot in the 12-car field.
“There’s no really point,” he said. “I figure when you get close to where you need to be, someone will let me know.”
No one has told Reutimann he’s close enough to drive for the title—yet.
Reutimann has been as steady as any driver over the last nine races, finishing somewhere between fifth and 20th. He’s been consistent enough in the No. 00 to make the Chase reachable, just not strong enough to make a huge leap in points.
At least he hasn’t wrecked his way out of chances.
Reutimann knows he’s running out of time to catapult his way into the top 12 and qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. With nine races left until the field is set, Reutimann is finding himself a long shot.
He’s 150 points behind Carl Edwards for the 12th and final spot. It’s not out of reach, but the 19th-place Reutimann would have to surge past six drivers to run for the championship over the last 10 races.
“We need top-fives everywhere you look in order to gain ground,” Reutimann said. “We definitely have our work cut out for us, but if we run like we’re supposed to run, we can legitimately still do it.”
Reutimann can point to some disastrous bad luck early in the season if he fails to make the Chase. He suffered blown motors at Atlanta, Bristol and Texas—all races where he was running inside the top 10. He finished 28th or worse in four of five miserable races from Atlanta to Texas earlier this season to sink in the standings.
“The stuff we had happen to us at the beginning of the year, it’s hard to make up for that,” he said. “We’ve been as far back as 30th and we’ve been able to kind of claw back to where we are now.”
Reutimann knows how to claw back as well as just about any driver in the Cup series. He made his debut in NASCAR’s top level at 35, competing in one race in 2005. Reutimann didn’t drive in the series again until 2007 and for only 26 races.
One of the nicest guys in the garage, he landed a full-time ride in 2008 and won his first Cup race last year.
Reutimann, who drives for Michael Waltrip Racing, flirted with making the Chase for the first time last season. He was within six points of Mark Martin for 12th place at one point, before fading to finish 16th overall.
His run heightened expectations at MWR that he could bust through and find his name in the championship hunt with Chase veterans such as Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick.
“Our performance has been well above what we did last year,” he said. “We just had some mechanical failures that have relegated us to 40th or worse in some of those races. We had good cars in all those races, and just had some failures. That’s all that put us back. Performance-wise, we’re better. Finishing, not so much.”
He’s heating up at the right time.
In the last nine races, Reutimann has scored 1,147 points—eighth most of any driver—and moved from 30th in points to 19th. The 11-position gain is the largest of any driver over that span. Reutimann and Harvick are the only two drivers to finish on the lead lap of the last nine races.
Up ahead this week is a return trip Daytona, where Reutimann finished fifth in the season-opening Daytona 500.
Reutimann is looking for more than a few wins—he’s still waiting to sign his new contract with MWR. He’s signed a series of one-year deals since joining MWR in 2007, and extended job security was something he wanted during talks on another extension that have lingered for months.
Team owner Michael Waltrip said in May that a new deal was “imminent.”
Both sides are still apart.
“It would help a lot just to be done with it and not have to worry about it anymore,” Reutimann said. “Everybody’s trying to get in the same place. I think we’re pretty close to being on the same sheet. You used to shake a guy’s hand and go drive his race car. That’s not the way it works anymore.”
Reutimann isn’t overly concerned about putting the finishing touches on his deal or reading the updated standings after each race.
He wants to reward MWR for its faith in him by qualifying for the Chase. This deep into the season, there’s really only one way to get there.
“We need to win some races,” he said. “Not just a race, but races.”
Hamlin’s recovery hits close to home (NASCAR.com)
June 30, 2010
How did Denny Hamlin do it?
That was the first thought that occurred to me as they wheeled my wife out of the hospital, her left leg wrapped up like an overstuffed burrito, a black brace full of buttons and clasps and Velcro strips running from her thigh all the way down to her calf. She’d had pain in her knee for months, discomfort that first stopped her from running, then prevented her from riding a bicycle, and finally started to bother her on the short walk from her parking garage to her office at work. A few visits to the orthopedist’s office confirmed what we already knew—torn meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament. She needed to have them both repaired.
Which meant, of course, a procedure we began to call Denny Hamlin surgery, after the Joe Gibbs Racing driver who had the same ligament and same piece of cartilage repaired in the same knee back in April, and 10 days later was back in the race car. We all knew he was making it look easy, gritting through the pain, never complaining over the radio, even eschewing the use of crutches. It’s hard to forget him limping out of his transporter that morning at Phoenix International Raceway, shuffling over to his No. 11 Toyota with a barely-disguised limp, and flinging that ramrod-straight, deadweight left leg through the window opening.
To someone who had covered various other sports in which athletes occasionally blew out ACLs, who knew it was usually the kind of injury that sidelined a competitor for months, it all seemed a somewhat superhuman effort, especially after Hamlin completed all 378 laps of the event, especially knowing that his choice of profession severely limited his use of painkillers on race weekend. How much did it hurt? “More than I can tell you.” he said then. Nobody doubted him.
But to see someone close to you go through almost the exact procedure, and to view first-hand just how painful and limiting the ensuing recovery period can be, makes you wonder how Hamlin was ever able to get through it. His injury was the result of an instant, catastrophic failure, a tear during a pickup basketball game in January. My wife’s was a much more gradual process, as the graft she had implanted in her left knee after an injury she suffered years ago playing college lacrosse slowly gave way. Back then an ACL repair was quite an ordeal, and she has the vertical scar running down the length of her knee to prove it. She was in the hospital for almost as many days as Hamlin was out of the race car.
Arthroscopic surgery has greatly simplified the process—you go to the hospital in the morning, and you come home that afternoon with a couple of holes in your leg and a cadaver ligament bolted to your knee. Still, knowing full well how difficult the experience had been the first time around, she was dreading the surgery. I tried to comfort her, telling her how far sports medicine had evolved since she was a teenager, and pointing to the example of Hamlin. He was back in the car 10 days later! He did 378 miles! He never complained! He never even used crutches! Piece of cake!
In retrospect, it seems I oversimplified things, as I learned after I drove my groggy wife home, helped her shuffle gingerly into bed, placed pillows under her left leg to elevate it, and packed her knee in ice. Hard part is over, right? My wife is one tough lady, a former trauma nurse with an atmospherically high pain tolerance that makes me look like a complete weenie by comparison. T-minus nine days, and she’ll be ready to roll, just like Hamlin was. Or so I thought, until she woke up and uttered seven words that made me realize the recovery process might be a little more trying than Denny made it seem.
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
And so the orchestration began—me grabbing her under the arms and pulling her upright, then cupping both my arms around her bum left leg and slowly, carefully lowering it to the floor as she swung herself out of bed. Holding her steady with one hand, fishing for her crutches with the other. Helping her stay upright as she wobbled to the privy, because she couldn’t as yet place any weight on her left leg. Every movement required all the coordination of an element in pairs figure skating. Days later, when she was finally allowed to take a shower—an experience that involved wrapping the affected area with plastic wrap, sealing it with waterproof tape, and both of us getting soaked—we plotted every detail like a general planning to seize an enemy village.
This, surely, was the part of Hamlin’s rehabilitation we never saw, those difficult first few days when any kind of movement required a great deal of assistance, and the repaired knee had to be attended to like a fussy opera singer. The pillows that kept it elevated had to be adjusted a little higher, a little forward, a little back. The skin inside the brace started itching and needed to be scratched. The little blue cooler that fed cold water to the blue pack around the knee constantly needed to be refilled with ice, and then held up in the air for several minutes to get the flow going. There were medicines that needed to be administered at certain intervals, crackers and juice that needed to be on standby to ward off any nausea from the painkillers, pets that needed to be shooed away each time they jumped on the bed. And then—dinner! Oh no! Thank goodness for parents and rotisserie chicken.
Eventually she started doing some doctor-prescribed leg lifts, the first small steps in rehabilitation. As the days went by she learned how to swing herself out of bed and hobble around on crutches unassisted. She weaned herself off the pain medicine, substituted freezer packs for the ice cooler. She started to go a little stir crazy, started to move around a little too much, started to wander outside or threaten to go up the stairs, the latter of which was strictly verboten. The orthopedist told us one danger was feeling too good too soon and inadvertently damaging the repaired ligament, something I preached to her every day. Still, she got tired of sitting in bed, and wanted to move around, even it meant feeling sore and having to dig the ice packs out of the freezer at night.
But make no mistake about it, she was still very limited. Her brace was set to give her zero degrees of motion, which meant she couldn’t flex her left leg. She’s planned to be away from work for three weeks. Goodness knows when she’ll be able to ditch the crutches and place her full weight back on her left leg. Granted, this is not major surgery, not like a transplant or a tumor removal. It’s not life and death. But the recovery is still very careful and very measured, and a week later there are many more things she can’t do than she can. Hamlin bypassed much of that to get back in the car as quickly as possible, and goodness knows how much pain he had to put up with in the process.
So yes, this experience has given us both a greater appreciation for the perseverance that Hamlin showed in getting back in the car so soon after his ACL repair. No question, there were moments when you could tell just how much it hurt, when you’d see him with an ice bag on that left knee, and knew it was throbbing. But he didn’t use crutches, at least not in public. He surely had on a brace under his firesuit, but certainly not one as large and cumbersome as my wife is wearing now. All the swelling she has in her left knee, he had removed via syringe on the afternoon before the Phoenix race. He didn’t have the luxury of narcotic painkillers, which to most people in this situation are an absolute lifesaver. Looking back on it, Denny Hamlin was one tough sucker.
And 11 days later he was wheeling the No. 11 car around the Phoenix race track, completing 378 bone-rattling laps. My wife is already talking about driving herself to the grocery store. Unlike Joe Gibbs, I’m going to hide the keys.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Unpredictable Daytona ripe for flier on a Roush driver (NASCAR.com)
June 30, 2010
Their numbers may not wow you, but dont be surprised if Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth quietly find their way to the front at Daytona.
There are a lot of factors that go into handicapping a race on the restrictor-plate superspeedways, and the most important of these is, frankly, luck. Drivers can run in the lead pack all afternoon only to see their hopes for a good finish wiped out by another racer’s decision.
Positions that can take several laps to gain can be lost in a single corner if a driver gets shuffled out of the draft—and that could be the most pleasant outcome. A slight miscalculation in closing rate or the width of one’s bumper also can result in the Big One that eliminates up to half the field in one smoldering tangle of twisted metal.
There are drivers with a knack for staying out of trouble on the plate tracks, but no one is entirely immune. This week, you will want to make a calculated choice about whom to place on your roster, but don’t overspend on any marquee driver.
Dark horses have an equal opportunity to finish with the leaders when so many variables are in play. Last year, Brad Keselowski was the surprise winner of the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega and Marcos Ambrose earned a pair of top-10s at Talladega and Daytona in the middle of that same season.
Fate is fickle, however. In the two plate races held so far in 2010, Keselowski finished 36th in the Daytona 500 and 34th in the Aaron’s 499. Ambrose fared even worse with a 41st- and 37th-place finish in those two races, respectively.
A person could lose a lot of money betting on NASCAR restrictor-plate superspeedway races, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t favorites at Daytona. In the age of parity, streaks are hard to achieve on any track with only a handful of drivers capable of sweeping a season each year. In 2009, four drivers swept the top 10 at Daytona, which means they had the right combination of luck and skill. Notably, only one of those drivers was able to carry his streak into ’10, however.
Matt Kenseth has the right temperament for plate racing. He’s not flashy, he doesn’t take unnecessary risks, and there is a little ice water running through his veins. While he certainly won’t run with the lead pack all afternoon, points are paid at the end of the race and he enters the weekend with four consecutive top-10s on this track that includes a 2009 Daytona 500 victory. He’s been strong in the spring, but he’s on fire in the summer with five consecutive top-10s in the Fourth of July weekend classic. Because he lacks flare, he’s liable to fly under the radar screen this week and that will allow you to gain ground on the competition.
The driver with the best record during the past three years is Kurt Busch. He entered this year’s Daytona 500 with a five-race streak of top-10s; better still, four of these were top-fives and that means he was in contention to win on any given weekend. He hasn’t won on this track yet, but with three second-place finishes, he’s come close. His willingness to push other drivers across the finish line is actually part of his strength, in fact, because it means he is less likely to get into trouble while trying to make an ill-timed pass. That also can be witnessed by the fact that he’s only failed to finish one race and been significantly slowed in only three other events in 19 previous starts because of crash damage.
Prior to this year’s Daytona 500, it was easy to overlook Jamie McMurray’s 2009 fall Talladega victory because it had been two years since he had last earned a top-10 on this track type. That last taste of success was a victory in the ’07 edition of the Pepsi 400, however, and it has even more significance this week because of his ’10 Daytona 500 triumph. In fact, McMurray is the hottest plate driver in the field this week with another second-place result at Talladega this spring, which gives him three consecutive results of second or better on the big tracks. That is going to put an extra bounce in his step on Saturday night.
Dark Horses
Dark horses run rampant on the plate tracks. Car owner James Finch has made a career out of placing brash young newbies or grizzled veterans without current full-time rides in his car only to watch them run with the well-funded leaders. This was most successful in last year’s Talladega race with Keselowski. And Finch also has earned seven additional plate-track top-10s with drivers such as Mike Wallace, Mike Bliss and Geoffrey Bodine behind the wheel. This week’s most pleasant surprise could come from anywhere in the field, but there are a couple of drivers who should be watched.
The Favorites
Ever since his days with Dale Earnhardt Inc., Paul Menard has been at his best on the plate tracks. After failing to qualify in back-to-back Daytona 500s in 2006 and ’07, he’s finished 23rd or better in five of his past six starts on this course. Two of those results were top-15s, including an impressive 13th in this year’s Great American Race. In addition, he finished second at Talladega in the fall ’09 event and was 13th on that same track this past spring. He’s likely to be available with a bargain-basement price tag and that will help you stretch your salary-cap dollar.
Marcos Ambrose is another driver to watch this week. His past three starts on the plate tracks have been miserable with results of 34th or worse, but in the past couple of weeks, his luck seems to have reversed. When fate is smiling on him, he holds a pretty wheel on the superspeedways and his first three attempts ended in a 17th in the 2009 Daytona 500, followed by a fourth at Talladega, and a sixth in last year’s Coke Zero 400. He will have to avoid the Big One to finish that well again this week but then again, the same holds true for the other 42 drivers in the field.
Underdogs
Juan Montoya can be his own worst enemy. Last week, he started a downhill slide at New Hampshire by roughhousing with Jeff Gordon, losing his momentum, and getting shuffled back in traffic with minor damage to his fenders. The hits kept coming when he got impatient with a lap-down car piloted by an ex-teammate who bore little love for the former F1 ace. Reed Sorenson had the final word in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and sent the No. 42 spinning into the wall and out of the race. If the same thing happens at Daytona, the results will be just as catastrophic; but by the numbers, Montoya has to be considered at least an underdog to win. He finished ninth in this race last year, was 15th in the 2009 Daytona 500, and has back-to-back top-10s in both plate races this year. If you put him on your roster, just hope that he doesn’t rub anyone the wrong way.
Greg Biffle is another underrated plate racer, but he manages to find the lead pack before the checkered flag waves. In his past six attempts at Daytona and Talladega, he’s swept the top 20 with two top-fives and three top-10s as his high-water mark. At the end of the day, that has been good enough for an average finish of 11.5 in that span of events and fantasy owners will be happy to take consistency over raw power on a track that has danger lurking in every corner.
Fantasy Power Ranking Restrictor-plate superspeedways (past three years) Pos.DriverPA* Pos.DriverPA* Pos.DriverPA* 1.Kyle Busch6.96 16.Mark Martin16.17 31.J.J. Yeley24.502.Todd Bodine7.33 17.Kasey Kahne16.44 32.Steve Park25.003.Dale Earnhardt Jr.9.16 18.Joey Logano17.23 33.A.J. Allmendinger25.694.Denny Hamlin10.22 19.Martin Truex Jr.17.30 34.Dave Blaney26.055.David Ragan12.30 20.Carl Edwards17.39 35.Marcos Ambrose26.486.Tony Stewart12.54 21.Ryan Newman19.28 36.Scott Speed27.117.Jeff Gordon12.70 22.Greg Biffle19.88 37.Robby Gordon27.148.Jimmie Johnson13.76 23.Jamie McMurray20.69 38.Sam Hornish Jr.27.179.Juan Montoya14.36 24.Brad Keselowski20.97 39.Regan Smith28.3910.Kurt Busch14.60 25.David Stremme21.04 40.Joe Nemechek29.9611.Kevin Harvick14.86 26.Travis Kvapil21.29 41.Robert Richardson31.9112.Jeff Burton15.23 27.David Reutimann21.92 42.Michael McDowell32.2513.Matt Kenseth15.31 28.Paul Menard22.26 43.Max Papis36.1514.Clint Bowyer15.62 29.Reed Sorenson23.03 44.Kevin Conway40.0015.Elliott Sadler16.10 30.Bobby Labonte23.97
Stewart, Busch hope for steady show at Daytona (NASCAR.com)
June 30, 2010
Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch are two to keep your eye on this weekend at Daytona.
One never can tell where Tony Stewart or Kyle Busch will finish up in any given race this season.
The two men are among the top driving talents in the world, yet can’t seem to string together any lengthy consistency.
Take Stewart for instance. After starting the season with three top 10s over the first five races, he plummeted. From race No. 6 at Martinsville through race No. 11 at Darlington, Stewart had six consecutive finishes outside the top 15 for the first time in his career.
The swoon dropped him from fifth in the series standings to a low-water mark of 18th.
Over that span, Stewart’s numbers collapsed. He had an average finish of 23.8, a Driver Rating of 76.6, an average running position of 17.0 and a percentage of laps in the top 15 of 38.4.
The 2010 valleys have peaked of late, though. He’s currently on a run of four consecutive top-10s, and is back in the top 12 in points (ninth).
Likewise, his stats have been robust during the successful stretch. Over the past four races, Stewart has had an average finish of 4.8, a Driver Rating of 101.1 and a laps in the top 15 percentage of 79.8 percent.
Then there’s the curious case of Busch. He also succumbed to unpredictable ups and downs throughout the first 17 races.
Busch started the season with four consecutive finishes outside the top 10. Then starting with race No. 7 at Phoenix, he ripped off eight consecutive top-10 runs—which included wins at Richmond and Dover.
During that prosperous period, Busch boasted an average finish of 4.3, a Driver Rating of 117.5, an average running position of 6.6 and a laps in the top 15 percentage of 90.8 percent.
But then, once again, down times arrived for Busch. He has had three consecutive finishes outside the top 10, including a 39th at Infineon Raceway.
During the three-race slump, which dropped him from second to third in the points standings, Busch had an average finish of 23.3, a Driver Rating of 72.8 and an average running position of 21.0.
But there’s good news on the immediate horizon: Daytona International Speedway.
Both Stewart and Busch excel there.
Best single race Driver RatingsPos.DriverDateDriver Rating1.Tony Stewart7/05143.42.Tony Stewart7/09141.53.Tony Stewart7/06137.04.Kyle Busch2/08133.15.Denny Hamlin7/09128.1Daytona International Speedway
Stewart owns some of the top statistics in the series at Daytona: a series-best Driver Rating of 104.5, an average running position of 12.2 (third-best) and 54 fastest laps run (third).
Predictably, Stewart’s overall numbers at restrictor plate tracks since the inception of Loop Data in 2005 are strong. In 22 plate events (all at Daytona and Talladega), Stewart has a Driver Rating of 96.7, an average running position of 13.4, 103 fastest laps run and a pass differential (passes minus times passed) of plus-225.
Though his finishes aren’t always spectacular, Busch has become one of the top restrictor plate racers in the series. In 2010, he might be the best—despite finishes of only 14th and ninth in the Daytona 500 and Talladega, respectively.
Yet his Driver Rating in those two races is a series-best 104.5 and his average running position is a series-best 9.3.
Best single race average running positionsPos.DriverDateARP1.Tony Stewart7/051.22.Tony Stewart7/091.73.Tony Stewart2/052.14.Denny Hamlin7/092.95.Dale Earnhardt Jr.7/083.0Daytona International Speedway
New cars giving Nationwide much-needed buzz
June 30, 2010
There was a time, when NASCAR’s brightest stars weren’t the guys in the driver’s seat but the cars they drove to Victory Lane.
Richard Petty changed all that, his larger-than-life persona giving the fledgling sport a national presence 40 years ago and paving the way for the likes of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jimmie Johnson to hog center stage while the cars were relegated to secondary roles.
NASCAR will start swinging the pendulum back the other way when the Nationwide Series’ revamped car makes its debut at Daytona on Friday. It’s a welcome move long overdue said Jamie Allison, Ford’s director of North American motorsports.
“We have gone through an era where obviously it was a manufacturer’s battle, and then gone to an era where the drivers were the stars,” he said. “Now we are entering an era where the cars are the stars, and I think it’s good for the sport.”
Ford (Mustang), Dodge (Challenger), Toyota (Camry) and Chevrolet (Impala) will all have their respective versions of the new car on display Friday, the first of four races for the new car this season before it becomes fully integrated in 2011.
Officials are quick to point out the new rides are not to be confused with the Car of Tomorrow, a moniker bestowed upon the safe but somewhat clunky platform currently used in the Cup Series.
Maybe that’s because what Nationwide is using is really the Car of Yesterday.
Save for the paint job, the Dodge Challenger that series points leader Brad Keselowski will take to the track on Friday looks like the one found on the sales floor at your neighborhood dealer. Same goes for the Mustang, which will have the familiar silver pony logo on the grille.
Though the makeovers given to the Camry and Impala are more subtle, the new designs are a decided departure from the homogenized look NASCAR’s two top series have adopted in recent years, where sometimes the only way to tell a car’s manufacturer is to catch a glimpse of the sticker on the hood.
“The cars look very sexy,” said Keselowski. “They look like a production car you always wanted to drive. Some of that has been lost over the last decade or so in NASCAR. … We think this is going to be a big burst of energy for the sport.”
The cars feature many of the same safety characteristics of the Cup cars on the inside, namely the centering of the driver’s seat. The body changes, however, allow the Nationwide Series to sell a distinct brand.
“It’s given us the ability to kind of take a vision to give the Nationwide Series its own unique look and have our vehicle drive different than the other race cars that we see that race (in Cup),” said Nationwide Series director Joe Balash.
The move also levels the playing field in the series. Testing in the new car has been limited. Keselowski doesn’t see that as a problem. Of course, he has the benefit of holding a 247-point lead over Carl Edwards.
“You’re just going to have to show up and figure it out on the fly,” he said. “It’s kind of like back on the old days, where you’d have a Mario Andretti show up and get in the Sprint car after being in an Indy car.”
Cup star Kevin Harvick sees the new car as a chance to catch up to Kyle Busch.
Though Keselowski is running away with the points title, Busch has been dominant whenever he shows up to drive his No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch has six wins in 13 starts this year, including last week in New Hampshire.
“The best part about it is that 18 car won’t have those cars to race any more, so hopefully we can close that competition gap on the Nationwide side and close that up a little bit,” Harvick said.
Longtime NASCAR owner Roger Penske thinks the redesigned car will make it easier for teams to cut costs while also attracting new investors.
“With the advanced chassis that you run (in Cup), having it be the same that we can run in Nationwide, you’re going to have some of these cars that we might run on Sunday then can be sold or handed down to smaller teams,” he said. “I think that’s a real advantage to get more people in the sport. We couldn’t do (that) now because there’s a difference.”
Above all, however, the new design has given the Nationwide Series some much-needed buzz while harkening back to the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” model the sport was built on.
If one of the new cars wins this weekend, the exposure could be felt in the showroom a few days later. In the current economy, that’s never a bad thing.
“There will be a spike (in interest) after the race,” said Dodge president and CEO Ralph Gilles. “And we will watch this weekend very carefully.”
Reutimann needs sudden hot streak (PA SportsTicker)
June 30, 2010
By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer
LOUDON, N.H.(AP)—David Reutimann’s lofty preseason expectations at making the Chase have been whittled to a bundle of frayed nerves with nine championship-or-bust races to go.
He has no desire to scan the points standings to check how far away he is from landing a spot in the 12-car field.
“There’s no really point,” he said. “I figure when you get close to where you need to be, someone will let me know.”
No one has told Reutimann he’s close enough to drive for the title – yet.
Reutimann has been as steady as any driver over the last nine races, finishing somewhere between fifth and 20th. He’s been consistent enough in the No. 00 to make the Chase reachable, just not strong enough to make a huge leap in points.
At least he hasn’t wrecked his way out of chances.
Reutimann knows he’s running out of time to catapult his way into the top 12 and qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. With nine races left until the field is set, Reutimann is finding himself a long shot.
He’s 150 points behind Carl Edwards for the 12th and final spot. It’s not out of reach, but the 19th-place Reutimann would have to surge past six drivers to run for the championship over the last 10 races.
“We need top-fives everywhere you look in order to gain ground,” Reutimann said. “We definitely have our work cut out for us, but if we run like we’re supposed to run, we can legitimately still do it.”
Reutimann can point to some disastrous bad luck early in the season if he fails to make the Chase. He suffered blown motors at Atlanta, Bristol and Texas – all races where he was running inside the top 10. He finished 28th or worse in four of five miserable races from Atlanta to Texas earlier this season to sink in the standings.
“The stuff we had happen to us at the beginning of the year, it’s hard to make up for that,” he said. “We’ve been as far back as 30th and we’ve been able to kind of claw back to where we are now.”
Reutimann knows how to claw back as well as just about any driver in the Cup series. He made his debut in NASCAR’s top level at 35, competing in one race in 2005. Reutimann didn’t drive in the series again until 2007 and for only 26 races.
One of the nicest guys in the garage, he landed a full-time ride in 2008 and won his first Cup race last year.
Reutimann, who drives for Michael Waltrip Racing, flirted with making the Chase for the first time last season. He was within six points of Mark Martin for 12th place at one point, before fading to finish 16th overall.
His run heightened expectations at MWR that he could bust through and find his name in the championship hunt with Chase veterans such as Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick.
“Our performance has been well above what we did last year,” he said. “We just had some mechanical failures that have relegated us to 40th or worse in some of those races. We had good cars in all those races, and just had some failures. That’s all that put us back. Performance-wise, we’re better. Finishing, not so much.”
He’s heating up at the right time.
In the last nine races, Reutimann has scored 1,147 points – eighth most of any driver – and moved from 30th in points to 19th. The 11-position gain is the largest of any driver over that span. Reutimann and Harvick are the only two drivers to finish on the lead lap of the last nine races.
Up ahead this week is a return trip Daytona, where Reutimann finished fifth in the season-opening Daytona 500.
Reutimann is looking for more than a few wins – he’s still waiting to sign his new contract with MWR. He’s signed a series of one-year deals since joining MWR in 2007, and extended job security was something he wanted during talks on another extension that have lingered for months.
Team owner Michael Waltrip said in May that a new deal was “imminent.”
Both sides are still apart.
“It would help a lot just to be done with it and not have to worry about it anymore,” Reutimann said. “Everybody’s trying to get in the same place. I think we’re pretty close to being on the same sheet. You used to shake a guy’s hand and go drive his race car. That’s not the way it works anymore.”
Reutimann isn’t overly concerned about putting the finishing touches on his deal or reading the updated standings after each race.
He wants to reward MWR for its faith in him by qualifying for the Chase. This deep into the season, there’s really only one way to get there.
“We need to win some races,” he said. “Not just a race, but races.”
Alonso, Hamilton renew old tensions at European GP (PA SportsTicker)
June 30, 2010
By GUY HEDGECOE Associated Press Writer
MADRID(AP)—The tensions that marked the relationship between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton when they were McLaren teammates in 2007 have flared up following the European Grand Prix.
Alonso said the race in Valencia on Sunday had been “manipulated,” and his Ferrari team labeled it “a scandal.” Hamilton, meanwhile, has said Alonso is upset because of his poor showing.
Alonso was in third, a place behind Hamilton, when the safety car came on after a spectacular crash involving Mark Webber on the ninth lap.
Hamilton overtook the safety car and was handed a drive-through sanction, but managed to hold onto second behind winner Sebastian Vettel.
Alonso, however, slipped down the field to finish ninth, before moving up to eighth after race stewards handed time penalties to several drivers for infringements.
The Ferrari driver said there was too much of a delay – 15 laps – before Hamilton was penalized, allowing the McLaren driver to build up a substantial gap on the other cars before taking the drive-through penalty.
“Hamilton overtook the safety car, something that I had never seen, overtaking the medical car with yellow flags,” Alonso said. “We were a meter off each other, and he finished second and I finished ninth. It’s a shame, not for us because this is racing, but for all the fans who came here to watch a manipulated race.”
In a statement Sunday, Hamilton responded by saying: “I took my penalty … and I came out second. … I don’t see how that’s unfair.”
The episode between the drivers echoes the 2007 season, when Alonso and Hamilton had highly publicized tensions as teammates at McLaren. Alonso – the reigning world champion at the time – believed Hamilton was getting preferential treatment from the British team and he left for Renault at the end of the season. After two dismal years with the French team, the Spaniard departed for Ferrari.
The Italian team backed its driver on its website, saying: “A scandal, that’s the opinion of so many fans and employees who are all in agreement: there is no other way to describe what happened during the European Grand Prix.
“The way the race and the incidents during it were managed raise doubts that could see Formula 1 lose some credibility again, as it was seen around the world.”
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said the handling of the issue was “unacceptable” and that it has created “dangerous precedents.”
Since Sunday, Hamilton has said that Alonso’s outburst stems from frustration over his poor showing in the race.
“I saw him overtaken by a Sauber. He must have been completely in another world,” the Briton said, referring to Alonso being passed by Kamui Kobayashi near the end of the race. “It’s very unlike him to be overtaken by a Sauber.”
Hamilton added: “I don’t understand why I affected his race so much. Everyone has a right to their opinion, and he must be disappointed with his own result, but I didn’t do anything to him.”
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali downplayed Alonso’s talk of the race being “manipulated,” saying the driver had been “in a hot moment,” and Alonso apologized Tuesday on the Ferrari website for criticizing race stewards.
However, the sport’s governing body, the FIA, appears to have responded to Ferrari’s request to revise the regulations concerning the safety car, calling a meeting of the Sporting Working Group to go through the issues ahead of the British Grand Prix on July 11.
Hamilton leads the drivers’ standings with 127 points, ahead of teammate Jenson Button on 121. Alonso is fifth with 98 points.
Race to the Chase: Nine races to go (Yahoo! Sports)
June 30, 2010
With nine races to go before the Chase field is set, just 99 points separate Carl Edwards in 12th and Joey Logano in 16th. That may sound like a lot, but consider this: if Logano were to collect a 10th-place finish at Daytona and Edwards were to get caught in a wreck and finish 35th – a scenario that is not too farfetched – the margin would be trimmed to just 23 points.
In other words, there are still a lot of possibilities for drivers to move in and out of the top 12 before the playoff field is set.
What do drivers need to do to get in? What are their weaknesses? And where can they make up ground between this weekend’s race in Daytona and the final regular season race in Richmond?
Every Wednesday, Yahoo! Sports will break down those drivers who remain on the bubble.
(NOTE: The estimated average finish needed is based on the points total each driver needs in order to match the average number of points the 12th-place driver earned after Race No. 26 in the 2007-09 seasons.)
8. Jeff Burton
Points vs. 12th: +139Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 17.8Best remaining track: Richmond International Raceway (14.4)Worst remaining track: Watkins Glen International (22.1)Daytona average: 17.5Est. avg. finish needed: 17thComment: Burton shouldn’t be in this position. He’s run well enough to be sitting comfortably right now. Luck, however, hasn’t been on his side. As long as he can avoid trouble, Burton will be fine.
9. Tony Stewart
Points vs. 12th: +138Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 11.5Best remaining track: Watkins Glen International (5.3)Worst remaining track: Daytona International Speedway (16.7)Daytona average: 16.7Est. avg. finish needed: 17thComment: Stewart has gone from potentially missing the Chase to probable lock thanks to four straight top-10 finishes. That’s the good. The bad is he’s got work to do to become a legit championship contender.
10. Greg Biffle
Points vs. 12th: +106Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 16.7Best remaining track: Bristol Motor Raceway (11.0)Worst remaining track: Watkins Glen International (25.3)Daytona average: 20.9Est. avg. finish needed: 16thComment: Biffle is running the best among the Roush Fenway drivers, which is tantamount to being the best Baldwin brother not named Alec. He will likely make the Chase, but then what?
11. Mark Martin
Points vs. 12th: +27Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 13.2Best remaining track: Watkins Glen International (7.8)Worst remaining track: Daytona International Speedway (18.0)Daytona average: 18.0Est. avg. finish needed: 12thComment: Martin insists his team is executing better right now than it was a year ago. That may be the case, but a year ago he had three wins compared to zero so far this season.
12. Carl Edwards
Points vs. 12th: –Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 14.0Best remaining track: Michigan International Raceway (6.6)Worst remaining track: Chicagoland Speedway (21.6)Daytona average: 18.7Est. avg. finish needed: 12thComment: This should tell you how Edwards is running compared to what is expected from him: his career average at Michigan is 6.6. He finished 12th there three weeks ago, which is tied for his best finish in over a month.
13. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Points vs. 12th: -3Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 16.0Best remaining track: Bristol Motor Speedway (11.4)Worst remaining track: Watkins Glen International (22.6)Daytona average: 14.9Est. avg. finish needed: 12thComment: This is a huge weekend for Junior to try to make up some ground against those drivers directly above him in the standings. He is better than them at Daytona. If he doesn’t gain points Saturday it will be a missed opportunity.
14. Ryan Newman
Points vs. 12th: -15Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 17.4Best remaining track: Richmond International Raceway (11.4)Worst remaining track: Daytona International Raceway (21.7)Daytona average: 21.7Est. avg. finish needed: 11thComment: It’s been hit or miss for Newman all season long. He’ll put together back-to-back races, only to erase those solid outings with a 30-something finish. If he can avoid the latter, expect him to crack the top 12.
15. Clint Bowyer
Points vs. 12th: -16Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 15.1Best remaining track: Richmond International Raceway (10.2)Worst remaining track: Michigan International Speedway (21.2)Daytona average: 12.3Est. avg. finish needed: 11thComment: If Bowyer misses the Chase for the second straight season, it would be a huge disappointment. He has absolutely been a top-12 driver this season. He just doesn’t have the results to show for it. Daytona, surprisingly, is one of his better tracks, meaning, like Junior, this is a huge weekend for him.
16. Joey Logano
Points vs. 12th: -99Avg. finish at remaining tracks: 20.7Best remaining track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (12.0)Worst remaining track: Daytona International Speedway (27.3)Daytona average: 27.3Est. avg. finish needed: 9thComment: Logano deserves credit for not letting his season spiral out control. He’s definitely been better than his results, but has found bad luck wherever it is. But instead of getting frustrated about what could have been, he’s focused on what he still can control.
Amid changes, McMurray excited for Daytona return (NASCAR.com)
June 29, 2010
Jamie McMurray and his wife, Christy, will have to adjust even more in December with the arrival of their first child.
There’s no question Jamie McMurray’s life changed forever back in February when his No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet went under the checkered flag first in the Daytona 500.
But while winning the “Great American Race” was a fulfilling career achievement, it doesn’t even hold a candle to a more recent event in the lives of McMurray and his wife, Christy. They’ll become parents for the first time in December.
On the eve of returning to Daytona International Speedway for the first event there since Speedweeks 2010’s finale—Saturday’s Coke Zero 400—McMurray recently visited the track for a media event that combined fishing in the track’s infield Lake Lloyd and racing journalists on the Sprint Kart track inside the superspeedway’s Turn 3.
Question: When you rode into the Speedway for the media day activities, what was the aura, the feeling—if there was one?
McMurray: You know it’s weird that I didn’t really have any of that. Honestly, and I know this sounds weird, but I think when I come back down for the race it’ll be different, because all the teams will be here, and the fans will be here and your guys [crew members] are here, too.
The thing is my memories of [winning the Daytona 500] are with your team—it’s not necessarily just about you. So I think when we come here [this] week, that’s what will be special.
Q: Do you anticipate any difference in your treatment by your fellow competitors, though I guess that’s something you might have seen at California?
McMurray: No. Someone asked me if I thought [my competitors] would give me more respect, and I think that respect is gained over years of racing with people. No one respects you more for winning one race—or for anything that happens in one day.
Respect is something that’s earned over the course of time.
Q: The public just found out you and Christy are expecting a child. How do you envision the chain of events occurring, leading up to the birth?
McMurray: I remember—I came home from Martinsville and Christy said ‘I’ve got something I want to tell ya.’ And I was like, ‘OK…’ She said ‘I’m pregnant,’ and I almost felt the same way she did when I asked her to marry me: Like, ‘you’re serious—really?’
Because we’d been trying, and we’re really lucky and blessed that we were able to do it in what is known as the typical order: You get married, you get established financially and then you decide to start a family.
We’re really lucky and it’s amazing to me how the pressure—or how I’m still nervous about having a child because you want to make sure you can give it the best life possible. And it’s amazing to me that I’m still worried about that. I’m 34 years old and I’m still worried about making sure I’m able to do that right.
Q: When you look at the juggling act Jimmie and Chandra Johnson are going through now, and what Matt and Katie Kenseth went through last year with the mid-season birth of their daughter; are you particularly pleased with Christy’s due date?
McMurray: With Jimmie, I haven’t seen it as much as with Matt, because I was teammates with [Kenseth] and he’s one of my best friends I witnessed and listened to his stress every week—with who they might get to fill-in for him and everything.
So that was the first thing I asked Christy, when she told me, was ‘when are you due?’ I just remember her telling me ‘December,’ and I thought that would be good because the season will be over. And I think it’s good, too, because it gives me time to be home and then you have a month or two to get acclimated to everything and how your life is gonna change.
Q: At your Speedway event, you participated with Kevin VanDam, the professional fisherman who’s also sponsored by Bass Pro Shops; so how neat was it to be able to merge a motorsports event with something you are so passionate about—and to do it with another professional athlete from a completely different discipline?
McMurray: It’s really, so exciting, gosh—educational to watch Kevin fish, because it’s different than the fishing that you and I do, or that me and my dad would go to our local pond and we’d go fishing.
With [VanDam] it’s a competition and looking at the water and the temperature of the water and the color of the water and the algae that’s in there and getting the lure. It’s unbelievable. I mean, it’s fun to him, but it’s a different fun, like racing being fun to me, but it’s serious, you know?
But it’s just amazing to watch his ability and his knowledge of fishing and it’s fun to be around that.
Q: Did you pick up any tips you could use on the local pond?
McMurray: I watched [laughing]. But I am a sponge, like most professional athletes—and I want to catch more fish than him, even though he’s gonna catch more fish. But you want to beat somebody.
So absolutely, everything that he did, I soaked up and I tried to remember it.
Q: Even though you’ve run better, your results have been up and down. So how much of a deal is it gonna be to come back to Daytona—a track at which you’ve won more than once—and as the most recent Daytona 500 champion besides?
McMurray: It’s amazing because in some respects it may have been an up-and-down year [so far], but when I think of up-and-down years, I think of people who run well one week and then run poorly the next. And for our team, I can honestly say that every week we’ve just had really, really fast cars.
With not only the win, but three second-place finishes and two poles—that’s just really good stuff and it’s hard to put that together in the first 10 or 12 races of a year. But we’ve just had poor finishes to go along with it—some of it just getting involved in wrecks and some of it getting wrecked. That track bar breaking at Dover—we’ve had some freak things happen to us.
But overall, I think at the beginning of the year if you had told me, ‘You’re going to win the Daytona 500 and win two poles and you’re going to contend to win the Southern 500 and the Coca-Cola 600’—I would have said ‘That’s going to be a great year.’
Unfortunately in racing, you always want more—it doesn’t matter how well you do. You always want more.
