Countdown to J-Day at Dover

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

May 29, 2008 1:14 pm UTC 3 Comments

The countdown to Joey Logano’s debut at Dover can be counted in hours now. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won all he can in lower levels, including Hooters ProCup at the age of 15, outdueling Kevin Harvick in an East-West Touring Series showdown in Iowa at the age of 16, winning the Busch East championship (and 6 races in the process) at the age of 17, and a dominant performance in his ARCA debut earlier this month at Rockingham, all the while testing Gibbs cars across the country. The hype machine has been in overdrive for Logano for a while now, and his debut will come at a challenging track, Dover’s 1-mile concrete oval.

For a lot of fans that pay attention to the lower series and have their eye on the next big driver, Logano has been on the radar for a few years now. When Mark Martin made his first of many retirement announcements, he proclaimed the driver he wanted to see take over his car – in 2005, mind you – was then-15 year-old Joey Logano. That was heady praise for someone few had heard of, and set off a bidding war for his services. (A bit of an aside: Logano had signed a deal with Roush in 2005 to become a development driver, and used an old Martin car to test. Then, Joe Gibbs Racing stepped in and signed a contract with his father, and in effect “stole” Logano from the Roush camp.) In every series and every car he has strapped himself into, this kid has only gotten better. The true test will come, and it will come soon. It seems that every few years the storyline shifts to a new “phenom” making their debut in the #2 series as soon as they turn 18. The first of these was Kyle Busch’s 2003 debut at Charlotte in May, a race in which he ran impressively and led a good portion of the race before recording a strong finish. Fast forward a year or two later, and that phenom was Reed Sorenson making his debut in the #41 at Atlanta, and running in the top 5 most of the day. In those cases, the youngsters ran extremely well.

From everything that I’ve seen about his schedule, he is slated for 18 races from now until the end of the season. In my estimation, he’ll be making a Sprint Cup start before the Chase begins. But it all begins this weekend.

Filed under: ARCA Remax Series, Busch Series, Chase for the Cup, Iowa Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Lowes Motor Speedway, Mark Martin, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Roush Racing, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Busch East, Dover, Joe Gibbs Racing, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Reed Sorenson

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Dodges dominate Daytona

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.

February 18, 2008 9:35 pm UTC 3 Comments

After lackluster efforts testing, qualifying and practicing; where did all the Dodges come from?

That is THE BUZZ this week ON PIT ROW. For most of Speed Weeks at Daytona everyone was focusing on the Chevy super teams. Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and DEI. Then testing successes by the Toyota teams shifted the focus to their new found prowess and much debate ensued.

Not much ink or bandwidth was wasted on the Ford and Dodge teams, other than the Robby Gordon story. So little credit was given to the Dodge teams that the biggest Dodge story was Kurt Busch’s run in with Tony Stewart’s fist.

When all was said and done and the checkers flew on the 50th Daytona 500, the Dodge Boys had captured the majority of top ten spots. Along with Ryan Newman’s win and Kurt’s second, Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne and Robby all finished in the top eight, Only the Toyotas of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch along with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevy and Greg Biffle’s Ford made the top ten.

It is no wonder that Chrysler Corporation inked the Ganassi and Penske to new multi-year contracts to stay with Mopar.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler – ON PIT ROW/BRP

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona 500, Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Greg Biffle, Hendrick Motorsports, Kasey Kahne, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Reed Sorenson, Robby Gordon, Ryan Newman, Sprint Cup Series, The Busch Bros, Tony Stewart