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Watch the Dodge Boys at Infineon

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

June 19, 2008 11:47 pm UTC 3 Comments

I have been looking through the entry list for the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. I had plans to write something about road course ringers or some such. Fact is, there aren’t that many ringers any more. But there are an awful lot of experienced road racers driving Dodges this weekend in wine country.

Start with the Ganassi Racing trio of defending race winner Juan Pablo Montoya and teammates Dario Franchitti and Scott Pruett – strongest driver line-up in the race. Gillette- Everham has red hot Kasey Kahne with Patrick Carpentier – who will be good – and Elliott Sadler. Penske’s Kurt Busch is strong here as is Ryan Newman and Sam Hornish Jr is experienced turning both ways. The Labonte brothers will make Petty Enterprises a factor. Robby Gordon might be a favorite to win this thing.

No manufacturer has a stronger driver roster for Sonoma this year than Dodge.

Photo credit: Photo Credit: Mike Doran

Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Boris Said, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Gillett Evernham Motorsports, Jeff Hammond, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, NASCAR Fantasy Gaming, Ryan Newman, Sam Hornish Jr, Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: blog, Dario Franchitti, Infineon Raceway, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, motorsports, NASCAR, Robby Gordon, Sam Hornish Jr, Sprint Cup Series

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Was Robby Gordon’s relief paid for by Gillette?

by Charlie Turner

March 6, 2008 10:50 pm UTC 7 Comments

The decision by the National Stock Car Racing Commission to rescind most of the penalties that NASCAR had levied on Robby Gordon Motorsports for failed Daytona 500 inspections seems to be meeting with almost universal approval around NASCAR Nation.

The NSCRC gave Robby back his crew chief and his 100 points. The points were crucial as they put Gordon 21st in the Sprint Cup standings, well clear of the 35th place cliff-edge that he flirted with before the appeal was heard. Crew chiefs are a plus too.

But curiously, the Commission increased the amount of the original fine from $100 grand to $150 thousand bucks. That has had most of the folks I have talked to scratching their heads. Sure there was a rules infraction. The car went to pre-race inspection with an unapproved part – a nose piece – on the car. The part had been supplied by Gillette-Evernham Motorsports and Dodge. It was a prototype part and, although virtually identical to the current nose, not approved for competition. Essentially, RGM didn’t know any better. Dodge and GEM should have.

All along I have had the feeling that Dodge and or GEM were going to stand the direct financial impact of the mistakes made in this deal. By waving the points and crew chief penalties, the NSCRC took the cheating shadow off of RGM and relieved the team of sponsor complications from that. It also gave the team back the points it had earned – points that should keep RGM in the money; the money being the top thirty five in owner’s points. Those are indirect financial impacts.

If Dodge or GEM are writing the check -and there are lots of ways to write that check – for the penalties, maybe NASCAR and the NSCRC know and are making sure that the real culprits in this circus get slapped hard. It’s a good rumor if nothing else.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Gillett Evernham Motorsports, It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, NASCAR officials, NASCAR Rumors, Robby Gordon, Sprint Cup Series, Top 35 Rule

Tagged with: Daytona 500, Dodge, Gillete Evernham Motorsports, motorsports, NASCAR, NASCAR penalties, NASCAR rumorsblog, NSCRC, Robby Gordon

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Robby’s Season has Hope–Again

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 6, 2008 7:33 am UTC No Comments

NASCAR overturned much of the penalty assessed to Robby Gordon Motorsports for an unapproved part prior to the Daytona 500.

Holy Cow! Can you believe it? NASCAR did the right thing.

What is going on here? The powers that be have overruled fines and penalties in what seems like wholesale lots in the last week. In the process of these landmark decisions, Robby Gordon has his season back.

Robby was facing the prospect of having to qualify his way into races, after NASCAR slapped his race team with points penalties that sent him to thirty-seventh in points. On Wednesday, The National Stock Car Racing Commission, rescinded the points penalties to Gordon and to Robby Gordon Motorsports. They also reversed the suspension of crew chief, Frank Kerr, while keeping him on probation for the remainder of the season and increasing his fine to $150,000, from one hundred thousand dollars.

Gordon, happy with the ruling for the most part, had this to say:

“We see this as good news. We are grateful the commissioners rescinded the points penalty and suspension but disappointed by the fine. Still, we see this as a victory for Robby Gordon Motorsports. We feel like justice was done and appreciate NASCAR creating a system that allowed us to take our appeal to the National Stock Car Racing Commission. Now we plan to put this issue behind us and concentrate on making the “Chase” in 2008 as well as getting the Jim Beam Dodge into victory lane. I want to thank the thousands of fans and our sponsors who have supported us through this episode and want everyone of you to know how much we appreciate all that you have done. Our goal is to be a model team in the future and never go through something like this again.”

Why the increase in the fine when the points penalties and the suspension were lifted? I have to believe it was a face saving move on NASCAR’s part. There was an unapproved part used. Robby never disputed that fact. NASCAR had him red-handed on that fact. Because it was not an intentional act to gain an advantage, NASCAR could see to relax the penalties. But, once again to prove that they run their sport, they made sure that everyone in the garage area knew they would police their sport. Thus the fine increase to Frank Kerr.

Gordon now moves back up to 21st in points, well within the top 35 rule. Who is the big loser in all this? IndyCar, comes out the loser as they won’t have an entry for the Indianapolis 500 with Robby Gordon listed as the driver. A small price to pay for justice.

The bottom line is, NASCAR can still show they are in charge, while allowing for their over zealous interpretation and enforcement of their rule book.

Let’s give NASCAR credit for seeing that they had erred and for having the gumption to reverse most of the penalty.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, NASCAR officials, NASCAR Tech, Robby Gordon

Tagged with: IndyCar, NASCAR, National Stock Car Racing Commision, Robby Gordon

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Bump linking on hump day

by Charlie Turner

March 5, 2008 11:32 pm UTC 2 Comments

Man, NASCAR sure can jam a bunch of stuff in the four days between race meets.

First there are the post-race penalties, then testing at Phoenix followed by the parade of the previously penalized to their respective appeals hearings. Over the last few days, results of the appeals before the National Stock Car Commission have trickled out along with announcements by NASCAR of new penalties.

The rash of infractions involving loose or missing oil tank lids is creating a lot of questions about why these guys mess with something like a freakin’ oil reservoir cap. Well here’s a better explanation than I could give.

One of those vindicated - maybe spared would be more accurate - in the appeals process was Robby Gordon, an ON PIT ROW favorite. Marc sees divine intervention. While Thunder Lounge chief cook and code muncher Luke has a nifty Photo Shop take on Robby’s and Carl Edwards’ respective run-ins with NASCAR.

Mike Maruska, author of the fine Trouble in Turn 2 blog is running a series of interviews with NASCAR bloggers and he was nice enough to invite me to be part of it. You can read my interview here, but make sure you look around Mike’s site if you haven’t before. Mike knows what he’s talking about. He writes for One Bad Wheel as well, which is the place to go to get your NASCAR Fantasy info and to play Champs, Chumps and Sleepers, which is driving me crazy.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Carl Edwards, NASCAR Fantasy Gaming, NASCAR Tech, Robby Gordon, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: blog, Carl Edwards, motorsports, NASCAR, NASCAR Fantasy, NASCAR penalties, National Stock Car Commission, Robby Gordon

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The Nationwide Series is on the edge of a precipice

by Charlie Turner

February 24, 2008 9:01 am UTC 4 Comments

The three hours of ESPN 2 coverage of the Auto Club Speedway Nationwide Series rain delay made for decent background noise around the Turner house Saturday night. The absence of actual racing was disappointing but the promise of a Sunday double-header was good compensation.

I tried to listen to most of it. It was tough. But the subject of the penalties that NASCAR handed down after Daytona got me thinking.

Quick review; seven Nationwide Series drivers and their car owners were docked points and cash. Six crew chiefs were fined, suspended for six races and put on NASCAR probation. OK, another example of “cheaters never prosper” I guess.

Rusty Wallace is one of the penalized owners and he was asked by Alan Bestwick about the effect of the penalties and the appeal process.

Wallace talked briefly about the process but he expounded on how the penalties will affect teams in NASCAR’s #2 series. The biggest impact is on sponsor relationships, according to Rusty. Companies don’t want to be associated with organizations that are perceived to be cheaters.

We heard the same story earlier this week in the aftermath of the more publicized sanctions of Robby Gordon and his Cup team. Gordon suggested that the penalties and negative publicity fallout from them, could be life-threatening to Robby Gordon Motorsports.

NASCAR seems to me to be walking a tightrope with the Nationwide Series. How do you attract sponsorship and still police the series? NASCAR needs more Nationwide Series teams – only 42 are entered for the California race. Some of the full-time Nationwide teams don’t know how they will be able to continue if NASCAR forces the use of the Nationwide CoT. The funds aren’t there.

And for the first time in awhile, competition for teams, talent and dollars is on the horizon. There is an argument that the growth of NASCAR’s Busch Series was helped by the failure of North American open wheel racing over the last decade or so. The recent unification of the pointy cars could provide sponsors with another viable alternative to NASCAR.

Rusty Wallace said last night, that Roger Penske once told him that the Penske companies employed 40,000 people and if any one of them was found to be cheating, that person would be fired. Wallace claims that he runs his operations with the same philosophy.

Robby Gordon claims that the violation his team was guilty of, was not the fault of Robby Gordon Motorsports or its sponsors. His main sponsor Jim Beam, rose to his defense with a letter that should chill someone in the NASCAR offices.

I don’t know how NASCAR can take these things into consideration when it acts as both the referee and the promoter of its sport/business. I’m not sure that it should, as a sport. But as the promoter, I think it has no choice, if the survival of Nationwide-only teams is the concern that it should be.

Filed under: Busch Series, Car of Tomorrow, Daytona 500, Gillett Evernham Motorsports, It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR officials, Nationwide Series, Robby Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Alan Bestwick, Auto Club Speedway, blog, Daytona, motorsports, NASCAR, NASCAR penalties, Robby Gordon, Rusty Wallace

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Robby battles NASCAR over Nose-gate

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 22, 2008 6:38 am UTC 11 Comments

Robby Gordon’s winter of discontent continues.

NASCAR came down on Robby Gordon Motorsports hard this week. Robby’s team installed and tried to practice with an unapproved nose on his new Dodge at Daytona. Officials found it to not be in compliance and once the penalties were handed down, Robby’s top ten finish at the 500 won’t carry top ten points.

The, now standard, 100 team and driver points deduction and $100,000 fines were enacted. NASCAR’s unwavering penalty for CoT violations seems a bit harsh considering some of the other violations from last year that received this same penalty. I have been a big supporter of NASCAR consistency and the concept of a standard for penalty calculations. But; somehow, NASCAR has to find a way to differentiate penalties in regards to intent and severity.

“This was an innocent mistake made by someone not even on my team. They accidentally supplied us the new Dodge noses that NASCAR hasn’t yet approved because of what amounted to a clerical error. It was discovered during technical inspection and corrected before the race. It was not even close to being an intent to create some competitive advantage, and the mistake was not even made by my team.”

Reading that quote from Robby, makes you feel sorry for the GEM employee squished by the bus that just rolled over them. Does this violation equal those from 2007 at Michael Waltrip Racing and their fuel violations? Not in my mind. but can fans or NASCAR be certain that what Robby says is the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

“To penalize my team the same amount when we didn’t even make the mistake”, Robby continued, “and the mistake was nothing more than inadvertent human error by someone else is just not fair. Other teams who have had similar issues to what happened with the nose on my car were only penalized 25 points.”

I have been a Robby supporter from the first time I met him. His determination and drive to succeed are unmatched. He carries the #7 proudly. He reminds race fans of the late Alan Kulwicki with his work ethic and single minded goals. I applaud that in him and felt bad for him when the Dakar Rally was canceled earlier this winter. That is a race he poured a lot of money, time and effort into with no results; a race he could win.

While the fines and penalties may not fit the crime in this instance, I will stand by NASCAR’s quest to standardize penalties. They may just need to add a couple of levels. Not every violation in the NFL results in “15 yard penalty”. Robby is appealing his fines and suspensions with NASCAR. It will allow him to continue with business as usual for a couple of weeks. But, just like Dakar, it’s a battle he can’t win–at least not this year.

photo: trucktrend.com

Filed under: Daytona 500, Evernham Motorsports, Gillett Evernham Motorsports, It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, NASCAR officials, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Robby Gordon

Tagged with: Alan Kulwicki, Dakar Rally, NASCAR, Robby Gordon

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