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Kevin Conway Needs Help from His Sponsor

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

March 8, 2011 8:01 am UTC No Comments

The first three weeks of the NASCAR season couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.

The stories that have come from this early season have been all that NASCAR could have hoped for.  From twenty-year-old Trevor Bayne winning the “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing” to a resurgence by veteran Jeff Gordon the first two weeks were storybookesque.

As week three headed to Sin City and all that Las Vegas has to offer it became apparant that NASCAR may just have pulled out of the malaise that it had been stuck in for the past three years.  TV ratings are up for the race broadcasts and more importantly; non-main stream media has again found NASCAR’s personalities interesting.

To add even more excitement to the mix; Robby Gordon and Kevin Conway have a dust-up in the garage over monies owed from each party to the other, resulting in Conway filing a police report against Gordon.  Kevin Conway’s sponsor Extenze supposedly owes Gordon money while Gordon supposedly owes Conway money.  This is never a good situation unless you are the type that love reality TV.  The Conway -Gordon tift is the kind of publicity you can’t buy.

All the jokes about Conway standing up to Gordon aside; Conway never should have let this difference of opinion make it to a police report.  Conway’s handling of the altercation says as much about him, his sponsor and his place in the NASCAR community as is inability to drive a race car.

Sorry Kevin–take a couple of your sponsor’s products and man-up.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler/ON PIT ROW

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Kevin Conway, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR Bidness, NASCAR officials, Robby Gordon, Trevor Bayne 

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Jeff Gordon’s Win at Phoenix Takes His Career to Another Level

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

March 1, 2011 7:46 am UTC No Comments

One week after the youngest driver in history of NASCAR to win the Daytona 500; Jeff Gordon breaks his winless streak.

Gordon had gone 66 races without seeing victory lane.  Not a long time for some of the sports veteran drivers but an eternity for the four-time Cup champion. Interestingly Gordon hasn’t won a championship as a driver since he became a Cup car owner.  Gordon is part owner of the #48 team that has won five championships since he won his last.

There was a time in the sport that the cries of “anyone but Gordon” were heard loud and clear well before the statement came to be used for Gordon’s protege Jimmie Johnson.  But with the long winless streak now behind him the question is has Gordon moved into the next level of fan recognition?

There seems to be a point in a lot of athlete’s careers where they move from a polarizing figure to the beloved veteran and it seems that Gordon may have made that move with his win this past week in Phoenix.  Other drivers have been there; from Darrell Waltrip to Rusty Wallace to Dale Earnhardt, Sr., drivers who early in their careers had a “love ‘em or hate ‘em” persona.  Then a defining moment moves them into a new realm of fan acceptance.

Many times it revolves around a single win, championship or moment after suffering months or years of toil.  Hardship and lack of success for a period of time after a career full of triumphs somehow makes the fans find a new respect for their former nemesis.  The phenomenon isn’t relegated to the sport of racing; but can be found throughout the sporting world.  Athletes like Reggie Jackson, Brett Favre and Jimmy Conners all have seen the acceptance of fans at a new level once their heyday has been completed.

Gordon may be beyond another championship; but never again will you hear fans bemoan him his victories.  Gordon has proven once again that he can win a race and for NASCAR fans a smattering of them as he winds down his career will be just fine, thank you.

As an aside–Is it just me; or does Jeff look a lot like Ray Evernham in the above picture?

photo credit: BethAnne Heisler/ON PIT ROW

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR Bidness, NASCAR History, Nascar Legends 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Tums Fast Relief 500

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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.

October 21, 2010 12:34 pm UTC No Comments

Martinsville Speedway is the site of this weekend’s Sprint Cup Series battle. The Tums Fast Relief 500 will open the second half of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, as three drivers – Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, and Kevin Harvick – remain the only viable candidates for the championship right now.

We’re due for a great battle this weekend, as Johnson and Hamlin are the two best active drivers at Martinsville. They’ve split the last eight races at the track among them, with Johnson holding a five to three advantage but Hamlin taking the last two.

But of course, if you’ve been reading, I’m not allowed to make either of them my lead pick this weekend. I took Hamlin at Loudon (second place finish) and Johnson last week at Charlotte (a third place run). So who else can I rely on this weekend?

Thank heaven there’s a third pick that’s just as viable. Jeff Gordon was the original Martinsville superstar, with seven wins and 29 top-10s in 35 career starts there thus far. His average finish is an impeccable 6.7. He’s led at least 36 laps in his past eight Martinsville starts, and has led at least one circuit in 27 of those events. That’s about as reliable as it gets.

As for a dark horse, I’m looking at Ryan Newman. Newman was never that strong a Martinsville driver during his years at Penske Racing, but he’s never finished worse than seventh at the track with Stewart-Haas Racing. Last year, he led 23 laps in this race from the pole. Earlier this year, he ran a respectable fourth.

Three more, even though two are obvious:

Johnson is basically an improved version of his mentor. He’s got 16 top-10s in 17 starts to go along with those five wins. In eight of the last nine races at the track, he’s led 42 laps or more, the lone exception coming this spring.

Hamlin’s a Virginia native that always has the motivation to do well in his home state. In 10 races, he has three wins, seven top five runs, and nine top-10s. In each of the past three Martinsville events, he’s led at least 172 laps. This is Hamlin’s best chance to reclaim the Chase points lead – even though it’s also his rival’s best track, Hamlin outscored Johnson by 57 points last time at Martinsville. The same occurrence this time would give him the lead into next week’s unpredictable race at Talladega.

Finally, think about picking up Kasey Kahne for this weekend. No, he’s not exactly a Martinsville superstar, and never has been. But now that he’s free from Richard Petty Motorsports, don’t be surprised if Red Bull’s newest driver pulls something out to try and stick it to his former team.

Filed under: Martinsville Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Price Chopper 400

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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 30, 2010 11:05 am UTC No Comments

Greg Biffle-pit-stop New Hampshire

Greg Biffle-pit-stop New Hampshire

Get ready for an uncomfortable amount of Wizard of Oz puns – the Sprint Cup Series heads to the Kansas Speedway this weekend for the Price Chopper 400.

We are now two races into this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, and already the contenders and pretenders are beginning to separate themselves. Denny Hamlin will be in the running. Jimmie Johnson, obviously, will too. Carl Edwards could steal the title with a couple of well-timed victories, while Kyle Busch may quietly (believe it or not!) be there at the end as well.

But Hamlin now holds the largest lead in Chase history after two races, 35 points over Johnson, meaning that this weekend’s results will be intensely critical for all Chasers. Can Hamlin extend that lead by beating Johnson and the field, or will a bad day for the No. 11 team, combined with a great day for a mid-Chase car, shake up the points?

My personal pick for the weekend lies within the Roush Fenway camp. I know I’ve gone on the record multiple times saying that Greg Biffle has been anonymous within the Chase, and I still believe he has been. But Juan Pablo Montoya was anonymous all season, and he still managed to dominate at Watkins Glen and Indianapolis. Likewise, Biffle is a Kansas star, with five podium finishes in eight starts and no finishes with Roush worse than 12th. His average finish is a flat 9.0. Safe bet? I think so.

My dark horse pick for the weekend is one A.J. Allmendinger. The ‘Dinger has only made two starts at Kansas, finishing ninth in 2008 and 17th last year, but this pick comes from examining the No. 43 team’s momentum. At Dover last weekend, the Richard Petty Motorsports team was one of the best in the field, qualifying second and battling back from getting caught off the lead lap. They’re beginning to show that the King’s race team is once again respectable and setting some high goals for 2011.

Three more, because we can:

The only driver to outpace Biffle at Kansas is Jeff Gordon, one of those mid-Chase drivers who desperately needs to make a statement with a victory. There’s no better place for him to do it; winner of the track’s first two races, his average finish is a fantastic 8.9, making Kansas his second-best Chase track. You try not to count a guy out of the Chase this early, but judging by the rest of the Chase schedule, this weekend may be now or never for him.

Clint Bowyer, too, has a solid track record at Kansas. He’s got a second place finish, which came during his improbable 2007 run to third in the championship, and an average finish of a respectable 11.0. But most of Bowyer’s mojo will come from an even greater desire to win the championship with NASCAR’s sanctions upon the team. He and RCR aren’t too happy with the perceived dog and pony show in appeals, and will be looking to show everybody that they don’t need to cheat to win.

Finally, Brad Keselowski only has one Cup start at Kansas, but he managed to qualify third and finish 13th in it. Not a bad run for the Kez, who’s been getting a whole lot of love from me since his pole run at Loudon. He gives an excellent press conference. Hate him or love him, he’s the sport’s next big thing.

Filed under: Kansas Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Brickyard 400

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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.

July 21, 2010 5:30 pm UTC No Comments

The Brickyard 400 is one of the crown jewels of the Sprint Cup Series, an event secondary in prestige only to longer-established events like the Daytona 500. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the original United States “speedway,” plays host to the event.

The cathedral of speed’s second major event every year, after the prestigious Indianapolis 500, has had its ups and downs. In 2008, bad wear patterns on Goodyear tires limited the race to a series of 10-lap sprints. And last year, Juan Montoya dominated the race, only to have a pit road speeding penalty wreck his day and hand the race to Jimmie Johnson. But regardless of any trials and tribulations with the race surface (and every major track has them now and again), the event is still one of the most important ones on the schedule, and teams will put as much effort (if not more) into winning this race as they would into almost any other event on the schedule.

So who looks good at the Brickyard? Here’s a hint – most of them grew up with Indy dreams.

Tony Stewart, my pick for the weekend, is at the forefront of this crowd. The 1997 champion of the IZOD IndyCar Series may never have won an Indianapolis 500, but twice he’s claimed the checkers at the stock car event, in 2005 and 2007. His average finish of 8.5 is best of any active driver, and he’s led laps in six of the 11 stock car races he’s run at the Brickyard.

As for a dark horse, look to A.J. Allmendinger, who will make his 100th career Sprint Cup start at Indy. The former Champ Car star had a 10th place finish in his first Brickyard 400 two years ago. The ‘Dinger and his team will look to carry on their momentum from the past eight races, where they have accumulated seven top-15 finishes.

Three more:

Jeff Gordon is the only driver to do in a stock car what A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears did in open-wheel cars – win four times at Indianapolis. Gordon’s last win may have come all the way back in 2004, but that hasn’t stopped him from finishing well. In 16 career Brickyard starts, he’s finished in the top 10 an astounding 13 times. His average finish of 8.6 is second to only Stewart.

Jimmie Johnson has three Brickyard wins, each coming over the past four years, but he’s also got three DNFs at the track, a result of some pretty sour luck in the past. He blew an engine halfway through the 2004 event, and crashed in 2005 and 2007. It’s this sort of historical bad luck that can come back to bite at any time, and has also brought his average finish down to a mediocre 17.9.

Finally, while he might qualify as a dark horse at any other track, Juan Montoya is no stranger to Indianapolis. In 2000, as a CART ringer coming to show up the Indy Racing League in that year’s Indy 500, Montoya was warned to respect the track. Montoya scoffed, contended that all four corners were the same (unlike the tracks on which he honed his skills), and dominated the race. In his first stock car event at the track, in 2007, he finished a strong second; last year he should have won. If anybody has both the talent and the stones to pull off a surprise victory this weekend, it’s Montoya.

Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Lenox 301

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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.

June 24, 2010 11:20 am UTC 1 Comment

Jeff Gordon Pitstop at Michigan Speedway

Jeff Gordon Pitstop at Michigan Speedway

This weekend’s Lenox 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway marks the first race of the Sprint Cup Series’ Race to the Chase, a ten-race dash to set the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup at the end of the year. Right now, eight drivers are within 161 points (the maximum swing between first and last in a race) of 12th-place Carl Edwards, making the next ten races crucially important for those bubble drivers.

Loudon is a unique track to Sprint Cup, in that it is reminiscent of Martinsville on steroids. It’s a mile long, completely flat, and few drivers can maintain top ten average finishes at the track. Even the best Loudon drivers only crack the top ten about half the time.

So which drivers are good bets at the sport’s most northern track?

My pick for the weekend is Jeff Gordon. In 30 starts, he has an average finish of 11.4, with 13 top five results. Though he hasn’t won at the track since 1998, he has four finishes of third or better in the last seven Loudon races and led 64 laps in this event last year. He’ll be looking for a long overdue first win of the season.

My dark horse for the weekend is Martin Truex Jr., racing once again at his home track, per se. The New Jersey native finished in the top ten each time he ran at Loudon in 2007 and 2008, with last year’s poor finishes an aberration. It was his big wins at Loudon in the K&N East Series that actually put him in position to step up to the big time in the first place. Truex will also be looking to make up for a race ruined by Gordon last weekend.

Three more, as per usual:

Denny Hamlin has the best average finish of a driver with a significant amount of starts at Loudon. In eight races, he’s put up a 7.5 average, with one win and six top fives. More impressive, Hamlin has never failed to complete a lap at the track, nor has he ever finished worse than 15th.

Any longtime fan of the sport, or of this track, knows that Jeff Burton once owned Loudon like no other driver could ever imagine. From 1997 to 2000, Burton won a race every year, with his 300-out-of-300 laps led in the fall of 2000 his masterpiece at the track. Sure, Burton hasn’t won there since, but he’s continued to put up solid runs.

Finally, let’s go way out in left field and give Bobby Labonte a little name recognition. He’s just left TRG Motorsports and will attempt to run the full race in Robby Gordon’s unsponsored No. 7 car. He actually led in both Loudon races last year, and although his finishes haven’t shown it as of late, he was once a shoo-in for top finishes every race. His feedback on the car will help Gordon’s team move forward as they attempt to gain sponsorship for the rest of the season.

Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., New Hampshire International Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing 

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