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Martin Truex Jr grabbed his first and, so far only, Cup Series win at Dover Downs in 2007.  By my count, he was one of three drivers to accomplish that feat last year - Casey Mears and Clint Bowyer were the others.

I’m looking at the line up for this week’s tilt at the Monster Mile and wondering who will be the next first timer.  The answer is not obvious.  David Ragan would seem the best bet.  He drives for one of the major teams, as did all of 2007’s first time winners.  Ragan has lately been running up front and looked like a contender at Charlotte.  But who else.  Is there anybody else?

Before his injury, Dario Franchitti would have been my pick if only because of the two road courses where he should be one of the contenders.  His lost seat-time may not hurt his chances at Sonoma and the Glen, but it steepens the learning curve elsewhere.

Fellow Dodger Reed Sorenson looked strong coming out of Daytona.  Since then though, his team has been a big part of Ganassi’s funk.  The stirring of that pot by Chip doesn’t bode well for the Target car.

Dave Blaney is the only non winner in a Toyota who seems a candidate.  A J Allmendinger didn’t convince me at Lowes.  David Reutimann looks like a journeyman.

Who do you like in a Chevy?  All of 2007’s virgin winners were Bowtie Boys.  But who’s left?  Regan Smith?  Too soon and not enough chances.  Same for Aric Almirola.  The Haas CNC teams probably killed their chances by losing crew and car chiefs for six races.

No, the next winner looks to be a Ford man.  If not Ragan then maybe one of the Yates guys.  Travis Kvapil looks primed.

With fifty laps to go in the Coca Cola 600 I was mentally writing a headline about the start of summer finally arriving with Tony Stewart’s big win. Not to be. Instead Kasey Kahne won NASCAR’s longest race. And Dale Earnhardt Jr became the poster boy for Looseness in Turn Three.

This week, TZ from Do You NASCAR and Bruce of NASCAR Bits and Pieces and the guys at Bench Racing will thrash on three racing related topics. Here’s mine.

Why can’t Junior finish?

Charlie: When is Tony Eury Jr going to have a come to Jesus meeting with his driver
and tell him to quit running every lap two inches from the turn four wall?
Earnhardt is the only driver who runs every track and every lap of every race, in
the highest line there is. It works for him, I know. He’s been fast everywhere
this season. But he has hit the wall in more races than not. It seems to me that
his crew chief should be talking him down off that wall later in the race. It
probably wouldn’t work. Listening to Junior on the radio does not give me the
feeling that he listens to much of anything. He tells - commands. It might be time
for a change in tactics.

TZ: I think you have to start with Dale Junior’s relationship with Tony Eury Jr.
More often than not, I, too, find Earnhardt to be a bit overly demanding - and, not
very understanding - over his team radio, but I think that most people probably tend
to be a little more short-tempered when dealing with family at times. I think that
Junior probably doesn’t do the best job of translating what’s going on with the car
in the manner so that Eury can understand it, and as a result, they tend to let the
track start getting away from them near the ends of the races. And, yes … there
are times when he’d probably be a bit better off finding different grooves in the
track.

Bruce: The team is not used to finishing.. Not used to getting out there up front
now that they seem to have more consistent, improved equipment. I get the high
groove and yes, they should try different lines, but if it works it works.. the
high groove will give you more gear coming out of the corners and saves tires a bit
in the long run, but I’m not sure it’s worth it all the time like he does.. At least
he’s closer to the wall when a tire blows and then again, maybe he’s got some
lingering issues from past hits and he has a reason? Bet we won’t see the high
groove at Dover! And you’re right guys, he snaps / commands the crew when he needs
to be listening too… at least it seems that way.

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

You should check out Tim’s post and discussion…

Should the no. 20 team have called for two right-side tires on Tony Stewart’s
next-to-last stop at the Coca Cola 600? 

And Bruce’s question this week…

My question is whether drivers should get over the idea of people moving over for them because they think they’re faster than they are?

There’s good stuff there.  We welcome your input.

The pressure is off for NASCAR fantasy players this week.  If you participate in a Sprint Cup Series fantasy game, you get an extra week to figure out your best picks to win your NASCAR fantasy league since the Cup Series is on Easter break. 

Perhaps now is the time to plot your ultimate winning strategy.  Or line up your latest wild ass guesses, which is what I’m planning to do.  For me, putting too much thought into this whole thing hurts my head.  But that doesn’t stop me.  In fact it got me to thinking about why certain drivers - having all of the requisite tools and pedigree - just can’t close the deal.  At least not as often as it seems they should.

Of the current crop of Cup competitors, Casey Mears and Jamie McMurray are the two that jump out at me.  Both drivers are approaching 200 starts in Cup rides ranging from pretty good to top-shelf.

McMurray won in his second start ever after taking over for an injured Sterling Marlin- who could very well make this list too  - and then went win-less, through the rest of his Ganassi career and high profile drives for Roush Racing, until 2007’s summer Daytona race. 

Mears broke the ice last year with his first win, but had nothing to show for his Ganassi seat time and, I’m betting, not enough to keep the Hendrick franchise happy much longer.

Those are winning percentages along the lines of .5 to 1%.  If that criteria is followed, I hate it but I have to put Kyle Petty in here too.  Eight wins in 819 starts makes winning a rare enough occurrence for someone who, at times has been in top equipment.  Sorry Kyle, it just seems like you should have been first more than this.

Picking four was tougher that I thought it would be.  I keep wanting to go back to New Zealander and 60’s-70’s F1 driver Chris Amon.  Amon drove for the best teams and was acknowledged by peers and journalist’s alike as  one of the best for more than a decade.  But he never won a race.   If I pick him, I’ll never hear the end of it from Steve - who thinks I live totally in the past - or Marc, who actually does.

No, unfortunately I’ll have to call recent ON PIT ROW guest and genuine good guy, Jeremy Mayfield out as my fourth enigma.  Big contracts with top teams (allegedly at least) Penske Racing and Evernham Motorsports produced just 5 wins in 425 Cup starts.  Mayfield did qualify for the Chase a couple times though, which ought to count for something.

Luke has an interesting take at the Thunder Lounge on the current crop of Rookie of the Year candidates, and how NASCAR’s goofy qualifying rules can screw with that race.  I just wonder if any of the four ROY favorites will make a list like mine in five or ten years.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

After lackluster efforts testing, qualifying and practicing; where did all the Dodges come from?

That is THE BUZZ this week ON PIT ROW. For most of Speed Weeks at Daytona everyone was focusing on the Chevy super teams. Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and DEI. Then testing successes by the Toyota teams shifted the focus to their new found prowess and much debate ensued.

Not much ink or bandwidth was wasted on the Ford and Dodge teams, other than the Robby Gordon story. So little credit was given to the Dodge teams that the biggest Dodge story was Kurt Busch’s run in with Tony Stewart’s fist.

When all was said and done and the checkers flew on the 50th Daytona 500, the Dodge Boys had captured the majority of top ten spots. Along with Ryan Newman’s win and Kurt’s second, Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne and Robby all finished in the top eight, Only the Toyotas of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch along with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevy and Greg Biffle’s Ford made the top ten.

It is no wonder that Chrysler Corporation inked the Ganassi and Penske to new multi-year contracts to stay with Mopar.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW/BRP

So Robby Gordon is switching from Ford to Dodge - who cares you say?

Ford fans ought to. At the end of the 2007 Nextel Cup season, the Blue Oval brigade looked to be a solid number two in the manufacturer’s championship race going into 2008’s inaugural Sprint Cup Series season. The thinking was Roush-Fenway Racing had slipped up and fallen behind the CoT and general testing programs of the big Chevy outfits. The Ford faithful assumed that Jack Roush would straighten out the problems and restore Ford to at least competitive equality with the dominant Hendrick-Gibbs-Childress troika.

Observers of preseason testing are telling us otherwise. The Joe Gibbs Racing move to Toyota has boosted that brand’s prospects. Many experts think that Toyota may well jump to number two status. Boris Said told us on last week’s ON PIT ROW that the speed and sheer numbers of the Toyotas will make it very tough for his Ford team to qualify for non-road course races.

Ford vs Dodge

The real question is; can Ford keep from falling to fourth, behind Dodge in the Cup Series? Look at the rosters of the two makes and compare.

Ford teams will field eight full time teams in 2008, led by Roush-Fenway’s fivesome. Dodge enters 2008 with a lucky thirteen. Seven of Ford’s eight have top 35 owner’s points while Dodge gets twelve of it’s thirteen in each of the first five races. So far it looks like, advantage Dodge, if quantity counts. If you’re one of those quality folks - here’s my personal Power Ranking of the Ford vs Dodge NASCAR battle.

1. #17 Ford -Matt Kenseth - past champ, two time 2007 race winner and Chaser
2. #2 Dodge - Kurt Busch - see above
3. #99 Ford - Carl Edwards - three time race winner in 2007 and Chaser
4. #12 Dodge - Ryan Newman - 12 career wins, no Chase but a solid 2007
5. #9 Dodge - Kasey Kahne - Bad 2007 but won 6 in 2006 - just a hunch
6. #16 Ford - Greg Biffle - Missed the Chase but got a win
7. #26 Ford - Jamie McMurray - see Biffle
8. #42 Dodge - Juan Pablo Montoya - 2007 Rookie of the Year won a race too
9. #43 Dodge - Bobby Labonte - past champ finished ahead of Kahne and Montoya
10. #41 Dodge - Reed Sorenson - his 2007 points put him here
11. #6 Ford - David Ragan - ditto
12. #19 Dodge - Elliott Sadler - very tempted to rate higher
13. #7 Dodge - Robby Gordon - ditto
14. #38 Ford - David Gilliland - The Yates team is Ford’s wild card, they hope
15. #40 Dodge - Dario Franchitti - I think the 2008 ROY will drive a Dodge
16. #28 Ford - Travis Kvapil - see Gilliland
17. #21 Ford - Bill Elliott et al - Awesome Bill’s provisionals will payoff later with starts
18. #45 Dodge - Kyle Petty - Must stay in the top 35
19. #77 Dodge - Sam Hornish Jr - My pick for ROY, but I’m hedging that bet
20. #10 Dodge - Patrick Carpentier - Going to have a tough time qualifying to race

I give the nod to Dodge. Kurt Busch and Kenseth are a push. Maybe the Ford boys get a slight edge in slots 3 through 8 but Newman and Kahne have championship capability in them - it’s close. The Dodge advantage is in depth and the fact that it’s major teams are all aggressive and growing. I like the look of Gillette-Evernham, Penske, Ganassi-Sabates and even Petty Enterprises over Roush-Fenway and the struggling Yates and Wood Brothers.

Picture credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.  In auto racing - and especially endurance racing - it’s really better to be both.

With an hour to go in the 2008 version of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, the #01 Lexus Riley driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas has about a four lap lead and is coasting towards Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing’s third straight Daytona Prototype victory at  America’s premier sports car race.

Speed TV is doing a great job covering the event that - probably - only geeks like me have watched for hours on end.  They just showed an image of Brian France - yes, the Prince of the France Republic -  up on the pit box with Chip himself.  Pretty cool, actually.

The Ganassi/Sabates cars have led more than half of all the laps contested in this race the last three years.  That’s lucky and good.

Picture credit: Randy Stevens Photography

25 Daytona Prototypes will start the 46th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway tomorrow. That should give some comfort to NASCAR fans who are nervous about the future competitiveness of the Racer Formerly Known as CoT.

Daytona Prototypes were introduced to skeptical sportscar racing fans in 2002 by, basically the same folks who are force-feeding you that other car.  The field for the 2002 Rolex included only a handful of DPs - and they weren’t very fast - or very pretty. 

The Grand Am Series‘ new-at-the-time stewards - that would be the Family France - said many of the same things about DPs back then as they have been telling NASCAR fans about CoTs.  They’ll save teams money.  It’s a safer car.  We won’t permit any cheating.  You’ll grow to think they’re cute.

Whether or not the new NASCAR-car makes for better racing is up in the air.  Way up there, in fact.  But there is really no argument that the DP saved big league sportscar racing in this country.  That field tomorrow is big, competitive and - with the sponsor decal-friendly broad sides, hoods and tops - colorfully NASCAR-like.

And….and…. it will be a real race -  Finally

Picture credit: John Raoux/Associated Press

Fourteen different drivers have won races in the 2007 Nextel Cup Series.  Three of those winners failed to make the Chase to the Nextel Cup.

Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears and Juan Pablo Montoya each captured a win this season.  Despite the hype that smothers the twelve Chase qualifiers - including the winless Clint Bowyer - I like the chances for upsets from the ranks of the non-champ contenders. 

Does anyone think that Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Mark Martin are incapable of pulling out a win in the next ten races?  What about Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle or even Petty Enterprises’ Bobby Labonte.

I believe that this year’s champ will come from the trio of Gordon, Johnson and Stewart.  It wouldn’t surprise me though, if three or four non-Chasers manage to grab the checkered flag  before we’re all done.

Picture credit: allposters.com

When it was announced last week that Coors Brewing Company was leaving the #40 car and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates the popular guesses were that  that the beer maker might move to DEI to replace Budweiser or maybe nostalgically re-connect with the past and a certain #9.

Today rumors have surfaced that NASCAR may have found the replacement for Anhueser Busch as the title sponsor for the number two north American racing series, NASCAR’s Grand National Series.

Lots of speculation has floated since early this season when the Bud folks announced that they were going to focus their NASCAR marketing in Nextel Cup and let the long running Busch Series sponsorship go. 

Wal Mart, Subway and Dunkin Donuts were prominently talked about - along with the rumored $30 mill that the family France was supposedly asking for the naming rights. 

For me, none of those names had the right sound.  I had begun to think that the powers at Anhueser Busch might reconsider once Dale Earnhardt Jr left them for greener sponsorship. 

Who knows if this latest NASCAR rumor will prove to be the real deal?  I admit though that I kind of like the sound of the Coors Series.  As an avowed Yankee hater there is no way the Subway Series was going to work for me.

From the strictly business standpoint, this looks good for Coors.  They drop the lead sponsorship of an underachieving Cup team and replace one of their main competitors  as title sponsor to a hugely successful sports entity.  I like it.

Dunkin Donuts Series? No competition.

Here’s a shocker.  The Hendrick Motorsport’s CoT Impalas of Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kyle the younger Busch grabbed the top spots in qualifying for the Saturday night Sprint Nextel Cup race at Richmond International Raceway.  It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if they finish that way tomorrow night as well.

I was a bit caught off by the announcement that Robert Yates will retire at the conclusion of the 2007 season.  The move clears the way for Doug Yates to take the reins of the 2 car Ford team.  Canceled in the move is the earlier announced merger with the law firm of Newman-Haas-Lanigan.  I guess the accident chasers will have to find another failing team to prop. 

If N-H-L is looking for another dance partner, maybe Michael Waltrip Racing would suffice. David Reutimann, one highly thought of, fast riser in the garage is worried that sponsorship may not surface for his MWR ride for 2008.  He’s talking.  He would be as hot a property as is left in the fast evaporating NASCAR Hot Stove league.

Speaking of the Nextel Cup silly season -  with the announcements of Regan Smith  for the #01 at Dale Earnhardt Inc, Travis Kvapil headed for the #88 for the new Yates Racing and - surprise - Dario Franchitti probably taking the #40 at Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates, and friends, the field is thinning fast.

Sadly, Kenny Wallace looks like the short-term solution to the #88 vacancy.  So, the Herminator is available.  So are, David Stremme, Scott Riggs, Joe Nemechek, Sterlin Marlin and Tony Raines.  Step right up sponsors!  That’ll be $ten mill please.

The other two big, non-news items were;

1. Hendrick Motorsports knows who the sponsor for Dale Jr will be.  But Rick Hendrick announced that they won’t announce it just yet.  Got t’s to cross. I’s to dot.  And that sticky number deal is still keeping them up at night.  Apparently the #28 has crept into the conversation.  Wake me when it’s over - please.

 2. Joe Gibbs Racing will not be invited to Chevrolet’s 2008 planning meetings.  Duh?

I think that about covers the Friday night headlines.  Pick up your subsciption to the Daily Bugle wherever bird cage supplies are sold.  Good night and good news.

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