Today's NASCAR Nationwide race from Phoenix saw some hi's and lows for some drivers, as is always the case.
Elliott Sadler won the race and a race win has been a long time coming for Elliot.
Austin Dillon managed a 4th place win, while Danica Patrick was a few laps short, coming in 21st.
The emotional mishap of the day was watching Kenny Wallace blow a tire and calling it a day, despite being competitive.
Kenny is on borrowed time with just a few races left of his sponsorship coverage. After that, the team has to hang its hat unless they find some fundage and fast! (Anyone have around $100k per race laying around?)
Elliott Sadler was the top finishing NNS driver driving for this series points, and Brad Keselowski was the highest finishing, non-points driver, coming in second.
[nationwide results unofficial]-Bruce
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Will Kenny Wallace Lose His NASCAR Nationwide Ride?
Did you know that if Kenny Wallace can't get any additional sponsor dollars after the fifth race of the NASCAR Nationwide Series 2012 season, he may be out of a ride?
It's sad to ponder that, but that's what is being reported over on Dave Moody's Soapbox article.
Right now, Kenny has sponsor money for the first five races of the season from American Ethanol and Family Farmers sponsors on his RAB Racing NNS entry.
If they get no money beyond the fifth race, team owner indicated he would be selling the ride.
Kenny Wallace said that sponsoring him costs $100k a race and you can use his likeness for a year, in any way you want, if you bring the sponsor bucks for a single race.
Sounds like a good deal, if you can afford the costs of a single-race sponsorship. And sounds cool... I'd love to see my logo on his hood! LOL... I gotta go play the lottery... I'm sure my wife will understand that if we come into a huge monetary windfall, that I'll be spending it in a mere 7-day time period.
Right now, Kenny has sponsor money for the first five races of the season from American Ethanol and Family Farmers sponsors on his RAB Racing NNS entry.
If they get no money beyond the fifth race, team owner indicated he would be selling the ride.
Kenny Wallace said that sponsoring him costs $100k a race and you can use his likeness for a year, in any way you want, if you bring the sponsor bucks for a single race.
Sounds like a good deal, if you can afford the costs of a single-race sponsorship. And sounds cool... I'd love to see my logo on his hood! LOL... I gotta go play the lottery... I'm sure my wife will understand that if we come into a huge monetary windfall, that I'll be spending it in a mere 7-day time period.
-Bruce Simmons
Friday, March 2, 2012
NASCAR At The New Phoenix: Brad's Phone, Johnson's Appeal
NASCAR is going into this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, we have past champions in arrears of the driver points, that same team appealing stiff penalties, and other goodies like Twitter dominating the media campaign this weekend.
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Last weekend during the Juan Pablo Montoya camp fire on the track, Brad Keselowski made headlines with his tweeted pic from within his car.
I thought it was a pretty neat thing with NASCAR getting the media attention from Brad's deed. And I left it at that. The media on the other hand, and others did not.
An issue came up that I had not thought about, and that was if Brad could have used his smartphone to possibly record data from the EFI system in his car. And that's a hot subject, being how NASCAR is keeping a tight lid on the premise of tampering with the EFI systems they're using this year.
Brad had to answer as to why he had his phone in his car, and he said that having his phone in his car lets him contact family when he gets into a wreck. He once had a frustrating experience where it took him a long time to get in touch with his family after a wreck in Fontana.
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I thought it was a pretty neat thing with NASCAR getting the media attention from Brad's deed. And I left it at that. The media on the other hand, and others did not.
Brad had to answer as to why he had his phone in his car, and he said that having his phone in his car lets him contact family when he gets into a wreck. He once had a frustrating experience where it took him a long time to get in touch with his family after a wreck in Fontana.
'Daytona 500' Telecast Top-10 Bonehead or Funny Observations
The Daytona 500 was a true test of the NASCAR fan, with the telecast having lasted six hours.
And maybe the first caution that started on lap 2, that took out Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick might have been a warning.
Though rain forced the postponement of the race until Monday, the huge stoppage this night wasn't for rain this time around, but for another incident involving the track. Last year we watched the track get repaired with bondo after it came apart... all so the boys could get back to racing. This year, Juan Pablo Montoya (by no fault of his) provided the two hour and five minute stoppage as something in his car broke and that sent his red No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevy up into the jet dryer trucks that were out blowing debris off the track surface. This ignited a huge fire and set our next couple of hours on a course of action no one could evade.
But the red flag period, for what it was, actually provided some interesting NASCAR news fodder, after and during the fact.
First up was how the ratings did not suffer from the stoppage... Fox stayed at No. 2 in the ratings race for the night, and that's impressive! I thought for sure viewers would tune out.
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But what did ensue during the stoppage was interesting. And if you keep score, I think Daryl Waltrip might have won this round of observations.
And maybe the first caution that started on lap 2, that took out Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick might have been a warning.
Though rain forced the postponement of the race until Monday, the huge stoppage this night wasn't for rain this time around, but for another incident involving the track. Last year we watched the track get repaired with bondo after it came apart... all so the boys could get back to racing. This year, Juan Pablo Montoya (by no fault of his) provided the two hour and five minute stoppage as something in his car broke and that sent his red No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevy up into the jet dryer trucks that were out blowing debris off the track surface. This ignited a huge fire and set our next couple of hours on a course of action no one could evade.
But the red flag period, for what it was, actually provided some interesting NASCAR news fodder, after and during the fact.
First up was how the ratings did not suffer from the stoppage... Fox stayed at No. 2 in the ratings race for the night, and that's impressive! I thought for sure viewers would tune out.
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TV Ratings for the Daytona 500
Daytona 500 (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 8.4/13 (#2)
8:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
9:00 p.m.: 7.8/11 (#2)
9:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
10:00 p.m.: 9.9/15 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 9.2/15 (#1)
(Ratings via TV Media Insights)
-Daytona 500 (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 8.4/13 (#2)
8:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
9:00 p.m.: 7.8/11 (#2)
9:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
10:00 p.m.: 9.9/15 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 9.2/15 (#1)
(Ratings via TV Media Insights)
But what did ensue during the stoppage was interesting. And if you keep score, I think Daryl Waltrip might have won this round of observations.
- : In the lap 2 crash, the in-car footage shows Jimmie Johnson letting go of the steering wheel and crossing his arms while getting hit. Daryl Waltrip seems to credit Danica Patrick for the drivers adopting this practice. (Never mind the previous years of experience and that this has been Johnson's practice for quite some time.)
- : Daryl Waltrip credited Danica Patrick's driving skills for getting through the mess... except that the car was hit, spun, thumped and slid out of control through a few cars, threading the needle, so to speak. All, without any intervention from the driver who was along for the ride.
- : It's a sad statement of sorts as to your name-driver status, Juan Montoya's impact with the jet dryer truck was not captured on tape.
- : During the huge fire of the track dryer truck, while it's still burning brightly, Daryl Waltrip suggests on live TV that someone should get in the truck and drive it off the track to save the track surface. (Oh look, Daytona has a mid-race entertainment show with a flaming truck screaming past the stands.)
- : During the red flag, Fox started showing the ads, side-by-side, with the "action" on the track... of parked cars and drivers walking around. Then when the race gets going, we're back to regular ads. Somebody needs to make better judgement calls in the booth.
- : During the red flag, I stupidly Tweeted that no one was doing the Sterling Marlin. That means getting out of your car to work on it during a red flag. Rules state you can't do that. But then we find out that Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch both were sent to the back of the pack for pulling off their window tear-offs aka dust protectors. Harsh!
- : NASCAR Reporter Dustin Long tweeted something I RT'd: "In the remastered Days of Thunder version, Harry will tell Cole to go out and hit the jet dryer instead of the pace car."
- : During the red flag, the cameras closely follow Danica Patrick walk off track and taking the top of her fire suit off... So the race was turning into a GoDaddy ad or breaking NASCAR news was Danica runs for the potty!
- : During the red flag (Man, that red flag created some great events) Brad Keselowksi started tweeting from his inside his car and sent a pciture to Twitter... and gained more than 100,000 new followers. Brad started the race with just over 80k followers. Today, as I'm writing this, he now has 207K followers! Brad even got himself on Mashable for it.
- : For the Dave Blaney fan: For 2 hours, Dave Blaney led the Daytona 500 field... during the red flag.
--
NASCAR-Bits-and-Pieces , on Twitter & Facebook .
Psst: I need "likes" or Facebook won't
give my page a name!
I sure would appreciate it!
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NASCAR-Bits-and-Pieces , on Twitter & Facebook .
Psst: I need "likes" or Facebook won't
give my page a name!
I sure would appreciate it!
- -
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Matt Kenseth's 'Daytona 500' Victory Tour of San Francisco
Penske Racing To Ford in NASCAR
After having ridden the Dodge banner for several years now, nine to be exact, it looks like it's time for Penske Racing to jump back into the Ford camp. If you remember, Ryan Newman's early years at Penske were in a Ford and then they swapped manufacturers to Dodge.
Under the Dodge banner, they didn't have a dry spell though others are calling it a mini-slump. But they did manage a few wins, with Newman delivering a few and Kurt Busch (who is having fun somewhere else now) gave the team and Dodge camp ten wins. But it looks like Penske is trying to get the team back into a winning form.
Jayski is touching on the news that Penske Racing is changing back to Ford, starting in 2013.
But then where does this leave Dodge, in the realm of NASCAR? All the major teams are already obligated to other brands. Would they focus now on smaller teams? Would they give the smaller teams any kind of support close to what they might have provided Penske? This move by Penske could be a dark moment in the brand's time in NASCAR unless EGR (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing) had some issues and were swayed by some form of super-support, just so Dodge can not only stay in the sport, but be competitive.
You'll probably be seeing an official announcement from Penske Racing about the brand swap later today. (Thursday, 3-1-12)
Under the Dodge banner, they didn't have a dry spell though others are calling it a mini-slump. But they did manage a few wins, with Newman delivering a few and Kurt Busch (who is having fun somewhere else now) gave the team and Dodge camp ten wins. But it looks like Penske is trying to get the team back into a winning form.
Jayski is touching on the news that Penske Racing is changing back to Ford, starting in 2013.
But then where does this leave Dodge, in the realm of NASCAR? All the major teams are already obligated to other brands. Would they focus now on smaller teams? Would they give the smaller teams any kind of support close to what they might have provided Penske? This move by Penske could be a dark moment in the brand's time in NASCAR unless EGR (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing) had some issues and were swayed by some form of super-support, just so Dodge can not only stay in the sport, but be competitive.
You'll probably be seeing an official announcement from Penske Racing about the brand swap later today. (Thursday, 3-1-12)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
NASCAR Deals Out Penalties to Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Team
The Infraction:
The No. 48 car was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the rule book or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the event); and 20-2.1E (if in the judgment of NASCAR officials, any part or component of the car not previously approved by NASCAR that has been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance will not be permitted – unapproved car body modifications).
Bruce's note: This involved a part of the car body back by the C-Post, which did not conform to template measurements.
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The Penalties
Suspensions
Crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec have been suspended from the next six (6) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship events, suspended from NASCAR until April 18 and placed on NASCAR probation until May 9. Additionally, Knaus has been fined $100,000.
Points Loss
Driver Jimmie Johnson and car owner Jeff Gordon have been penalized with the loss of 25 driver and 25 owner points, respectively.
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Jimmie Johnson came out of Daytona with 2 points in the driver standings... as did the car owner! Hence, a 25-point penalty puts the tally at -23 points! Jimmie definitely has a hole to climb out of, but he's done it before. In fact, it seems his team performs best when they are forced to work hard at it.
The penalties come as no surprise but as far as I'm concerned, bodes well for Jimmie Johnson!
The years that he's had to do without Chad Knaus or had a bad time in the Daytona 500 have been very good years for the No. 48 Lowes team.
So look out guys!
-Bruce
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Car Photos from Daytona International Speedway
Hey all, I had a "man" on the inside... OK, at the track and he snagged some images for me to use here on NASCAR Bits & Pieces! My "man" is Leon Hammack, the power behind Working On My Redneck and he embodies the cooperative nature of cool, co-peers in the world of blogging.
With that said, check out the cool pics he sent me from Daytona, from the '72 hours of Daytona!' (click to enlarge) -Bruce
With that said, check out the cool pics he sent me from Daytona, from the '72 hours of Daytona!' (click to enlarge) -Bruce
Carl Edwards no. 99 Ford
Daytona 500 race winner, Matt Kenseth!
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Denny Hamlin's No 11 Joe Gibbs machine
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Jimmie Johnson,
the man who didn't make it past lap 2 and will probably not have crew chief for a few races!
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'Daytona 500': A Quick Recap, SF Victory Tour and D500 TV Ratings
Welcome to the Daytona 500 marathon. Was this a long, long Speedweeks or what? After a 6-hour event and all was said and done, Matt Kenseth outlasted, outwitted and out-drove the field of competitors and won the Daytona 500, and that, after all the rain and fire, he survived a George R.R. Martin version of a NASCAR race.
And poor Danica Patrick got the proper welcome to NASCAR, whether she wanted it or not!
Sunday's Daytona 500 festivities started out wet and raining. For fans pouring (no pun meant) into the facility, for them, their Daytona 500 experience started on Sunday and did not end until early Tuesday morning.
.
But the rains persisted and NASCAR postponed, for the first time in the history of NASCAR, the Daytona 500. It finally got going Monday evening at 7pm eastern time. And Fox announced it would carry the D500 on all affiliate stations. (But then that ticked off the House and Alcatraz fans, not to mention the non-sports fans of the TV viewing world. Rescheduled Show News.)
At least we had a chance to warn our readers!
We weren't past the start/finish line for more than 1 lap when Elliott Sadler tapped Jimmie Johnson into the outside wall, collecting Danica Patrick in the mess and sending her to the garage. Trevor Bayne, David Ragan and Kurt Busch were also victims of the event.
With the no. 48 wrecking out early, does this mean we might see a negative set of points for the driver after the inspection failure of the C-post? Because you know that announcement is still waiting to happen!
On lap 81, Jeff Gordon's engine expired in a fiery fashion of a flame out.
But of course the big event was when something broke on Juan Montoya's car during the caution, that sent him spinning into the jet dryer truck, causing a 2-hour red flag
But the fun was not over yet...
Lap 178 saw Ricky Stenhouse Jr. smack Aric Almirola and on lap 197 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (getting lots of camera time for his sponsor) turned Tony Stewart.
With the green-white-checkered finish (there was only 1), Matt Kenseth led the pack to the race finish and showing team solidarity, Greg Biffle got behind him and pushed him to the win, while holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. from Kenseth's bumper.
All in all, the racing was fun to watch though I'm concerned the new aero package with all its cooling restrictions might have caused a failure or two... but that's a guess, not a fact.
In the end the top-5 Daytona 500 finishers were
1. Matt Kenseth Ford
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet
3. Greg Biffle Ford
4. Denny Hamlin Toyota
5. Jeff Burton Chevrolet
More Results
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Matt Kenseth To Visit San Francisco
Don't forget, that on March 1st, the Daytona 500 winner, Matt Kenseth, starts a victory rally at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and take a victory lap around town.
http://www.infineonraceway.com/media/news/603152.html
And poor Danica Patrick got the proper welcome to NASCAR, whether she wanted it or not!
Sunday's Daytona 500 festivities started out wet and raining. For fans pouring (no pun meant) into the facility, for them, their Daytona 500 experience started on Sunday and did not end until early Tuesday morning.
.
But the rains persisted and NASCAR postponed, for the first time in the history of NASCAR, the Daytona 500. It finally got going Monday evening at 7pm eastern time. And Fox announced it would carry the D500 on all affiliate stations. (But then that ticked off the House and Alcatraz fans, not to mention the non-sports fans of the TV viewing world. Rescheduled Show News.)
At least we had a chance to warn our readers!
We weren't past the start/finish line for more than 1 lap when Elliott Sadler tapped Jimmie Johnson into the outside wall, collecting Danica Patrick in the mess and sending her to the garage. Trevor Bayne, David Ragan and Kurt Busch were also victims of the event.
With the no. 48 wrecking out early, does this mean we might see a negative set of points for the driver after the inspection failure of the C-post? Because you know that announcement is still waiting to happen!
On lap 81, Jeff Gordon's engine expired in a fiery fashion of a flame out.
But of course the big event was when something broke on Juan Montoya's car during the caution, that sent him spinning into the jet dryer truck, causing a 2-hour red flag
But the fun was not over yet...
Lap 178 saw Ricky Stenhouse Jr. smack Aric Almirola and on lap 197 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (getting lots of camera time for his sponsor) turned Tony Stewart.
With the green-white-checkered finish (there was only 1), Matt Kenseth led the pack to the race finish and showing team solidarity, Greg Biffle got behind him and pushed him to the win, while holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. from Kenseth's bumper.
All in all, the racing was fun to watch though I'm concerned the new aero package with all its cooling restrictions might have caused a failure or two... but that's a guess, not a fact.
In the end the top-5 Daytona 500 finishers were
1. Matt Kenseth Ford
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet
3. Greg Biffle Ford
4. Denny Hamlin Toyota
5. Jeff Burton Chevrolet
More Results
-
Matt Kenseth To Visit San Francisco
Don't forget, that on March 1st, the Daytona 500 winner, Matt Kenseth, starts a victory rally at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and take a victory lap around town.
http://www.infineonraceway.com/media/news/603152.html
Monday, February 27, 2012
Danica Patrick Videos... The Bad One First, The Other One Next!
But then, there are other ways that other folks are bringing her to the forefront of the media.
This first video is an actual news caster who, doesn't call a name, but pretty much should have just come right out and said it... seriously, and here I thought the professionals are supposed to be neutral about their coverage.
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This next video is from a fanatical, I mean, talented fan who put this tribute together for our newest NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup series driver, Danica Patrick. To be honest, it's cute, to say the least and I leave it at that.
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Danica Music vid brought to my attention by The Daly Planet on his Twitter Account.
The 'other' video I spotted on Jenna Fryer's Twitter acct.
Jenna then posted that the FOX sportscaster apologized later, but, is it me, or does it not feel very genuine or more, like a glib, perfunctory apology?
http://www.fox5sandiego.com/videobeta/?watchId=2b8f974b-e820-4438-830a-d02c5f0bf2a2Jenna then posted that the FOX sportscaster apologized later, but, is it me, or does it not feel very genuine or more, like a glib, perfunctory apology?
-Bruce
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