The Lugnut Report: Jeff Gordon Nearly Wins, but Finishes Third

When you come to Martinsville you think of two drivers, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Gordon leads the field in active drivers with the most wins with seven. He has not won at Martinsville since 2005, but was looking to end that streak on the rain postponed event, Monday.

Gordon had a fast car all weekend long. They were going with a different setup than they had used at Martinsville in the past.

With rain affecting the qualifying on Friday, Gordon was to start 11th on Monday.

Gordon quickly made his way to the front. On lap 59, Gordon took the lead and pulled away from second place. His car was handling good but he cautioned the track conditions will be changing.

The team made some adjustments on the car but it hurt the handling of the car. The outside lane was not the lane to be in on the restarts. Repeatedly, Gordon was on the outside lane and ended up losing positions on the restarts.

They were getting it done on pit road for Gordon on every stop. Crew chief Steve LeTarte, was making solid adjustments on the car. That being said the team still struggled on the long runs, something that we see often at Martinsville.

Gordon was running fourth when Jeff Burton cut a tire with less than 20 laps to go. When leader Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch pitted, Gordon inherited the win with just ten laps to go.

Gordon was pulling away on the restart but a caution for Busch with the field just coming to take the white flag. They were going to a green, white checker finish.

On the restart Gordon had the lead but got hit from behind from Kenseth, sending him up the track. Kenseth and Gordon banged off each other meanwhile Hamlin took the lead with Joey Logano sliding behind him.

Gordon finished in third and Hamlin took the win. Gordon was upset with how Kenseth raced him on the restart.

Gordon and LeTarte both have said they are being aggressive this season, no more settling for top five finishes. I think early on this season we have saw that, both on the track and on pit road.

Gordon now heads to Phoenix, where he has only one win but expect to see the same strategy we saw this week.

With his top five finish at Martinsville he moved up to seventh in the standings.

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The Lugnut Report: Kevin Harvick Takes Second, Again

It has been a fast start for Kevin Harvick in 2010. After struggling in 2009, Harvick and his team came to Daytona ready to contend each week for wins and for the championship.

After a second-place finish last week at Auto Club Speedway, Harvick has had an up-and-down weekend and on Sunday it was more up than down.

On Friday he hit the wall early in traffic. It sent him to the garage for most of practice and they were unable to get a qualifying run done. For Sunday’s race he started 37th but the team was able to work on the car Saturday.

On Sunday Harvick wasted no time starting in the back. In fact, he had one of the fastest cars on the track early in the race. On the second caution of the day, the team hit pit road, took four new tires and a slight chassis adjustment.

It was a solid pit stop, but they were trapped back in 18th position on the restart. On the caution on lap 87, they planned on raising the track bar one round and leaving the air pressures alone.

He said he had good grip and was a lot more comfortable on the run. He came out 20th on the pit stop.

Harvick seemed to struggle in traffic. On the caution for the caution lights malfunctioning, there was a ton of strategy going on. Harvick and his crew just took two tires and fuel and restarted eighth.

Harvick worked his way up to sixth by lap 120.

Harvick had a fast car but the long green flag run had them making a stop under green. He maintained track position in fifth. He was really tight after they went too far on an adjustment.

After a more than 100 lap green flag run, a caution came out for Kevin Conway hitting the wall. The leaders hit pit road and Harvick and his crew took right sides only. They came off second behind Jeff Gordon.

With just 40 laps to go, Harvick was able to move his way back into third and with 10 to go he was battling Gordon for second place. Harvick finished second for the second consecutive race.

It was an impressive rebound for them after how the weekend began. They really were able to work on the car and make it better as the race went on.

Now they head to Atlanta next week where they hope to finally break that winless streak.

Check out Jen Preston’s Lugnut Report on Kurt Busch.

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Lugnut Report: Martin Truex Jr. Loses An Engine and Momentum In Fontana

2010 is a new beginning for Martin Truex Jr. He signed with Michael Waltrip Racing after leaving Earnhardt Ganassi Racing following the 2009 season.

Truex is driving a Toyota for the first time in his career. He is working with Pat Tryson, who left Penske Racing after the 2009 season.

They had a strong two weeks at Daytona after a strong sixth place finish at Daytona the NAPA Auto Parts Toyota.

They were looking to continue the early season success at Auto Club Speedway in California.
The team struggled early in the weekend finding speed and finding the balance of the race car. He ran 26 laps total on Fridays first practice but his fastest lap was a 40.07 second lap. That lap time was 26th fastest.

The team went to work for qualifying later in the afternoon. It was not an impressive qualifying lap, as they started 34th Sunday.

It was a disappointing qualifying lap but they got to work on Saturday and Truex was confident he would be able to get to the front of the field. When the race started he quickly moved through the field. He had one of the fastest cars early in the race.

He hit the wall early and caused a bit of damage to his car but was able to continue on. On lap 56 his day turned for the worse as his engine expired. He headed to the garage and finished 39th.

Truex was still hopeful after getting out of his car and the NASCAR season is a long season and he knows what he and his team are capable of.

It was not the day Truex expected. Now they head to Las Vegas hoping to rebound after a disappointing run at Auto Club Speedway.

Check out Jen Preston's Lugnut Report on Denny Hamlin.

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Patti’s 2010 Championship Picks

Are you ready for some racing? We are! Today another of our contributors, Patti Rodisch gives us her picks for the 2010 series Champions. Let her know what you think in the comments section below!
Camping World Truck Series:
My 2010 pick: Matt Crafton.
I really thought in 2009 Matt Crafton would be able to win his first CWTS championship. Had Ron Hornaday not went on his historic run, I think Crafton could have won this championship. He was the most consistent driver throughout the season. I think in 2010 Crafton will finally close the deal and come Homestead be hoisting the trophy.





NASCAR Nationwide series:
My 2010 pick: Brad Keselowski
I was torn on this pick. I was leaning toward Justin Allgaier but I think while Allgaier had a strong year in 2009, he is still learning. For Brad Keselowski, I think his talent will not only lead to another successful 2010 campaign but he will win his first title. Last year he was in the championship hunt all year long and showed great resiliency when he struggled during races.

NASCAR Sprint Cup series:
My 2010 pick: Jeff Gordon
Jeff Gordon hasn’t won a title since 2001. While some have questioned whether he still has it, a successful 2009 campaign saw him in the hunt for most of the season. I truly believe that this team has learned from the last few seasons. If they run the way they did last year and continue to improve, Gordon should complete his drive for five.
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Photos courtesy of NASCARMedia
The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and may not reflect those of this site or it other contributors

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Will shorter races mean more excitement on track?

This week Auto Club Speedway announced that they will reduce the length of the Pepsi Max 500 to 400 miles.

Fans and drivers are praising the move but the question remains, will it really make the race more exciting?

Richard Childress Racing driver, Jeff Burton believes it will.

“I have been a proponent of shortening some of the races because I think that if you have a real long race – it doesn’t promote not running as hard. We run hard all the time — but the consequence of not running well is bigger because there’s less miles, so you have to run hard."

In the past, we have seen drivers maybe not push so hard early in a race, to save their equipment. For some that has worked and for others that has not worked.

Fans have complained that it looks like drivers are not pushing hard early in the race and are just riding around until the final 50 laps.

At ACS, particularly the 250 lap race in combination with the newer car, the races produced poor racing and lack of passing.

Both drivers and fans have said that some races are too long . So when ACS made the announcement many fans applauded the move.

On the track's Facebook and Twitter pages as well as emails, the feedback from fans has been positive.

Many have said it will make the race more exciting than it was before.

That concept remains to be seen. Just because the race is shorter does not mean that the race will be any more or less exciting.

It is only 50 laps less than it has been in the past. If there is a long green flag run which we have seen at many tracks in 2009, the cars will be strung out and then where is the excitement?

ACS has become the poster child for long green flag runs that string out the field.

Low attendance at recent events have many fans and analyst suggesting removing one of the track's two races held there every year.

Ending a race 50 laps earlier won’t make a race exciting; the product on the track will be what decides that.

NASCAR is making changes to the car which they are hoping will improve the racing on the track. If the racing improves long, races won’t seem so long. Fans will be able to stay engaged with race.

Just because the race is shorter does not mean that the drivers will necessarily run harder earlier in the race. Nor does it mean that the cars will not get strung out.

What a shorter race could mean is more fans in the seats and a pickup in the action on track.

We will not see how effective the track's move will really pay off both in the stands and on the track until the race in October.

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