Thursday, May 01, 2008
Now here’s a novel proposition for NASCAR: Make Every Lap Count
Soft walls: One of the greatest safety inventions ever in racing. “A race track can never provide more than enough tools to make racing safe,” Jeff Burton, here helping Humpy Wheeler install a new section of Safer barrier at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, says.
(Photo Credit: HHP / Harold Hinson)
By Mike Mulhern
RICHMOND, Va.
Boring racing? Well, not this weekend, for sure. And certainly not at Talladega last weekend.
But several times already this year NASCAR has produced some yawners: California and Atlanta come quickly to mind.
Track owner Bruton Smith bemoans all the emphasis on NASCAR’s championship, and contends that drivers race too conservatively at times because they’re so conscious of those championship points. And promoter Humpy Wheeler says NASCAR needs to make sure its events have enough drama and pizzazz.
Well, here’s a simple solution: and it’s cheap – free, even. Make every lap count.
A simple proposition – give one bonus point for each lap a driver leads. If a man leads 150 laps at Daytona, he gets 150 bonus points, for example.
Or perhaps, considering tracks are different lengths, give one bonus point for each mile a driver leads.
That would ensure a heckava battle for the lead every lap at every race.
And it wouldn’t cost a penny.
Can’t beat free.
Jimmie Johnson won both Cup events at Richmond in 2007...maybe some of that will rub off on teammate Jeff Gordon.
(Photo Credit: Chris Trotman / Getty Images for NASCAR)
Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates a dubious milestone here at Richmond International Raceway – it’s been exactly two years since his last NASCAR Cup tour victory.
He’s come so close to a tour win so many times already this season with new car owner Rick Hendrick that a win is certainly in the cards. And Earnhardt and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. will take their next step toward that goal in Friday afternoon’s qualifying runs for Saturday night’s
300-miler.
It’s way past time for Junior to get a big NASCAR win
(Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)
And Earnhardt isn’t the only NASCAR star who’s dry right now. Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon haven’t won this season yet.
Stewart in particular would like to win here in Saturday night’s 400 – dubbed the ‘Crown Royal presents the Dan Lowry 400,’ as part of a fan contest – because his teammates are upstaging him. Stewart is a three-time winner at this flat three-quarter-mile track…but he hasn’t won since 2002, though he did run second last September.
So how can Stewart call this place “my favorite track.”
And rather emphatically: “It’s not ‘one of them,’ it’s the favorite track of mine on the circuit.
“I’ve won two Truck races and three Cup races. It’s where I got my first win. And considering how it factors into the (championship) chase, it’s definitely an important stop for us.”
Tony Stewart should again be the center of attention this week at Richmond. He’s still looking for his first win of the season, and for his first win here since 2002
(Photo credit: Toyota Motorsports)
Stewart and other drivers have at times been quite critical of NASCAR’s new winged car this season. He ranted hard last weekend, then went out and dominated, until waylaid by a flat tire.
“These cars don’t have near the downforce that our cars had last year,” Stewart says of this weekend’s 400. “With the limited amount of shock travel in the front, you’re hitting ‘bump-rubbers.’ (Those are increasingly exotic and expensive rubber bumpers that the shock itself slams down onto at the end of each straight.
“Last year we weren’t allowed to have bump rubbers.
“So the car doesn’t ‘float’ around the race track like it used to. It’s a lot harsher ride.”
On the plus side, however, the new car has been remarkably stable, letting drivers beat and bang more than usual, without one sending another up into the wall.
“With these cars you don’t have the kinds of accidents where guys get turned around, because the bumpers (rear and front) on these cars match up so well,” Stewart says. “If a guy checks up in front of you, and you run into him by accident, and the guy behind you hits you, you’re not going to spin each other out.
“That’s made short-track racing fun again. You’re not worried about having to explain to somebody that whatever contact you had was an accident.”
Remember when: Kyle Petty wins with the Woods at Richmond, 1986.
(Photo credit: Racing One/Getty Images)
Richmond isn’t the only racing action around here this weekend. Rockingham (4-1/2 hours south of here) will be back in business Sunday afternoon, with an ARCA race, and Stewart is to wave the green while crew chief Greg Zipadelli is to drive the pace car.
The Rockingham mile, closed by NASCAR a few years ago because of weak crowds, has long been a driver favorite nevertheless, because speeds fall off during a fuel run, making for good racing.
Stewart’s most vivid memory of the Rockingham track: “Probably a Busch series race back in 1998. Matt Kenseth and I were racing pretty hard, and both of us were looking for our first Busch win. I didn’t know Matt, and he really didn’t know me.
“I basically burned my tires off, and Matt did a better job of managing his tires for the length of the run. I didn’t do a very good job of getting through turns three and four on the last corner of the last lap, and he gave me a little nudge. He could have hit me hard enough to crash me, but he didn’t. He just barely nudged me up out of the way, and I ran second and he won.
“He was a gentleman about it…but he did what he had to do to win, and if the roles were reversed, I would have done the same thing.”
THE NASCAR NOTEBOOK
After Jeff Gordon’s hard crash at Las Vegas in early March, drivers and track owners have been looking at the NASCAR tour’s tracks for places to make safety improvements.
Humpy Wheeler, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, will install 340 feet of additional soft walls along the track’s inside backstretch wall. “The hard licks Jeff Gordon and Michael McDowell (at Texas) took reminded us all that bizarre and unexpected things can happen in racing,” Wheeler says. “This additional SAFER barrier will add more protection.
“And we’re looking at some additional improvements back there as well.”
Wheeler says engineers are researching alternatives to the current opening on the inside backstretch wall, which is used for staging emergency vehicles. Currently the concrete wall just past that opening is protected by polystyrene blocks.
Chef Jeff has been cooking in Hell’s Kitchen this spring.
(Photo Credit: Sarah Wolfram/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Jeff Gordon is known as an all-around driver, but he has not won on this three-quarter mile track since 2000. And he suffered through a bad stretch in 2005 and 2006—four finishes 30th or worse. And he failed to lead even a single lap.
Gordon blames his brakes. “We’ve improved aerodynamics, horsepower and grip over the past few years, so we’re going so much faster,” Gordon says. “That, more so with me than other drivers, has caused us to have brake issues.
“But it wasn’t running out of brakes; it was building up (worn) pad (material) on the rotor that caused a vibration. Once that happened, the handling was gone the rest of the night.
“But we addressed that and had two top-five finishes last year.”
Crew chief Steve Letarte: “In 2005 and 2006 we used what we thought was the best braking system. But it wasn’t the best system for our driver. So last year we changed that package, and it worked better for Jeff. It’s not the ‘best,’ but sometimes what works for us is not the best on paper.”
Jeff Gordon hasn’t had a great year, and if the championship playoffs started today, he’d be out of the hunt. Also not one of the current top-12 in the Sprint Cup standings: former champions Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch.
Okay, Junior, one word: Win
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for NASCAR)
On the TV front, ESPN is dropping Friday night’s Nationwide (Busch) race from its standard ESPN2 channel and moving it to ESPN Classic and Speed The reason – so ESPN2 can carry the NBA playoff game between Washington and Cleveland.
Viewers who don’t get ESPN Classic or Speed on their cable system can watch a replay of the race on ESPN2 after the NBA game.
It’s Kyle Busch versus older brother Kurt Busch Friday afternoon in an odd showdown: to see which one can make guacamole the quickest.
Kyle Busch is sponsored by an avocado company for this event.
Now, let’s see which Busch recognizes the secret ingredient to super guacamole: bright red, crunchy pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top.
Racin’ and rock-’n-roll: The Goo Goo Dolls will perform a Saturday July 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as warm-up for Sunday Brickyard 400. The Stone Temple Pilots will headline at Indy during the May 500.
The upcoming NASCAR all-star race, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, will allow fans to vote in one extra driver for the May 17th event.
Voting is either online at http://www.sprint.com/speed or on Sprint cell phones, by texting ‘NASCAR’ to 7777.
In a new twist, votes placed on Sprint phones will be counted twice.
We want your reaction, so please comment on this story and offer your own opinions, on this story, on our NASCAR videos, and anything about NASCAR:
Remember when Kasey Kahne was a big winner in NASCAR?
(Photo by RacingOne/Getty Images)
Bookmarkz
Page 1 of 1 pages
