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All Stars Get Tight in Turn 2 Too

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

May 15, 2009 8:56 am UTC 1 Comment

There will be fireworks at Lowes Motor Speedway this weekend as the best – plus one – of the Sprint Cup Series will bang around for an entertaining couple hours, under the lights. And I can’t wait.

That’s my topic for the latest Tight in Turn 2 post with my pal Bruce from NASCAR Bits and Pieces. Make sure you check out his new blog design and update his link in your favorites. Bruce done moved on up.

All-Star races: Do you like ‘em, hate ‘em or tolerate ‘em?

Charlie: Here’s the deal for me, with All-Star anythings. I don’t like it when an All-Star event changes the game. So the NFL, NBA and NHL all turn me off. Those games are nothing like the real thing. Hate ‘em. MLB doesn’t mess it up too bad. It’s still a baseball game. The players in the field still try to catch the ball. It isn’t all offense, unlike the other three exhibition games.

The NASCAR All-Star races – the Budweiser Shootout in February and the Sprint Open and All-Star races in May – pass the test for me. Big time. These are balls-out races to win. The drivers don’t just play defense, they bang the hell out of each other with one goal only. First place.

Some of the support stuff – and fluff – that leads to the main events can get a little goofy. But this is Saturday night stock car racing at the highest, most expensive and spectacular level. I think they should have another one before the Chase to the Sprint Cup starts.

Bruce: I’m with you on most “All-Star” games. Teams are formed from players who don’t normally play each other, and somehow a win is a marked victory for this arm of a league. Could it be that the other side lost from lack of cohesion because they don’t normally play together?

For me, the All-Star races are fun, and then not. I like the idea that points don’t matter and it’s bragging rights and cash incentives. I’m a little on the bubble about the format, but what are ya gonna do?

It’s a mix up of the normal routine. It’s still racing and this year, for these lucky teams, it’s the much valued practice time that no one is allowed to have this year! Oh yea. All-Star means a whole new thing now that practice times are limited.

From what I see, it’s also one heck of a fan fest with a lot of different flavors of fun for the general public who leans towards the idea of absorbing the whole premise.

In the end, for me, it’s still racing as we’ve come to love it as you put it Charlie. Going for the golden nugget of a win and safe racing isn’t part of the package. Time to exchange sponsor colors the old fashion way. Rubbing them off on each other.

That’s what we think. What about you. Leave your thoughts in the comment section of this post. And make sure to visit Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces for our other Tight in Turn 2 topic….

Jeremy Mayfield: What’s the real deal?

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

Filed under: Jeremy Mayfield, Lowes Motor Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, Sprint Cup Series, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: Budweiser Shootout, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Sprint All Star Race, Sprint Open

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Tight in Turn Two: I Suspect Cold Tires

by Charlie Turner

November 28, 2008 12:19 pm UTC 2 Comments

Some people are just never happy. Especially so when it comes to NASCAR fans. If one driver dominates their favorite series – assuming that driver isn’t the one whose Fathead they have hanging in their dining room – they complain about inequities in the rules. Or that NASCAR is boring. Or it just isn’t like the old days. Or maybe that they just can’t stand that Jimmy Johnson – Jeff Gordon – Kurt Busch-Matt Kenseth – any Eanhardt…. whatever.

This will be the last Tight in Turn Two post for a while. Bruce’s NASCAR Bits and Pieces and Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie are going to put this one on the shelf until maybe February. One last go around though before we do. Here goes…

With Jimmy Johnson winning the last three Cup championships and three drivers winning three quarters of the cup races, is NASCAR competitive enough for you?

Charlie: Three different drivers, driving for different owners with one each in a Ford, a Chevy and a Toyota. They each dominated a different portion of the season, making it seem a bit less of a fight than it was. But I’d much rather have three really good driver/team combos battling it out for wins than, say ten different guys with a couple or three wins each.

We know that, at least until the last race, nobody could be accused of points racing. I’m hoping for more of the same in 2009.

Bruce: I’m with ya on this one Charlie. I’ve encountered some net denizens that want to see every driver in the field lead a lap and get their won wins. If they don’t see that kind of disjointed parity, they go off on their tizzy. I think they reach down deep and figure out how to be mad at NASCAR, no matter how “off” their perspective is.

I didn’t see any points racing this year… sometimes we saw some smart racing, but no one seemed to be really pacing the field and holding back.

Yes… we saw a few teams compete for the title, and though they seemed to have their own time frame of when they’re “on”. I’ve noticed that. Some teams seem to have a better grasp of the tracks at different times of year. I think is was a good season for the level of competition and it can only get better as the different teams improve in their understanding of the new car.

That’s what we think. What do you think?

Bruce has another rant going and this time it’s about NASCAR’s annual awards banquet. If you have an opinion on that deal – and who doesn’t – head on over and put your two cents in on this one…

The annual awards banquet brings us the high points of the year and presents awards to the top drivers in each of their categories as well as some other features. It’s treated as the gala event of the year for the sport. But….For me, it is the longest 10 hours of my life.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR Bidness, Sprint Cup Series, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: Carl Edwards, Jimmy Johnson, Kyle Busch, NASCAR awards banquet, Tight in Turn Two

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Tight in Turn Two and Headin’ for the Flag

by Charlie Turner

November 14, 2008 10:03 am UTC No Comments

It’s late in the race. The last round of pit stops is done. As always, regardless of where you are in the standings actually, you need every possible place. The car is far from perfect. In fact it’s real tight in turn two. Now what?

The best of the best will make it work. Winning drivers, championship capable winners find the lines that others don’t try. They get the most out of it, and keep the thing off the wall, and other cars. Top crew chiefs will have a tactic to suggest, part of an overall strategy that merely mortal box-toppers fail to find. Elite team owners are like master painters in that they find the perfect mix of disparate hues and blend them into a work of mechanical-performance art. But which part of the masterpiece is the key?

That question is the theme of the Bench Racing blog’s Tight in Turn Two post this week.

Looking at all three major series and picking one individual from all of the drivers, owners, sponsors or crew chiefs, who is your NASCAR Most Valuable Player?

Charlie: Pick one and just one of the above to start your 2009 NASCAR team. How’s that for tough? I’ll take Rick Hendrick. It’s about leadership. He brings the best of the best together, makes sure that they have whatever it takes to be at the top of the NASCAR game. He keeps his teams relatively happy all the while never settling for mediocrity from any of them. And then he’ll gamble to make it all better. Dumping Kyle Busch for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Changing Jeff Gordon’s crew chief. Bringing in Mark Martin and convincing him to return to full-time driving. The best owner in NASCAR is the MVP.

Bruce: I hate second round draft picks. All the good players get snatched up! But let’s play it in your court and I am going to stick with a car owner.. they do make the calls, put the teams together, pull the money in, and support the processes they’ve developed.

So who would I go with? Man, that’s tough. I’ve looked at the top 10 in owners points across the three series, Trucks, Nationwide and Cup. I came up with the inevitable 2nd stable for my choice of the Cat in the Hat, Jack Roush. It’s a pure numbers game, but across all three series, he’s got the breadth of performance. Across all three series his shop has 117 top 10′s, 73 top 5′s, 17 wins. I thought maybe these numbers were skewed because of the number of starts his teams had across all three series, but it broke down to a win every 12 starts, a top 5 every 3 starts and a top 10 every 2 starts. He’s got the edge and focus to see a broader picture and he’s almost got a Cup under his belt this year – but that’s OK if it doesn’t happen this year… I think as they actually come up to speed in the COT, next year will be their year… if Johnson or Ky Busch don’t break out next year and have a better year!!

That’s what we think. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section of this post.

Then head over to – if you haven’t already been there – to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits for Bruce’s topic of the week, which is more of a rant this time. All the better. Bruce isn’t happy about ABC’s decision to preempt the Phoenix Cup race and move the end to cable. That just get’s him started though. Check it out.

With that said, just what informational outlets do we have that don’t inundate us with online ads, or focus on what we really want in the world of NASCAR? Are we being diluted to the point of over-saturation?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Hendrick Motorsports, Mark Martin, NASCAR & the Media, Nationwide Series, Roush Racing, Sprint Cup Series, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports, Jack Roush, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Mark Martin, Most Valuable Player, NASCAR owners, Rick Hendrick, Tight in Turn Two

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How to Get Better When You’re Tight in Turn Two

by Charlie Turner

November 7, 2008 10:48 am UTC No Comments

To win races in any series requires adjustment. If your car is tight in the turns, you play with stagger, tire pressure, track-bar settings and wedge. Drivers want the thing perfect and for the crews, it’s a constant search for that perfection.

Maybe NASCAR should take a cue from Bob Osborne and Chad Knaus. The Chase to the Cup ain’t perfect guys. The shrinking crowds and TV ratings should tell you that. Time to adjust.

The Bench Racing portion of our Tight in Turn Two series attempt to help the Family France with there issues.

If you had the power to make one change and only one, what is that one change you would make to the Cup Series?

Charlie: I would make the difference in points value between the winner and the second place finisher of every race, 25 points. Increasing the points for a win has been one of my pet causes for a few years now. Watching Carl Edwards and the Office Depot Racing team gambling on the track and in the pits has made what could have been a ho-hum late Chase, anything but boring. Just imagine if three or four other teams thought that stringing a few wins together might just get them back in contention.

Bruce: Charlie, I thought we were supposed to have differing opinions on issues? Sheesh. I agree with you on the points per win. Make it more valuable to win and when someone has a win streak (If you can count 2 in a row a streak) or a successive number of wins, that would make it more interesting indeed. Someone 2 or 3 spots down in the chase could have a win, and make up a lot of ground rather than a point or two. Nice.

If I were to change anything in the NASCAR Cup series, I’d…well, then…no, maybe I’d…crap. There’s quite a few things that come to mind. Rule books, templates, rule enforcements, weather, qualifying, TV coverage, controlling fans from throwing things – it’s nuts! So many things to pick from and so little space to choose.

Hmm…despite many options, I’d say “drop the farce” of team ownership limits. The teams always find a way around the car team limits per owner.From dispersing ownership to wives and drivers and heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s dog owns a team.

Yes, it would “threaten” the smaller independent teams, but heck, they’ve been getting absorbed anyway. The smaller teams will just have to try to get under the roof of one of the big wigs from the get go and then, as they succeed, maybe break away at a later date.

That’s what we think. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section of this post.

Then, if you haven’t already done so, head over to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits and tell us what you think of Bruce’s topic this week…

In going with your theme of picking one thing, what would you do to help increase attendance in these tough economic times?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: Brian France, Carl Edwards, Chase to the Cup, Office Depot Racing, Sprint Cup Series, tight vs loose

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NASCAR Tight in Turn Two? It’s the Economy Stupid

by Charlie Turner

October 17, 2008 10:42 am UTC 3 Comments

There’s plenty of doom and gloom in the mainstream media about the current state of the U.S. economy. You don’t need more from a NASCAR blog and I’m not going to give you any. But NASCAR teams had money issues before the recent house-of-cards crashed on all of our heads. Race teams always have cash concerns, no matter the league.

But this time, will NASCAR go in an all new direction? Will NASCAR finally embrace the “F-word”? Full Throttle’s Marc has a great post with question suggestions for Dustin Long to ask of Mike Helton. Here’s one…

Set the record straight on any potential franchising of NASCAR teams. Is franchising in NASCAR’s future? And if so will the number of teams allowed into Cup be restricted further in the number of cars allowed? (i.e. From 4 to 3 per owner)

I’m betting that Dustin will get danced on when Mr Helton answers that one. But nobody dances the answers here. Check out my Tight in Turn Two topic this week. Then go to NASCAR Bits and register your votes on question of the week.

According to various reports, Felix Sabates and or Chip Ganassi are predicting that NASCAR will reduce the size of starting fields in the three top series to as few as 36 cars. Do you agree?

Charlie: No, not for the Sprint Cup Series I don’t. But I don’t know what these guys know either. I believe that the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series fields will shrink. They already have, unofficially. We posed this same question to Larry McReynolds on Tuesday’s ON PIT ROW. He agreed on the Nationwide and Truck but surprised me by saying he saw scenarios where Cup could shrink as well. I don’t see it. If anything, the attitude of Earnhardt Jr may force the Cup Series to increase its field size. Remember Junior saying that, with the cost of fielding Nationwide teams being what it is, he may as well move JR Motorsports up to the Cup level. A similar thing seems to been behind JTG Racing moving to Cup.

One of the problems early this season was teams with good sponsors having to go home after failing to qualify. Many of those sponsors have moved to teams with a better chance of making races. How will fewer teams help that?

Bruce: I think that some of the guys on the Cup side are guessing at the situation from some stats that are floating around out there right now.

If they had to, NASCAR will probably back up their Cup side of things and it would be an interesting consolidation to see more Nationwide teams merge over to Cup, whether they are ready or not for it. If that’s a possibility. It don’t think the field will be limited, but it may be short in a race or two in 2009.

That’s what we think. What do you think? And what do you think about Bruce’s topic?

I have to wonder just how well NASCAR can fare the financial storm that not only just plowed through everyone’s wallets, but next year while we still deal with the after affects?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Craftsman Truck Series, Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, JR Motorsports, Mike Helton, NASCAR Bidness, NASCAR Rumors, Nationwide Series, Sprint Cup Series, Stewart Haas Racing, Top 35 Rule, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: Chip Ganassi, Dustin Long, Felix Sabates, franchising, Mike Helton, Sprint Cup Series

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Tight in Turn Two: Going Forward

by Charlie Turner

October 10, 2008 10:13 am UTC 2 Comments

NASCAR’s Mike Helton has added to the lexicon of the sport. Along with “restrictor plate”, “car of tomorrow”, “racing deal” and “Junior”, I propose the phrase, “going forward”, for inclusion. In doing so, I acknowledge that the term, “do over”, will never be.

This all comes from Mr Helton’s statement after the confusing Talladega finish.

“Since the end of the race there has been some confusion as to what is allowable during the last lap at Daytona and Talladega. To be clear, as we go forward, there will be no passing under the yellow line at any time during NASCAR races at Daytona or Talladega, period. This includes any passing below the yellow line near the start/finish line on the final lap,”

My only question is, Why wasn’t/isn’t this statement a regular part of the driver meeting at every race at Talladega and Daytona?

This week’s Bench Racing with Me and the Dummy’s question is…

Talladega reared it’s wild-card head again Sunday. It was entertaining but is the chancy nature of the plate-race big-ones just too random for ‘Dega to be included in the Chase?

Charlie: I admit that about the only Cup races that I can actually watch from start to finish are the races from Talladega. And I’m right on the edge of my seat for most of them. But I caught myself making notes during last Sunday’s race about who I thought would get caught up in the big wreck, and why. Not who had the best car or which crew chief was likely to make the big call. Dale Eanhardt Jr showed the extent of competitor frustration, after his team re-built his car, only to see it wrecked in a random act of wild-cardness…

“We ain’t going to spend this much time putting this many man hours into the next (restrictor) plate race because there ain’t no telling what’s going to happen anyway,” Earnhardt said.

I don’t want to see the plate races go away. They’re too much fun to watch. But maybe the results are too random. Take Talladega out of the Chase.

Bruce: I’m with you in this one Charlie. Restrictor plate races are a blast, are intense, and have tons of drama every time someone even changes lanes. But for the Chase for the Cup to have any validity, they need to reconsider how they do this run down. This isn’t really racing. It’s survival. Yes, the some of the best cars end up at the front at the end of the day… if they’ve survived the inevitable big wreck. If they need to keep the race, make this race the non-points race of the season.

Yes, Regan Smith almost got his first win, but would that have been possible if the entire field was still in the hunt for the checkers? I look at RP racing the same way I look at figure 8 racing, and in a valid contention for a championship, the last 10 races should be ones where it’s about racing, pit stops and strategy, and not hanging back at the end of the pack to survive the event.

That’s what we think. What do you think?

And Bruce’s NASCAR Bits has a bit of a rant over there. Give us you two bit on this one…

Should NASCAR take the winter off to actually create / print out a rule book for everyone involved?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media Inc.

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona International Speedway, Mike Helton, NASCAR officials, Sprint Cup Series, Talladega Superspeedway, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: Chase for the Cup, Mike Helton, Regan Smith, restrictor plates, Sprint Cup Series, Talladega

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