Dale Earhnardt Jr

NASCAR – Matt Kenseth Wins The Raintona Firehundred in Daytona – Montoya Starts The 2012 Season With A Bang

February 29, 2012 by

The Daytona 500 that no one will ever forget ran finally after a 30 hour rain delay. In a race that had never before in 54 years been postponed by rain, the green flag flew on a Monday for the first time in history proving that Mother Nature really is not a fan of Motorsports. A race that was destined to break new ground by including the first woman driver in the history of the race. A race that many were worried would never start in the first place. A race that once it finally did start, the fans were wondering if it was ever going to finish. The fans had returned to the coliseum in record numbers to watch the long awaited starting race for the 2012 season and they weathered storms, rain delays, and even a firey crash and a 2 hour red flag clean up, and they stayed into the wee hours of Tuesday morning to see it through to completion.

The carnage started early when Jimmie Johnson got loose on lap 2, thanks to a love tap from Elliot Sadler, which sent him nose first into the wall in turn 2, collecting the 21 of Trevor Bayne, the 10 of Danica Patrick, the 51 of Kurt Busch, and the 34 of David Ragan, bringing out the first of 12 caution flags to wave over the Great American Race.

On Lap 13 Ryan Newman got loose all by himself on the back stretch after blowing out his right rear tire, spinning towards the inside wall but regained control and was able to keep it off the wall, and most importantly, on the lead lap.

Once everyone got the jitters out of their systems the race settled down and the fan were treated to a return of the pack racing of old. No more 2 car dances going on all over the track, this is what the fans came to see. An old school pack race, with 43 cars all trying to out manouver each other, chasing the glory and even a mid race bonus of $200000. Martin Truex Jr scored the midway prize .

Between lap 65 and 70 some of the cars from the lap 2 crash began to return to the track. Trevor Bayne brought his battered #21 Wood Brothers From back to the stage as did Danica Patrick, both prepared to run with the pack and keep the DNF column clear. Why would they return more than 60 laps down you ask?

“Every lap that I turn is a progression, that’s for sure,” Patrick said on pit road after the race. “That’s why I was so proud of everyone working so hard — and they were working hard — to get me back on the track. There wasn’t much to gain, as far as position-wise, but what there was to gain was for me to get the experience of running out there.”

“I’ve got to get further up the grid [because] the further you are up front, the less things happen,” Patrick said of her three days of wrecks. “Every time the accident happened I was further back in the field. The further up front you are the better off you are — but then again, you need that experience to get further up front, which is what I’m trying to get.”

“So I’m sure this is not new territory for a new driver, I just wish it could have gone better for everybody that was so excited — especially the fans. It was great to see them cheering all the way around the track, even when we were parked on the back straight [under a red flag with 40 laps to go]. But it would have been nice to have a solid finish.”

The on track action continued in the second half and it was just as unpredictable and crazy as the first half, if not even more so.

Jeff Gordon blew his engine in a flaming and spectacular fashion, pulling out of line and waving the other drivers by just before a complete catastrophic failure, flames billowing out either side of the engine from the fuel and oil spraying on the engine block, as Gordon managed to get the car off the track without further incident.

Lead changes were not happening as we had seen in pack racing of old. The outside line just did not seem to be able to catch the leaders. Running about 5 or 6 cars back the lead car on the outside line just never seemed to be able to make up the distance to challenge the front pack of 5 or 6 cars. The exception to this rule was Denny Hamlin being pushed by Jeff Burton, and it only happened once.

Then came the fireworks. On lap 160 Juan Pablo Montoya was returning to the track after a pit stop to try to correct a vibration he was feeling in the car. As he brought the #42 Target car up to speed to catch the pack which was running under caution, something broke in the rear end of the car and it slid towards the outside wall. Unfortunately the jet dryers which were removing the moisture from the track which had brought out the caution flag, were on the track and between Montoya and the wall. Slamming into the Jet Dryer at 150 mph the ensuing explosion was incredible to say the least. Montoya’s car exploded first, throwing car parts everywhere on the track and causing Montoya to come to rest on the infield grass, his car reduced to nothing more than a shell, as he walked away from it unharmed. The Jet dryer however did not get off as lightly. The driver of the jet dryer was helped from his truck and away from the flaming wreck as 200 gallons of Jet fuel, used to fuel the Helicopter Turbine engine, poured down the race track and ignited. The fire crews were on hand immediately and kept the fire from getting out of hand, putting it out as soon as the jet fuel burned away.

“I wasn’t even going that fast,” Montoya recalled. “It just felt really strange, as I was talking on the radio the car just turned right . . .I have hit a lot of things. But a jet dryer? No.”

Duane Barnes, the jet dryer truck driver, was pretty shaken up, but he did get to share an ambulance ride with Juan Pablo Montoya himself.

“He was pretty scared,” Montoya said. “ . . . I am sure he is pretty shaken and is going to be sore to his person, but I think he is OK.”

The came the final 40 laps, and 3 more caution flags. As is usually the case at Daytona, as the laps wear down, so does the patience of everyone in the race. Making moves to get to the front can put you or the car next to you into the wall, fast.

The real show however was out front. Dale Earnhardt Jr Pushing Greg Biffle and both of them were chasing Matt Kenseth. On the final restart Kenseth got out front of the tandem pair behind him and stayed there. Everyone was waiting for a move to be made, for the 2 cars to blow by the single after they hooked up, but it never came. In turn 4 for the final time Dale Jr made his move on Greg Biffle and got by him but just did not have enough steam to catch the 17 car of Matt Keseth, Leaving Earnhardt to settle for 2nd.

“Those Roush cars are just really strong,” Earnhardt said. “I could get in between them. I just couldn’t get in front.”

“Even on them restarts when Dale Jr. tried to push me, I tried to give him air and stay with him, but our car just ran so good, he couldn’t quite keep up and stay attached to us,” Kenseth said. “So I had to make other moves to keep the momentum up. I think when you come to plate racing, a huge, huge percentage of it is the car and how fast the car is. But I think Thursday was really good for us, because we learned some things in them last few laps that I think probably helped a little bit [Monday].”

Greg Biffle had the catbird seat witting in second, where every other race over the weekend was won from, but he could not capitalize on the opportunity.

“Once we got straight, I pushed the gas down, I thought that we’d drive up on the back of the No. 17 without a problem,” Biffle said. “It must have just pushed enough air out in front of my car that it pushed the No. 17 car out about five, six feet in front of me, and I couldn’t get any closer. I thought, well, I need to get out from behind him because then we’ll be able to go by him. So on the back stretch I moved up a little bit, and Matt is not stupid. We had no run at him. We were all going the same speed.”

“Then we could have moved up beside him coming off the corner, and then Junior and I would have had to dice it out to the line,” he said. “That’s probably what I should have done, is just anchored down the brakes down the backstretch and put distance in between us. [That's] the only way we probably would have got a run at him. But I thought for sure I didn’t need to do that. Of course, Monday morning quarterback, I’d do it now, but I didn’t think I needed to. I thought [Earnhardt would] shove me right up to his back bumper. He had all night. I had no doubt it would happen then.”

So how did Earnhardt Jr feel after all was said and done?

“I’m very happy,” he said. “I’m really in a good place. I’m not frustrated at all, I promise. I’m in a great mood. I run second here a lot, though, so I know I don’t feel it right now, but I know later [Tuesday] and [Wednesday] and the rest of the week it’s going to eat at me what I could have done to win the race. So that is kind of frustrating.”

Crazy things continue. Under caution while gaining on the pack Juan Montoya in teh 42 car slammed into a jet dryer after something broke in his car. REd Flag on lap 160. 2 hr delay

Filed Under: Carl Edwards, Dale Earhnardt Jr, danica-patrick, daytona beach, daytona-500, Greg Biffle, jimmie-johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, matt kenseth, Motorsport, Nascar

NASCAR – Hot Weather, A Slick Track, And Kurt Busch on the Pole

June 4, 2011 by

Kurt Busch has had a wild weekend so far. After a spin out on Friday in practice things were not looking good to begin his weekend at Kansas Speedway. Things improved marginally in practice but his car seemed to come alive when it came time to qualify. Never starting better than 7th in 9 career starts here Busch was overjoyed at his starting slot and ready to take on the field.

Kurt Busch after Driver intro's in Texas – Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

“I have to thank my guys for standing behind me, not just through [Friday] but through some of the tough times we’ve been through as of late,” Busch said. “It’s an amazing world, the

world of motorsports. One day you’re down, the next day you’re up.”

As the temperature heated things up the sealer between the lanes of pavement on the track was giving everyone problems. While everyone had their own way of dealing with it, Busch’s seemed simple enough.

“You choose a lane,” Busch said. “If you want the bottom lane you choose that first lane. If you’re going in to the corner in the high groove, you choose that third lane and you really stay in it — you don’t cross over the seams because they can upset the car. But it’s not as bad now, with those being worn in over the last couple years.”

“In the summer months, I think you really have to focus on corner exit,” Busch said. “That’s where it’s really hard to put all the horsepower down that we have — to get that forward bite and traction. But when you’re a racer, you don’t care what the conditions are.”

Clint Bowyer – Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Racing at his Hometown track this weekend, Kansas native Clint Bowyer agreed that things are going to be different than in time past.

“It’s just a lot hotter and the track’s a lot slicker — the conditions are just way more extreme. But I knew it was gonna be, going into this because it’s always hot this time of year. And that’s what we love about Kansas — you just never know.”

“As it ages this track just gets better and better, the groove really widens out and it creates great racing,” Bowyer said. “It’s slick, man. Every time I come back here, the track gets slicker and slicker. But I’m telling you, for an old dirt racer that plays right in my hand. I enjoy that. That’s usually when I perform my best.”

Juan Pablo Montoya, who qualified second said the strips a not as bad as on other tracks like Atlanta and Auto Club Speedway, but it certainly made things more “interesting” in his mind.

“The seams is one of those things where, if your car is half-decent and you can use them to your advantage, you’re really fast,” Montoya said. “If the car is a handful, it makes it even worse.”

Jeff Gordon – Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Jeff Gordon won the first two races in Kansas and has had plenty of success here since, seemed to have a faster car in practice than he did in qualifying.

“To me this track has just gotten better and better every single year,” Gordon said. “I loved this track from the beginning obviously, but, like all tracks do over time as they settle in, you get some different characteristics that come into play — different bumps, you see the pavement start to wear a little bit.

“Here in Kansas, I think those things have really only made the track better because the way it wears the tires, the grip level just makes for multiple grooves. We already saw [Friday] in practice cars up against the wall, cars on the bottom, cars in the middle. That is going to make for a great race here [Sunday].”

Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and Joey Logano round out the rest of the top 5.

Tony Stewart(13th) and Greg Biffle (14th) both have a pair of wins at Kansas — but neither of them will start in the top 10.

Dale Jr qualified 28th followed by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and garage partner Jimmie Johnson in 31st.

For Jamie McMurray this has been an emotional weekend. Being so close to his hometown of Joplin Missouri he felt that he needed to go home to see what mother nature had done last week when a massive tornado ripped through the heart of the town. McMurray showed that NASCAR is always more than just race cars, but about using your celebrity to help lift the spirits of those who look up to you, when ever the opportunity presents itself. He took the time to share his emotions with the fans, visited his boyhood home, the local hospital, and stare in disbelief at the things that were simply no longer there.

“I’m sorry,” he kept saying. “I’m so sorry.” He then share his emotions with the media after taking a moment to collect himself. “I went into one of those portable bathrooms and broke down,” he said.

Looking out at the carnage stretching as far as you can see Jamie summed it up quite well. “Crazy, huh?”

Filed Under: Brian Vickers, Dale Earhnardt Jr, Greg Biffle, jamie mcmurray, jeff gordon, jimmie-johnson, Joey Loano, juan-montoya, Kansas Speedway, kurt busch, Kyle Busch, Motorsport, Nascar, tony-stewart

NASCAR – Montoya Leads the Field at Richmond Under The Lights.

April 30, 2011 by

Montoya Chats with Trevor Bayne and A.J. Allmendinger before the race in Texas – Image provided Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Juan Pablo Montoya has taken his second pole this year and is hoping he has the car that will bring him to victory lane for his first oval win in NASCAR. Montoya won the pole at 128.639 m.p.h. in his No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Reagan Smith and Clint Bowyer round out the rest of the top 3 putting Chevy all over the front of the field again. For those fans that are manufacturer driven Chevy has shown it’s dominance so far on the poles but the wins have been almost evenly divided amongst 3 0f the 4 major brands so far this year with Kyle Busch delivering Toyota’s only win so far this season.

So who’s your favourite to win in Richmond?

I always want to say Tony Stewart but his record at Richmond is not as good as I am sure he would like it to be. Dale Jr always looks good at Richmond. It is one of his, and many other drivers, favourite tracks and he always runs well here. Kevin Harvick has shown us time after time that he is able to get the job done, even better this season than last where he finished 3rd in points overall. Mr. “Where’d he come from” knows that the most important lap to lead is the last one, and he’s shown that he can close when the pressure is on.

Although Harvick has only one win at Richmond he has an amazing 9 top 10 finishes in his last 10 races here. Certainly the best record in the garage going into tonight’s Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

“Yeah, this has been a great race track for us and no matter how our year is going or has been going, this is always a place you come to as a team we think we can run good,” Harvick said Friday just before qualifying. “It’s a fun race track to race on and our car has always seemed to drive good in the race and we always seem to be able to produce a result here.”

“So that’s fun when you can come to a race track knowing that in the back of your mind.”

He believes the track lends itself to producing the best kind of racing that is both aggressive and strategic, like combining the attributes of a Talladega Superspeedway with a short track like Bristol. Richmond is almost the perfect track for stock car racing with its wide, banked corners and short configuration.

“Aggressiveness from a car standpoint, pushing the limits on your engine and taking chances on pit road that you probably don’t need to be taking as far as pit strategy and things like that,” he said. “It’s just trying to use strategy as part of your game.”

Harvick qualified 12th with a lap speed of 127.660 m.p.h.

Jeff Gordon get's the once over by a Texas Ranger – Image provided courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Jeff Gordon caused a bit of a firestorm in the media this week after stating that Dale Jr may just be too nice a guy for his own good.

While commenting about the race at Martinsville where Harvick passed Dale Jr. on the final lap to take the win, Gordon suggested he would have done things differently if he were in Jr.’s racing shoes.

“If I was Dale Jr., I would’ve pushed him (Harvick) out of the way” Gordon said. “I feel like if you’re Dale Jr. you can get away with anything.”

“It’s been a long time since he won a race (101 starts entering tonights race in Richmond) and he had a car capable of winning. I think the place would have stood up and cheered.”

So off we head into Richmond and into a series of nights races in the next few weeks and hope the cooler temperatures of the night will lend themselves to some great racing action.

Filed Under: clint bowyer, Dale Earhnardt Jr, jeff gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, kevin-harvick, Nascar, Reagan Smith, Richmond

NASCAR – Roush Dominates as David Ragan Sets The Pace in Texas

April 9, 2011 by

David Ragan scored his first Coors Light Pole award of his career yesterday turning a lap at 189.820 making his way around the track in 28.448 seconds. The young driver has been fast all year but has failed to turn his practice speeds into a pole award all year. Running up front at Daytona and in California after making his way through the field has definitely been a confidence builder for Ragan. his practice speeds were the fastest at Vegas but spinning out on the backstretch ruined his qualifying efforst and left him starting at the back of the field.

“First thing, I wasn’t backwards coming off of Turn 2 the way I was in Vegas, so that helped,” Ragan said. “When you’re fast in practice — and we’ve qualified in the top five, top 10 I think two or three times this year (fifth at Bristol and sixth at Fontana) — and when you do that, eventually you’re going to win a pole.

“And if you finish second, fifth and eighth, eventually you’ll win a race. I think that, ultimately, that’s our main goal. Our cars are just faster, and it’s just so much easier. I think we’re all qualifying a lot better because our cars are faster, they’re easier to drive and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel on qualifying days.”Ragan, who qualified last for the day, knocked Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards (188.521 mph) off the provisional pole. Edwards, the 15th driver to make a qualifying run,posted an exceptional lap that stood up until Ragan made his run.

“They approached it different than we did, I think,” Edwards said. “His car was good. I watched his lap and the line he drove. It looked like his car did exactly what he wanted it to do, especially through Turns 1 and 2. He was screaming fast. I don’t know exactly what he did differently, but I didn’t expect that lap time.

“We were so close. That is cool for David, though. If we had to be second to anyone in qualifying, David would be the guy. Those guys have been working really hard.”

Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth will be starting 3rd and 4th respectively putting Roush in 3 of the top 4 places on the starting grid.

After last weeks second place finish Dale Jr. has hopes that he is turning his luck around as we move into the 7th race of the season.

“I know that the fans don’t really like having a lot of Dale Jr. stories out there,” said Earnhardt, well aware of how polarizing the attention he receives can be. “But after this past week, there has probably been far too much commenting and discussion in the media about the finish. I feel like we’ve got more to do, and we need to do better. I can’t really control what happens other than that, other than what I’m doing in the race car. The media attention and focus that we’ve had this week has been great for our sponsors and great for Hendrick Motorsports and great for our relationships, and it’s great for me, too. I’m a little bit unassuming, I guess. It was a lot of exposure just to run second somewhere. Hopefully we can validate all that with a win soon.”

“We haven’t run that great here at Texas the last couple of years. We’ve run inside the top 10 in some of those races, and we did take the lead a little bit in those races,” said Earnhardt, who earned his first victory at NASCAR’s Cup level here in 2000, and led 46 laps in a ninth-place result here a year ago.

“Hopefully, we will do what we need to do in that race to try to be toward the front near the end,” he said. “I haven’t really finished well there in the last several trips. I’ll probably try to take care of my car a little better during the race. It is a very long race. I’ll try to make better decisions, better judgment calls to have my car there at the end when I need to be able to be around to get a good finish. I haven’t been able to do that in the last several trips there.”

While a lot of fans and media questioned Earnhardt’s reasoning for not giving Kevin Harvick the “bump and run” for the win like his daddy might have done, Jr had this to say in response.

“I don’t think that would have been the right thing to do,” Earnhardt said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to do that to me, to take me completely out of the race under any circumstances. I don’t have a history of doing that. It’s real easy to say that on the Internet. Really, on the Internet, it’s easy to say a lot of things. Everyone knows how I race. I try to race respectful and want the same in return. If it’s near the end of the race, I expect to run hard and be aggressive, and I expect the guys to race me hard and be aggressive. And I kind of think that’s what went down this past weekend.”

This week I am live in Texas reporting on the race so look for lots of new pictures from the race with the post race wrap up tomorrow.

Filed Under: Carl Edwards, clint bowyer, Dale Earhnardt Jr, David Ragan, jimmie-johnson, matt kenseth, Nascar