Rather be Loose in Turn 3 or Tight in Turn 9?

User Avatar

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.

June 20, 2008 9:31 am CDT 4 Comments

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!


Rather be Loose in Turn 3 or Tight in Turn 9?Mike Helton’s much talked about meeting last Friday at MIS should go a long way toward keeping the weekend in wine country from turning into a Sunday of whine country.  Maybe. 

These Cup drivers just don’t like the new car at all.  No amount of muzzling is likely to change that any time soon.  I can’t decide if the underlying displeasure will be worse at Infineon or not.  Somebody probably needs to wreck someone, just as a diversion.

Or maybe NASCAR could just ask the drivers a question, like this one.

Dale Earnhardt Jr broke a NASCAR rule at the end of Sunday’s race at MIS, went unpunished and won the race. Do you have a problem with that?

Charlie:  Nope. I’ve been waiting for the NASCAR of the ’90s and early 2000’s to re-appear. That was the “charmed” NASCAR. The NASCAR that had Steve Park in a DEI car win the next race after Earnhardt Sr’s death. The same NASCAR that saw Dale Earnhardt Jr win in his return trip to the Daytona track that took his dad’s life. The NASCAR that had Richard Pettywin his 200 race at Daytona. It’s been a while since serendipity reined in the Cup Series. It was a feel good win, no doubt. I’m just surprised that it took so long.

Bruce:  Nah, I don’t have a problem with Jr. not getting tagged for the infraction, but now NASCAR has set a precedence by this lack of action and to the best of their ability and their image, they now need to adhere to similar deeds and actions in future races, with any driver. Stick with the “charmed” approach as you put it Charlie. That’s all I ask.

 TZ:  I don’t know, really. I mean, my take on pretty much anything involving the NASCAR rulebook is that it’s open for interpretation, because that’s how they’ve set it up. What does the rulebook actually state that the rule is, and what are the consequences? To me, it’s maybe no more than the whole issue with aggressive driving. They tend to issue a warning, and then if the driver doesn’t adhere, then
we get to see what happens. Now, in terms of this whole “charmed” deal, I’ve gotta be honest - I could care less. If the only reason that NASCAR let it slide was because Dale Junior was the benefactor, then yes, I have a problem with it.

That’s what we think, but I want to hear from you.  Let us know your thoughts by leaving feedback in the comment section.  Then head over to TZ’s Do You NASCAR? to see what we said about this topic…

Joe Gibbs Racing has stated that we may see Joey Logano in a Cup car by the end of ‘08. Logano’s proven himself to be a rare talent, but is 2008 too early?

Then check out Bruce’s NASCAR Bits for our take on this…

NASCAR has asked teams and drivers to tone down their complaints about the COT. Do you think NASCAR has a valid point?

Wind Tunnel vs Tunnel Vision

User Avatar

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.

May 14, 2008 1:02 pm CDT 8 Comments

Wind Tunnel vs Tunnel VisionI would like to welcome everyone to tonight’s meeting of Nascaholics Anonymous.  I’m Charlie and I  am a Nascaholic.  But I admit it and I’m trying to get help.

Are you one of the afflicted?  Here are some of the  signs.

  • You have pictures of Wendy Venturini and Krista Voda covering an entire wall - or room - in your home.
  • You write in a NASCAR blog more that you talk to your family.
  • You know the date and time of the next Goodyear tire test for Cup Cars, but forgot Mothers Day.
  • You get pissed when someone disses one of your favorite NASCAR celebrities.
  • Your objectivity blurs when what you want to be true about something in NASCAR, just isn’t so.

There are many more symptoms.  I admit to having some - not the room full of pictures one! - and John Daly should fess up too.

J D’s  The Daly Planet has another one of his NASCAR TV show reviews of Dave Despain’s Wind Tunnel special for the NASCAR All Star weekend.  Once again, the Planet shows its disdain for Despain.  I guess it’s more that John sees disdain in Despain’s attitude towards NASCAR.  John has written this stuff before, taking the lead in blaming the demise of “Inside Nextel Cup” on Dave’s hosting skills.  Here’s a bit from the Planet’s post…

Although Despain has a long and distinguished history with NASCAR, his current relationship with the sport is prickly at best. He seems to continually be on the verge of exasperation where every NASCAR topic is concerned. 

Dave Despain was a guest ON PIT ROW  last night.  I admit, he is one of my favorite people in the media.  ON PIT ROW is a mostly NASCAR Cup Series show.  That’s what we talk about.  Dave knows this.  But I have never - not one time - gotten any feeling that he has a negative - or prickly - bias towards NASCAR racing.  He’s a pro. 

Speed TV and NASCAR must agree, or prime, showcase opportunities like last night’s All Star special and the acclaimed - even by Daly - show about the history of Daytona International Speedway would go to hosts ….

“….more informed about the specifics of the sport”

I’m going back to the meeting now.  You are more than welcome to join me, J D. 

If you have more ideas for signs of Nascaholism tell us.

The Growth Potential of ARCA’s Young Drivers

User Avatar

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 Comments

Joey Logano burnout

Yours 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

Why Would Tony Stewart Take Over Haas CNC Racing?

User Avatar

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 24, 2008 2:09 pm CDT 7 Comments

OK, so Marty Smith posted a story he has about Tony Stewart being in negotiations with Chevy teams, mentioning Haas CNC by name. The story has even been here earlier this week. So, would Tony really leave JGR for ownership of Haas? IWhy Would Tony Stewart Take Over Haas CNC Racing? think it is very likely. Haas is a satellite team of Hendrick Motorsports, of course. I would imagine if Tony takes over the team, he would be receiving much more assistance in that aspect. Then there is the option of him buying into the team, and driving for another Chevy team. Hello #5? Hello #33? Casey Mears hasn’t lit the world on fire, but the NASCAR world may explode if Stewart joins Jeff, Jimmie, and Junior. That would leave the #33, flush with funds from General Mills, and Stewart has a champion’s provisional to guarantee the team makes the field. Also, at RCR, he has a good relationship with Kevin Harvick.

It certainly would be intriguing if Tony becomes an owner. He would the highest-profile new owner in the series since Dale Earnhardt Inc. moved to Cup in 1998 with Steve Park. What is interesting to look at is how owning a team affected Dale Earnhardt’s performance from ’98 until 2001. He won just once in ’98, three times in ’99, and twice in ‘00. That’s a total of six wins, but taking a closer look, three were at Talladega, and one each at Daytona, Bristol, and Atlanta. Four of his six wins came at plate tracks, where he was the acknowledged master. Did owning those teams really affect his performance? Hard to say, but it’s worth mentioning. He finished seventh in ’98, eighth in ’99, and rebounded to finish second in ’00. Perhaps the biggest factor is the equipment, and depending on whom Tony is driving for: himself, Childress, or Hendrick, he may not add significantly to his win total.

What I’ve failed to mention is Gibbs in this scenario. How willing is Gibbs to let Tony go? Well, I think it depends on how well Joey Logano performs in the Nationwide Series this year. If Logano proves to be what he is hyped to be, he could very well find himself sitting in the #20 come Daytona in February 2009.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Is Tony Stewart headed for Cup team ownership?

User Avatar

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 12, 2008 2:22 pm CDT 12 Comments

Tony Stewart at Texas in carHow much more interesting would the Sprint Cup Series be if Tony Stewart were to become a team owner?

According to Fox Sports’ Lee Spencer that possibility was the hot rumor around the Phoenix International Raceway garage on Friday.  It seems that Tony may be talking with Haas CNC Racing and Chevrolet about a partnership that would return Stewart to the Bow-tie fold as a driver-owner.  And where there is Smoke - there is news.

Lately a few of us had speculated that that Stewart might be a candidate for the #33 seat and General Mills sponsorship at Richard Childress Racing.  Others, like my buddy Steve, think that Stewart’s relationships with Joe Gibbs Racing and various pals will stop any potential defection.  I wonder if Chevrolet felt that way about their JGR connections before the Coach and the kid said sayonara?

When I brought the latest Tony Stewart rumor up to a colleague a little while ago, he said to me; “…well if he goes to his own team, he’ll never win again.” 

I’m not so sure about that.  But who’s to say that Tony Stewart would have to drive for his own team?  The late Dale Earnhardt never drove for Dale Earnhardt Inc in a Cup race, did he?  Of course he did drive the same manufacturer’s car as the team he owned used.

Regardless, this is shaping up to be the story of the year in NASCAR.  I do think that the Stewart camp is floating some of this stuff to enhance Tony’s negotiating position with JGR or RCR or whomever.  But I’m sure glad that they are.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Countdown to Bristol Bench Racing style

User Avatar

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.

March 14, 2008 12:04 am CDT 5 Comments

Regan Smith at Bristol 2007Getting ready for two straight short track weekends with trivial facts about the track in Thunder Valley.

500- Scheduled laps in the race this Sunday

257- Laps led in the spring race last year by Tony Stewart on his way to a 35th place finish

94 - Total number of Cup races run at Bristol Motor Speedway

90 - Laps run under caution during the 2007 spring race

77 - Number of races won from a top 10 starting position

57 - The number of Bristol Cup starts by Ricky Rudd without a win. Ever.

50 - Where you start might mean something - 50 winners started in the top four

42 - That’s how many starters there were for the first ever race at Bristol

41 - Different pole winners, with 19 drivers having done it more than once

38 - Where Elliott Sadler started from and won in 2001 - the farthest back of any winner

37 - Most Bristol wins by manufacturer goes to the Bow-tie boys

36 - Number of different winners

22 - Top fives all-time by Rusty Wallace

21 - The number of years where a Bristol winner has gone on to win the Championship

21 - Junior Johnson won more races at Bristol than any other owner, including 8 in a row

19 - The number of cars that finished that first ever race - out of 42

17 - Country singer Brenda Lee was 17 when she sang the anthem at that first race

14.908 - First ever sub 15 second lap turned in by Ryan Newman in 2003 - still the record

12 - Most wins by a driver goes to Jaws, hissownself, Darrell Waltrip, including 7 straight

10.3 - Greg Biffle’s average finish - best of the active best

9 - Most Bristol poles, by Cale Yarborough. Also the second most wins at the track, held by Cale, Earnhardt Sr and Rusty. Jack Roush leads active car owners with 9 wins, too.

5.5 - Jeff Gordon’s average start in 30 races - nobody’ even close

5 - Wins by Gordon and Kurt Busch. Also the number of different drivers to win for Junior Johnson

4 - Consecutive years that Jeff Gordon won the Food City 500

3 - Times Jeff Burton has finished second

2 - Wins by Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin

1 - Win in 55 starts for Terry Labonte

.533 - Miles around the bowl

Zero - Chance of a caution free race

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Picking a Bristol winner might take a hunch

User Avatar

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.

March 13, 2008 12:56 pm CDT 1 Comment

Bristol Motor Speedway Sharpie 500Survival at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week, in a NASCAR sense, had to do with driving within the limits of Goodyear’s questionable tire choice. Kyle Busch mastered the task, as did Carl Edwards, before mechanical gremlins ate his chances. Even the loudest critics of the tires – Tony Stewart, Dales Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon – used the combination of patience and talent necessary to bring their cars in with top five finishes.

Surviving Bristol will be a different story. It’s strange really. Bristol Motor Speedway has a history, maybe more than any other track, where certain drivers excel repeatedly. Darrell Waltrip had twelve wins in Thunder Valley, and is the historic king of the track. Three others were nine-time winners - Dale Earnhardt Sr, Cale Yarborough and Rusty Wallace – and there are several five-time winners including current contenders, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch. If you scan the list of winners at Bristol, you don’t find many names outside the top-tier of NASCAR competitors. The recent winners, since Kurt Busch’s run of four out of five from 2002-2004, are; Dale Jr, Harvick, Matt Kenseth twice, Kurt’s fifth and the hottest drivers of 2008, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch. What makes this odd is the prevailing feeling that to survive Bristol’s biennial wreck-fest, you have to be lucky. There has to be some truth to that, given the tight confines of the half mile bull-ring, the speed that the thirty degree banking allows and the fact that there just aren’t many single car wrecks. So, why do the same names consistently show well at Bristol? Why doesn’t the luck – both the good and the bad – spread itself around a bit more? Matt Kenseth has won two of the last six Bristol contests so his top Loop Driver Rating of 111.4 is not a surprise. Kenseth leads in eight other categories as well. Notably he has an Ave. Mid Race Position of 5.3, so maybe running upfront helps avoid the wrecks but the front runners at Bristol are dealing with lapped traffic the whole race. Not much help really. Matt has also led nearly a quarter of all laps in the last six Bristol meetings – 23.5% for a total of 706. Jeff Gordon has the next best Driver Rating at 103.1. Gordon is one of the five-time Bristol winners but his only win since 1998 came in the 2002 night race. He must be doing something right lately though, to be ranked number 2. It’s my oft-stated opinion that Jeff Gordon is always a good pick. These numbers and the fact that Jeff has been in position to win every race since Daytona make it obvious this week. Greg Biffle has never won at Bristol. His driver Loop Data Rating of 102.7 is third best but NASCAR’s traditional stats have him number one, career-wise at the Tennessee track. In ten starts he has six top ten finishes and three top fives. But get this – he has completed, amazingly at Bristol, 100% of all laps in the races he’s entered. There’s that combination of skill, patience and luck you need at Bristol. Biffle’s been good in 2008 too, sitting second in points and contending every week. The wins are coming. Kevin Harvick has quietly moved into third place in the Sprint Cup standings and he ranks fourth in Bristol Driver Rating at 99.2. He has spent 74.5 % of his time at Bristol in the top fifteen and has finished half of his fourteen races at Bristol in the top five.

Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr come next with DRs of 97.7 and 97.5. Both drivers are Bristol winners and both overcame there rubber induced frustration to finish top three last week at Atlanta. Junior as the better overall stats at Bristol with a series best Ave. Finish of 6.5 compared to Smoke’s 14.0. But Tony has run up front for 1085 laps to Junior’s 708.

Gillette-Everham Motorsports drivers Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler are top ten Bristol Loop drivers, coming in with DRs of 94.2 and 92.9. Kahne has led 305 laps to Sadler’s 113 but Elliott is the one who won a Bristol race. Kurt Busch had a miserable 2007 spring race but he is unquestionably one of the masters of Thunder Valley, with five wins – all since 2002. His current Loop DR of 92.8 reflects that poor 2007 finish. He has nine top tens and five wins in fourteen total races and has led 535 laps. Kurt should contend Sunday.Steady, fast, Jeff Burton and the spectacular Kyle Busch are tenth and eleventh with Loop DRs of 90.5 and 90.0. They are followed by Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte. Jimmy Johnson is sixteenth. Of those drivers, only Edwards has won at Bristol before. Bristol races have a reputation as wild-cards, much like Talladega and the best car often finishes thirty laps down. At Bristol it’s best to be lucky and good. Biffle is my pick this week, on a hunch for sure. For a dark-horse, I’ll take Jeremy Mayfield – our Tuesday guest ON PIT ROW - a former Bristol winner driving a Hendrick powered Chevy and deserving of a bit of good luck too.Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

This Budweiser Shootout was pert’ near perfect

User Avatar

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.

February 10, 2008 1:38 am CST 8 Comments

Untitled Post“I want a billion dollars and a monkey.” I got what we all hope is just a bite-sized sample of the kind of race the 50th Daytona 500 will be a week from now.

That was one hell of a race, that there Bud Shootout. And it was won by one hell of a driver too - the best restrictor plate racer there ever was, according to second place Tony Stewart.

Smoke said that Dale Jr is probably better at this plate racin’ stuff than his daddy, Dale Earnhardt the Legend. All Senior did was win more times in Florida than the Marlins.

I don’t know about all of that. I do know that I had a big smile on my face at the end of that race. I mean even Tony Stewart seemed happy.

And NASCAR has a real race car in this Car of Today. To a man - announcers, ex-drivers, former crew chiefs - all praised the Car formerly known as the Ugly Little Freakin’ Toad.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, in mid-whoop as he ran his first victory lap in a couple years yelled “We got us a race car boys. Maybe a 500 winner!”

I’ll take that same finish right now. I’d take a whole bunch of different outcomes too. Just keep giving me races where the guys can pass each other and 25 or so of them are doing it.

But if I get the billion dollars and the monkey, I’ll make do.

Photo Credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images

Bench Racing’s top 18 Budweiser Shootout countdown

User Avatar

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.

February 7, 2008 10:29 pm CST 1 Comment

Untitled PostOK, Kurt Busch is on the pole for Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout but does that mean anything? It might. Check out our countdown of compelling Bud Shootout factoids and impress your friends at the 2008 NASCAR kickoff party.

70 - Total laps in the race, up from the 20 run the first year of the event in 1979

44 - No, not DJ’s UPS truck car number. It’s the most laps led in a single Bud Shootout, by Greg Biffle in 2005

22 - Largest field in event history in 2002 also the number of career starts by Awesome Bill from Dawsonville

19 - Dale Earnhardt Jr’s starting position in ‘03, the farthest back anybody has started and won also the number of consecutive starts by Mark Martin, most by any driver also the number of lead changes in 2001, the highest number since the race began

18 - Number of different pole winners in 2007

7 - Number of poles by Jeff Gordon in 2007, most of any driver

6 - The most career Budweiser Shootout victories held by the late Dale Earnhardt

5 - Number of drivers to win in their first Bud Shootout start (Buddy Baker 1979; Dale Sr 1980; Jeff Gordon 1994; Dale Jarrett 1996; Denny Hamlin 2006)

4.5 - Best average finish of any active driver owned by Tony Stewart

3 - Winners who started on pole (Darrell Waltrip 1981; Bill Elliott 1987; Ken Shrader 1989) also number of wins by Tony Stewart and Dale Jarrett, the most of any drivers in this years field

2.75 - Best average finish by a driver with multiple starts; Senior

2 - Most consecutive victories by Ken Shrader (1989-90), Neil Bonnett (1983-84) and Tony Stewart (2001-02)

1 - Laps led by Rusty Wallace (1998), Neil Bonnett (1982-84), Dale Earnhardt (1980) and Dale Jarrett (2004) in the Budweiser Shootouts they won

.08 - Earnhardt’s victory margin in seconds over Sterling Marlin in 1995, closest in Bud Shootout history

There ought to be something in there that can stump your family Schwab. Enjoy the race.

Oh and thanks to the NASCAR P R folks - they did the work.

Advertisement

Blogroll

Racing Websites

Play the Rattles from the Catch Can contest ON PIT ROW at RaceTalkRadio

Fantasy Insider Online
Backstretch Boys: 30% Off New CD!
Jayski's: See what the buzz is about.
Free Fantasy Games
uh oh, Pooh Bear