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Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway hosted The Prelude to the Dream.

Twenty-five drivers, mostly from NASCAR, took to the dirt at the Ohio speedway to have some fun and raise some money for Kyle Petty’s Victory Junction Gang Camp last Wednesday night. Heavy rains overnight and throughout the morning made the race in doubt until the sun came out in the afternoon in time to get the half-mile race track in shape to race. Stewart led the crew to prepare the track as race fans could see the Cup Champ working the tractor to help bring the track in.

Big time Cup drivers love the event as it allows them to get back to their younger days before all the media and fans made their every move circumspect. Jeff Gordon talked his team mate and friend Jimmy Johnson into running on the dirt this year and were said to be working on Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for 2009. Gordon characterized running at Eldora in the late models as addicting.

Joe Menzer at NASCAR.com writes about current Cup owner, former crew chief and dirt driver Ray Evernham being asked about putting a dirt race back on the Sprint Cup Series:

“That would be awesome,” Evernham says. “You’d probably see me come out of retirement and be a mechanic again. I think it would be great. These guys are the greatest drivers in the world, and, you know, why not? We run short tracks; we run superspeedways; we run mile-and-a-halfs; we run road courses. Why not run dirt, too?

“We could do it, and I think these guys would love to do it.”

The perfect opportunity to try out the concept comes up on Labor Day when the ARCA Re/Max Series heads to DuQuoin State Fairgrounds for the Southern Illinois 100. The Cup Series runs the Pepsi 500 on Sunday August 31st at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The 7:30pm east coast start would have the race finished before 11pm. Drivers could be in DuQuoin for the 1pm Monday start and get some dirt track racing in on cars that more closely resemble their everyday race car.

Current NASCAR drivers have had some success in the ARCA Series on the southern Illinois dirt. Kenny Schrader has two wins and two poles at the 1 mile clay oval. Tony Stewart has a win and three poles, while Jeremy Mayfield and Mike Wallace also have a pole. DuQuoin is one of two clay ovals on the ARCA circuit. The Re/Max Series also runs on the dirt at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield on the 17th of August.

The logistics may have been impossible years ago, but with most drivers and teams having private aircraft, a NASCAR presence is quite possible–if they truly like “Playing in the Dirt.”

photo credit:Arcaracing.com

The next time you are at the gas pump, wringing out your wallet for a few measly gallons of the cheap stuff ($3.79 a gallon today in our little town) remember the little people of NASCAR, who are struggling right along with you. Right.

I’m one of those people who buy their gas ten bucks at a time. That used to last me awhile - now, not so much. But I’m bored. Stopping every day at the Speedway helps me pass the time. And that brings me to my Rant for the day. Sorry Bob, I have to steal your handle for a post.

Today as my 2.64 gallons of low-test was rushing into the tank and the “dollars spent” countdown flew by - $10-$9-$8….$4-$3-$2-$1…..$.99……$.98…..$.97…….$.96…..$.95 - are YOU getting pissed yet? Just exactly how little - what, fraction of a quarter of a gallon of gas, is that pump spitting into my tank that takes over 1 second to meter out? Strictly as a PR move the Petroleum Retailers Association should re-set those pumps to slow down when they get to the last 2.5% of a gallon - or 10 seconds, from the end. I hate that.

Thank you, I’m better now. Thanks to a tweet from Team Ford Racing at Twitter is thispost by Earl Barban, crewman of the #28 Ford at Yates Racing. Travis Kvapil’s Fusion will be sponsored at Darlington by by Lafayette Ford and painted in 60’s retro Fred Lorenzen livery. How cool is that?

Joey Logano fans - or nervous followers of Tony Stewart - may be interested in the podcast of our interview with Joey from Tuesday’s ON PIT ROW. You can download it here.

Mike Maruska has a nice interview with John Newsome. Its pretty funny, but not as funny as this ditty at One Lugnut Short. There’s plenty to write about this week so I’m sure we’ll be back. There’s still a chance to win a 5o Years of the Great American Race DVD too.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Hollywood couldn’t have scripted the weekend’s racing any better.

NASCAR’S doubleheader at Richmond International Raceway along with ARCA’s return to Rockingham Speedway proved to be a great weekend. Friday nights Nationwide Series race at Richmond was entertaining enough throughout; but came to a old time ending. For all you old-schoolers out there; Kyle Busch and Steven Wallace played some bumper tag during the race and then, partook in a post race helmet grabbing–finger pointing–screaming incident. The Saturday highlight shows ran with the video of Shrub sticking his head into Wallace’s car and Steven grabbing Rowdy’s helmet; only to see Kyle jerking his head free and nearly falling on his butt. All this on a Friday night.

Saturday’s Crown Royal presents the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond again provided for some exciting racing through much of the event and had set itself up for an entertaining finish. Denny Hamlin was dominating the race–leading every green flag lap until a slow leak developed in his right front tire. Hamlin decided to ignore the slowly deflating tire until it was too late and the tire blew out on the race track.

“You don’t have days like this,” said Hamlin, “Dominating days like this just don’t happen. There’s just nothing you can say other than it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Hamlin’s troubles set up a battle between Dale Earnhardt; Jr and Kyle Busch to determine who would go to victory lane. Junior was looking to get his first win in two years and Shrub was looking to post another win for Joe Gibbs Racing. What happened was a last lap skirmish that has Junior lovers and Junior haters seeing two very different race endings–an ending that saw Clint Bowyer take home his second Sprint Cup trophy. Lovers are looking to hang Busch from the nearest engine hoist and haters are applauding him for his hard driving style.

Which as usual leads us to this weeks short and sweet BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Who was to blame for the Shrub and Junior dust up?

Then to finish off the weekend, the ARCA ReMax Series re-opened “The Rock” to competitive racing and saw future Cup star 17 year old Joey Logano dominate the race in his Venturini Motorsports Chevy. Sprint Cup vetren Ken Schrader came in second as only five cars finished on the lead lap. For more on the ARCA event check out arcaracing.com. and listen to INSIDE ARCA via live stream Tuesday at 8pm ET immediately following ON PIT ROW which can be heard on selected radio stations in the Midwest or right here at onpitrow.com from 5 to 7pm ET.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

17 year old Joey Logano topped qualifying today for the ARCA RE/MAX Series’ Carolina 500 at Rockingham Speedway.

Young Joey has been the fastest all week at the resurrected North Carolina Speedway and will lead a field of 50 starters for Sunday’s race.  Here’s what he had to say about this week.

“We actually came down here and did some fuel mileage testing at the
Rock,” said Logano. “I haven’t done much racing this year but we did a
lot of testing-probably ten times so far this year. I turn 18 on May
24th and then I can start running Nationwide races. This is Venturini’s
car and we’ve had a good relationship with the Venturini family so it’s
fun for me to get back out there and run a little bit. This is my first
time driving for [the Venturini family]. Big Bill and Little Bill are
great guys and it’s like a family atmosphere in the ARCA garage so I’ve
enjoyed it.”

Those Nationwide Series races will be contested in Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas. 

The starter for tomorrow’s race will be Joe Gibb’s Racings’ - for now -  Tony Stewart.  If Stewart leaves JGR, as appears more likely almost every hour, Logano may well be his replacement on the Cup team.  Just an added bit of interest for an already, much anticipated race on Sunday.

We’ll have the winner of the Carolina 500 as a live guest on this week’s INSIDE ARCA.  Listen to it live right here at OnPitRow.com Tuesday night at 7pm edt.

Photo credit:  arcaracing.com

The Rock lives again.

Thanks to new owner Andy Hillenburg; Rockingham Speedway will again roar to life this weekend as the ARCA RE/Max Series visits the famous racetrack that is held near and dear by many NASCAR fans.  After a four year absence of competitive racing, the city of Rockingham has embraced this revival of big time stock car racing.

There are several twists to the ARCA event.  Bringing back two day knock out qualifying will be a hit amongst fans.  Qualifying, that at last count, would see fifty-seven cars vie for fifty starting positions.  That’s right FIFTY starting spots.  While NASCAR has vehemently held to its forty-three car fields, ARCA and The Rock will venture where few have been willing to go in recent years.

Charlie has long beat the drum for expanded fields in the Sprint Cup Series; it took Hillenburg and ARCA to realize that bigger may well be better.  There are some inconveniences involved.  There are only forty-three pit stalls, so poor qualifying teams will be sharing pit space until cars start falling out of the race.  The front runners will be lapping back markers within laps of the start, causing some huge traffic problems.  But this race has all the makings of a must attend event, from both a fan and team standpoint.

Hillenburg was a guest ON PIT ROW on April 29th and made a point of mentioning that this event could become one of the best attended “one off” races for drivers who don’t normally drive on the RE/Max circuit.  Kenny Schrader and Bobby Hamilton, Jr. will compete.  Tony Stewart will be on hand to wave the green flag; while Stewart crew chief Greg Zippadelli will be piloting the pace car.  Ricky Rudd will be parading in the 51st starter with a lucky fan in the passenger seat.

When asked about the possibility of Rudd tossing the passenger and starting the race, Hillenberg replied:

We will only have enough fuel in the car for Ricky to make the required parade laps; therefore ensuring that doesn’t happen.

On-track testing begins at 2pm on Friday.  The first round of qualifying is set for 11am on Saturday, with the second round slated for 2:30.  The green flag is set for noon on Sunday to be televised on SPEED.  Be sure to tune in to our ARCA Insider Phil Parsons and the rest of the SPEED team for live coverage.

Fifty cars - FIFTY.  If ARCA can pull this off,  then NASCAR will need to take a serious look at expanding their fields as well.  It will give more teams and more importantly, more sponsors more for their sponsorship dollars.  And we all know it’s not about the dollars–it’s about how many dollars - and cars.

photo credit: rockinghamspeedway.com

Did you see the ARCA RE/MAX Series race from Kansas Speedway Saturday? Former Formula One driver Scott Speed won the thing but he had to come back from a black flag for a window net infraction. According to Speed’s crew chief, Patrick Donahue, there was no attempt to find a competitive advantage in tweaking the nets - even though Speed’s teammate nearly had the same fate. Nope, it was simple, human error, which I am intimately familiar with. I work with Steve.

Both Donahue and Speed were guests ON PIT ROW last night. Scott’s interview was short but memorable - “kick ass” according to Speed himself. Listen to it Thursday at 7pm edt at RaceTalkRadio.com.

So things got a little loose ON PIT ROW and now they will get Loose in Turn Three. TZ from Do You NASCAR?, Bruce of NASCAR Bits and Pieces and I will hash out some NASCAR opinion and you are REQUIRED to comment. Please.

Would NASCAR be better off if it had never instituted restrictor plates?

Charlie: In the era BCoT - Before the Car of Tomorrow - races at Daytona and Talladega were contested by plated cars and were pretty much universally complained about by owners, writers, bloggers and the drivers who drove the cars. Fans usually gasped in wonder at the close, three and four wide racing and the big wrecks that the plates promoted. I would say that more casual fans got their vision of what NASCAR is by seeing highlights of plate races than anything else.

Restrictor plates brought NASCAR more excitement and more fans per race than any other innovation the Frances tried. Plates also, almost certainly, saved lives at Talladega and Daytona, where unrestricted cars would have ended up in the stands at some point without action to slow the cars down. Plates are a good thing.

Bruce: I agree with Charlie. Without plates, it would have been a matter of time before a car ended up in the stands. I go back to pre-plate days, remembering a car pulling around another car on the backstretch of Talladega and doing it’s own backflip at 200+ mph. Thank God it wasn’t in the bootleg in front of the stands.

And for the record, I’ve always liked plate races. Even if the drivers don’t think it’s racing, it has to be some form of racing requiring the same degree of experience or the same names wouldn’t be up front in most of them.

TZ: Interesting question for me, because here’s the deal…restrictor plate races TYPICALLY bore me to tears - at least with the old car, anyway. And, really, I think my grudge against the plate races started back in 2003 when I made the trip out to Daytona to watch Greg Biffle win the race on fuel mileage, though I know that’s not really the norm. It’s just in the past there’s not a ton of passing, and the guys for the most part always seemed to play it overly safe through the first 7/8’s of the race but that doesn’t seem to be the case this year.

But really, even before this year, the plate races have been a great commodity for NASCAR to carry. Much like the road courses they bring a certain level of diversity to the schedule that really helps keep things interesting. I enjoy being able to watch a different type of race each week.

Once more, that’s what we think. What do you think? Let us know what your thoughts are on these two topics too.

TZ’s post at DoYouNascar.com : NASCAR recently took a win away from a driver in the Camping World Series on technical inspection grounds. Should this be the new practice?

Bruce’s Bits and Pieces post : Does Dale Earnhardt Day merit all the attention it gets on April 29th?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Twenty year old Matt Hawkins wins in his ARCA ReMax Series debut at Iowa Speedway.

ARCA’s premier series is perfectly suited to NASCAR owners for the development of their younger talent. Roush-Fenway Racing is using the series to develop #99 Ricky Stenhouse Bill Davis Racing has two drivers using the unique series to give #28 Michael Annett and #02 Bobby Santos some much needed heavy-car experience.

Chase Austin is a Rusty Wallace Inc. driver. Also running the ARCA series is Landon Cassill, driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Michael Waltrip Racing has Ken Butler III running #22 Toyota’s for Eddie Sharp Racing. Also in a ESR Camry is former F1 driver #2 Scott Speed with his ties to Red Bull Racing.

Not all drivers listed are running a full ARCA schedule and some NASCAR teams may add or change drivers at a later date. Be sure to check out arcaracing.com to get a look into all the drivers, developmental or not, in the ARCA ReMax Series.

photo credit: arcaracing.com

This weekend has the potential for being one of my favorite race weekends of the year–even without a Sprint Cup race.

The racing will be hot and heavy this Saturday as the ARCA Remax Series heads to Iowa Speedway. Iowa has become one of race drivers favorite tracks in its short history. ARCA Remax Series points leader Justin Allgaier was this weeks guest on INSIDE ARCA, fresh off his win at Salem Speedway at the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts. Allgaier is looking forward to racing at the .875 mile progressively banked oval.

Allgaier will face stiff competition from Michael Annett, as he looks for his third consecutive win. Annett has won the last two races he has entered in the ARCA Remax Series at Talladega in 2007 and the season opener at Daytona this year. Annett is a DeMoines, IA native and thus feels he has a home town advantage.

“I expect to run up front,” said Annett. “I have a lot of confidence in myself and the equipment I’m in. As competitive as the ARCA RE/MAX Series is, to run up front you’ve got to be with a good team. I ran my first three ARCA races with Country Joe Racing, and now with Bill Davis Racing, so I’ve always been with really good teams. I put pressure on myself. I’m with an excellent team now; everything’s in place. It’s up to me from here.”

Also looking to get back on track, both literally and figuratively, is 19 year old Ali Owens who suffered several broken bones in a motorcycle accident in March.

“When the doctor told me that I might miss Iowa I thought no way,” said Owens, driver of the No. 12 ElectrifyingCareers.com Chevrolet. “I focused all my energy on recovery. I worked as hard as I could with my trainer and followed my doctor’s orders and everything worked out. I feel great.”

Great racing and interesting personalities is what ARCA is all about. Combine those with a terrific race track and the 1:30pm ET start time on SPEED with INSIDE ARCA’s insider, Phil Parsons, can’t be missed.

Sunday’s action shifts south of the border to the Mexico City race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Joining the usual cast of Nationwide characters will be Scott Pruett, Boris Said, Patrick Carpentier, Sam Hornish, Jr., and Max Papis. Last year’s last lap shunt involving Pruett and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya had fans talking for weeks. While Montoya will not race in Mexico City in 2008, fans can expect similar thrills as veteran Australian road racer Marcos Ambrose is one of the Nationwide Series regulars to watch.

No Cup race–but this is going to be a fun weekend. I predict no fuel mileage runs in these races. Chances are there will be some good hard nose racing.

photo credit: arcaracing.com

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