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Quick Hits: Richmond International Raceway

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

September 3, 2008 3:32 pm UTC No Comments

The Sprint Cup Series heads to the 3/4-mile Richmond International Raceway for its final race of the regular season, with eight drivers competing for six available spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. While Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Burton are already locked into the Chase, and Greg Biffle will be simply by starting this weekend, some of the sport’s top names and up-and-coming stars are still searching for a Chase berth.

Among those drivers is 13th-place David Ragan, the heir to Mark Martin in the No. 6 Ford at Roush Fenway Racing. Although Ragan could barely keep the car running straight two years ago in an abysmal start in Martinsville, he’s improved a full ten positions in the standings from his overall position last year. Although he hasn’t won yet, Ragan, fourth on the Roush food chain behind Edwards, Biffle and Matt Kenseth, has five top-5s this season, more than Burton, 12th-place Clint Bowyer, 14th-place Kasey Kahne, or 16th-place Ryan Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner.

At the same time, however, many wonder whether the sophomore driver’s season has been a product of a newfound maturity behind the wheel, or a combination of luck and Roush power. Securing a spot in the Chase this weekend would prove that Ragan’s no fluke.

Obviously, longtime NASCAR sponsor UPS is banking on Ragan being an annual force in the series, as rumors are abound that place the Atlanta-based company on the Georgia driver’s car for the 2009 season and beyond. Having failed to visit Victory Lane since 2005, the company wants an up-and-coming driver to throw its support behind after leaving Michael Waltrip Racing this season, and Ragan appears to be the perfect fit for the company.

However, we’ve seen drivers with plenty of promise falter before. Remember Casey Atwood? He had full backing from Dodge and Sirius, and couldn’t find Victory Lane. Scott Riggs hasn’t exactly done much with his career, save one 20th-place in points a few years back, even with the undying support of Valvoline. And Todd Kluever – the man who was really supposed to replace Martin at NASCAR’s largest team – flipped his car in an ARCA race in Daytona and was simply never the same afterwards.

What makes Ragan such a sure bet to be successful? He’s never won in any of NASCAR’s top three series, while Atwood has 2 Nationwide wins, Riggs has 9 in Nationwide and the trucks, and Kluever has three second-places in one Truck Series season. However, besides an unshakeable confidence, Ragan generally does a better job of keeping the car off the wall, running smoothly, and in one piece – his 7 career DNF’s in 63 career Cup starts compare favorable to Riggs’ 22 in 156 starts, Atwood’s 12 in 75 starts, and Kluever’s 9 DNF’s in 51 Nationwide starts. This compares favorably, as well, to UPS’s current driver, David Reutimann, who has 12 DNF’s (and 8 DNQ’s)in 52 Cup starts dating back to 2005.

It should also be noted that of past champions who have competed in Sprint Cup this year, it took Terry Labonte 58 races to first visit Victory Lane, his first victory coming in 1980. Bobby Labonte waited until his 74th start to win his first career race, in 1995. Finally, Dale Jarrett won his first race in his 129th start, in 1991, after four full winless seasons. Don’t be concerned at Ragan’s lack of wins – he’s just hitting his stride.

Before the green flag drops on the action at Richmond, here are this week’s five Quick Hits:

5. NASCAR is getting ready to announce a modification to its drug-testing policy within the next few weeks. The modification, according to CEO Brian France, deals with the testing end of the policy, rather than the penalties for a positive test. France did not specifically say that NASCAR would implement random drug testing, but did say in a NASCAR.com report that “there’ll be more testing.”

4. Current Team Red Bull general manager Jay Frye is being courted to join Stewart-Haas Racing in the same position for 2009 and beyond, and is expected to accept the position. No word on what would happen to current general manager Joe Custer.

3. Brad Keselowski was spotted visiting the Penske Racing complex in Mooresville, NC last week. However, Keselowski reportedly turned down a contract offer to drive the team’s No. 12 Dodge for next season, replacing Ryan Newman. David Stremme remains the front-runner for the ride, as a current Penske test driver with a good past relationship with Dodge.

2. The Dario Franchitti experiment is over at Chip Ganassi Racing, with the 2007 IRL champion returning to that series with Ganassi to partner with 2003 series champion Scott Dixon.

1. A new format for the season-opening Bud Shootout will allow the top six teams for each manufacturer into the race, starting with next season’s event. Previously, all pole winners from the previous season, as well as previous Shootout winners, were allowed to enter the race. But with Budweiser being replaced by Coors Light as the official sponsor of NASCAR’s pole award, Anheuser-Busch wanted to distance itself from its rival brewery.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners in California, Busch in the Nationwide Series and Johnson in Sprint Cup.

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Brian France, Chip Ganassi Racing, David Ragan, NASCAR, Penske Racing, Red Bull Racing, Roush Racing, Stewart Haas Racing

Tagged with: chase for the sprint cup, David Ragan, Richmond International Raceway, UPS

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Monday Morning Crew Chief Does David

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

August 21, 2008 3:01 pm UTC 2 Comments

David Ragan that is. Our Mindy Monday seems to like the fact that Ragan may be the new pilot of the UPS machine for Roush-Fenway Racing.

Check out the latest edition of the Monday Morning Crew Chief videos right here. It’s about magnets, package delivery and Stewart-Haas Racing maybe caving in to pressure.

Monday Morning Crew Chief #7. Let us know what you think.

Filed under: Bench Racing TV, David Ragan, J J Yeley, Kenny Shrader, Monday Morning Crew Chief, NASCAR video, Ryan Newman, Stewart Haas Racing

Tagged with: David Ragan, Joe Gibbs penaltie, magnets, Mindy Monday, NASCAR video, Ryan Newman, Stewart-Haas

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At Michigan, You’re Entering the House of Roush

by Matt Mercer, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I'm the former blogger of The Catfish Show NASCAR Blog and a contributor to On Pit Row. Follow me on Twitter: @mattmercer

August 13, 2008 1:44 pm UTC 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

Filed under: Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Michigan International Speedway, Roush Racing

Tagged with: Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Ford Racing, Greg Biffle, Jack Roush, Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth, Michigan International Speedway, Roush-Fenway

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Gettin’ Loose in Loudon’s Turn Three Could Hurt

by Charlie Turner

June 27, 2008 11:07 am UTC 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

Filed under: Casey Mears, Chase for the Cup, David Ragan, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, Matt Kenseth, NASCAR Rumors, Sprint Cup Series, Turn 2 posts

Tagged with: blog, David Ragan, Greg Biffle, Infineon Raceway, Kyle Busch, Marco Ambrose, Matt Kenseth, motorsports, NASCAR, road course ringers, Sprint Cup Series

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Nationwide stand-alone events are underrated treats

by Matt Mercer, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I'm the former blogger of The Catfish Show NASCAR Blog and a contributor to On Pit Row. Follow me on Twitter: @mattmercer

June 12, 2008 10:01 pm UTC 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.

Filed under: David Ragan, Joey Logano, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Robert Yates Racing, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Brad Coleman, Brad Keselowski, david gilliland, David Ragan, Joey Logano, Kentucky Speedway, milwaukee mile, NASCAR, nashville, Nationwide Series, Paul Menard, Sprint Cup, stephen leicht

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Who Will Be the Sprint Cup’s Next First-time Winner?

by Charlie Turner

May 30, 2008 9:32 am UTC 6 Comments

Martin 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.

Filed under: Casey Mears, Chip Ganassi Racing, Clint Boyer, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Haas CNC Racing, It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, Martin Truex Jr., Red Bull Racing, Reed Sorenson, Robert Yates Racing, Sprint Cup Series