SB Nation User Blog: 4ever3

Penalties Issued For Car No. 1 Team (Martin Truex Jr.) In NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

4ever3 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:58:19 -0000

Hmmm ... could Earnhardt Ganasi Racing be using the #1 car of Martin Truex Jr. as a test mule for Juan Montoya's Chase run? Or maybe they could be working on some new things for next year. Or maybe they just plain old made a mistake.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 10, 2009) – NASCAR announced penalties for the car No. 1 team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for a violation that occurred during post-race inspection last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

The team was penalized for violating Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-I (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-12.8.1B (front of the car did not meet the required height specification; too low in post-race inspection).

Crew chief Kevin Manion was fined $50,000 and remains on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31, 2009. Car owner Teresa Earnhardt and driver Martin Truex Jr., were penalized with the loss of 50 championship owner and 50 championship driver points, respectively.

Two NASCAR Nationwide Teams Fined, Penalized For Rule Violations At Texas Motor Speedway

4ever3 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:47:57 -0000

Oops! I can't believe that the 18 team would try and do that while running for a Championship, unless of course it was really a mistake/oversight on their part.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 11, 2009) –NASCAR announced today that two NASCAR Nationwide Series teams have been fined and penalized due to rule violations discovered during this past weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway.

Jason Ratcliff, crew chief of the No. 18 Toyota driven by Kyle Busch, has been fined $5,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31, 2009 for violating Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-I (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules) and 20A-2.3A (improperly attached weight) of the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series rule book.

Busch also was penalized with the loss of 25 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship driver points while Joe Gibbs was docked 25 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship owner points.

The infractions were discovered Nov. 5 during opening-day inspection.

Additionally, Brad Parrott, crew chief of the No. 09 Ford driven by John Wes Townley, has been fined $5,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31, 2009 after he was found to be in violation of Section 12-1, 9-4-A (crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his/her driver, car owner and crew members) and 12-4-I (unapproved panhard bar adjustment during impound by a team member).

The infractions occurred on Nov. 7 during pre-race inspection.

Bad Blogger, Bad, Bad Blogger!

4ever3 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:30:59 -0000

Hey that's me on the right with pro NASCAR scrib Dustin Long.

Photo credit: My son.

O.k. I admit it, I've been a bad blogger.

Between work, family and getting sick these last few months have not been exceptionally good for me as far as blogging goes.

Now granted things have improved around here now that we have access to NASCAR pictures and other NASCAR related media materials.

And things certainly have gotten interesting now that Ricky Byers has got in the act. It has been fun reading his posts and reading his email (none that I can share with you however) about his trials and tribulations of trying to land a full-time sponsor for his ARCA entry next year.

Oh and I can't forget about our budding young journalism phenom Matt either, when his busy sched permits he puts up some pretty good stuff for us to read.

But with that being stated I must say things did slow down here for a while, especially once baseball season started. You see my son and daughter both played this year in different divisions and between games and practices I was out of the house 5 days a week. I was also helping coach my son's team - they won their championship BTW.

Oh, and I got the H1N1 crap that is going around, but I got it in July. I'm sitting back now and watching the people at work come down with it. At one point 1/6 of all the people in my place of employment were off and I was the only 'regular' working in my division as everyone else working at that time were substitutes.

But where I feel the worst about all of this bad blogging stuff is with my fellow bloggers. In the past I have been active at their sites posting my opinions and sharing in the conversation, and spreading the 'link-love' with them, but in these last few months I haven't been spreading the blogger-love and link-love that goes with it amongst my fellow bloggers.

Honestly I just haven't had the time. So I'm going to give a shout-out to some of my fellow bloggers that I've been unintentionally ignoring:

Jannelle Ramon: We started something at the beginning of th race season called 'Track Rants' and I dropped the ball back in July when I got sick and we never really got it back together good enough to finish what we started - maybe next season. Oh and if you want some good inside info for this weeks race then go to her blog as she will be behind the scenes at PIR getting you pictures and stories only she can get.

Steve and Charlie: The On Pit Row guys who have interviewed Ricky Byers about his search for a sponsor and will be doing another upcoming interview soon. These guys were at Texas this past weekend and they got some great fan stories up on their site right now. I was so busy while on vacation at MIS in Aug. I couldn't even meet up with Charlie and Steve before the race on Sunday - although I did manage to get one 15 minute meeting in with someone else before the race started - see below.

Jerry Wilson (aka The Diecast Dude): The guy that me doing this blogging thing in the first place. Jerry has a renewed interest in NASCAR blogging and has even started doing his famous pod casts again. Check out his latest offering.

The folks at All Left Turns have us continuously turning our heads with their unique coverage of the sport.

Speaking of unique coverage I'd be remiss if I didn't mention From The Marbles mostly penned by Jay Busbee - man that cat has a unique twist on a lot of things in the sport, especially merchandising.

Perhaps some of the best motorsport coverage you'll ever get from a blogger would be from Marc at Full Throttle - how this guy was left off of NASCAR's Citizen Journalist list is beyond me - I love his Bump Drafting Quotes article he posted a few days ago.

Oh man how about my old FLA blogging friend Tire Dawg who is the creator of some of the most unique custom made NASCAR diecast collectables out there - mostly one-of-a-kinds too.

And how can I forget about Dustin Long either? O.k. the man is a paid NASCAR journalist who also blogs about the sport too, but really out of most of the mainstream media he has been the most accepting of NASCAR bloggers. He even took time out of his busy schedule at MIS in August to come trackside to meet with me and my son for about 15 minutes. Dustin created quite a stir a week or so back with his series of posts about the state of NASCAR with some candid quotes from some pretty prominent NASCAR figures - some really good reading for sure!

As always I'm running out of time and I just can't name everyone that I want to right now like The NASCAR Insiders, or Unrestricted: My Rants and Raves (no relation), or Thunder Lounge, or ... but I'll have to continue this tomorrow I guess.

There are some really good NASCAR blogs out there let me tell you and if you don't believe me just click on some of them in my link list over there to the right of this post - all of them are good or they wouldn't be on my list.

Then there are those blogs that I haven't even put onto my blogroll yet that I've met over Twitter - most of them are listed in my 'Following' list at my Twitter site, but I should still put them on my blogroll too.

Just never enough time to run things around here the way I would want.

I should put up a 'Help Wanted' sign.

Hmm ... there's and idea - any takers?

Tids and Tads From Texas

4ever3 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:24:47 -0000

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, battled his younger brother Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M's Toyota, throughout Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Kyle Busch, who was going for a record three wins in three NASCAR national series races in one weekend, lead the most laps at 232. Kurt Busch led 89 laps. (Photo Credit: Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR) via www.nascarmedia.com

Here are my quick observations from the race today. I just finished watching it as I was busy today and had to record it to watch later. I found this to be an exciting race because;

1) 95 mph top speeds, and no Talladega-type wrecks. Why? Lower banking forcing the drivers to lift off of the accelator in the corners.

2) Wow a lap 3 wreck takes out Jimmie Johnson. His crew put everything back into that car but the kitchen sink - see picture below.

3) I feel bad for Kyle Busch, what he wouldn't have done for another pint or two of gas.

4) Good run for Hamlin again.

5) Jimmie's slip allows Martin to gain ground - good run for him BTW.

6) Jeff Gordon gained ground on Jimmie, but not as much as he could have.

7) Speaking about not gaining ground Juan Montoya had a bit of a fumble today too.

8) Fuel mileage comes into play once again.

9) Dale Jr continues to have bad luck - lately even when he does well he doesn't finish well.

10) The fat lady may have sung, but it is still isn't over 'till its over.

11) Finally, good run for Kurt Busch and Pat Tryson as they won't be together for very much longer.

12) The 1 car was found to be too low in post-race inspection, I expect fines to be handed out Tues.

13) Oh hey and one lucky fan got to go home with an extra million in his back pocket because of Kurt Busch's win.

O.k. more tomorrow, good night.

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, drives down pit road to rejoin Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. After a lap 3 accident, Johnson's crew was joined by members of the No. 5, No. 24 and No. 88 crews to help replace the rear-end housing, hood and nose to get the car back on the track on lap 115. (Photo Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR) via www.nascarmedia.com

Things Better Left Unsaid: Drivers will put the brakes on comments

4ever3 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:30:07 -0000

Mark Martin, driver of the No. 5 Pop-Tarts / CARQUEST Chevrolet, heads to the finish line after being involved in an incident on track during the green-white-checkered finish of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in Talladega, Ala. (Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR) via www.nascarmedia.com

It is a triple-header race weekend as all three of NASCAR's top racing series will be battling for the checkers at Texas Motor Speedway.

Speaking of battles, did you see the carnage at Talladega last weekend?

Two huge wrecks within the last 10 laps capped off an otherwise lacklustre race, which was won by the soon-to-be-unemployed Jamie McMurray.

Due to NASCAR changes in ownership rules, McMurray's car owner, Jack Roush, has to downsize from five teams this year to four teams next year, and as a consequence McMurray became the odd man out at Roush-Fenway Racing.

Drivers spent the better part of the Talladega race riding around in single-file formation with not much passing as they tried to avoid the inevitable Big One, which usually refers to a huge wreck that often involves no fewer than 10 cars.

Despite their cautious driving, the drivers found themselves racing hard for position within the last 10 laps and had not just one Big One, but two.

The first one involved Chase contender Ryan Newman, who ended up flipping into the air, landing on his roof and then sliding head-on into the wall while still on his lid. The roof of Newman's car was so badly crushed he had to be cut from the car.

The next wreck involved fellow Chase contender Mark Martin, who was hit from behind, which sent his car sideways, allowing air to get under it and lift it up enough to cause him to barrel roll down the track. Unbelievably, his car landed on its wheels and he was able to drive it off of the track onto pit road.

NASCAR drivers can be a superstitious lot, and based on that, I was surprised by the interviews given by these two drivers just prior to the start of last week's race.

Martin stated in a pre-race interview that he was feeling lucky and that they should watch him, but once he said it, he looked like, at least to me, that he wished that maybe he could have worded his comment a little differently.

And in his pre-race interview, Newman talked about it being nice having his wife at the track to give him a kiss before getting into the car and then quickly added "but not a goodbye kiss."

I then watched the race wondering what the irony-loving Jinx Gods might have in store for both Martin and Newman, and I held my breath while they initially worked on Newman's car to get him out and then again when Martin's car went airborne toward the wall.

After what happened to Newman and Martin. I can almost guarantee that you won't be hearing any driver talking about how good things are anytime soon.

Now let's bring on Texas and see if point leader Jimmie Johnson continues to strengthen his stranglehold on the championship or if he falters enough to open the door for someone else to challenge him for the championship in the few remaining races of The Chase.

This article is also located at www.thespec.com.

So Will Kyle Busch Have a Triple Crown Weekend at Texas?

4ever3 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:06:19 -0000

After having the fastest car in Thursday's first practice with a speed of 180.102 mph Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts/Graceway Toyota, was 11th fastest in final practice for Friday's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR) via www.nascarmedia.com

Certainly if anyone can do it he can, right? What do you think?

Poll

Will Kyle Busch pull off a triple win weekend at Texas?

The Real Reason Why Talladega Was Soooo Boring ... Possible Driver Protest?

4ever3 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:28:37 -0000

In a NASCAR teleconference on Tuesday Jimmie Johnson let the cat out of the bag as to why the Talladega was boring for some fans.

Before you read what he had to say please note, based on what I've been told, the phrase 'push drafting' means pushing the car in front of you with the air pocket between your front bumper and their rear bumper. The closer you get to the rear of the car the bigger the push of air you hit him with and the faster you'll both go - it's like bump drafting with air as their is no physical contact between the two cars.

Q. I know you had talked about what to do about Talladega, you had some good comments after the race, until they blow the track up and fix it, but given that may not happen, if you were NASCAR, looking back, what would you do? You heard all the fans talking about it, options of continuing to enforce harder regulations that they didn't seemingly enforce that much, but what would you do if you were NASCAR now coming back out of Talladega the next time we return other than tear the track up?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Well, there's a couple things. First of all, bump drafting hasn't been allowed in the corners for some time, so they didn't allow push drafting. Mike wasn't sure what phrase to use in the drivers meeting because it's kind of a new thing that is a product of this new car. So I don't think that that had as big of an impact on the race as people want to make it up as.

The real impact was we didn't want to wreck. We knew we were going to wreck. We knew we were going to cause a big wreck, it's just what that racing does, and everybody was minding their manners and be responsible up until we could see the checkered flag essentially and that's when things started to get crazy and we crashed.

NASCAR we're on a different style of car that was supposed to make the racing more exciting at these bigger tracks and really all tracks, and it has made it more exciting and allows us to close and make passes on the restrictor plate tracks, but it also is the exact thing that causes the big wrecks. We went to a smaller restrictor plate to help keep the cars on the ground and make them safer. That didn't work.

At the end of the day I hope people realized we have messed with enough in the garage area with cars, threatening drivers, regulating – some people think they're over-regulated, other people think we're under-regulated, but the bottom line is we're going to have these issues until we're required to let off the gas going into the turns. I don't see any way possible with the safety rules that we need to pay attention to for the safety of the drivers and the fans and the way the cars are built that we can do that without eliminating banking in the corners.

I was just on a phone call with Mark Martin not long ago, and he said for 15 years now, he's been saying to people that would listen, they need to take the banking out of the corners and make us lift. I think finally the overwhelming public is understanding and starting to recognize that you can't change the cars anymore. You can't scold the drivers almost. We're going to ride single file for 490 miles and make it boring and then wreck everything at the end. So the only way we can get the racing to change is by changing the track. It's the only thing left. We've messed with every other area and nothing has worked.

Oh but wait, it gets better; was there a conspiracy by the drivers to drive in single file in protest against restrictor plate racing?

You'll have to take the jump to find out ...

Q. Also there was no chatter during the race on Sunday that maybe a lot of the single-file racing we saw could have been some type of former driver protest against restrictor plate racing. Is there any truth to that?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, there's no truth to that. That really is, when we hit single file like that, we just know there's no need to race at that point. All that matters is from that last pit stop on. I've been joking for years saying we just need a 23-lap shootout and it will be exciting and everybody will be happy and we'll hurry up and wreck the cars and go home. That's really what took place. Nobody was willing to race that hard and make those risky moves for the first 490 miles. So much so that our strategy, thinking that somebody would wreck, didn't pan out and we were sitting in a really bad situation at the red flag.

The fans can be upset and be upset at NASCAR, but at the end of the day, the reason we weren't three and four wide is because we didn't want to be. We wanted to ride single file. We wanted to log miles and have a better chance at finishing the race.

Nope there wasn't an organized driver protest. Darn!

Man that would have made good media fodder for sure considering it has been 40 yrs since Talladega had its first race without some of the sports big name drivers at the time who chose to sit out the race because the cars were too fast for the tires which kept coming apart after about 4 laps.

(This article contain portions of a NASCAR Teleconference Transcript done with Jimmie Johnson on Tuesday Nov. 3, 2009)

Stremme is out of the 12 car at Penske Racing and Keselowski is in

4ever3 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:48:24 -0000

No. 12 Penske Dodge (David Stremme) (Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR) via www.nascarmedia.com

I know this isn't new news here but I just wanted to offer up my two cents - for what it is worth anyway.

It was announced a few months ago that Keselowski would be replacing Stremme in the 12 car for Roger Penske and it would appear that 'The Captain' wants to get a head start on next season by putting Keselowski in the car for the remaining 4 races.

Man I feel bad for Stremme, but really if I were Penske I would have done the same thing. That is 3 races for Keselowski to get valuable seat time with his new team and the team with its new driver and with the limits on testing this really is the best thing to do.

I don't know the legalities of the situation but I'm sure Stremme will be still be paid to the end of the season anyway, that is usually par for the course. Depending on his contract he only thing that he could be out of would be his share of the on-track winnings, bonuses, and purses.

With all of this being said I would like to pose a question to you all;

Have you noticed an increase in amount of available drivers for next year and a decrease in available cars to drive? Stremme is on that list as is last week's winner Jamie McMurray, former Cup Champ Bobby Labonte, and possibly Casey Mears if sponsorship isn't found soon - and these are just a few available drivers for next year, the list continues to grow with each day.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the off-season.

NASCAR Nationwide Series New Car Tests At Talladega

4ever3 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:37:15 -0000

Justin Allgaier takes the No. 12 Dodge Challenger out of the Talladega Superspeedway garage and onto the track during Monday's NASCAR Nationwide Series new car test. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR) via www.nascarmedia.com

The NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings leader Justin Allgaier got to drive Dodge's new Challenger today at Talladega.

“It drives like a dream,” Allgaier said. He was one of eight drivers representing the four series manufacturers putting the cars through their paces on the speedway.

The morning was spent on solo runs while the afternoon consisted of drafting. Two of the drivers driving in the draft were RCR teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton.

“The great advantage of this car is we have a lot of time with the first new car (in NASCAR Sprint Cup), Burton said. “This is an evolution of that. I think it’s going to work really well. I like the way the cars look and the way the cars drive.”

I honestly think that this new car will aid in providing the Nationwide Series with its own identity, now if we can just keep the Sprint Cup regulars out of the series so that a non-sprint Cup driver can vie for the Nationwide Championship.

(this post was created with aid from a NASCAR press release written by T. Judd)

Talladega: A Matter of Opinion

4ever3 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:01:44 -0000

(Left to right) Richard Brickhouse, winner of the first race at Talladega in 1969, congratulates Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 26 IRWIN Marathon Ford, after McMurray won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in Talladega, Ala. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR) via www.nascarmedia.com

Sunday's race at Talladega was an exciting one to say the least.

What?

You don't agree?

You think it was boring?

Really?

The race had fuel mileage strategies, car preservation strategies, rule changes before the race, two major crashes, a red flag period, cars running out of gas, a non-Chase winner on his way out at Roush-Fenway, etc.

What? You still think it was boring?

Well you aren't the only one, it seems that some of the blogs and message boards out there are full of upset fans saying the race was boring.

O.k. if you think it was boring then tell me how because I want to know. Come on think about it, how was this race any different than any other - especially the 1.5 mile tracks?

The only difference I see is that the track is smaller so it looks like there is more racing going on because the leaders are lapping the slower cars, other than that what is the difference? The cars are all in a line for the better part of the race until there are restarts.

The race at MIS where Brian Vickers won in Aug was similar to the race at Talladega this past weekend, except there were no cars getting airborne or barrel-rolling down the front stretch.

If you don't understand the strategies playing out before you as you watch the race I guess you will think its boring to watch.

If you are only watching the race to see the wrecks then I guess you would have thought that most of the race was boring - go watch Days of Thunder then, it is only in that make believe NASCAR world where you can beat on each other's cars at 200 mph destroying the car's aero-dynamic properties making it look like a brick, then spin out loosing several of your forward gears, pit for new tires because all 4 of yours are flat, and then come from the back without a drafting partner and win the race; all at a 2-mile oval no less.

I guess how you watch the race determines your opinion of it. I for one liked the race, and even found it funny that Harvick and his Crew Chief were talking about having an I-pod in the car so he could listen to it during the race. The reason I thought that was so funny is because I always thought that if I were a driver I would want someone piping music to me over my headset to keep me motivated. You know some AC/DC or Kiss or Metallica (Give me fuel, give me fire, give me which I desire - to win baby!), no Lionel Richie here (Hello? Is it me you're looking for? - Nope) - well maybe after the race though.