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Kangaroo Meat Moves on and Bobby Labonte Gets a Good Ride

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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

July 31, 2010 10:58 pm CDT No Comments

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Is Marcos Ambrose crazy? Who in their right mind would leave a competitive Sprint Cup ride without having a solid seat in another such locked up?

I am trying to remember one. I cannot.

There is speculation that Ambrose will fill Kasey Kahne’s seat in a Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. That makes some sense. Marcos was a Ford contract driver for years in Australia, before coming to America five years ago.

But RPM has no sponsors for 2011 that I know of. It seems an awfully risky move. Bob Pockrass at Scene Daily has this quote…

“This right now on the face of it, seems crazy we haven’t got the certainty on the back side but I feel like it was the right choice and the timing was right.”

We’ll see. But the timing worked out just fine for ex-Cup Champ Bobby Labonte. Labonte will take over the #47 for JTG Doherty Racing in 2011. No offense to TRG Motorsports, but this is the best ride Bobby’s had in a couple years. And I like his chances to win some races in that Toyota.

Photo credit: Glenn Bure - OnpitRow.com

Filed under: Bobby Labonte, JTG Racing, Marcos Ambrose, NASCAR, NASCAR Rumors 

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Saturday at Pocono: NASCAR Pictures

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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

July 31, 2010 9:57 pm CDT No Comments

More exclusive NASCAR photos from the Pennsylvania 500 weekend

Saturday at Pocono Raceway is Sprint Cup qualifying day. OnPitRow photographers Glenn and Jessica Bure got some nice candid driver pictures along with action on the track.






Photo credit: Glenn Bure (pics 1-6) and Jessica Bure - OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Brad Kesolowski, Elliott Sadler, Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kevin Harvick, NASCAR, Pocono Raceway, Tony Stewart, jimmie johnson 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Lenox 301

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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.

June 24, 2010 11:20 am CDT 1 Comment

Jeff Gordon Pitstop at Michigan Speedway

Jeff Gordon Pitstop at Michigan Speedway

This weekend’s Lenox 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway marks the first race of the Sprint Cup Series’ Race to the Chase, a ten-race dash to set the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup at the end of the year. Right now, eight drivers are within 161 points (the maximum swing between first and last in a race) of 12th-place Carl Edwards, making the next ten races crucially important for those bubble drivers.

Loudon is a unique track to Sprint Cup, in that it is reminiscent of Martinsville on steroids. It’s a mile long, completely flat, and few drivers can maintain top ten average finishes at the track. Even the best Loudon drivers only crack the top ten about half the time.

So which drivers are good bets at the sport’s most northern track?

My pick for the weekend is Jeff Gordon. In 30 starts, he has an average finish of 11.4, with 13 top five results. Though he hasn’t won at the track since 1998, he has four finishes of third or better in the last seven Loudon races and led 64 laps in this event last year. He’ll be looking for a long overdue first win of the season.

My dark horse for the weekend is Martin Truex Jr., racing once again at his home track, per se. The New Jersey native finished in the top ten each time he ran at Loudon in 2007 and 2008, with last year’s poor finishes an aberration. It was his big wins at Loudon in the K&N East Series that actually put him in position to step up to the big time in the first place. Truex will also be looking to make up for a race ruined by Gordon last weekend.

Three more, as per usual:

Denny Hamlin has the best average finish of a driver with a significant amount of starts at Loudon. In eight races, he’s put up a 7.5 average, with one win and six top fives. More impressive, Hamlin has never failed to complete a lap at the track, nor has he ever finished worse than 15th.

Any longtime fan of the sport, or of this track, knows that Jeff Burton once owned Loudon like no other driver could ever imagine. From 1997 to 2000, Burton won a race every year, with his 300-out-of-300 laps led in the fall of 2000 his masterpiece at the track. Sure, Burton hasn’t won there since, but he’s continued to put up solid runs.

Finally, let’s go way out in left field and give Bobby Labonte a little name recognition. He’s just left TRG Motorsports and will attempt to run the full race in Robby Gordon’s unsponsored No. 7 car. He actually led in both Loudon races last year, and although his finishes haven’t shown it as of late, he was once a shoo-in for top finishes every race. His feedback on the car will help Gordon’s team move forward as they attempt to gain sponsorship for the rest of the season.

Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., New Hampshire International Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing 

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NASCAR Pictures from Michigan Speedway: Friday at MIS

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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

June 12, 2010 9:25 pm CDT No Comments

Michigan International Speedway is the NASCAR Home Track for On Pit Row.

BethAnne Heisler is our field producer and a terrific photographer. Here is a sample of her work from Friday’s Sprint Cup practices and NASCAR drivers interviews from the all new Media Center.

Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin at MIS
Robby Gordon and Joey Logano at MIS
Casey Mears and Kasey Kahne at MIS

Carl Edwards in Media Center at MIS June 2010
Mark Martin MIS Media Center
Greg Biffle in MIS Media center

Todd Bodine at MIS
Tony Stewart at MIS Friday practice

Kurt Busch on the pit wall at MIS
Front Row Joe Nemechek at MIS
A J Allmendinger at Michigan Speedway


Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler OnPitRow.com

Filed under: A J Allmendinger, Bobby Labonte, Carl Edwards, Casey Mears, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Joe Nemechek, Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR photos, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Shelby American

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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 25, 2010 1:55 am CST 2 Comments

Two races down, 34 to go as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for this year’s Shelby American. Kyle Busch will attempt to defend his 2009 race win after two consecutive 14th place finishes to start the year.

Jimmie Johnson won three consecutive Vegas races from 2005-07, and won last week in California. He was the best of my five suggestions last week. My lead pick, Matt Kenseth, had a seventh-place run, while my dark horse, David Ragan, was 23rd. Of my other picks, Busch was 14th, and polesitter Jamie McMurray wound up 17th. All in all, it was a much better day than Daytona, and everybody was in the top 25, so the day wasn’t a disaster.

I know it’s an easy pick, but can you fault me for taking Johnson this weekend? It somehow feels okay to me because of his off and on nature at Vegas. In eight starts at the track, he has three wins, but only one other top-10. The past two years he hasn’t finished in the top 20, although he led the most laps in last year’s event before a pit road mistake took him off the lead lap.

It’s hard to come up with a true dark horse for Vegas. The top drivers in the series usually do well, and the lesser teams don’t, according to the record books. But Bobby Labonte may be as close as it gets. He was fifth last year for the Hall of Fame Racing team that no longer runs, and he may be able to pull some similar magic for TRG Motorsports this weekend. He’s got a decent Vegas record, with an average finish of 15.7 in 12 starts, two poles, and five top-10s, with four of those finishes fifth or better.

The other three drivers I’m picking, as per tradition:

Jeff Burton has the best average finish of anybody at Vegas, and even the fact that he’s started every race at the track hasn’t weighed that down. He’s the only driver with an average finish in the single digits (9.8), and he won this race in 1999 and 2000. Save a disaster in 2001, he’s never finished worse than 17th.

Kyle Busch runs at a torrid pace at his home track. His average start of 7.7 is only second to brother Kurt, at least for drivers with multiple Vegas starts, but Rowdy is significantly better than his big brother in average finish, by more than nine places. As I’ve already mentioned, he won this race last year. Since joining Sprint Cup full-time, his worst Vegas finish is 11th. Talk about stepping up for the home crowd.

Finally, Denny Hamlin completes my horrible cop-out of picking the drivers with the top four average finishes at Vegas. I know, I know. But Hamlin is outside the top 20 in points – I feel like I should get some leeway there. He also hasn’t led any laps at Vegas in his career, which would make a victory somewhat of an upset, right? He qualifies mid-pack (average start 23.5), but has an average finish of 11.0, the biggest positive difference for any active driver, meaning if he wins, he’ll have earned it by passing a lot of cars and maintaining the lead.

Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, jimmie johnson 

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The Best of a Bad Situation for Labonte

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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.

September 4, 2009 10:05 am CDT 2 Comments

Talk about a hectic week for Bobby Labonte.

On Monday, the former Cup Series champion found out that, due to a lack of sponsorship on his No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Ford, Yates Racing (tasked with filling any sponsorship gaps on the car) was replacing him for seven races with Erik Darnell, who drives part-time for Roush Fenway Racing in the Nationwide Series. The move was unpopular with most in the garage, with some wondering how a former champion with a seemingly committed sponsor (Ask.com) could be replaced so easily – at Atlanta, a track he used to dominate, no less.

Now, that’s not a knock against Darnell, and nobody has any ill will for him. In limited Nationwide starts this year, he’s shown prowess on most tracks, scoring five top-10s in 10 starts with an average finish of 12.3. Last year he finished 4th in the Truck Series standings, with one win and 12 top-10s. The sponsors like him, and he can flat-out drive. He’s earned his shot.

But the way in which Labonte was replaced – especially the sudden nature of the move – left a lot of folks with a bitter taste in their mouth. Those cynics who used to scoff at open-wheel racing’s practice of hiring pay drivers are now faced with NASCAR teams ousting former champions to do the same thing.

Worst of all for Labonte, it looked as if his start streak of 568 consecutive races, second only to Jeff Gordon (569) for most consecutive starts by an active driver, was going to come to a close.

Luckily for Labonte, this story has a happy ending. Kevin Buckler, a prominent sports car team owner who put together a Sprint Cup team for this year, decided that Labonte was an upgrade over David Gilliland behind the wheel. He came calling, and by Thursday Labonte had a ride for the seven races he was previously scheduled to miss. He’ll drive the No. 71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet.

In this scenario, everybody wins in some way or another. Given the grassroots nature of Buckler’s team, putting a past champion behind the wheel accomplishes two things: first, it gives the team a shot at the past champion’s provisional in future races, and second, it makes the team more attractive to potential small sponsors.

If Labonte can attract one or two companies to support TRG, either by his resume or his on-track performance, it could eventually help Gilliland run full races instead of starting and parking. Gilliland has been a loyal soldier to the team’s efforts this year, running respectably when he’s been able to and refusing to bail on his team (a la Scott Riggs) during the tough times. He, too, deserves a shot at running well.

Kudos to Buckler for making a move with benefits for everybody. We’ll see how it works out in the coming weeks.

Filed under: Ask.com Racing, Bobby Labonte, Hall of Fame Racing, TRG Motorsports, david gilliland 

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