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Bigger NASCAR Chase Surprise: Carl Edwards or Kyle Busch?

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 13, 2012 12:55 pm UTC No Comments

Bring on the Chase. The field is set; Jeff Gordon’s in and maybe your driver insn’t.

Which driver’s failure surprised – or pleased you more, The Shrub or Cousin Carl? Or maybe you really thought that this was the year for Rocket Ryan or Sliced Bread.

Tell us what you think. Here’s what we had to say on The Show.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, NASCAR, Richmond International Raceway, Sprint Cup Series

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NASCAR Race to the Chase: Did Richmond Live Up to Expectations?

by Charlie Turner

September 13, 2012 6:23 am UTC No Comments

As a rule, I like races at Richmond International Raceway. The track, to me, is what a stock car venue should be. And it looks really good under the lights, on TV. But the Federated Auto Parts 400, final race in the playoff hunt for the 2012 Sprint Cup Series championship, got decidedly mixed reviews, based on comments to the On Pit Row Facebook page.

What did you think? Here’s what Steve and I had to say, On Pit Row.

Photo credit: Getty Images for NACAR

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, NASCAR, NASCAR video, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Richmond International Raceway

Tagged with: Federated Auto Parts 400, RIR

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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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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2011 Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400

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

April 27, 2011 4:10 pm UTC No Comments

Hello, Richmond. One of the most fun tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule, the track will end racing for the month of April with a 400-lap tilt under the bright lights on Saturday night.

Richmond is also the home track of Denny Hamlin, who will host his Short Track Showdown at the track for the first time on Thursday night. After a few years at the since-closed Southside Speedway, Hamlin will bring his own late model charity event to a much bigger stage, even attracting a SPEED Channel broadcast. Maybe it’ll be some good karma for the struggling Hamlin, who currently sits 17th in points after nearly winning it all last year.

I don’t have Hamlin on my short list of fantasy picks this week, though – not as my favorite, my alternate, or my dark horse. So, who am I picking over the guy who’s won two of the last three at Richmond?

Kyle Busch: The two-time race defending champion, of course. Last year, Rowdy dominated by leading 226 of 400 laps, including the first 140, and getting by Jeff Gordon for the final five circuits to cement his first victory of the season. Through two short track races this year, he’s been the top driver as well, scoring a series-best 90 points and leading 304 of 1000 laps. If he’s not your guy, he should be.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: The momentum’s there. The will to win, if it was ever gone, is back. The last time Junior saw a short track (at Martinsville) he led as late as lap 496 of 500 and finished second. The turnaround within the No. 88 shop (or, technically, the consistently high level of performance in the former No. 24 shop) has the sport’s most popular driver contending for wins every weekend now, but he still has to break through. This could be the weekend.

Marcos Ambrose: Don’t ask me why, I just have a hunch. Well, a hunch influenced by a solid average finish of 11.8 in four Richmond starts, including runs of ninth (spring) and fifth (fall) last year. Richard Petty Motorsports has an issue with inconsistency, as it seems Ambrose will only run well when A.J. Allmendinger doesn’t, and vice versa. If you buy into that coincidence as theory, then Allmendinger’s 11th-place run two weeks ago at Talladega, combined with Ambrose’s crash-influenced 32nd-place finish, should mean Ambrose will run well on Saturday.

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, NASCAR Fantasy Gaming, Richmond International Raceway

Tagged with: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Fantasy Pick'Em, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400, Richmond International Raceway, Sprint Cup Series

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Richmond NASCAR Shark Fin Soup

by Charlie Turner

September 11, 2010 3:24 pm UTC No Comments

Last race before the Chase.

This year the drama is pretty much over. Only Clint Bowyer stands any chance of being bumped from the NASCAR playoffs. And that chance is slimmer than a frog hair.

Chase haters will use that as another argument that NASCAR should go back to the old ways. Who needs the Chase?

But this last 15 race run the first Richmond race through Atlanta, has had much more for fans of Bowyer, Biffle, Newman, McMurray and Martin to get excited about than if their heroes had been 3-500 points behind the Sprint Cup leader, with no hope of being a contender.

The playoff run – NASCAR Race to the Chase – is a good thing. Let’s hope the actual Chase is a down to the wire, nail biter.

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

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Clint Boyer, NASCAR, Richmond International Raceway, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Air Guard 400, RIR

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Fantasy Pick’Em: Air Guard 400

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

September 9, 2010 6:42 am UTC No Comments

This is it – we’re down to the final race of the Sprint Cup Series regular season, the Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway. For those of you who want to hang out during this weekend’s live blog at Bleacher Report, I’ll be in charge, so feel free to stop by and enjoy yourself.

There’s usually a bit of drama in this race every year as the final drivers to make it into the Chase settle in. But Greg Biffle needs only to finish 42nd to be guaranteed in, while Clint Bowyer’s magic number is 28th. Don’t expect a surprise move by Jamie McMurray to make it (even though it appears that every time we don’t expect him to perform well, he does).

So who looks good for this weekend’s race?

My pick for the weekend is Kyle Busch, because not picking him at Richmond is to bet on the snowball in hell. True, he only has two wins in 11 starts, but nine top five finishes? Zero finishes off the lead lap? Over ten percent of a possible 4410 laps spent in front? Come on.

I suppose Mark Martin, based on his recent performance and the unlikely chances of him making this year’s Chase, can be considered a dark horse, right? Martin’s got 27 top-10s in 49 Richmond starts. Ironically, a 46-point penalty accrued lone win at Richmond, in 1990, was the difference between winning and losing that year’s championship to Dale Earnhardt.

Three more, to substantiate the column and make your fantasy prospects that much more interesting:

Clint Bowyer’s never finished worse than 18th at Richmond, making his Chase prospects look pretty good (well, on a “making it in” basis). True, finishing 12th four times isn’t wildly impressive, with his spring 2008 win his only top five finish at the track. But he gets the job done, at the very least, and that makes him a solid pick.

If Bowyer stumbles, though, and Jamie McMurray can’t pull off a Chase shocker, look for Ryan Newman to do everything he can to play the spoiler. Newman’s got 11 top-10s in 17 Richmond starts, marked by a win in this race in 2003. Be wary, though – Newman has finished better in the spring Richmond race than the fall one in each of the past six years.

Finally, if you want a true left-field pick, have a look at Marcos Ambrose. He’s got two finishes of 11th or better at Richmond. In a way, Richmond is a lot like the V8 Supercar circuits that Ambrose conquered down in Australia, featuring sharp turns with a lot of heavy braking. He’s no championship threat, but he can surprise with a decent finish. (By the same token, so, too, might Mattias Ekstrom, the Red Bull driver who has made a name for himself as the DTM touring car champion in Germany.)

Filed under: One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Richmond International Raceway

Tagged with: Air Guard 400, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, Mark Martin, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Richmond International Raceway, Ryan Newman

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