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Bruton Smith on prize money in NASCAR, says Bristol probably not a sellout

Bruton Smith weighed in on how NASCAR is parsing out price money in a story from NASCAR.com:

“I would like to take half of the money from the points fund and give it to the winners of the races. I’d like to see a $300,000 to $400,000 difference between first and second place. That would get the drivers’ attention and you know the fans would love it.”

Well, Bruton is right. Currently winners are barely getting more prize money than the second place finisher. On the other end of the field, teams are finding it profitable to “start and park”. But how much more money do Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski need to be at stake before they end up killing each other?

How about taking half the points and giving it to the winner? The money system isn’t the problem, it’s the point system. Link: Bristol not likely to sell out Sunday

Goody’s and BC Powders Give Fans a Voice for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500

httpv://www.youtube.com/v/mjCuMyc59Bw?fs=1&hl=en_US

Fans Can Select Favorite Wounded Warrior Project- and Victory Junction-Designed Paint Schemes

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (March 11, 2011) – For nearly a week beginning March 11, fans of Goody’s and BC Powders can help choose a race car paint scheme designed by wounded hero from Wounded Warrior Project, Cory Collins, and Victory Junction camper, Eleanor Bolton, with the assistance of renowned motorsports artist Sam Bass. The designs will be showcased on a race car during pre-race ceremonies on April 3 at the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.

As part of the Pick A Powder campaign (www.pickapowder.com), country music superstar Trace Adkins and racing legend Richard Petty have a friendly rivalry to see which pain relief powder – BC or Goody’s - is toughest on pain. One thing the stars do agree on is giving back to causes near to their heart - Wounded Warrior Project for Adkins and Victory Junction for Petty. Goody’s and BC are making both philanthropic organizations a pivotal aspect of the Goody’s Fast Relief 500.

“Connecting with our customers and engaging the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 fans is important to us,” said Traci Plate, brand manager at GlaxoSmithKline, the marketers of Goody’s and BC. “Giving them a voice in selecting this special paint scheme is a meaningful way of involving our fans. Through our efforts with the Pick A Powder campaign and partnership with Trace Adkins and Richard Petty, we are thrilled to highlight both worthy charities leading up to and during the race on April 3.”

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Non-call In Pits Opens Door For Edwards’ Vegas Victory

I was traveling on Sunday and managed to watch the “tape” of the race thanks to our good friends at DirecTV and their fantastic DVR. It didn’t take long to figure out what happened: Sunday’s race was was Tony Stewart’s to lose, and he did just that. And in the pits, no less.

In fact, pit lane was nearly the only place where something significant happened this week. Crew chiefs up and down pit road earned their pay this week, having to decide between two-tire vs. four-tire stops, and time them right. As far as what happened and didn’t happen this week, here’s the short version.

• Tony Stewart was dominating the race, and came in for a mid-race pit stop. As he exited his pit, he dragged an air hose. NASCAR dropped the hammer and penalized Stewart, ruining his dominating day.
• In the same pit stop sequence, Carl Edwards pitted. During his stop, the 99 crew lost track of tire, and it rolled into a neighboring pit box. NASCAR…..well…NASCAR did nothing.
• Tony Stewart fought back and used a two-tire stop later in the race to re-take the lead
• In the final round of stops, Stewart had to take four tires while Edwards only had to take two.
• Race Over

I’m not an expert on tire rules, but I’m pretty sure that teams have to stay in control of their tires. In this case, NASCAR let the 99 crew off easy. Looking back, if Edwards was put to the back of the field, it is unlikely that he could have won this race.

Does anybody have a copy of the rulebook they can lend me?

Link: Edwards flips for Stewart’s bad fortune (denverpost.com)

Mark Martin scoops up Vegas Nationwide Series win, Danica scores first top 5

Today’s Nationwide series race started out with a snore but ended in a bang as Mark Martin won one for the old guys, stealing a win on the last lap of the race. Martin took advantage of the misfortune of Brad Keselowski who had a lock on the win until he blew a tire and hit the wall on the white flag lap. Instead of a win, Keselowski limped home to a heartbreaking fourth place finish.

In the early laps, however, the race was shaping up to be a Kyle Bush blowout. At one point in the race, he had lapped what seemed like all but the top 10.

But fast-forward to lap 123. Donnie Nuenberger spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow, and a new round of pit stops. Crew Chief Jason Ratcliff called for a four-tire change on the 18 car putting Busch in the 10th spot on the restart.

What happened next is what I’m calling the “XBox Driving Moment of the Week”. This tribute is only given to drivers that demonstrate a driving style that should only be attempted in the world of video games.

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Saturday NASCAR update - Almirola wins MIS truck race, Logano looking to make Nationwide history at Kentucky

The Nationwide series is racing in Sparta, Kentucky tonight at the Meijer 300. Joey Logano took his third pole in a row at the 1.5 mile oval, and looks to make history by winning the same race from the pole three years in a row. Kentucky is the track where Joey made history two years ago by setting the record for the youngest winning driver in Nationwide Series history.

The race airs tonight on ESPN.

Almirola Steals the show at the MIS truck stop
I love it when anybody can figure out a way to beat Kyle Busch. Aric Almirola did just that during Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race at MIS on Saturday when he interrupted a fight between Busch and Brett Bodine. Almirola is in the thick of the championship battle with Bodine, and is now just 55 points out of the standings lead.

Here’s the presser from MIS:

BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 12, 2010) - Out of nowhere, with two others ready to decide the outcome, Aric Almirola decided to make it a three-way affair and all but stole the VFW 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.

What appeared to be a shootout between points-leader Todd Bodine and Kyle Busch became a three-way battle with Almirola jumping in the middle of a tight, three-wide dice for the lead following a restart with eight laps remaining.

Almirola, not in the most enviable position of the three contenders, went for the lead, got it with seven laps left and held off the hard-charging Bodine and Busch to win for the second time this season and first at MIS.

“I didn’t think it was the greatest place to be, but I knew we were going to run wide open to the corner and we were either going to crash or make it out the other side on that last restart,” Almirola said. “I knew how important clean air was and I knew it was my only shot to get out in the lead, and if I didn’t get out in the lead there was no chance of us winning the race. I went down in turn one and I knew I was going to run a shorter distance than Todd (on the outside of the three-wide situation) so I just tried to hang tight on Kyle’s door and get him loose, which I did. By the time we got off Turn 2, I was almost clear of Todd and then we went through three and four I cleared him. That was the move of the race as far as I was concerned. Our car in dirty air wasn’t as good as it needed to be and that was the key.”

There was a Truck Series track record of 20 lead changes up to that point. Neither Bodine nor Busch was going to make it 21 with Almirola winning by a scant 0.111 seconds, or about one car length. Busch was another two car lengths back in third. Ron Hornaday Jr. finished fourth with rookie Austin Dillon fifth.

“We just didn’t have enough,” said Bodine, who posted his fifth top-10 finish in six races at MIS. “We had a great truck. We were a little tight on exit at the end and I could role up and start to go around Aric but I just couldn’t continue. With two to go, I rolled up and did it without lifting and I almost knocked the wall down and I thought Kyle was going to pass us.”

Busch posted his fifth top-10 finish in five races at MIS, but was anything but overjoyed. He was asked what it was like racing three wide for the lead toward the end of the race.

“It’s challenging. You’re all over the place trying to get back up in there, slicing, dicing and everything. I just didn’t have enough. Unfortunately they gave me a good truck and the driver didn’t get it done. I was trying to find some way to get around those guys but I couldn’t find it,” Busch said.

Tickets are still available for Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400, and start at $30 for general admission. Kids 12 and under are free in those sections.

Nestled in the lush Irish Hills of Southeastern Michigan, Michigan International Speedway is the Great Escape, a venerable NASCAR national park where fans can get away and enjoy the very best in racing and camaraderie. It’s the love of racing and the thrill of a great time for race fans and drivers alike.

Memorial Day Weekend Racing Review

Dario Franchitti dominates to win second Indy 500

The 2010 Indy 500 won’t go down in the history books as a race for the ages, but it did have some interesting story lines and one terrible crash. The big story was the absolutely destruction of the field by Dario’s Target car which seemed to have a gear nobody else had which enabled him to lead 155 laps.

Unfortunately for the fans, no only did Dario’s domination make for somewhat of an uneventful race at the front of the field, but the race turned into a fuel mileage marathon at the end. In fact, Franchitti may not have made it to the end if it were not for a terrible crash that involved Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay in the closing laps.

In post-race celebrations, Ashley Judd once again displayed her love for attention, and made sure the world knows that her man is “the man”. We know, Ashley, we know.
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Jeff Gordon vs. Jimmy Johnson - Here’s hoping for a sequel

During Monday’s Last rain-postponed Texas race a gimpy Denny Hamlin scampered off with the ol’ cowboy hat and his first win of 2010, a remarkable feat for a guy who went under the knife for knee surgery only three weeks prior. But the other bit of news that developed during the Texas 500 was a little tiff between Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson that was sparked by a turn 4 incident in the middle of the race.

If you didn’t see it, Gordon and Johnson were battling wheel to wheel with 94 laps to go, and Gordon made an aggressive move on the low side of Johnson. Coming onto the flat part of the race track the two got together resulting in a crushed left front fender on Johnson’s Impala that eventually caused his left front tire to fail a number of laps later.

It looked to me like Johnson didn’t leave Gordon much racing room, and pinched the 24 down a little bit. And Gordon wasn’t giving up any room either. And in radio exchanges that followed, Jeff wasn’t thrilled about the situation. He keyed up and said, “He must want to be treated differently than everybody else.” Whoa, harsh words from the usually polished Gordon.
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Historical day for NASCAR

Saturday was a historic day for NASCAR at both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races.     The festivities began in Iowa at Rusty’s little track in a cornfield in what was being called an “Inaugural” race for the Nationwide series.  Well, actually, Indy Car has raced there a couple of times already, but it was the first time that NASCAR darkened the tunnels of the 7/8ths mile circuit.

The best part of the day was watching Brad Keselowski hold off a charging Kyle Busch, who’s been more annoying than usual lately.   Busch’s JGR crew brought Busch in for two tires late in the race, but Tony Eury Sr. was calling the shots for Keselowski who kept the youngster out on the track.  Eury’s gamble paid off, and Brad drove hard in the end to hold of Busch.

Here are some highlights:

More NASCAR history was made in Nashville where Ron Hornaday posted his fifth straight victory.  The Harvick-owned truck squad is on fire, and are in a class of their own.  The win gave Ron his first Nasville Speedway guitar.    And no, he didn’t pull a Kyle Busch and slam the gorgeous Gibson guitar on the asphalt.  Nope.  Mr. Hornaday has something Kyle Busch doesn’t.  It’s called “class”.

I can’t believe it, he’s driving away from me

The NASCAR Nationwide Series is in Joliet this weekend with the Cup boys at Chicagoland Speedway, and ran their 300 miler under the lights on Friday night.  The story of the race could be summed up by a radio transmission by Kyle Bush late in the race when he said, “I can’t believe it, he’s driving away from me!”

And Logano did drive away from second-place Kyle Bush, posting his fastest laps of the day as the race came to a close on old tires.  It was an incredible driving performance and a testament to the driving talents of this kid, and the incredible car that the Joe Gibbs Racing team put together.

Logano was driving the same car that he won with at Kansas, a car that seems to have some “special sauce” in it for the 1-1/2″ cookie-cutter ovals.

Logano will try for the double tomorrow in the Cup race but will have his work cut out for him as he starts 24th, deep in the field.

Kyle Busch was less than ecstatic in self again in post race interviews, in fact, he looked as if someone had taken away his birthday. This guy doesn’t like to finish second, and seems to especially hate losing to “Sliced Bread”. Busch told ESPN, “I guess it’s a good *points* day for us” in an overly-sarcastic tone. I love Busch’s drive to win, but sometimes he needs to suck it up and show a bit of class when he loses. We get it, Kyle. You hate to lose.

Kansas City Star: Tire gamble pays off for Logano

Ok, let’s see that again - Tony vs. Kyle at the Coke Zero 400

The epic ending of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona was one for the ages deserves a second look.   Normally I’m not a fan of these crash-and-burn NASCAR finishes, but this one got me and everyone at the cookout up out of their lawn chairs!

Here’s the video: