Look for a development driver to win Saturday’s Pocono 200
by Matt Mercer, Special To Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie
I'm the new guy at Bench Racing and I'm supposed to be the younger perspective. I'm the guy behind The Catfish Show, which you can access through the links on the right.
June 5, 2008 2:25 pm CDT 4 CommentsIf you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The ARCA/ReMax Series will head to Long Pond, PA this weekend to team up with the Sprint Cup Series, and with the Trucks in Texas and Nationwide Series in Nashville, this could be the spot in which someone impresses the right person and moves up through the ranks. This race has been dominated by either Cup rookies moving down to get track experience, or a hotshoe from a Cup team gaining experience for a future foray into the series.
Since 2003, Cup drivers or Cup development drivers have won 8 of the 10 races at Pocono. These drivers include Casey Mears twice, Scott Riggs, Ryan Hemphill, Travis Kvapil, Chase Miller, Chad McCumbee, and Michael McDowell. Only the series’ great one, Frank Kimmel, broke the streak, taking the July races in 2005 and 2006. Also competing in these races have been drivers such as Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, and David Ragan. Previous polesitters have included Mears, Riggs, and Kvapil, as well as David Stremme.
As for the 2008 edition, there is no shortage of candidates to win. This season has been an exciting one in the series, as young drivers have come in and performed exceedingly well. Current points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr., second-place Matt Carter, and sixth-place Scott Speed have all won this year. Speed also won the Truck race at Dover, and will compete in Friday night’s Truck race. Still, there are others who will pose a threat. You can’t discount Kimmel, who still maintains a top points position despite working on a shoestring budget with his own team. He could use a win, and it could come as soon as this very weekend.
One thing is for sure, the ARCA/ReMax Series is entertaining again, and this race fan is more than happy to see the return of its glory days.
Photo credit: AP
Say Good-bye to the Single-Track Teams
by Steve Wronkowicz
I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.
May 23, 2008 6:33 am CDT 5 CommentsReports out of Charlotte have Speedway Motorsports Inc. buying Kentucky Speedway.
Amy Henderson at The Frontstretch reports that Bruton Smith, has said he will have a Cup date at the track in northern Kentucky in the 2009 season. Next year? A Cup race? Where will that Cup race come from? Smith’s company has recently purchased New Hampshire Speedway from the Bahre family and taking a race from there is a possibility.
There is still the nagging lawsuit that is hanging over NASCAR and Kentucky Speedway. Could that lawsuit result in SMI wrestling a date away from NASCAR owned International Speedway Corp.? The ISC track that should lose a date would be California, but don’t look for NASCAR to pull out of that TV market no matter how pathetic the attendance is. NASCAR wants big TV markets and their aren’t many bigger than the LA area.
Its time for NASCAR to take a hard look at their schedule and determine where the best 36 places are to hold their premier events. Take races from venues that cannot support them and move them to locales that have and will drive butts into seats and in front of TV sets. Henderson speculates that the purchase of Pocono by SMI could pave the way for a date to be moved from that track to Kentucky. Pocono has more of a problem holding exciting races than filling the grandstands. Drivers and teams could get behind going to Pocono only once during the year.
As much of a burr under NASCAR’s saddle as the previous ownership at Kentucky has been can you imagine what adding the SMI /ISC dynamic will bring to the table? Look for a quick solution to the problem though. NASCAR doesn’t like doing battle with Smith because they know it is a lose-lose situation. Smith has a way of getting what he wants at NASCAR’s expense. For the fans of northern Kentucky this could be the best thing ever to bring them a long sought after Cup event.
At the same time it would eliminate the racetrack from much of the testing that Cup teams do at the track. Without having a Cup date currently, it is open for testing whenever teams want to use it. So would one Cup race a year bring a larger financial impact than many open testing sessions? By most accounts one date on the schedule could make the year financially. While hosting Nationwide Series and Craftsman Truck Series races are currently the highlight of Kentucky’s season, they pale in comparison to what a Cup event could bring.
Let the wrangling begin. This should be fun to watch.
photo credit: Icon Sports Media
The Growth Potential of ARCA’s Young Drivers
by Matt Mercer, Special To Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie
I'm the new guy at Bench Racing and I'm supposed to be the younger perspective. I'm the guy behind The Catfish Show, which you can access through the links on the right.
May 9, 2008 1:10 pm CDT 3 CommentsYours truly made the journey to Rockingham last Sunday to witness history, the return of racing to the rechristened Rockingham Speedway. While I hope the race is shortened a bit heading into future years (312 laps is too many for these cars, 250 would be excellent – and still longer that most) I hope it will still attract this sort of young gun all-star field it did this year. In that light, based on my own personal observations from the infield, the garage, and pit road (hey, this new gig is awesome!) I am ranking the top young drivers in the race that I see going on to bigger opportunities down the road. Given that this race was contested on a track that hadn’t seen official racing in years, I feel it was a good measure to see who could withstand the pressure and who can manage a race the best. Here we go:
Honorable mentions: Matt Carter, Billy Leslie, Scott Speed, John Wes Townley
Each of the four had circumstances that kept them from my top 5 list, be it accidents (Speed) or early trouble (Leslie), or simply not running as well as the top 5 (Carter, Townley). Speed may have a Cup ride in his future, but he went out early, so he isn’t on my top 5. Leslie and Carter ran well early in the race, but faded as the race went on. Townley, in my opinion, is Todd Kluever with three names. He may get pushed beyond his talent level, and won’t last.
5. Matt Hawkins – I didn’t know much about Hawkins before the race Sunday, but he looked like a driver who can make the most out his equipment during this race. He seemed to be driving a smart race, and didn’t bang up his car so that he would fall late in the race. Hawkins looks like he may need a little more seasoning, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him advance within the next year.
4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Stenhouse is a talent, but the fact he drives for Roush could hurt his growth potential unless he signs with another team. He is making a solid transition to stock car racing, and I believe he will be going Truck racing for Roush at some point soon. But I don’t see him sticking with Roush long-term, simply because Colin Braun is ahead of him and a Cup ride may be out of the question. Here’s an interesting scenario, how about Stenhouse ending up with his open-wheel owner, Tony Stewart, in a few years?
3. Michael Annett – I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t sure Annett was everything he was billed to be simply because I hadn’t seen enough of him to make a judgment. That’s out the window now, as I became very impressed with him during the race, particularly how he worked his way into the top 5 and really got better as the race progressed. I think Annett could step into a Truck right now and compete for top 10s.
2. Austin Dillon – What gives Dillon the tiebreaker over Annett in my mind is Dillon just turned 18 days before the Rockingham race. I had done a bit of research into Dillon prior to the race, most of his notoriety had been his use of the #3 – some don’t like it, but those people never believe anyone except Dale Earnhardt drove with that number. I think it’s cool that he is using it, as a way to honor his grandfather’s underappreciated career as a driver. Dillon won at Greenville Pickens Speedway in the Camping World East Series a few weeks ago, and has been a force on the dirt tracks in the southeast as well. I would be interested to see if he drives an RCR Nationwide car next season, once he gets a little more experience. He’ll be hard-pressed to rise as fast as the number one driver, but certainly has the opportunity if he possesses the talent. I think he just might.
1. Joey Logano – Seriously, you expected anything else? The kid’s the real deal. Leading 257 of the 312 laps was insane, and it felt like he led even more. Visually, that car was flying around the track… prompting a running joke between myself and my buddy to wave bye periodically. I got my trusty cell phone and used the stopwatch function, and almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Logano at some points was running almost a second faster than second place, and the top lead I clocked him with was 20.6 seconds… when he nearly lapped the field. Of course, it helped that Denny Hamlin’s Cup team was on hand to pit the car, the #20 Nationwide team was on hand to lend moral support, the Venturini team was looking like they just won the lottery. An interesting side note to that is seeing Wendy Venturini not stray far from that pit stall. Still, bringing this back to Logano, Gibbs has to run this kid in every Nationwide race from Dover through Homestead. I know I’ve heard something about 18 races, but if at all possible, it needs to be more. If it becomes a legitimate possibility that he steps up to Cup for 2009, that will only help. I’ll go out on a further limb, and says Gibbs brings out an R&D car this year for Logano to run, most likely at Richmond, as he has done before. It’s easy to see what Mark Martin saw years ago, and why Gibbs pushed so hard to sign him. Soon, the rest of the racing world will see as well.
So, there is my list. Agree? Disagree?
Photo credit: ARCARacing.com
Randy Moss Truck Team Looks to Be the Real Deal
by Matt Mercer, Special To Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie
I'm the new guy at Bench Racing and I'm supposed to be the younger perspective. I'm the guy behind The Catfish Show, which you can access through the links on the right.
April 30, 2008 4:06 pm CDT 11 Comments
NFL Wide Receiver Randy Moss of the New England Patriots announced yesterday that he was forming a Craftsman Truck Series team, Moss Motorsports LLC. The NASCAR annals are littered with the remains of failed NFL ventures in the past (Dan Marino, Brett Favre, and Tim Brown just to name a few). We have one success story (Joe Gibbs) and a half success (Hall of Fame). But when word came yesterday about Randy Moss, I thought he might have a legitimate shot at succeeding. Why, you ask? Moss currently sponsors a dirt track program in West Virginia and has been active within the Urban Youth Racing School. Moss also is heavily involved in the Inta Juice franchise – he currently is the Chairman of the Board and Vice President of Marketing. Fact is, Moss has his faults, but he applies himself to making these ventures work (as long as they’re not in Oakland). His new three-year, $27 million deal in New England won’t hurt either. What I hate to say, but can’t be overlooked, is Moss’ involvement could be a great opportunity to make another push to minority fans. In light of Danica Patrick and Ashley Force making history, and NASCAR not having a talented female driver in contending equipment this year (sorry, Chrissy, maybe 2009) I think Moss is in a better position than most athletes to have some longevity in the sport and garner more attention from the more stick-and-ball types that could be looking for a reason to watch.
Four Wide and Loose in Turn 3
by Charlie Turner
I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.
April 25, 2008 12:10 pm CDT 5 Comments
Talladega Super Speedway is famous for tight packs of cars racing sometimes four abreast, all trying to avoid the almost inevitable “Big One”. Maybe we should have recruited one more writer for this week’s Loose in Turn 3 discussion.
We didn’t do that. Once again you get the opinions of Tim Zaegel of Do You NASCAR?, Bruce Simmons of Bruce’s NASCAR Bits and Pieces and me, Bench Racin’ Charlie on a trio of topics-du-NASCAR.
Is there a “Danica” on the NASCAR horizon?
Charlie: If there is, it’s probably not THE Danica. Now that Danica Patrick has cracked the race winner ranks in the Indy Car Series - where she is the sport’s most popular driver - I can’t see her moving to NASCAR full-time. Maybe she will make a few cameo appearances in stock cars. I once thought that “Danica to NASCAR” was a no-brainer. I have changed my mind.
Chrissy Wallace could be the one that breaks through to NASCAR stardom. She has the backing, family support and knows all the right people - which may be the most important thing of all. I like Chrissy’s chances.
TZ: Chrissy Wallace is the first and only name that comes to mind. Danica moving to NASCAR may or may not be in the future, who knows, but I think that if Chrissy is able to get out there and make a name for herself and win a few races, then that may actually draw Danica to NASCAR one day. I think Chrissy has a pretty bright future ahead for her in this sport, though … not based purely on skill, but she’s got all the backing that anyone breaking into the biz could possibly ask for.
Bruce: Danica has pretty much said no for the moment. Chrissy Wallace seems to be it. Everyone else seems to languish in a vain or rushed attempt at Cup level competition and it hurts more than it helps .. the there are those who bag the boss, but that’s another LITT for another day all together.
That’s what the guys think - though the opinions are not necessarily shared. What do you think?
You can read about more looseness in the third turn at…
Bruce’s Bit’s: A J Allmendinger; is the ex-Champ Car driver going to make the cut over the next year?
TZ’ post: Will Jeff Gordon ever win a fifth championship?
Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.
Is Kyle Busch the Best Driver in NASCAR?
by Charlie Turner
I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.
April 20, 2008 11:18 pm CDT 13 CommentsThe Shrub, won his third straight Nationwide Series race Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez outside Mexico City. In order to pull that off, Rowdy Busch had to pass Scott Pruett, one of America’s very best, veteran road racers.
And don’t tell yourself that Pruett has a habit of getting passed at the end of these things. He doesn’t. He usually wins. Sure, Juan Pablo Montoya bumped past Scott in this very same event, at a similar stage of the race last year. But Juan Pablo is an acknowledged, world class, road course master. There is no shame in being passed by JPM.
Scott Pruett is 48 and has had a long successful career in just about anything with wheels. Juan Pablo is an Indy 500 and Formula One Grand Prix winner. Kyle Busch, at something like 22, is already a 27 time winner in NASCAR’s top three series. That’s amazing!
This latest win was Kyle The Younger’s first ever on a road course too. AP has this quote….
“It’s fun to be able to win on a road course because there’s only certain guys that tend to be able to do it,” Busch said. “My first year, first year and a half … I was terrible. I sort of picked up on it a little bit, somehow.”
Yeah, I guess. So now Kurt’s little brother leads the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series and sits an ominous second in the Sprint Cup Race to the Chase. Is he the best of the NASCAR best?
He might be. Sure, equipment plays a big part in success on the track. But to get a chance to drive the best cars - for the best teams - you have to be one of the most talented drivers. Kyle is.
Many vaunted athletes have been put in what appeared to be the perfect circumstances in which to thrive. Plenty have choked. Tiger Woods didn’t. Kyle Busch hasn’t.
After finishing second at this year’s Masters, Woods will have to wait until next year to make another attempt at Pro Golf’s Grand Slam. I hope Rowdy will decide to run the whole schedule of NASCAR’s majors. Taking the NASCAR Grand Slam would leave no doubt in my mind who the best in NASCAR was.
Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.
Loose in Turn Three-peat
by Charlie Turner
I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.
April 18, 2008 3:12 pm CDT 3 CommentsSo, you tell me which is right - the old “third time’s a charm” saying or is my
Grandmother’s favorite - “bad things happen in threes” - more appropriate for our ” Loose in Turn Three” project?
Check out hosts, Bruce Simmons’ Bruce’s Bits & Pieces, Tim Zaegel’s Do You NASCAR, and me, Bench Racing Charlie to get caught up on the complete discussion on this week’s three topics and please leave plenty of feedback. Thanks and enjoy!
Should NASCAR go to a more structured drug testing policy?
Charlie: Aaron Fike admitted last week that he had raced his Craftsman Truck while under the influence of heroin. Kevin Harvick stated that he is convinced that at least one other driver had raced while under some substance’s influence. NASCAR currently tests when they become suspicious. That is just too loose a policy for a major league sport – especially one that features its performers driving potentially lethal weapons. It’s time to do something more structured.
Random testing for narcotics and alcohol would be a place to start. I know it’s not simple. But figure it out, you know.
TZ: Ya know, I can actually go either way on this one. In NASCAR’s defense, being a former service member, I can say that when done properly, random testing can be very effective. When I look at the crews and drivers in the garage, I also believe that this is still the “clean” sport that it’s always been perceived to be, and these strike me as the type of guys that are more than capable of policing their
own. The only potential issue I can really see with drug use in this sport is the fact that the field keeps getting younger and younger, so you may have a red flag there. Overall – more structured? Yes. Strictly enforcing mandatory weekly testing? No.
Bruce: I’m with Charlie on this one. I’d like to think that when I’m hurtling along at 120 to 180 mph going into a corner, that there is some semblance of calm knowing that the guy next to or behind me isn’t hopped up and seeing giant butterflies sitting on the deck lid of the car in front of him. But how far NASCAR wants to go with this is the big question. Do you tag first, fifth, fifteenth and twenty-fifth finishing spots every week or pull short straws? It’s going to be how
they deploy the process of random testing that’s going to catch heat, no matter what.
That’s what we think. What do you think?
If you haven’t already, click over to TZ’s post on:
Will Tony Stewart Still Be 100% Committed to Toyota in Cup Series in 2009?
Then check out Bruce’s bits on this one:
What Do You Guys Think of the Fox Coverage at the Beginning of the Phoenix Race?
Photo credit: Icon Sports Media , Inc.
Johnson Finally Puts Hendrick in Victory Lane
by Steve Wronkowicz
I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.
April 13, 2008 8:39 am CDT 3 CommentsJimmy Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus used a fuel mileage strategy and guts to win the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Johnson may not have dominated the race in the truest sense, but he did lead the most laps and more importantly for him and Hendrick Motorsports ; he got the monkey off the team’s back before the off week. Mark Martin, pole sitter Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were the only other drivers to lead laps during this first trip to the desert for 2008.
Denny Hamlin’s third and Kyle Busch’s tenth place finish were the only Toyotas in the top ten, while you have to look to 12th place Bobby Labonte as the top finishing Dodge. Carl Edwards’ fourth place finish led the Ford contingent and saw another Roush-Fenway driver, Greg Biffle, land in the top ten.
In other NASCAR news; former Craftsman Truck Series driver, Aaron Fike admitted to using heroin on race days before getting into his race truck. This is a “Pete Rose type revelation” considering that Fike had previously denied using drugs during race events. And this leads us into…
…this weeks BUZZ ON PIT ROW is:
Should NASCAR change its drug testing policies, and if so, what should they be?
photo credit: Icon Media Sports,Inc.
NASCAR Media Guilty of a Short Memory
by Steve Wronkowicz
I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.
March 22, 2008 9:51 pm CDT 10 CommentsJust because its the off week for most of the Sprint Cup drivers, doesn’t mean there isn’t stuff to complain about.
There are a couple of things about NASCAR and the way some people cover the sport that annoy me. So bare with me as I get one of those nagging things off my chest.
I tuned into today’s coverage of the Nationwide Series race, won by Scott Wimmer, just in time to hear one, maybe more, of the three booth announcers talk about this driver and that driver and how successful they have been in past years in the Nationwide Series. That absolutely toasted my bread. After all nobody has ever had any kind of championship results, good bad or indifferent in the Nationwide Series. Quite simply, the Nationwide Series didn’t exist until after the last Busch Series race was run in 2007.
Carl Edwards has not won a Nationwide Series Championship. Neither has Kevin Harvick or Sam Ard or anyone else. They, and everyone from 1984 until 2007 have been Busch Series Champs.
This hasn’t just been a Nationwide Series phenomenon either. I’ve heard many a reporter refer to past champions as Sprint Cup champs. Why do we feel the need to wrench the past sponsors name from the series? Winston brands helped made NASCAR what it is today. Without their people, support and, of course, money there is no telling where NASCAR and stock car racing would be today. So lets not be so quick to forget who got this ball rolling.
Can we please refer to Darrell Waltrip and Bill Elliott and Alan Kulwicki and Benny Parsons as exactly what they are–Winston Cup Champions. And remember that there have been Nextel Cup champs as well and there will be Sprint Cup champs and probably a whole host of other sponsored Cup champs to come as well. At least in this series champions can be referred to as “Cup” champions.
NASCAR should have revived the old Grand National name and attached it to the Nationwide brand and then the “Grand National” champions could be thrown into the same stew.
If NASCAR or the media wants to be so quick to forget the past and lump everyone into the same generic series names, Craftsman may as well start attaching their names on the trophies with hook and loop fasteners, for a quick change come 2009.
Photo credit - Icon Sports Media, Inc.
Boris should be given a shot at the big time
by Steve Wronkowicz
I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.
January 29, 2008 11:32 pm CST 2 CommentsBoris Said can flat out drive–anything.
Got a Grand-Am Daytona Prototype you need raced? How about a GT car, or a bobsled? Are you a big time NASCAR owner with a couple of hot shoes who can’t run the road courses and need some tutoring? Who ya gonna call?
Why, Boris Said , of course. So why is it that when there are rides to be had on a full time basis, nobody is calling Boris? He’s no spring chicken, after all, but then again neither are most of the current rookie class.
Boris is everything a NASCAR team owner should be looking for; a racer’s racer, glib, unassuming and willing to have fun doing what he loves to do almost as much as race–talk. It’s no wonder there are so many “Said-heads” at the track when Boris is behind the wheel.
He paid a visit to ON PIT ROW on Tuesday night and gave his views on NASCAR and the top 35 rule. A rule he is not too crazy about, but accepts that it is here to stay and is willing to live with–even when it bites him in the butt as it did at Daytona last July.
Boris can’t seem to figure out why everyone is wearing the Said fro wig at the race track; after all he was born with that mess.
To hear the entire interview with Boris Said, tune in to the rebroadcast of ON PIT ROW at www.racetalkradio.com on Thursday , January 31 at 7pm ET.
Picture credit: BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW








