Newspaper Page Text
* WENDESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2007
12
JHBPHi i 5 --•- 1 .-,a,;. .. JHHIIM| JpiMHPMHPHBBBHIMMh^
■ M ■ »\ JM ißtJi Hn a Jy flf VB
ON-THE-TUBE-
AH times Eastern
Nextel Cup
Life Lock 400,
1 p.m., Sunday
Buech Series
Yellow Transportation ■UB# II 2
300,3 p.m., Saturday
Truck Series /MMMT
Mountain Dew 250, Afrffffit/
_ _ - . « CHAMNMI.
3:30 p.m., Oct. 6
■ BURNING ISSUES
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said it's go
ing to take 15 years to get the
full potential out of the Car of
Tomorrow. So maybe tomorrow
isn't here yet, after all.
* Talladega figures to be a cru
cial test for the COT, which has
never been raced on a track
larger than Darlington (1.366
miles) or on one where restric
tor plates are used.
S> Both Clint Bowyer and Carl Ed
wards would rather win at
Kansas Speedway than any
where else. Bowyer, from Empo
ria, Kan., and Edwards, from Co
lumbia, Mo., won the two races
leading up to the one at their
home track.
*■ The COT was designed in part
to reduce the effect of “aero
push,” the phenomenon that of
ten gives the vehicle out front a
distinct advantage. At least for
now, it seems as if aero push is
greater in COTs than in the oth
er design.
* Twenty-eight of the final 41
laps in Dover’s Nextel Cup race
were run under caution, thanks
to a succession of crashes. The
Busch race was even more
mgrred by crashes.
► The topsy-turvy results of the
Dodge Dealers 400 tightened
the Nextel Cup points standings
at the top. Pending any action
taken against Edwards’ winning
team, the top four were separat
ed by four points.
► The overall range from first to
12th increased from 102 points
to 158, however. Eighteen
points separated the top six
drivers, but from seventh place
on back, the Chase morphed
into a game of catch-up.
The championship can be won
by consistency, as Tony Stewart
proved in 2005 when he
claimed the title even though he
didn’t win any of the final 10
races.
► The likelihood, however, is that
each of the 12 Chase partici
pants will suffer at least one
bad race. A driver who visits vic
tory lane several times can
probably afford a couple of bad
showings.
- WHO’S H &&m.
AND WHO’S NOT •*
E* v
► Who’s hot
Carl Ed
wards, from
Columbia,
Mo., and
Clint Bowyer,
from Empo
ria, Kan.,
have won
the races
leading up to
Edwards
the race at their home track,
Kansas Speedway.
► Who's not Denny Hamlin
lost 76 points in the Chase,
and Kurt Busch dropped 49.
But it's early yet, and there's
plenty of time to recover.
The Points Race
Nextel Cup
1. Jeff Gordon 5,340
2. Tony Stewart - 2
3. Carl Edwards - 3
4. Jimmie Johnson -jl
8. Kyle Busch -10
3. Clint Bowyer -18
7. Martin Truex Jr. 46
8. Jeff Burton -75
9. Kevin Harvick ■ 115
10. Matt Kenseth 116
3UL Kurt Busch -151
12. Denny Hamlin 158
Busch Series
1. Carl Edwards 4,153
2. David Reutlmann - 754
3. Kevin Harvick 888
4. Jason Leffler 908
6. David Ragan* -1,065
6. Bobby Hamilton Jr. -1,107
7. Greg Biffle 1,234
8. Marcos Ambrose* -1,255
9. Stephen Leicht -1,322
10. Mike Wallace -1,352
Craftsman Truck Series
■L. Mike SWnner 3.064
3. Ron Hornaday Jr.
3. Travis Kvapil -181
4. Todd Bodlne -314
5. Johnny Benson 398
0
■ Race: Life Lock 400
■ Where: Kansas (City, Kan.)
Speedway (1.5 miles), 267
laps/400.5 miles.
■ When: Sunday, Sept. 30
■ Last year's winner: Tony
Stewart
■ Qualifying record: Matt
Kenseth, Ford, 180.856 mph,
Oct. 8, 2005.
■ Race record: Mark Martin,
Ford, 137.774 mph, Oct. 9,
2005.
■ Last week: For an hour or so,
Carl Edwards and his No. 99
Ford stood out like a beacon
over the ravaged grounds of
Dover International Speedway.
For one bright, shining moment,
it was Camelot. But Edwards,
whose third win of the season
WHAT’ SU PN EXT
Greg Biffle
- r
ipw
. ;,v" ' - -
11 yS
KuJ mm Id mi 4 WKmmMS
m I |y 1 jfl m § /§§
John Clark/NASCAR This Week
Greg Biffle says that NASCAR Is becoming more like Formula One - less emphasis on driving and more on technology.
Biffle’s Baffled
Veteran says NASCAR technology is spinning out of control fast
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
DOVER, Del. As a driver, Greg
Biffle fits the racer’s cliche “up on the
wheel,” but times are changing, and
Biffle is concerned that stock-car rac
ing is losing its identity in a way that
isn’t being widely perceived.
Biffle frets about technology spin
ning out of control.
“This sport ... is changing really
fast,” he Said. “I’ll be interested to
see, over the next 10 years, how it
changes. I think it will change even
more.
“We’ve entered a whole new era out
here. That’s going to change the way a
car drives and the way a guy drives it.
It’s going to change where dominant,
successful drivers come from in the
Cup Series. We’re experiencing a his
toric departure.”
Biffle isn’t worried about Formula
One drivers in NASCAR. He’s worried
about FI technology.
Until recent years, a key factor in
Drivers change, but the beers remain the same
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
DOVER, Del. - Kurt Busch
succeeded Rusty Wallace in
2006 as Miller Lite’s represen
tative in NASCAR, and he was
asked about the prospect of
Kasey Kahne succeeding Dale
Earnhardt Jr. as driver of “the
Budweiser car.”
“Things develop over time,”
said Busch, “and I think people
are receptive to change when
things take time to develop. ...
No one guy is going to replace
Rusty (Wallace) with the same
impact Rusty had developed
with the Miller Brewing Com
pany over the years.
“The same thing falls into
place with Dale Jr. leading that
other beer company as long as
he did, ... so it’s going to take
Kasey (Kahne) some time to
develop into that guy and the
fans to look at him as that guy.
In time it will balance out. He
definitely is one of those quiet,
shy guys, with probably the
loudest sponsor there is.”
► If you have a question or a comment, write: NASCAR This Week, c/o The Gaston Gazette, RO. Box 1538, Gastonia, NC 28053
- semes
will undoubtedly stand, left the
scene blissfully unaware of the
fact that his winning car had
flunked post-race inspection.
According to NASCAR officials,
the right rear corner of his car
was a half inch too low. It was
a fitting end to the most flawed
and blemished of Nextel Cup
races. Following the estab
lished pattern, NASCAR will al
most certainly do something to
Edwards and owner Jack
Roush, but not much. Edwards
won the race comfortably, fin
ishing .671 of a second ahead
of Roush Fenway Racing team
mate Greg Biffle and covering
the field so thoroughly that only
five other cars even finished on
the lead lap.
HNBTO»ANB»BQtaF6*
Not the prevailing view
Jimmie Johnson, who has two
teammates in the Chase, said he
doesn’t believe it’s an advantage.
“I’ve been through some dif
ferent scenarios,” he said, "and
I feel like, when you’re the only
guy in the Chase (from one
team), there’s a little bit more
of an advantage because it’s to
the company’s best interest
that you win the Chase. Grant
ed, the engines are all the
same, but you get the engine
with a couple more horsepow
er. You get all the focus.
“There are some small deci
sions that can be made to give
that one teammate just a little
bit of an advantage, not a lot,
not something that you can
probably measure, but it does
make a small difference.”
It’s time Robert Yates
talked about his decision to re-,
tire and turn his team over to
son Doug.
BUSCH SERIFS ]
■ Race: Yellow Transporta
tion 300
■ Where: Kansas (City,
Kan.) Speedway (1.5 miles),
200 laps/300 miles.
■ When: Saturday, Sept. 29
■ Last year's winner: Kevin
Harvick
■ Qualifying record: Martin
Truex Jr., Chevrolet,
178.938 mph, Oct. 8,
2005.
■ Race record: Jeff Green,
Ford, 129.125 mph, Sept.
29, 2001.
■ Last week: Denny Hamlin
fought off flu symptoms
and won the race at Dover
International Speedway.
IN SPQTUGHT
Nextel Cup Series
success was the ability of a driver to
communicate to his mechanics the
proper feel of a car. Now it’s flip
flopped. Highly detailed computer
models determine the fastest way
around the track, and finding a driver
who can adapt to what is essentially
predetermined is now crucial.
“Some people deny that fact,” said
Biffle, “and say, yeah, it might help.
No. We were at Loudon (N.H.) last
week, and the engineer, who has all
the simulation stuff in Michigan,
could determine what it was going to
do to change the front sway bar better
than what we could determine at the
track.
“Everything I can tell from the seat
of my pants and I tell them to do to
the car is totally wrong. If you want
FI technology in the United States, in
NASCAR, you have it now. The seven
post shaker rigs and the simulation
stuff that we have now is better than
us coming to the race track.”
Biffle thinks NASCAR doesn’t realize
the implications of what’s happening.
GRAFTSMANTRUCJ^
■ Race: Mountain Dew 250
■ Where: Talladega (Ala.)
Superspeedway (2.66
miles), 94 laps/250.4
miles.
■ When: Saturday, Oct. 6
■ Last year's winner: Mark
Martin
■ Qualifying record: Mark
Martin, Ford, 182.320
mph, Oct. 6, 2006.
■ Race record: Mark Mar
tin, Ford, 138.207 mph,
Oct. 7, 2006.
■ Last week: Travis Kvapil
drove a Ford to victory at
Las Vegas Motor Speed
way.
No. 16 Nintendo Wii Ford
“The kids do so much better
when it’s their decisions, when
they have to tough through it,”
he saidl’Tt’s just hard to pass
the wisdom. It’s hard to pass on
anything to your kids, but Doug
Yates is pretty close on my
heels to help build this the last
20 or so years.
“He’s not like a normal sec
ond-generation, silver-spoon
kid, but he’s learning. He wants
to do this, and the best thing
for me to do is let him make
these decisions, whether it be
the number or how he runs or
what he does. It’s up to Doug.”
Survivor Jeff Gordon
summed up Sunday’s slugfest
this way: “It wasn't pretty, but
it was effective because we
survived and a lot of people
didn't. What this race is about
is survival. We certainly didn't
have the car we hoped to.”
Copycats Jeff Burton
passed up an opportunity to
“NASCAR doesn’t know it’s that dras
tic of a swing right now, but that’s the
whole stock-car deal,” he said. “I think,
over the next year, they’re going to be
disappointed with how much engineer
ing and data is driving these cars.
“They need to get their arms around
the data-acquisition stuff. I’m not say
ing we don’t need to have data at tests,
but it’s gotten out of hand quickly, and
I don’t know what the solution is. I
think there’s a tidal wave coming. Un
til three weeks ago, I didn’t realize it.
I’ve come to the conclusion that this is
no longer what people think it is.”
Two years ago, Biffle was runner-up
for the Nextel Cup championship. The
Vancouver, Wash., native has been
rookie of the year and champion in
two of NASCAR's three major series.
He is the only driver to win champi
onships in both the Craftsman Truck
(2000) and Busch (2002) series.
Want to read more from Monte
Dutton? Check out http//www.gas
tongazette.com/sections/sports/nascar
praise the impending arrival of
more internationally known
drivers for instance, Jacques
Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti
and Scott Speed —■ in NASCAR.
“This sport has been a mon
key-see, monkey-do sport for a
long time,” he said, calling
Nextel Cup “a copycat series.”
While Burton conceded that
having drivers of international
renown compete in NASCAR is
a compliment to NASCAR's
growth, Burton said, “There’s
not much innovation in that
driver search.”
A dynamic world Kyle
Busch said the year has made
him a better man. Busch is
moving to Joe Gibbs Racing
next year after being shoved
out the Hendrick door to make
room for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“It’s been a learning experi
ence,” he said. “It’s been some
thing different. I'm still build
ing on trying to make sure we
finish out the year strong and
that we’re able to compete for
the championship.
Sept. 30
"jf
Fmjgtu Distance: 1.5 mile oval '
Length of frontstreteb: 2,685 ft., XJm
Length of backstretch: 2,207 ft
| gag, Mites/Laps: 501 mi. - 334 laps CT I |
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
FEUD OF THE WEEK
V
E
R
S
U
S
Hamlin
Denny Hamlin
vs. Kyle Petty
The second-year sensation and
the veteran clashed on the track and
in the garage, as Petty was so infuri
ated at Hamlin that he interspersed
his lecture with a forceful tag of
Hamlin’s helmet visor. “I watched the
Busch race (which Hamlin won), and
I know Denny (Hamlin) was
sick,"said Petty. “I just didn’t know
he was hallucinating and needed
three lanes to get up off the corner,
because he ran all over me.” Retort
ed Hamlin, “I know Kyle (Petty) gets
run over a lot, and a lot of the rea
son is that he's so far off the pace.”
NASCAR This Week's Monte
Dutton gives his take: “Sometimes
It’s hard to come up with a weekly
feud. Sometimes it's hard to come
up with just one.”
FAN TIRS
Kids get quite a deal at
Martinsville this season
Martinsville Speedway is offering
a kids’ ticket deal for the Oct. 21
Subway 500. When an adult purchas
es a regularly priced ticket on the
back straight, kids .12 and under get
in free. The child's ticket must be
picked up at the ticket office when
the adult ticket is purchased. All chil
dren need reserved tickets to get into
the backstretch grandstands, so
when buying adult tickets, please
make the ticket agent aware of the
number of children's tickets needed.
Adult tickets on the back straight are
$47 and $42 and may be purchased
by calling 1-877-RACETIX or online at
www. racet ickets. com.
*t€TT€RSfROM-OURfIEAP£ftS»
Not exactly a big fan
of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
(We) don't know why Hendrick let
Kyle Busch go and hired Dale (Earn
hardt) Jr. Busch is a much better
driver. Not everyone likes Earnhardt.
(We) hope Busch does a super job
for someone else, and Earnhardt
goes down the crapper like the last
year and so far this year.
Mr. and Mrs. William Kidder Jr.
Paisley, Fla.
You certainly have the right to
your opinion, and you're right about
Kyle Busch being a very talented
driver.
“The biggest thing is that you
grow as a person. I’m 22 years
old, so I’ve got plenty of room to
grow as a person and under
stand the dynamics of this work,
I guess. That’s just part of it.”
Smokey Yunick Award
Roger Penske, a champion as
both a driver and car owner,
will receive LMS’ Smokey Yu
nick Award in ceremonies be
fore the Bank of America 500.
Penske’s teams have won 20
national championships in vari
ous series, NASCAR being a
notable exception. Penske Rac
ing fields the Dodges of Kurt
Busch and Ryan Newman.
“Roger Penske has been rac
ing since 1958,” said LMS pres
ident Humpy Wheeler, “and his
businesslike approach to the
sport established the template
from which today’s race teams
operate.
“Roger’s leadership has had
a far-reaching impact on the in
dustry, and he’s played a major
role in elevating motorsports
to the status it enjoys today.”
Petty