Can Smoke Get Championship Equipment

There is an inherent conflict in the satellite system now utilized by many of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup teams. Rick Hendrick said it best after Tony Stewart, a Hendrick satellite driver, took the points lead last season, “It’s good to see all of our guys, the teams we support with motors and cars run well… but at the end of the day, when it gets down to the Chase. We want to win with these guys.”

Do Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing or Michael Waltrip Racing really want to see a team in their orbit out perform the mother ship? The next logical question becomes was Stewart-Haas’ decline during the Chase due, in part, to differences in the equipment HMS was supplying? Nobody who was not directly involved will ever know the answer to that question, and Tony Stewart has said that his team has carte blanche to do anything they want to the engines that Hendrick supplies. What do the statistics say?

In the twenty-six races prior to the 2009 Chase, Tony Stewart had an average finish of 9.1 and finished in the top ten 65% of the time. In the ten Chase races, his average dropped to 13.9 and only 50% of his finishes were top tens. Additionally, at the eight tracks that host both regular season and Chase races, his Chase finish was worse than his regular season finish at six of them.

The statistics of Tony’s Stewart-Haas teammate, Ryan Newman, paint a similar picture. Ryan’s average finish dropped from 14.0 during the regular season to 16.3 during the Chase. His top ten percentage dropped from 46 to 30. His finish at five of the eight repeat tracks was worse in the Chase race.

There are many possible explanations for these statistics. If I tended to put my faith in conspiracy theories, I would suggest that one of those explanations was that the stuff Hendrick sent over during the Chase wasn’t quite up to par with the stuff they sent over during the first twenty-six. Not being a conspiracy theorist type, however, I would never put such a theory forth.

~Cutler

• 8 Comments
• NASCAR, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Hendrick Motorsports, Stewart-Haas Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Roush Fenway Racing, Rick Hendrick

Throttleneck's Right About Daytona

Since Bass Masters and Buck Fever start yelling whenever I try to broach this subject, I have resorted to using this blog, the one forum in which they can’t interrupt me, to further address it.

I have long been an advocate for adding another road course to the NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Ideally, that addition would be part of the Chase so that our eventual Champion exhibits a level of skill across all of the track types on the circuit.

I had always thought that Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal made the most sense. Not only is it a great venue, but it would take NASCAR’s top series international. (Does Canada count as “international”?) Of course, the challenge of adding that course to the Chase is the issue of fall weather in Montreal.

Rowdy member extraordinaire, “Throttleneck Racing”, posted a blog that might just describe the perfect compromise. He writes, “Every time I see the Rolex 24, it makes me wish that NASCAR would use that track configuration for the summer Daytona Cup race.” I know that he’s not the first person to propose this idea, but I have to say that I like it.

It’s a great compromise for the NASCAR purists. It preserves a Daytona date while replacing the vagaries and luck of plate racing with the requisite skill of road racing. The course as it is laid out even preserves the turns of Daytona International Speedway’s oval layout. As Throttleneck says, “It’s an awesome combination of superspeedway racing and road course turns.”

It also addresses an inherent problem in road courses. At Watkins Glen and Infineon, race fans attending the event cannot see the entire course. Since Daytona’s road course stays in the infield, it is totally encompassed by the grandstands. One, therefore, assumes that the number of blind spots for the spectator would be greatly reduced if not eliminated altogether.

Now, Buck Fever ardently protests the loss of “The Firecracker”. I hate to break it to you, Buck, but it’s already gone. If you check Daytona International Speedway’s website, they list winners of the “Daytona 500” and the “Coke Zero 400” – no mention is made of “The Firecracker”. According to www.racing-reference.info, the last time a summer Daytona race had “Firecracker” in its official name was 1988. Using the road configuration preserves a summer race in Daytona so exactly what is it that you are holding on to?

Bass Master’s passionate protestations are centered on the fact that NASCAR is an “oval series”. Clearly, the vast majority of NASCAR’s tracks are ovals. Adding another road course, or two, won’t change that. Wimbledon’s tennis courts are grass. Roland Garros’ are clay. Yet, tennis remains a game predominantly played on hard courts. That being said, I have always been most impressed by tennis players who can excel on all surfaces just as I am most impressed by drivers who can succeed on a variety of track types. While Bass suggests that those of us who enjoy road racing should follow the Grand-Am Series, he can’t honestly think that watching Joao Barbosa at the New Jersey Motorsports Park is comparable to watching Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon at Daytona. I’m a NASCAR fan who likes to see the 43 best stock car drivers in the world compete at the occasional road race.

Racer187 suggests that one of Pocono’s two dates should utilize one of that track’s four infield road courses. With seating only on the frontstretch, Pocono is already a challenging place to watch a race. As far as I can tell, the road course configurations simply exacerbate that situation. Sorry, Racer, I’m not sure I can get behind that idea.

While I would still like to see a road course in the Chase, for now I am willing to accept this compromise. That doesn’t mean I won’t continue to call for a road course Chase date. After all, a fourth road course still gives the ovals a 32 to 4 edge.

~Cutler

• 13 Comments
• NASCAR, Daytona International Speedway, Rolex 24, Grand-Am Series, Pocono Raceway, Joao Barbosa, NEW JERSEY MOTORSPORTS PARK, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon

The Return of the #3 with Austin Dillon

Dale Earnhardt Jr has a hell of a legacy to live up to. His family name, his popularity, his father’s tragic death all contribute to what, at times, must feel like quite a burden. No wonder Mark Martin asserts that Junior, “… has the strongest shoulders in NASCAR.”

When I think about young Austin Dillon, I can’t help but think about Junior. There is obvious overlap between the two: Austin Dillon is Richard Childress’ grandson and Richard Childress is the owner for whom Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove during most of his Cup career. The pressures carried by Austin and Junior seem similar. The comparison carries even more resonance when you consider the fact that Austin is going to be running the black #3 full-time in the Truck Series this year. It will be the iconic number’s first full-time foray into one of NASCAR’s three national touring series since Dale’s death in 2001. (This despite the number of NASCAR fans who support a constitutional amendment permanently retiring the black #3 from competition.)

For one so young, and stepping on to the national stage for the first time, however, Austin seems to be taking it pretty much in stride. Of the #3, he recently said, “I’ve driven it since I started and there’s people always gonna talk about it, and… they’re gonna watch your every move. So, hopefully, I can put it out front and I guess if you’re running out front you can’t get much better than that.” Of course, running it in Late Models, Legends and Bandoleros is much different than running it nose-to-tail with the likes of Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday. While Dillon reminds us that “Mike Skinner ran it in the Truck Series and he did well with it”, Skinner piloted the #3 truck in 1995 and 1996, when it was just a number. Still, it is to Austin Dillon’s credit that he says, “[I] have no problem driving it. I like the pressure it brings. It just adds more to it, I guess.”

Dillon even seems to shrug off any controversy that putting that number back on the track might engender, suggesting, “People I’ve talked to have loved it being out there.”

Undoubtedly, there will be claims of nepotism when Austin climbs behind the wheel of his truck. Dale Earnhardt Jr., quieted similar cries by winning. Despite Dillon’s ancestry, he is not pursuing the family business by default. It’s something on which he has been focused for the better part of his life. “I kind of put it in the back [of my mind] when I was real young”, says Austin, “and it definitely has moved to the front ever since and now it is the main goal. I mean it’s at the front of my head to do whatever it takes to be the best… We’ve prepared ourselves for this all of our lives.” As for accusations of nepotism, Austin believes that “…anybody who’s made it to the Cup series has earned it in their own right.”

Though he is contending for 2010 Rookie of the Year honors in the trucks, he would like to jump to Nationwide next year and to Cup in 2012, though he also acknowledges that multiple years in each series might create a certain level of comfort. As he says, it all comes down to having to run well. I just hope that in another ten years we’re not talking about his burdens and their detrimental affect on his career in terms similar to those being used to talk about Dale Earnhardt Jr. today.

~Cutler

• 3 Comments
• NASCAR, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Childress Racing, Camping World Truck Series

Sam Hornish's Crew Chief

Over in the corner of the Embassy Suites ballroom sat Sam Hornish, Jr., 2010’s designated driver on the “hot seat”. While watching him speak into the phalanx of digital recorders my eye fell to the guy sitting on the other side of the table. I wasn’t sure who he was. He wasn’t a driver I recognized. By the looks of him, he wasn’t even old enough to have a license. So, I worked my way around to where I could see his nameplate, and read “Travis Geisler”.

I was a little embarrassed that I failed to recognize Hornish’s crew chief, but when your car is rarely relevant the guy atop the pit box doesn’t get a lot of face time. He wasn’t getting a lot of love at the Embassy Suites, either. Feeling a little sorry for him, I sidled up with my digital recorder.

As with all of the crew chiefs that I talked to at NASCAR’s Media Tour, I found Geisler to be thoughtful, intelligent and calm - the crew chief as balance to the driver’s bombast. In Geisler, I also found a racer.

Our conversation began, as most did last week, by focusing on NASCAR’s imminent switch from wing to spoiler. While Travis admitted some of the off-season’s original foci would have to be thrown out, he also said, “We’re more used to running spoilers than wings.” Far from being frustrated by the change, he seemed energized by it; “If they told us that we needed to go run them at Daytona we’d figure out how to be ready for it… That’s part of the reason why we’re all in this sport. It’s dynamic. It’s changing. It’s fun. It keeps your job interesting. It’s job security for me...” Geisler went on to say that a change of this nature pales in comparison to the stress inherent in running both the C.O.T. and the old car in the same season.

While nobody is sure what affect the new spoiler will actually have. Everybody is full of opinions. More downforce. Less downforce. No significant change in downforce. What is interesting about Geisler’s situation is that his driver comes from a series in which the cars enjoy significantly more downforce than they do in NASCAR and he is quick to point out that those open-wheel cars get even more strung out. So, despite his driver’s background, he would like to see the spoiler translate into less overall downforce as it “…is the one very key element that goes away when you’re in traffic.” In other words, the tires are still the same regardless of your relationship to the other cars. The springs, bump stops, etc. remain unchanged. It should be of little surprise that a crew chief would prefer to rely on mechanical grip as opposed to aero grip. Or, as Geisler himself puts it, “The mechanical is always there. The downforce goes away in dirty air and that’s what hurts racing in my opinion.”

Geisler’s team, Penske Racing, is facing their first season as the sole Dodge team. Now, you can look at that from two different directions. Either Dodge will be able to concentrate all of its energy into a single entity, or that single entity will suffer from less data being generated from fewer sources. It should come as no great surprise as to which interpretation Geisler embraces:

“The things that people talk about with information sharing… there is no way that Hendrick is sitting down with RCR and sharing set-ups with them. So that, in my opinion, the only thing that’s happening is you’re dividing Chevy’s resources amongst those teams. We didn’t necessarily sit down with Evernham at any point and share information or share set-ups or share race data or race information. Whenever you take the resources [of] somebody like Dodge and focus it on your group that makes sense to me. At a time when so many manufacturers are kind of in a pullback mode… Dodge has continued to support us right through it because they kind of naturally weaned out some of their extra resources that they were giving to other teams. That’s kept their support to us at 100% and they’ve stuck with us through 2009 during their restructuring phase.”

Travis also has a little something to say to old school fans that bemoan the quality of modern racing. He even goes so far as to butcher one of NASCAR’s most sacred cows: the 1976 Daytona 500. The finish of that race, in which Richard Petty and David Pearson wrecked one another while heading to the checkered flag, is often cited as one of the best finishes in NASCAR history. Though Pearson was able to limp to victory while Petty desperately tried to restart his car, Geisler doesn’t believe either one of those legendary drivers should have taken the checkered flag. His question is “…where was the guy running third that didn’t win that race? [He] should have won that race ‘cause [Pearson & Petty] were wrecked sitting in the infield.”

One of the inescapable realities of NASCAR is that a Crew Chief is tied to a driver. They rely on one another for their mutual success. With Sam Hornish Jr. in a do-or-die year, Travis Geisler is right there with him. I hope they find success this year. Both for the sake of their future employment, and so Travis can grab himself a little face time.

~Cutler

• 2 Comments
• NASCAR, Travis Geisler, Sam Hornish Jr., dodge, Penske Racing

Quick Hits from Charlotte

The NASCAR Media Tour is such a whirlwind, that it’s hard to have a lot of perspective. I figure the best way to organize my thoughts is in a few bullet points at a time. It might take me a few blogs to do it, but I’ll spew out my Media Tour thoughts if it kills me.

Sponsors:

A couple of weeks prior to the Media Tour, we learned that Oreo and Ritz signed on as Associate Sponsors of the #39 and #14 respectively. Does anybody else see the disconnect here? Who on earth decided that Oreos were a better fit for Ryan Newman than Tony Stewart and are they still employed?

At the Media Tour’s Stewart Haas lunch, we learned that Ryan Newman would also be carrying Tornados, a cylinder of taquito-like goodness, on his hood this season. I sampled them and they definitely seem like the perfect precursor to Oreos in Tony’s gastronomic guidebook. I mean Smoke is the guy chronicled in the pages of Rolling Stone eating Chef Boyardee ravioli, doughnuts, cookies and pizza.

Take my advice Stewart Haas Racing. Before the season begins do some sponsor juggling. Let Ryan have Ritz and give the taquitos and Oreos to Smoke. It just makes more sense.

The sponsorship incongruities didn’t end with Stewart Haas Racing, however. On day two of the Media Tour we washed our hands, combed our hair, donned freshly pressed shirts and moseyed on over to Hendrick Motorsports.

Now, during my sister’s senior year in high school she broke up with her boyfriend, Dan, right before Homecoming. As a result, she ended up attending the dance with her best friend’s little brother. As awkward of a coupling as that was, it pales in comparison to the forced marriage of Mark Martin and GoDaddy.com.

At the Media Tour’s Hendrick visit, Martin was as jovial as I’ve ever seen him. He seemed relaxed and confident. That is, until somebody asked him about making a commercial for his new sponsor.

The change in his mood and body language was dramatic. His eyes shifted downward as he fidgeted in his chair. He hemmed and hawed while searching for a diplomatic answer. He muttered something about scheduling problems and finding the right script. I interpreted this to mean that there had been more than one wrong script.

GoDaddy, they of the beavers and bikinis, actually makes Viagra seem like it was the perfect sponsor for Mark.

Team Cultures:

Seeing all of the major players assembled for each team, I started to get a better sense of the teams as a whole.

Roush Fenway Racing is the team of kibitzers. Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Jack Roush make a pretty good comedy team with Roush being the unwitting straight man. These guys were genuinely funny and if Greg Biffle had been in attendance I’m sure he would have held his own.

I also appreciated the team’s lack of spin. To a person they all seemed to own the struggles of 2009 without relying on excuses or trite clichés. Team president, Geoff Smith, went so far as to say, “we’re not gonna bitch.” Jack Roush admitted, “we got fastballed on the tweaks.”

Richard Childress Racing might be the thinking man’s NASCAR team. Bass Masters likes to refer to Jeff Burton as NASCAR’s resident philosopher. In some ways, I think the same can be said of Clint Bowyer. While he might be a little wrier in his delivery than Jeff, there is something very cerebral in his description of Kansas as the culmination of everything we have learned about track building. I’m sure Kevin Harvick has a philosophical side to him, too. An angry Machiavellian philosophy, but a philosophy nonetheless…

Hendrick Motorpsorts is the good guy, clean cut, nicely starched white shirt team. All of them are really nice guys, especially while totally eviscerating any last shred of hope foolishly clung to by their opponents.

Competition:

The culmination of the Media Tour was at NASCAR’s R&D center. I don’t want to say that NASCAR likes to rationalize, but here are the big hits from their tour stop:

The spoiler will improve the racing, even though the racing didn’t need to be improved.

Letting the drivers themselves police bump drafting at plate tracks is simply the continuation of a process NASCAR begun several years ago, even though the last Talladega race was the most restrictive in recent memory.

Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya are the Championship heirs apparent, even though Jimmie Johnson has dominated the Chase for the past four years.

All-in-all:

It was a good week. I had great one-on-one conversations with guys like Brad Daugherty and Travis Geisler. I shot questions at Ryan, Tony, Darian, Zippy, Coach Joe, The Captain, Marcos, Michael, Jeff, Mark, Elliott, Jamie, JP and others. I came away with more respect for more people and a sense of excitement about the coming season.

I still have a lot of audio to edit, and thoughts to organize. I just hope I can get to it all before Daytona.

~Cutler

• 11 Comments
• NASCAR, Media Tour, Stewart Haas Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Roush Fenway Racing, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin

Is ESPN a Demotion

Okay, I’ll admit it. I was one of the Chicken Littles running around yesterday proclaiming the imminent descent of the heavens. I had just heard about ABC/ESPN/Hearst/Disney’s NASCAR broadcast schedule for 2010. In short, 14 of the last 17 races will be broadcast on ESPN, not the network. How dare they…!

My initial thought was that this must be payback for Ramsey Poston and NASCAR taking ABC to the woodshed after Talladega. Then, I quickly realized that major broadcast corporations are probably much less petty and vindictive then I.

The other theory that quickly surfaced is that ABC needs to protect its Sunday morning line-up, which will be hard to do with the new universal start-times and West Coast races. (It is worth noting that all three of ABC’s races are under the lights.) This seems like a much more plausible explanation.

I understand that cable is no longer the “premium” service it once was. I understand, too, that ESPN, once the exclusive home Australian Rules football in the U.S., is now home to such venerable sports broadcasting institutions as “Monday Night Football”. Lastly, I understand that ESPN is better situated to deal with the vagaries and demands of live sporting events than ABC. Still, those are intellectual understandings and my relationship to my T.V. is very emotional in nature.

I’m a child of the 1970’s. I grew up with the august Jim McKay and “ABC’s Wide World of Sports”. For my generation ABC was the Mecca of sports broadcasting. It is where I saw motorsports for the first time, albeit open-wheel as opposed to stock car racing. ABC was the one-time home of Jack Arute, Chris Econamaki and Jackie Stewart, not to mention Curt Gowdy, Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell. While not originally on ABC, NASCAR was still a network T.V. trailblazer when the infamous 1979 Daytona 500 was shown in its entirety on CBS, which just doesn’t seem that long ago.

I know that I sound like a typical NASCAR fan, bemoaning the good old days while turning a blind-eye to progress and modern realities. You have to understand, though, that I remember a 13 channel black and white T.V. in my family’s living room. You actually had to get up and walk across the room in order to change the channel or adjust the volume. (I never did get UHF versus VHF sorted out.) I also remember when ESPN debuted and what’s more, I didn’t have to go to Google in order to tell you that it’s name was originally an abbreviation for “Entertainment and Sports Programming Network”. I guess to me, cable will probably always seem like a demotion.

~Cutler

• 14 Comments
• NASCAR, ABC, ESPN, Wide World of Sports, Jim McKay, Jack Arute, Chris Econamaki, Jackie Stewart, Curt Gowdy, Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell

Not Convinced About the Spoiler

The jury is out on NASCAR’s apparent move from a wing to a spoiler on the Cup car. While it will undoubtedly be safer, since a spoiler moving backwards through the air doesn’t provide lift like a wing does, we simply don’t know whether the spoiler will make it easier to pass. NASCAR is doing wind tunnel tests, and knows more about these things than I, but I can’t help feeling like this move is motivated by safety concerns as much as, if not more so, by competition.

In contrast, the other changes under consideration are definitely competition-minded. NASCAR is rumored to be eliminating both the yellow-line rule and the bump-drafting restrictions at Daytona and Talladega. This ‘just let them race’ attitude might get mixed reviews amongst the drivers, but fans will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

NASCAR’s Sprint Cup drivers are the best at what they do. NASCAR simply needs to allow them to do it. As Denny Hamlin said on Twitter after meeting with NASCAR, “There [sic] giving us the ring.. The gloves.. Now we have to put on the show”.

NASCAR has a dual responsibility. They have to produce an exciting product for the fans, while maintaining a safe racing environment for the competitors. Sometimes, that means protecting the drivers from themselves, a’ la the yellow-line rule. Sometimes, that means making the drivers less comfortable, a’ la double-file restarts.

While I am glad NASCAR is addressing the plate-track issues, those two tracks only account for four races a year. Downforce tracks, on the other hand, account for about fifteen races a year. I really do hope that switching to a spoiler eliminates clean-air parades at the mile-and-a-half and two-mile speedways. The proof is in the proverbial pudding, though. Saying that the spoiler will be in place by Bristol or Martinsville makes me nervous. That gives NASCAR a little over two months to get this thing tested and ready to go. NASCAR is taking action and that is to their credit. I only hope that they are not rushing it through the R & D process to appease fans. I would rather they take their time, try to expect the unexpected consequences, and make sure that this really will fix the issue at hand.

~Cutler

• 7 Comments
• NASCAR, Talladega, Daytona, Denny Hamlin

Evernham, Horses and Tar Pits

If you missed the interview with Ray Evernham that "Sports Business Journal" ran earlier this week, it’s worth seeking it out.

Reading between the lines, and sometimes reading smack dab on top of the lines, there seems to be a lot of resentment on Ray’s part towards George Gillett. Evernham is in the midst of a legal battle trying to emancipate himself from a minority interest in the team that he started. Not only does he say that he felt the team was headed in the right direction before ceding controlling interest to Gillett, but he goes on to say, “… seeing a lot of people lose their jobs from something you built, the name changes, and how it has become a completely different operation, there’s some sadness there.”

Perhaps what is even more striking is Ray’s suggestion that if he can get out of his non-compete agreement with Richard Petty Motorsports, he’d “… love to help Jeff Gordon, Rick Hendrick. I’ve always felt like that place is home to me.”

In other words, he feels more comfortable at Hendrick Motorsports than in the present iteration of the team he started. He’d rather put his time and energy into the place he began his career than the place he ended it. His team -- Richard Petty Motorsports, nee Gillett Evernham Motorsports, nee Evernham Motorsports – holds no pull for the man who originally lent his name to it. I guess when he says, “it has become a completely different operation…” it makes sense that said organization would lose its pull.

Now, hands up if you’d like to see him and Jeff Gordon bring a C.O.T. version of the T-Rex to the track in 2010.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have often talked about how Cup racing today is what horse racing was in the 1930’s and 40’s. The spectacle. The mass appeal regardless of demographics... Both forms of racing seem to have captured the imaginations of their respective times.

Well, I just finished reading a book by Jim Squires called “Horse of a Different Color”. According to Squires, it remains a pretty apt comparison.

Squires is the former Editor of the Chicago Tribune turned horse breeder and his book chronicles his experience in breeding Monarchos, the 2001 winner of the Kentucky Derby. One paragraph in particular leapt out at me:

"In the quest to revive itself as a television sport, horse racing had seriously begun trying to emulate the success of stock car racing. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association – the NTRA – was taking its marketing lessons from NASCAR, which had successfully turned its schedule of races into a television series with points standings and world championships. The thoroughbred tracks seems to be taking their cues from race cars, too. Going fast, crashing and burning was the ticket to television viewership." (page 212)

So, while NACAR’s T.V. viewership might have taken a hit in 2009 and race attendance might have been down, it could be worse. We could be horse racing.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

On the Rowdy.com podcast the other day we were talking about the testing ban and its relationship to Hendrick’s domination in 2009. The question was how Richard Childress Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing could fall so far back in an offseason when nobody could do any testing.

I’m not sure there’s any great mystery here. It seems clear that while nobody could test, everybody was still making changes in an attempt to improve performance. The problem was that those changes couldn’t be assessed in real-time scenarios on real-live racetracks. They were best guesses and approximations. Evidently, RCR and RFR guessed wrong. As a matter of fact, they probably guessed wrong a number of times with each wrong guess being piled on top of its predecessor. By the time they got to the track they were so mired in the La Brea Tar Pits of wrong guesses that they couldn’t find their way back to the relatively strong positions with which they ended 2008.

Comparatively, Hendrick must have guessed right, or guessed less wrong, or had better data, or had better engineers.

Now that all of the teams have had the opportunity to use 2009 as a de facto test session, I wouldn’t expect Hendrick Motorsports to be quite so far ahead of the rest of the field. Unless, of course, the rest of the field has guessed wrong once again.

~Cutler

• 6 Comments
• NASCAR, Ray Evernham, George Gillett, Richard Petty Motorsports, NTRA, Monarchos, Jim Squires, Kentucky Derby, Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Roush Fenway Racing

Jimmie's Wee Bern

Jimmie Johnson has taken his emulation of Jeff Gordon one step further by deciding to procreate. Of course, since he has surpassed his one-time mentor’s on-track legacy, one can only assume that he and Chandra will be welcoming twins into the Johnson fold come July. I guess, too, this means that Jimmie’s streak ends at four.

For as much as I’ve said that Kyle Busch can’t afford the distraction of owning a truck team or vying for a Nationwide Championship, I would be intellectually dishonest if I didn’t say that fatherhood will have an impact on Jimmie’s performance. One of the keys to his success has been his single-minded focus. Once his kid is born, there is absolutely no way he can maintain that same level of single-mindedness. It doesn’t matter how many nannies and night nurses he hires, or how far away Chandy and the baby are from the track, his focus will be split.

Still, it seems like a “win-win” to me. It’s good for Jimmie. (I can honestly say that fatherhood is the best thing I’ve ever done with my life, though I’m not sure whether my kids will echo that sentiment.) It’s good for NASCAR, too, as the Championship hopes of many other drivers are suddenly rekindled. The only person for whom this might be bad news is Uncle Chad. Of course, being the "Evil Genius", Knaus will probably just strap that baby into a Bjorn, take him or her atop the pit box, change a diaper, give a bottle and sing a lullaby, while still managing to carry Jimmie to Victory Lane in Daytona.

~Cutler

• 6 Comments
• NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson, Chandra Johnson, Chad Knaus, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon

Junior's Unsolved Mystery

Last week, my beloved 1990 Subaru Legacy Wagon was feeling a might poorly. As always I turned to my man Ronnie and his healing touch. Five hundred dollars and one idler pulley later I was picking my car up and shooting the breeze with Dr. Ronnie. Our conversation turned to NASCAR and Ronnie announced; “I know what’s wrong with Junior!”

I braced myself for yet another conspiracy theorist explaining how Rick Hendrick gave Dale Earnhardt Junior’s cars to Mark Martin, when Ronnie put forth a plausible theory that I hadn’t heard anyone previously espouse.

Think back to the middle of the 2004 season. The weekend of July 17th was an off one for NASCAR’s top series. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was enjoying his downtime by… racing. He entered an American Le Mans Series race in Sonoma, CA. You might recall that at the very beginning of a Sunday morning practice session, Junior lost control of his Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, and slid backwards into a concrete barrier in turn eight at Infineon. The crash broke the fuel filler neck causing the car to erupt into flames. Earnhardt suffered second-degree burns on the insides of both legs and on his chin. Well, according to Ronnie, he hasn’t been the same since.

It makes sense. You can certainly see where a bad wreck might weigh on a guy’s mind and cause him to lose a step or two. Intrigued by Ronnie’s thesis, I did what I often do… turned to the statistics. Junior won six races in the 2004 season. That’s twice as many wins than in any other season of his career. Unfortunately for Ronnie, three of his wins (Daytona, Atlanta and Richmond) came before the Sonoma crash and three of them (Bristol, Talladega and Phoenix) came after. As a matter of fact, his Bristol win came just one month and ten days after the ALMS crash. In other words, in the weeks directly following his fiery crash, when you would assume the memories were at their most visceral, he bumped and banged his way to victory at Bristol, and this was before the re-pave mellowed out the track. Sorry Ronnie, your theory, though intriguing, doesn’t hold water.

Isn’t it interesting how we are determined to find an answer to Junior’s problems that relieves him of responsibility? It’s the crew chief. It’s the equipment. It’s the new car. It’s the owner. It’s posttraumatic stress disorder. The Junior Nation is running out of culprits and pretty soon, even they, will have to point the finger at everybody’s all-American himself. It’s beginning to look more and more like the only person who can fix Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s problems is the same guy who caused them: Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

While Ronnie might not have had the answer to Junior’s troubles, he still managed to solve mine. So, next time your 1990 Subaru Legacy Wagon has a broken idler pulley while cruising the mean streets of Charlottesville, VA, swing on over to Ronnie’s Auto Service. I’m sure Ronnie would love to explain to you why Kyle Busch can’t get it done in the Chase.

~Cutler

• 9 Comments
• NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr., American Le Mans Series, Sonoma, Infineon, Ronnie's Auto Service