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Danica Patrick Daytona Pictures

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

December 19, 2009 5:42 pm UTC No Comments

There are never enough photos of Danica Patrick. Here are a few more from the ARCA Racing Series test session at Daytona. Click the thumbnail image for a larger view.

: Danica Patrick on the track in JR Motorsports no. 88 ARCA Chevy

: Danica Patrick at Daytona ARCA presser

: Danica Patrick at ARCA Daytona press conference

Photo credit: ARCA Media site

Filed under: ARCA Remax Series, Danica Patrick, NASCAR photos, Testing news

Tagged with: ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/Max and Menards

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Danica Does Daytona

by Charlie Turner

December 18, 2009 5:02 pm UTC No Comments

Danica Patrick took her first laps in anger on Daytona Internaional Speedway today during practice with the ARCA Racing Series. Here’s a bit from ARCA’s PR department…

Patrick, one of 26 drivers who posted a time during the 35-minute single car run session, was 12th quickest on the charts with a time of 51.095 seconds (176.142 mph) around the 2.5-mile superspeedway. A trio of three cars fielded by long-time ARCA Racing Series team Venturini Motorsports comprised the top three positions in Friday’s test session, led by fulltime series competitor Mikey Kile (49.804 seconds/180.708 mph).

Patrick only had four laps at full speed Friday, due to rain delays. But she said she got a feel for stock cars…

“It’s still a car once you get in it, “Patrick said during a post test media center press conference on Friday. “I feel most comfortable once I’m at speed actually.

Everything from getting into the car to getting the car started–that part feels quite different to me. It’s not normal to me. The car gets pulled out to pit lane and you get in the car when its in its pit stall in an IndyCar and the getting strapped in part is something that I’ve been familiar with for a long time now so everything is a little bit different but once I get out there I feel good. I feel comfortable.

These cars can run more lanes on the track. You’re all the way to the wall and the car is good to go there. It’s easier to drive there and in an IndyCar you can’t use quite as many lanes usually. That’s just one of the first things I noticed. The gear shifter has more travel. You have to pull something and no more paddle anymore. The clutch is long. It’s just different stuff. But I wouldn’t say that there is any instinctual stuff that is different which is the best part, right? Because I just get to be a driver and I get to do what I’m used to. I feel comfortable once I get going. “

Photo credit: Getty Images for NASCAR

Filed under: ARCA Remax Series, Danica Patrick, Daytona International Speedway, JR Motorsports, NASCAR & the Media, Nationwide Series, Testing news

Tagged with: ARCA testing, GoDaddy.com

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Do We Really Need More Open-Wheelers In NASCAR?

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 7, 2009 11:45 am UTC No Comments

Will somebody please explain to me this new trend of Formula One drivers coming over to try and race stock cars?

Over the course of this past week, Nelson Piquet Jr., Mika Salo, and Jarno Trulli have all been announced to test with NASCAR teams in hopes of potentially securing rides for 2010 and beyond.

Piquet Jr. is fresh off of the Crashgate scandal that rocked Renault F1. For those not in the know, Piquet Jr. was recently fired as Renault’s second driver, behind Fernando Alonso. He then came out with information about a race in 2008 in which he deliberately crashed his car to help Alonso win. Former team boss Flavio Briatore was banned indefinitely from all FIA-sanctioned motorsports as a result, and if Renault does anything to compromise the integrity of Formula 1 in the next two years, the team will be banned from F1 permanently.

His snitching leaving him damaged goods in F1, which has historically been dominated by team orders, Piquet hopes to secure a Truck Series ride in 2010. He’ll be testing with Red Horse Racing alongside Vitor Meira, an IndyCar Series driver who injured his back in this year’s Indianapolis 500 and hasn’t raced since.

Meira, for the record, isn’t contemplating a NASCAR career. He’s just trying to get back in the saddle and run some laps. His IndyCar team, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, doesn’t have the resources to run him at their season finale at Homestead this weekend.

Salo and Trulli both have links to Toyota’s F1 team; Salo was one of the team’s drivers in its inaugural season in 2002, and Trulli has been with the team since the last two races of 2004. Unsurprisingly, they’re both testing with Toyota’s original flagship team, Michael Waltrip Racing. They’ll be running at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida, the week before NASCAR’s season finale at Homestead next month.

Rumors persist that Toyota will back out of F1 soon, leaving Trulli without a ride. With many of the new teams on the grid next year expected to be backmarkers, Trulli likely considers NASCAR a better option. Salo has been looking to run a Nationwide Series schedule for a couple of years now.

The question is, why?

Sure, sports car racing may not be as well-funded or popular as NASCAR or F1, but it’d be a much better fit. The types of companies that sponsor sports car teams are the ones more concerned with the racing itself than the marketing, and thus are more concerned with the best drivers. If these drivers are concerned with winning championships, that’s their best bet. The glory of Le Mans is also an enticing factor in deciding to run sports cars.

Of all the open-wheel drivers to make the switch in disciplines, only one has seen any measure of success, and that’s Juan Montoya. But Jarno Trulli is no Juan Montoya. Hell, Nelson Piquet Jr. is no Jarno Trulli, either – at least Trulli won a race in F1.

That’s right, one race. And that’s the grand total of victories that those three drivers have accrued in F1. What makes them think NASCAR is going to be any easier?

It seems obvious to me that this latest open-wheel experiment is not going to work. The only way Piquet will ever be successful in a race car again is if he rejoins his father’s team in GP2, and Salo and Trulli would make much better sports car drivers. And quite frankly, they deserve better than failed attempts at driving stock cars. I don’t think anybody wants to add their names to the list of disastrous experiments: Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, Patrick Carpentier, the early stages of A.J. Allmendinger and Sam Hornish Jr.‘s NASCAR careers… need I say more?

Filed under: Formula One, Testing news

Tagged with: Formula 1, Jarno Trulli, Mika Salo, Nelson Piquet Jr., open-wheelers

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NASCAR Maintains 2009 Testing Policy For 2010

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

September 23, 2009 12:31 pm UTC No Comments

NASCAR sent out a press release today announcing that its 2010 testing policy will remain similar to the policy put in place for this season.

Under the 2010 testing rules, tracks that host national series events (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World Trucks, East, and West Series) will be unavailable for testing for the second year in a row. This move was initially made for two reasons: to cut costs in a weak sponsor market, and because plenty of teams are able to utilize seven-post shaker rigs to “test” cars anyway.

The one change in the policy, however, deals with tracks hosting regional series events. NASCAR teams will now be able to test at these tracks, provided that they do not also host national series events.

Some of the tracks in question, like South Boston Speedway in Virginia, Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina, and the Music City Motorplex in Nashville, Tennessee, have rich NASCAR traditions going back to the 1950s and 60s. Those three tracks all hosted Grand National (now Sprint Cup) events into at least the 1970s. South Boston hosted Nationwide and Truck Series events up until 2003.

Reportedly, the move was made to give teams closer testing options than New Smyrna Speedway in Florida. Most teams are based in the Mooresville, NC area, just over 500 miles away from the .47-mile track. In comparison, the Music City Motorplex is about 400 miles away, South Boston is just over 150, and Greenville-Pickens is only 100 miles from Mooresville.

While the implementation of unrestricted testing remains nowhere in sight, it’s a step in the right direction that NASCAR has eased the ban ever so slightly. It offers teams with devoted testing departments hope that someday their jobs will be as useful as they once were.

Expensive as it is, and unfairly biased towards the rich teams as it can get, devoted testing programs create jobs for NASCAR professionals. With so many qualified people out of jobs, the industry can use whatever stimulation it gets, and the big teams have enough money to run such programs.

Not only that, it’s not as if the information wouldn’t get out anyway, with all these alliances and whatnot…

Filed under: Testing news

Tagged with: Greenville-pickens speedway, Music city motorplex, New smyrna speedway, South boston speedway, testing ban, Testing news

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Darlington Tire Test: Eight Thumbs Up

by Charlie Turner

March 13, 2009 10:20 pm UTC 1 Comment

NASCAR invited a foursome to Darlington Raceway this week for Goodyear Tire testing. Drivers of each of the four manufacturers that compete in the Sprint Cup Series participated. We have video here.

The comments about the tires have been mostly positive. Even after Atlanta, where the cars looked squirrely as hell to me, there wasn’t much complaint. Nothing like Tony Stewart’s quote – compliments of FoxSports.com – after last years springtime in Atlanta…

“most pathetic racing tire I’ve ever been on in my professional career.”

Bobby Labonte, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Eliott Sadler seemed pretty satisfied with the tire Goodyear brought.

Testing rubber at the Lady in Black makes sense. It could be tough to get it right there. And nobody wants to poke the Stewart-Haas hornets nest again.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Darlington Speedway, Denny Hamlin, Elliott Sadler, Kevin Harvick, NASCAR, NASCAR video, Sprint Cup Series, Testing news, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: Goodyear, Lady in Black, tire test

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Pink-slips Flyin’ Like Hot Dog Wrappers at Martinsville

by Charlie Turner

November 22, 2008 12:13 pm UTC 2 Comments

The U.S. economy hit NASCAR teams in a big way at Homestead-Miami Speedway this past weekend. Dozens – maybe hundreds – of crew members were called to the trailers pre-race and told to be ready to pack, post-race. Adios amigos. Happy holidays.