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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Food City 500

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

March 17, 2010 3:20 pm CDT No Comments

With four races in the books, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to Bristol Motor Speedway for this weekend’s Food City 500. Kurt Busch will attempt to follow up his win at Atlanta two weeks ago by winning this race for the fifth time.

Hope everybody’s all rested up after the off weekend, but it’s high time that we get into the swing of things and kick this season into full gear. This will be the last race that 2009 owner’s points determine the cars locked into the starting field for this season, so expect some backmarkers to try and push towards the front.

My pick for the weekend stays in the Busch family – I’m picking Kyle to win. Easy, I know. But in his last three Bristol starts, he has accumulated an average finish of 1.3 while leading 861 of a possible 1503 laps. That’s over 57% of his past three Bristol starts. Also keep in mind that Rowdy has led a lap in every Bristol race dating back to the spring of 2006, and has led in double digits in five of those eight events.

My dark horse for the week has to be Marcos Ambrose. Still looking for his first top-10 of the season, mired at 28th in points due to DNFs at Daytona and California, Ambrose has finishes of 10th and 3rd at Bristol in Cup cars. Bristol is known as a track of heavy beating and banging, as are the V8 Supercars that Ambrose drove in Australia before coming stateside.

Three more, as per tradition:

Kurt Busch. I’ve discovered over the years that a solid projection of a driver’s skill at any once track is the amount of top-10s he accumulates. If, over a career of decent length, he finishes in the top 10 about half the time, he is usually judged as a star at that given track. That would be Busch at Bristol… oh, and the five career wins there help too.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been decent at Bristol since joining Hendrick Motorsports, though it was mostly his work with Dale Earnhardt Inc. that currently gives him the sixth best average finish at Bristol of all active drivers. He’s also been fast for much of the year, with an average start of 8.5. Qualifying up front at such a small track gives drivers an inherent advantage, not only because leaders can catch lapped traffic quickly, but also because of their better pit selection – though that mattered more when Bristol separated its backstretch pits from its frontstretch ones.

Finally, let’s not forget that Kevin Harvick has a strong Bristol record. While he only has one win, the current series points leader has 11 top-10s in 18 career starts. Happy’s also in the best equipment he’s had in years, and there’s no reason to expect things to drop off now.

Filed under: Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing

Tagged with: Bristol Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Fantasy Pick'Em, Food City 500, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, Sprint Cup Series

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IndyCar Race Review: Sao Paulo Indy 300

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

March 14, 2010 2:17 pm CDT No Comments

In his return to the sport after a back injury ended his season early last year, Will Power won his second career IZOD IndyCar Series race, the inaugural Sao Paulo Indy 300, over Ryan Hunter-Reay and Vitor Meira.

In one of the more interesting race weekends in recent memory, Power redeemed his Team Penske compatriot Ryan Briscoe, whose late-race brain fade gave the race away. It was Power’s first race as a full-time member for Penske after a limited schedule last year.

Hunter-Reay took second in the season opener for the second consecutive year, in his first race for Andretti Autosport. Meira, the highest finishing Brazilian driver, made his return after an injury at Indianapolis last year ended his 2009 campaign.

The weekend got off to a rough start, with the concrete frontstretch causing drivers to slip and preventing them from taking the straightaway at full throttle. Series director Brian Barnhart had to call in the diamond grinders to give that section of the track some more grip. Qualifying had to be postponed until the morning of the race, for the first time in series history, and multiple extra practice sessions were added.

Dario Franchitti took the pole in the delayed qualifying session, with outside polesitter Alex Tagliani the biggest surprise in qualifying. Brazil was the first race for Tagliani’s FAZZT Race Team. Scott Dixon, who had one of the fastest cars in practice, failed to make the Firestone Fast Six, and ended up seventh. Takuma Sato was the top rookie, qualifying tenth. The fastest Brazilian driver was Tony Kanaan, who wound up sixth.

Not long before the green flag, there were reports of sprinkles on part of the track, delaying the start as race control determined whether or not to mandate rain tires. This was only foreshadowing for the showers that came later in the race, and eventually led to a half-hour red flag period.

At the drop of the green flag, the drivers couldn’t make it through the first turn before a major accident set the tone for the race. Dust from the freshly ground concrete track made visibility difficult, and Sato didn’t brake early enough, getting into Dixon. Helio Castroneves got involved with those two, and Mario Moraes drove over Marco Andretti’s car as the American attempted to avoid the accident. Sato, Moraes, and Andretti called it a day from the wreck.

Franchitti, Tagliani, Hunter-Reay, and Kanaan led the pack early, and Simona de Silvestro led after staying out while the rest of the field pitted under a caution period. Not long after, Tagliani, Kanaan, and de Silvestro fell out of contention; Tagliani and Kanaan made contact, while de Silvestro had a mechanical failure.

Soon after, the storm came, and Briscoe led the push into the pits for rain tires. Most cars pitted for new Firestones by lap 30. The rain was so bad that parts of the track flooded, and the storm knocked out timing and scoring services. Eventually, the race had to be switched from a 75-lap event to a timed event.

A few laps after the restart, as other drivers pitted to change to better tire compounds, Hunter-Reay inherited the lead. Briscoe, Raphael Matos, and Power ran nose-to-tail, but were over six seconds behind Hunter-Reay with 25 minutes remaining.

Eventually, Briscoe closed the gap, leading to an intense back-and-forth battle that briefly gave the Aussie the lead. Hunter-Reay kept pushing until Briscoe made a mistake, driving head-on into a tire barrier on lap 54 with almost ten minutes left and bringing out a full-course yellow. This gave Hunter-Reay the lead and enough fuel to finish the race.

The race restarted with six minutes to go, with Hunter-Reay, Power, Matos, Meira, and Dan Wheldon the top five. Power made the winning pass in the final turn on lap 58, showing the type of straight-line speed that Hunter-Reay had exhibited all race. By the final lap, Power had extended a sizable lead.

Filed under: Indy Cars

Tagged with: IZOD IndyCar Series, Penske Racing, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sao Paulo Indy 300, Vitor Meira, Will Power

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IndyCar Race Preview: Sao Paulo Indy 300

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

March 13, 2010 2:06 pm CST No Comments

The first IZOD IndyCar Series race of the season takes place south of the border - way, way south - on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the first annual Sao Paulo Indy 300. It will be the first American open-wheel race in Brazil since CART ran on the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway from 1996 to 2000. It will also be the first street course race for IndyCar outside of North America since the non-points event in Surfers Paradise, Australia, at the end of 2008.

The new track has posed problems for the whole field, with the narrow concrete frontstretch causing most cars to fishtail and a handful of drivers slapping the wall elsewhere on the track. Scott Dixon led the field in final practice, with Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan not far behind. The biggest surprise of the session was Alex Tagliani, with a brand new team, in fifth. Drivers that had problems on the track included Briscoe, Bia Figuereido, Hideki Mutoh, and Danica Patrick.

Qualifying was eventually postponed until the morning of the race at 7:25 AM EST, replaced on Saturday by another practice session as teams and the series tried to figure out what to do about the concrete surface.

Adding to the challenge, the forecast calls for potential rain on race day. Add up all these variables on a new track, and nobody knows quite what to expect for this year’s season opener.

The field contains seven Brazilians, almost all of whom are racing IndyCars in their native country for the first time. Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves had three starts at Fittipaldi apiece; Kanaan’s best finish was fifth in 1999, while Castroneves never finished better than 23rd in his native country.

Dixon has been fast in every practice session, pacing the field in the intended final practice session and leading inthe early stages of the extra session. Kanaan, too, has been quick, despite trashing the quality of the track to the Brazilian media. These two should lead the fight for victory come Sunday.

As for a dark horse, street course ace Alex Tagliani has shown great speed in practice despite coming to the track with the startup FAZZT Race Team. Keep in mind that Tagliani almost won last year’s race on the streets of Toronto, leading 21 of 85 laps. The new team also features some experienced personnel, including longtime Walker Racing team manager Rob Edwards.

Filed under: Indy Cars

Tagged with: Alex Tagliani, IZOD IndyCar Series, Ryan Briscoe, Sao Paulo Indy 300, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan

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Lack of Suspension for Carl Edwards Inexplicable

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

March 11, 2010 4:07 pm CST 2 Comments

I have been a fan of Roush Fenway Racing since I was a small child, watching Mark Martin pilot the No. 6 Valvoline car. Through the years, watching the team expand into one of NASCAR’s first multicar powerhouses, I have become a fan of almost every driver to slide behind the wheel of their Fords.

This means that yes, to some extent, I am a Carl Edwards fan. Say what you will about his personality, but he shows flashes of brilliance as a racecar driver, the nine-win season in 2008 included. I think his 2009 Talladega wreck may have affected his psyche a little bit, and may make him a more careful driver in the long term, but he’s still got talent.

That aside, however, his actions in Sunday’s race at Atlanta were inexcusable. I’m sure that everybody knows what happened by now – after Brad Keselowski (the same driver who put him into the catchfence at Talladega last year) got into him early in the race, he returned to the track and ruined a great run by the Penske Racing driver with five laps to go.

Keselowski’s car flipped and landed on its roof, most of the pressure on the driver’s side, before rolling back on all four wheels. Keselowski was shaken up to say the least, and Edwards was parked for his deliberate actions, which he all but admitted to later on.

The problem, however, is NASCAR’s decision only to put Edwards on probation for three races for this incident. Given his history with Keselowski, as well as the complaints that others like Denny Hamlin make about the young driver, these incidents are likely not over. They’ll just wait until Edwards’ probation is over. NASCAR didn’t even wring Edwards’ hands – they wagged a finger. That’s all that the meeting between the two drivers and their owners will be, too.

Marty Smith wrote on Twitter that a “precedent has been set” for these types of retaliatory actions – that no driver should be afraid to dive-bomb a rival they’re angry at now. I understand NASCAR’s desire to open up the racing this year, and I applaud it, but not laying the hammer down in deliberate accidents, especially ones where the wrecked driver could have been seriously hurt, is a mistake.

My opinion: NASCAR should have parked Edwards for at least one race. I might have waited until the next Atlanta race to do it, however. I don’t want a driver who’s going to race like that to make his way into the Chase, and Atlanta is the penultimate regular season race. Taking Edwards out of a race so close to the cutoff could knock him out (if he’s in) and make it far more difficult to make up ground, whereas missing Bristol would give him about 20 more races to get back to the front.

Filed under: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Brad Kesolowski, Carl Edwards

Tagged with: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards

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Hotlanta Chowder and NASCAR Shark Fin Soup

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

March 10, 2010 10:29 pm CST No Comments

Tires.

“Pete. Do you ever get tired of the tires? Sometimes, I get tired of the tires. Very tired”

That was a little play on the words of one of my favorite lines ever, from the very best racing movie of all time, John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix.

Deal with it.

Steve asked Fox’s Jeff Hammond who was to blame for Sunday’s tire issues at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Jeff blamed the crew chiefs. So did Steve.

But tires were just an excuse for me to use my movie line in this post. The real story. The only real story, really, was Carl Edwards’ wrecking of Brad Kezelowski, and NASCAR’s subsequent wrist slap of Edwards for the dirty deed.

From the buzz we got during the On Pit Row broadcast Tuesday, to what I’ve read and heard around the NASCAR Twittisphere, most of the subjects of the Kingdom of France seem pretty PO’d about Carl’s easy way out of this deal. Jerry Bonkowski, one of our guests On Pit Row, sure seems to feel that way. Read what Jerry has to say here.

I think that, somewhere in the back of a very dark, and very expensively appointed hauler, Prince Brian is cackling like a drunken hen.

This whole deal, including the spectacular double axel that Kezelowski’s Penske Dodge executed at AMS, has been just what the PR(ayer) people in Daytona were hoping for. (Well maybe it was second to a Dale and Danica weekend sweep somewhere).

This wreck and the attendant story lines, put NASCAR front-and-center on all the general sports news shows, beyond the normal race recaps. Mike and Mike. Jim Rome. Oprah.

There was excitement. Maybe not the kind that NASCAR purists wanted.

But this is about the Benjamins baby. Eyes on the decals. Butts in the seats. Cash.

And this wreck will help.

Photo credit: Round girl Jen by BethAnne Heisler for OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Brad Kesolowski, Carl Edwards, NASCAR, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

Tagged with: Kobalt Tools 500

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NASCAR Shark Fin Soup from Las Vegas

by Charlie Turner

March 4, 2010 11:54 pm CST 2 Comments

“I gotta go where there aint any snow

Where there aint any blow

Cause my fin sinks so low

I gotta go where it’s warm”

Sorry, but I needed that. February was long leaving and March 2010 has been a major strain. Buffett usually helps me.

Him, baseball and Margaritas.

And the line in that song about “fins sinking low” seems to fit right now. And not just for me.

The NASCAR Shark Fin has been trimmed to negligible height since the Great White sized rudders used at Daytona.

I thought I might have to find another post title idea. But it turns out, I’m too lazy. Shark Fin Soup stays.

If you haven’t stopped by the On Pit Row Facebook Fan Page on Tuesdays during the On Pit Row radio program, you are missing some pretty good stuff. This is a plug - sure - but we do have a blast. And live “Tweeting” during the live radio is dangerous.

Steve and I were debating whether “Jeff Gordon and Steve Latarte gambled too much on a two tire stop at the end of the race?”

We agreed that Latarte had blown the call. But when I wrote the update for the Fan Page and Twitter it came out…

“Steve and I agree that Steve Latarte blew..”

Not what I intended…. Actually it was alot funnier than what I intended.

We had Kevin Conway, driver of the ExtenZe Racing Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports on the show. Kevin is the current favorite for 2010 Raybestos Rookie of the Year, and a funny guy in his own right.

While answering one of our questions, Conway smoothly worked this into his answer…

“with the ExtenZe racing team, we try to do everything big…..”

Nice work Kevin. You’ll go far in this NASCAR gig with sponsor stumping like that.

Latarte and Gordon stumbled and Johnson and Knaus were there to shoot the cripple as they say in billiards. Don’t make mistakes if you want to win a Cup race in the J J era.

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Sprint Cup Series, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: ExtenZe Racing, Front Row Motorsports, Kevin Conway, Shark Fin Soup, Shelby American 400, Steve Latarte

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