Sprint Cup Series defending champion Tony Stewart capitalized on several late restarts to seal the deal in Las Vegas and assure everybody he will be a major factor in the championship again this year. Although he had a great battle with Jimmie Johnson at the end, the entire race wasn’t nearly exciting and gets a 3 Star Rating.
With so many quality teams in the sport, it is relatively rare to see two of the all-time greats get the chance to compete head-to-head on the track the way Stewart and Johnson did Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With eight championships between them, the winner was going to know he beat the best competition on the track.
Other drivers tried to keep up throughout the race, but Stewart was solid as a rock and steadily moved to the front, while Johnson made his way to the front after starting 40th.
Johnson was actually involved in the two best battles on the track all day. He and Matt Kenseth had a terrific run in the first half of the race that usually isn’t seen at mile-and-a-half tracks until late in the race. Both battles were reminiscent of the Stewart and Carl Edwards battles at the end of last season.
For Stewart, Sunday’s win proves that he has certainly carried the momentum from winning the 2011 championship into 2012. With Steve Addington on top of the pit box this #14 team could have quite a run throughout the entire season, not just in the Chase.
The bulk of the race played out pretty much as expected. The big guns stayed at the front of the field throughout the day. However, most of the race was cleaner than expected. Minus two debris cautions and the two BK Racing engines overcooking their burgers, the Busch brothers had the only true incidents on the day. Kyle spun off of Turn 4 and Kurt wrecked coming out of Turn 2.
Other than the craziness at Daytona, the races at Phoenix and Las Vegas have been noticeably calmer than normal. Both races had large, multicar incidents last year as it seemed like drivers got acclimated to racing again for the new season. This year drivers have raced hard, but they’ve kept it clean. Nobody has even attempted a verbal throwdown in a post-race interview.
As far as the points standings are concerned, Greg Biffle took over the lead from Denny Hamlin, who had an awful day and finished 20th. This is the point in the season where the standings start to shake out and morph into how they will look for the majority of the season. Except for Mark Martin in 10th and Paul Menard in 11th, the Chase would be considered fairly normal with everybody who would receive a Chase berth.
Both Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano may be somewhat of a surprise sitting eighth and ninth, respectively, but these are two drivers who have run with a fully sponsored team in a large organization for several years now, and it is about time for them to consistently run near the front or go find another ride.
In any case, next week is Bristol and that is sure to stir everything up. Nothing cures a quiet start the season like a trip to Thunder Valley where a clean car at the end of the day probably means you didn’t drive it hard enough.
Have a great week, everybody.
Showing posts with label Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Show all posts
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The pain of death
Auto racing is a dangerous sport. We all get that. However, that doesn’t change the extreme grief and pain that comes along with death.
Former IndyCar Series champion and defending Indianapolis 500 Champion Dan Wheldon died Sunday after an incredibly bad wreck 11 laps into the final race of the IndyCar season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It has been a while since motorsports lost a driver because of injuries sustained in a racing crash in America. The last IndyCar driver to die because of a crash was Paul Dana in 2006 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Dale Earnhardt was the last NASCAR fatality after his wreck in the 2001 Daytona 500.
That, however, doesn’t make it any easier or more difficult to deal with the death of a racecar driver. One death is by far one too many, and each time a series director has to make that awful announcement, it is the absolutely worst words that have to be said. Unfortunately, we live in a sinful world where things don’t always turn out on the good side.
It is horrible to say, but deaths in auto racing have been fairly common throughout
the years. However, now every national race is on television and racing safety has improved to the point where we all want to hope that the latest death is always the final one.
To say the least, those three hours of ABC’s coverage Sunday were difficult to watch. I’m sure many fans felt those terrible emotions that bubble up during a horrific wreck.
First there’s the shock of what happened. No racing accident is expected, especially one with the severity of Sunday’s wreck.
Then there are the hold-your-breath moments directly after the wreck where you make sure everybody is able to either drive away, as Jimmie Johnson did in the NASCAR race Saturday night at Charlotte, or at least walk away.
In the last decade, that has almost always been the case. No matter how bad the wreck looks, the driver is able to get out of the car. We’ve seen it in both NASCAR and Indycar. Elliot Sadler got out of his car after hitting the inside wall at Pocono head-on, and while Mike Conway didn’t walk away from a wreck at the end of the 2010 Indy 500 when he flipped up into the fence, he still came away with injuries no worse than what would put a football player on injured reserve.
But, when that doesn’t happen, then we are left with that empty feeling of not knowing what is going on and what condition the driver is in. At that point a mix hope and fear starts to set in.
In Earnhardt’s case, everybody saw the ambulance rushing out of Daytona International Speedway. On Sunday, everybody saw the medical helicopter take off. At that point best-case scenarios start to run through people’s mind, such as, “Well, he’s hurt, but it probably isn’t too serious and he will be fine.”
Then we wait.
And then we hear the news.
That’s when the bottom falls out of your heart. The series representative makes the announcement, there is again initial shock and then people start to comprehend what that statement really means. Dan Wheldon will not be coming back.
That feeling is the lowest of lows. Yes, there is nothing worse in racing, but there is also nothing worse in life.
Death is bad. It hurts everybody. People lost not simply a racecar driver Sunday; they lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother and a friend.
Emotions in the wake of Sunday’s accident will surely cover the spectrum. Some will be sad, some will say, “Hey, it’s a dangerous sport,” and some will be angry at the series or the race track or the entire situation.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. The hurt of losing someone you personally knew, or knew vicariously through the television, is the worst kind of hurt. Maybe the sport will continue to become safer in the wake of Wheldon’s death, he was the main driver testing a new, safer car model for 2012, but ultimately Sunday was a dark day.
Dan Wheldon will be missed.
Former IndyCar Series champion and defending Indianapolis 500 Champion Dan Wheldon died Sunday after an incredibly bad wreck 11 laps into the final race of the IndyCar season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It has been a while since motorsports lost a driver because of injuries sustained in a racing crash in America. The last IndyCar driver to die because of a crash was Paul Dana in 2006 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Dale Earnhardt was the last NASCAR fatality after his wreck in the 2001 Daytona 500.
That, however, doesn’t make it any easier or more difficult to deal with the death of a racecar driver. One death is by far one too many, and each time a series director has to make that awful announcement, it is the absolutely worst words that have to be said. Unfortunately, we live in a sinful world where things don’t always turn out on the good side.
It is horrible to say, but deaths in auto racing have been fairly common throughout
the years. However, now every national race is on television and racing safety has improved to the point where we all want to hope that the latest death is always the final one.
To say the least, those three hours of ABC’s coverage Sunday were difficult to watch. I’m sure many fans felt those terrible emotions that bubble up during a horrific wreck.
First there’s the shock of what happened. No racing accident is expected, especially one with the severity of Sunday’s wreck.
Then there are the hold-your-breath moments directly after the wreck where you make sure everybody is able to either drive away, as Jimmie Johnson did in the NASCAR race Saturday night at Charlotte, or at least walk away.
In the last decade, that has almost always been the case. No matter how bad the wreck looks, the driver is able to get out of the car. We’ve seen it in both NASCAR and Indycar. Elliot Sadler got out of his car after hitting the inside wall at Pocono head-on, and while Mike Conway didn’t walk away from a wreck at the end of the 2010 Indy 500 when he flipped up into the fence, he still came away with injuries no worse than what would put a football player on injured reserve.
But, when that doesn’t happen, then we are left with that empty feeling of not knowing what is going on and what condition the driver is in. At that point a mix hope and fear starts to set in.
In Earnhardt’s case, everybody saw the ambulance rushing out of Daytona International Speedway. On Sunday, everybody saw the medical helicopter take off. At that point best-case scenarios start to run through people’s mind, such as, “Well, he’s hurt, but it probably isn’t too serious and he will be fine.”
Then we wait.
And then we hear the news.
That’s when the bottom falls out of your heart. The series representative makes the announcement, there is again initial shock and then people start to comprehend what that statement really means. Dan Wheldon will not be coming back.
That feeling is the lowest of lows. Yes, there is nothing worse in racing, but there is also nothing worse in life.
Death is bad. It hurts everybody. People lost not simply a racecar driver Sunday; they lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother and a friend.
Emotions in the wake of Sunday’s accident will surely cover the spectrum. Some will be sad, some will say, “Hey, it’s a dangerous sport,” and some will be angry at the series or the race track or the entire situation.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. The hurt of losing someone you personally knew, or knew vicariously through the television, is the worst kind of hurt. Maybe the sport will continue to become safer in the wake of Wheldon’s death, he was the main driver testing a new, safer car model for 2012, but ultimately Sunday was a dark day.
Dan Wheldon will be missed.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Could Bruton bring Bristol back?
For the eighth time since the track was repaved in 2007, the Sprint Cup Series will head to Bristol Motor Speedway for another go-around on the World’s Fastest Half-Mile.
While the half-mile track may still be fast, it isn’t nearly as rough and tough as it was before the repave -- an issue that has caused much discussion among fans and people who work in the sport. Drivers sit on both sides of the fence. Some say they like the new progressive banking that has allowed drivers to run side-by-side through the corners, and others say they like it better the old way when the bottom lane was the only racing groove.
As for fans, they have spoken with both their mouths and their wallets. Yes, the bad economy has played a major part in the lack of recent sellouts, but some of that problem might be because the racing simply isn’t the same. It is now rare to see a driver punt the car in front of him out of the way to make a pass, because he doesn’t have to; he can simply try his luck on the outside.
Although people within the sport are split on the issue, it’s still the elephant in the room. Fans miss the old Bristol, and the intensity hasn’t been around the recent races as it was in the past. Sure, the buildup to last year’s fall race was fun, but who wouldn’t have wanted to see Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch beat and bang their way to the front instead of run side-by-side? Bristol is unique in the fact that many fans actually prefer to see single-file racing rather than side-by-side, which is what most tracks strive for.
But Bristol has never been similar to most tracks.
Other than the dustup between Busch and Carl Edwards at the fall race in 2008, there hasn’t been another “Bristol moment” since. Throughout the ‘90s and early part of the past decade, nearly every race had a defining moment that lives on in the highlights even today. Dale Earnhardt spun out Terry Labonte multiple times, Rusty Wallace put the fender to Ricky Rudd and Jeff Gordon did the same to Wallace, not to mention the day Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer got into it in the spring race in 2002.
Plus, after the race it was nearly guaranteed a driver would be upset enough with another driver that he would go and have a “discussion” on pit road or in the garage area.
Want to return to those days? There could be some hope. Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Bruton Smith owns Bristol Motor Speedway, and he has shown in the past he’s willing to fork out the money to fix a mistake. He repaved Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2006 after the diamond-grinding disaster that caused a record number of cautions. He also redesigned Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 2007 season to add more banking and tighten up the racing. Why not do the same for Bristol?
A move to once again repave Bristol and take out the progressive banking would be welcomed by many fans, and if anybody has the money and power to do it, Smith does.
While the half-mile track may still be fast, it isn’t nearly as rough and tough as it was before the repave -- an issue that has caused much discussion among fans and people who work in the sport. Drivers sit on both sides of the fence. Some say they like the new progressive banking that has allowed drivers to run side-by-side through the corners, and others say they like it better the old way when the bottom lane was the only racing groove.
As for fans, they have spoken with both their mouths and their wallets. Yes, the bad economy has played a major part in the lack of recent sellouts, but some of that problem might be because the racing simply isn’t the same. It is now rare to see a driver punt the car in front of him out of the way to make a pass, because he doesn’t have to; he can simply try his luck on the outside.
Although people within the sport are split on the issue, it’s still the elephant in the room. Fans miss the old Bristol, and the intensity hasn’t been around the recent races as it was in the past. Sure, the buildup to last year’s fall race was fun, but who wouldn’t have wanted to see Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch beat and bang their way to the front instead of run side-by-side? Bristol is unique in the fact that many fans actually prefer to see single-file racing rather than side-by-side, which is what most tracks strive for.
But Bristol has never been similar to most tracks.
Other than the dustup between Busch and Carl Edwards at the fall race in 2008, there hasn’t been another “Bristol moment” since. Throughout the ‘90s and early part of the past decade, nearly every race had a defining moment that lives on in the highlights even today. Dale Earnhardt spun out Terry Labonte multiple times, Rusty Wallace put the fender to Ricky Rudd and Jeff Gordon did the same to Wallace, not to mention the day Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer got into it in the spring race in 2002.
Plus, after the race it was nearly guaranteed a driver would be upset enough with another driver that he would go and have a “discussion” on pit road or in the garage area.
Want to return to those days? There could be some hope. Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Bruton Smith owns Bristol Motor Speedway, and he has shown in the past he’s willing to fork out the money to fix a mistake. He repaved Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2006 after the diamond-grinding disaster that caused a record number of cautions. He also redesigned Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 2007 season to add more banking and tighten up the racing. Why not do the same for Bristol?
A move to once again repave Bristol and take out the progressive banking would be welcomed by many fans, and if anybody has the money and power to do it, Smith does.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Rating the Kobalt Tools 400: 3 Stars ***
The wild and crazy start to the season finally settled down in the unlikeliest of places: Las Vegas. But, that was the case as Tony Stewart dominated the day but couldn’t close the deal. The first race of the season without a big wreck gets a 3 Star Rating.
After two weeks of beating and banging and pedal-to-the-floor action, Vegas came across as tame. Even though it’s a mile-and-a-half racetrack, Vegas usually still has pretty good, tight racing, but everyone spread out for the most part in a race that had several long green flag runs.
This isn’t to say it was a terrible race. There will be worse this season, but this was the first one that looked like aerodynamics came into play. Some teams really hit the setup on the nose, and others struggled to move through the field.
Hopefully, the new nose won’t make it difficult to pass on these types of racetracks, and overall, I think the change in the nose will have less of an effect than the change to the spoiler last year.
Congratulations this week go to Carl Edwards, the #99 team and the entire Ford organization. Ford dominated the weekend, but small mistakes plagued its teams during the race as both Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle had issues that put them deep in the field.
Kenseth had a tire go down early in the race that put him a lap down, and he never fully recovered and came in 11th although he had arguably the fastest car in the field.
Biffle’s team had issues getting fuel in the car throughout the day, and he ended up three laps down in 28th.
However, Stewart had the car to beat as he led 163 laps and dominated the race like Jeff Gordon in the ‘90s. But, a pit road penalty where he pulled the air gun out of the pit box put him at the back of the field.
To recover, his crew chief, Darian Grubb, made the decision to take two tires on the second-to-last pit stop. This put Stewart out front, and he was able to pull away from the field with just two fresh tires, but then he had to take four tires on the final stop while everyone else took just two. His car was good enough to climb back to second, but time ran out and Mr. Backflip cruised into Victory Lane.
Pit road penalties affected several drivers Sunday, including Trevor Bayne, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton. It has always been tough to get slowed down coming on to pit road at Vegas, so these miscues should have been expected, but they were no less devastating.
Finally, a few drivers who should be recognized for strong efforts include Marcos Ambrose and Ryan Newman. This was the first time Ambrose has had a chance to shine in his new ride and Newman has quietly snuck into fifth in the points standings with back-to-back fifth place finishes after he led the most laps at Daytona. Newman could be a legit contender come Chase time.
Next up is Bristol in a couple of weeks. That darn early season off week interrupts these two races, but at least that will change next season when Daytona is a week later and this off week is eliminated. So, hopefully this week’s momentary lull translates into some great action at the bullring in Tennessee. Have a great week.
After two weeks of beating and banging and pedal-to-the-floor action, Vegas came across as tame. Even though it’s a mile-and-a-half racetrack, Vegas usually still has pretty good, tight racing, but everyone spread out for the most part in a race that had several long green flag runs.
This isn’t to say it was a terrible race. There will be worse this season, but this was the first one that looked like aerodynamics came into play. Some teams really hit the setup on the nose, and others struggled to move through the field.
Hopefully, the new nose won’t make it difficult to pass on these types of racetracks, and overall, I think the change in the nose will have less of an effect than the change to the spoiler last year.
Congratulations this week go to Carl Edwards, the #99 team and the entire Ford organization. Ford dominated the weekend, but small mistakes plagued its teams during the race as both Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle had issues that put them deep in the field.
Kenseth had a tire go down early in the race that put him a lap down, and he never fully recovered and came in 11th although he had arguably the fastest car in the field.
Biffle’s team had issues getting fuel in the car throughout the day, and he ended up three laps down in 28th.
However, Stewart had the car to beat as he led 163 laps and dominated the race like Jeff Gordon in the ‘90s. But, a pit road penalty where he pulled the air gun out of the pit box put him at the back of the field.
To recover, his crew chief, Darian Grubb, made the decision to take two tires on the second-to-last pit stop. This put Stewart out front, and he was able to pull away from the field with just two fresh tires, but then he had to take four tires on the final stop while everyone else took just two. His car was good enough to climb back to second, but time ran out and Mr. Backflip cruised into Victory Lane.
Pit road penalties affected several drivers Sunday, including Trevor Bayne, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton. It has always been tough to get slowed down coming on to pit road at Vegas, so these miscues should have been expected, but they were no less devastating.
Finally, a few drivers who should be recognized for strong efforts include Marcos Ambrose and Ryan Newman. This was the first time Ambrose has had a chance to shine in his new ride and Newman has quietly snuck into fifth in the points standings with back-to-back fifth place finishes after he led the most laps at Daytona. Newman could be a legit contender come Chase time.
Next up is Bristol in a couple of weeks. That darn early season off week interrupts these two races, but at least that will change next season when Daytona is a week later and this off week is eliminated. So, hopefully this week’s momentary lull translates into some great action at the bullring in Tennessee. Have a great week.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Vegas will show who major players will be this season
In past years, by the time the Sprint Cup Series stopped by Las Vegas, everyone had a pretty good idea of which teams would be serious contenders for the rest of the season, but that has changed this year.
With the move to Phoenix as the second race of the season instead of California, the first three weeks of the season each test a different skill set for the drivers and teams.
Daytona is the monstrous restrictor-plate track that is all about speed and how a driver can work the draft, Phoenix drives like a short track because it is flat and the drivers have a lot of control over their outcome, as compared to Las Vegas where aerodynamics are more of a factor in how well the car performs.
When the second race was at California, a track with similarities to Las Vegas in that aerodynamics are important, the cars that did well in the first race would do well in the second, as well, and from then on everyone knew drivers such as Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards would be the ones to beat for the championship.
This year has been different, however. As is often the case, the Daytona 500 winner came out of nowhere, and that race can’t be used as a barometer for the rest of the season. But, just because Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Johnson were good at Phoenix doesn’t mean they will be as strong at tracks such as Las Vegas.
We already saw in qualifying Friday the Fords showed up to Sin City ready to roll, as four of the top five qualifiers drove a Ford Fusion, yet last week only two Fords qualified in the top 10.
Also, last season Johnson won both California and Las Vegas, while Carl Edwards did the same thing in 2008. Now, Jeff Gordon could certainly win the race this weekend, but he will have to do it with a much different setup in the car than he did last week.
So while the points and contenders will all likely even out as the season moves on and the series visits places such as California and Kansas, it is still a more intriguing start to the season to have three different types of race tracks in the first three weeks. Plus, we know Phoenix will be the wrench in things at the end of the season, as well, unless the repave makes it more of a generic track.
Let’s hope that’s not the case.
With the move to Phoenix as the second race of the season instead of California, the first three weeks of the season each test a different skill set for the drivers and teams.
Daytona is the monstrous restrictor-plate track that is all about speed and how a driver can work the draft, Phoenix drives like a short track because it is flat and the drivers have a lot of control over their outcome, as compared to Las Vegas where aerodynamics are more of a factor in how well the car performs.
When the second race was at California, a track with similarities to Las Vegas in that aerodynamics are important, the cars that did well in the first race would do well in the second, as well, and from then on everyone knew drivers such as Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards would be the ones to beat for the championship.
This year has been different, however. As is often the case, the Daytona 500 winner came out of nowhere, and that race can’t be used as a barometer for the rest of the season. But, just because Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Johnson were good at Phoenix doesn’t mean they will be as strong at tracks such as Las Vegas.
We already saw in qualifying Friday the Fords showed up to Sin City ready to roll, as four of the top five qualifiers drove a Ford Fusion, yet last week only two Fords qualified in the top 10.
Also, last season Johnson won both California and Las Vegas, while Carl Edwards did the same thing in 2008. Now, Jeff Gordon could certainly win the race this weekend, but he will have to do it with a much different setup in the car than he did last week.
So while the points and contenders will all likely even out as the season moves on and the series visits places such as California and Kansas, it is still a more intriguing start to the season to have three different types of race tracks in the first three weeks. Plus, we know Phoenix will be the wrench in things at the end of the season, as well, unless the repave makes it more of a generic track.
Let’s hope that’s not the case.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Rating the Shelby American: 2 Stars **
Plenty of energy surrounded the Las Vegas Motor Speedway throughout the weekend and the weather Sunday was perfect. However, the race was a bit of a letdown as Jeff Gordon dominated and should have won the event going away, but instead the default winner rolled into Victory Lane. While there were good parts to the weekend, the race gets a 2 Star Rating.
So much for Jimmie Johnson waiting until the Chase to get things fired up. He is now on pace to win 24 races this season. The COT was supposed to create parity? Wait, a COT with a spoiler was supposed to create parity, or maybe Johnson is just really good. Anyway, Johnson and the #48 team continue to prove it is the Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon, etc. of this generation. As much as everyone hates it, Johnson’s dominance is remarkable. Maybe for once the Chase will actually hurt Johnson because at this rate he could have a hefty points lead come September.
As this is the Monday Morning Crew Chief post of the week, it would be fitting to second guess a decision made Sunday, and this one is pretty obvious. Steve Letarte’s decision to go with two tires on the final pit stop cost Jeff Gordon the win. When both Gordon and Johnson were on the same set of tires, they ran similar lap times and the #48 was doing its best just to keep within striking distance. When Gordon took two tires, the race was over. Gordon probably had the stronger car, and did hold onto the lead for several laps before Johnson could make the pass (during a commercial). It’s hard to find possible reasons for taking only two tires in that situation. Had the #24 gone with four tires, there is a very good chance it would have beat Johnson out of the pits anyway. Looks like Gordon passed on the lucky horseshoe to Johnson around 2002 or so.
However, Gordon’s domination of the event did serve notice that he will once again be in the running for the championship as the season winds down toward Homestead. He hasn’t dominated an event like that since the early part of last decade in a few races at Dover. But, back in those days he finished off the deal and won the race. That is where things have changed.
OK, enough of Hendrick Motorsports talk. There were other things that made this a less-than-stellar event. Friday, the entire TV compound went down so viewers missed the last half of qualifying, one that included Kurt Busch setting a new track record. Then Sunday, the caution lights malfunctioned twice, bringing out two unnecessary cautions. However, I suppose this is better than debris cautions. So far, only one debris caution on the year in the Sprint Cup Series. Thank you NASCAR.
Next week the series comes back to the Southeast to run at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This is always one of the better tracks on the circuit and, with the progress Goodyear has made in the tires, this could be the best spring race at Atlanta since the COT was introduced.
Although Johnson is winning everything right now, Kevin Harvick has been right behind him in the past two races. He could well be a factor again this week as he had a car capable of winning the Labor Day race at Atlanta in 2009. Have a fantastic week everybody.
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