Five Down...

Five races into the Nascar season and a number of traits are already developing.

The end of Bristol is always a nerve wracking time, with the dreaded Top-35 standings coming into play. Up until the fifth race, teams who were in the Top-35 last season are guaranteed a starting spot. From the sixth race on, the Top-35 is based on the current year’s owner standings.

Much like Formula One, it has been difficult to gauge how things would sort themselves out when we got racing. The testing ban adds a lot of unknown factors in the run up to a season. Already, we are seeing cases where it may be having an effect. Going into Martinsville, I want to pick out the major trends to watch over the rest of the season.

Kyle Busch is back!
It is like the last ten races of 2008 never happened. (For those of you who don’t know, the #18 crashed and burned in The Chase.) Kyle is back to what he does best, winning races – and not just in the Sprint Cup. He has already secured victories in the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series. If he keeps up this pace, he could easily surpass the twenty-one wins in all competitions he took last year.

Of course, winning races in the regular season is one thing, what the #18 have to prove is that last year’s Chase was a once-off. He can all the races he wants now, but at the end of the day people remember the champion.

Jeff Gordon is back (too)!
Last season was struggle for the four time champion, who clearly was at odds with the Car of Tomorrow. Yet, despite a lack of pre-season testing, Gordon has been on fire this year. A victory is just around the corner for the #24. His consistent run through the first five races sees him perched on top of the standings, with four top-10’s out of five so far.

Rookie Struggles
I spoke above concerning where the pre-season testing ban appeared to be having an effect. Judging by the performances of Logano and Speed, the two official participants in the Rookie of the Year have both failed to set the world alight.

I still think it was too much, too soon for both. Red Bull obviously hasn’t learned from the grooming troubles with AJ Allmendinger. Speed was poor towards the end of last year, a clear indicator that there would be trouble. The Formula One exile could have done with cutting his teeth in the Nationwide Series for a year.

The same can be said about Logano. The much heralded talent has been trust into the spotlight and has yet to shine in it. All the talent in the world can’t save you from feeling the psychological knocks you take when things go bad.

Going into Martinsville, Logano is just inside the Top-35, insuring him that he will be in the field. A good result is necessary for the youngster, which may not possible on the unforgiving short track. Scott Speed finds himself on the outside looking in and will have to make the race on time.

For the second season in a row, it appears that there will be another lacklustre year for Rookies. Coincidently, Nascar has been using the new car for two years now. Is there a link? Or is it the lack of testing that is really hindering the class of ’09. Maybe Nascar should take a page out of the Indy Racing League’s book, and offer rookies additional practice sessions to make up the miles.

Stewart a success, so far
I couldn’t have predicted we would see Smoke inside the Top-12 at this early stage. Despite backing from Hendricks, I expected teething problems with the new team. But judging on Stewart’s first five, it looks like he hasn’t skipped a beat.

Team-mate Newman has been less fortunate in the luck department, with a myriad of issues giving him cause to sweat going into Bristol. A strong result has elevated him up the rankings and if the car stays together, both cars have the speed to give the front runners something to think about.

Roush Woes?
It has been hard to read the Ford super-team so far. Two wins opened the season courtesy of Matt Kenseth but the championship hasn’t been set ablaze in the way I thought it would. On top of it all, the team has had to deal with a slew of reliability issues in the engine department.

Carl Edwards has been consistent, but has shown none of that raw speed that saw him win nine races last year. The likable Missouri native still finds himself fifth in the standings. Kenseth has gone steadily backwards since his back to back wins. Biffle, Ragan and McMurray, who were all tipped for stand out years currently, find themselves mired mid-back. Granted, it is early days in the season, but gaps can quickly become too big to bridge.

Money
With the world finances up a certain creek without a paddle, it was an easy guess that by this stage, we would be looking at the loss of teams due to lack of sponsorship.

The first victim at the time of writing is Travis Kvapil. Kvapil drove most of last year unsponsored in the Yates #28. His reward was the transfer of his points to his new team-mates to ensure they made it. The Yates car qualified on time for four of the five races. Despite a valiant effort on his part, he could not get the car in top-35. It was announced at Bristol that if no sponsorship was found, the team would shut up shop.

While money isn’t an issue with the #98 Yates car, it does offer a worrying trend. Paul Menard, backed by his family company, strode in and took owner points from what was David Gilliland’s car. Now for the ironic twist. Menard is sitting outside the top-35 while Gilliland, the man he replaced, has got a guaranteed starters spot for Martinsville.

On a happier note, Richard Petty Motorsports announced during the week that they had pieced together sponsorship to run Allmendinger for additional races. That is great news, as long term readers of the blog will know I have been championing Allmendinger’s case for a full time ride.

The Californian currently stands 16th in the points, ahead of full-time team-mates Elliott Sadler and Red Sorenson. The latter finds himself down in 29th position. I wonder, if Sorenson continues to underperform, will we see Allmendinger in the famed #43 by seasons end.

New Team, Same Result
One question I had to ask during pre-season was – why break up a successful partnership. Clint Bowyer and the #07 team have been one of the talking points over the last few years.

Allegedly, sponsors wanted specific drivers. Mears had raced with Kellogg’s sponsorship during his time with Hendricks, which apparently didn’t sit all that well with new sponsor General Mills. So the drivers were swapped, landing Mears in a team that had made the Chase for the past two years and Bowyer with a new group.

I think that Bowyer is one of the most under-rated drivers in Nascar at the moment. His first five of the season go a long way to proving that. Bowyer finds himself third in the standings and continuing to pump out the consistency that has made him a Chaser for the past two years. Mears is around 25th, once more showing that he doesn’t have what it takes at this level.

Snake Eyes

Las Vegas, the betting capital of the world definitely threw up more than its fair share of curve balls over the Nascar weekend. I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a full-moon over Nevada at the weekend. It was just one of those weekends where there was an abnormal amount of issues cropping up.

It all started early into the weekend with Toyota having major issues with their engines. Five of their cars, including pole sitter Kyle Busch had to go to the back due to engine changes. Five engine changes definitely work’s against the law of averages when it comes to mechanical issues.

The strange circumstances continued in the Nationwide race. I managed to see highlights of the event, and it just seemed that nobody wanted to win. Crashes, mistakes and pit-road violations all contributed to a topsy-turvy event, one that Greg Biffle won in the end.

After watching the highlights, I thought to myself – The first thing the Cup guys are going to be told on Sunday is watch your pit road speed. With the amount of penalties handed out for the offense in the Nationwide race, it felt like a no-brainer.

Obviously, someone never sent out the memo on Sunday.

Once again, errors on and off the pit road played a part in proceedings. What made the event all the more strange is that we saw uncharacteristic like errors from the likes of champion Jimmie Johnson. You just don’t expect it. If this was Daytona, I would hazard a guess that maybe with the testing ban, there is some sub-conscious nerves with the lack of driving. But this was the third race of the year, which more or less cancels out that theory.

While Toyota for the most part solved their engine issues, Sunday saw the Roush-Yates engines go up to kibosh. Three of their five cars went up in smoke. Matt Kenseth’s attempt to win three in a row was over before the race had made it past the first few laps. Carl Edwards erupted as he started the last lap, while Ragan’s blew in the middle.

As if all that wasn’t enough, pole-sitter Kyle Busch, sent to the back, charged his way through the field and took victory at his home race. It is the first time that Busch has won at his home race. The victory was Joe Gibbs and Toyota’s first at a venue that Roush and Hendrick have dominated in recent years. As if that wasn’t enough, Busch’s victory was the first time a pole-sitter had won (which he is officially classed as).

Not a bad day’s work for Wild Thing. He won from the pole and won from starting at the rear. I don’t think there are many who can stake that claim.

The weekend just goes to show you, anything can happen in Las Vegas.

Life in the old dogs yet

It may be early days in the 2009 Sprint Cup, but so far one thing is clear – the veterans aren’t going to let the next generation have their time just yet.

As the old saying goes, it may take a while for a bus to come, but when it does, there are usually a few in quick succession. Matt Kenseth backed up his rain-shortened Daytona triumph with victory in California. The track has long been the stomping ground of the Roush and Hendrick superteams. There was little surprise when these two teams dominated the overall lead lap charts.

As the sun set, intermixed with sprinkles of rain, it was Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon who led the push to the line. It is great to see the old guard running back up front. I’ve read too many pieces writing these guys off, claiming they were past it. Kenseth himself has often been labelled as someone who didn’t have a killer instinct to win a lot of races during the season.

Along with Kenseth, Jeff Gordon had a great day for the #24. He was up at the front all the day, just lacking the ability for that final push on Kenseth. But boy did he give it a go. After a winless season last year, seeing the veterans back up there where they belong only adds to the intrigue as the season goes. Last year saw the wins spread too thin. With the amount of contenders we appear to have, hopefully we won’t have any runaways.

My final mention goes to Kyle Busch. He may not have won, but the #18 still had a sterling weekend. The Las Vegas native made history with winning the Camping World Truck race and the Nationwide Series race on the same day. He might have fallen short of a historic hat-trick, but the intent is clear.

The Big (One) Debate

Matt Kenseth took his and Jack Roush’s first Daytona 500 victory in the rain shortened season opener in Florida. As the lights went down the rain began to fall. Nascar hoped to restart the race, but the rain continued to persist, bringing an end to the 51st edition of the ‘The Great American Race’.

The main talking point regarding the 500 will remain Dale Earnhardt Junior. The fan favourite started strong but a pair of pit lane mishaps saw him go one lap down. Driving like what can only be described as a pissed off teenager, he got into the rear of Vickers’ when the Toyota blocked him all the way down to the double-yellow line. The action resulted in the ‘Big One’, taking out numerous cars, included those who had been in contention all day.

While the majority of fans are already sweeping it underneath the carpet, those who hold a more neutral view are scratching their heads as to why Nascar didn’t dish out a penalty. A similar incident occurred only 24 hours earlier in the Nationwide, where Jason Leffler received a five-lap penalty in a similar incident. Yet, no penalty was given to Earnhardt Junior.

I don’t believe it was intentional. Trying to wreck someone at a Super-Speedway is just insane. Earnhardt, more than anyone, knows the pain that a massive wreck can cause at those speeds. The problem is, Earnhardt was not in the best state of mind. Anyone watching the race could see that he appeared more agitated following a pair of pit-lane issues.

Yes, he was fighting to get in position for the Lucky Dog, but as the day showed, blocking people was the norm. He could have afforded to lift ever so slightly, given that nobody was tucked up behind him either. The result of the incident saw many good race cars wrecked. Patience is the key in any race.

Ironically, in his interview after the incident, Dale Junior was questioning whether to have the rules looked at in regards to Vickers’ move. Not exactly the most ideal time to bring that up.

But as I said, it is likely to be swept under the carpet. In Earnhardt Nation, Junior can do no wrong. Regardless, even more pressure has been put on a driver who is already carrying an already massive on his shoulder in the 2009 season.

Momentum Building Jimmie

Same result, different race.

One week on from a relative snooze-fest at California that Jimmie Johnson dominated, the rain-delayed Richmond race was a great spectacle, even if the result was the same. After the farcical nature that Formula One is turning into as of late, Nascar is a breath of fresh air for me.

All eyes were on the battle for the final Chase berth. David Ragan looked feisty in his late charge for the final spot. The youngsters chances took a crippling blow when his car went into a half spin, compounded by team-mate Kenseth doing a synchronised spin, clattering his team-mate. His car badly damaged, Ragan fought on admirably and with some great choice strategy kept him in the hunt till late. Eventually the #6 drifted back, ending his Chase dreams. Regardless, it has been a stunning end of the season for Ragan, who according to reports will have UPS sponsorship next year.

Kasey Kahne, Dodge’s only chance of making the Chase also failed in his attempt. Kahne was anonymous all race long. After a bright mid-season, two terrible finishes in the last few races put an end to the fan favourite’s hope.

Going into the Chase, it is the crème de la crème. Three cars are supplied by the top teams – Joe Gibbs, Hendricks, Childress and Roush. Defending champion Johnson is peaking at the right time now and has all the momentum going into Loudon this coming weekend. Busch and Edwards, current favourites need to pull up their socks now that we are getting into the final stages of the season.

It will be interesting to see the mindset at Loudon. How will the championship contenders play it and, more importantly, who of those who have been experimenting the last few weeks have found the right formula.

While I think there are only three choices for a champion, the format of the Chase does allow for the unpredictable. Clint Bowyer was last year’s Cinderella story, winning his first career race at the start of the Chase, eventually finishing third.

Business is just about to pick up.

Busch Title Challenge Back On The Road

Kyle Busch gave us an indication of how complete a racer he is with victory at the Sonoma road course.

The last few weeks have left question marks over Busch’s championship challenge. His attempt at the Triple Crown two weeks ago saw him come home last at Pocono. He followed that up with a top-15 at Michigan. After last week’s event, Busch announced he would give up his pursuit of the three championships.
If this is Kyle Busch focused on one championship, the rest of the field better beware!

I’ve never hidden my admiration for Kyle’s racing this year. When we have seen him, the Las Vegas native has given us a bucketful of excitement. People have criticized him for his pursuit of three championships. Why do that? Here is a guy who wants the race. It wasn’t about the money; it was about that winning feeling. That sort of attitude is waning these days in international motorsport.

When was the last time you saw a drive compete in four races in five days, all in different parts of the country? Sure, it didn’t work out, but his attempt was something to behold. His attention firmly back on the Sprint Cup, Busch made his way up from 30th on the grid to take the lead, cashing in on pitting at the right time. The yellow mixed the field up, pushing the early front-runners down the pack. It was a position that Busch would not relinquish for the rest of the day.

Behind him saw a number of great drives on the day. Australian Marcus Ambrose, who runs in the Nationwide series, took over the #21. He former V8 racer qualified seventh and ran strongly all day long. A move late in the race on McMurray into the turn 11 saw him out-brake the #26 and tag the rear end of Montoya. The Columbian was less than impressed with Ambrose afterwards. Maybe Juan should take it with a grain of salt. He nerfed his team-mate out of the way at Mexico in the Busch series last year.

The last section of the race saw a spate of yellow flags as cars jockeyed for position. David Gilliland came out smiling from it all, finishing second. It’s a fantastic result for the Yates team, who are still out looking for long term sponsorship. Sonoma native Jeff Gordon, who struggled with the car all day, came away with third. Casey Mears brought the #5 Hendricks car home in fifth. It was a strong day for Mears, but according to rumours his good run has come too late. He is expected to vacate the #5 at the end of the year

The race for the Chase is heating up. Matt Kenseth continues his impressive drive to the Chase. His eight place finish saw him slide into the coveted 12th spot. Kevin Harvick slips out, but finds himself only two points outside it. From 12th to 17th, there is just over 100 points separating those who want in the championship challenge.

Junior Breaks His Duck

Dale Earnhardt Junior finally took a long awaited victory at Michigan.

It may have been via a fuel strategy, but given Junior’s form in 2008 it is no less deserved. On a number of occasions, the sport’s most popular driver has challenged for the victory but fell short. However, Sunday saw a change in luck for Junior.

It was day where he didn’t necessarily have the best car, but a daring strategy saw him come up trumps. It isn’t the first time that Hendricks have taken the gamble with fuel. The team which dominated 2007 has struggled to replicate its form. This has led the teams to go an unorthodox direction with fuel strategies. It worked for champion Jimmie Johnson earlier in the year. Up to this point it was Hendricks’s only win of the year. Since, Junior and Gordon have scored top-10’s because of their ability to stretch their fuel.

Junior finally broke his duck when the race finished under yellow. The situation looked dire for the #88 a few laps before. Whilst coasting to save fuel, a yellow came out. The race distance would go over the 200 laps to allow a final attempt at a green flag finish. Earnhardt Nation held its breath while their man saved fuel. Half way into the final lap a spin brought out the yellow leaving Junior to cruise home to a popular win.

Championship leader Kyle Busch recovered from a torrid weekend at Pocono to finish 13^th. It could’ve been so much more for the #18 who led early on. Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers were another two driver’s left rueing what might have been. Both drivers are making a late push for the Chase. Former champion Kenseth, who at one stage looked out of it, now stands just 14 points out of the coveted final spot.

This weekend the Sprint Cup heads to Infineon for the first of two road courses on the calendar. Last year F1 convert Juan Montoya took his maiden Nascar victory. The road courses always see a strong showing from the former single-seaters and will also see a host of a road-course ringers show up, adding more pressure to the go or go-homers.

Third Time Lucky

Kyle Busch tamed the Monster Mile to pick up his fourth win of the season. He finally took the chequered flag first after problems in the Truck and Nationwide race denied him from taking a hat-trick of victories.

‘Wild Thing’, who has won pretty much in anything he has driven this year, took the victory after a number of lightning quick green flag pits that allowed him to overhaul Carl Edwards. For much of the day it looked a given that a Roush driver would win. Greg Biffle led from the outset but his #16 Ford Fusion once more ran into mechanical difficulties. However, unlike the last number of races, the problems were manageable and he came up in third. A victory for Biffle is surely around the corner. Along with Busch, the pair have looked nigh unbeatable when out front.

An opportunity to win didn’t seem to be on the cards for Busch, but his pit crew dragged the #18 into contention. His efforts were aided by Busch, who as ever pushed the limit when it came to pit entry. Despite leading the championship and the majority of the top-12 having issues, it was refreshing to see Busch maintain that ‘always on it’ mentality. Although you get the feeling it may come back to bite him down the line.

A wreck inside the first twenty laps put a number of contenders out of contention. These Chase runners Earnhardt Junior, Stewart, Harvick, Bowyer, Kahne and Hamlin were all involved in the shunt. All except Hamlin returned to the track at some stage with their cars in various sorts of condition. It’s the fantastic thing about the COT platform; it takes a whole lot of wrecking to knock the car out of contention. The results of this have been seen when you look at the race results. There is very few retirements this season. Of course, the flip side to that is if a front runner has a bad day, in all likelihood they will finish in around the 40^th position as opposed to previous years where they could gain a number of spots.
It’s what fans like to see though! The more cars on track, the more action we get to see.

The big winner of the wreck was Matt Kenseth. The former champion is in a race against time to make it for the Chase. The wreck involving a number of the Chase contenders has allowed him to drag himself back up into a position to challenge to make it. Only six cars finished on the lead lap, with Jeff Gordon in 5^th and last year’s winner Truex Junior in 6^th.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Kyle Busch. He didn’t have the best car, but some awesome pit work saw him in the position to win. His fourth victory of the year, a season high, has already bagged the Las Vegas native 40 points in the Chase.

Paperclip Racing

Martinsville – the paperclip. The track is completed at speed in twenty seconds. 500 laps of mayhem around the half mile circuit and NASCAR didn’t disappoint last night.

There were a grand total of eighteen yellow flags before Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin took victory. It’s the second of the season for manufacture Toyota. Hamlin took advantage of a different strategy to beat the Hendricks team to the line. At one stage it looked like the #11 FedEx car had made the wrong call when he got himself out of sequence with the lead bunch. Weather threatened to play a part in the race but it was limited to spits and spurts.

Hendricks saw an upturn in fortunes on a track that they have been long dominant on. However the team which was nigh unbeatable at times last year has yet to win a race this year. Not that they should be worried. All but Mears are now into the top 12 – which after 26 races will be locked into the Chase. Earnhardt Junior continued his impressive form since the move to Hendricks. He might not have won a race yet, but you get the feeling it’s only a matter of time for the man with the biggest fan following.

Championship leader Kyle Busch had an afternoon to forget. Spun around by his own brother earlier on he struggled to find the right balance in the car before car issues sent him to the back. It was amazing that for the majority of the race we had all 43 cars out on track. There was plenty of bumping and grinding, but that’s what Martinsville is all about. Of course if you plan to get someone back, you’ll get nicked for it. Just ask Matt Kenseth who got held for two laps after deciding to get his own back on David Gilliland.

Dario Franchitti enjoyed a better than he’s previously had. Although he went much of the race without been mentioned, the Scot finished 22^nd. Still not enough to earn him a spot in the Top-35, meaning he’ll once more have to qualify on speed at Texas, but it was an improvement for him in a season where he’s struggled to impress so far. Jamie McMurray, a man who was outside the Top-35 drove his way back in with a car that rarely left the top ten all day. Regan Smith is now the man on the bubble after Hornish fell out along with David Reutimann, who took over from Dale Jarrett in the #44.

Talk about a tight pit lane. If Formula One thought they had it bad with eleven cars maximum, not that we ever actually that, in the old Monaco pits on race day – just have a look at Martinsville. 43 cars into a tight pit lane with just enough room to breathe. It too saw its share of incidents with a couple of collisions as people tried to exit as others entered.

Mister Consistency Jeff Burton takes the lead of the championship going into this weekend’s race at Texas. I’ll find myself multi-watching dependant on start times with the IRL from St. Petersburg. Add the Bahrain race on Sunday morning and it’s another engine-revving packed weekend of sport coming up!

PC’s Driver of the Day: Jeff Gordon. Slightly late to start his feature for NASCAR. Despite not coming away with the grandfather clock (NASCAR have some of the coolest and unique trophy ideas), Gordon was a dominant force on the half-mile. The four time champion ran into problems after getting caught up in when Almirola spun Labonte, dropping him down to near the rear of the field. Gordon drove with the determination and skill long associated with the former champion to drag his #24 Chevy back to the front and keep Hamlin honest. Had the fates swung a different way for Gordon he might well have won it.