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NASCAR Safety: Looking for Trouble in all the Wrong Places?

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

August 27, 2012 2:24 pm UTC No Comments

Why is it so difficult for NASCAR and race tracks to spot potentially dangerous on track areas and not preemptively fix them? Mark Martin’s wreck at @MISpeedway triggered this Fast Lap question from Steve. In the following video, we don’t agree – even a little – on the answer. What say you? Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Mark Martin, NASCAR, NASCAR business, NASCAR Tech, NASCAR video, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

Tagged with: NASCAR safety

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Race Fan 101: NASCAR vs IndyCar Infographic

by Charlie Turner

August 27, 2012 8:49 am UTC No Comments

Not everybody who watches a race knows what a splitter or “push-to-pass” button is all about. The Quicken Loans folks have made this infographic available that explains some of the differences between NASCAR – actually Sprint Cup – and IndyCar racing. I thought it might come in handy for newbies and don’t-really-wanna-be-s.

NASCAR vs. INDYCAR: What’s the Difference?

NASCAR vs. INDYCAR: What’s the Difference? – An infographic by the team at Quicken Loans Racing

Filed under: Indy Cars, NASCAR, NASCAR Tech, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: IndyCar, NASCAR 101, Quicken Loans Racing

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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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NASCAR Evolution Theory: The Pinniped-aled Car of Today

by Charlie Turner

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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NASCAR: PIR Goes Proactive to Promote Side-by-Side Racing

by Charlie Turner

March 2, 2012 11:59 pm UTC No Comments

or maybe this is a prototype for the next IndyCar….

PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY GROOMS TRACK’S SURFACE FOR SUBWAY FRESH FIT 500(tm)

PHOENIX – Phoenix International Raceway has announced the completion of its
pre-event track grooming program in advance of this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup
SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500(tm). Similar to the track preparation last fall, the program
was designed to burnish rubber into the track to enhance the racing groove.
“The goal was to present the best possible racing surface to NASCAR and the drivers
for this weekend’s races,” said Phoenix International Raceway President, Bryan R.
Sperber. “This is a very important race in the NASCAR season and we wanted to make
sure that the track was ready to perform.”
Phoenix International Raceway hired Colorado-based Bandimere Speedway to have a tire
rotator machine work additional rubber into PIR’s upper groove. The program was
conducted Feb. 25-27, one week before this weekend’s big event.

“It’s all about creating a better show for the fans,” said Larry Crispe, executive
vice president of operations for Bandimere Speedway. “We have used this process many
times and it’s a great way to recondition the track and prepare it for highly
competitive racing.”
Last fall, with pre-race input from NASCAR and many of the Series’ top drivers, PIR
groomed the race surface using a different tire dragging device. That effort was
augmented by six professional drivers running more than 3,000 laps on the new
surface prior to the November race weekend. The PIR grooming program was widely
lauded by the drivers during the November NASCAR weekend.
About Phoenix International Raceway

Photo credit: Phoenix International Raceway

Filed under: NASCAR, NASCAR Tech, Phoenix International Raceway

Tagged with: NASCAR press releases, PIR, Subway Fresh Fit 500

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Bipolar Bud Shootout Practice was Weird

by Charlie Turner

February 12, 2011 12:31 pm UTC No Comments

I watched final practice for the Budweiser Shootout Friday. In fact, I watched it twice. A am a geek after all.

It was strange. A dozen or so pairs of, what looked like, welded together cars taking turns blowing by one-another. Or, I guess, two-another.

I didn’t watch every minute. I had the Speed TV broadcast with Darrell Waltrip, Larry Mac and Mike Joy on the tube (dating myself again) while I worked on the late Fast Lap 140 NASCAR video.

I did hear DW say that he thought the drivers were making a mistake by spending so much of their time trying to see how fast they make their cars go in pairs. Might be better to drive in packs and get the cars handling in the turbulence of three wide racing, which is more of what they will experience during the Bud and, especially, the Gatorade Duels and the Daytona 500.

Made sense to me. I just thought it looked weird.

Photo credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Darrell Waltrip, Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR Tech, SPEED TV, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Bud Shootout, Budweiser Shootout, Larry McReynolds, Mike Joy

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