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Trevor Bayne: NASCAR Nationwide Pictures 2010

by BethAnne, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I am the field producer/photographer of the syndicated radio show/website ON PIT ROW. When Steve and Charlie ask me to 'jump', I say "Yeah right."

February 25, 2011 8:47 pm CST No Comments

Trevor Bayne is a hot item in the world of NASCAR right now. We, here at On Pit Row, have had our eyes on him for a while. Here are some pictures I took of him in his Nationwide ride in 2010. I wish I had more shots. So many drivers so little time…

: Trevor Bayne intervirw Nationwide Michigan International Speedway 10

: Trevor Bayne Nationwide Michigan International Speedway 10

: #99 Trevor Bayne finish line Nationwide Michigan International Speedway 10

: #99 Trevor Bayne Out Pet Care Nationwide Michigan International Speedway 10

: #99 Trevor Bayne waiting to practice Nationwide Michigan International Speedway 10

: #99 Trevor Bayne in garage area Nationwide Michigan International Speedway 10

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler for OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR photos, Nationwide Series, The Wood Brothers, Trevor Bayne

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Let Youth Be Served

by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

February 24, 2011 8:18 am CST 1 Comment

Trevor Bayne’s unexpected win in the Daytona 500 shows once again racing is a young mans sport.

As a fan of NASCAR racing the first driver I ever rooted for was LeeRoy Yarbrough in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Through most of the 70’s after LeeRoy dropped out of the NASCAR world with mysterious ailments; I didn’t have an allegiance to any one driver until Bill Elliott came on the scene toward the end of that decade.

Elliott captured my attention because of his family run team out of Georgia when most NASCAR teams had already migrated to the area around Charlotte. At the time there weren’t a lot of teams running Fords and I have always held an affinity for the brand. So Bill, Dan and Ernie were MY guys.

I have remained an Elliott fan throughout his career even when he closed his team and went to drive for Ray Evernham and the resurrected Dodge factory effort.

When it was announce that Bill would drive for the Wood Brothers in a part time effort I believed in my heart, if not totally in my mind, that the combination could bring back the glory of a time gone by when David Pearson took the part time program and won races. Pearson won races; he wasn’t interested in winning championships. Championships were for guys like Richard Petty.

My hope for catching lightening in a bottle with the Wood Brothers-Bill Elliott combination kept lessening with every missed opportunity. The Woods would enter Elliott in places that he had run well in the past; places like Atlanta. The combination never seemed to work. Maybe the team wasn’t ready to win yet.

I was still surprised when the Woods elected to take Bill out of the car in late 2010 to give the displaced Bayne a one-off. Bayne had been released earlier by Michael Walltrip Racing from his Nationwide Series ride. Needless to say he ran well enough at Texas, finishing a respectable seventeenth, to make the Woods have to make a decision for 2011.

The decision to part ways with Elliott and give Bayne the ride for 2011 obviously was a winner for both Bayne and the race team that hasn’t seen a win at Daytona since 1976. One win does not a career make; but to take the iconic #21 to victory lane in only his second Sprint Cup race and just a day after his twenteth birthday could make the Wood Brothers seem like geniuses.

It may be way too early to proclaim a changing of the guard, but for this NASCAR fan it’s time to move on to a new phase in the sport we love.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler/ON PIT ROW

Filed under: Bill Elliott, Daytona 500, How to fix NASCAR, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR History, NASCAR Predictions, Nascar Legends, Trevor Bayne

Tagged with: David Pearson, LeeRoy Yarbrough, Ray Evernham, Richard Petty, The Wood Brothers, Trevor Bayne

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Hey, ESPN: Pick It Up

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

February 23, 2011 4:41 pm CST No Comments

Hey everybody. How goes it? Long time no talk, eh? I’ve been pretty busy. Not too busy to accurately predict the winner of the Daytona 500 (Twitter link to prove it), but still, college has been kicking my butt. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. We’re here to talk racing - and how a particular network doesn’t exactly know what the hell they’re doing with it.

I give ESPN a lot of hell for the way they present their programming. Rightfully so, I think - the Worldwide Leader has gotten pretty lazy without any real competition. From stupid errors on SportsCenter to subpar NASCAR coverage, the great sports network with which I grew up is no longer so great, and its on-air “talent” seems to embody that term less and less.

Consider Monday’s episode of “Around the Horn,” where its four panelists attempted to discuss Trevor Bayne’s miraculous Daytona 500 win. Save Tim Cowlishaw, who actually writes on the sport, the other three panelists - J.A. Adande, Woody Paige, and Kevin Blackistone - basically panned, in ignorance, what it took for the young driver (younger than me, even - damn, I feel old) to take his first career victory on the sport’s biggest stage.

And I’ll be damned if I don’t call them out on it.

No, it’s not a good idea to get sports journalists to write on sports they don’t really know (I have some basketball articles that I’ve written if you question that assertion). I understand that ATH is designed to deal with all the big stories in sports, and thus save for Daytona, Indianapolis, and the Chase, NASCAR doesn’t get too much love. Fine. But is it too much to ask for the panelists to do five minutes’ worth of research before the show?

We’ll spare Cowlishaw from this discussion; he knows his stuff. Paige and Blackistone do not.

When asked by host Tony Reali about the race, Paige decried the two-car tandems that dominated throughout Speedweeks. Are they the ideal? Nah. Did they add something fresh and interesting to the race, though? Yes. Yes they did. I’m often like Paige, in that I often cry for things to go back to the way they were - particularly in 1998 or so - but this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Judging by how the drivers reacted, restrictor plate racing was at its most harrowing and challenging all month. And that’s what we want, isn’t it?

Blackistone’s accusations are far more unforgivable. He drew a comparison to a speed-skating race from a past Olympics, where one skater said he’d just hang out in the back and wait until the end of the event, once everybody else had crashed out, and take the victory.

News flash, “Professor Blackistone.” You need a little re-education in the facts.

Let’s look at the data, shall we? Trevor Bayne was the third-fastest car in preliminary qualifying for the Daytona 500. He only started 32nd due to a last-lap wreck in his Gatorade Duel. He spent 135 laps in the top 15, eighth best among his competitors. His driver rating of 108.2 was fourth best. His pass differential of +48 was second only to David Ragan’s +61, and if not for jumping a lane change on a late restart, they might have finished 1-2.

I understand that Bayne only led six laps of 208, but he was there all day and everybody knew it. Nobody wrecked in front of him like Blackistone insinuated, either; the wrecks were, almost universally, behind him. He got to the front right away and stayed there all day. Can’t help it if people wreck behind you.

This is the problem with ESPN in general. Nobody knows what the **** they’re talking about anymore, and the network often doesn’t care, employing a series of idiots for the sake of over-the-top debate. And the lower down the totem pole your sport is, the worse their errors are. (I won’t be surprised if they call the Indianapolis 500 a NASCAR race this year.) Now that ESPNEWS has basically been consolidated to a 30-minute loop of college basketball highlights, the “entertainment” notion has all but taken over completely. And as long as they’re handling NASCAR, the coverage is going to be a joke. I hate to say this, but give me Digger, or give me death.

That’s all I got for now, folks. Once college slows down the fantasy column will be back. See y’all then.

Filed under: Daytona 500, ESPN, Trevor Bayne

Tagged with: Daytona 500, ESPN, Trevor Bayne

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NASCAR Driver Pictures: Best of Robby Gordon 2010

by BethAnne, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I am the field producer/photographer of the syndicated radio show/website ON PIT ROW. When Steve and Charlie ask me to 'jump', I say "Yeah right."

February 22, 2011 1:44 pm CST No Comments

Exclusive Photos of NASCAR Driver Robby Gordon

I admit it; I love Robby Gordon. I hope it comes out in my pictures of NASCAR badass Robby G… And I mean badass in the most affectionate way.

: Robby Gordon before qualifying Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: Robby Gordon by his car Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: Robby Gordon pre qualifying Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: Robby Gordon driver intros Michigan International Speedway heisler spr 10

: Robby Gordon driver intros Michigan International Speedway heisler spr 10

: Robby Gordon and Joey Logano discussing strategy Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: Robby Gordon and Joey Logano Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: robby-Gordon and Joey Logano Michigan International Speedway heisler spr 10

: Robby Gordon and Joey Logano talking Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: Robby Gordon bothered by sun Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: #7 Robby Gordon #55 Michael Waltrip on track Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: #7 Robby Gordon on track Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: #7 Robby Gordon in garage Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: Robby Gordon waiting to qualify Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

: Robby Gordon Larry MacReynolds talking Michigan International Speedway heisler 10

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - OnPitRow.com

Filed under: NASCAR, NASCAR photos, Robby Gordon

Tagged with: NASCAR pictures, Robby Gordon Motorsports

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Dale Earnhardt Jr and the Daytona 400

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

February 19, 2011 12:31 pm CST 4 Comments

If Dale Junior wins this Sunday’s Great American Race, NASCAR may rename it the Daytona 400. Seriously. Not.

But since Earnhardt won his first Daytona 500 pole on Sunday, the reaction has been enthusiastic. That is not the same thing as unanimous though.

This 500 will be Junior’s 400th career Sprint Cup start. As milestones go, even Earnhardt has put it in the perspective of the sport. Not that big of a deal, ya know?

But after qualifying on the pole, it didn’t take a full minute for the conspiracy theorists to rise to the bait. Though most did it tongue in cheek. I tweeted this as Junior got the checkered flag Sunday…

How long for the first “fixed” tweet or post if Junior’s pole holds up? #NASCAR over/under is right now

RacingWithRich replied within seconds…

@onpitrow If my dad was on twitter you would have already gotten it. LOL

Within the space of about 15 minutes, I had emails and texts heard unsolicited comments, all claiming that the fix was in. But the funny thing was/is, that nobody seemed to be complaining that there might be some tilting of the table in Earnhardt’s direction. It was more like they were cheering the fact. Junior just doesn’t have many haters. And that’s good. He doesn’t deserve haters.

So, fixed or fair, I hope that NASCAR gets its storybook finish this Sunday. Would be fun to talk and write about.

Photo credit: Getty Images for NASCAR

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona 500, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR History, NASCAR Rumors, Nascar Legends

Tagged with: Dale Jr, Junior

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Gatorade Duels A True Tradition

by Matt Mercer, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I'm the former blogger of The Catfish Show NASCAR Blog and a contributor to On Pit Row. Follow me on Twitter: @mattmercer

February 17, 2011 10:29 am CST 1 Comment

I’m a huge fan of the February weekday tradition, the Gatorade Duels.

Formerly (and maybe should still be, but that’s another blog) the Twin 125s, the unique way in which the field is set for the Daytona 500 will be run today at 2 PM on SPEED. Since the Daytona 500’s inception the qualifying races have been part of the Daytona experience. Not only do you get a preview of what Sunday will be like, but you get so many great stories to last until Sunday. The transfer spot, the underdogs, the surprises. Dale Earnhardt had the incredible streak of 10 consecutive wins in the Twin 125s from 1990 through 1999.

For racing junkies its a bonus to see cars on the track with something on the line. These races whet the appetite for Sunday’s big race. I can’t wait until they drop the green flag today.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt, Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway

Tagged with: Dale Earnhardt, Daytona, Daytona 500, Gatorade Duels, NASCAR, speed, Sprint Cup, twin 125s

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