The good of NASCAR often goes Unnoticed

Kimi Raikkonen won the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi Sunday. This was his first win since 2009. Photo from Speedtv.com.

           

            This isn't going to be a normal post about how NASCAR should change, and do something different as far as the racing is concerned. This post is about the actual good that goes on in NASCAR, and how the fan looks for the bad so they can continue to hate certain drivers. After procrastinating from my homework all day Sunday by watching the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi on my DVR, then immediately switching over to the Sprint Cup race at Texas, I was fairly successful at putting that off.            

            Anyway, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was one of the most exciting races I have seen from F1 this year. It had plenty of rough racing, wheel to wheel, bumping, cars flying, and so much controversy. Sebastian Vettel, the championship leader was penalized and had to start from the pit lane, in 24th position. Somehow throughout the race he ended up on the podium in 3rd place. Even though that was such a great drive, it was overshadowed by Kimi Raikkonen taking his Lotus to victory lane, his first since returning to F1, and first victory since 2009 in the sport. He held off a hard charging Fernando Alonso, which made for some exciting final laps. Here is how all this comes into play.

 

Kimi Raikkonen making his Craftsman Truck Series debut for KBM at Charlotte in 2011. Photo from bleacherreport.com.

           

Kimi Raikkonen on his hiatus from Formula 1 dabbled in NASCAR for a few races. He was thinking about making the jump, but wanted to run some races first. He shopped around for a ride, and ended up landing with Kyle Busch Motorsports to run 3-5 Craftsman Truck Series races. The deal was for $100,000 a race, but by the sounds of how everything went down it was more on a handshake contract. Kimi finished 15th in his first truck race at Charlotte, and decided to try the Nationwide Series out. KBM built a car, and partnered with Joe Nemechek to field the car for Kimi, but he finished a disappointing 27th. Kimi had a horrible time in that race, and decided he would hold off on any more races, especially since he was competing in the World Rally Car championship at the time. Kyle Busch felt cheated by this, and went to the media with his displeasure with Kimi. Well Kimi came back and said it was a misunderstanding, and that Kyle had been paid in full for what was raced. The fans had already made up their mind.

Kyle Busch losing his cool with Ron Hornaday after a racing incident. Fall 2011 Texas Craftsman truck race.

           

Kyle Busch was known as the bad boy of NASCAR by ruffling more than a few feathers that was until his brother Kurt took the crown. Kyle had issues with Richard Childress stemming from a truck race when Kyle roughed up Joey Coulter. That led to blows, and Childress getting someone to hold his watch, so he could teach Kyle a lesson. That incident led to Kyle getting into it with Kevin Harvick at Darlington. Harvick drives for Childress in the Sprint Cup series. Both were put on probation, but that didn't stop Kyle from punting Ron Hornaday at Texas and ultimately getting sat for the rest of the weekend. This incident led many to become worried about Kyle Busch's future at Joe Gibbs Racing, and in NASCAR as a whole. There are plenty of other incidents with Kyle I could go into, including numerous times this year he has refused comment after a bad race. One race I will say that he was available for comment, but the reporters were too worried about getting interviews with the chasers, and left Kyle out.

Kyle Busch in his KBM Monster Energy Camry at Texas where Kyle finished 3rd. Photo from therepublic.com.

 



            This is what the article is really about. Thumbing through twitter after the Texas race, I came across this article from Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) on sbnation.com. Here is a link to the article, click here. Kyle has been trying all year to get a win in his Monster Energy Camry in the Nationwide series. It looked like it was going to happen at Texas, up until the end when Harvick's car took off, and young Ryan Blaney passed Busch late with fresh tires to relegate Busch to 3rd. Last year, Kyle would have been angry, and would have said something he probably shouldn't have. He has shown a lot of maturity this year, and the feel good part of this story is with Ryan Blaney. Ryan is only 18, even though he is racing in the big leagues now close to Sprint Cup, these guys are still his idols. Kyle got out of his car, and before he even took his helmet off, walked over to Blaney and gave him a bro hug, and congratulated him on the great finish. They both joked about it after the fact in the media center, but these are the stories that need to be written about Kyle, and many others. The good sportsmanship, and comradery between the drivers.
            Even though we as fans see the bad week to week since that is reported, these drivers have big hearts and give back to a lot of people.  I will leave you with video proof of Kyle and his wife Samantha's heart of gold from ESPN. Kyle Felver is an eight year old who loves racing his go-kart, but is in a battle with illness. His one wish was to meet Kyle Busch. Take a look at the video it will shine some better light on both Kyle Busch, and Kyle Felver. If this video doesn't make you tear up, then you should probably get checked to make sure you have a heart still. After seeing this, Kyle will always receive the benefit of the doubt from me from now on. Kurt Busch along with his girlfriend Patricia do a lot of work with wounded soldiers. This year I have found myself rooting for Kurt more, because of the equipment he has been in. I hope he can turn Furniture Row into a contender week in and week out. While both Busch brothers are misunderstood by most, they still use what they have been given to ultimately give back. Until next time.

ESPN Sportscenter special My Wish with Kyle Felver meeting his favorite driver, Kyle Busch.



Breakthrough Nationwide Driver of the Year

           

            NASCAR racing as a whole has been a male dominated sport from top to bottom; there is no question about it. A few females have broken through the gender gap, and have had success in stock car racing. Names like Janet Guthrie, Shawna Robinson, Patty Moise, Tammy Jo Kirk, and Danica Patrick. No, this article isn't about Danica Patrick, even though I am a big fan of her driving style, but she has a lot to learn in a stock car. This article is about a young girl from Pensacola, Florida. This driver's name is Johanna Long.

Johanna Long celebrating her 2010 Snowball Derby Victory. Photo from 5flagsspeedway.com.

           

            I first started to pay attention to Johanna Long during the 2011 truck race at Atlanta. She was a good looking girl, and she was working her way up in the ranks. Unfortunately she had an accident during that race, and finished 31st. Just being the way I am, I started to do some research on her racing resume, and pedigree and she is quite impressive already at the young age of 20. At age 15 she was the youngest and first female track champion at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. This track is famous with the Pro Late Model crowd in being the site of the prestigious Snowball Derby. 2008 was the first year that she raced in the Snowball Derby as well. 2009 was a banner year for Johanna as well. She tallied 5 wins, 18 top fives, and 27 top tens in 38 races across the southeast. That is amazing, especially when you think about all the guys who are putting a bulls eye on her back, and trying their hardest to not get beaten by a female. In 2009, she would also win the pole for the Snowball Derby, and made her first two starts in the ARCA series.

Johanna Long in her ML Motorsports #70 at Kentucky Speedway. Photo from Getty Images from Zimbio.com.



            2010 for Johanna was probably one of the best years in her young career in my opinion, until 2012. Johanna was the Snowball Derby Champion at Five Flags Speedway. If you are unfamiliar with this race, let me give you some of the finishers from the finishing order. Landon Cassill finished 4th, David Stremme-13th, Casey Roderick-16th, Chase Elliott-17th, Ross Kenseth-19th, Grant Enfinger-20th, Cale Gale-21st, Ryan Sieg-26th, and David Ragan-27th. These drivers are either in NASCAR's top three series (Trucks, Nationwide, or Sprint Cup), or on their way with Chase Elliott, and Ross Kenseth. This race routinely attracts top NASCAR stars, notable in the massive list of past winners including Kyle Busch, Steven Wallace, Rich Bickle Jr., Jeff Purvis, Tammy Jo Kirk, Rick Crawford, Ted Musgrave, and Darrell Waltrip.

2010 Snowball Derby 3-way fight between Stremme, Cassill, and Long.





            Let’s fast forward to 2011 and 2012. 2011 brought her a best finish in the Craftsman Truck series of 11th at Texas, and a best start of 5th at Daytona in only 17 starts. I feel her best year to date has been 2012. She has made 19 starts this year for ML Motorsports in the #70 Chevrolet. She has started a best of 8th at Richmond, and finished 12th twice at Daytona and Kentucky. Considering the budget this team operates on, she along with the small number of team members get the absolute most out of what they have. I am glad that everyone is taking notice of what she is doing from the commentators at least. Kyle Petty gave her a shout out today during practice at Texas, which triggered this blog post. Johanna needs to make a bet with Kyle Busch to get a ride in either his Craftsman Truck, or his Nationwide car. Maybe the Snowball Derby this year? I can only hope a big name ride will become available to her, because with the talent she has behind the wheel, I think she can knockdown some wins and possibly fight for a championship one day. Only time will tell, keep an eye out for her. Check out johannalong.comfor more information on Johanna. If you are on twitter, follow her @JOHANNALONG. Also, you should check out SPEED51.com for more information about short track racing around the country, including the 45th Snowball Derby from Five Flags Speedway on Nov. 28th - Dec. 2nd. Bob Dillner (@bobdillner) owns and runs the website, and is also an awesome on air personality for all things NASCAR on Speed. Until next time.

Landon Cassill (@landoncassill) after the 2010 Snowball Derby. This guy is nothing but class, even if he doesn’t wash his jeans.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rewarding the field for Speed

 

Mark Martin has four poles in the Sprint Cup series this year. Photo from cbssports.com.

 

              While watching NASCAR Race Hub today on Speed, an interesting point was brought up. In the Overdrive segment with Bob Dillner (@bobdillner), and Matt Clark (@MattClarkMC) were discussing the fact about giving bonus points for qualifying. I had thought about this a while back, and adopting more of a points system along the lines of Formula 1. With them, there is a high premium on qualifying, and they only give point down through 10^thplace. A typical field of cars for them would be 25. But anyway, back to the segment on Race Hub.

            It was stated that maybe three points should be given for pole, two for second, and one for third starting position. Well I wasn’t sure how much of a change it would have had on the points, so I did some research. I will highlight some of the battles instead of just throwing out a ton of numbers. After the Atlanta race, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin would be tied with 833, instead of Keselowski having a nine point lead over Hamlin. Harvick would leap frog Bowyer, and lead by four points. The most interesting part of the point system would have to deal with the battle between Kyle Busch, and Jeff Gordon to get into the chase.

Kasey Kahne also has four poles this season in the Sprint Cup series. Photo from the Chicagotribune.com.

           
            Kyle Busch had 746 points compared to Gordon’s 734, but with the bonus for qualifying Busch would have 758 to Gordon’s 739 after Atlanta. Gordon would receive two bonus points under this system for his 2nd place starting position, so the gap would close from 19 to 17. You have to account for the change in racing, because changing the points like this would change a lot throughout the season. Besides that, if we played out Richmond like it happened, Kyle Busch would have led Gordon by two after the race. Kyle Busch would be in the chase if this format was adopted. The last race was exciting already, but if Gordon knew that he needed to win that race, what else would have happened? Would we have another Paul Menard incident, but instead of Childress, it was Hendrick quarterbacking a caution? We will never know unfortunately.

            I think this would be a good thing for NASCAR to look at, as well as Matt Clark’s thoughts about a chase mulligan, even though Bob Dillner is totally against that idea. What you didn’t see about the points system other than what I talked about above was how it tightened everyone. Changing those few of points could mean the difference in two-tires, fuel only, or no pitting. The excitement level would go up for the racing just by giving incentive for an event that is struggling for our fans to watch anymore. Just think about how different this chase would have been had Kyle Busch been there. Until next time.  



F1 and NASCAR as bed fellows?

Buddh International Circuit in India, site of round 17 of the Formula 1 season.

           

            While watching the first practice of the Grand Prix of India, this turn caught my eye. This is the best picture I could find, but it has many different variations of orange and white in differing patterns. It just looks wild when they go to the helicopter shot while the cars are blasting around the double apex turn. Well back on topic.

            I have started to watch a lot of Formula 1 coverage this year, namely because I finally came into the 21st century, and got a DVR. No more trying to stay up late when getting home from the bar, and passing out before the standing start. But anyway, I could always tell that there was a lot of money in F1, but it wasn't until last month that I really started to look into it. @JennaFryer broke the news about Lewis Hamilton moving from McLaren-Mercedes, to Mercedes for a cool amount of three years, at $100 million dollars. I couldn't believe it, I knew they made good money, but $33.3 million a year is nuts! Well during one of the races on Speed, there was a big deal made about Marissa-Cosworth displacing Caterham-Renault for 10th place in the Constructors standings. The way they did this, is Timo Glock finishing 12th at Singapore. Even though none of the teams at the bottom of these standings have any points, Marussia-Cosworth holds the spot with this finish. The part that really blew my mind though, is that the top-10 teams in the Constructor Standings at the end of the year, split 700 million dollars... Yes that is correct; almost 1 billion dollars are paid out at the end of the year. Let me redirect you into how this plays into my post and NASCAR as well.

            There is no doubt that Formula 1 reaches more fans worldwide, than the traditionally Southeastern sport of NASCAR racing. I know what you are thinking, but NASCAR has races in Canada, and North of the Mason Dixon line, hell they even have made it to the West of the Mississippi too. Well, if they want to continue to grow the sport, and reach younger fans, then that isn't enough. NASCAR was doing a good thing, even though it was just with the Nationwide series in trying to grow the sport. The Nationwide series held a race in Mexico City, and Montreal. The Montreal race is no more, even though NASCAR keeps dropping hints about racing at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next year to replace Montreal. NASCAR quit taking the Nationwide Series to Mexico City in years.

            Just based on the money that Formula 1 teams operate on, and what is generated, there are a ton of fans out there that could learn to love NASCAR. I feel that on road courses, and even some ovals that NASCAR puts out a good product, with more parody, passing, and drama than F1. They do this either at the track, or sitting on the couch at home. Formula 1 racing at times for me is boring, because if you don't start within the first 5-6 positions, and get a good start or some extraordinary circumstance, you are not winning the Grand Prix. In the top three series of NASCAR, you can start from up front, to back in the 30's plus, and still through pit strategy, fuel mileage, or just getting up on the wheel have a chance to win the race.

            NASCAR has a golden opportunity to align itself with Formula 1 without having to take the sport overseas. That was a big factor in NASCAR ceasing to take the sport to Mexico City anymore. The new Grand Prix of Austin at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), and the Grand Prix of Canada at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. The France family needs to try to work on something with F1, so that they could partner in a weekend with the worldwide love of many. Play second fiddle, because other than the small sector of the Southeast of the United States, that is what will happen anyway. NASCAR needs to swallow its pride, and open their eyes to what is going on in the World of racing. Our guys in the overweight rumbling bumbling V8 powered cars put on a good show, just take the three way battle between Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Marcos Ambrose at Watkins Glen late this summer. That was the highlight of the season bar none, let’s give them some more chances to replay that, and have it be seen on the World stage. Let me leave you with the highlight video from NASCAR's YouTube channel of the battle I talked about between Ambrose, Busch, and Keselowski from the end of the race at Watkins Glen. Until next time. 

               

               





NASCAR needs help with the Party Mix: Part 1

“Hey DJ, let me borrow that Party Mix cd!”

            Children of the 80’s and early 90’s will understand what the quote is talking about. I remember burning a ton of cd-r’s and running out of things to call them, so many of them were different volumes of Party Mix one, two and so on... NASCAR needs some help with their party mix of tracks, and scheduling mainly on the top-tier series of Sprint Cup. I think about the new IPhone 5 commercial when the guy is sitting there talking to someone on the phone, and asks if they had Déjà vu, over and over again because it never changes. The term insanity stands for doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the different results. NASCAR expects that their attendance numbers will suddenly change by putting the same product out there for us to watch, I highly doubt that France Family.

   

Danica Patrick and Brad Keselowski suffering through a night at Bristol Motor Speedway. Picture from Zimbio.com.

                     The first point we need to breakdown before we go any further, is who owns these tracks? International Speedway Corporation owns twelve of the tracks used in Sprint Cup, and other feeder series of NASCAR. ISC owns Chicago, Darlington, Daytona, Fontana, Homestead, Kansas, Phoenix, Talladega, Martinsville, Michigan, Phoenix, Richmond, Talladega, and Watkins Glen. The other group is Speedway Motorsports Inc. which owns a total of eight tracks that are used in Sprint Cup, as well as the other feeder series of NASCAR.  SMI owns Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Kentucky, Las Vegas, New Hampshire, Sonoma, and Texas. If you are doing the math that leaves three tracks that are independently owned that can still draw the Sprint Cup series. These tracks are Dover, Indianapolis, and Pocono.

            If we break down the weekends, and how the races are divided up, ISC receives nineteen dates, SMI receives twelve, and the self-owned tracks receive five. The big gripe that I for one, along with a lot of others in the media, and fans alike have is the redundancy of the so called cookie cutter tracks. All of these 1.5 mile tracks lend themselves to a lot of boring racing, which will not lend itself to growing the sport at all. A second issue I have with the schedule is this, road courses. If NASCAR wants to compare the quality of their drivers to other auto sports, then they need to showcase their abilities turning left, and right. These boys put on a good show at Sonoma, Watkins Glen, and even the Nationwide series at Road America, Watkins Glen, and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Grand-Am which is owned by NASCAR, and the American Lemans Series announced their merger, which got me excited because NASCAR gained the rights to Road Atlanta in the deal. I am hoping we can see some stock cars on that circuit in the near future.

Road Course ringer Jacques Villeneuve in the #22 Penske Dodge at Road America. Photo from Sbnation.com

            That is a lot of information already, so I am going to split this up in a couple different posts. I am trying to keep you interested, and secondly from having information overload. In our next installment, we will cover some more topics, like fixing the constant feeling of every track being 1.5 miles, while constantly missing the big stock cars on winding road courses. We will also talk about aligning the sport with other road course series to gain some of their fans. I'll leave you with the final lap of the 2012 Napa 200 from Montreal. Until next time.