A year of spectacular surprises continued Sunday at the Brickyard when Paul Menard … Yes, Paul Menard … kissed the bricks after winning the Brickyard 400. Overall, Indy had a race with a 3 Star Rating, but a 5 Star storyline.
Wow. Was that race even real? Is this season even real? The variety of drivers visiting Victory Lane is reaching epic proportions. Menard became the 14th different winner in just 20 races this season.
We’ve had several of the regulars make their visit and others snap long losing streaks, but we’ve also seen new drivers.
Regan Smith, David Ragan and Menard have shown steady progress of late and the win culminated a long stretch of improvement, but for years it felt like these guys were never going to win. Their job was to challenge the winners but never really factor into the win. All of a sudden they are all factors and could bring new faces to the Chase.
Regardless, Menard’s win at the Brickyard is a stunner. This was the low-performing, family funded, way too long sideburned driver of the brightest car in the field. Menard has always been the butt of jokes, but Sunday his butt was in the air as he made NASCAR’s most famous kiss at the finish line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
What an incredible season this is becoming. The action on the track has been curiously tame the past several months, but at the end somebody new comes to the front and is able to hold onto the lead, or at least hang in the top 10 for a good finish.
Interestingly, several teams have made crew chief changes in a year where a crew chief has to make a strategy call almost every race that either puts his driver at the front or relegates him to the back of the field.
There’s also no reason to think this type of racing will change any time soon. The series hasn’t been to a track outside of Daytona in months where it hasn’t been incredibly difficult to pass, the tires continue to show little drop-off in speeds week after week and there have been very few late-race cautions.
These ingredients continue to produce a race where strategy determines where a driver finishes nearly as much as the quality of his car. It will be interesting to see if some of the regular suspects start to rack up wins as the series returns to tracks for a second time.
Overall, Indy was typical Indy until the crazy circumstances that developed at the end. It’s amazing that one of the longest tracks on the schedule can also be one of the most difficult to pass. The speeds are so high entering a corner with only one groove that drivers rarely even attempt to race side-by-side. If they do, it usually results in a big wreck. That was the case Sunday when four drivers thought they could make it through Turn 3 four-wide.
Anyway, next week it’s back to the ever-exciting Pocono Raceway. Now that Menard has a win, the Race to the Chase is on as three drivers are now eligible for the two wild-card spots. The next month or so will be fun to watch that battle continue to develop. Have a good week, everybody.
Showing posts with label Regan Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Regan Smith. Show all posts
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
More NASCAR Sprint Cup teams need to gamble to win
For the past two weeks, staying out on old tires or just taking two tires have been winning moves for both Regan Smith and Matt Kenseth. The calls came out golden for those two, but maybe more teams need to take late-race gambles even if it doesn’t end up in a victory.
Races can be won several different ways. Having a fast car is a good start, but a fair amount of luck is needed throughout the course of the event, whether it comes down to fuel mileage, tires, or just keeping the car off the wall and out of trouble.
Smith took an opportunity to jump to the front when everybody else hit the pits at Darlington. The same sort of thing worked out Sunday at Dover for Kenseth, although he took two tires and had a lot more distance between him and the four-tire crowd.
This type of strategy won’t turn into a win, or even a top-five finish, every time, but that doesn’t mean teams having a mediocre race should always follow the leader and accept their fate.
I’m always shocked more drivers who are on the back half of the lead-lap cars don’t stay out. Yes, Smith and Brad Keselowski stayed out at Darlington when they were sitting between 10th and 20th, but that means eight other drivers came in for four tires when the only thing they really had to lose was just a couple of spots. Especially with less than 10 laps to go, as was the case in the Southern 500, most of those drivers would’ve finished well ahead of where they did even if they lost several positions on the restart.
Darlington is often considered the track that is the toughest on tires, but it has to be awful inviting to see all of the leaders come in for a stop and have nothing but the pace car ahead. One of the few benefits of being so far behind is the team gets to see what all of the teams ahead of them will do. If all of the leaders are coming in, why not take a shot at winning the race. Even if every single car on the lead lap passed them back, they still would end up close to where they were before the caution.
Sunday’s race was a little different, however, and it was surprising to see Kenseth and Mark Martin, who stayed out and didn’t take any tires, maintain their positions and drive away from the field. But, both had pretty good cars throughout the race, as Smith did at Darlington.
Let's face it, only a handful of teams show up to a race track with a legitimate chance to out-run the field and win a given race. Sure, there are exceptions based on the type of track, but there's usually a lot more teams that could benefit from making a risky call from pit road than could benefit from playing it safe and banking points.
Maybe in future races more teams will be willing to take a gamble on tires late in a race. It would sure keep the season interesting, especially with the new wild-card Chase implications. It could not only get a driver a rare win, but it might just put them in contention for the championship. That would have fans howling, but that’s a topic for another day.
Races can be won several different ways. Having a fast car is a good start, but a fair amount of luck is needed throughout the course of the event, whether it comes down to fuel mileage, tires, or just keeping the car off the wall and out of trouble.
Smith took an opportunity to jump to the front when everybody else hit the pits at Darlington. The same sort of thing worked out Sunday at Dover for Kenseth, although he took two tires and had a lot more distance between him and the four-tire crowd.
This type of strategy won’t turn into a win, or even a top-five finish, every time, but that doesn’t mean teams having a mediocre race should always follow the leader and accept their fate.
I’m always shocked more drivers who are on the back half of the lead-lap cars don’t stay out. Yes, Smith and Brad Keselowski stayed out at Darlington when they were sitting between 10th and 20th, but that means eight other drivers came in for four tires when the only thing they really had to lose was just a couple of spots. Especially with less than 10 laps to go, as was the case in the Southern 500, most of those drivers would’ve finished well ahead of where they did even if they lost several positions on the restart.
Darlington is often considered the track that is the toughest on tires, but it has to be awful inviting to see all of the leaders come in for a stop and have nothing but the pace car ahead. One of the few benefits of being so far behind is the team gets to see what all of the teams ahead of them will do. If all of the leaders are coming in, why not take a shot at winning the race. Even if every single car on the lead lap passed them back, they still would end up close to where they were before the caution.
Sunday’s race was a little different, however, and it was surprising to see Kenseth and Mark Martin, who stayed out and didn’t take any tires, maintain their positions and drive away from the field. But, both had pretty good cars throughout the race, as Smith did at Darlington.
Let's face it, only a handful of teams show up to a race track with a legitimate chance to out-run the field and win a given race. Sure, there are exceptions based on the type of track, but there's usually a lot more teams that could benefit from making a risky call from pit road than could benefit from playing it safe and banking points.
Maybe in future races more teams will be willing to take a gamble on tires late in a race. It would sure keep the season interesting, especially with the new wild-card Chase implications. It could not only get a driver a rare win, but it might just put them in contention for the championship. That would have fans howling, but that’s a topic for another day.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Rating the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks: 2 Stars **
For the second straight week, a gamble on a late-race caution brought an unexpected winner to Victory Lane. This week’s winner, Matt Kenseth, wasn’t as unexpected as Darlington-winner Regan Smith, but similar strategy won him the race. Unfortunately, that was the most interesting part of a race that gets a 2 Star Rating.
Kenseth made a bold call on the final caution and it looked like there would be a heck of a battle to the finish, but the race’s three dominators, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, couldn’t come back through the field and Kenseth quickly got around Mark Martin and drove off into the sunset for a relatively uncontested victory.
Sunday’s race was actually pretty typical of Dover. The few cars that really hit the setup were able to jump to the lead and stay there as the three dominators led a combined 353 of the 400 laps. Johnson, Edwards, Jeff Gordon and others have done the same thing in the past. Sometimes that’s just the way it is at Dover for whatever reason.
Not every race is going to be thrilling the way several have been already this season, and the long green-flag runs and the opportunity for different strategies to come into play late in the race made things interesting, but I think the fans would’ve gotten more of a kick out of a three-way battle among Johnson, Edwards and Bowyer for the win rather than Kenseth driving away from everybody.
The unexpected weather also affected the racing. When a cloudy day was forecast, and much worse weather actually was called for, many cars likely had a setup under the car that did not anticipate sunshine and warm weather. With that type of weather, the track was much more slick than expected and many drivers really had to fight their cars throughout the day, and that often limits the amount of hard racing that can be done.
In the big picture, Kenseth and the #17 team are all of a sudden basically locked into the Chase, barring a major meltdown, and that certainly seems unlikely with the way the Fords have been running this season. The win bumped Kenseth up four spots in the standings and gave him two wins on the year, so even if he falls out of the top 10 in points, he still has a very good shot at getting one of the two wild card spots.
For the first time in several weeks, everybody remained relatively calm and a pair of drivers didn’t have to meet with NASCAR after the race. That’s good, because the chances of that happening next weekend are as high as there will be for a race this season.
The All-Star race is next up on the schedule and a bunch of things will be on the line in a race that doesn’t even count in the season standings. The drivers will be battling for a big check in Victory Lane, and some might end up battling each other to either attempt to settle an old score, or settle a new one.
Either way, the All-Star race is shaping up to potentially be one of the best ever. That’s saying something with the way some of those races go. Enjoy a week where points don’t matter. It’s the last time that will happen this season.
Kenseth made a bold call on the final caution and it looked like there would be a heck of a battle to the finish, but the race’s three dominators, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, couldn’t come back through the field and Kenseth quickly got around Mark Martin and drove off into the sunset for a relatively uncontested victory.
Sunday’s race was actually pretty typical of Dover. The few cars that really hit the setup were able to jump to the lead and stay there as the three dominators led a combined 353 of the 400 laps. Johnson, Edwards, Jeff Gordon and others have done the same thing in the past. Sometimes that’s just the way it is at Dover for whatever reason.
Not every race is going to be thrilling the way several have been already this season, and the long green-flag runs and the opportunity for different strategies to come into play late in the race made things interesting, but I think the fans would’ve gotten more of a kick out of a three-way battle among Johnson, Edwards and Bowyer for the win rather than Kenseth driving away from everybody.
The unexpected weather also affected the racing. When a cloudy day was forecast, and much worse weather actually was called for, many cars likely had a setup under the car that did not anticipate sunshine and warm weather. With that type of weather, the track was much more slick than expected and many drivers really had to fight their cars throughout the day, and that often limits the amount of hard racing that can be done.
In the big picture, Kenseth and the #17 team are all of a sudden basically locked into the Chase, barring a major meltdown, and that certainly seems unlikely with the way the Fords have been running this season. The win bumped Kenseth up four spots in the standings and gave him two wins on the year, so even if he falls out of the top 10 in points, he still has a very good shot at getting one of the two wild card spots.
For the first time in several weeks, everybody remained relatively calm and a pair of drivers didn’t have to meet with NASCAR after the race. That’s good, because the chances of that happening next weekend are as high as there will be for a race this season.
The All-Star race is next up on the schedule and a bunch of things will be on the line in a race that doesn’t even count in the season standings. The drivers will be battling for a big check in Victory Lane, and some might end up battling each other to either attempt to settle an old score, or settle a new one.
Either way, the All-Star race is shaping up to potentially be one of the best ever. That’s saying something with the way some of those races go. Enjoy a week where points don’t matter. It’s the last time that will happen this season.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Rating the Southern 500: 5 Stars *****
After a start to the season where the Sprint Cup Series drivers and teams minded their manners and forgave any mistakes on the track, Juan Pablo Montoya lit the fuse and the sport has gone wild once again. The 2011 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway was one of the best races the sport has seen and gets an obvious 5 Star Rating.
The first two Saturday night races following the off weekend for Easter were the first two night races of the season, and everybody’s emotions have come alive as the lights came on. They say Saturday night’s alright for fighting, and that has been the motto for several drivers the last two weeks.
Montoya and Ryan Newman had their very public battle at Richmond and in the meeting that followed with NASCAR on Friday, drivers such as Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch lost control of their emotions and snapped with profanity laced rants on their radios at Richmond, and now Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch then met fender-to-fender and face-to-face Saturday for a classic NASCAR showdown.
Harvick had given Busch a few nudges in the waning laps of the race, but then Busch pulled a Montoya move a lap later and intentionally turned Harvick up into the fence. Now, as far as penalties go, I can’t see how NASCAR would justify penalizing Busch, even with probation, after it gave Montoya a free pass after Richmond. These were nearly the exact same incidents. We could argue Montoya should have been penalized in some manner, but NASCAR shouldn’t create a double standard with these two incidents.
In other and much more positive news, Regan Smith and the #78 team finally got a much-deserved victory, and it came in one of the greatest of all NASCAR races. This win ranks right up with Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 victory to start the season, maybe even more amazing because the draft doesn’t work at Darlington.
Smith’s crew chief, Pete Rondeau, made one of the best strategy calls of the season when he told Smith to stay out on a caution with just six laps to go while nearly the rest of the lead-lap cars came in for tires. Smith leads the series with an 8.7 average starting position, and the one race he qualifies outside the top 20 is the race he comes back to win.
The race at Darlington kind of summed up what NASCAR is all about. Virtually everybody who runs full-time in the sport has a chance to win. Of all races to predict a surprise winner, the Southern 500 certainly wouldn’t have been even near the top of anybody’s list. Sure, strategy got Smith to the front, but he had made steady progress from his 23rd starting spot to get near the top 10 by the time he stayed out under caution, but he drove the wheels off of his car to hold off Carl Edwards on the final two restarts and definitely deserves to hold that trophy.
Also, it showed that the people in the sport are passionate about what they do and they will battle hard to get to the top each week. There are no longer any restrictions about how the drivers can and can’t act, and it has brought the personality of the sport back.
The races don’t get any easier as the sport heads north to battle the Monster Mile at Dover. This is another demanding race track, and I don’t see any reason why all of this drama won’t continue, unless everybody plays nice on Sundays and only light it up on Saturday nights. Plus, the All-Star race is in two weeks and there will be as much intrigue heading into that race as there has been in a long time, maybe ever. Have a great week everybody, this is good stuff.
The first two Saturday night races following the off weekend for Easter were the first two night races of the season, and everybody’s emotions have come alive as the lights came on. They say Saturday night’s alright for fighting, and that has been the motto for several drivers the last two weeks.
Montoya and Ryan Newman had their very public battle at Richmond and in the meeting that followed with NASCAR on Friday, drivers such as Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch lost control of their emotions and snapped with profanity laced rants on their radios at Richmond, and now Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch then met fender-to-fender and face-to-face Saturday for a classic NASCAR showdown.
Harvick had given Busch a few nudges in the waning laps of the race, but then Busch pulled a Montoya move a lap later and intentionally turned Harvick up into the fence. Now, as far as penalties go, I can’t see how NASCAR would justify penalizing Busch, even with probation, after it gave Montoya a free pass after Richmond. These were nearly the exact same incidents. We could argue Montoya should have been penalized in some manner, but NASCAR shouldn’t create a double standard with these two incidents.
In other and much more positive news, Regan Smith and the #78 team finally got a much-deserved victory, and it came in one of the greatest of all NASCAR races. This win ranks right up with Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 victory to start the season, maybe even more amazing because the draft doesn’t work at Darlington.
Smith’s crew chief, Pete Rondeau, made one of the best strategy calls of the season when he told Smith to stay out on a caution with just six laps to go while nearly the rest of the lead-lap cars came in for tires. Smith leads the series with an 8.7 average starting position, and the one race he qualifies outside the top 20 is the race he comes back to win.
The race at Darlington kind of summed up what NASCAR is all about. Virtually everybody who runs full-time in the sport has a chance to win. Of all races to predict a surprise winner, the Southern 500 certainly wouldn’t have been even near the top of anybody’s list. Sure, strategy got Smith to the front, but he had made steady progress from his 23rd starting spot to get near the top 10 by the time he stayed out under caution, but he drove the wheels off of his car to hold off Carl Edwards on the final two restarts and definitely deserves to hold that trophy.
Also, it showed that the people in the sport are passionate about what they do and they will battle hard to get to the top each week. There are no longer any restrictions about how the drivers can and can’t act, and it has brought the personality of the sport back.
The races don’t get any easier as the sport heads north to battle the Monster Mile at Dover. This is another demanding race track, and I don’t see any reason why all of this drama won’t continue, unless everybody plays nice on Sundays and only light it up on Saturday nights. Plus, the All-Star race is in two weeks and there will be as much intrigue heading into that race as there has been in a long time, maybe ever. Have a great week everybody, this is good stuff.
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