Roush-Fenway Dominates Michigan
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.
August 19, 2008 4:26 am CDT No CommentsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Carl Edwards win on Sunday has him set up as the number two seed in The Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Jack Roush has always maintained that it is more important to win at Michigan than probably anywhere else on NASCAR’s top circuit. The proximity to Detroit and Ford’s headquarters in nearby Dearborn makes the two races in the Irish Hills important to Roush-Fenway Racing from a PR standpoint if nothing else.
Edwards was able to out duel points leader Kyle Busch after a late caution to secure his spot behind Busch in the points and assure himself of having at least the second most bonus points going into The Chase.
Roush ended up with all five of his cars in the top ten on Sunday with only Jamie McMurray and the #26 team outside the top five. Edwards has won two of the last three races and with his win in the Carfax 250 on Saturday, becomes only the second driver, along with The Shrub, to do a Sprint/Nationwide double this year and the first since Mark Martin did it at Michigan in August of 1993.
Martin’s double came in Roush Fords as well.
Edwards late surge along with his strong start leads us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:
Carl Edward’s win at Michigan is having some people say he is “peaking” at the right time. Is there such a thing in NASCAR, or is momentum a fleeting concept?
Let us know your opinion on this week’s BUZZ and we could use your response on Tuesday nights ON PIT ROW radio show. You can listen live starting at 5pm ET and may hear your answer ON PIT ROW. Stay tuned and listen to INSIDE ARCA immediately following ON PIT ROW at 7pm at arcaracing.com
photo credit: Icon Media Sports
At Michigan, You’re Entering the House of Roush
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.
August 13, 2008 1:44 pm CDT 1 Comment
It’s no secret that Roush-Fenway Racing has traditionally been pretty good at Michigan International Speedway. The Michigan races, after all, are in the shadow of Detroit and the “big three” manufacturers – and each one wants the bragging rights at the race closest to the city. That goes double for the Fords of Roush, as Roush is from Livonia, Michigan and Roush’s other companies are based in Livonia. Using the past 8 races at the track, it’s clear the drivers and teams have gotten the message: a Roush Ford has to run up front at Michigan. Since the August race in 2004 through the June race in 2008, Roush has won half the races at the track with 3 different drivers in Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Matt Kenseth. Hold on, though… it gets better (for Roush).
In the August ’04 race, Roush accomplished a feat not seen often: all 5 cars finished in the top 10. The finishing order went like this:
Biffle
Martin
Jarrett
McMurray
Kahne
Busch
Gordon
Kenseth
Stewart
Edwards (in his first Cup race, no less)
In the June ’05 race, Biffle won once again, with 4 Roush cars in the top 5:
Biffle
Stewart
Martin
Kenseth
Edwards
In three other races, Roush cars took at least 3 spots inside of the top 10, twice putting 4 cars inside. This most recently happened in June of this year with Kenseth, Edwards, David Ragan, and Jamie McMurray.
In racing, they say some tracks are just made for a certain car. At Michigan, Fords have done pretty well, especially Roush Fords. This year, they’ll need to do well once again at Michigan, as Biffle, Kenseth, and Ragan are all fighting to secure spots inside of the top 12 by Richmond.
Photo credit: Icon Sports Media
Does Anyone Care Clint Bowyer’s Going To Win The Nationwide Title?
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.
July 22, 2008 12:44 pm CDT 13 Comments
NASCAR’s number two series has undergone a pretty successful transition to new series sponsor Nationwide. Those B-word mentions are infrequent, but the championship points leader has been mentioned almost as infrequent. Clint Bowyer leads the standings, and has done so for most of the year.
I’ll admit my own fault in this, I’ve been more than happy to talk about the Joe Gibbs dominance and anxiously waiting for David Ragan to finally win a race, but Bowyer’s year has been championship caliber. He has 11 straight top 10s and only three finishes outside of the top 10 – and hasn’t finished worse than 25th. That, my friends, is impressive. What may be giving most everyone trouble is that Bowyer’s year has been low-key, matching his personality. He has no pole positions and just one win, which came at Bristol. Yet his 18 top 10 finishes blow everyone else out of the water, as Keselowski and Ragan are next behind him with 13. His year reminds me of Matt Kenseth’s 2003 championship year. He goes about his business, records top 10 finishes, and doesn’t beat himself. Look at the results during this 11-race stretch: 9th, 2nd, 6th, 9th, 4th. 9th, 3rd, 9th, 4th, 7th, 8th. Kenseth would go multiple races inside the top 10, and in his early season stretch in ’03 - from Daytona through Michigan – he finished outside of the top 10 twice. Bowyer’s year has been the same way, and also similar to Kenseth - it hasn’t been covered.
Bowyer’s lead in the standings has been bouncing between 150 and 200 points. Currently, Keselowski sits in 2nd place 170 markers out while Carl Edwards takes 3rd, 201 back. In the final 14 races of the year, this one’s going to be won by one of those three. Edwards seems to have regained his form after coasting the rest of the ’07 year and getting off to a sluggish start in ’08, recording two wins under new crew chief Drew Blickensdurfer since the change was made five races ago. Keselowski has been no slouch, he has nine consecutive top 10s and hasn’t finished worse than 15th since Talladega. He also recorded his first career win at Nashville.
Bowyer might not win the Nationwide title this year, but I hope if he doesn’t, his performance through the first 21 races doesn’t become just a footnote. If he does win the title, it will be because of those finishes earlier in the year no one noticed.
Photo credit: Icon Sports Media
Gettin’ Loose in Loudon’s Turn Three Could Hurt
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 27, 2008 11:07 am CDT 2 Comments
New Hampshire International Speedway always makes me nervous. This year, maybe more so than ever. The track has seen more than its share of carnage through its history. Loudon may have been the track that most needed the soft-wall technology of the Safer barriers. With long straights and sharp, relatively flat corners, the New Hampshire miler will be especially tough on drivers for teams that don’t have the New Car’s special handling requirements figured out. Missing the set-up could hurt.
The Loose in Turn Three experiment continues this week with Do You NASCAR, Bruce’s NASCAR Bits and Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie each fielding a topic to chew on. Here’s the Bench Racing hor dourve of the week….
After what we saw at Infineon Raceway, is there still a place for “road-course ringers” in the Cup Series?
Charlie: If you run a top tier Cup team, your drivers better be able to at least hold their own on the road courses. Your best teams need drivers that can do it all. The ability of most of the regular Sprint Cup drivers to handle the road courses has improved so much that it would take the perfect storm of circumstances to have a non-regular win ANY Cup race. Only if you have a team that is on the edge of top thirty five contention - or is out of the top thirty five all together - would trying to catch a specialist’s lightning in a bottle be worth disrupting your group’s chemistry.
Bruce: No. Only if you’re a 30th and worse team with driver proven to be inefficient on road courses would you even think about it. Any time a team brings a ringer in, it’s a slap in the face to the regular driver, even if he appears on board, you’re killing his opportunity to accrue valuable driver points. Everyone either has the talent, or can be taught the skills, if the team really wants to invest in their driver.
TZ: Of course any team that’s on the bubble for the top-35 in owner points should consider using specialists at courses like Infineon or Watkins Glen. But, to throw a wrench in your guys’ theory that it’s reserved ONLY for those teams, what about teams like the no. 8 DEI car? You’re already limiting his Cup experience to a measley 8 races this year, so there’s no real logic in making sure that he gets in there at the road courses. Then, there’s also occassions when that teams are well within the top-35, yet have no real loyalty in a multi-year sense to their driver … guys like a Dave Blaney. In this instance, lingering After what we saw at Infineon Raceway, is there still a place for “road
course ringers” in the Cup Series?
That’s what we think. How ’bout you? Leave your feedback in the comments section. After doing that, head over to DoYouNASCAR.com for TZ’s topic for the week…..
After a lackluster 2007 season, can the no. 16 team keep it together long enough through the next 10 races to keep Greg Biffle in Chase contention?
Then check out Bruce’s Bits for this one…
Should NASCAR and Sunoco make a concerted effort to convert the sport over to a less fossil fuel centric sport?
Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW
Nationwide stand-alone events are underrated treats
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 12, 2008 10:01 pm CDT No Comments
So, it’s the time of year again when NASCAR’s second series branches off for 6 of the next 9 races from Sprint Cup. The drivers and teams in the series look forward to this stretch, as they’re the main event in town and the Cup drivers, although increased from years past, isn’t nearly as dominating. For the fans, I think we enjoy this stretch as well. I enjoy getting to see what some of these guys can do when they’re elevated to competing for top 5s and top 10s, instead of top 15s and top 25s. There are always good stories that come from these stretches of races. Consider last year, when we had Stephen Leicht battle Brad Coleman for his first career win, and who can forget Aric Almirola’s “win” at Milwaukee. That race, the eyes of many, led him to a Cup ride at DEI. At IRP, Jason Leffler wheeled the Great Clips Toyota to victory lane in a thrilling late-race battle.
Go back to 2006 for this stretch of races and remember what happened. At Kentucky, David Gilliland defied the odds and captured a win in an unsponsored, part-time effort. A few months later, he was racing for Robert Yates. The next week at Milwaukee, Paul Menard delivered his first win and moved to Cup the following year. This time of year is great for Nationwide action, arguably tracks like Nashville, Kentucky, and Milwaukee produce action and delivers a good balance to the Cup races at Pocono, Michigan, and Sonoma.
As for this weekend, the series is coming off Brad Keselowski’s first career win at Nashville, and the ranks of first-time winners could grow by one more, considering the previous two winners (Gilliland and Leicht) recording their first wins here. The candidates to do the same begin with a kid that has a pretty decent car, and recorded his first pole last week: Joey Logano. I would also keep an eye on Landon Cassill, Chase Miller, Kelly Bires, and the guy who finished second last year, Brad Coleman. They’ll have to hold off the Cup trifecta of Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards to do it, though. That’s no small task. My pick however will be a combo of seeking a first win and also competing in Cup: I’m talking about David Ragan, of course. After a year and a half of competition in the series, Ragan is due for a win. I can’t think of anywhere better than Kentucky for it to happen.
Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.
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 5 Comments
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
Who Will Be the Sprint Cup’s Next First-time Winner?
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 30, 2008 9:32 am CDT 6 CommentsMartin 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.
Even Monsters get 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.
May 30, 2008 9:22 am CDT 2 CommentsWith 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.
Coca Cola 600 Fantasy Thoughts
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 24, 2008 11:00 am CDT No Comments
I chose David Ragan to win the Coca Cola 600 during our picks weekly segment ON PIT ROW this week. What was I thinking? Admittedly that segment of the show is pretty “off the wall”. It isn’t meant to be serious fantasy racing analysis. It’s more about who can “out stupid” whom. Looking at NASCAR’s Loop Data this week makes me think maybe I have a lock on that for the 600. Ragan isn’t even on the sheet!
Now I will admit to being influenced by the Sprint Showdown - the qualifier for the Sprint All Star Race. David finished a strong third, just out of the last transfer spot. Then Sunday I got to watch him - in person - start from the back of a 35 car field and work to the front for third place finish in the ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Toledo Speedway. Plus I talked to him in the infield at Toledo. He’s a nice guy. But 200 laps at the Glass City half mile isn’t even close to 400 at Lowes. I may have over-bought.
If not Ragan, who?
Once again, Jimmy Johnson is the overwhelming leader of the Loop Data stats. If Dave Ragan is a stretch - and he is - then Johnson is a steal if you get to pick him. But J J has looked the part at many other races in 2008 too, only to disappoint. His Driver Rating of 120.2 - nearly 26 points better than second place Kyle Busch - is a big number. He has Series best stats in nine other Box Score categories including Ave Finish of 5.0, Ave Position 7.5, 246 Fastest Laps and 1956 Laps in the Top 15 for 88.6% of the last six Lowes races. Johnson’s 990 Ave Points Gained is 100 pts better than the next highest total - the 899 for Carl Edwards.
The Loop stats for Lowes are a bit strange though. As stated, Kyle Busch has the second best Driver Rating, but his Ave Points Gained per race is only 596 - almost 400 less than Johnson’s total. The Shrub will start from the pole and he has been one of the best this season but the Loop stats don’t point to consistency at Charlotte. His Ave Finish is only 23.5.
Carl Edwards’ Driver Rating, despite the second most Ave Points Gained per race, is even lower than Busch the Younger’s at 88.6. Carl has been strong on the intermediate tracks this year and I expect he’ll do well at Lowes too. Five top tens in his six starts are a good indication.
Veteran Mark Martin has the number three DR at 93.2 and he’s a four time winner at the N Carolina track. There hasn’t been much talk about Martin in 2008. He could make some noise this week though.
Kasey Kahne, winner of the Sprint All Star race and two time Lowes winner has a Driver Rating of 92.9 and has led the most Loop Laps with 338 to Johnson’s 298. If the Thursday ruling on suspension settings by NASCAR doesn’t throw the #9 teams setups off too much, Kahne could be the pick this week.
You can throw a Loop blanket over the next dozen contenders. The only stat of the bunch that jumps out at me is Bobby Labonte’s Ave Points Gained - 812 from the 13th overall DR ranking position.
I haven’t seen enough from the #9 to pick Kahne for a 600 mile race. To me it’s between Johnson and Edwards. I’ll go with Jimmy, the big stat advantage and the five wins. Carl could get his first Lowes win, but I have to see it first.
Dark horse pick - Kurt Busch.
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