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NASCAR Evolution Theory: The Pinniped-aled Car of Today

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

March 13, 2012 10:05 am UTC No Comments

I enjoyed both the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series race from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The racing has come a long way, on the track, since the intro of NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow prototypes.

The evolution continues. So does the aesthetic weirdness. That aero device attached to the driver’s side c-pillar and deck lid – the so-called sharkfin – just keeps getting bigger.

In the NNWS race at Vegas, I kept thinking that the cars had a winged sprint car look to them. Maybe that’s why Ricky Stenhouse Jr was so good in his. He can wheel a sprint car.

I know that there is often a trade-off between good looks and performance on the track. I also know that NASCAR is working with the manufacturers to make the cars more street-car like.

NASCAR – and the teams – also fight the urge for more billboard space to sell to sponsors. That fin has possibilities.

But I digress. It seems to me that it’s only a matter of time before Bruton Smith gets a second date in Las Vegas. The France family parlayed their Kansas City combination of casino games and stock car racing into two dates for Kansas Speedway. With the show that LVMS puts on, I’d like another one there too.

Filed under: Bruton Smith, Car of Tomorrow, Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR Tech, Nationwide Series, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: ricky stenhouse jr.

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Chase History: Kansas Speedway

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.

October 8, 2011 12:00 pm UTC No Comments

#14 Tony Stewart turn 2 Michigan International Speedway heisler sum 11

Can Tony Stewart reclaim the Sprint Cup points lead by taking his third career Kansas win? (Photo: Beth Heisler)

2011 marks the first season that Kansas Speedway has ever hosted two races at NASCAR’s highest level, but its fall race has been a part of the Chase for the Sprint Cup since the format’s inception. All but twice, its winner has been a Chase driver; in one of the exceptions, the winner, Tony Stewart, was the top non-Chase driver on the season.

Stewart, in fact, is one of only three drivers to score two wins at the track, tied for the all-time lead. His victories came in 2006, the season where he just missed the Chase, and 2009, his fourth win in his first season driving for his own team. With eight top-10s in his 11 starts, he has an average finish of 11.9 that’s good for fifth among active drivers.

But the two other drivers to win multiple races have done a bit better. He isn’t in this year’s Chase, but Greg Biffle is the defending race winner (as well as the 2007 winner, under controversial circumstances) and will start from the pole on Sunday. In five of his 10 Kansas starts, he’s led 37 laps or more; in seven of 10, he’s come home with at least a top five finish.

The gold standard, however, is Jeff Gordon, who has nine top-10s in 11 Kansas starts and lays down a consistent run every time he shows up. Gordon won the first two Kansas races, in 2001 and 2002, the first coming on the way to his fourth career championship. In each of his past five starts, he’s finished fifth or better, giving Stewart a run for his money in the 2009 race. Another strong Kansas run could be just what he needs to pull back into the Chase hunt after the first three races have left him ninth in points.

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kansas Speedway, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: Chase for the Cup, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kansas Speedway, Tony Stewart

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2011 STP 400

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

June 2, 2011 2:25 pm UTC No Comments

You know, it’s kind of bitterly ironic that I’m writing a preview for a NASCAR race in Kansas just a day after tornadoes pummeled my home state of Massachusetts. The amount of Wizard of Oz jokes that I had to put up with yesterday was simply unbearable, let me tell you. And now that the Sprint Cup Series is officially in Kansas, running its first summer race there, I’m sure that the jokes are going to go even further.

Come on, tell me that the teams are clicking their heels together and saying “there’s no place like home” after being in Charlotte for two weeks. Tell me that crew chiefs are singing “If I Only Had a Brain” after the Coca-Cola 600 became a fuel mileage race. Really, I dare you. Suck the last remaining fun I can still make out of punnery… oh, sorry, I’m just bitter right now, don’t mind me. We’ve got a race to talk about.

Kansas is one of those tracks that’s recent enough of an addition to the NASCAR schedule that some drivers have competed in all of its races, but old enough that there’s still a solid historical base with which to work as far as making predictions goes. And so:

Greg Biffle: In the past seven races at Kansas, Da Biff has finished worse than third only once. That was a 12th-place finish, back in 2006. The next year, he won the track’s only race. We’ll see if his strong showings every October will translate to June as well.

Jeff Gordon: The guy who won the first two races at Kansas has been usurped as king of the track by Biffle, but he’s still a threat every time the Sprint Cup Series swings through. Since a fuel pump gave out and ruined his 2006 race, he’s finished in the top five every time he’s raced at the track. This race could provide the perfect opportunity to regain some of that momentum lost after winning the season’s second race at Phoenix. Doesn’t that seem like an eternity ago?

A.J. Allmendinger: God, this kid is overdue for his first career win, isn’t he? But karma is on his side this week, as he drives an STP-sponsored car for Richard Petty in a race sponsored by STP. By average finish, Kansas is the ‘Dinger’s third best track, with an average run of 12.0; that’s also fifth best of active Sprint Cup drivers, topping such stars as Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, and Kevin Harvick.

Filed under: A J Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kansas Speedway, NASCAR Fantasy Gaming

Tagged with: A.J. Allmendinger, Fantasy Pick'Em, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kansas Speedway, STP 400

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Darby Wouldn’t Approve but a Hybrid would be Good at Kansas

by Charlie Turner

October 1, 2010 9:35 pm UTC No Comments

The Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway will be a fuel run. Bet on it.

Whether there will be brawls at the fuel pump is anybody’s guess. But if there’s a green car in the field, karma might be a good thing.

1.5 and 2 mile tracks – the speedways like Kansas – tend to spawn long, caution free runs, which stretch the field and pressure crew chiefs to find tricky ways to improve track position. The strategy is to stretch the intervals between pit stops. They gamble.

Gambling leads, sometimes, to surprise winners. Think Dale Earnhardt Jr at Michigan, long ago and far away.

Gambling also often leads to disappointment. Think Tony Stewart at Loudon, way back when he still had a chance at the 2010 Sprint Cup.

There is a new casino, adjacent to Kansas Speedway. It’s a big deal. The casino is the main reason that Kansas will have a second Cup race starting in 2011.

Gambling is legal at Kansas Speedway. Hybrid cars aren’t. Gotta get you gas mileage some other way.

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

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kansas Speedway, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: Price Chopper 400, Round girl Jen

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Price Chopper 400

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

September 30, 2010 11:05 am UTC No Comments

Greg Biffle-pit-stop New Hampshire

Get ready for an uncomfortable amount of Wizard of Oz puns – the Sprint Cup Series heads to the Kansas Speedway this weekend for the Price Chopper 400.

We are now two races into this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, and already the contenders and pretenders are beginning to separate themselves. Denny Hamlin will be in the running. Jimmie Johnson, obviously, will too. Carl Edwards could steal the title with a couple of well-timed victories, while Kyle Busch may quietly (believe it or not!) be there at the end as well.

But Hamlin now holds the largest lead in Chase history after two races, 35 points over Johnson, meaning that this weekend’s results will be intensely critical for all Chasers. Can Hamlin extend that lead by beating Johnson and the field, or will a bad day for the No. 11 team, combined with a great day for a mid-Chase car, shake up the points?

My personal pick for the weekend lies within the Roush Fenway camp. I know I’ve gone on the record multiple times saying that Greg Biffle has been anonymous within the Chase, and I still believe he has been. But Juan Pablo Montoya was anonymous all season, and he still managed to dominate at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis. Likewise, Biffle is a Kansas star, with five podium finishes in eight starts and no finishes with Roush worse than 12th. His average finish is a flat 9.0. Safe bet? I think so.

My dark horse pick for the weekend is one A.J. Allmendinger. The ‘Dinger has only made two starts at Kansas, finishing ninth in 2008 and 17th last year, but this pick comes from examining the No. 43 team’s momentum. At Dover last weekend, the Richard Petty Motorsports team was one of the best in the field, qualifying second and battling back from getting caught off the lead lap. They’re beginning to show that the King’s race team is once again respectable and setting some high goals for 2011.

Three more, because we can:

The only driver to outpace Biffle at Kansas is Jeff Gordon, one of those mid-Chase drivers who desperately needs to make a statement with a victory. There’s no better place for him to do it; winner of the track’s first two races, his average finish is a fantastic 8.9, making Kansas his second-best Chase track. You try not to count a guy out of the Chase this early, but judging by the rest of the Chase schedule, this weekend may be now or never for him.

Clint Bowyer, too, has a solid track record at Kansas. He’s got a second place finish, which came during his improbable 2007 run to third in the championship, and an average finish of a respectable 11.0. But most of Bowyer’s mojo will come from an even greater desire to win the championship with NASCAR’s sanctions upon the team. He and RCR aren’t too happy with the perceived dog and pony show in appeals, and will be looking to show everybody that they don’t need to cheat to win.

Finally, Brad Keselowski only has one Cup start at Kansas, but he managed to qualify third and finish 13th in it. Not a bad run for the Kez, who’s been getting a whole lot of love from me since his pole run at Loudon. He gives an excellent press conference. Hate him or love him, he’s the sport’s next big thing.

Filed under: Kansas Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing

Tagged with: A.J. Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kansas Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Price Chopper 400

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So the Chase is Settled, Eh? Not Quite

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

October 6, 2009 12:34 pm UTC 1 Comment

It seems like a grand majority of NASCAR fans and pundits are convinced that Jimmie Johnson is well on his way to an inevitable fourth consecutive championship.

Tony Stewart may have won the race at Kansas on Sunday, but Johnson still appears to have the upper hand in the war. He may have lost eight points on leader Mark Martin, finishing ninth to Martin’s seventh, but Johnson’s car was better throughout most of the race. He led 42 more laps than “The Kid” and finished with a driver rating nearly 18 points better than Martin’s.

Remember, Kansas was the race last year after which Johnson claimed the points lead for good, extending a gap over Carl Edwards that the affable Aflac spokesman found insurmountable. With the gap between first and second so tight, and given Johnson’s history in past Chases (three consecutive championships under the Chase format, suggesting he may go down as the format’s greatest driver ever), plenty of people, me included, expected Johnson to claim the lead and start running away down the stretch.

And yet it didn’t happen.

Perhaps we’ve just postponed the inevitable. Perhaps Johnson will just pass Martin for the points lead at California, a track which he dominates (6.2 career average finish in 13 starts, with 3 wins). Perhaps those eight points won’t matter the same way that they did in 2004, when Kurt Busch won a championship over Johnson by that very same margin, or at Richmond, when Brian Vickers made it into the Chase by scoring eight more over the course of the season than Kyle Busch did.

Keep in mind, too, that last year’s Chase run was not at all like Johnson’s first two championships. In 2006, he didn’t claim the lead until eight races into the playoffs, in the Dickies 500 at Texas. In 2007, Johnson and Jeff Gordon started out fairly evenly matched. When Johnson claimed the points lead at Kansas, the gap was only six points. He lost it the next weekend, and didn’t reclaim it again until Texas.

In other words, last year was an outlier. Johnson can easily repeat his 2006 and 2007 performances, claiming the points lead late after the other drivers make mistakes.

Sure, Martin could have done better than a seventh at Kansas, to open a larger gap over Johnson. And simply beating the 48 team every weekend won’t win them a championship – not with Stewart and Juan Montoya as strong as they are. This isn’t a two horse race between Johnson and Martin, as it was with Johnson and Edwards a year ago.

If Johnson couldn’t seize an easy opportunity to pace the field at Kansas, however, he might be human after all. Hold your horses, cynics – this Chase ain’t settled yet.

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, jimmie johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kansas Speedway, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart

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