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NASCAR Photos @ChicagolndSpdwy: Sunday from the Geico 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

September 18, 2012 9:54 am UTC No Comments

Exclusive NASCAR pictures from Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. It was a perfect day for racing and round one of the Sprint Cup Series playoffs.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, Chicagoland Speedway, Danica Patrick, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, jimmie johnson, Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, NASCAR, NASCAR photos, Ryan Newman, Sprint Cup Series, Stewart Haas Racing, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: GEICO 400, NASCAR pictures, The Chase

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NASCAR Photos @ChicagolndSpdwy : Brad Keselowski on Victory Lane

by Charlie Turner

September 16, 2012 5:32 pm UTC No Comments

Exclusive pictures from Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. The 2012 Geico 400, round one in the Chase to the Sprint Cup championship goes to The Kez – Brad Keselowski and the Blue Deuce . Check these photos of the Victory Lane celebration.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Chase for the Cup, Chicagoland Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR photos, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: GEICO 400, NASCAR photos, The Chase

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NASCAR and The Kez: It’s Only Cheating if you get Caught

by Charlie Turner

August 24, 2012 10:13 am UTC No Comments

After the spring race at Bristol, track owner Bruton Smith, claiming that he was responding to complaints about the “New Bristol” racing experience, altered the racing surface by, basically scraping the top two grooves out of the track. Nobody knows for sure how the new pave will affect the racing. We just know that it will. There was a Wednesday modified race and the Camping Word Trucks ran that night too. There will be 2 and a half hours of Cup practice on Friday that might be critical to fantasy pickers. See what the experts think below.

The other big story this week was Brad Keselowski’s comments about what some of the fast teams – namely Hendrick Motorsports and Roush-Fenway – are doing with their suspension setups. He alluded to cheating. Jack Roush and others say they are within the rules. We talked to Tommy Baldwin Racing car chief Patrick Donahue On Pit Row Tuesday. He says it may be both. Called it a “light gray” area. Watch the interview below. Photo credit – Glenn Bure for OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Bristol Motor Speedway, Bruton Smith, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR, NASCAR Rumors, NASCAR Tech, NASCAR video, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Patrick Donahue, Tommy Baldwin Racing

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Whataya think? Brad Keselowski outs Hendrick setups?

by Charlie Turner

August 23, 2012 5:36 pm UTC No Comments

At the Michigan Speedway post-race presser, runner-up finisher The Kez did everything but call Hendrick Motor Sports, RCR and Roush-Fenway, a bunch of dirty cheaters.

How do you feel about that Junior fan? Ford Fan? Here’s how Steve and I feel about it. Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Penske Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rusty Wallace, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Pure Michigan 400

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Hendrick Motorsports Pure Michigan Day Went Up in Smoke

by Charlie Turner

August 19, 2012 3:02 pm UTC No Comments

Jimmie Johnson was cruisin to his first ever win at Michigan International Speedway then the motor let go with 5 laps to go.

Jeff Gordon suffered all day with a sour power plant. So did Hendrick-powered Tony Stewart. Johnson had to start from the back Sunday after and engine change. Not enough. HMS obviously tried something. It didn’t work.

On the final re-start Greg Biffle held off Brad Keselowski for the win.

This one went to Ford.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports, jimmie johnson, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series, Stewart Haas Racing, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: MIS, Pure Michigan 400

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Putting Penske’s Switch To Ford In Perspective

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 1, 2012 11:58 am UTC No Comments

Kurt Busch, driver of the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 26, 2011 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)

SONOMA, CA - JUNE 26: Kurt Busch, driver of the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 26, 2011 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Penske Racing announced today that they will be making the switch from Dodge engines to Fords in 2013, ending a 10-year relationship with the brand that saw Penske-prepped Intrepids, Chargers, and Challengers take 42 combined Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series wins. Among the highlights of the relationship were Penske’s first Daytona 500 victory, eight Chase for the Sprint Cup berths, and the 2010 Nationwide Series championship. 2011 Chase contender Brad Keselowski will drive a Ford at the sport’s highest level for the first time, while new addition A.J. Allmendinger will drive for his fourth Ford-powered team since 2004, counting his three years in Champ Car.

This won’t be team owner Roger Penske’s first time with Ford in NASCAR, either. From 1994 to 2002, Penske fielded Thunderbirds and Tauruses for primary drivers Rusty Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield, and Ryan Newman. The relationship started off hot, as Wallace would win eight races in 1994 and 15 in his first three years as a blue oval driver. He would add eight more victories from 1997 to 2001, while Mayfield would add three more from 1998 to 2001 and Newman would take his first career victory in 2002.

Penske left Ford after the 2002 season to join Dodge, then only two years into its return to NASCAR and struggling to establish a solid footing in the sport. The brand would succeed at Daytona, sweeping the front row in 2001 and winning in 2002 with Ward Burton, and had a championship challenger in 2002 with Sterling Marlin. But all that promise didn’t lead to much; Marlin’s third place in 2001 points made him the only driver to crack the top 10 either year.

The switch would pay immediate dividends, as Newman would match Wallace’s feat by winning eight races with a new manufacturer in 2003. Wallace would add a win himself, and where Dodge had only scored 10 wins with 10 cars in 2001 and 2002, Penske had nearly doubled the brand’s win total in 2003 alone with two cars. Kurt Busch would join the team in 2006 and have a handful of good seasons with the team, Newman would add a Daytona 500 win in 2008, and Penske Racing would become far and away Dodge’s most prominent and important team as the 2000s went on.

Meanwhile, many of Dodge’s other teams would either leave the brand or fall off the map entirely. A series of sales and mergers turned former flagship teams Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises into the same entity, which joined the Ford ranks in 2010. Chip Ganassi Racing would merge into Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2009, switching to Chevrolet. Bill Davis Racing defaulted on its Dodge contract by running Toyotas in the Craftsman Truck Series, eventually joining them in Sprint Cup in 2007. Other teams, like Melling Racing, Ultra Motorsports, and A.J. Foyt’s NASCAR operation, simply folded.

Penske has worked with just about every major company in motorsports. In fact, he has a history of establishing long relationships with brands, then ending them for something better. It’s happened more than once in the past few years; the most notable instance came last year, when the team dumped a long association with Mobil 1 to resume a partnership with Pennzoil that had ended after 1990.

This move has huge implications for everybody involved, particularly the manufacturers. For Ford, it’s a signal that they’ve come all the way back after a handful of lean years. As recently as 2008, Ford only fielded eight full-time cars, lowest in the series. While five of those came from the perennial contender Roush Fenway Racing, Wood Brothers Racing would cut to a limited schedule for 2009 and beyond, and the two Yates Racing cars wouldn’t exist beyond 2009. But Richard Petty Motorsports and Front Row Motorsports (theoretically a continuation of Yates Racing) would add seven cars in 2010, while Roush would keep its fifth car alive through a transfer of owners’ points. That would give Ford 12 cars for 2010; adding the two Penske teams to this year’s Fords, the brand will have a powerful 14 car lineup in 2013.

The story is much more bleak for the lame-duck engine manufacturer. In 2008, Dodge had 13 full-time, fully funded, and competitive Sprint Cup teams. Five years later, Dodge will be left with only one: Robby Gordon Motorsports, whose participation in the series is limited at best. Unless they makes a serious play for an existing team to switch manufacturers, or gives a smaller operation a major boost, Dodge may be all but gone from stock car racing’s highest level next season.

Filed under: A J Allmendinger, Brad Kesolowski, Penske Racing, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman

Tagged with: A.J. Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Dodge, Ford, Jeremy Mayfield, Kurt Busch, Penske Racing, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman

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