Preseason Testing, Day Two, With a Draft

The second day of Preseason Thunder at Daytona came and went.  Today the practice was looking at the drafting pack and Dale Earnhardt Jr. learned something quite valuable for everyone to take note.

He figured he can push other Chevys and Toyotas, but he learned that he can't as easily push Fords.  Headed down the backstretch, Dale Jr. bump drafted with Ambrose and Dale's car nose jacked in under the back bumper of Ambrose, sending him off to the grass and catching a few other cars in the process.

Since this is just testing, most teams only brought one car, and this wreck ended the weekend for some.

But at least for me, it's good to see the cars counting off laps at speed.  We don't have that much longer to go before the Daytona 500.

Below, is the NASCAR press release regarding day two....

Feeling A Draft: Pack Mentality Returns To Daytona

Drivers Test Drafting At Daytona For First Time In Gen-6 Car

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 11, 2013) – Day 2 of Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway offered a little bit of everything, with the highlight coming in the afternoon as the pack returned to the high banks.

Friday's second session opened with a multi-car pack working on drafting around the hallowed 2.5-mile superspeedway. About an hour into the afternoon test session, a 12-car accident ended several teams' day.

During Day 2's media availability, NASCAR's 10-time Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked about his anticipation for the upcoming 2013 season.

"I feel like that the sport is in a good healthy place," said Dale Earnhardt Jr. "We have a good opportunity to grow.  With this car we have a chance to do something great and really make a big impact … I think the racing is as exciting as it has been in a long time.  You look at some of these old races and look back at some of the events that we had in the '80s and the '90s … it always is changing and it always will, but I think we have improved it."

Trevor Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion, posted the fastest lap of both days at 199.650 mph, set in the afternoon session.

"The biggest thing was just how the draft was working more like it used to be," said Martin Truex Jr. "There were no two-car tandems, it was cool being able to back up off the leader and get runs and take the lead and do things like you used to do.  It has a little bit more strategy involved than just holding it wide open and hitting the guy in front of you as hard as you could, so I thought it was cool."

With The Sprint Unlimited (Feb. 16 on SPEED, Motor Racing Network Radio and SiriusXM Satellite Radio) and the Daytona 500 (Feb. 24 on FOX, Motor Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM Satellite Radio) a little more than a month away, Greg Biffle is readying himself for what he believes will be a "fun" and "exciting" Speedweeks.

"The cars are stuck less and they are looser," said Greg Biffle. "That is good for racing. It is good for the fans. It will make it more exciting and make pit strategy come into play. If you put tires on, you will be able to go faster. I think all of that is good. This is going to be a heck of a race. I like that the cars were sliding around and hard to drive. It will make it a fun race." 

Off the track, Jimmie Johnson, 2006 Daytona 500 winner, has partnered with Daytona International Speedway to provide fans with "The 48 Experience," the ultimate race fan package for the Daytona 500.

"I became a fan of racing as a kid and I think the future of our sport really relies on connecting with the young kids and helping them get involved in the sport and understanding and being around it," said Jimmie Johnson. "Hopefully, this program can contribute to that."

"The 48 Experience" and great seats are still available for the 55th Annual Daytona 500 on February 24.  Call 1-800-PITSHOP or visit www.daytona500.com.

Tomorrow concludes 2013 Preseason Thunder for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams.

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Michael Waltrip Swings a Ride in The Daytona 500 for Swan Racing

In the heyday of his career, Michael Waltrip, while driving for DEI, learned a thing or two about restrictor plate racing.  It served him well then, and for the years to come afterwards.  Thus, some folks still see him as a viable resource to tap into when needed.

Back then, pre-Teresa days, DEI was a dominant force at any restrictor plate race.

Over the last few years, I've seen no one dominating factor as the cars became more equally designed, but you still have to account for the learned skills of some of the drivers, because, face it, air is air.

With that in mind, in case you had not heard the news, Michael Waltrip will be in the Daytona 500, driving for Swan Racing, and effectively, driving with his old crew-chief, Tony Eury Jr..

The D500 will also be marking Swan Racing's debut to NASCAR Sprint Cup racing.

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via press release

Michael Waltrip to drive for Swan Racing in the Daytona 500 Two-time champion reunites with former crew chief for the Great American Race Michael Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 champion, will pilot Swan Racing's No. 30 in the 2013 "Great American Race," reuniting him with former crew chief Tony Eury Jr. The race marks Swan Racing's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut since announcing its new ownership this month.  "I am thrilled to drive the No. 30 Toyota for Swan Racing and the chance to win a third Daytona 500," said Waltrip about the one-race deal. "Reuniting with Tony Jr. and Steve Hmiel brings back a lot of good memories and is going to create new ones."   "Swan Racing is here to compete and to build a championship contender," said Swan Racing owner Brandon Davis who has vowed to end the practice of habitual "start and parks" for the team. "This one-race partnership with Michael puts a two-time champion behind the wheel and the No. 30 in the mix at the Daytona 500." Waltrip qualified for 25 consecutive Daytona 500s between 1987 and 2011 winning his first in 2001 and a second in 2003.  In 2002, Waltrip won the July race at Daytona International Speedway, bringing his total to three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at the "World Center of Racing." "This is a great move for Swan Racing," said David Stremme who will be the regular driver of the No. 30 Toyota."Michael and I have been friends for a long time.  We got to talking last year and from my perspective I thought this would help to further our relationship with Toyota and be a good building block for Swan Racing."  Swan Racing is building its team from the ground up by hiring veterans of the sport who share a common long term vision for success.  Steve Hmiel, named competition director last week, has over 35 years of experience as a crew chief, car chief and competition director.  He has worked with NASCAR greats such as Richard Petty, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip.  Hmiel was Waltrip's crew chief for 12 races in 2001.   Tony Eury Jr. will be the crew chief for the No. 30 Toyota.  The addition of Waltrip for the 2013 Daytona 500 reunites another driver and crew chief combination. Eury was Waltrip's crew chief in 2005 where they teamed up for 26 races.  "Michael is a familiar face for a lot of us here at Swan Racing," said Eury. "We know each other's habits, wants and needs on the track.  We're going to Daytona to compete and hopefully we'll make a mark for Swan Racing." Eury has been a part of 19 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories with Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr.  He was part of teams that won the Budweiser Shootout twice at Daytona International Speedway in 2003 and 2008 with Earnhardt.  The Daytona 500 is scheduled for Sunday February 24, 2013 and will be broadcasted live on Fox.

Preseason Thunder And Reign: Talk Of Gen-6 Car Rules Day 1

 

Preseason Thunder And Reign: Talk Of Gen-6 Car Rules Day 1

Defending Daytona 500 Champ Tops Charts; Excitement Builds For New Car Debut

via press release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (December 12, 2012) – New faces with new teams and new cars were on display during Day 1 of Preseason Thunder at Daytona, but one storyline dominated – the Gen-6 car is sleek and fast.

Defending Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth, with new team Joe Gibbs Racing, was fastest in the first practice with a top speed of 192.757 mph and second-fastest in the afternoon session with a top speed of 195.385 mph. Teammate Denny Hamlin topped the speed chart in the second practice (195.712 mph) in his Gen-6 Toyota Camry.

Following Thursday's afternoon session, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton spoke about how the collective effort of the industry has been key to the Gen-6 car's development.

"We have been working on this car for nearly two years and we have been at the track on and off for well over a year in different stages and forms and configurations of the car," Pemberton said. "Because of the depth of everybody, throughout our entire industry, we were able to take these things and put a long lead time in them and develop a better product."

John Darby, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director, reiterated the positive feelings about the new car, and was particularly impressed with the close competition during Thursday's test.

"When you look at the enormity of the project … and basically putting three brand-new models of race cars out on a race track … and put speeds up that are within a tenth of a second of each other – it is an incredible, incredible effort," Darby said. "I truly believe there is not another racing series in the world that could accomplish what these guys did since we left Homestead."

As far as competition goes, the Gen-6 car received high marks. But so too did the look and feel of the Toyota Camry, Chevrolet SS and Ford Fusion as they hit the high banks of the World Center of Racing for the first time in advance The Sprint Unlimited on Feb. 16 (SPEED, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Satellite Radio) and the 55th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 24 (FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Satellite Radio).

"Everybody is super excited about this race car and what it brings to our sport and the identity that it brings back to the passenger cars you see on the roads," said Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 5-hour Energy Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. "This is my first time I've been in it. I didn't do the Charlotte test so it was fun to get out there and see what it was all about. They're certainly cool looking. [It's great] to see everybody's cars down here and be back to racing."

Carl Edwards hopes to use Preseason Thunder to kick start 2013 after a disappointing 2012 season. Edwards missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup after finishing second in 2011.

"I couldn't be looking forward to it more," Edwards said. "I think it will be an exciting year for me. I would like to put last year out of my memory and not think about it too much. Not in the last few years have I been this excited to go racing. I think it is probably because my offseason has been a little longer than most. I didn't go to Vegas [for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion's Week] so I have been ready to go."

The drivers rounded out Day 1 at Daytona International Speedway with Fan Fest. Fans were treated to driver fan forums, show cars and displays, music and photo opportunities with the 2013 Harley J. Earl Daytona 500 trophy and autograph sessions.

Teams will be back on track for testing tomorrow at 9 a.m. Tomorrow's media availability includes: Dale Earnhardt Jr. 12:05 p.m.; Matt Kenseth 12:20 p.m.; Jimmie Johnson 12:35 p.m.; Greg Biffle 12:45 p.m.

Daytona Preseason Thunder Speeds & Indy 500 News For Danica Patrick

The gang is at Daytona for Preseason Thunder testing and they're playing with the new car bodies.  NASCAR is calling the new body the Gen-6, though, as I see floating around the Twitter-verse, I'm not sure what or where the first 5 versions were!

Today Danica Patrick's folks posted speeds on her Facebook page and they reported that:

Preseason Thunder Day 1 Results - Danica was 3rd in the morning session at 192.583 mph, and 7th in the afternoon session at 192.934 mph.

The second day of the three-day test is scheduled Friday with a 3-hour morning run (9AM-Noon EST on SPEEDTV.com) and a 4-hour afternoon run (1PM-5PM EST on SPEED).

On her FB account she also confirmed she will NOT BE competing in the Indy 500 this year.

-Bruce

JEFF GORDON TV Appearance Tonight, Wed, Jan 9th

Tonight (Wednesday, Jan 9th) on TV, Jeff Gordon will be taking part in a show called I GET THAT A LOT.

The show has famous people doing things regular people do and they film the folks that interact with the stars.  On the episode tonight, stars appearing include Bruce Jenner, the late Larry Hagman, Jane Seymour and Cheech Marin.

Jeff Gordon will be in the episode selling auto parts.  How funny is that.

I Get That A Lot, is scheduled to be on CBS at 8 p.m..

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NASCAR Season Starter Has New Name + DirecTV Cancels Hotpass

Today I saw that the season starting race that used to be called the Budweiser Shootout, now has a new name.

Sprint has partnered up with Daytona International Speedway and is sponsoring what used to be "The Shootout" and now calling it "The Sprint Unlimited at Daytona."

Yes, it's still a non-points, and yes the usual rules still apply.  That being that this event will be comprised of pole winners from last year and previous winners of this event.

The Sprint Unlimited at Daytona will run on February 16th at 8 p.m. ET and what's curious (which I expect a quickie rule change any day now for next year) is that last year's champion, Brad Keselowski, is not in the field.  He might have won the title, but he did not snag any poles doing it.

The other oddity is that AJ Allmendinger, is eligible.  (He won the pole at Kansas, and has been reinstated from his substance abuse suspension last year.)

This new title, just doesn't ring well with me in as much as what it's trying to convey with the message.  Unlimited might imply something else besides a select few drivers who qualify for an event.  We'll see how it pans out.  As far as we all know, this might just be phase one of a big change of events for the race or the opening weekend.  It might just work.

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Sports Business Daily is reporting that DirectTV is ending its relationship with NASCAR, which includes a sponsorship deal and the NASCAR Hot Pass service.

It looks like they're cutting/saving costs.

The Hot Pass was initially a fee service, but no one took to it, so they produced the feed and released it for free.  But over time, the cost of producing that service was becoming too much for their bottom line.  Part of the cost issues came from the sublicensing fees from Fox, Turner and ESPN.

DirecTV says they will look to stay with NASCAR, but in a much smaller capacity of displays at select tracks.

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I wonder, with DirecTV stepping back, if Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s television production company, Hammerhead Entertainment, might step up to the plate on this one.  They're involved in many other aspects of TV production of the sport with some of its sponsors (AMP Energy, Diet Mountain Dew, GoDaddy.com, Hendrick Motorsports, Nationwide Insurance, SPEED & more) and had a decent TV series in the past.  They are fully capable.

(Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Many Companies)

Watch A NASCAR Sprint Cup Car Get Its Decals!

Over on JoeGibbsRacingTV they put up a time lapse video of the team wrapping the No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry of Kyle Busch's.

It's amazing to see all of this technology coming together, from the huge format printer that spit out the decal, to the science behind the car wraps.  Nevermind the skill needed to put these stickers on just right so they look as good as they do.

Back in the day, it was paint and stickers on the paint.  Today... it's just one big sticker!  So to speak.

Check out the video:

Wrapping the No. 18 Toyota:



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Wrapping The Max Payne Car:



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-Bruce

Irwindale Back On the NASCAR-sanctioned Scene!

It's been a while, but Irwindale is back in action hosing NASCAR-sanctioned events, and that's good news for local fans of the track.

After deliberating on offers from several race series, the track management decided to go with the NASCAR offer to host some of their events.  Much like the races the track used to host.

Irwindale's new season starts on April 6th with a Super Late Models, Late Models, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks and a demolition derby, and the season picks up from there.

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I have many great memories of that place, from attending races and racing schools.

It's a great place with a great track.  (The facility hasn't changed, only management.)

There's more over at DailyBulletin.

NASCAR Gets A Piece of the Fiscal Cliff Pie

The newest catch phrase out there is "The Fiscal Cliff," and it has come and gone.  I'm not sure what the big deal was, because had they hit this "cliff," I'm sure they would have had extensions or what not to keep it all going.

But what's interesting is that NASCAR was mentioned and got it's piece of this new 157-page national budget.  Or more to the point, they are noted in the motorsports entertainment complex perk known as the NASCAR Tax Credit.

This credit allows the racetracks to write off costs over a seven year period of time.  This credit lets them write off their expenses over and/or above other stipulations from state and local taxes.

This isn't a subsidy.  It's a credit or tax write off.  Like when you write off business expenses or mortgage interest rates.  At least that's how I read the terse article that made mention of it.

[source: breitbart ]

NASCAR's New Lease on Life, On the Web That Is

2013 has rolled in and that also means that NASCAR has free reign to work it's digital content world any way it wants.  And it's foray into its new format seems pretty nice to me.

I must say that the layout, though different, is easy to digest.  Unlike out how Turner had the site laid out for NASCAR or many other sites out there, this site is not hard to read.  They took to the revamp and MADE IT EASIER TO SEE/READ.  Thank you!

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First up when I launched the site was the option across the top to select a race series.  Below that are headers for News, Drivers, Schedule, Standings, Stats and the Fan Center.  Then there's the first banner/splash screen that rotates through a few headlines they want you to maybe check out.

Scrolling down, there's the News and Media, with a few video options and Twitter updates.

There's a Featured Content section, but nothing is there for the moment.  Below that are the standings with the top-five guys, and you can click a link to see the entire field.

Then driver profiles,  next race track, (Ah, there it is... Daytona 500, on February 24th, 2013!), then a video gallery, an "Exlpore NASCAR" section and below that, some fan polls.

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It almost seems like everything is pretty easy to get to.  And that's nice, because sometimes changes just don't fly at some sites.

Check it out and see what they have to say about it... Especially about the upcoming mobile apps...

"On the new NASCAR.com, the excitement of NASCAR will be captured through dynamic video, big, bold imagery, interactive graphics and the latest news and in-depth analysis from a choice group of NASCAR insiders and writers. Much of the content being produced by NASCAR.com's editorial team will be focused on the upcoming races, giving fans the opportunity to consume rich, comprehensive event information on a week-to-week basis.

 

"The simplified NASCAR digital platform makes for easier user navigation and maximized interaction," said Jenkins. "And most importantly, fans will have the same digital experience no matter what type of device is being used – be it a PC, a tablet or a mobile phone."

 

Across the entire digital platform, there are also plenty of options for fans to further engage in on-track action on race day. The interactive live leaderboard will provide fans with in-depth information in real-time on each driver, while the popular RaceView® and RaceBuddy™ applications will be improved for an enhanced broadcast complement on race day. Fans will also be able to engage in NASCAR FANTASY LIVE™, the official NASCAR fantasy game, which will have a brand new look and feel.

 

For fans heading to the racetrack, the new NASCAR.com will continue to serve as a great destination for in-depth information on NASCAR-sanctioned race tracks. From information on local attractions, track history, and most importantly, ordering race tickets, fans need to look no further than the digital home of NASCAR: NASCAR.com.

 

Finally, in addition to an entirely new website, NASCAR will release a pair of mobile apps before the start of the Shootout at Daytona (Feb. 16, FOX) and the Daytona 500 (Feb. 24, FOX), giving fans an unprecedented second screen experience on their tablets and mobile devices. 

 

·         NASCAR Mobile '13 – This app is highlighted with content such as latest news, race leaderboard, video, social media updates, in-car audio, live data and more.

·         NASCAR RaceView Mobile '13 – In addition to the aforementioned features, this premium app will render a virtual live race environment, giving fans the ultimate tool to follow their favorite driver in real time throughout the entire race.

 

NASCAR selected SapientNitro last summer to help design and build the platform for NASCAR's new digital experience. NASCAR has also worked very closely with technology services firm Omnigon, which has acted as an advisor throughout the build."

http://www.nascar.com/

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