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NASCAR Photos: Denny Hamlin Wins @NHMS

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 23, 2012 9:14 pm UTC No Comments

Exclusive Sylvania 300 victory lane pictures from Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Glenn Bure did hisnormal, fantastic work getting great pictures of Denny Hamlin’s burnout and celebration.

Photo credit:Glenn Bure – onpitrow.com

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR, NASCAR photos, New Hampshire International Speedway, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Loudon, Magic Mile, sylvania 300

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NASCAR Photos @ChicagolndSpdwy: Sunday from the Geico 400

by Charlie Turner

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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Hamlin, Stewart Showcase Market For Late Model Championship For The Pros

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.

April 26, 2012 8:32 pm UTC No Comments

Sometimes I think I need to stop dreaming so much.

As I write this, the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown is on the Speed Channel, and through 25 of 75 laps, Greg Edwards is leading the late model race. Right now, the Langley (GA) Speedway legend is doing a good job of holding the lead, though he’s got another car filling his mirrors.

Did I mention that that car is being driven by Tony Stewart?

Sprint Cup stars dabbling in late model racing has become a hot, and very entertaining, trend in the past few years, as many drivers look to run as many races as they can. The Prelude to the Dream, held at Stewart’s own Eldora Speedway, has become a major pay-per-view event. The Hamlin event also gathers some attention as local drivers get the opportunity to prove themselves against stock car racing’s best. But these races mean just as much to the Sprint Cup drivers as they do to the locals with something to prove.

Some drivers even go all out to build their own cars. Kyle Busch, of course, fields his late model out of his own shop. Guys like Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, and Bobby Labonte have been doing it for years. Jeff Burton spent his own money to build a brand new late model out of his own shop just for Hamlin’s event, with the goal of handing it over to his son in due time.

That got me thinking – with so many great opportunities for late model races, why isn’t there a de facto late model championship for top NASCAR drivers?

Hear me out. For one, these races aren’t about winning money, they’re about winning over competitors, making them a perfect candidate for charity benefit. Plenty of people will be willing to show up for a bunch of exhibition races between top NASCAR drivers, especially for a good cause.

Second, there are plenty of tracks on the NASCAR schedule that either already hold late model races, or could easily establish one. Hamlin’s race is at Richmond in April, while Bristol used to hold late model races for old-timers in March and New Hampshire has an ACT late model invitational in September. Rockingham could serve to add a race as a warm-up for its Truck event in April, while Lucas Oil Raceway Park could use an event in July to replace the Nationwide and Truck events. Throw in affiliations with Eldora for the Prelude to the Dream, Oxford Plains for its annual 250-lap event, and Five Flags Speedway for the Snowball Derby in December, and you have a 10-race schedule.

Lastly, there’s the hope – maybe a small hope, but still a hope – that a series like this would get some of the Cup drivers out of the feeder series and into their own exhibition races. Most of the reason they run those races is for the sake of racing, anyway. Plenty of stars have said that they want to contest the Truck race at Rockingham after watching Kasey Kahne win it this year. But if they choose to return to their late model roots rather than race in the bigger events, maybe it cracks the door open a little wider for some development driver to run once or twice more and impress somebody.

I’m sure a bunch of drivers would sign on, especially with charity involved. Stewart, Busch, and Hamlin would undoubtedly headline it, while Wallace and Schrader might even make it their primary goal to win the title in any given year. The races would make for great television, which the sponsors love, and running for points that determine how much each charity benefits adds an extra layer of motivation beyond bragging rights.

You’d watch it. I’d watch it. A lot of folks would.

Hamlin’s race is now in its intermission, setting up a 25-lap dash for the checkers. Edwards has fallen to third place, with Stewart now in the lead. For Smoke, this could be just another victory won for the love of racing. But for some other driver, a win could be the realization of a dream – beating what may be the sport’s best driver.

Some things may just be pipe dreams, but someone ought to make this dream come true.

Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Eldora Speedway, Prelude to the Dream, Richmond International Raceway, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: Denny Hamlin, Eldora Speedway, Late Models, Prelude to the Dream, Richmond International Raceway, Tony Stewart

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Chase History: Texas Motor Speedway

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

November 6, 2011 12:15 pm UTC No Comments

Texas Motor Speedway promoter extraordinaire Eddie Gossage loves a good head-to-head battle, especially in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. That’s what he hopes for between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart, the top two remaining championship contenders, in today’s Texas race.

Ideally, Gossage would love to see the points lead change hands today. It’ll make the race one of the most interesting ones in the Chase, but mostly it’ll help him sell even more tickets to this race in the future. And, if it happens again, it’ll firmly entrench Texas as perhaps the most pivotal race in the Chase.

Remember what happened last season. Denny Hamlin took the win in this race after leading 31 laps, inheriting the points lead in a 47-point swing from Jimmie Johnson, who finished ninth. That’s roughly an 11-point swing under this year’s point system, which would be good enough to give Stewart the lead if he did the same thing.

Then again, perhaps that wouldn’t be such a good omen. The only driver to take the title after winning at Texas was Johnson in 2007 since this race was established in 2005. Edwards took the checkers in 2008, only to finish second in points; Hamlin did the same thing last year. Edwards was too far back in the Chase to catch Johnson, though he would have won the championship under a non-Chase format. Meanwhile, Hamlin blew it the next week at Phoenix and gave the point lead right back.

Whoever wins today, though, Gossage probably hopes they’re leaving with the points lead. Stewart could do it easily; Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, and even spring Texas race winner Matt Kenseth could do it with a bit of luck. Today should be a Texas-sized shootout, and Gossage is loving every second of it.

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, Denny Hamlin, jimmie johnson, Texas Motor Speedway, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, Denny Hamlin, jimmie johnson, Texas Motor Speedway, Tony Stewart

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Chase History: Martinsville Speedway

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

October 26, 2011 7:29 pm UTC No Comments

With the wild card race at Talladega Superspeedway now out of the way, the Sprint Cup Series now travels to the Martinsville Speedway for the seventh race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The two tracks couldn’t be more different, as we go from the two-car and pack racing common on high-banked superspeedways to the “rubbin’s racin’” mentality of a flat short track.

Chances are, one of three drivers will take the checkered flag this weekend – Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, or Denny Hamlin – but in a trying year for Hamlin, it seems unlikely that this will be the event to turn his Chase around. Johnson, on the other hand, seems more likely, having won Martinsville’s Chase race four times in five years between 2004 and 2008.

In fact, the 2006 win may have been the biggest turning point for Johnson in his first Chase title run. Johnson had finished second in the previous event at Charlotte, but was still seventh in points. But at Martinsville, Johnson scored his first win of the 2006 Chase, leapfrogging to third in points. In the same race, points leader Jeff Burton’s engine failure marked the beginning of the end of his title hopes, dropping him to fifth in points. (He would eventually finish seventh in the Chase.)

Last year, however, Martinsville proved more of a detriment for Johnson. He still finished fifth, but polesitter Hamlin took the lead on lap 471 of 500, for the first time since the start of the race, and took the victory. What was already a slim points lead shrunk even further, as Johnson’s 41 points on Hamlin before the race decreased to six. (Under the current points system, that’s about a one point lead.) Suddenly, the four-time defending champions appeared vulnerable; two weeks later, Hamlin held the points lead.

Martinsville, then, could prove a pivotal race for any driver who takes the victory. Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, or Tony Stewart could take the victory and close in on Carl Edwards, or Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, or even Johnson could use a win (plus some tough luck for the top four) to propel themselves back into the title fight.

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Denny Hamlin, jimmie johnson, Martinsville Speedway

Tagged with: Chase for the Cup, Denny Hamlin, jimmie johnson, Martinsville Speedway

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NASCAR Pictures: Friday Qualifying for the Sylvania 300

by Charlie Turner

September 24, 2011 9:33 pm UTC No Comments

Exclusive NASCAR photos from New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Our intrepid photog Glenn Bure was there and firing on all cylinders for the Friday Sprint Cup practice and qualifying action at The Magic Mile in Loudon. Nice work Glenn.