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Johnson Wins at Kansas–Takes Over Points Lead

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.

September 29, 2008 10:39 pm CDT 1 Comment

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Kansas continues string of good racing in the Chase.

Greg Biffle wasn’t able to pull off the triple and win the first three races of the Chase. But he was able to offer fans some great racing at the finish of the Campers World RV 400 by passing an ailing Jeff Gordon at the finish line. Biffle secured a third place finish in the race and moved to third in points only thirty points behind new points leader Jimmy Johnson and had this to say:

At the end there it felt like Dover all over again, me and Jeff Gordon fighting for third place, third and fourth. It was a pretty hard fought battle. We ended up getting by him on the last lap coming to the stripe. We’re pretty excited to finish up third.

The most spectacular battle though was the battle for the win that saw Carl Edwards reel in Johnson over the last three laps and finally make an all out hell-bent-for-leather pass for the lead. Edwards however, went in too hard on the pass underneath JJ and ended up into the outside retaining wall. Edwards kept his foot in the pedal, peeled his Ford Fusion off the wall and tried to cut the race track and get past the new points leader.

Edwards gave this account of the crazy pass attempt:

He saw what I was doing, so he went up there to block. That last lap, I just figured, hell with it, I don’t want to finish second here, I want to win this race more than anything in the world, so I kind of bonsaied it in there. I wanted to make sure I cleared Jimmie. I went probably just a little too far and hit the wall harder than I planned on hitting it, he got back by me. It was fun. Always wanted to kind of try to do that. Now I know it doesn’t work quite the same as video games. But it was fun.

And that leads us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Will Carl Edwards last lap pass attempt go down in history as career defining or just plain reckless?

Let us know what you think and we could use your comments on this weeks ON PIT ROW from 5-7pm ET. Call the show at 877-502-8255 and you could win a Kevin Harvick bobblehead by being “The Shell Gunk Free Caller of the Day” After ON PIT ROW tune into Inside ARCA at arcaracing.com from 7-8:30pm.

photo credit:Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, NASCAR, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Jimmy Johnson

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Pre-Kansas Bump Linkin’ Friday - Get Your Free Stuff

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

September 26, 2008 3:43 pm CDT 2 Comments

One of the things I want to do before I take the last checkered flag is attend one of the driver experience deals like the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure. Our own BethAnne went to one at Talladega last February. I have other friends who have as well. My schedule is so tight that I have trouble trying to schedule anything very far out. And, I’m cheap.

But there are opportunities for people like me to do this stuff for free. The Gillette Young Guns are running a promotion right now where they have ten grand prize trips to Lowes to do a driver’s school kind of deal with the members of the Young Guns. That would be Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Denny Ha,lin, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch. That would work. Read the Gillette Young Guns Timeshavers promotion here. Click on one of the Gillette Young Guns ads ads for more info.

The Catfish Show has the story on how you can bid on a ride with Dale Earnhardt Jr as Wrangler Jeans and NASCAR’s most popular driver team up to raise money for Victory Junction Gang Camp. We will have Patty Petty live ON PIT ROW Tuesday to talk about the auction, Victory Junction Camp and whatever else we can think of. Speaking of Pettys, Valli has a nice interview with Kyle Petty. Check it out.

If you play the game Champs, Chumps and Sleepers, you have a chance to win a Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure package, among other things. ON PIT ROW is a sponsor of the game.

Chances for freebies abound. You might win anything from free gas cards to a trip to the24 Hours of LeMans by entering Amoco Ultimates’ contest at CarDomain.com.

Shell Gasolines has its Shell Top Five of the Week running right here at Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie, where your wit could win you a Kevin Harvick bobblehead.

NASCAR Ranting and Raving blog has had some cool contests. Bob just gave away some autographed Harvick hats. Now he has some Amp stuff too.

I actually missed a chance last weekend to drive a cup car at Toledo Speedway. There was a group there that had a very reasonably priced deal. That would have been cool. But I found out too late. So much for being connected.

Filed under: Bench Racing Contests, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Toledo Speedway

Tagged with: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure, Gillette Young Guns, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Petty

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Is Your Collar Tight in Turn Two Kyle?

by Charlie Turner

September 26, 2008 10:01 am CDT 2 Comments

Can you perform in the clutch? That’s one of sport’s great cliche questions, isn’t it?

The two-out, walk-off homerun. The buzzer-beater jumper to win the championship game. Being your best when a special win is on the line. Michael and Reggie and Tiger. You know who they are by their first names only, because they did it on the big stage. A-Rod and Phil, not so much.

NASCAR’s big stage is the Chase to the Sprint Cup. It is the ten races that every team spends the rest of the year trying to qualify for. But those who do the best during the qualifying races, often fail to perform in the actual Chase. That’s the subject of the Bench Racing blog’s Tight in Turn Two this week.

Is Kyle Busch choking?

Charlie: The signs are all there. Starting with two very poor finishes in the first Chase races. Do you blame that on a broken bolt and a bad motor? Maybe. But that doesn’t explain the way Rowdy handled the bad start. He pouted and ran away. Contrast that with Matt Kenseth, who has a better resume than Busch - though not a better season so far - and stood up and took the tough questions like the champion he is. Kyle acted like a punk. The real telling thing will be, if after a couple more poor races, and he Kyle totally eliminates his Chase chances, he starts winning again. See, winning during the regular season is like winning regular PGA golf tournaments. You have to be really good to win one of those too. But it takes a special player to win a Major Championship, like the Masters. The Chase Races are like NASCAR’s Majors - along with the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard. Kyle may not be ready after all.

Bruce: I had completely expected him to implode in the chase. Earlier in the season when he didn’t have so many wins under his belt, he tended to get more antsy near the end of a race. I was expecting that from him now. The mechanical failures pretty much took the driver out of contention to prove my suspicions. Like you Charlie, I see his behavior as less than stellar and after a bad race, I just want to call him a wah mbulance.

I agree with you again, when he knows he’s out of it, he’ll relax and does what he does best. I’m a professional bowler, and I can’t tell you how many times someone is mathematically eliminated from winning a match, and they just relax and bowl the rest of the game really well. We’ll see.

That’s what we think. What do you think? Let us know your opinion in the comment section of this post.

And head over to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits to let us know what you think of Bruce’s topic too.

Do you think AJ Allmendinger (Dinger to his buddies) will replace Sorenson at Ganassi or does Ganassi have anyone else in mind?

Phot credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: A J Allmendinger, Chase for the Cup, Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, NASCAR Rumors, Sprint Cup Series, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: Chase for the Cup, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Sprint Cup

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Excuse me Mr. France but Could You Pee in this Cup?

by Charlie Turner

September 25, 2008 3:20 pm CDT No Comments

Don’t blame me for the headline. It’s Mindy’s fault. Or NASCAR’s if you side with Ms Monday on this week’s Monday Morning Crew Chief.

Mindy passes out advice to Rowdy Busch, the M & M’s team and A J Allmendinger.

Tune in for the continuing saga if Biff-Man and Rowdy. Click here for the latest Monday Morning Crew Chief.

Filed under: A J Allmendinger, ARCA Remax Series, Bench Racing TV, Brad Kesolowski, Dover International Speedway, Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports, Justin Allgaier, NASCAR Rumors, NASCAR video, Nationwide Series, Red Bull Racing, Scott Speed

Tagged with: A J Allmendinger, ARCA, Brad Kesolowski, Greg Biffle, Justin Allgaier, Kyle Busch, Mindy Monday, Monday Morning Crew Chief, NASCAR video, Scott Speed

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Top Five Best of NASCAR

by Charlie Turner

September 25, 2008 3:06 pm CDT 4 Comments

Pretend you are Kyle Busch. The pressure is on. You have a limited number of chances to get it right. The big difference between you and the Shrub - if you do something stupid, millions will be clueless about it. This blog ain’t that big.

Here is my list of the five best things about NASCAR - right now, to me, myownself and for my reasons only.

Barney Hall, the veteran announcer for MRN, the Motor Racing Network. I actually prefer listening to a race on radio than watching the tube. I have a soft spot in my heart for great radio guys. I grew up listening to Ernie Harwell do play by play of the Detroit Tigers. And I’ve listened to plenty of MRN broadcasts while on Sunday drives and working in the backyard. Hall has the same easy going, natural way of running a race broadcast. In a small way, I’ve learned in the last year how tough that can be. I respect pros like Barney more so for that. But even before, Barney Hall was my favorite way to get my NASCAR.
That TV shot from the top of pit row, when the pits are full of 43 cars for a green flag stop, looking down the length of the pits. The color and the pit signs and the cars and the frenzy. It’s all there and you can’t find it anywhere but NASCAR.
Bobby Allison. I didn’t have to compete against him. Maybe, if I had, I wouldn’t like him so much. But I do. We’ve talked to him a few times and they are the highlights of my time ON PIT ROW. And he drove hell out of a race car.
NASCAR has a drug testing policy. It sounds pretty loose, as drug policies go in professional sports. But, to the best of my recollection, there have only been a couple of incidents of overt drug abuse uncovered up to now in the sport. If you are going to encourage a kid to have a sport figure as a role model - and I’m not endorsing that - it seems you could do a lot worse than having your little tike follow Smoke or Jimmy, Jeff or Junior. For a sport founded by bootleggers, it’s turned out pretty wholesome.
51.410 seconds. That’s the total margin of victory - from first to second place - for the 42 Sprint Cup races run from the beginning of 2007 through mid May of 2008, according to Bob Zeller of Speedway Illustrated. The average was 1.22 seconds, per race.

That’s my list of the Top Five Best of NASCAR - as of today, anyway. What’s your top five? Let us know in the comment section of this post and we may pick your list as the Shell Gasolines Top Five of the Week. If we do, we’ll send you a very cool Kevin Harvick bobblehead, compliments of Shell Gasolines.

The Shell Gasolines’ Top Five of the Week is brought to you by Shell - reminding you to help keep your engines gunk-free and running at their best by using high-quality gasolines like Shell.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Bench Racing Contests, NASCAR & the Media, Nascar Legends, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

Tagged with: Barney Hall, Bobby Allison, Kevin Harvick, NASCAR contests, NASCR bobblehead

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Quick Hits: Kansas Speedway

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.

September 24, 2008 8:20 pm CDT 2 Comments

This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway, which will be the second-to-last track to feature the debut of the Car of Today. This creates a lot of unknowns for teams and drivers, whether they’ve had past success at the track or not. Even a team such as Hendrick Motorsports, whose teams have four wins over NASCAR’s big three series at the young track, is going into this race with a lot of questions about how the new car will handle.

Hendrick is a team about to make some big changes for 2009 and beyond. The biggest change involves the No. 5 Sprint Cup car, which will be driven by Mark Martin next season. Martin will make his return to a full-time Sprint Cup schedule after two years of 24 races each, partially because his son, Matt, has decided to give up racing and focus on schoolwork. The departing driver of the No. 5 for this season, Casey Mears, will head to Richard Childress Racing and drive the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet.

However, the Martin deal was announced weeks ago, and everyone in the garage is aware of the change. Not a team to rest on its laurels, Hendrick is making some other moves for next season that may shock and surprise some: new paint schemes, other new drivers, and new sponsorship deals to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

An anonymous source provided the following information, which serves as this week’s five Quick Hits:

5. Jimmie Johnson will run a special paint scheme for his 250th career start at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in a few weeks. This new scheme, which features the addition of red to the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, will also supposedly be run in 2009 and beyond. The scheme is a lot less “sharp” than Johnson’s current car, and features more silver than the 2008 car does.

4. In a dramatic change from the first 16 years of Jeff Gordon’s Sprint Cup career, the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet will primarily feature black, as opposed to the usual navy blue and day-glo orange. The flames on the car will change, fading from yellow to orange, and the National Guard will replace Nicorette on the lower quarter panels. No word on whether or not Nicorette will return to the team.

Gordon will likely run this scheme in 2010 as well, after which DuPont’s contract with the team runs out. Many are suggesting that Gordon will retire after the 2010 season, or scale down to a part-time schedule similar to what Martin currently runs. The team hopes that development driver Landon Cassill will be ready to take over the No. 24 in 2011.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will run a special scheme at Daytona for Speedweeks that features the addition of silver to the current Amp Energy and National Guard car. While it was originally suggested that the new color run the entire season, reports suggest that Amp didn’t want Dale Jr. fans to have to run out and buy new merchandise for the 2009 season, and thus the scheme will only run one race.

The car will feature relatively minor changes to its paint scheme for 2009, with only a couple lines moved around. Earnhardt Jr.’s driving suit, however, will change in a more prominent way: the trademark Adidas triple stripe will grace the sleeves of his firesuit.

2. Klondike will move from Gillett-Evernham Motorsports’ No. 9 Nationwide Series Dodge to the No. 5 Nationwide Series car. This team will again feature rotating sponsorships, with many of the current primaries (Delphi and GoDaddy.com among them) returning. The National Guard will reportedly scale down their involvement with this team, likely due to the shift in dollars towards Gordon’s car.
Cassill will spend some time in this car again next season, and Martin, Earnhardt Jr., and Johnson will likely also run selected events. However, the juiciest rumor in the garage regarding this team is the potential addition of Tony Stewart to the driver lineup for 2009. The assumption is that Klondike is leaving GEM to partner with Stewart at Hendrick.

1. The US Navy will be replaced on Brad Keselowski’s No. 88 Nationwide Series car by Craftsman Tools. Craftsman will likely not return to its primary sponsorship of the Truck Series beyond 2008, thus freeing up advertising dollars to partner with JR Motorsports.

Keselowski will use next season as another year of development, with a partial Sprint Cup schedule almost guaranteed as well. Keselowski will run 10 races in the No. 5 in 2010, with an eye on taking over full-time in 2011 for the likely retiring Martin.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners: Mike Skinner in the Truck Series at Las Vegas, and Greg Biffle in Sprint Cup and Kyle Busch in Nationwide at Dover.

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Craftsman Truck Series, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona 500, Greg Biffle, JR Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Mark Martin, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Tony Stewart