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Well… That was a pretty good hire… Don’t ya think?
Pretty much a no-brainer, really. He did win races last year including the Daytona 500. He did make the “Chase” last year…
So the jump to the #20 was a good one for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Not bad for Matt Kenseth, either. Even after talk of getting used to a new car, new team, new suit, new sponsors… All that “new” and Kenseth still pops to the top to win the third race of the season at Las Vegas. (more…)
Apparently, it was a Subway weekend.
Carl Edwards drove the #99 Subway/Aflac Ford Fusion to the win at the Subway Fresh Fit 500 in Phoenix. He kept Jimmie Johnson in the mirror and outran a grass cut move by Denny Hamlin.
Edwards’ visit to the winner’s circle broke a 70 race run of finishing on the outside looking in. It had also been 70 races since we saw that back flip thing that he does. Had it really been that long? Everybody knows Edwards flips off the window of his car when he wins even if it was two years since we’ve seen it done. (more…)
The first race of the season… OK – In reality it was the second race but does the ROLEX 24 really count?
Sure, team points and such come into play but the ROLEX 24 is such a hooplah of drivers mixed in from other series and it throws a wrench into the works for the Grand-Am regulars who open their seats for these interlopers. After all, Juan Pablo Montoya was in the seat of the Ganassi 01 Telmex BMW when it crossed for the win. The rest of the season is on the shoulders of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas while Montoya chases the NASCAR circuit.
So – The Circuit of the Americas was the first race of 2013 that put all the season regulars on the track without distraction of visitors. It was also a big run for Grand-Am as the course in Texas is brand new with barely a scrape following the Formula 1 Grand Opening in 2012. (more…)
Daytona was a big week rounding out a full month of speed from the ROLEX 24 to the ‘500. Now it is on with the season and the week in – week out of racing.
If you think about it that way as a comparison to “work” as most of us know it, do race drivers ever get up and just not feel like going in? Who hasn’t called in “sick” just because you would rather just chill with jammies on all day…?
However, if you have ever had the chance to go fast… No matter where or in what… You could grasp how drivers would just about have to be an inch from six feet under to not show up for their job… (more…)
Was it a plan to begin with or simply a result of experience on racing?
Yes… Jeff Gordon overtook Danica Patrick on lap one of the Daytona 500 to lead it for the opening laps. Patrick seemed all too happy to ride along in the 2 spot between Gordon and Kyle Busch.
That was the start of the Great American Race as they turned those opening laps over an obvious light spot on the front stretch. That spot was the remnant of an airborne blender from the Nationwide Series race the day before. That incident was on everyone’s mind all morning long not because of the track damage so much as race fans were involved and injured. Drivers spin and crash as almost a matter of course but fans involved casts a shadow over it all…
In-race reports kept updates on those fans which still listed a few in the hospital but recovering well. (more…)
Saturday at Daytona the NASCAR Nationwide Series went green with the season opener DRIVE4COPD 300. A bunch of Cup drivers were in the field and a few went into the field…
Among the “Cups” that had their Nationwide day shortened early were Danica Patrick, Trevor Bayne and Kurt Busch.
However, the very real nature of the race, the day and the sport came in the run to the checkered flag. It started with an “out of the couch” moment at 5 laps to go wrecking the field and red lighting the rest.
The win under the sun and Florida heat went to Tony Stewart after a restart on the outside, getting taken over and chasing down inside the top 4 on a run to the finish. Regan Smith and Brad Keselowski touched and went loose out of the final turn and bunched up a melee of torn metal and battered fencing. The front of Kyle Larson’s #32 Chevy was left in the wall and fencing after going airborne in the mix, sending a wheel and brake assembly into the stands.
Stewart, in post race interviews, showed an almost complete disinterest in the win while almost tearful in concern for fans and other drivers. Other drivers showed real concern for fans as well through post race discussions. (more…)
Trucks…
They are designed with a very distinctive purpose. They are a bit like body builders in the sense that all they really have to do is pick up heavy things and move them. In that regard you would not expect a body builder to show up at a marathon…
Yet that is exactly what they do at NASCAR in the Camping World Truck Series. They drive hundreds of laps in what is essentially a box in front of another box. It is not that the racing is compromised. In fact, the truck series offers close and exciting racing. (more…)