NASCAR BLOG

Clint Bowyer won the Nationwide series held in Bristol Speed way. It was his first victory in any series in Bristol. His earlier highest finish was the third position in a Cup car race in 2007 fall. He has recorded his best nationwide finish in the year 2005 with a fourth place. The race was delayed two hours due to rain and the race was stopped just past the half way. According to the NASCAR rules, a race becomes official, only when it crosses the half way point and the driver who reached half point first will be out first, when the race resumes.

So, Bowyer didn’t take a pit till he completed the half point. The 300 lap race was stopped at 171 laps due to rain. Kasey Kahne made tough competition for Bowyer and feels that he had let Bowyer to have the win. Bowyer said that Kahne had the advantage of having the best car and even then he couldn’t win. Bowyer somehow wanted to win at Bristol and was helped by his strategies and rain in getting the elusive victory at Bristol. The race witnessed several accidents at the beginning and Kyle Busch had to end his race after 14 laps due to an accident.

It was such an emotional day for Dale Jarrett at Bristol Motor Speedway that began with his fellow driving competitors giving him a standing ovation for his contribution and achievements in this sport. His fans displayed placards and sign boards that had good bye messages and above all his father waved the green flag signaling the end of the racing career for his son. The last career race ended in disappointment for Jarrett as he finished at the 37th place in the Sprint Cup. Jarrett later told that it was not the exact way in which he had thought of finishing his last race and would have liked to have had a better race for his sponsors. He also said that there is no point in getting disappointment when one looks back at his remarkable career that had a total of 32 Cup wins.

Dale Jarrett was at his racing best between the years 1996 to 2001 when he had won 24 times for his team, Robert Yates racing. The Bristol Racing Speedway also acknowledged Jarrett with gifts that included a replica of a Revolutionary War Rifle, a Bristol Club diamond ring, 668 golf balls which each one representing his career start and a putter as well. Jarrett will now be embarking on a new career, as an analyst for ESPN, the sporting channel.

The best sporting events in the United States like the Major League Baseball, National Football League, and National Hockey League etc all have unions, but NASCAR drivers feel that starting a union among NASCAR drivers will not help in settling issues they face. Jeff Gordon, the four time NASCAR Sprint Cup winner, says that there may be positives that happen with unions in sport, but there are even more negatives like strikers that happen with unions as well. Gordon says that it would good if NASCAR can conduct a quarterly meeting with the drivers to discuss hot issues that crop up during the quarter.

Kerry Tharp, the NASCAR spokesperson is of the opinion that the current system of an open door policy will ever prevail and the drivers, crew, owners, etc can be in regular communication with the NASCAR officials on any issues. It is the system that has been going for sometime now and he feels that it will still work. Dale Ernhardt Jr, another NASCAR driver, is of the opinion that a driver spokesperson should be appointed, who can take up complicated issues with the officials and arrive at an amicable solution. He called on all the drivers to be united in an attempt to make racing still better and interesting.

The 20 year old blonde driving sensation Chrissy Wallace will be the latest addition from the Wallace household to make her debut in the NASCAR race and this avid racer has gone a bit further as she is going to make her debut in NASCAR at the Craftsman truck Series named Kroger 250 at the Martinsville Speedway on March 29th. Wallace will be competing in the NASCAR races for Germain racing and will take part in five ARCA races as well as five Truck races. She was the first female driver in the 57 year old history of Carolina race track to be victorious in a Late Model stock car race.

Wallace says that she is pretty aware that she is competing in the truck race that has been predominantly dominated by males and is happy that the Germain racing team had confidence in her to sign her to race for their team. The Germain racing is the only company to be hiring a father-daughter duo to race for their team. Wallace says that her dad, Mike Wallace, is her coach and her well-wisher and is glad that her father will be there at Martinsville to watch her race. She says that she is pretty close to her dad as both of them are racing and the bond between them is very strong.

The paving work going on the surface of the Darlington raceway has been completed. Work has been going on to prepare the race track for the forth coming Dodge Challenger 500 weekend race happening on the 8th to 10th of May 2008. The track president, Chris Browning made the announcement on Wednesday. He further said that with the paving done and completed the focus would shift to the actual preparations for the Dodge challenger 500 coming up. The paving work began in the middle of January on the Darlington race track. It gulped almost 15,000 tons of asphalt. The original race surface was laid in 1994. About 4 million reference points had to be utilized by the construction team to ensure that the new track is exactly as the original design and pattern.

The total reconstruction project was valued at $10 million and included a new infield tunnel. The tunnel was to be large enough to take car haulers, emergency vehicles and motor homes. Safety barriers were also upgraded to make them safer. Interior concrete walls on the back and front stretch were also constructed. “Too Tough To Tame” is a test race. It is a Goodman tire test race, the first race on the new tracks and it would come up on the 10th and 11th of March. Among the expected drivers would be Jeff Gordon who has won the Darlington event seven times. Greg Biffle has won it twice and he would also feature as a driver along with Ryan Newman who won the 2008 event of Daytona 500.

Jeff Gordon, the four time champion, racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his No 24 Chevrolet made a contact with racer Matt Kenseth’s car just four laps before the finish of the race and the impact was such that both the racers had to withdraw from the UAW-Dodge 400 race. Jeff Gordon was not worried of the contact with another car, but raised his concerns over the minimal protection given on the curved portion of the backstretch inside wall onto which his car collided. He says that, but for his safety racecar, he would have sustained major injuries and was thankful to his team mechanics for developing such a safe racecar.

Gordon hit the back end of Kenseth’s car and his car spun and went on to hit the wall at an area that was devoid of Steel and Foam Energy Reduction or SAFER which is provided along the walls of the racetrack to absorb the impact. Gordon said that he would talk to the track owner and general manager about the poor safety standards of the track and insisted that the SAFER should be provided both outside as well as inside the wall barriers. The track spokesperson said that the track authorities will make the necessary changes as per the recommendations of NASCAR.

29 year old Dan Lowery has won the “Your name Here” competition being sponsored by Crown Royal to pick a new name for the 2008 sprint Cup race to hold on may 3rd, 2008 at the International Raceway in Richmond. The race would now be called the “Crown Royal Presents The Dan Lowery 400”. Dan from New Waterford in Ohio was part of the new name unveiling ceremony and was part of several helicopters that flew over the Vegas Strip to a desert mosaic covering about 10,000 sq. foot. The Mosaic featured Dan Lowery’s name as part of the official identity and logo of the race which would take place at the Richmond Raceway.

There were over 10,000 entries submitted and applicants had to write their fondest Crown Royal memories when the drink was enjoyed responsibly. Lowery’s entry submission came out tops and now his name will be incorporated in all the race logos and associated merchandise. It would also be recognized and accepted by NASCAR and all associated media. He would also be part of the activities before the race and would be on hand to hand over the trophy to the winning driver on Victory Lane. He would be received and entertained during race weekend as a VIP guest along with a companion of his choice. This is the second year that Crown royal is sponsoring the Richmond race and it says it would sponsor the event next year, 2009 and hold another naming contest to give another adult fan a chance to contest to give another adult fan a chance to affix his name on the race.

Ashley Cooper, a 27 year old driver from Ulladulla in the state of New South Wales lost his life due to injuries caused by a crash in the Clipsal 500 race. Ashley’s V8 supercar hit the concrete barrier at the exit of a corner, while moving at a speed of 120 mph. The accident caused severe head injuries and brain swelling. On the spot he was attended to by a senior medical officer of the Clipsal 500 and was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital by an ambulance. Ashley was in coma condition and was kept on the life supporting system till his death.
The crash occurred on the 11th lap of the final series of the race and Cooper had the collision at the 8th turn. The first hit was at the driver’s side and the car went across the track to hit the opposite wall with its rear end. This is the second fatal accident that stuck, Australia’s premier auto racing competition within two years time. New Zealand driver Mark Porter died following an accident in October 2006 in the Bathurst 1000 race. Wayne Cattach, chief executive of V8 supercars said that, the preliminary look of the footage points to the fact that Cooper’s car, while entering the corner has clipped the guard rail.

Several drivers were penalized after NASCAR found them guilty of violating some NASCAR rules. Among these drivers were: Dale Earnhardt Jr, Cale Gale, Kertus Davis, David Gilliland, Johnny Sauter, David Stremme and Todd Bodine. Bodine is known to be winner of the truck series. One of the major penalties that were issued was to Robby Gordon and his team. Gordon placed 8th during the Daytona International Speedway. Gordon and his team were found guilty after the inspection on the first day of Daytona 500. His Dodge had a front bumper cover which was considered an illegal addition by NASCAR. This discrepancy caused Gordon and his tem 100 points plus a $100,000 penalty off his chief of crew.

Other drivers were also penalized with points and a couple of thousand of dollars. Among these is Earnhardt who was penalized for 50 points with this chief of crew also penalized with $25, 000. The drivers such as Earnhardt were also banned for the upcoming six races. There were also other cars fined for having an aerodynamically modified oil tank, another illegal addition for NASCAR. Each of the chiefs of crew that were found guilty of these illegal additions was fined for $15,000. The teams as well as the drivers were not only penalized but just like the others, they were prohibited from participating in the upcoming six races of the nationwide event.

The 17 year long wait for Todd Bodine is over and he tasted victory at last in the truck race in Daytona. Bodine has made almost 34 tries at the famous Daytona international speedway to reach the victory lane. He won the Chevy Silverado 250 craftsman truck series by holding of Johnny Benson and Kyle Busch. Todd Bodine used a Toyota and his average speed was 127.551 mph. The race lasted for 1 hour, 57 minutes and 36 seconds and Todd’s victory margin is .077 seconds. For the first time in the history of Daytona Craftsman Series the trucks were using 17.75 gallon fuel cells instead of the usual 22 gallon cells.

The race was stopped for 17 minutes, 23 seconds due to an accident that caused the elimination of Skinner from the race and damage to many vehicles. Ron Hornaday, The defending truck series champion had to take his No. 33 Chevrolet for repair because of mechanical problems. Busch bagged the second position followed by Benson and David Starr. It was a moment of great pride for Toyota as their drivers reached the top four positions in the Chevy Silverado 250.