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Richard Childress Racing Usurps Another Sponsor

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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.

June 20, 2008 10:55 am CDT 2 Comments

In NASCAR its easy to know who the haves and the have-nots are.

Untitled PostIt was announced this week that Dave Blaney’s #22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota was losing Caterpillar as its primary sponsor. Cat has been the primary sponsor with BDR for the past ten years of its seventeen in the sport. The team remains in the 29th spot in the Sprint Cup Series Owners’ points. Veteran crew chief Tommy Baldwin has the team moving in the right direction, picking up 10 championship point positions over the course of five events and has posted two top-10 finishes and six finishes of 22nd or better in the past eight races.

“Caterpillar and Bill Davis Racing have enjoyed a long and successful partnership throughout the last 10 seasons, and we are proud of everything we’ve accomplished together, including wins in both the Daytona 500 and Southern 500,” stated Team Owner Bill Davis. “This is an exciting time for our team, and we are looking forward to the future.”

In a much publicized coup earlier RCR was able to wrangle the General Mills sponsorship away from long time partner Petty Enterprises. That General Mills deal will adorn the new 4th team at RCR with an, as yet, un-named driver. Now securing Caterpillar to replace AT&T on the #31 Jeff Burton ride, puts RCR on solid financial footing. NASCAR mandated that AT&T would only be allowed to remain on the 31 car through the end of the 2008 season.

“To represent a well-known global brand like Caterpillar is an honor,” said Richard Childress, president and CEO of RCR. “Cat products have played a big part over the decades in construction projects at RCR, Childress Vineyards and Yadkin River Angus. Jeff and I look forward to meeting the Cat dealers and customers who loyally follow NASCAR racing.”

With dollars harder and harder to come by, RCR has moved into as solid of a financial situation as any major player in motorsports. Other big name owners have had challenges securing primary sponsorship for the 2008 season. Yates Racing has had trouble filling the hood and quarter panels of its race cars this season. The #38 of David Gilliland has had backing from freecreditreport.com for much of the recent schedule, but didn’t start the season as primary sponsor and most likely is not the biggest benefactor in the garage area. Teammate, Travis Kvapil’s #28 has been void of sponsorship much of the season. These are high profile, storied history, race teams and money is tough to come by.

Robby Gordon will race at Infineon Speedway this weekend with no sponsorship at all. Gordon is no slouch on a road course. The probability of him running well and near the front all day are high. And running near the front means TV time. TV time translates into payback for a sponsor; yet RGM cannot find anyone to invest.

Good luck to Bill Davis Racing trying to replace Cat on the #22, all the while trying to find cash to expand to a full-time two car team in 2009. Could we be seeing the start of more outside investment in a long time NASCAR team, or could team mergers be on the horizon?

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler/On Pit Row/Bench Racing Productions

Filed under: Dave Blaney, Jeff Burton, NASCAR, NASCAR Rumors, Richard Childress Racing, Robby Gordon, Robert Yates Racing 

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Eldora Daydreamin’

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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 7, 2008 8:41 pm CDT 3 Comments

Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick at the PreludeI can’t decide if it would be good to have more events like Tony Stewart’s Prelude to the Dream. If there were too many, it wouldn’t be as special, I guess. But it’s a shame more fans can’t get there to experience it live.

23,000 some fans did make it though. According to the track announcer, people from 46 states ordered tickets to the ‘08 Prelude as did fans from Denmark, Germany and Australia. For a race on dirt in the middle of a bunch of cornfields in western Ohio, that had about a fifty percent chance of getting rained out. Amazing.

OK, not just any dirt race. Darrell Waltrip didn’t drive the water truck this year but he did do a half dozen laps in a dirt late model with a lucky young fan along as passenger.

Eldora veterans - from their younger, pre-superstar days - were there. Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Dave Blaney, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann, Matt Kenseth and Ken Shrader. Others with lots of experience on the dirt raced as well. Clint Bowyer was fast. Kenny Wallace and old-timer Red Farmer made the trip and were quick. Mark Martin, J J Yeley and Aric Almirola wrecked. Bill Elliot had mechanical woes.

Kyle Busch and Jimmy Johnson brought there own late models. Robby Gordon drove a Scott Bloomquist-prepared car to second place. Johnson and Robby G have plenty of time driving in the dirt. Johnson in motocross and Gordon off-road.

During the driver intros, homeboy Tony got the loudest cheers. But Jeff Gordon had plenty of fans too. Even Kyle Busch heard more cheers than boos - until he stoked the booing with his “I can’t hear you” pose. From then on, the only cheers Kyle got were when he either hit or broke something. Both of which happened a lot.

Our seats were in turn three - which was the down-wind corner - so by the time the cars got to us, the twenty mile an hour breeze had brought the dirt kicked up in turn one to us and we got a double dose of dirt track in our faces each lap. I’ve got to get a pair of those yellow plastic goggle/glasses they were selling before next year’s race.

I wouldn’t miss it if I were you.

Photo credit: Split Second Sports and Panther Creek Design & Photo

Filed under: Clint Boyer, Dave Blaney, David Reutimann, Denny Hamlin, Eldora Speedway, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Kenny Shrader, Kenny Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Nascar Legends, Prelude to the Dream, Robby Gordon, Ryan Newman, The Pettys, The Waltrips, Tony Stewart 

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Lack of Respect Can Get You Loose in Turn 3

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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 6, 2008 8:32 am CDT 7 Comments

Lack of Respect Can Get You Loose in Turn 3I have more fun than should be allowed. Steve and I get to talk to some big-time guests ON PIT ROW every week. Most of the time we get thoughtful, insightful answers to our questions. Every once in a while, we get one that blows us away.

We asked Speed TV’s Robin Miller what he thought of the field for this year’s version of the Indy 500. Though Miller respects many of the drivers, his comment about “milk’n donuts and a bunch of jack-offs” was priceless. If you missed it, you can listen to the whole thing here.

Seems that Robin thinks some of those guys are over-rated. That was the inspiration for my “Loose in Turn 3″ question this week. After you comment on mine, make sue you check out Do You NASCAR and NASCAR Bits and Pieces for more Looseness.

Who is the most under-rated driver in NASCAR and how is he over-looked relative to his talent/value?

Charlie:  Jimmy Johnson is appreciated less than any other multi-time Champion and perennial championship contender.  It is a phenomenon that Steve and I have discussed many times before ON PIT ROW.  In any other team sport, Johnson and the #48 team would be talked of as a dynasty.  In NASCAR, he is often an after-thought.  I think this comes from an impression that JJ’s success is the product of great equipment more than driving talent.  That is just wrong.

Bruce: Jeff Burton: In my mind he’s ignored while he’s turning in consistent finishes to put himself 2nd in the standings. The media HAS to mention him when they count down the top 12 drivers but there’s not much time to cover him when the media has to report everything Kyle Busch or how many races since his Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last win. Heck for that matter, did you know that David Ragan is 8 points out of 12th? Sorry, I’ve diverged onto a rant… but I think regardless of who we pick, they’re victims of the media focus, or lens as you will.

TZ:  I like both of your answers to the question, but I’ve got to go with Jamie McMurray.  Folks think that just because he made the move to a Roush car that he should be winning all of these races.  The red flags went up when he didn’t even come close to the Chase last year and then when he fell outside of the top-35 after Bristol earlier this year.  To me, it’s just one of those deals that something hasn’t clicked between Jamie and Roush.  But, he’s already climbed himself back up to 22nd in points, and he’s actually still a 2008 Chase hopeful.  Plus, I figure if he can finish in the top-15 in points with Ganassi, then the guy’s obviously got a boat-load of talent.

That’s what we think.  What do you think.  Leave your feedback in the comment section then visit the other guys for their topics.  TZ’s question is…

Joe Gibbs Racing has won four times in the Sprint Cup Series this season, but in two years, they are the only Toyota team to win a race in Cup racing. Will a non-JGR driver reach Victory Lane in 2008? 

Bruce wants to know what you think about…

Hamlin passed a few cars that had avoided slamming into the melee at a rapid rate before hitting Sadler. So my question is more a statement, but I think Denny Hamlin could have avoided hitting as hard as he did because he probably could have slowed down a heck of a lot more… What’s your guys take? 

Filed under: Dave Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Burton, Jimmy Johnson, Joe Gibbs Racing, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Sprint Cup Series, Toyota, Turn 3 posts 

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