NASCAR BLOG

The newly re-laid race track at the Darlington Raceway has got the appreciation of the drivers as the track speed has increased more than 10 mph and it is the fastest ever race track at Darlington. Earnhardt Jr was the third fastest during the practice session with Kyle Busch clocking the fastest speed of 175 mph which is by far the fastest by any driver in Darlington. Busch and Earnhardt were of the opinion that the track has got pretty fast and grips well. Most of the NASCAR drivers are hopeful that the track holds well in race conditions.

Clint Bowyer made a surprise victory lap at the Richmond International Raceway as he stole the victory that was destined to be either for Denny Hamlin or Dale Earnhardt Jr. The wild ending by the three drivers helped Bowyer claim the trip down Victory lane and his boss Richard Childress was over the moon with this victory. Hamlin was on the leader board for 381 off the 400 lap race, but a front tire leak in his car meant that Earnhardt and Busch to race him.

There was a strong race battle between Busch and Earnhardt, but a collision between the two cars stripped Earnhardt from winning the race.  Bowyer, who saw an opening from behind, took advantage of the collision and suddenly from nowhere found himself leading the race. Thus Bowyer claimed his first Cup victory of the season and has two victories so far in his NASCAR racing career.

Fans of Denny Hamlin will be relieved to find out that NASCAR officials will not punish him further when he intentionally brought out a late caution when he raced at the Richmond International Raceway. Earlier at the race on Saturday, he has to race two additional laps as penalty when he halted on the track with a cut tire. During that time, he has less than ten laps remaining before the race ended. NASCAR translated that move as a way to allow Hamlin’s team mate Kyle Busch the upper hand to overtake Dale Earnhardt Jr.

In related news, Michael Waltrip will also not be punished for purposefully wrecking Casey Mears’ car.

Juan Pablo Montoya had an impressive run at the Talladega Speedway as he came in the second position at the Aaron’s 499 race last Sunday and showed the NASCAR world that he can race fairly well here also. Montoya has been racing at the NASCAR for the past 2 years and it is now that he is getting on the grips of this fairly racy racing sport. Montoya said that he loved restrictor plate racing and this is the first time that he has finished in a higher position at Talladega.

Montoya said that he absolutely enjoyed racing here and said that the track needs lots of concentration and dedication from the driver’s point of view as one has to clearly plan his strategy to pick up the right lane for racing. Montoya felt that his bumping on Busch’s car actually helped Kyle to win the race and felt this race as pretty interesting and exciting.

Both fans and NASCAR racers will be glad to know that Lowe’s Motor Speedway will soon feature a reliable SAFER barrier lining the inside wall of its backstretch. The proper installation process is expected to be completed right before the track opens its doors to crowds coming for the NASCAR race come May 2008. SAFER, an acronym for Steel and Foam Energy Reduction barriers is a great form of safety and protection for racers. For this matter, Lowe will soon boast an extra 340 feet of SAFER barriers. Humpy Wheeler, responsible track president for Lowe, said that even though this entire project will cost them a whopping $110,000, the wellbeing of NASCAR racers are still number one priority.

The move came about after Jeff Gordon suffered from a terrible crash at Las Vegas last March. He criticized Bruton Smith, owner of both Las Vegas and Lowe’s Motor Speedway on live television for failing to install adequate SAFER barriers.

Chip Ganassi, the Sprint Cup owner is unhappy with the performance of the crew of the No. 41 team of the Reed Sorenson. So, he interchanged the crew chiefs of Sorenson and Montoya.  Now Montoya will be supported by Chief Jimmy Elledge and Sorenson will get the help of Donnie Wingo in this week’s race at the Super Speedway of Talladega. Chip Ganassi believes that this shuffle will be advantageous to the organization and he expressed his faith in the abilities of both Jimmy and Donnie.

He added that his championship organization which takes part in major races like NASCAR. He wants to improve the performance of his cars and this change is a big step in achieving that goal. Montoya is at present at the 17^th position and Sorenson is in 31^st position. Sorenson had finished in worse position in the last five matches and his best finishing was the fifth position at the Daytona in the opening of the season.

It is doubtless that NASCAR is greatly loved by the Mexicans but in order for it to gain full recognition and support in Mexico, NASCAR will need to quickly seek and train a full time stock racer. This tip was conveyed by Adrian Fernandez, a participant at the upcoming Corona Mexico 200. He also added that there are a handful of good drivers with admirable expertise but they lack expertise as they have not had the chance to prove their mettle. Being Mexican, he also reveals that Mexicans care a lot about their sports stars and if there is a full time Mexican driver within NASCAR, it will surely boost their ratings among the Mexican residents.

Robbie Weiss, MD of NASCAR International, agrees with this statement and he adds that they are working doubly hard to implement this goal via the Corona races. He also hopes that the three new race tracks built in Mexico will boost NASCAR’s popularity in the region.

NASCAR officials have revealed that they are going for an added test session for all the Sprint Cup racing teams during the 5^th and 6^th May at the Lowe Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Vice President for competition Robin Pemberton said that the new test session has been added keeping in mind the interests of several racing teams and with the intention of bringing in more interest among the spectators and fans. The extra test session will help the teams to know more about the new cars and their performances.

The Sprint Cup teams are slated to race twice at the Lowe Motor Speedway circuit, the All Star Sprint Race on May 17 and Coco-Cola 600 race that is slated for May 25. Many of the drivers believe that an additional test session is always important as it will help them when they race their new cars at these intermediate tracks.

Jimmie Johnson acquired his first NASCAR race of the season when he opted not to make a pit stop to fuel his car prior to the closing laps at the Phoenix International Raceway recently.

Johnson managed to gain pole positions three races so far into the current season but has not been able to grasp the champion’s cup until last Saturday. He finally crossed the finishing line in first place after over taking Clint Bowyer who also made the gamble and skipped the fuel.

Johnson’s exact words after clinching the title were “I just tried to be smart with the fuel”. He added that he was lucky the car finally ran out of fuel on the back stretch minutes after the race ended. Crew Chief Chad Knaus was also quick to add that they enjoyed good mileage the entire race making the win possible.

After Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin came in third place followed by Carl Edwards and Mark Martin.

NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick said that NASCAR needs to reinforce random drug tests on its legion of drivers. This call came after a suspended driver in the third-tier Craftsman Truck Series allegedly claimed that he participated in the race shortly after using heroin.

Stewart and Harvick, NASCAR veterans who have been in the top Sprint Cup Series for over five years revealed that there has never been any random drug tests for the entire period that they were involved in NASCAR sports.

Truck Series driver Aaron Fike was arrested in Ohio recently in the year 2007 after being found guilty for possessing heroin and drug paraphernalia in an Ohio amusement car park. He was suspended by NASCAR after pleading guilty to misdemeanour charges late 2007.

NASCAR however, was quick to rise to their own defense saying that they have zero-tolerance policies towards drugs usage among their drivers. They added that they will only test certain suspects and reiterates that once tested positive, they will implement strict suspension rules.