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Who Will Be the Sprint Cup’s Next First-time Winner?

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

May 30, 2008 9:32 am CDT 6 Comments

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Martin Truex Jr grabbed his first and, so far only, Cup Series win at Dover Downs in 2007. By my count, he was one of three drivers to accomplish that feat last year - Casey Mears and Clint Bowyer were the others.

I’m looking at the line up for this week’s tilt at the Monster Mile and wondering who will be the next first timer. The answer is not obvious. David Ragan would seem the best bet. He drives for one of the major teams, as did all of 2007’s first time winners. Ragan has lately been running up front and looked like a contender at Charlotte. But who else. Is there anybody else?

Before his injury, Dario Franchitti would have been my pick if only because of the two road courses where he should be one of the contenders. His lost seat-time may not hurt his chances at Sonoma and the Glen, but it steepens the learning curve elsewhere.

Fellow Dodger Reed Sorenson looked strong coming out of Daytona. Since then though, his team has been a big part of Ganassi’s funk. The stirring of that pot by Chip doesn’t bode well for the Target car.

Dave Blaney is the only non winner in a Toyota who seems a candidate. A J Allmendinger didn’t convince me at Lowes. David Reutimann looks like a journeyman.

Who do you like in a Chevy? All of 2007’s virgin winners were Bowtie Boys. But who’s left? Regan Smith? Too soon and not enough chances. Same for Aric Almirola. The Haas CNC teams probably killed their chances by losing crew and car chiefs for six races.

No, the next winner looks to be a Ford man. If not Ragan then maybe one of the Yates guys. Travis Kvapil looks primed.

Filed under: Casey Mears, Chip Ganassi Racing, Clint Boyer, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Haas CNC Racing, It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Martin Truex Jr., Red Bull Racing, Reed Sorenson, Robert Yates Racing, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Aric Almirola, blog, Clint Bowyer, Dario Franchitti, David Ragan, Martin Truex Jr., motorsports, NASCAR, Reed Sorenson, Regan Smith, Travis Kvapil

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Even Monsters get Loose in Turn 3

by Charlie Turner

May 30, 2008 9:22 am CDT 2 Comments

With fifty laps to go in the Coca Cola 600 I was mentally writing a headline about the start of summer finally arriving with Tony Stewart’s big win. Not to be. Instead Kasey Kahne won NASCAR’s longest race. And Dale Earnhardt Jr became the poster boy for Looseness in Turn Three.

This week, TZ from Do You NASCAR and Bruce of NASCAR Bits and Pieces and the guys at Bench Racing will thrash on three racing related topics. Here’s mine.

Why can’t Junior finish?

Charlie: When is Tony Eury Jr going to have a come to Jesus meeting with his driver
and tell him to quit running every lap two inches from the turn four wall?
Earnhardt is the only driver who runs every track and every lap of every race, in
the highest line there is. It works for him, I know. He’s been fast everywhere
this season. But he has hit the wall in more races than not. It seems to me that
his crew chief should be talking him down off that wall later in the race. It
probably wouldn’t work. Listening to Junior on the radio does not give me the
feeling that he listens to much of anything. He tells - commands. It might be time
for a change in tactics.

TZ: I think you have to start with Dale Junior’s relationship with Tony Eury Jr.
More often than not, I, too, find Earnhardt to be a bit overly demanding - and, not
very understanding - over his team radio, but I think that most people probably tend
to be a little more short-tempered when dealing with family at times. I think that
Junior probably doesn’t do the best job of translating what’s going on with the car
in the manner so that Eury can understand it, and as a result, they tend to let the
track start getting away from them near the ends of the races. And, yes … there
are times when he’d probably be a bit better off finding different grooves in the
track.

Bruce: The team is not used to finishing.. Not used to getting out there up front
now that they seem to have more consistent, improved equipment. I get the high
groove and yes, they should try different lines, but if it works it works.. the
high groove will give you more gear coming out of the corners and saves tires a bit
in the long run, but I’m not sure it’s worth it all the time like he does.. At least
he’s closer to the wall when a tire blows and then again, maybe he’s got some
lingering issues from past hits and he has a reason? Bet we won’t see the high
groove at Dover! And you’re right guys, he snaps / commands the crew when he needs
to be listening too… at least it seems that way.

That’s what we think. What do you think?

You should check out Tim’s post and discussion…

Should the no. 20 team have called for two right-side tires on Tony Stewart’s
next-to-last stop at the Coca Cola 600?

And Bruce’s question this week…

My question is whether drivers should get over the idea of people moving over for them because they think they’re faster than they are?

There’s good stuff there. We welcome your input.

Filed under: Casey Mears, Chip Ganassi Racing, Clint Boyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, David Reutimann, Haas CNC Racing, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., Red Bull Racing, Reed Sorenson, Richard Childress Racing, Robert Yates Racing, Sprint Cup Series, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: blog, Casey Mears, Chad Knaus, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, JimmyJohnson, motorsports, NASCAR

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Countdown to J-Day at Dover

by Matt Mercer, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I'm the writer of The Catfish Show NASCAR Blog, which you can access through the links on the right. Follow me on Twitter: @mattmercer

May 29, 2008 1:14 pm CDT 3 Comments

The countdown to Joey Logano’s debut at Dover can be counted in hours now. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won all he can in lower levels, including Hooters ProCup at the age of 15, outdueling Kevin Harvick in an East-West Touring Series showdown in Iowa at the age of 16, winning the Busch East championship (and 6 races in the process) at the age of 17, and a dominant performance in his ARCA debut earlier this month at Rockingham, all the while testing Gibbs cars across the country. The hype machine has been in overdrive for Logano for a while now, and his debut will come at a challenging track, Dover’s 1-mile concrete oval.

For a lot of fans that pay attention to the lower series and have their eye on the next big driver, Logano has been on the radar for a few years now. When Mark Martin made his first of many retirement announcements, he proclaimed the driver he wanted to see take over his car – in 2005, mind you – was then-15 year-old Joey Logano. That was heady praise for someone few had heard of, and set off a bidding war for his services. (A bit of an aside: Logano had signed a deal with Roush in 2005 to become a development driver, and used an old Martin car to test. Then, Joe Gibbs Racing stepped in and signed a contract with his father, and in effect “stole” Logano from the Roush camp.) In every series and every car he has strapped himself into, this kid has only gotten better. The true test will come, and it will come soon. It seems that every few years the storyline shifts to a new “phenom” making their debut in the #2 series as soon as they turn 18. The first of these was Kyle Busch’s 2003 debut at Charlotte in May, a race in which he ran impressively and led a good portion of the race before recording a strong finish. Fast forward a year or two later, and that phenom was Reed Sorenson making his debut in the #41 at Atlanta, and running in the top 5 most of the day. In those cases, the youngsters ran extremely well.

From everything that I’ve seen about his schedule, he is slated for 18 races from now until the end of the season. In my estimation, he’ll be making a Sprint Cup start before the Chase begins. But it all begins this weekend.

Filed under: ARCA Remax Series, Busch Series, Chase for the Cup, Iowa Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Lowes Motor Speedway, Mark Martin, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Roush Racing, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Busch East, Dover, Joe Gibbs Racing, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Reed Sorenson

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NASCAR Ups the Ante on Haas/CNC

by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

May 29, 2008 7:16 am CDT 3 Comments

NASCAR increases its points penalties for teams by fifty percent.

The going rate for infractions to the new car had been rather consistent at 100 owner and driver points, $100,000. fines for the crew chiefs and and 6 races suspensions for said crew chiefs. But with the Haas/CNC infractions on the Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter cars come 150 point penalties. NASCAR PR released this statement:

The No. 66 car driven by Scott Riggs and the No. 70 car driven by Johnny Sauter were found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 20-3.1.3A (wing mounting locations were not as specified by the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rule Book). The infractions were discovered May 24 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

As a result, Riggs and No. 66 car owner Joe Custer have been penalized 150 championship driver and 150 championship owner points, respectively, as have Sauter and No. 70 car owner Margaret Haas. Both the crew chiefs and the car chiefs for the two cars – Bootie Barker and Derick Jennings for the No. 66 and Dave Skog and Thomas Harris for the No. 70 – have been suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, suspended from NASCAR until July 9 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31. Additionally, Barker and Skog have each been fined $100,000 apiece.

The penalty also includes NASCAR’s confiscation of team 66 Serial Number HMS 12 06 415 race car and team 70 Serial Number HMS 04 08 507 race car.

You have to wonder if adding 50 points to the penalties is because NASCAR sees two cars from the same stable as being more offensive than if it had been just one. Or were the penalties increased because it was the wing area that was violated. NASCAR has taken a dim view of messing with the wing and its fittings.

Then again, Barker claimed that they had been using the same wing brackets the entire season with no problems and not a mention from any tech inspector. And they had passed inspection three times that same day. NASCAR’s Kerry Tharpe said the garage is self policing. That has to be interpreted as saying some fellow team threw the Haas/CNC boys under the bus.

The most likely candidates would be those teams and cars most likely to benefit from the 66 and 70 cars falling down the points ladder. A hard look has to be taken at the #55 and #77 teams of Michael Waltrip Racing and Penske Racing. Those two teams stand to gain the most with the redone points. Whether either of those teams or some other are the “garage police” for NASCAR, the system stinks worse than moldy leftovers.

Should cheaters be dealt with accordingly? Absolutely. Should NASCAR take a look at its inspection process? Absolutely. If what Bootie Barker says is entirely true, then the inspectors that have passed those cars for eleven of the first twelve races should be disciplined as well.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Haas CNC Racing, It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Sam Hornish Jr, The Waltrips

Tagged with: Bootie Barker, Derrick Jennings, Haas/CNC Racing, Joe Custer, Margaret Haas, NASCAR

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Kasey wins the Other Double

by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

May 26, 2008 11:52 am CDT 1 Comment

Kasey Kahne used some late race Tony Stewart bad luck to win on back to back weekends at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

After the last batch of gas and go stops for the leaders it looked for all the world like Stewart would get his first win of the season. Kahne’s pit crew took seven more seconds on pit lane to get the last bit of fuel into the Budweiser Charger than Stewart’s crew did and it looked as if that may end up being the margin of victory.

Stewart’s luck didn’t hold up as he blew a tire with three to go; allowing Kahne to seize his second victory in as many weeks and his first points paying win in fifty-three tries. Dale Earnhardt Jr. led for much of the middle of the race but he also had tire problems on lap 297; blowing a right rear, hitting the wall and being punted by JJ Yelley, forcing him to work his way back to the front.

“I was thinking second, and then I saw Tony slow up, I thought he was out of gas, and I couldn’t believe it. He went into Turn 1 and he was high (in the corner), and when I came off Turn 2 he was low and slow.”

Kahne is only the sixth driver to win the All-Star race and the 600 in the same year, joining Jimmy Johnson, who was the last to do it in 2003.

This all leads us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Will Junior’s and Tony’s luck change before the end of the season?

Please let us know what you think and we may usee your comments on this weeks ON PIT ROW. To listen live click here at 5pm ET on Tuesday 5-27-08. Scheduled to appear is Speed’s Wendy Venturini.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Evernham Motorsports, Gillett Evernham Motorsports, J J Yeley, NASCAR

Tagged with: Jimmy Johnson, JJ Yelley, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart

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Coca Cola 600 Fantasy Thoughts

by Charlie Turner

May 24, 2008 11:00 am CDT No Comments

I chose David Ragan to win the Coca Cola 600 during our picks weekly segment ON PIT ROW this week. What was I thinking? Admittedly that segment of the show is pretty “off the wall”. It isn’t meant to be serious fantasy racing analysis. It’s more about who can “out stupid” whom. Looking at NASCAR’s Loop Data this week makes me think maybe I have a lock on that for the 600. Ragan isn’t even on the sheet!

Now I will admit to being influenced by the Sprint Showdown - the qualifier for the Sprint All Star Race. David finished a strong third, just out of the last transfer spot. Then Sunday I got to watch him - in person - start from the back of a 35 car field and work to the front for third place finish in the ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Toledo Speedway. Plus I talked to him in the infield at Toledo. He’s a nice guy. But 200 laps at the Glass City half mile isn’t even close to 400 at Lowes. I may have over-bought.

If not Ragan, who?

Once again, Jimmy Johnson is the overwhelming leader of the Loop Data stats. If Dave Ragan is a stretch - and he is - then Johnson is a steal if you get to pick him. But J J has looked the part at many other races in 2008 too, only to disappoint. His Driver Rating of 120.2 - nearly 26 points better than second place Kyle Busch - is a big number. He has Series best stats in nine other Box Score categories including Ave Finish of 5.0, Ave Position 7.5, 246 Fastest Laps and 1956 Laps in the Top 15 for 88.6% of the last six Lowes races. Johnson’s 990 Ave Points Gained is 100 pts better than the next highest total - the 899 for Carl Edwards.

The Loop stats for Lowes are a bit strange though. As stated, Kyle Busch has the second best Driver Rating, but his Ave Points Gained per race is only 596 - almost 400 less than Johnson’s total. The Shrub will start from the pole and he has been one of the best this season but the Loop stats don’t point to consistency at Charlotte. His Ave Finish is only 23.5.

Carl Edwards’ Driver Rating, despite the second most Ave Points Gained per race, is even lower than Busch the Younger’s at 88.6. Carl has been strong on the intermediate tracks this year and I expect he’ll do well at Lowes too. Five top tens in his six starts are a good indication.

Veteran Mark Martin has the number three DR at 93.2 and he’s a four time winner at the N Carolina track. There hasn’t been much talk about Martin in 2008. He could make some noise this week though.

Kasey Kahne, winner of the Sprint All Star race and two time Lowes winner has a Driver Rating of 92.9 and has led the most Loop Laps with 338 to Johnson’s 298. If the Thursday ruling on suspension settings by NASCAR doesn’t throw the #9 teams setups off too much, Kahne could be the pick this week.

You can throw a Loop blanket over the next dozen contenders. The only stat of the bunch that jumps out at me is Bobby Labonte’s Ave Points Gained - 812 from the 13th overall DR ranking position.

I haven’t seen enough from the #9 to pick Kahne for a 600 mile race. To me it’s between Johnson and Edwards. I’ll go with Jimmy, the big stat advantage and the five wins. Carl could get his first Lowes win, but I have to see it first.

Dark horse pick - Kurt Busch.

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Carl Edwards, Casey Mears, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Denny Hamlin, Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Lowes Motor Speedway, Mark Martin, NASCAR Fantasy Gaming, NASCAR Tech, Red Bull Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Roush Racing, Sam Hornish Jr, Sprint Cup Series, Toledo Speedway, Tony Stewart