NASCAR’s Race Weekend Report

California Race Results…Top 10

1)  #48 Jimmie Johnson
2)  #24 Jeff Gordon
3)  #42 Juan Pablo Montoya
4)   #5 Mark Martin
5)  #14 Tony Stewart
6)  #99 Carl Edwards
7)   #6 David Ragan
8)   #2 Kurt Busch
9)  #33 Clint Bowyer   
10) #29 Kevin Harvick

 

Chase Points after California

1) #48-Jimmie Johnson [5 wins], 5728, finished 1st
2) #5-Mark Martin [5 wins], 5716, -12, 4th
3) #42-Juan Montoya 5670, -58, 3rd
4) #14-Tony Stewart [4 wins], 5644 -84, 5th
5) #24-Jeff Gordon [1 win], 5623 -105, 2nd
6) #2-Kurt Busch [1 win], 5607, -121, 8th
7) #16-Greg Biffle 5540, -188, 20th
8) #99-Carl Edwards 5536, -192, 6th
9) #11-Denny Hamlin [2 wins], 5509, -219, 37th
10) #39-Ryan Newman 5505, -223, 15th
11) #9-Kasey Kahne [2 wins], 5422, -306, 34th
12) #83-Brian Vickers [1 win], 5377, -351,2 9th

For the Entire Results and Points California Results and Driver Standings

 

 

#5 and #48 taken back to the R & D Center AGAIN

NASCAR takes the #48 and the #5 cars back to their R & D Center in Concord N.C. for the third consecutive week for closer inspection. The winning car and the engines of the top two finishing cars always are taken to the R&D Center. But Martin finished seventh last week at Kansas and Johnson was ninth, but both cars again were taken the R&D Center. Both cars were cleared after inspections in Concord. Martin finished fourth Sunday, but NASCAR officials again elected to take the #5 Chevy back to the R&D Center for additional tests.

 

Kyle Feeling ill

Kyle Busch was sick this past weekend and elected to be replaced after starting the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. He started both of the races this weekends races to be able to keep the points earned by his cars. After starting the Nationwide race he was replaced by Deny Hamlin who ended up finishing the day by kissing the wall. Sunday Kyle was replaced by start and park driver David Gilliland but not before Kyle had drove his M & M Toyota from the back of the field to about 20th position pitting on lap 61 to make the switch, Gilland who will be driving a fourth Gibbs car for an undetermined amount of races starting this weekend didn’t do to bad Sunday, without running any practice laps Gilliland managed to bring home a top 25 finishing 24th.

 

RPM Ford Program to start

Richard Petty Motorsports has had a Ford in its possession ready to race since after New Hampshire. Most likely AJ Allmendinger will be driving a Fusion at Lowe’s Motor Speedway next weekend or the week after that. Once the #44 car flips over to Ford, it will remain a Fusion the rest of the season. In addition to Allmendinger, Elliott Sadler is expected to drive a Roush-prepared Ford with a Yates engine at Talladega. Whether or not RPM’s proposed merger with Yates Racing goes through, team owner George Gillett has said his team will run Ford’s next season.

 

Restricting the Restrictor Plate

NASCAR will reduce the size of the restrictor plate and allow teams an optional change as a way to slow the cars and try to keep them from getting airborne at Talladega. Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby said Friday at Auto Club Speedway that the restrictor plate will be reduced 1/64 of an inch. The new size will be 59/64 of an inch. Darby estimates it will shave 12 horsepower off the engines. Teams also have been given an option on side wickers, something they hadn’t been allowed to use before at Talladega. Darby said that teams “will be able to add the same little side wicker to the end plate (on the rear wing) much like they do at the downforce tracks. If you look at all the cars in the garage right now on that end plate, all the way out on the back edge they’ve got a little half by half piece of aluminum. That’s eight inches long. It helps in yaw or when the cars are turned. It kind of settles the back of the car down a little bit.

 

Latest on Danica:

Danica’s a hot commodity with team onwers right now. It’s become increasingly more difficult for car owners to find good commited sponsor these days. What Danica lacks in talent is made up for by her marketability. What makes her even more attractive is she already has a relationship with godaddy.com as well as other motorsports sponsors, which in some respects (I hate to say) makes her good for NASCAR because some IRL sponsors may follow her which will be good for the team and teammates because more relationships are built. One thing we talked about last week was Danica’s paycheck they’re were false rumors saying she wanted 1 million per race that turned out to be poppycock, insiders say she’ll make somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000 per race.

 

Ford’s New Engine

Ford will delay the debut of its new Sprint Cup engine, Doug Hervey, who oversees Ford’s North American racing operations, said Saturday. The engine was scheduled to have debuted next week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Instead, Ford will debut the restrictor-plate version of the engine at Talladega in three weeks. As for the non-restrictor-plate engine, it likely will debut at Texas or Homestead. I wonder if this will have an effect on RPM’s date to switch to a Ford which was slated for A.J. Almemdinger to run a Ford at Lowes.

More Danica and Reply’s to Damon and Paul

**Please forgive Grammar and Sentence structure

In some sports I don’t deny that kind of ridiculous negotiating takes place where one guy says 10 mil then the team comes back with a $1.00 and they go back and forth almost endlessly because usually that kind of ridiculous negotiating reflects the parties true interest. In other sports the team owners are thought of differently than NASCAR team owners drivers don’t see the need to fleece someone that’s going to help them win, drivers understand there are limited dollars, sponsors pay, x amount of money, if the driver gets to greedy the engine program may suffer and make him look bad running in the back or even worse not qualifying. Sponsor pay a fixed amount, it’s up to the team owner to spread it out in a way he can remain competitive.

I’ve been very fortunate over the last 3 years I’ve works with several teams and their sponsors activations and venue marketing so I got to see how things work. Usually the dollar amount isn’t what’s negotiated, the things that are negotiated are the perks (cars,motorcoaches,travel), public appearances, branding, and commercials. The times I’ve been privey to contracts (which isn’t that much) the dollar amount is what it is, sponsor pay a fixed amount the team owner spreads it around the program to be competitive. but that’s not to say a big sponsor won’t comes along and want a specific driver giving that driver a little more bargaining power. I guess I just don’t think Danicas there yet.

Because of my marketing background I’m bias, I believe good marketing makes good drivers so I have to agree with Pauls comment she’s a star because of the marketing, she’s been fortunate her teams owners and sponsors are committed to the IRL so what ever driver they pay for they’ve got to get their moneys worth and to get their moneys worth they’ve got to market her. There have been other women IRL drivers in the same talent class as Danica but the difference is they wanted to be the one with the women driver to compliment their program instead the mindset with Danicas group which is the team and sponsors program compliment Danica which is good for the program at the end of the day. But because of my marketing background    I’m bias, I believe good marketing makes good drivers. Now that Danica’s got the opportunity she needs to raise the bar but is she committed?? Good drivers race on off weekends and in the off season. Look at Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards and actually many others they race whenever they can. Danica takes off to Cancun on off weeks which in IRL they’re are many off weeks.

Thanks Paul and Damon

Although we may disagree from time to time, I appreciate your opinion and comments because that’s why we’re here to voice them.

No Excuse

Update: Juan Pablo Montoya response to the issue of walking off NASCAR Set before finishing all the interviews,

See Earlier Post titled-  Juan Pablo “I don’t work Past Five” Montoya

Video of incident- Montoya’s interview (Judge for yourself)

 

Question posed to Montoya:
EXPLAIN EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED LAST THURSDAY WITH THE TV HOOKUP TO CALIFORNIA AND HAS THAT ALL BEEN SETTLED NOW?

 

Montoya’s Reply:
“Yeah, it was simple. It was a deal we did with NASCAR from four to five and I told them this was the last interview and it was five minutes until five o’clock and I finished the interview and they plugged somebody else without telling them I was done and that was it. NASCAR made an honest mistake and it was a misunderstanding. That was it.”

Question to Montoya:
DO YOU THINK THE VIDEO THING KIND OF PORTRAYED YOU WRONG BECAUSE YOU’RE VERY GOOD TO THE MEDIA HERE AND THE VIDEOS WERE SENT AROUND THE WORLD OF YOU, DOES THAT BOTHER YOU?

 

Montoya’s Reply:
“Not really. It really doesn’t. NASCAR knows what happened. I know what happened. The team knows what happened. I don’t care. If they like me good, if they don’t. I can’t help that everybody here likes me, can I? Come on. Like they say crap happens I guess.”      (From General Motors PR Dept)

 

Comments From Blogpile:

My take is he a has a terrible attitude, big deal another interview, if he had been doing interviews for the last 2 or 3 hours I could understand but he said they had a deal to do interviews from 4 to 5, ONE hour and you can’t do another interview for the FANS. His warped thinking has warped my thinking I used to not care about drivers coming from other series’ to jump on the NASCAR bandwagon and get some of the NASCAR money but now no way stay in your current series NASCAR doesn’t need you. Drivers from other series don’t have appreciation on how and who made NASCAR what it is today ,“THE FANS” did it, what made NASCAR successful was the way drivers appreciate the fans, the drivers are humble, appreciative they care about what the fans think. Why do you think in a decade where auto racing viewership was on the rise NASCAR benefited and other racing series’ went under, it’s simple the drivers and their relationship with the fans. But Montoya attitude will ruin the NASCAR it will spread like cancer as driver migrate to NASCAR from the other failing series.  I know mistakes are made, I could understand if Montoya would have come out and said I just didn’t feel I could do another interview but to say “I don’t care” what people think; that just seems cold to me and even though many NASCAR drivers wouldn’t care they would have a little bit better way to say it.

NASCAR just doesn’t need drivers from other series’ there’s a huge stock car driver pool of driver that are humble and appreciative.

View the video and read his comments and judge for yourself.

In Shock and Dis-appointment………

SHOCK !!……………

WOW, I can’t beleive Kyle went out like that. Does he have a chance ?? I really thought that if Kyle didn’t win the chase it would have been because he was driving to aggressive and crashed in a few chase races to get the DNF’s that knock him out of contention. I would have never guessed that equipment failures would be the cause. I would have bet money that equiptment won’t be the problem. He ran 26 races with very little or no equiptment failures then the first two chase races and it’s over, maybe. Is it karma, bad luck, or both.  Can he pull out of this, I haven’t check yet but is it mathematically possible for him to bounce back ?? I sure hope so, he and his team preformed better than any other driver/team for the first 26 races. I think they deserve it.

DIS-APPOINTMENT !!………

I am really dis-appointed in Red Bull decision to release A.J. Almendinger for Scott Speed. It’s going to be another 2 years now before the no.# 84 Toyota will be competitive. I believe its going to take Scott Speed the same season and a half it took A.J. to get comfortable, is Red Bull going to change again because they don’t understand they’re competing against team that have been around for 10 + years and it takes years to gain the respect and knowledge it takes just to be a weekly top 10 team. Drivers respected A.J. he was starting to come into his own veteran status. It looks like Ganassi is going to be the beneficary of Red Bull’s hard knocks. Red Bull made a mistake and I can’t believe Jay Frye was part of that decision, I know the big wheels in Austraila don’t have a clue but I really thought Jaye knew better.

The Chase for the Cup Contenders are Set

               2008 Chase Contenders

1) #18-Kyle Busch 5080 [8 wins x 10 bonus pts]
2) #99-Carl Edwards 5050 [6 wins, 5 wins x 10 pts = 50pts*]
3) #48-Jimmie Johnson 5040 [4 wins]
4) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5010 [1 win, 2nd, 3rd, 3-4ths]
5) #07-Clint Bowyer 5010 [1 win, 2nd, 3rd, 4th]
6) #11-Denny Hamlin 5010 [1 win, 7-3rds]
7) #31-Jeff Burton 5010 [1 win, 1-3rd]
8) #20-Tony Stewart 5000 [3-2nds]
9) #16-Greg Biffle 5000 [2-2nds]
10) #24-Jeff Gordon 5000 [1-2nd, 3-3rds]
11) #29-Kevin Harvick 5000 [1-2nd, 1-3rd]
12) #17-Matt Kenseth 5000 [2-3rds]

* lost the bonus for win at Las Vegas due to penalty
• To start the Chase, all 12 drivers have their point totals reset to 5,000.
• After the reset, Chase drivers get 10 bonus points for each victory thus far this season.
• Those new totals produce the Chase seedings.
• For drivers starting the Chase with identical point totals, their seedings are determined by the traditional tiebreaker of best finishes beyond race victories.
Courtesy Jayski’s

 

Who do you think will win the Championship ?? 

Post your Choice. Document it Now…. 

Carl’s Mistake……Kyle’s Motivation……

 

    The August night race at Bristol is one of my favorite races of the year. I’m not sure from a fan standpoint if the racing is better or worse since the new pavement. In the past it was a 1 and a half groove race track now its pretty much a 2 racing groove track, in the past to get around someone you had to move them out of the way and that was the cause of alot of fights now with the new pavement and 2 racing grooves you can race around them.

   So I was thinking as we near the end of the race “is this going to finish without somebody getting pissed off” just about the time I thought that with 30 laps to go Carl Edwards didn’t use the 2nd groove to get around race leader Kyle Busch he moved him out of the way just like the olds days(last year).

   In my opinion Carl made a huge mistake, it wasn’t when he moved Kyle out of the way it was on the cool down lap when Kyle came along side Carl and bumped him and Carl retaliated by spinning Kyle out. Don’t get me wrong I think Carl was right in his actions and I would have probably done the same thing it just wasn’t smart. The reason I think it was a huge mistake is Kyle is motivated when he’s been poked with a stick, when he’s poked he usually feels like he’s got something to prove and he usually does prove it. He runs best when he thinks he’s getting the raw end of the deal or when he’s mad.

   Just a couple races until the start of the Chase for the Cup and Carl lit the fuse hanging out of Kyles butt so now Kyle is going to show Carl that 2nd is just the first loser.

Yea Right !!!

A Statement From Joe Gibbs Owner of Joe Gibbs Racing

  First, we want to apologize to NASCAR, all of our partners, all of our families at JGR, and all of our fans for the unfortunate incident that took place this past weekend in Michigan with our two Nationwide teams. A poor decision was made by some key members of our organization, and 100 percent of the blame rests with us.

   “In 17 years we have never had any representative of Joe Gibbs Racing knowingly act outside of NASCAR’s rules, and that is something we consider essential to how we operate on a daily basis. What we have determined is that these individuals involved used extremely poor judgment in attempting to alter the results of NASCAR’s dyno test following Saturday’s Nationwide Series race in Michigan. Although in no way was anything done that might have altered the race outcome, these JGR employees attempted to circumvent the NASCAR rule book and that is unacceptable.

    “We take full responsibility and accept the penalties NASCAR has levied against us today. We had come to the conclusion that we would add to any NASCAR imposed penalties with the minimum being suspension for the remainder of the season for those involved, including our two Nationwide Series crew chiefs. There will also be an additional monetary fine beyond the amount announced by NASCAR earlier today, which will be the responsibility of those involved.

   “We are, however, disappointed that NASCAR chose to place our drivers on probation, as they had no knowledge or involvement of this incident.

   “On behalf of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, we apologize again for this most unfortunate situation.”(Joe Gibbs Racing PR)(8-20-2008)

The Garage Area Comment:

I think we all expected better from Joe Gibbs and Joe Gibbs Racing but one of his first comments in his statement was a crock….Gibbs said “In 17 years we have never had any representative of Joe Gibbs Racing knowingly act outside of NASCAR’s rules” there is no way he can make that claim and be truthful. We know teams skirt the rules thats no secret so his comment just makes him look like a liar.    One of the last comments in his statement was…. “We are, however, disappointed that NASCAR chose to place our drivers on probation, as they had no knowledge or involvement of this incident.
It is my understanding that the NASCAR officials took control of the cars when the drivers exited them, so the drivers were the last JGR employees to have access to the gas pedals thats why they were part of the penalty, the six NASCAR officials that impounded the cars did in fact state the drivers were the last to have access to the cars. You don’t have to be a crime scene specialist to figure it out. Most drivers take the heat shields off their shoes before exiting the car, so while doing that you could easily slip a magnet under the pedal without creating suspicion, another blatant lie by Gibbs.
  The smartest thing Gibbs could have done is just say…We’re sorry, I’m sorry, we accept NASCAR’s penaltys we too will investigate and JGR will also penalize those involved. Again I apologize.  Thats it, don’t say anything more. Walk away.

The whole thing was really an ignorant move. Most owners, crew chiefs, and drivers will tell you when luck is on your side and your running as well as the Gibbs teams were you don’t cheat because your being watched, everybody in the garage area is watching you to find out what your doing and half the people in the garage area  think your cheating anyway when your racking up the wins the way Gibbs is. If you do get caught then you’ll really be scrutinized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Busted and disgusted………..

 NASCAR officials found magnets placed under the gas pedals on cars out of the Joe Gibbs Racing stables prior to a Dyno test after this weekends race the Carfax 250. By placing a quarter inch thick magnet under the gas pedal it will limit the throttle/carburator from being opened 100% in turn causing lower overall horespower on a Dyno test. Both the #18 and the
#20 Nationwide teams  will be penalized for attempting to manipulate the throttle so NASCAR would not get a true horsepower reading when putting their cars on the chassis dynamometer after the race NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Saturday night. Both the #18 and #20 teams face penalties for what was a blatant attempt to interfere with the inspection process, Hunter also said.

the garage area: So what do you think the penalty should Be ?? Me personally think it should be very harsh….

  It was Nationwide Series teams but they(nationwide and cup) come from under one umdrella Joe Gibbs Racing. Does that taint Kyle success this season, does this taint Tony Stewart titles and for that matter any of Bobby Labonte’s success. This cast a shadow on their success because you have to wonder how many times have they cheated ?? How many times have they manipulated testing info ?? You just don’t know but what we do know is they(employees of Joe Gibbs Racing) are capable of cheating.

 

Also
 
   Did you hear Deny Hamlins comments after Sundays race at Michigan International Raceway ?? He stated several times to a few different media outlets that he’s frustrated because Gibbs and Toyota are so far behind on their engine program. Is he on the same team as Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart ?? How can you say that when one of your teammates is leading the points and has won 8 races and the other teammate is 6th in the points. After Michigan all 3 Gibbs cars are in the top 12 that doesn’t look like a team thats behind in anything. He hasn’t stuck his foot that far in his mouth since a Natiomwide driver (Keslowski) raced him too hard so he made the comment that Nationwide driver should give cup drivers automatic respect.

  A good driver can take the car the crew gives him and with good communication can make adjustments compatible with conditions on raceday and finish the race a few spots better than the car was capable of. Most drivers can take the fastest, best handling car and get a good finish, but what car owners need and what makes a driver great is for a driver to be able use his talent take up the slack for the short comings of the car. Deny can’t do that yet, he does show spurts of talent when condition are perfect.

  Is Deny right are they behind in the engine program but cheating has made the others on the team successful and Deny just wasn’t included in on their rain deer games ??

Tell me what you think…….

Top and Bottom of Drivers Points Chart after the Glen

Sprint Cup Standings after Sunday Race at

Watkins Glen International Raceway

Driver Standings 1st thru 14th

UNOFFICAL Drivers Points Standings [after Watkins race 22 of 36]:
1) #18-Kyle Busch 3254 [8 wins]
2) #99-Carl Edwards 3012 -242 [4 wins]
3) #48-Jimmie Johnson 3010 -244 [2 wins]
4) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2985 -269 [1 win]
5) #31-Jeff Burton 2945 -309 [1 win]
6) #24-Jeff Gordon 2754 -500
7) #20-Tony Stewart 2744 -510
8) #9-Kasey Kahne 2713 -541 [+107 pts ahead of 13th]
9) #11-Denny Hamlin 2689 -565 [+87]
10) #16-Greg Biffle 2689 -565 [+83]
11) #29-Kevin Harvick 2670 -584 [+64]
12) #17-Matt Kenseth 2628 -626 [+22]
CHASE contenders
13) #07-Clint Bowyer 2606 -648 [1 win] [22 pts out of 12th]
14) #6-David Ragan 2539 -715 [-89]

Driver Standings 31st thru 38th

Top-35 in Owner Points and guaranteed a starting spot at Michigan:
#84-Allmendinger is in top 35 first time ever; #66-Riggs falls back out and down to 37th
The teams are NOT locked in past the next race as the owners points change after each race.
31) #7-Gordon/RGM: 1770 +109
32) #22-Blaney/Bill Davis Racing: 1767, +106
33) #55-Waltrip/Waltrip Racing: 1682 +21
34) #77-Hornish/Penske Racing: 1674 +13
35) #84-Allmendinger/Red Bull Racing: 1669 8 points ahead of 36th
these teams/ drivers must qualify by speed but are close to the top-35:
36) #00-McDowell/Waltrip Racing: 1661 8 points out of 35th
37) #66-Riggs/Haas CNC Racing: 1616 -53
38) #10-Carpentier/GEM: 1469 -200

Starting Line-up for the Centurion Boats at the Glen Sprint Cup Race

Qualifing for todays Sprint Cup Race “Centurion Boats at the Glen” at Watkins Glen International Raceway was Cancelled Due to Rain. The Starting Line-up was set by the NASCAR Rule Book, the starting order was determined by Owners Points and Race Attempts.

 

1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	1st in Owners Pts
2	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevy	2nd
3	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	3rd
4	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevy	4th
5	31	Jeff Burton	Chevy	5th
6	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevy	6th
7	9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	7th
8	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	8th
9	20	Tony Stewart	Toyota	9th
10	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	10th
11	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevy	11th
12	07	Clint Bowyer	Chevy	12th
13	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	13th
14	6	David Ragan	Ford	14th
15	8	Aric Almirola	Chevy	15th
16	12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	16th
17	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	17th
18	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevy	18th
19	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	19th
20	26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	20th
21	43	Bobby Labonte	Dodge	21st
22	19	Elliott Sadler	Dodge	22nd
23	28	Travis Kvapil	Ford	23rd
24	5	Casey Mears	Chevy	24th
25	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Dodge	25th
26	38	David Gilliland	Ford	26th
27	15	Paul Menard	Chevy	27th
28	44	David Reutimann	Toyota	28th
29	22	Dave Blaney	Toyota	29th
30	41	Reed Sorenson	Dodge	30th
31	7	Robby Gordon	Dodge	31st
32	01	Ron Fellows	Chevy	32nd
33	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	33rd
34	77	Sam Hornish Jr. #	Dodge	34th
35	66	Scott Riggs	Chevy	35th
36	00	Michael McDowell #	Toyota	21 attempts, 36th owners pts
37	84	AJ Allmendinger	Toyota	21,37th
38	96	P.J. Jones	Toyota	21,38th
39	10	Patrick Carpentier #	Dodge	21,39th
40	45	Kyle Petty	Dodge	21,40th
41	78	Joe Nemechek	Chevy	21,41st
42	70	Max Papis	Chevy	21,42nd
43	21	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	21,43rd
DNQ	34	Brian Simo	Ford	19,45th
DNQ	60	Boris Said	Ford	3/50th

Courtesy Jayski.com