Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tony Stewart: 'A Man and His Monkey' To Be Auctioned for Charity
Once upon a time there was a successful NASCAR driver named Tony Stewart. Not only did he had a passion for racecars, he also had a big heart for animals of all kinds, including a Patas monkey named Mojo who came to live with the driver and his former girlfriend Krista Dwyer in 2004.
Mojo was beloved by the couple and treated to an amazing life. When not accompanying Stewart at the track, Mojo could often be found catching the race on TV and “chirping” with delight when recognizing his faithful owner on the screen.
As Mojo grew and matured, Stewart noticed a change in the monkey, he was becoming aggressive at the ripe old age of three. Could it be that Mojo sensed that he was missing out on something special? Perhaps a natural born instinct to mingle with the ladies.
You see, in the wild, a single male Patas monkey generally lives happily within a multi-female group. Sweet bliss for any form of the male species, wouldn't you say?
Like father, like son.
Stewart, understanding Mojo’s call of the wild, made the hard decision to give the primate up to the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky in late 2007, where he was introduced to the Zoo’s three female Patas monkeys and integrated into a new lifestyle.
To this day, Stewart remains loyal to his former pet and still holds him in high regard, as depicted in a recent Armor All commercial which featured a one-of-a-kind oil painting of Stewart and Mojo, each dressed to the nines in smoking jackets.
While most commercial props are recycled or locked away in a vault never to be seen again, the painting of “A Man and His Monkey,” will be auctioned off by Armor All and autographed Stewart to the highest bidder.
Fans can bid on this rare piece of Stewart memorabilia, as well as autographed firesuits and helmets from the commercial—worn by members of Stewart’s pit crew—as well as ten Armor All hats autographed by Tony Stewart starting June 4 through June 14 at http://www.ebay.com/tonystewartfoundation.
“All proceeds from the auction benefit the Tony Stewart Foundation whose mission is to raise and donate funds to help care for critically ill children, drivers injured in motorsports activities and to support other charitable organizations in the protection of various animal species.”
Don't just take it from me, hear from Tony himself by clicking the link below to learn more about the man, the monkey and the legend behind this great piece of artwork.
Article originally published 06/02/2010
Mojo was beloved by the couple and treated to an amazing life. When not accompanying Stewart at the track, Mojo could often be found catching the race on TV and “chirping” with delight when recognizing his faithful owner on the screen.
As Mojo grew and matured, Stewart noticed a change in the monkey, he was becoming aggressive at the ripe old age of three. Could it be that Mojo sensed that he was missing out on something special? Perhaps a natural born instinct to mingle with the ladies.
You see, in the wild, a single male Patas monkey generally lives happily within a multi-female group. Sweet bliss for any form of the male species, wouldn't you say?
Like father, like son.
Stewart, understanding Mojo’s call of the wild, made the hard decision to give the primate up to the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky in late 2007, where he was introduced to the Zoo’s three female Patas monkeys and integrated into a new lifestyle.
To this day, Stewart remains loyal to his former pet and still holds him in high regard, as depicted in a recent Armor All commercial which featured a one-of-a-kind oil painting of Stewart and Mojo, each dressed to the nines in smoking jackets.
While most commercial props are recycled or locked away in a vault never to be seen again, the painting of “A Man and His Monkey,” will be auctioned off by Armor All and autographed Stewart to the highest bidder.
Fans can bid on this rare piece of Stewart memorabilia, as well as autographed firesuits and helmets from the commercial—worn by members of Stewart’s pit crew—as well as ten Armor All hats autographed by Tony Stewart starting June 4 through June 14 at http://www.ebay.com/tonystewartfoundation.
“All proceeds from the auction benefit the Tony Stewart Foundation whose mission is to raise and donate funds to help care for critically ill children, drivers injured in motorsports activities and to support other charitable organizations in the protection of various animal species.”
Don't just take it from me, hear from Tony himself by clicking the link below to learn more about the man, the monkey and the legend behind this great piece of artwork.
Article originally published 06/02/2010
Confessions of an Amateur Sportswriter and a Life Less Ordinary
Although I have a rough idea, I can’t tell you exactly when Bleacher Report was established, but I can tell you when I established myself as a writer on the site. Sept. 10, 2008, just three days after attending the fall race in Richmond.
Until that point in life, “Sportswriter” had never appeared on my resume. I was a total amateur with a passion for NASCAR who took a leap of faith and put my words out there for all to see.
Surprisingly, I was welcomed with open arms and in turn, my odyssey began. In under a month, I was awarded my first article of the day.
It was sweet serendipity, who knew that I would actually have a knack for this writing thing?
Fast forward some 21 months and I have finally reached a tiny milestone, my 100th article. Yes, I know the counter shows 101, I’ll address that in a moment.
I am by all accounts a lazy writer. If writing was a full time occupation, you can bet that it would be my No. 1 focus; but this is just one of the factors that makes up my existence, and life doesn’t pause for writers like us.
My life is a constant whirlwind. I have a demanding full-time job that requires me to be on my A-game at all times and at the end of the day, can leave me physically and emotionally drained.
My personal life is just as chaotic. During my time at Bleacher Report, I've packed up my belongings and moved three times, gone without Internet access, overcome accidents and illness, dealt with the craziest of roommates and other vile situations, found myself broken-hearted, and somehow through it all found the love of my life.
Bleacher Report introduced me to a life less ordinary by trusting in me to represent their brand as a member of the media by sending me to report from the infield at my home track, Richmond International Raceway, three times. It is an experience that I cherish and take very seriously.
As a fan, I had sat in the stands at Richmond countless times on the outside looking in, wondering just what it would be like to be Marty Smith for a day.
Having been given the chance, I now recognize that there are very few things more awe inspiring than having the opportunity to stand mere feet from a pit stall during a 13-second pit stop or standing on the Chase stage on a hot September night with a borrowed camera in hand, snapping photos of our modern day heroes.
Never in a million years would I have imagined that I’d be stopped by an official and asked if I was “hot?”
Had I been questioned about this a year ago I would have thought it was a bad pick-up line, but in the world of NASCAR, I now know that “hot” means all access and with a turn of my lanyard, I was able to reply, “Well, yes, thank you, I am indeed hot!”
Bleacher Report challenged me to become a better writer and believed in my words enough to syndicate my work and make me a featured columnist.
I’ve learned new ways of expressing myself and a few valuable lessons along the way; one being the art of dancing on the edge of plagiarism.
My original 100th article was deleted recently for that very reason. In an effort to publish a piece of breaking news that was sent directly to me to report on, I took the easy way out and copied and pasted a press release.
Despite the fact that I was given permission to do so by a sports marketing firm and cited my sources, the words were not my own and my article was flagged for being “non-original” content.
I am not above the law; I violated a rule and in turn was justly reprimanded.
Turns out that underneath this superhero cape that I wear proudly, I am truly human after all.
Mistakes made and lesson learned.
I will approach my next 100 with eyes wide open and in the same humorous skin that I am so very comfortable.
Many thanks to Bleacher Report, my readers, editors and fellow writers for accepting me just as I am, for the praise when it is deserved, and for the occasional kick in the pants as needed.
Without you, there would be no me. I am so very grateful for the experience thus far and for the great adventures that are sure to come.
Article originally published 06/02/2010
Until that point in life, “Sportswriter” had never appeared on my resume. I was a total amateur with a passion for NASCAR who took a leap of faith and put my words out there for all to see.
Surprisingly, I was welcomed with open arms and in turn, my odyssey began. In under a month, I was awarded my first article of the day.
It was sweet serendipity, who knew that I would actually have a knack for this writing thing?
Fast forward some 21 months and I have finally reached a tiny milestone, my 100th article. Yes, I know the counter shows 101, I’ll address that in a moment.
I am by all accounts a lazy writer. If writing was a full time occupation, you can bet that it would be my No. 1 focus; but this is just one of the factors that makes up my existence, and life doesn’t pause for writers like us.
My life is a constant whirlwind. I have a demanding full-time job that requires me to be on my A-game at all times and at the end of the day, can leave me physically and emotionally drained.
My personal life is just as chaotic. During my time at Bleacher Report, I've packed up my belongings and moved three times, gone without Internet access, overcome accidents and illness, dealt with the craziest of roommates and other vile situations, found myself broken-hearted, and somehow through it all found the love of my life.
Bleacher Report introduced me to a life less ordinary by trusting in me to represent their brand as a member of the media by sending me to report from the infield at my home track, Richmond International Raceway, three times. It is an experience that I cherish and take very seriously.
As a fan, I had sat in the stands at Richmond countless times on the outside looking in, wondering just what it would be like to be Marty Smith for a day.
Having been given the chance, I now recognize that there are very few things more awe inspiring than having the opportunity to stand mere feet from a pit stall during a 13-second pit stop or standing on the Chase stage on a hot September night with a borrowed camera in hand, snapping photos of our modern day heroes.
Never in a million years would I have imagined that I’d be stopped by an official and asked if I was “hot?”
Had I been questioned about this a year ago I would have thought it was a bad pick-up line, but in the world of NASCAR, I now know that “hot” means all access and with a turn of my lanyard, I was able to reply, “Well, yes, thank you, I am indeed hot!”
Bleacher Report challenged me to become a better writer and believed in my words enough to syndicate my work and make me a featured columnist.
I’ve learned new ways of expressing myself and a few valuable lessons along the way; one being the art of dancing on the edge of plagiarism.
My original 100th article was deleted recently for that very reason. In an effort to publish a piece of breaking news that was sent directly to me to report on, I took the easy way out and copied and pasted a press release.
Despite the fact that I was given permission to do so by a sports marketing firm and cited my sources, the words were not my own and my article was flagged for being “non-original” content.
I am not above the law; I violated a rule and in turn was justly reprimanded.
Turns out that underneath this superhero cape that I wear proudly, I am truly human after all.
Mistakes made and lesson learned.
I will approach my next 100 with eyes wide open and in the same humorous skin that I am so very comfortable.
Many thanks to Bleacher Report, my readers, editors and fellow writers for accepting me just as I am, for the praise when it is deserved, and for the occasional kick in the pants as needed.
Without you, there would be no me. I am so very grateful for the experience thus far and for the great adventures that are sure to come.
Article originally published 06/02/2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Kyle Busch Talks Winning Strategy, the Art of Patience and Feeling Old at 25
When you think of Saturday night racing in Richmond what comes to mind?
Hard driving action, flared tempers and good old short track beating and banging!
What fans got this past Saturday was a very atypical night at Richmond International Raceway.
Long green flag stretches that saw Kyle Busch dominate the field, picking off drivers one by one.
It was his race to lose and in the middle of the night, as blue smoke emerged from his hood, many believed that there was no way the No. 18 M&M's Toyota would make it to the end of the race, much less victory lane.
But as in any good "come back" story, Kyle Busch did just that and took the checkered flag for his first Sprint Cup win in 2010.
In the media center we saw something a bit aberrant as well. A calm and collected Kyle Busch, his new crew chief and first time Sprint Cup winner Dave Rogers, and former Redskins Coach turned NASCAR owner Joe Gibbs.
The trio discussed team strategy, the virtue of patience and how sweet the first win of the season feels.
After the celebration in victory lane ended, Kyle Busch addressed the media. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp started off the question and answer session.
Kerry Tharp: We have Kyle Busch and he's joined at the podium by his crew chief Dave Rogers. 17th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for Kyle Busch, at a place that you won here last spring as well.
Kyle, talk about your win tonight. You started off very strong and then came back strong there at the very end as well.
Kyle Busch: We did. For some reason, we missed the handle on the car there in the middle of the race. The car was phenomenal in the beginning. We were making minor changes to it to make it a little bit better. There about lap 170, 200, we started falling behind on the long runs, getting really loose. We kept plugging away. Dave never gave up.
These guys on pit road kept putting in some really good pit stops. I kept driving what I had. I couldn't make much out of what was going on out there on the track, especially with traffic. But we made some changes back to the car to get it going a little bit better. Especially at the end of the race when Dave made the call to come to pit road and put tires on with 25 or 30 to go, something like that, we just got going on restarts there.
I think there was a lot of 'em. One of the winning passes was on Harvick, getting to the bottom on turn one, forcing my issue to the bottom line, then having a caution come out, getting to the outside of Jeff Gordon, just being able to get up on his outside, run him hard on that last restart there.
Kerry Tharp: Dave Rogers, talk about some of the moves that the team did tonight to come out on top.
Dave Rogers: Yeah, like Kyle said, car started out really strong. Probably just got a little bit too far behind on my adjustments. When you're out running that fast, pulling away, it's hard to try to keep up with the track. Probably got a little lazy on it, fell behind.
Then at the end, we were making bigger adjustments to get caught back up. Then the restarts, Kyle Busch driving restarts, your odds are always good when you're in that situation.
Kerry Tharp: Congratulations. We'll take questions now for Kyle or Dave.
Kyle, to what degree was this like a character-building win? If the car was off, you never fell that far behind. And, Dave, how proud are you of the way everything was held together and finally got to Victory Lane?
Busch: What did we fall back to, fifth or something like that? It felt like 15th, for as bad as we were running. You know, it was a character-building night for sure. That's a good point. We kept our head down and kept digging. We didn't let it bother us too bad.
I felt like we were getting passed. But it was weird because you had guys that were short pitting, you had guys that were on different strategies that were coming to pit road. You got guys passing you, you know, that have just come off pit road, like the 38 car passing me, Hornish is passing me, guys like that on tires. Man, I got to be running 15th by now. But it was just a weird night. So as far as all of the things go inside the race car, we kept our handle on it.
Rogers: Yeah, I'm real proud of our night tonight. It would have been great to lead all the laps. But you know, winning it the way we did is probably more special, a greater lesson to our race team. This isn't the first time that we had a character-building race this year.
We've had a lot of races where we just didn't have the car for Kyle, and he's kept his head in the game, we kept working on it, we've gotten some finishes better than what we deserved. If you look at it, I think that's what it's going to take to compete with the 48 year in and year out, try to make a run at the championship. Real proud of the way we won it.
Kerry Tharp: Moved up to third in points, as well.
Kyle, what about the last restart? Did you feel like you pretty much had to get him on the first lap? What about the inside-outside positioning? Was the outside you felt better for you?
Busch: You know, I figured I was going to get the outside. So I was just kind of thinking the whole time during the caution flag, the whole weekend everybody was taking the bottom. All I really knew was just to get into turn one smooth and be able to get a good launch up off of turn two to get down the backstretch, then make sure I got into three without over driving it.
On the previous restart, when I was with Harvick, I kept over driving, locking up the left front tire into turn three, sliding up the track. I knew if I could get through turn three okay, hammer down off of turn four, get him clear, it would be pretty good. That's what I did. Did I have a plan? Was that exactly my plan? No. My plan was just to drive it as hard as I could and make whatever happen happen. It seemed to work, you know, off the cuff.
Dave, at one point Kyle was picking cars off real quick. There were only eight left on the lead lap. It went from eight on the lead lap to 27. Why not stay out there to prevent that from happening?
Rogers: It would have been great to keep that many cars a lap down. It would have been selfish. Everybody behind us was going to pit. If we stay out, we keep all those guys down. Then the seven guys behind us are going to drive by us, we're going to lose our track position just to keep cars a lap down. It's not worth it.
I didn't think keeping those cars a lap down was going to help us win the race. I thought keeping the track position was going to help us win the race.
Kerry Tharp: Dave Rogers, your first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win tonight as a crew chief. Congratulations.
Kerry Tharp: Joining us on the podium is Coach Joe Gibbs. Coach, sure had to be impressed and proud of how the No. 18 team did tonight.
Coach Gibbs: We were thrilled really. It was a great night for us. We had so many key people here tonight, a whole group from Mars, Victoria, David. Todd had a bunch of friends watching it. A big night for us. Appreciate it. It was great for Dave. A lot of hard work there. Kyle, too. He's been real patient this year. Had some races where things didn't go well for us and stayed after it.So hopefully we get on a roll here.
Kerry Tharp: Let's continue with questions.
When you came in to get the tires about 30 laps to go, were you confident to know that you were going to be able to get up there? On the final restarts, was that really what set you apart from the 24, the 29 and the 31, or was that your ability to restart really well?
Busch: I didn't know what the race was going to have in store for us there. Coming to get tires with 30 to go, you know, I felt like it was a good decision. I didn't know how many were going to follow behind us.
We were out there for four or five laps on tires where we short-pitted a little bit on that caution. The leaders, they only had about two or three laps on their tires. We could have stayed out and probably still done the same thing, winning the race. But, you know, we wanted to be on the safe side and get tires when we did in order to, I guess, make it easier. But sure didn't feel that easy.
Maybe we made it look that way. But, you know, I think I still had a good enough car on restarts that we could have done the same thing with the tires if we would have just stayed out. But given our experience in the past, we felt best coming in.
Kyle and Dave, can you both assess where you feel you are as a team 10 races into the season, third in points, where you feel you need to go. Can you also talk about because you're still learning working together where you feel like that relationship has gone and what more you need to do to be more effective.
Rogers: We're pleased with where we're at. Obviously we want to win more races, lead more laps. But that's stating the obvious. We sat down in the winter, we came up with some goals we wanted to accomplish this season. So far we're on track. We're checking off some things.
Busch: We are?
Rogers: Okay, we're a little behind track, but not too far (smiling). But the team is progressing. They're gelling together real nice. I think communication between Kyle and I is getting better. You know, this is our first win so we're obviously making progress.
Busch: I'll just say that, you know, having Dave come on board this year, the end of last year, I saw a turnaround in the team. We went to Texas, ran strong. Homestead, one of my non-great racetracks, we ran strong. This year we've been trying real hard as being able to get Dave accustomed to the car and me to be a little bit more patient inside the race car and also let Dave come into here and make this his race team.
I feel like he's done a really nice job at it. Joe and J.D. have given in and allowed Dave and us to do what we need to do in order to make this a championship team. The guys in the garage area really see that, see the hours that Dave puts in every week. His family sees it, as well, too. I'm very fortunate to have a crew chief that does all that.
Of course, you know, our A and B team guys, they've stepped up their game. They've come to not play anymore, they've come to work hard and make sure that we win some races.
I've heard "patience" mentioned several times here. Kyle, could you talk about this part of the season, just maybe how different you've been in terms of looking at things because of changes. Do you feel like you've kind of grown a little bit and learned that it's okay to be competitive necessarily without winning and that would pay off like it did tonight?
Busch: Yeah, I mean, I think that we've had—there's been a lot of that learning for me so far this year. We've had cars that haven't been capable of top fives or top 10s and we've gotten some top fives and 10s with those cars. We've had cars we should have won, maybe Phoenix or somewhere else, and we ran 10th or 15th with those cars.
You know, it's frustrating to see those days when you run well and not really get what you deserve. But then you see the days where you struggle a little bit and you kind of steal one out of there. You wish they were all that way. But, you know, you got to give and take sometimes. I'm learning that a little bit more.
You look back and see what happens with how the season has progressed and how teams progress. You look at what RCR has been able to do. They've turned the corner and have really become a strong team that we've got to focus on and watch out for maybe, that they're getting their stuff going. Of course, you know, the Hendrick guys always. We need to make sure this 18 team focuses on what they need to focus on and keep going forward.
Kyle, you said in Victory Lane a lot of people doubted what you were doing, but you never did. Why were you so confident this move with Dave was the right one? I think the longest streak you'd gone since you joined Joe Gibbs Racing was 16 races without a win. This one was 21 races. You're so used to winning at JGR. What was it like for you, the agony, the frustration of going that long without a victory?
Busch: When Dave came on board, I don't know if I saw something or if I felt something, but I've worked with Dave in a couple of races in the Nationwide Series and really enjoyed my time working with him. He's a smart guy. He's a methodical thinker, utilizes the tools we have at JGR and makes more, pushes everybody harder. He's done it all throughout the off-season and all throughout this year.
Some of our engineers were telling us, That's not the direction we need to go. Dave pushed it. It seems to be paying off for us. Dave and I, we have a lot of same mentality, which maybe is scary to some. But to us it actually works pretty good. You know, we're both fiery competitors. We both want to win. We both get upset when we don't or things don't go our way. We understand each other. We understand each other's feelings and philosophies. I think that's what makes us a team that works well together.
As far as not being able to win in 21 races, shucks, darn, gee, golly, sorry. I certainly wish it wasn't 21 races. But, you know, it was a long end of the year last year. You know, we maybe should have won a few weeks ago. But it doesn't work out that way sometimes. It stinks to not win every single weekend or not every 21 weekends or 21 races, but it certainly feels nice to come out here with another good win and get another good finish.
Now we just got to keep this momentum rolling and have the guys keep pulling forward and go on into next week at Darlington, a tough racetrack for myself, even though I won there in '08, we crashed out there last year. Looking forward to trying to keep this going.
Kyle, you mentioned Jeff (Gordon) may be taking different tactics on the restarts. What kind of gamesmanship was going on on those restarts?
Busch: Well, one of the restarts there, I think when I got tires or something like that, he really slowed the field down a lot. I mean, I was almost bogging second gear. Then he took off. He took off on his own, which is fine, but he didn't keep pace of the pace car, I felt like. On the next restart, when the pace car left, he picked up the pace of the pace car and went to the start line faster. I just felt like there were some games being played there.
From what I'm told, you're supposed to keep the pace with the pace car till you get to the zone, then find your place in the zone where you want to take off and go. I was just trying to keep a consistent pace, that's all.
Dave, so many different things are happening at the end of races now with the green-white-checkereds. Can you sit down at the shop and map out your responses to a lot of these or are you still running races on the fly with 10 or 20 laps to go?
Rogers: I'm not the type of guy that shoots from the hip every day. Like Kyle said, I'm probably more methodical. We spend a lot of time at the shop and on race day morning working through every scenario.
The problem you run into this these late-race restarts, there's so many cars on the lead lap. You're at Phoenix and there's 25 cars on the lead lap. You can have the best car, but it's going to come down to chance. We weren't going to pit at Phoenix. We were going to stay out. We started scanning everybody. You heard that the entire field was going to pit. We thought it was crazy. But before the race, we said, Okay, if we ever hit pit road, we're going to take four. Two tires is a waste of time. We saw it in the Nationwide race. So we talk about it.
We have a game plan long before the race ever starts. But you do have to adjust on the fly because of your competitors. They're changing it up. If we could have kept only seven or eight cars on the lead lap today, it would have been a whole lot easier. But when you have 25, 28 cars, it's a little bit more difficult.
Kyle, after having the length of lead you had for as long as you had, was it hard to keep your head in the game after falling back like you did? Would you have been able to do that a year or two ago?
Busch: For the old Kyle Busch, he would have folded. The new one, he stuck in there, he dug hard. He kept going (laughter). You know, I mean, it was difficult. You know, I just kept driving every lap with what I had. That's all I ever do. It seems like every race so far this year we've had at least one run where we've fallen back. Texas was a big one. We came in the pits. Came out of the pits sixth with a third-place car on the previous run and dropped all the way back to 22nd or 25th or something like that before we could come back to pit road and make an adjustment to get back going forward again.
We faded a little bit. Just kept doing what we could do. We were good on the front half of the run, we could make up a little bit of time there. After 80 laps, something like that, we would start fading backwards. You had to hang on at that point. It was about 35 or 30 laps before we were going to come in and pit. It was just, Hold on. Everybody is so tight here and their lap times are so tight, it's hard to gain ground on anybody.
I was behind my brother there late in the going, I think lap 300 to 350, and he was driving away from me. I was like, man, I can't even run down a car that's a lap down. We just kept plugging along. There wasn't anybody behind me. I think Juan Montoya caught me, I let him go. A couple other lap cars came in and got tires, let them go. Ran my own race and it paid dividends tonight.
Can you comment on what Kyle was saying, the new Kyle Busch, not losing his head when things go against him?
Gibbs: I think one thing that's helped Kyle is winning that Nationwide Championship last year. I think he had real patience there. There were days where he had to take third, fourth. Of course, it's different over there because you're not racing as many cars up front that really have a chance. I think this year, you know, had this been last year with three or four of the things that happened to us in some of the races this year, particularly this one, I think you probably would have seen a different reaction. I appreciate the new Kyle.
Now the question is, What's coming in the future? One thing I did want to say, Richmond, I appreciate coming back to Richmond. I feel great here. For me personally it's Redskin territory and I appreciate everybody here. The other thing was Toyota. Toyota and our group here have been great partners, done a terrific job for us. Without their support and everything, there's no way we'd be sitting up here.
Kyle, could you talk about the new Kyle, old Kyle. What really made the difference over the last few years? Is it the championship? Is it owning the truck team? What has really changed the way that you are behind the wheel?
Busch: You know, I think it's a lot of everything. To be honest with you, I think, shoot, man, I turn 25 tomorrow, I'm getting old. I feel that way anyway. But, you know, it's got somewhat to do with the truck stuff. It's got somewhat to do with Samantha, of course. It's got a lot to do with Dave.
With Dave coming on board, I knew we weren't going to come out of the gate right away and win. Even though at Texas we could have, should have, if it wasn't for about that much more gas we probably could have. You know, I felt like there was some patience and felt like Dave needed some time to get going and get everything organized, to get the team behind him, you know, to get a lot of things in the car that he wants in the car. I think it's just a patience things. I've become a little bit more patient.
Kyle, the first 170 laps of this race you spent putting three-quarters of the field down a lap. In one fell swoop 18 or 20 cars get their lap back. Objectively speaking, are you a fan of a rule that allows that many cars to recover a lap like that?
Busch: I'll tell you what, there's going to be one of these days where I'm on that end of it and I'll be grateful for it. I don't have anything bad to say about it. It was kind of crazy that it happened. I had never thought of that predicament at all with this rule. You know, we just had pit stops, I don't know, 15 laps prior to that or something. You take a chance. That's always a chance.
If it was towards the end of the race, would guys have done that or would they have come and gotten tires? Who knows. I think to get back on the lead lap was big for a lot of people, get a caution to come in and get their tires they wanted. It plays out. I'm sure I'll be the recipient of that somewhere down the road and I'll be grateful for it then.
Kerry Tharp: Congratulations Kyle, Dave and Coach Gibbs. Good look at Darlington. Happy Birthday in 10 minutes.
Press conference transcript used by permission from NASCAR, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richmond International Raceway.
Article originally published 05/03/2010
Hard driving action, flared tempers and good old short track beating and banging!
What fans got this past Saturday was a very atypical night at Richmond International Raceway.
Long green flag stretches that saw Kyle Busch dominate the field, picking off drivers one by one.
It was his race to lose and in the middle of the night, as blue smoke emerged from his hood, many believed that there was no way the No. 18 M&M's Toyota would make it to the end of the race, much less victory lane.
But as in any good "come back" story, Kyle Busch did just that and took the checkered flag for his first Sprint Cup win in 2010.
In the media center we saw something a bit aberrant as well. A calm and collected Kyle Busch, his new crew chief and first time Sprint Cup winner Dave Rogers, and former Redskins Coach turned NASCAR owner Joe Gibbs.
The trio discussed team strategy, the virtue of patience and how sweet the first win of the season feels.
After the celebration in victory lane ended, Kyle Busch addressed the media. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp started off the question and answer session.
Kerry Tharp: We have Kyle Busch and he's joined at the podium by his crew chief Dave Rogers. 17th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for Kyle Busch, at a place that you won here last spring as well.
Kyle, talk about your win tonight. You started off very strong and then came back strong there at the very end as well.
Kyle Busch: We did. For some reason, we missed the handle on the car there in the middle of the race. The car was phenomenal in the beginning. We were making minor changes to it to make it a little bit better. There about lap 170, 200, we started falling behind on the long runs, getting really loose. We kept plugging away. Dave never gave up.
These guys on pit road kept putting in some really good pit stops. I kept driving what I had. I couldn't make much out of what was going on out there on the track, especially with traffic. But we made some changes back to the car to get it going a little bit better. Especially at the end of the race when Dave made the call to come to pit road and put tires on with 25 or 30 to go, something like that, we just got going on restarts there.
I think there was a lot of 'em. One of the winning passes was on Harvick, getting to the bottom on turn one, forcing my issue to the bottom line, then having a caution come out, getting to the outside of Jeff Gordon, just being able to get up on his outside, run him hard on that last restart there.
Kerry Tharp: Dave Rogers, talk about some of the moves that the team did tonight to come out on top.
Dave Rogers: Yeah, like Kyle said, car started out really strong. Probably just got a little bit too far behind on my adjustments. When you're out running that fast, pulling away, it's hard to try to keep up with the track. Probably got a little lazy on it, fell behind.
Then at the end, we were making bigger adjustments to get caught back up. Then the restarts, Kyle Busch driving restarts, your odds are always good when you're in that situation.
Kerry Tharp: Congratulations. We'll take questions now for Kyle or Dave.
Kyle, to what degree was this like a character-building win? If the car was off, you never fell that far behind. And, Dave, how proud are you of the way everything was held together and finally got to Victory Lane?
Busch: What did we fall back to, fifth or something like that? It felt like 15th, for as bad as we were running. You know, it was a character-building night for sure. That's a good point. We kept our head down and kept digging. We didn't let it bother us too bad.
I felt like we were getting passed. But it was weird because you had guys that were short pitting, you had guys that were on different strategies that were coming to pit road. You got guys passing you, you know, that have just come off pit road, like the 38 car passing me, Hornish is passing me, guys like that on tires. Man, I got to be running 15th by now. But it was just a weird night. So as far as all of the things go inside the race car, we kept our handle on it.
Rogers: Yeah, I'm real proud of our night tonight. It would have been great to lead all the laps. But you know, winning it the way we did is probably more special, a greater lesson to our race team. This isn't the first time that we had a character-building race this year.
We've had a lot of races where we just didn't have the car for Kyle, and he's kept his head in the game, we kept working on it, we've gotten some finishes better than what we deserved. If you look at it, I think that's what it's going to take to compete with the 48 year in and year out, try to make a run at the championship. Real proud of the way we won it.
Kerry Tharp: Moved up to third in points, as well.
Kyle, what about the last restart? Did you feel like you pretty much had to get him on the first lap? What about the inside-outside positioning? Was the outside you felt better for you?
Busch: You know, I figured I was going to get the outside. So I was just kind of thinking the whole time during the caution flag, the whole weekend everybody was taking the bottom. All I really knew was just to get into turn one smooth and be able to get a good launch up off of turn two to get down the backstretch, then make sure I got into three without over driving it.
On the previous restart, when I was with Harvick, I kept over driving, locking up the left front tire into turn three, sliding up the track. I knew if I could get through turn three okay, hammer down off of turn four, get him clear, it would be pretty good. That's what I did. Did I have a plan? Was that exactly my plan? No. My plan was just to drive it as hard as I could and make whatever happen happen. It seemed to work, you know, off the cuff.
Dave, at one point Kyle was picking cars off real quick. There were only eight left on the lead lap. It went from eight on the lead lap to 27. Why not stay out there to prevent that from happening?
Rogers: It would have been great to keep that many cars a lap down. It would have been selfish. Everybody behind us was going to pit. If we stay out, we keep all those guys down. Then the seven guys behind us are going to drive by us, we're going to lose our track position just to keep cars a lap down. It's not worth it.
I didn't think keeping those cars a lap down was going to help us win the race. I thought keeping the track position was going to help us win the race.
Kerry Tharp: Dave Rogers, your first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win tonight as a crew chief. Congratulations.
Kerry Tharp: Joining us on the podium is Coach Joe Gibbs. Coach, sure had to be impressed and proud of how the No. 18 team did tonight.
Coach Gibbs: We were thrilled really. It was a great night for us. We had so many key people here tonight, a whole group from Mars, Victoria, David. Todd had a bunch of friends watching it. A big night for us. Appreciate it. It was great for Dave. A lot of hard work there. Kyle, too. He's been real patient this year. Had some races where things didn't go well for us and stayed after it.So hopefully we get on a roll here.
Kerry Tharp: Let's continue with questions.
When you came in to get the tires about 30 laps to go, were you confident to know that you were going to be able to get up there? On the final restarts, was that really what set you apart from the 24, the 29 and the 31, or was that your ability to restart really well?
Busch: I didn't know what the race was going to have in store for us there. Coming to get tires with 30 to go, you know, I felt like it was a good decision. I didn't know how many were going to follow behind us.
We were out there for four or five laps on tires where we short-pitted a little bit on that caution. The leaders, they only had about two or three laps on their tires. We could have stayed out and probably still done the same thing, winning the race. But, you know, we wanted to be on the safe side and get tires when we did in order to, I guess, make it easier. But sure didn't feel that easy.
Maybe we made it look that way. But, you know, I think I still had a good enough car on restarts that we could have done the same thing with the tires if we would have just stayed out. But given our experience in the past, we felt best coming in.
Kyle and Dave, can you both assess where you feel you are as a team 10 races into the season, third in points, where you feel you need to go. Can you also talk about because you're still learning working together where you feel like that relationship has gone and what more you need to do to be more effective.
Rogers: We're pleased with where we're at. Obviously we want to win more races, lead more laps. But that's stating the obvious. We sat down in the winter, we came up with some goals we wanted to accomplish this season. So far we're on track. We're checking off some things.
Busch: We are?
Rogers: Okay, we're a little behind track, but not too far (smiling). But the team is progressing. They're gelling together real nice. I think communication between Kyle and I is getting better. You know, this is our first win so we're obviously making progress.
Busch: I'll just say that, you know, having Dave come on board this year, the end of last year, I saw a turnaround in the team. We went to Texas, ran strong. Homestead, one of my non-great racetracks, we ran strong. This year we've been trying real hard as being able to get Dave accustomed to the car and me to be a little bit more patient inside the race car and also let Dave come into here and make this his race team.
I feel like he's done a really nice job at it. Joe and J.D. have given in and allowed Dave and us to do what we need to do in order to make this a championship team. The guys in the garage area really see that, see the hours that Dave puts in every week. His family sees it, as well, too. I'm very fortunate to have a crew chief that does all that.
Of course, you know, our A and B team guys, they've stepped up their game. They've come to not play anymore, they've come to work hard and make sure that we win some races.
I've heard "patience" mentioned several times here. Kyle, could you talk about this part of the season, just maybe how different you've been in terms of looking at things because of changes. Do you feel like you've kind of grown a little bit and learned that it's okay to be competitive necessarily without winning and that would pay off like it did tonight?
Busch: Yeah, I mean, I think that we've had—there's been a lot of that learning for me so far this year. We've had cars that haven't been capable of top fives or top 10s and we've gotten some top fives and 10s with those cars. We've had cars we should have won, maybe Phoenix or somewhere else, and we ran 10th or 15th with those cars.
You know, it's frustrating to see those days when you run well and not really get what you deserve. But then you see the days where you struggle a little bit and you kind of steal one out of there. You wish they were all that way. But, you know, you got to give and take sometimes. I'm learning that a little bit more.
You look back and see what happens with how the season has progressed and how teams progress. You look at what RCR has been able to do. They've turned the corner and have really become a strong team that we've got to focus on and watch out for maybe, that they're getting their stuff going. Of course, you know, the Hendrick guys always. We need to make sure this 18 team focuses on what they need to focus on and keep going forward.
Kyle, you said in Victory Lane a lot of people doubted what you were doing, but you never did. Why were you so confident this move with Dave was the right one? I think the longest streak you'd gone since you joined Joe Gibbs Racing was 16 races without a win. This one was 21 races. You're so used to winning at JGR. What was it like for you, the agony, the frustration of going that long without a victory?
Busch: When Dave came on board, I don't know if I saw something or if I felt something, but I've worked with Dave in a couple of races in the Nationwide Series and really enjoyed my time working with him. He's a smart guy. He's a methodical thinker, utilizes the tools we have at JGR and makes more, pushes everybody harder. He's done it all throughout the off-season and all throughout this year.
Some of our engineers were telling us, That's not the direction we need to go. Dave pushed it. It seems to be paying off for us. Dave and I, we have a lot of same mentality, which maybe is scary to some. But to us it actually works pretty good. You know, we're both fiery competitors. We both want to win. We both get upset when we don't or things don't go our way. We understand each other. We understand each other's feelings and philosophies. I think that's what makes us a team that works well together.
As far as not being able to win in 21 races, shucks, darn, gee, golly, sorry. I certainly wish it wasn't 21 races. But, you know, it was a long end of the year last year. You know, we maybe should have won a few weeks ago. But it doesn't work out that way sometimes. It stinks to not win every single weekend or not every 21 weekends or 21 races, but it certainly feels nice to come out here with another good win and get another good finish.
Now we just got to keep this momentum rolling and have the guys keep pulling forward and go on into next week at Darlington, a tough racetrack for myself, even though I won there in '08, we crashed out there last year. Looking forward to trying to keep this going.
Kyle, you mentioned Jeff (Gordon) may be taking different tactics on the restarts. What kind of gamesmanship was going on on those restarts?
Busch: Well, one of the restarts there, I think when I got tires or something like that, he really slowed the field down a lot. I mean, I was almost bogging second gear. Then he took off. He took off on his own, which is fine, but he didn't keep pace of the pace car, I felt like. On the next restart, when the pace car left, he picked up the pace of the pace car and went to the start line faster. I just felt like there were some games being played there.
From what I'm told, you're supposed to keep the pace with the pace car till you get to the zone, then find your place in the zone where you want to take off and go. I was just trying to keep a consistent pace, that's all.
Dave, so many different things are happening at the end of races now with the green-white-checkereds. Can you sit down at the shop and map out your responses to a lot of these or are you still running races on the fly with 10 or 20 laps to go?
Rogers: I'm not the type of guy that shoots from the hip every day. Like Kyle said, I'm probably more methodical. We spend a lot of time at the shop and on race day morning working through every scenario.
The problem you run into this these late-race restarts, there's so many cars on the lead lap. You're at Phoenix and there's 25 cars on the lead lap. You can have the best car, but it's going to come down to chance. We weren't going to pit at Phoenix. We were going to stay out. We started scanning everybody. You heard that the entire field was going to pit. We thought it was crazy. But before the race, we said, Okay, if we ever hit pit road, we're going to take four. Two tires is a waste of time. We saw it in the Nationwide race. So we talk about it.
We have a game plan long before the race ever starts. But you do have to adjust on the fly because of your competitors. They're changing it up. If we could have kept only seven or eight cars on the lead lap today, it would have been a whole lot easier. But when you have 25, 28 cars, it's a little bit more difficult.
Kyle, after having the length of lead you had for as long as you had, was it hard to keep your head in the game after falling back like you did? Would you have been able to do that a year or two ago?
Busch: For the old Kyle Busch, he would have folded. The new one, he stuck in there, he dug hard. He kept going (laughter). You know, I mean, it was difficult. You know, I just kept driving every lap with what I had. That's all I ever do. It seems like every race so far this year we've had at least one run where we've fallen back. Texas was a big one. We came in the pits. Came out of the pits sixth with a third-place car on the previous run and dropped all the way back to 22nd or 25th or something like that before we could come back to pit road and make an adjustment to get back going forward again.
We faded a little bit. Just kept doing what we could do. We were good on the front half of the run, we could make up a little bit of time there. After 80 laps, something like that, we would start fading backwards. You had to hang on at that point. It was about 35 or 30 laps before we were going to come in and pit. It was just, Hold on. Everybody is so tight here and their lap times are so tight, it's hard to gain ground on anybody.
I was behind my brother there late in the going, I think lap 300 to 350, and he was driving away from me. I was like, man, I can't even run down a car that's a lap down. We just kept plugging along. There wasn't anybody behind me. I think Juan Montoya caught me, I let him go. A couple other lap cars came in and got tires, let them go. Ran my own race and it paid dividends tonight.
Can you comment on what Kyle was saying, the new Kyle Busch, not losing his head when things go against him?
Gibbs: I think one thing that's helped Kyle is winning that Nationwide Championship last year. I think he had real patience there. There were days where he had to take third, fourth. Of course, it's different over there because you're not racing as many cars up front that really have a chance. I think this year, you know, had this been last year with three or four of the things that happened to us in some of the races this year, particularly this one, I think you probably would have seen a different reaction. I appreciate the new Kyle.
Now the question is, What's coming in the future? One thing I did want to say, Richmond, I appreciate coming back to Richmond. I feel great here. For me personally it's Redskin territory and I appreciate everybody here. The other thing was Toyota. Toyota and our group here have been great partners, done a terrific job for us. Without their support and everything, there's no way we'd be sitting up here.
Kyle, could you talk about the new Kyle, old Kyle. What really made the difference over the last few years? Is it the championship? Is it owning the truck team? What has really changed the way that you are behind the wheel?
Busch: You know, I think it's a lot of everything. To be honest with you, I think, shoot, man, I turn 25 tomorrow, I'm getting old. I feel that way anyway. But, you know, it's got somewhat to do with the truck stuff. It's got somewhat to do with Samantha, of course. It's got a lot to do with Dave.
With Dave coming on board, I knew we weren't going to come out of the gate right away and win. Even though at Texas we could have, should have, if it wasn't for about that much more gas we probably could have. You know, I felt like there was some patience and felt like Dave needed some time to get going and get everything organized, to get the team behind him, you know, to get a lot of things in the car that he wants in the car. I think it's just a patience things. I've become a little bit more patient.
Kyle, the first 170 laps of this race you spent putting three-quarters of the field down a lap. In one fell swoop 18 or 20 cars get their lap back. Objectively speaking, are you a fan of a rule that allows that many cars to recover a lap like that?
Busch: I'll tell you what, there's going to be one of these days where I'm on that end of it and I'll be grateful for it. I don't have anything bad to say about it. It was kind of crazy that it happened. I had never thought of that predicament at all with this rule. You know, we just had pit stops, I don't know, 15 laps prior to that or something. You take a chance. That's always a chance.
If it was towards the end of the race, would guys have done that or would they have come and gotten tires? Who knows. I think to get back on the lead lap was big for a lot of people, get a caution to come in and get their tires they wanted. It plays out. I'm sure I'll be the recipient of that somewhere down the road and I'll be grateful for it then.
Kerry Tharp: Congratulations Kyle, Dave and Coach Gibbs. Good look at Darlington. Happy Birthday in 10 minutes.
Press conference transcript used by permission from NASCAR, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richmond International Raceway.
Article originally published 05/03/2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Holy Cat Fight, NASCAR! Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon Ready To Rumble in Richmond?
As NASCAR heads to Richmond this weekend, fans and media alike are gearing up for what could be part three of the highly publicized Gordon/Johnson showdown.
The generally mild-mannered Hendrick drivers first tussled in Texas two weeks ago when they made contact on lap 240 racing for second place.
Johnson’s car sustained left side damage and sent him to pit road, but in the end found him finishing the race in second place, while Gordon got tangled up in a late wreck with Tony Stewart and would end up finishing a somber 31st.
A disgruntled Gordon voiced his frustration with Johnson over the radio to crew chief Steve Letarte, "Four-time is a little upset. He [expects] to be treated different than everybody else.”
When asked about the incident in a post-race interview, Johnson stated, "He [Gordon] was just on my bumper, pushing me through the center of the turn—I was like, 'Man, I really can't go anywhere if you're there, pushing me; if you'd just get off my a** and let me get control of my car, I can accelerate.'"
“I am pretty disappointed in how he was racing me today, but we will get to the bottom of it and sort it out. [There’s] no need to play it out in the press. We’ll get it taken care of at the shop and during the week and come back to the next race and do it again."
And do it again they did in Talladega.
Prior to the race, both Johnson and Gordon confirmed that “they had put their problems behind them,” but an on track altercation proved otherwise.
On lap 182 Gordon made a hard charge under the No. 48, Johnson moved to block in turn three, forcing the Dupont Chevrolet onto the apron and essentially stifling Gordon’s momentum.
Shortly thereafter Gordon was caught in a multicar accident, finishing the race in the 22nd position and voiced his displeasure once again for his teammate’s on track antics.
“The 48 [Johnson] is testing my patience, I can tell you that. “It takes a lot to make me mad, and I’m pissed right now. When a car is going that much faster…I don’t know what it is with me and him right now—but whatever.”
Johnson, who finished 31st after his own late-race wreck ceremoniously took the blame. “I misjudged the closing rate, we all make mistakes, I am no different," said Johnson. "Certainly, that was my fault. I made the mistake there."
As the race week transitions from the high speeds of the super speedway to the down and dirty short track rebellion, all eyes will be focused on the two HMS drivers, wondering just what will happen next?
Will the hatchet be officially buried or will the intensity of the short track racing add fuel to the fire?
While both drivers are filled with passion and strong words, what I'd really like to see is a real knock-down, drag out, hair raising cat fight! I really don't condone violence, but it sure would be fun to watch.
Sadly, an argument between Johnson and Gordon feels just about as threatening as an "Orbit Gum" commercial.
Beyond the walls of the NASCAR hauler, much like the "dirty mouth" ads, I imagine this dialogue taking place.
Gordon: Jimmie, you son of a biscuit-eating bulldog!
Johnson: What the French toast?!
Gordon: Look, you doo doo head cootie king, did you think you could hold me up on the track just because you are a four time champion?!
Johnson: Who are you calling a cootie king? You lint-licker!
Gordon: Pickle you kumquat!
Johnson: Jeff, you're overreacting!
Gordon: No, Jimmie, overreacting was when I put your Lowe’s Chevrolet into a wood chipper, Stinky McStinkface!
The generally mild-mannered Hendrick drivers first tussled in Texas two weeks ago when they made contact on lap 240 racing for second place.
Johnson’s car sustained left side damage and sent him to pit road, but in the end found him finishing the race in second place, while Gordon got tangled up in a late wreck with Tony Stewart and would end up finishing a somber 31st.
A disgruntled Gordon voiced his frustration with Johnson over the radio to crew chief Steve Letarte, "Four-time is a little upset. He [expects] to be treated different than everybody else.”
When asked about the incident in a post-race interview, Johnson stated, "He [Gordon] was just on my bumper, pushing me through the center of the turn—I was like, 'Man, I really can't go anywhere if you're there, pushing me; if you'd just get off my a** and let me get control of my car, I can accelerate.'"
“I am pretty disappointed in how he was racing me today, but we will get to the bottom of it and sort it out. [There’s] no need to play it out in the press. We’ll get it taken care of at the shop and during the week and come back to the next race and do it again."
And do it again they did in Talladega.
Prior to the race, both Johnson and Gordon confirmed that “they had put their problems behind them,” but an on track altercation proved otherwise.
On lap 182 Gordon made a hard charge under the No. 48, Johnson moved to block in turn three, forcing the Dupont Chevrolet onto the apron and essentially stifling Gordon’s momentum.
Shortly thereafter Gordon was caught in a multicar accident, finishing the race in the 22nd position and voiced his displeasure once again for his teammate’s on track antics.
“The 48 [Johnson] is testing my patience, I can tell you that. “It takes a lot to make me mad, and I’m pissed right now. When a car is going that much faster…I don’t know what it is with me and him right now—but whatever.”
Johnson, who finished 31st after his own late-race wreck ceremoniously took the blame. “I misjudged the closing rate, we all make mistakes, I am no different," said Johnson. "Certainly, that was my fault. I made the mistake there."
As the race week transitions from the high speeds of the super speedway to the down and dirty short track rebellion, all eyes will be focused on the two HMS drivers, wondering just what will happen next?
Will the hatchet be officially buried or will the intensity of the short track racing add fuel to the fire?
While both drivers are filled with passion and strong words, what I'd really like to see is a real knock-down, drag out, hair raising cat fight! I really don't condone violence, but it sure would be fun to watch.
Sadly, an argument between Johnson and Gordon feels just about as threatening as an "Orbit Gum" commercial.
Beyond the walls of the NASCAR hauler, much like the "dirty mouth" ads, I imagine this dialogue taking place.
Gordon: Jimmie, you son of a biscuit-eating bulldog!
Johnson: What the French toast?!
Gordon: Look, you doo doo head cootie king, did you think you could hold me up on the track just because you are a four time champion?!
Johnson: Who are you calling a cootie king? You lint-licker!
Gordon: Pickle you kumquat!
Johnson: Jeff, you're overreacting!
Gordon: No, Jimmie, overreacting was when I put your Lowe’s Chevrolet into a wood chipper, Stinky McStinkface!
Artcle originally published 04/29/2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
NASCAR: What a Wide-Eyed Beast You Be, Just Don't Blink, You Could Miss It
On average we blink once every five seconds, 732 times an hour, 17,000 times each day, which adds up to an amazing 6.25 million times a year.
The blink of the human eye is about 0.33 seconds.
It is so apart of our lives, that rarely do we even think about it, but I am willing to bet that the 140,000 + sets of eyes in the grandstands of Talladega this past Sunday, and countless others glued to their televisions at home, made a conscious effort not to blink as Kevin Harvick made his now famous slingshot maneuver around Jamie McMurray to take the checkered flag.
Harvick beat McMurray by just 0.11 seconds.
While that win is most certainly one for the record books, look back to Darlington, Mar. 16, 2003 for the closest finish in NASCAR history, when Ricky Craven beat Kurt Busch by a mere .002 seconds.
The two drivers actually finished the last stretch of the race with their cars touching.
In NASCAR, a hundredth of a second can win a race.
With Richmond coming up this weekend, we are reminded that in Sep. of 2003, at that very track, 0.387 seconds marked the difference between the first and 36th positions.
Talk about your grid-locked traffic!
One of the reasons Danica Patrick says she is giving NASCAR a try is because of how much tighter the racing is.
Look at the stats. Can you blame her?
NASCAR’s average margin of victory in 2009 was 2.0 seconds, the IRL’s margin of victory was 3.58 seconds.
Yawn!
In 2003, Ryan Newman made history at Bristol Motor Speedway, with a Sprint Cup Series quaifying lap of 14.908 seconds (128.709 mph).
A simple 2.5 blinks of an eye.
Think of how upset we as fans get when we miss something on the track because of a routine blink or being distracted by your buddy knocking over your last can of hooch.
Get a piece of debris in your eye and you could easily miss several laps!
It is instinctual for humans to close their eyes tightly when we anticipate something displeasing.
Think of it in terms of watching a horror movie. That scary music cues up and you just know that something wicked is coming!
Your eyes squint, your hand is waiting in the wings to make the quick cover. You want to turn away, but you can't, because you might miss something.
Just like NASCAR, don't ever take your eyes off the screen or you are bound to miss something good!
Take a minute to appreciate the real eyes of the track, the spotters. They get paid NOT to blink!
Each week when a driver climbs into his car, he is fitted with his helmet and HANS device; then strapped into the driver's seat, which leaves him with a very limited view of the track.
It is up to a very trusted member of the driver’s team to “see” for them. Spotters must have a keen eye focused on their driver, but one that constantly roves the field, looking for the future “what ifs.”
The spotter can make or break a driver’s position, prevent or find themselves in the middle of the “big one” and ultimately win or lose a race.
The stress doesn't end with the checkered flag. Most spotters can't sleep after a big race. Their eyes are sore for days, worn out from hours of staring through binoculars and not blinking.
The idea of being at a NASCAR race in itself is somewhat surreal. It is a fantastic, almost dream like state, because what we are witnessing on the track is somewhat impalpable.
Categorically, it is unlike any other event.
It is fast and furious. It is danger and intrigue. It is beauty and perfection.
It is intangible, wide eyed glory, just don't blink!
"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." -Ferris Bueller
The blink of the human eye is about 0.33 seconds.
It is so apart of our lives, that rarely do we even think about it, but I am willing to bet that the 140,000 + sets of eyes in the grandstands of Talladega this past Sunday, and countless others glued to their televisions at home, made a conscious effort not to blink as Kevin Harvick made his now famous slingshot maneuver around Jamie McMurray to take the checkered flag.
Harvick beat McMurray by just 0.11 seconds.
While that win is most certainly one for the record books, look back to Darlington, Mar. 16, 2003 for the closest finish in NASCAR history, when Ricky Craven beat Kurt Busch by a mere .002 seconds.
The two drivers actually finished the last stretch of the race with their cars touching.
In NASCAR, a hundredth of a second can win a race.
With Richmond coming up this weekend, we are reminded that in Sep. of 2003, at that very track, 0.387 seconds marked the difference between the first and 36th positions.
Talk about your grid-locked traffic!
One of the reasons Danica Patrick says she is giving NASCAR a try is because of how much tighter the racing is.
Look at the stats. Can you blame her?
NASCAR’s average margin of victory in 2009 was 2.0 seconds, the IRL’s margin of victory was 3.58 seconds.
Yawn!
In 2003, Ryan Newman made history at Bristol Motor Speedway, with a Sprint Cup Series quaifying lap of 14.908 seconds (128.709 mph).
A simple 2.5 blinks of an eye.
Think of how upset we as fans get when we miss something on the track because of a routine blink or being distracted by your buddy knocking over your last can of hooch.
Get a piece of debris in your eye and you could easily miss several laps!
It is instinctual for humans to close their eyes tightly when we anticipate something displeasing.
Think of it in terms of watching a horror movie. That scary music cues up and you just know that something wicked is coming!
Your eyes squint, your hand is waiting in the wings to make the quick cover. You want to turn away, but you can't, because you might miss something.
Just like NASCAR, don't ever take your eyes off the screen or you are bound to miss something good!
Take a minute to appreciate the real eyes of the track, the spotters. They get paid NOT to blink!
Each week when a driver climbs into his car, he is fitted with his helmet and HANS device; then strapped into the driver's seat, which leaves him with a very limited view of the track.
It is up to a very trusted member of the driver’s team to “see” for them. Spotters must have a keen eye focused on their driver, but one that constantly roves the field, looking for the future “what ifs.”
The spotter can make or break a driver’s position, prevent or find themselves in the middle of the “big one” and ultimately win or lose a race.
The stress doesn't end with the checkered flag. Most spotters can't sleep after a big race. Their eyes are sore for days, worn out from hours of staring through binoculars and not blinking.
The idea of being at a NASCAR race in itself is somewhat surreal. It is a fantastic, almost dream like state, because what we are witnessing on the track is somewhat impalpable.
Categorically, it is unlike any other event.
It is fast and furious. It is danger and intrigue. It is beauty and perfection.
It is intangible, wide eyed glory, just don't blink!
"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." -Ferris Bueller
Article originally published 04/26/2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Heard It Through the Grapevine, Tony Stewart Wants to Meet You In Texas
Everybody knows that everything is bigger and bolder in Texas, so who better to host an appearance than larger-than-life personality Tony Stewart?
The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet will roll into Grapevine, Texas at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, April 14 to sign autographs for fans at the local Office Depot.
Want a chance to meet him and help celebrate his 400th career start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series? Here's how!
Where: Office Depot, 1317 State Highway 114 West, Grapevine, TX, 76051
When: Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 4 pm local time
Why: Because you want to meet your favorite driver, that's why!
The No. 14 Office Depot will be on site for photo-ops and fans can try their hand at being Stewart for a day by taking a simulated spin around the track in the No. 14 race car simulator.
Please note that while this event will be open to the general public, only 700 wristbands will be distributed for autographs (one per person).
The wristbands may be obtained on a first-come, first-serve basis at the store beginning at 8:00 am local time.
Fans with a wristband must be in line no later than 5:00 pm to receive an autograph.
Saddle up early folks and get on down to the Office Depot before the stampede and wrangle yourself a visit with a real modern day cowboy.
This is a one day opportunity, so giddy up y'all and strike while the iron is hot.
Don't let Tony Stewart drive off into the sunset without showing him some genuine Texas hospitality!
Press release courtesy of MATTER/Edelman Sports and Entertainment and Office Depot.
Article originally published 04/13/2010
The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet will roll into Grapevine, Texas at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, April 14 to sign autographs for fans at the local Office Depot.
Want a chance to meet him and help celebrate his 400th career start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series? Here's how!
Where: Office Depot, 1317 State Highway 114 West, Grapevine, TX, 76051
When: Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 4 pm local time
Why: Because you want to meet your favorite driver, that's why!
The No. 14 Office Depot will be on site for photo-ops and fans can try their hand at being Stewart for a day by taking a simulated spin around the track in the No. 14 race car simulator.
Please note that while this event will be open to the general public, only 700 wristbands will be distributed for autographs (one per person).
The wristbands may be obtained on a first-come, first-serve basis at the store beginning at 8:00 am local time.
Fans with a wristband must be in line no later than 5:00 pm to receive an autograph.
Saddle up early folks and get on down to the Office Depot before the stampede and wrangle yourself a visit with a real modern day cowboy.
This is a one day opportunity, so giddy up y'all and strike while the iron is hot.
Don't let Tony Stewart drive off into the sunset without showing him some genuine Texas hospitality!
Press release courtesy of MATTER/Edelman Sports and Entertainment and Office Depot.
Article originally published 04/13/2010
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