NASCAR Thread

[roushmartin6]

A very sad day. Just one of the good ole boys I watched growing up. He just loved racing and you will never see anything like this again in NASCAR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9fB1IcTD48

[Southstander]

Tim Flock, Maurice Petty, Dale Jarrett, Jack Ingram, Fireball Roberts elected to NASCAR Hall of Fame.

[BroncosFanInPA]

A bit long but a good read but i don't agree with all of it.

CONCORD, N.C. — Everyone knows Tony Stewart's crew chief is in trouble. If you listen to the conventional wisdom in the garage, Steve Addington probably is going to be fired any day now.

In fact, with three-time champion Stewart sitting 21st in the standings, why hasn't he been fired already?

Maybe it's because Stewart's struggles aren't all Addington's fault.

"You're waiting for Steve Addington to get fired, but I don't honestly believe we're giving Steve Addington good enough cars to give our driver a chance to win," said Addington's boss, Stewart-Haas Racing competition director Greg Zipadelli. "I don't think it's fair to go mess with people's lives just because we don't have our (crap) together as a group."


This has been a miserable season, and many other teams already would have made the crew chief the fall guy by this point. Someone has to take the blame, right?

But SHR isn't adopting that philosophy — not yet, anyway. Zipadelli, sitting in his motor home Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, told USA TODAY Sports that pointing the finger at one person would just be making a hollow change.

"It frustrates me that people say, 'You should do this, you should do that,'" Zipadelli said. "Well, why don't you come over and sit in my seat, sit in Steve Addington's seat, sit in (Ryan Newman crew chief) Matt Borland's seat. It's easy to pick up a pen and just bash somebody when they have no idea internally what's going on."


But it's also easy to see why people would think a change is needed: The entire organization is struggling. In addition to Stewart, Newman is 17th in the standings and rookie Danica Patrick is 28th.

To say the organization's start has been a letdown is a dramatic understatement.

"The biggest disappointment (of any team) is how badly the Stewart-Haas Racing cars ... are running," Fox analyst Darrell Waltrip said. "They are going nowhere, and quite honestly they don't seem to be all that concerned about it."

The team was off to a bad start before the season began. In the midst of adding a third car, it shuffled personnel and added new people but fell drastically behind by underestimating that process, Zipadelli said.

It didn't help that SHR was late to get many parts it needed to build the new Gen 6 cars. The team had to "beg, borrow and steal" to get some of the required pieces, Zipadelli said, and is only now starting to make the cars better.

"It became pretty clear, our weak area," Patrick said. "I think we were surprised. All of us understand we have to work hard to fix it and we have to admit what we need to fix."

Now, Zipadelli said, SHR is starting over. The problem is the season is one-third complete after Sunday.


"It's tough; it's frustrating; it's pretty humbling," he said. "We aren't making light of it."

Many would trace Stewart's decline in performance to the firing of crew chief Darian Grubb. In 2011, Stewart caught fire in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and won five out of 10 races en route to his third championship — but informed Grubb halfway through the title run that his services were no longer needed.

That didn't seem to be a huge deal when Stewart made the Chase last year with Addington, but this year's struggles have revived talk that SHR made a mistake.

Grubb, also a former Hendrick Motorsports employee, served as a key link between the teams — Hendrick is SHR's engine and chassis supplier. Zipadelli says the relationship with Hendrick remains strong.

"I saw them like this before, then they went and won a championship," said Jeff Gordon, who drives for Hendrick and indicated SHR drivers hadn't been part of the weekly team debriefs as often this year.

But time is running short if any SHR cars are going to make the Chase, which Zipadelli said was the furthest thing from anyone's mind. Recent test sessions (such as one at Dover International, where NASCAR races next week) could pay off.

Still, how long can it wait?

"There's a little light at the end of the tunnel," Zipadelli said. "I'm just hoping it's not a train."

I thought this was a very interesting article & for a statement to be released there has got to be alot of tension going on in the whole organization & i'm really surprised that Zippy is sticking up for Addington, who could have just left his name out of the conversation.

Anyway, i'm not sure if i'm buying into everything that was said, i mean really how could you not be prepared? And not have the proper parts for your cars? Something just don't sit right to me.

[AZ Snake Fan]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
jmo, I think NASCAR has put tremendous pressure on Stewart/Hass to showcase Danica.
That has to cause problems for the entire team. Ricky and Danica, All Stars ? Really ? Rookies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charlotte is a mile and a halfer, largest track in NASCAR. 400 laps = 600 miles.
Toyos dominate the top 5 again.
If the Toyos survive this race, we can say their engine woes are behind them.
It's going to be fast, Hamlin cracked over 195 for the pole.
That pesky Kurt Busch keeps hammering that Furniture Row car and is in the mix along with Matt Kenseth again.


Here's the line-up for the 600 :


1 Denny Hamlin
2 Kurt Busch
3 Matt Kenseth
4 Mark Martin
5 Clint Bowyer
6 Kasey Kahne
7 Greg Biffle
8 Kyle Busch
9 Jamie McMurray
10 Ryan Newman
11 Dale Earnhardt Jr
12 Jimmie Johnson
13 Carl Edwards
14 Jeff Gordon
15 Kevin Harvick
16 Juan Pablo Montoya
17 Martin Truex Jr
18 Aric Almirola
19 Marcos Ambrose
20 Brad Keselowski
21 Casey Mears
22 Paul Menard
23 J.J. Yeley
24 Danica Patrick
25 Tony Stewart
26 David Gilliland
27 Jeff Burton
28 Travis Kvapil
29 Trevor Bayne
30 Ricky Stenhouse Jr
31 Joey Logano
32 Michael McDowell
33 Dave Blaney
34 Bobby Labonte
35 David Ragan
36 Regan Smith
37 Scott Speed
38 David Reutimann
39 David Stremme
40 Timmy Hill
41 Joe Nemechek
42 Landon Cassill
43 Josh Wise

Drivers be safe, behave yourselves and enjoy Charlotte !!!

[Southstander]

1,100 miles of racing tomorrow. The Indy 500 and the World 600. Does it get any better?

My Picks are

Marco Andretti
Jimmie Johnson

[Peanut]

PA, I think AZ has a good point. That has to put stress on them and take their focus away from where it should be.

1,100 miles of racing tomorrow. The Indy 500 and the World 600. Does it get any better?

My Picks are

Marco Andretti
Jimmie Johnson

Add in 161 miles for F1.

Sato, Rahal, Hunter-Reay. It'd be cool if de Silvestro won.

Kyle Busch, Logano.

[Southstander]

Next the World 600.

[Southstander]

Well I went 0 for 2 on my predictions.

[roushmartin6]

I missed a good chunk of the race (including Mark getting wrecked again) because the FOX station went out. Not that it matters, Mark got wrecked again. This season has been terrible and I'm just waiting for football to come back

[Southstander]

Hey roushmartin6, how Many years do you think Mark will race?

[roushmartin6]

Hey roushmartin6, how Many years do you think Mark will race?

I honestly don't know. He was supposed to retire back in 2005 lol. Sounds like he won't be back with MWR next year but he says he wants to race. I hoping he gets the 4th Gibbs car going lol. I know he can still drive, he should have won several races last year but just had ungodly bad luck. This year he can qualify up front but they can't get the balance right and the pit crew isn't helping either, just very frustrating.

[Peanut]

I honestly don't know. He was supposed to retire back in 2005 lol. Sounds like he won't be back with MWR next year but he says he wants to race. I hoping he gets the 4th Gibbs car going lol. I know he can still drive, he should have won several races last year but just had ungodly bad luck. This year he can qualify up front but they can't get the balance right and the pit crew isn't helping either, just very frustrating.

I have several "Farewell Mark Martin" towels that they handed out at Dover that year.

I think it makes it harder when they have multiple drivers for one team. I understand why Waltrip does it, I just think it's a challenge for the team to gel.

Going to Dover tomorrow for the Truck race and our yearly get-together with some ladies from NY. Going Saturday for the NW race. Still praying that it gets cooler than the 90 degrees they're forecasting (for both days). It gets so hot up in the stands.

Oh, I have another favorite driver. Kyle Larsen. Anybody that can do donuts with the steering wheel hanging out of the window is cool with me. Stewart has given him some serious props.

[roushmartin6]

I have several "Farewell Mark Martin" towels that they handed out at Dover that year.

I think it makes it harder when they have multiple drivers for one team. I understand why Waltrip does it, I just think it's a challenge for the team to gel.

Going to Dover tomorrow for the Truck race and our yearly get-together with some ladies from NY. Going Saturday for the NW race. Still praying that it gets cooler than the 90 degrees they're forecasting (for both days). It gets so hot up in the stands.

Oh, I have another favorite driver. Kyle Larsen. Anybody that can do donuts with the steering wheel hanging out of the window is cool with me. Stewart has given him some serious props.

Yea I've been impressed with Kyle Larsen so far. Never heard of him before his Daytona wreck but he can drive! Looks like Ganassi finally has a good driver in his stable now.

[AZ Snake Fan]

^^^^^^^^^^
Have fun Peanut !!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fast Friday: Dover

The top ten practice times were all within + or - .500 of 159 mph.
Cup practice lasted 1 1/2 hours followed by the NWS practice for 2 1/2 hours.
By the time the Cup quals started at 3 pm EST, the track was loaded with rubber.
Combined with hot temps, it made a very slick track and quals were really squirrely.
Johnson was fastest in practice but couldn't stick it in the quals.
Everyone was loose and qual times were way down from practice times.
Truck race is getting ready to start now, should be wild, the track is still hot.
When the track cools off all that rubber will stick to the trucks' hot tires.
~~~
Toyos dominated the top ten again at Dover
Last week at Charlotte was an endurance test for engines, no plates and no gear reduction.
Had several motor issues but they were all across the mfg board equally.
~~~
Todays quals are important not just because of line up and field position
but because pit road is so very narrow and so hard to get onto off the track.
The best pit spots will have an advantage for the drivers and crews.
So, here is the line up for Dover:

1 Denny Hamlin
2 Martin Truex Jr.
3 Kyle Busch
4 Matt Kenseth
5 Ryan Newman
6 Mark Martin
7 Kevin Harvick
8 Brad Keselowski
9 Joey Logano
10 Jamie McMurray
11 Kasey Kahne
12 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
13 Kurt Busch
14 Juan Pablo Montoya
15 Clint Bowyer
16 Paul Menard
17 Casey Mears
18 Carl Edwards
19 Greg Biffle
20 Jeff Gordon
21 Landon Cassill
22 Tony Stewart
23 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24 Jimmie Johnson
25 Austin Dillon
26 Bobby Labonte
27 David Reutimann
28 David Gilliland
29 Jeff Burton
30 Marcos Ambrose
31 Michael McDowell
32 Mike Bliss
33 Aric Almirola
34 David Stremme
35 David Ragan
36 Joe Nemechek
37 Dave Blaney
38 Travis Kvapil
39 Danica Patrick
40 J.J. Yeley
41 Josh Wise
42 Timmy Hill #
43 Scott Riggs

~~~
Drivers be safe, behave yourselves and enjoy the Monster Mile in Dover.

.

[Peanut]

Larson, with an "o". I thought I saw it with an "e". Yes, things like that bother me.

It was hot, but we had a constant breeze that made it bearable. I've got some good pictures of Kyle's burnout.

I would wear a Kyle Larson shirt tomorrow but couldn't find one. Not even the NASCAR store has one. Not on eBay, either. I thought they had everything.

Thanks, AZ. It was fun. Hopefully, we get that breeze again tomorrow.

Go Kyles!