Ryan Newman is out of the top 35 drivers but should rebound at Las Vegas

Stewart-Haas driver Ryan Newman had a good car for the Daytona 500.  Newman had a good car at Auto Club Speedway.  But, after these two races with two good cars, he finds himself in 36th place in the NASCAR standings and faces a long road back to get himself into the top 12.

What happened to Newman can just be catagorized as rotten luck.  At the Daytona 500, Newman was biding his time in the back and waiting to make his move toward the front when he was clipped by Elliott Sadler and his day was over.

Newman was in a great position in the Auto Club 500 at Fontana Sunday when he was running 2nd on a restart at lap 146. He spun the tires on the restart, on the next lap the engine blew and Newman was out of the race. Newman said the tire spinning had nothing to do with the engine but he finished 36th and dropped to 36th in the points standings.

"We just lost an engine," Newman said. "We had a really good car with the Haas Automation Chevrolet, but it just grenaded, basically. I couldn't tell you what happened, but it was big and there was smoke and that was the end of our day."

Look for Newman to have another good car at Las Vegas Sunday and start to work his way up the standings. 

Ryan Newman

Photo Credit Cameras in Action

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Winners and Losers: Can Kyle Busch Win His First Nationwide Race at LVMS?

The NASCAR Nationwide series left Daytona and headed to California for the Stater Bros. 300. For the first time this season, the teams would be able to compare their equipment to the competition's.

Check out the winners and losers of the Stater Bros. 300.



Winner

Kyle Busch

Even though Kyle Busch took the outside pole on Saturday, Busch continued to say over his radio that he did not have a car good enough to win.

Busch struggled with handling all day long. It took a late restart that saw the dominating car of Logano shuffled out of the lead and Greg Biffle and Busch battling for the win. Busch and Biffle banged their way to the finish and Busch took the checkered.

On Saturday, Busch hopes to find a similar result at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Busch’s one win at the desert track came last year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race. In the NNS, he has yet to find victory circle there.

In six starts, Busch’s average finish is 23.0 and in his last two starts he has finished 31st and 30th due to accidents. Busch has one top five at LVMS and that was in 2007, when he finished second. I would expect the results on Saturday to be different.

Points: Third



Kelly Bires

In case you did not know it, JR Motorsports' other driver, Kelly Bires, made his team debut on Saturday. He did it under the radar and came home with a solid seventh place finish.

Bires had a poor qualifying run that had them starting 32nd on Saturday. Bires and his crew were confident they could rebound and make it to the front.

They did not lead the race, but Bires made his way into the top 10 using the long green flag runs and pit strategy.

It was an impressive run for Bires, who has been overshadowed by his part-time teammate, Danica Patrick.

Bires now will head to Las Vegas with momentum on his side. He has only run twice at LVMS with an average start of 17th and an average finish of 26th; his best finish was 15th in 2008.

Bires has a long road ahead of him to rebound from not being entered at Daytona. He has the talent to run up front, but it’s all a matter of limiting mistakes both on pit road and on the track.

Points: 30th



Losers

Joey Logano

Joey Logano led over 100 laps, but it was his teammate, Busch, who took the checkered flag.

Logano had the best car out there all day long on Sunday. They lost the lead early but got it back from Busch.

On the final restart of the race, Logano was shuffled to third after contact between him and Biffle. Logano was not able to regain the lead after then getting spun into the infield after contact between himself and Brad Kesleowski. He finished fifth.

It was a disappointing finish to the race but heading to Vegas, Logano has a lot to look forward to. Logano will be factor for the race on Saturday. He has had fast race cars every week.

Like his teammate, he needs to run a clean race and avoid making mistakes. I expect to see him up front and leading laps at LVMS this weekend.

Points: Second



John Wes Townley

It was an impressive start for John Wes Townley, the Richard Childress Racing driver, after he qualified sixth for Saturday’s race. He ran in the top 10 for most of the first half of the race.

It was on lap 119 that Townley’s day turned for the worse. Townley’s car got loose and spun down the track, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., unable to avoid Townley, slammed the inside wall hard.

Townley finished 30th after what looked like a promising day. Townley has good equipment under him, race-winning equipment, but he is still learning how to minimize mistakes.

When he comes to LVMS, he will only have one other start at the desert track and that was a 38th-place finish in 2009. He should be able to improve that average finish with a strong run on Saturday.

Points: 27th



Final lap…

If you are looking for a few dark horses on Saturday, check out Brad Keselowski. His average finish of 28th does not tell the whole story.

Last year, he had a slow start to the season and that continued at LVMS. I expect him after his third-place finish on Saturday at ACS to be running up near the front.

I would also look out for Brian Scott. After his impressive run at ACS, he is carrying a lot of momentum. He was one of the few drivers who were able to come up and challenge Logano.

I expect to see him start near the front. He has experience at this track when he ran in the Camping World Truck Series. Two very different vehicles but I am confident he will be challenging for the win on Saturday.

My two questions for the upcoming race:

Can Kyle Busch finally win at LVMS in the Nationwide series?

Can Danica Patrick rebound in her final NASCAR race until June?

These are just two of the many questions heading into Las Vegas on Saturday. The Sam’s Town 300 starts at 4 ET on ESPN2.

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Women in Nascar’s Future……

GUESS WHO SHE IS…

Here we go again! If this was a beautiful baby contest, this youngster would have a great chance of winning. As an adult, she is a combination of a beautiful young woman and a tomboy at heart. As you can see by the mix in the photo, bib overalls and the dainty little umbrella. If anything is a dead giveaway in this photo it would be those gorgeous cheeks.

You can see it her eyes; She is already dreaming of what she wants to be when she grows up. She was born in Centralia, Illinois. Her family, unlike many, was not involved in racing professionally.

When she was 5 yrs old she competed in the Kindy 500 in Indianapolis, Indiana during the Indy 500 weekend.. The difference was that the driver’s were children and their vehicles were Big Wheels. She said, “My dad was the one who took me to the big wheel race without my mom knowing.” She ended up bringing home a first place trophy not to mention wearing the honor that she had been the first girl who had done so.

This young racer grew up racing BMX bicycles and Quarter Midget cars. At age 14, she won 1st Place in her first stock car event.

Who is she?

The winning entry will receive an autographed photo from the driver. Guesses will be accepted through on the Thursday 25th. The first part in a 2 part series on this driver will be out on Friday the 26th at 2 pm. The winner will be announced then.

Members of this site are not eligible for prizes and in order to be considered, an entry must include either an email address or Twitter id as part of the comment. Without one of these, we cannot contact you should you win.

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Start and Park--What Say You?

Understanding Start and Park

First off, for those of you who don’t understand what ‘Start and Park’ means here is how I understand it:

It all boils down to money in NASCAR. If you’ve got it, you can run a full schedule with full teams and back-up cars. When you don’t, you struggle to keep the one or two cars you have, on the track.

When a team qualifies for a race, they are assured to get what is referred to as a ‘purse’ whether they finish in first or in last place, as long as they start. Usually, its enough for the struggling teams to use to compete in their next race. This has been a practice in NASCAR since its beginning.

For example, Prism Motorsports previously ran their #55 car with McDowell in a 200 lap race. The team had run 195 laps when it experienced a broken driveshaft. Although they didn’t finish the full 200 laps, they still placed 33rd and received $267,495 in purse money. This allowed them to continue on to California’s Fontana race.

Many teams aren’t in the position to purchase new engines, so they put all they have into used ones. They are unable to run full time crews and drivers, due to the lack of funds. They are just doing the best they can to achieve their dreams. Often barely surviving.

So what purpose does NASCAR have in their decision to confiscate any teams race car? The excuse is always the same. “Actions detrimental to the sport of stock car racing.”

At the Fontana race, Prism Motorsports had two cars. #66 driven by Dave Blaney and #55 driven by Michael McDowell. McDowell drove his car to the garage during lap 40, and then Blaney’s car came in on lap 43, both reporting engine failure.

NASCAR's sanctioning body decided to confiscate the #66 car of Dave Blaney. When Bill Henderson, general manager of Prism Motorsports, was asked why he thought this had been done? Henderson replied, “Because they can.”

Do the ends justify the means here? 

John Darby, the Sprint Cup Series director, stated the following, ”We’ve got to make sure that we fulfill our responsibility to our competitors to make sure that everyone is playing with the same rulebook and adhering to the same rules—and that means everybody. That car deserves a look at to make sure it’s up to start.”

NASCAR's Darby stated that choosing the #66 car as the random car met NASCAR's normal inspection policies.

Darby was also quoted in an interview for Fox Sports as saying, “The randomness of the inspection covers everyone in the field. The #66 car was a car that was very competitive. Yes, he was outside of the top 35, but he was the fastest of the group. He was fifth overall qualifying and he led the race today.”

With his primary car gone, all that he has left is the back-up car. A normal back-up car sits without all the basic necessities of the primary—springs, shocks etc. Unfortunately, this leaves them without a complete car to race in Las Vegas next weekend.

Darby’s informed Henderson that his hopes were to have the car inspected in Las Vegas and returned to Prism Motorsports in a “timely fashion” but couldn’t guarantee it. Even if its returned before the race, it won’t be enough time for them to set the car up, practice and qualify.

So, if they can’t qualify and race next weekend, this struggling team will lose at least $100,000 for starting the event. Its a vicious cycle in that by not at least starting in Las Vegas can set them back for the following race.

Its as though Nascar has fined them for something that is not even known to be a rule.

This leaves me to question NASCAR's motives regarding their decision. Are they hoping to send a message to those teams who ‘Start and Park’, collecting a check without the intent of finishing, or are they more concerned with NASCAR’s appearance with the showing of a short field.

This blogger feels that the ‘grey area’ here is somewhat like an insurance policy for the teams that can’t afford to compete with the ‘Big Boys’. This gives them an opportunity to fulfill their dreams.

How do you feel about ‘Start and Park’? Leave us a comment on your feelings regarding it’s place in NASCAR?


Opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and may not reflect those of the site or it's other contributors.

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San Francisco Honors Jamie McMurray

Courtesy of Photobucket
Taken by phatken91

The Victory Tour

This past Wednesday, San Francisco hosted Jamie McMurray, the 2010 Champion of NASCAR's Daytona 500. Jamie and his wife, Christy, were escorted around the 'City by the Bay' in a motorized San Francisco Cable Car. Lucky fans who purchased a special ticket package offered by Infineon Raceway, that included the cable car ride in SF along with weekend tickets to the Toyota/Save Mart 350 race.

Daytona 500 Champion Jamie McMurray hangs out of a trolley in San Francisco during his Victory Tour.

(Ezra Shaw: Getty Images)

The 'Victory Lap' began at SF Giants Willie Mays Plaza where the McMurrays were greeted by the S.F. Giants VP Russ Stanley. Jamie was given an official team jersey, with his name and car number. The tour was led by an escort from the California Highway Patrol.

Daytona 500 Champ McMurray addresses the crowd at San Francisco's Willie Mays Plaza Wednesday during his tour of the city.

(Ezra Shaw: Getty Images)

The welcoming committee included Northern California race fans as well as the media. Jamie stated, "I have to say, New York was cool, but San Francisco has been awesome. The weather is beautiful and it's so great to see the fans come out here. As a driver, you can't imagine what this means to me. It's been wonderful."

His visit included a lesson on how to crack crab with Grotto #9 co-owner Anthony Geraldi, a historic drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and a visit to the very popular and well known Ghirardeli Square. It was there that Jamie and Kristy enjoyed ice cream sundaes and were presented with a special basket of gourmet chocolate.

The Victory Tour was part of a ticket package sponsored by Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Ca. Jamie and his wife Christy were also given a commemorative magnum of Sonoma Valley wine by Infineon Raceway President Steve Page.

It was an Official start to the countdown of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Toyota/Save Mart 350 held June 18th-20th, Father's Day Weekend, at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway. McMurray and his No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet along with 42 other NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers will be 'Starting their Engines' to run the first of 2 road races during the 2010 NSC Season.

Tickets are still available online at http://www.Infineonraceway.com/ or by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-870-RACE for more information.

Infineon Raceway offers a 2 for $99 package. Its referred to as Kasey's Korner. The package includes 2 Tickets in Turn 9 Terrace, and exclusive access to a Q&A session with defending 2009 Champion, Kasey Kahne, on Tuesday, April 13th.

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For additional information on the McMurray's trip to San Francisco and Kasey's Corner visit Infineonraceway.com 

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Blickensderfer to take over as Edwards' Nationwide crew chief

Kelley promoted from crew chief of No. 60 to Roush’s Nationwide competition director

Concord, N.C. (Feb. 23, 2010) – Roush Fenway Racing announced that Drew Blickensderfer will take over as crew chief on the No. 60 Nationwide team with driver Carl Edwards effective immediately.

Mike Kelley, who had served in that position, will assume the role of competition director for Roush Fenway’s Nationwide Series effort, and Mike Beam will move into the role of speedway specialist in the research and development department for all of Roush Fenway Racing.

“Drew is a wonderful team builder,” said team owner Jack Roush. “He will bring car-of-tomorrow experience to the Nationwide shop. Carl and Drew have a strong track record together. This is great for Copart and Fastenal. It provides them with a great chance to win a championship. This assignment will task Drew’s potential.”

The move will reunite Blickensderfer - who worked last season as the crew chief of the No. 17 Sprint Cup team - and Edwards in the Nationwide Series. The duo teamed for 19 races in 2008, running to seven wins, two poles and a second-place series’ points finish, while closing the season with nine consecutive top-five runs.

Kelley, who was the car chief for the No. 97 team’s Sprint Cup Championship run in 2004,  has worked as a crew chief in Roush Fenway’s Nationwide program since 2006, leading drivers Todd Kluever, David Ragan and Edwards. He will be responsible for car builds in Roush Fenway’s Nationwide program.

“Mike Kelley is a fierce competitor and a very loyal employee,” Roush said. “This is a great promotion for him. We will look forward to watching him continue to grow.”

Beam, a 30-year NASCAR veteran, has served at Roush Fenway as a crew chief in the Camping World Truck Series, and most recently as director of competition for Roush Fenway’s Nationwide program. He will work closely with Jimmy Fennig in Concord, working in research and development, with a focus on the superspeedway program.

“Mike (Beam) has a great track record and his trucks were always really fast on the superspeedways,” said Roush. “We will look for him to bring that knowledge to our overall program and pick up where Todd Parrott left off with that progression.”

- Text from Roush Fenway Racing press release 

Photo from NASCAR Media

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Richard III -- Childress three car play performing well in Sprint Cup

Maybe Richard Childress Racing was just meant to be a three-car operation, at least on the Sprint Cup side of the garage. After all, prior to the 2009 season, RCR had put at least one of its drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup each year since the Chase’s inception. It was when the team expanded to four teams in 2009 that the wheels seemed to fall off RCR’s Sprint Cup program.

Granted, team owner Richard Childress didn’t opt to eliminate his fourth car’s program after just one year due to performance issues – instead it was a matter of not being able to secure sponsorship for a fourth car – the team seems to be better off going back to its previous three-car setup.

The rest of this article can be found at AutoRacingDaily.com

Photo of Clint Bowyer by Amanda Vincent

Amanda Vincent is also the NASCAR Nationwide Series Examiner at Examiner.com. Read more of her articles there. Follow her on Twitter or become a fan of NASCAR Examiner on Facebook.

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