Latest Headlines

Comments

J.C. McKinney on Dave Marcis vs Terry Labonte: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Match Up
Earl Stoudt on NASCAR Pictures from Pocono Raceway Saturday
Pauline on NASCAR Transporters
C5Speed on Would You Rather be NASCAR Driver Kyle Busch or Dale Earnhardt Jr?
steve schloz on NASCAR! Danica Patrick and Tissot Watches are Giving it Away

Sections

GOAT on a Pole

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

September 2, 2011 8:49 pm UTC No Comments

Nicely done Ricky Carmichael.

This isn’t about an attraction at the Fulton County Fair. It is about someone called the Greatest Of All Time - the afor-mentioned RC – grabbing his first ever NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole for the Atlanta 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

This has not been a good year for Carmichael in NASCAR. He is 18th in Truck Series points and has just three top ten finishes. Not motocross-like at all. This result has to help though.

Now we need GOAT on a roll.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR

Tagged with: Atlanta 200, Camping World Truck Series, G.O.A.T., Ricky Carmichael

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Lack of Suspension for Carl Edwards Inexplicable

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2012 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.

March 11, 2010 4:07 pm UTC 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

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Hotlanta Chowder and NASCAR Shark Fin Soup

by Charlie Turner

March 10, 2010 10:29 pm UTC 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 Keselowski, 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 Keselowski’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

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Kobalt Tools 500

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2012 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

March 4, 2010 2:05 am UTC 2 Comments

Three races into the season, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 500. Jimmie Johnson, sponsored by Kobalt Tools in his Cup efforts, will attempt to win his third consecutive race this weekend… and with the old formalities down, let me tell everybody that it’s my midterm week here at school, and combined with reading too many sarcastic IndyCar blogs in preparation for that season, I’m going to be a little more bitingly sarcastic than usual. Strap in, folks.

Speaking of winning, guess who picked the winner last week? That’s right. I called him an easy pick, but sometimes it’s worth it to take the easy money (and the gift win)… especially when the rest of your picks were relative duds. Jeff Burton wound up 11th, Kyle Busch was 15th, and Denny Hamlin finished 19th, while my dark horse, Bobby Labonte, was 51 laps down in 38th.

I would love to pick Johnson again this weekend, but my conscience tells me to be a little more interesting. Fair enough. How about Jeff Gordon? 23 top-fives in 35 Atlanta starts, with four wins, and a dominant car last weekend in Vegas suggest that the DuPont team may be a force both this weekend and beyond.

(For the record, if Johnson wins this week, I will attempt to write some revisionist history by suggesting I picked the 48 this week and the 24 last week, all in the name of sounding smart. This is what happens when you write a fantasy racing column for too long and want to finally sound smart.)

As for a dark horse, how about A.J. Allmendinger? Last weekend was a struggle for sure, but the ‘Dinger heads to the best track on which he has started more than two races. He’s been consistent, if nothing else, with all four of his finishes between 14th and 20th. And while that’s not “race-winning dark horse” material, it does seem like a gimme for a solid, reasonable finish, and I’ll take what I can get. Perhaps we simply have varying definitions of “dark horse.”

Three more for all you skeptics:

Jimmie Johnson. There. I said it. It’s 1 AM and I’m very tired. Next.

In what is sure to raise a cheer from the majority of people who read this column, my next pick is none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr., the second best active driver at Atlanta (behind his superhuman teammate, of course). Yes, he hasn’t been the same driver the past two weekends as he was at Daytona, but come on, the curse of the last Hendrick car can’t apply every weekend. Even Casey Mears won in a fourth Hendrick vehicle, and Casey Mears hasn’t accomplished half of what Dale Jr. has.

For my final pick, I’m going to go with Joey Logano. This has nothing to do with his Atlanta track record in Cup, which is pretty abysmal. It has everything to do, however, with the fact that eighth in points is the highest he’s ever been in Cup. Sliced Bread is finally starting to really get things together with the No. 20 team, and he could do what David Ragan almost did in 2008 by making the Chase in his sophomore year.

Filed under: A J Allmendinger, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, jimmie johnson, Joey Logano

Tagged with: A.J. Allmendinger, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, jimmie johnson, Joey Logano, Kobalt Tools 500

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Enough Fuel Gambles: Earnhardt Jr’s Gotta Out-race ‘em Sunday

by Charlie Turner

September 5, 2009 9:32 pm UTC No Comments

Dale Earnhardt Jr finished third in the just completed Degree V12 300 Nationwide Series race. At the end, Junior stayed out while the other contenders pitted – gambling on saving five laps worth of gas. Five laps!

The problem was, Earnhardt had to tool around Atlanta Motor Speedway about two seconds a lap slower than the dominant Kevin Harvick, who was only about 12 seconds back. With 11 laps left. The math wasn’t that tough.

Rusty Wallace called it a good confidence builder for Junior and his team. I call it a trend that needs to end. Fuel mileage strategies and moral victories when those strategies fail, seem to be what some think are Earnhardt’s best expectations.

Bull.

Dale Earnhardt Jr has really good stats and a history of success at AMS. He needs to strap it up, and tell that no. 88 team of his that he’s going to go out there Sunday night and beat the field. It’s time to show something.

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

Filed under: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR, Nationwide Series

Tagged with: Degree V12 300, Round girl Jen

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Pep Boys 500 Fantasy Racing Live Chat: Thursday at 7 PM ET

by Charlie Turner

September 3, 2009 11:00 am UTC No Comments

We’re talking NASCAR fantasy night racing at Hot ‘Lanta this Thursday – September 3. Our weekly live blog/chat session starts at 7 PM ET. Sign up for a reminder in the box below so you don’t miss any of the conversation. OnPitRow.com Power Rankings author, Ryan Rantz is the fantasy racing expert host this week.

You can click here to replay any of our past fantasy chat sessions and to talk about you team for this weeks first ever night race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Filed under: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Live blogs, NASCAR, NASCAR Fantasy Gaming

Tagged with: fantasy racing live chat, NASCAR fantasy racing advice, Pep Boys 500, Ryan Rantz

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

« Previous Articles