NASCAR BLOG

Perhaps right now is not the best time to be comparing anyone to Tiger Woods, but in terms of dominating his sport, Jimmie Johnson is starting to fit the mold. Johnson has won the last four Sprint Cup Series and he already looks unbeatable this season winning at Fontana and Las Vegas in February. Don’t be surprised if see Jimmie Johnson in the winner’s circle at the Kobalt Tools 500 in Atlanta. Johnson has won seven races each of the last two seasons and doesn’t appear to be slowing down on bit. Some fans are so sick of seeing Johnson win that they’re cheering on anyone who crashes into him. The fact remains that if Johnson keeps up his incredible form on the race track then he should be considered as a elite athlete in the world on par with the a certain Mr. Tiger Woods. If Johnson and his Loews’ Chevrolet can claim another Sprint Cup next year than he’ll half way to a decade of pure dominance. I wouldn’t put it past him either.

NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick has donated two of the planes staffed by two flight crews to non-profit group Missionary Flights International for relief missions to the earthquake ravaged country of Haiti.

The 45-seat planes are used flying drivers and crew members around the country for races during the busy season, but were available during what is traditionally a month break for the pilots and staff. The planes are being used to deliver precious cargo to the thousands of Haitians in need of food, water, and medicine. In addition to dropping off supplies the 10 Hendrick team members that volunteered have been picking up groups of children orphaned by the terrible disaster.

Pilot Dave Dudley told NASCAR.com that his first flight picking up Haitian orphans was the “best flight of his career”. The crew were also able to bring back the corpse of a dead American who perished in earthquake so that the family could have a proper burial back in America. NASCAR teams have raised more than $3 million dollars for the disaster relief which is ongoing in Hati. It has not been determined how long Hendrick Motorsports will continue with the missions to Haiti, but their help has certainly made a impact on many earthquake survivors lives.

Jeff Gordon leads the official Sprint Cup lineup right now, having garnered 634 points over the first few races of the season. Clint Bowyer, a little-known name, is presently in second, and then comes Kurt Busch with 588 points. His brother Kyle is down at #7 right now. However, keep in mind, this is still very early in the season. It’s doubtful that Jimmie Johnson was going to win the cup ultimately last year. But we will have to watch the Busch Bros. Kenseth, Gordon and a couple of other racers over the course of this year. It’s also possible that this works more like a long horse race where there are some horses that automatically start off well and then fall off towards the end and others that hit their stride on the back stretch. The season is only just beginning, but it looks like a good one!

A rainy Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal brought out the grooved rain tires for the first time in NASCAR Nationwide race series this season and Ron Fellows was the proud winner of this race, which is his fourth win in 13 Nationwide Series races. The rain hit the circuit so badly that the race had to be called off with about 26 laps still to race. Ron Fellows was very much excited to win the race and said that he had visibility problems throughout the race. He said that it was very difficult to handle the car on the road because of the slippery conditions. Fellows fans will be buying tickets to future NASCAR races in anticipation of a good showing by the racer.

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.

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.

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.