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Happy Friday. Habbajeeba, we made it through the week!
Today
In Nascar History
May 9, 1981: Benny Parsons, in his only season driving for owner Bud Moore, gets his first of three wins for Moore, winning the Melling Tool 420 at Nashville (Tenn.) Speedway. Parsons leads 209 laps and beats Darrell Waltrip by a car length. Waltrip leads one lap, and Ricky Rudd, who finishes fifth, leads the other 210.
Number of the Day
Today's NASCAR Number is this week's Daily Double.
1,091: Cup series-high laps run inside the top 15 by Jeff Gordon in races at Darlington in the past three years. Of the 1,104 laps run, Gordon has spent 13 outside the 15.
3: Laps run by Kyle Petty inside the
top 15 in those same three races. Petty was outside the top 15 in his other 1,093 laps.
It’s in the squeal of rubber, the scream of the engine and the roar of humanity seeing one of its own triumph against the odds. It’s there in a last lap duel. Joyous as Victory Lane, devastating as hitting the rail. Here, life lessons are learnt and man it’s as obvious as the number of the car in pole
position.
It’s simple – NASCAR born in America.
Power Rankings
Most Popular Driver…
Vote here!
Quote of the Year
"NASCAR ain't doing nothing I like right now." "I don't like the rules they are doing...you can bump somebody and they want to fine you for it." Pearson saw the look on Carl Edwards face and made sure to say he knew that Edwards could not speak-up or he would get fined.
--David Pearson
Quote of the Day
In one weekend, Kyle supplanted Ulysses S. Grant as "the most-hated person in the history of Richmond."
--Mark Aumann In his Power Rankings comments
It's going to be very physical
on your body, driving that hard and driving that fast.
--DALE EARNHARDT JR.
Comments from the Peanut Gallery
From Darrel for Bob
"And I don't want to hear that B.S. about Toyota’s being built in the U.S"
Of the four cars that the NASCAR race cars represent (since they are not really the car that is on the street) only the Camry is assembled in the US. Fusion is assembled in Mexico and the other two in Canada.
As far as Hearsay of the week goes Busch is no way in the same league as Dale Sr. If Dale Sr. had done what Busch did it would have looked like it was Jr’s fault. Dale SR. was the master at making things look like it was not his fault.
Darrel
From Bill B
But what really cost him the race that idiot Hamlin knowing he had a flat tire, staying out until it went completely down and then stopping right in the middle of the race track to get a caution flag when Jr was pulling away with only a few laps left.
I remember a few years ago at Bristol, Jr spun out on purpose to bring out a yellow (to try to keep from losing laps), and then admitted he did it on purpose! What is the difference?
From
Lisa
To HM - this article came directly from Car and Driver -
The Daily Auto Insider | |
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| Over 20 years, Toyota has built 15 million vehicles in North American and invested $16 billion in its North American operations, the automaker said. Toyota operates 12 vehicle manufacturing, powertrain, and components facilities in North America and two more will come on-line in San Antonio, Texas and Woodstock, Ontario. North American Toyota plants produce 10 vehicles: Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Sequoia, Sienna, Solara, Tacoma, Tundra, and Lexus RX330. Production of the Camry Hybrid begins in the fall of 2006 in Kentucky, and the RAV4 in 2008, in Ontario. Toyota first brought its cars to North America in 1957 and began manufacturing parts in 1972 in California. In 1986, Toyota expanded operations to manufacture vehicles in a joint venture with GM at New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. in Fremont, California. Toyota now directly employs 27,000 jobs in manufacturing, and there are an additional 95,000 supplier
jobs dedicated to Toyota business in North America. By 2008, Toyota will have the annual capacity to build 1.83 million cars and trucks, 1.44 million engines, and 600,000 automatic transmissions in North America. The company's direct employment is 38,000, with a current investment of $16.3 billion. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $26 billion. Sorry but this doesn't classify as any kind of b.s. since it comes from a well known source such as Car and Driver. I'm all for supporting US-made products and try my hardest to do so! Lisa | |
Ok, I’ve kept my mouth shut. Here is my take on the Toyota situation. I do not believe that Toyota should be in the sport. A foreign manufacturer is a foreign manufacturer. Yes, I understand that the American car is for the most part
not built on American soil. To me, it doesn’t matter. Yes, I have items in my home that are from overseas. I understand that. If I could, I would buy and support only American. Unfortunately, that is not possible. However, I can support America by buying from a company that started in America, and employs several of my relatives. I am proud to be American, and will always support what I think is American businesses. Just my opinion, and I understand that I am going against the grain here. Please try to see my side, and respect my opinion.
Thanks. I will now get off my soapbox!
Bits and Pieces
Richmond Ratings Highest Ever
CSD Staff
CSD Staff
The Dan Lowry 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway last Saturday was
the most viewed NASCAR event in the history of the racetrack, according to RIR officials. The race, which was broadcast live on Fox, earned a 4.5 final national rating, up 5 percent from last year's 4.3 final national rating.
Kurt Busch's Superdome opens soon: The “Grand Opening” of the new Kurt Busch Superdome at the Victory Junction Gang Camp is set for Tuesday, May 20 at 2:00pm/et. The project was
announced in May 2006, with Kurt announcing the donation of the initial $1 million in support of the project. The 28,000 square-foot facility will provide opportunities for indoor sports in a climate-controlled environment. "It’ll be like seeing a dream come true to finally get the doors open and see all the kids enjoying themselves,” said Kurt. “It’s been a labor of love for all of the people involved and I’m so proud and grateful to have the opportunity to make a contribution in this manner to the Petty camp.” Final details on the event will be announced within the next 10 days. Several sports and entertainment celebrities are expected to be on hand.(TRPR)
Hendrick Motorsports reopens museum: Check out Rick Hendrick's first Chevrolet. Watch a dissected Impala SS "Car of Tomorrow" being pieced together. See the cars and memorabilia of Casey Mears, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. These are just a few things visitors can do now that Hendrick Motorsports has reopened its museum. The 15,000-square-foot facility, which was closed the last four months for renovations, pays tribute to nearly 25 seasons of Hendrick Motorsports history and offers fans the latest in team-related apparel and merchandise. Admission to the museum is free of charge. Throughout the year, the museum will exhibit a rotating stable of famous Chevrolets -- such as an original All-Star Racing entry, multiple Daytona 500 champions and the inaugural Brickyard 400
winner. Featured currently are cars driven by Geoff Bodine, Tim Richmond, Ken Schrader and Ricky Hendrick, among others. Visitors will be met at the entrance by the Monte Carlo SS that Johnson drove at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch the 2007 Sprint Cup Series title. The Hendrick Motorsports museum is open to the public from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Visitors can find special announcements, extended race-week hours, driving directions and additional information related to the museum at www.HendrickMotorsports.com.(HMS)
Lopez and HOF Racing
part ways? hearing that #96 Hall of Fame Racing and Competition Director [and former crew chief], Philippe Lopez parted ways on Tuesday.
Ned and Dale Jarrett to be Enshrined In Speedway's Court of Legends, Tuesday, May 13 - 2:00 p.m.: Ned and Dale Jarrett, one of only two father-and-son combinations to claim championships in NASCAR's premier division, will be
simultaneously inducted into Lowe's Motor Speedway's Court of Legends. H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president and general manager of the 1.5-mile superspeedway, will honor the two North Carolina natives who will have their signatures, footprints and handprints immortalized in concrete near the track's main entrance. Officials of Lowe's Motor Speedway and UPS will also announce the winner who will ride-along with Dale Jarrett in the UPS truck during pre-race ceremonies for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday night, May 17. The $1 million-to-win event will be Jarrett's final NASCAR start. - Lowe's Motor Speedway, Press Release
Jeff Gordon’s Mom To Co-Host Mother’s Day Radio Show On XM - Dale Earnhardt Junior’s grandmother to call into show: Jeff Gordon’s mother, Carol Bickford, will co-host a special Mother’s Day edition of the XM Satellite Radio motorsports show “Dialed In” with XM sports anchor Claire B. Lang this Thursday, May 8, with an encore broadcast on Sunday, May 11. Dale Earnhardt Junior’s grandmother Martha Earnhardt is scheduled to call in to the show. Bickford will join XM’s Lang in Darlington, S.C., the site of this Saturday’s Dodge Challenger 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race. The special edition of “Dialed In” will air Thursday at 4 pm ET and will re-air Sunday at 1 pm ET on the XM Sports Nation channel (XM channel 144).
- XM Satellite Radio, Press Release
Wood Brothers Racing Brings Back 1971 #21 Mercury Paint Scheme For Darlington: Wood Brothers Racing will be placing its 1971 Mercury paint scheme on the #21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion in Darlington this weekend for the Dodge Challenger 500 on Saturday night, May 10th. Bill Elliott will drive the #21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion with the vintage paint scheme. The candy apple red
and white COT with the signature gold numbers will commemorate a time in Wood Brother's racing history when David Pearson drove the #21 to five wins and eight pole starting positions at Darlington Raceway. The #21 Purolator Mercury moved back into the racing scene when Leonard Wood recently restored the race car that was housed in the Darlington Raceway Museum for over 30 years. David Pearson and Carl Edwards brought modern and classic race cars together again in a media event for the newly surfaced raceway in April. Pearson made laps in the original Mercury as Carl Edwards followed in the new COT style race car. Leonard Wood stood by and buckled Pearson in, as he did as Pearson’s crew chief years ago. Scenes of the special feature will air during the pre-race show NASCAR Raceday on Speed Saturday, May 10th at 5:00pm EDT. For more information on Wood Brothers Racing please visit: www.woodbrothersracing.com - Wood Brothers Racing, Press Release
Happy Hour
It May Be Time to Panic for Michael Waltrip
Kurt Smith · Frontstretch.com
A year and a half
ago, Michael Waltrip was successfully wooing employees, a very eager foreign auto manufacturer, and several high profile sponsors to sign onto his new racing team. The pundits predicted that with the backing of both Toyota and cash-rich sponsorship, Michael Waltrip Racing was going to be a contender in Sprint Cup right away, maybe even winning a race or two.
Forty-six races later, Michael Waltrip’s three Cup teams are barely in the Top 35—and that is an improvement over last season. Two major sponsors, Burger King and Domino’s, have departed. Another, UPS, is very likely on
its way out, leaving only the ever-loyal NAPA and Aaron’s, at least for now. Performance that is well below the expectations of big sponsors and a heavily invested automobile brand, combined with ethical incidents raising questions about his leadership, have led to the current bleak situation for Waltrip’s team. So as usual, the pundits were wrong.
Performance has been the obvious main problem at MWR. In 2007, Dale Jarrett missed 12 races, and could have missed as many as 18 without his champion’s provisional, a large reason why he was brought onto the
team. Jarrett’s six provisionals were all used up after just nine races. And when he did make the field, he wasn’t frightening anyone. His highest finish was a 17th at Homestead, one of just three finishes inside the Top 25. In 2008, Jarrett limped into retirement with similarly unimpressive results in five races.
Waltrip himself has struggled far more mightily. With no provisional to fall back on, he made just 14 races in 2007. He did score four Top 15s, including 10th place finishes at Michigan and Charlotte, but most of the time the No. 55 finished in the 30s. The No. 55 team has also had to put
Terry Labonte in the car for road courses and Indianapolis, to employ the past champion’s provisional rule once again. In 2008, Waltrip has made it into every race, but he has not finished higher than a 23rd at Bristol. At least on a per-race basis, the No. 55 car has gotten worse.
The NAPA Toyota has been running so beneath expectations that for the past year or so, Waltrip has had to endure the indignity of NAPA commercials that poke mean-spirited fun at his performance or lack thereof, something that I doubt Jeff
Gordon or even Dale Jarrett would tolerate no matter how poorly they were running. That makes Waltrip a tremendously good sport, but it also suggests that he owes NAPA big time for their loyalty.
The team’s best performer has been the relatively unknown David Reutimann. He made 26 races last year, finishing 29th in the standings and guaranteeing six races for 2008. In 2008, Reutimann hasn’t finished higher than 18th. If Carl Edwards becomes available, that won’t be good enough to convince UPS to stay.
And rookie Michael McDowell isn’t likely to turn it around…in five races his highest finish is a 26th, at both Martinsville and Talladega.
It may appear as though MWR is showing improvement in 2008, but part of the reason for their making the races, at
least, has been attrition of smaller, underfunded teams. Morgan-McClure closed its doors. Phoenix Racing is not on the entry list very often. Bill Davis shut down both the No. 36 and the short-lived program for the No. 27 car when it failed to qualify for Daytona. The Richmond race had only 47 entries, Talladega only 46, and Darlington will have just 45. It is easier for all to make the field. MWR may be competing more frequently, but they haven’t been performing much better.
With three wins already this year in ten races, Joe Gibbs Racing has proven beyond the shadow of a
doubt that Toyota isn’t the problem. It would be one thing if any of MWR’s cars were driving for single-car teams with small time occasional sponsorship and limited resources, but those conditions are hardly the case here. MWR has had the best of the best available to them.
As if the performance on the track wasn’t causing the team enough trouble, questionable ethical incidents have clouded this team from the very beginning.
Right off the bat at Daytona last year, the No. 55 team was busted for an illegal fuel additive, one of the gravest sins a team can commit. The timing couldn’t have been worse, with NASCAR having pronounced a new and tougher stance on cheating. The sport came down hard on the team, the crew chief and the owner, Waltrip’s wife Buffy. Waltrip accepted the penalty and expressed remorse about his daughter asking why he was cheating, but to this day has not figured out what happened, or at least has not revealed as such publicly. His crew chief David Hyder would eventually leave the team with no comment.
It would be ludicrous to suggest that MWR is unique in having been caught for rule violations. Hendrick Motorsports especially has a legendary history of pushing the envelope. But that this happened in the new team’s very first race, and that it was among the most egregious of rule violations, immediately shined an unflattering light on the team’s owner and damaged his likeable nice guy reputation.
While the fuel additive mystery was still being talked about—and while still sitting at minus 27 points after the 100-points Daytona penalty and no successful qualifying efforts since—Waltrip flipped his street car over late one evening on his way home. According to a witness, he walked the rest of the way home in his socks even though the witness told him that 911 had been called. He was charged with reckless driving and leaving the scene.
It was never proven that he was drinking, and I am not accusing him; but he certainly would
have had plenty to lose from a DUI with sponsors that were already sticking their necks out plenty for him.
Add to this “Sway Bar Gate”. Earlier this year, Jack Roush publicly stated that a sway bar had been stolen from his garage, and that he suspected it was taken for “industrial espionage”. The guilty party turned out to be Michael Waltrip Racing, and Waltrip immediately went into public-relations mode, with a series of “I don’t know what happened” statements. He said that the sway bar ended up in their garage by mistake, a dubious claim given Roush’s assertion that the
custom paint had been sandblasted off the sway bar when it was returned.
It’s difficult to understand how he could both not know what or how it happened and at the same time confidently assert that it was accidental.
Waltrip did
not know how his own car’s fuel was tampered with, nor did he know how a rival team’s sway bar ended up in his garage for several months. If Waltrip is telling the truth about his lack of knowledge of both incidents, then he needs to hire an informant to keep an eye on his staff.
It’s not really an ethical issue, but I strongly suspect that Waltrip or someone in his organization has instructed his drivers to block race leaders when they are about to be lapped, to keep the car and sponsor on TV. At the Bristol night race last season, Waltrip ferociously raced Kasey Kahne for about a dozen laps, despite
the fact that he was two laps down. At Atlanta earlier this year, Kyle Busch was cruising towards an easy win—which would become the first for MWR’s own manufacturer—when Jarrett, running 26th and two laps down, blocked him for several laps. At Martinsville, McDowell raced his darndest to hold up Jeff Burton and several others for the last few laps of the race, much to the normally mild-mannered Burton’s great annoyance. McDowell was also running 26th and it was far too late in the race to be concerned about getting a lap back.
Holding up the leader when there is nothing to gain from doing so is
legal, but it isn’t very gentlemanly racing, and it isn’t going to win Michael and his team any friends on the racetrack. It also betrays the ultimate problem at Michael Waltrip Racing: that no matter how adept a driver is at sponsor-friendliness—and to his credit, Waltrip has made quite a career out of it—a team can only go so far on charm. Those incidents may have been well-intentioned efforts to thank the team’s sponsors, but they also reminded everyone that MWR’s cars aren’t on TV very often.
Then the Richmond incident with Casey Mears called his image into question again. Plenty of drivers have
lost it on the track at some time, but pushing another car halfway down a straightaway is downright dangerous, no matter how warranted it may be. Not to mention that blaming it on a stuck throttle over the radio probably didn’t make his auto parts provider sponsor very happy.
Waltrip hasn’t really accepted responsibility for the actions that got his car parked. On “This Week In NASCAR” following Richmond, he conceded only that he “lost his cool” (although Chad Knaus was there to call it a “temper tantrum”), and even took Casey Mears and his spotter to task on the show, after he had more than made his
point on the track.
Waltrip was fortunate to have another tiny little track skirmish that night take over the next day’s headlines. He was still his affable self on This Week, but not nearly as many people saw that as had seen the Richmond incident (highest Richmond ratings ever), and his nice guy image is taking some hits for it. His actions at Richmond were not those of a happy-go-lucky, easygoing fellow. Michael Waltrip isn’t a thug, but he isn’t a saint either. And the more his less personable, indignant side is revealed, the more trouble he may get into with NAPA.
It’s difficult to conceive that MWR will be able to continue to compete at this level and still maintain the support of their remaining sponsors and Toyota. Unless things improve drastically and quickly on the track, and there aren’t any more occurrences removing the shine from Michael’s halo, the team may very soon find itself in a situation similar to Petty Enterprises, desperately trying to stay afloat in the unforgiving business that is auto racing.
Not all is lost. Waltrip is still one of the more marketable drivers in the sport, even with his days of occasionally respectable finishes at DEI long gone. He has probably starred in more commercials than champions Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and Bobby Labonte combined. NAPA left a team that was putting up decent if not remarkable numbers to join Waltrip not only at a third-tier Bill Davis team but also at his own venture. It didn’t seem like a bad business decision at the time, in fact it looked obvious. Now NAPA may be wondering what they were thinking, but it still could turn out well for them, if Waltrip can get
things together.
The bright side for Waltrip is that there doesn’t seem to be much worse that could go wrong. His team hasn’t been and still isn’t challenging for strong finishes, his sponsors are bailing, and he is uncharacteristically losing his cool on the racetrack.
It will take a mammoth effort for his and his team’s fortunes to improve, but at least there is little direction to move in but up.
Kurt’s Shorts
· OK, Tom Bowles forbade me from devoting an entire column to the Richmond incident that everyone else is already talking about. But I have to say something. Look, every driver’s fans get PO’d when their driver gets wrecked, especially when they’re leading late in the race. So let Junior’s fans spew everybody…we’ve all been there. Someday it will be Kyle Busch’s fan’s turn.
· Memo to Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., (and cc: Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin and Casey Mears): I understand that all of you want to win races, but since you are all on my fantasy team, please try not to wreck each other doing it. I could have had 1st, 3rd, and 4th last week with Junior, Busch and Martin; instead I ended up with 2nd, 3rd, and 15th…still enough to win in my division for the week, but it could have been better! P.S. Thanks for the great work so far this season.
· They’re talking about 200 MPH speeds at the newly paved Darlington, so this is going to be pretty darned interesting. But now does this mean there won’t be Darlington stripes during this race? I sure hope not.
· Jeff Gordon won at the track Too Tough to Tame last year with a racecar that was spewing water like a geyser. What a difference a year makes. Haven’t even seen champagne spewing near the 24 car.
· I remember watching the Craven-Busch battle five years ago and just thinking, “Holy crap”. That’s it, just “Holy crap.”
Thanks for reading Happy Hour…enjoy the newly blacktopped Lady in Black.
Voices From The Heartland
Is NASCAR Bluffing, Or Will They Go "All In" On A New Drug Policy?
Jeff Meyer · Frontstretch.com
A few weeks ago, I penned a column that basically said Aaron Fike’s admission of doing heroin on race days was tantamount to holding a
Royal Flush when it came to forcing NASCAR’s hand on reexamining its drug testing policy. Backing Fike’s play was Tony Stewart and former Fike boss, Kevin Harvick, both of which said that they have never been tested for drugs since they began their NASCAR careers.
Well, this week the spot responded in their typical fashion, stating that while they do keep an eye on other professional sports’ drug testing policies, by and large, their system gave them more power and had certainly been serving them quite well, thank you very much.
“No system is perfect,” said Jim Hunter, NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications. “Our current policy has served us extremely well. We do have discussions from time to time regarding possible alternatives, so I wouldn’t rule those out. But I think what our policy has allowed us to do up to this certain point in time has served us well.”
Just exactly “what our policy has allowed us to do” turned to mean having drivers on the race track under the influence of drugs. Fike knew that there were no “discussions from time to time;” for if there had been, there would have been a NASCAR PR about it. I mean, Brian France can’t have a case of flatulence without a press release stating that NASCAR is experimenting with alternative fuels or some such drivel. It was Fike’s mission to change all that and, in the process, perhaps have the best shot at getting his career back on track. His gamble firmly brought the betting around to the Daytona brass and, after careful consideration, they have finally made their play.
According to Hunter, France has now appointed a group of company officials to an interim committee that is supposed to think about the drug policy, and then come back “within six weeks or so” and tell Brian what HE thinks about all this. In reality, this probably means that Brian France is going on vacation, and when the rest of the staff asked him what they were supposed to do without his leadership, he came up with this brilliant plan for a committee. Is everybody happy? OK, that’s it; I’m outta here!
The committee studying the drug policy is supposedly made up of people that “have been around a long time and know the sport” and will decide, among other things, if one of their doctor friends will get a new job on the NASCAR payroll as a “staff substance abuse expert” and if random drug testing should be implemented.
After much thought, I really still don’t know how to take this latest announcement. I mean, I really want to think that NASCAR is actually stepping up to the plate and is going to do the right thing, even if they were forced to do it. I want to think that way because overall, I personally, have snapped out of the bad mood that I have been in for the last couple of years, and I honestly do get tired of ragging on NASCAR brass all the time.
But then I remember who I am dealing with. (I never said it wasn’t fun ragging on them!) Do you really need to hire a “staff substance abuse expert?” And is it really that hard to figure out, or that complex of an issue to not know if random
drug testing is a good idea? You need a committee for that? Apparently, Brian France does.
I sincerely hope that NASCAR isn’t bluffing and is willing to go “all in” and do the right and obvious thing here — implement some simple changes, such as random drug testing. That is a no brainer. They do not, however, need to hire a staff substance abuse expert; but if they do, I may just apply. After all, in my younger years… well. let’s just say I’m as qualified as any schmuck they will hire.
Stay off the wall (and off the substances, too!)
Jeff Meyer
Junior on Kyle comparisons to Dale Sr.: 'Give my dad a little more credit'
By David Newton/ESPN.com
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a message for all those on the Internet and around office water fountains comparing Kyle Busch to his father after Junior's run-in with Busch last weekend at Richmond International Raceway.
Yes, they are similar on the track with their aggressive styles.
Off the track?
"Personalitywise, they're totally opposite," Earnhardt said Thursday between practices at Darlington Raceway. "Give me a break. You know my dad better than that. Give my dad a little more credit."
To those who disagree -- and there are those who do, including writers who have covered the sport for more than 15 years -- Earnhardt said, "They didn't know him."
The conversation came up at the end of Earnhardt's hauler chat. It was a continuation of the incident between Earnhardt and Busch battling for the lead in the closing laps at Richmond.
Both drivers have said it was the product of hard racing. Many fans, particularly those upset that the accident extended Earnhardt's losing streak to 72 races, believe it was the result of Busch's driving like the senior Earnhardt did to earn the nickname "The Intimidator."
"He's fast. He's running well. He's quick. He's
aggressive," Earnhardt said of the 23-year-old Busch. "This is Dale Earnhardt from '89 and earlier. See, Daddy quit doing that stuff after a while."
History says otherwise. In 1999, Earnhardt spun out Terry Labonte on the final lap for the win at Bristol. Fans booed him unmercifully as he headed for Victory Lane.
Afterward, Earnhardt said he didn't mean to cause the wreck, "but I wanted to rattle his cage."
Labonte didn't buy the explanation.
"He never has
any intention of taking anybody out," Labonte said at the time. "It just happens that way."
Many of those who profess to be fans of Dale Sr. now once booed him because of his aggressive style. Some might have actually hated him.
Busch is in a similar love-hate relationship with fans. That he's in a brewing rivalry with Dale Jr., the driver who replaced him at Hendrick Motorsports this season, only intensifies that.
"We've sort of pinned ourselves in that situation with the changes that we've made," Junior admitted.
Booing or not, Busch said he simply has a job to do.
"You go out there, you get introduced, you put your sponsor's nameplate on your chest and you stick it out there and you keep your heads held high, stay proud and go out there, do your job and let your racing do your talking," he said.
There was plenty of talking Saturday at Richmond. It was so heated that Rick Pigeon, a member of Earnhardt's pit crew and a former member of Busch's, angrily confronted Busch after the race.
"In that situation, I guess Pidge felt personal about it," Earnhardt said. "But it was important that we didn't show our tails. We don't want to embarrass ourselves. We've got a lot of fans that appreciate how to handle yourself, conduct yourself properly.
"It was a bad deal. Wasn't nothing I could do after the race was over with to change how bad a deal it is."
Earnhardt refrained from bashing Busch after the race, saying he wanted to see the television replay before saying
anything. Although he said the accident could have been avoided, he didn't pin all the blame on Busch.
Busch, despite a few cracks at Earnhardt Nation on Saturday night, refrained from attacking NASCAR's most popular driver during Monday's test session at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.
"That's the best I've ever seen him handle a situation," Earnhardt said. "It's good to have rivalries. If he's going to be the guy to beat, which I think he is right now, everybody is going to be watching his lap times and how fast he runs and stuff.
"When you're doing so good, there's a bit of a bull's-eye on you. I think he knows that."
Busch has won twice this season in the Cup series and leads the standings. He has won seven times for Joe Gibbs Racing among the Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series. He was fastest in Thursday's first practice.
Take that a step further, Busch has six wins in his first 124 Cup races. Dale Sr. had seven wins and a championship at the same point.
Dale Jr. can't concern himself with the comparisons to his father or to him.
"Mentally, you handle your business and you don't let it become a distraction," said Earnhardt, who was third-fastest in the first practice. "If Kyle outruns me or beats me or wrecks me and wins the
race, I can't let that … I've got to go out next week and concentrate on what I'm doing.
"If I start trying to outrun him and beat him in every practice just to prove a point, I'm going to start wadding up race cars. He's fast. He's an amazing race car driver with a lot of talent."
He's just no Dale Earnhardt, at least off the track.
Speed's 1988 Darlington win
proof that he belonged
Driver always focused on mastering the Lady in Black
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
When an emotional Lake Speed finally reached Victory Lane after winning the 1988 TranSouth 500, he couldn't help but think about seeing Darlington Speedway for the first time.
''The first time I ever came here, Darel [Dieringer] brought me,'' Speed said. ''When we first drove onto the frontstretch in 1980, I
looked at him and said, 'You have got to be kidding. That looks like a sidewalk. We aren't going to race here?' He said, 'Sorry, son. This is it. There is no way I would take a rookie here without him practicing first. It would be like a sacrifice if I did.'"
But Dieringer, fighting liver cancer, was not there for Speed's lone Cup victory.
''He did a lot for me,'' Speed said. ''I wish he could have been here. I hope he was able to watch it on television or listen to it. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be here.
''He told me this was the most prestigious and meant more to drivers to win here than anywhere else. I wanted to master this place because if I ran good here, no one could tell me I
couldn't drive.''
Speed, a Jackson, Miss., native who once beat Ayrton Senna for the World Championship of Karting, was on a 163-race winless streak over eight seasons -- and was campaigning his own No. 83 Oldsmobile, having lost the RahMoc ride four races into the 1986 season.
''There have been a lot of people involved to make this happen,'' Speed said. ''In my case, it was my faith in the Lord that brought me to this. If it hadn't been for that in 1986, I would have packed it up and gone back to Mississippi.''
But Speed thought there might be something special about this trip to Darlington.
"It was good right off the bat," Speed said. "We never had to change anything on the car since we've been here. We just brought our setup and didn't have to do anything, just change the tires and adjust the stagger.
"It was running really, really good, but I knew that didn't make any difference if you don't finish the
500 miles. At the beginning of the race, they told me, 'Whatever you do, don't let those guys wreck you. Just stay out of the way and wait 'til things thin out and then show 'em your stuff.' So that's basically what we did."
Good advice, but it almost backfired when pole-sitter Ken Schrader hit the wall in Turn 3 on Lap 16, setting off the second multi-car accident of the day. Schrader had led the first 14 laps but was running fourth, just in front of Speed, when he lost it.
"I thought I was in it," Speed said. "It was that close. I had to jam on the brakes just for a second and then it looked like it was going to open up, and I just nailed the throttle and shot through before it could get me."
The crash involved Terry Labonte, Brett
Bodine, Darrell Waltrip, Harry Gant, Rick Wilson and Morgan Shepherd. After extensive repairs, Labonte, Schrader and Wilson returned to the track many laps down.
An earlier accident, stemming from Kyle Petty's blown engine, eliminated father Richard Petty and damaged several other cars. Benny Parsons spun in the oil and collected Neil Bonnett, Bobby Hillin Jr., Ernie Irvan, Alan Kulwicki, Michael Waltrip and Greg Sacks.
The race finally settled down to a duel between Geoff Bodine, Davey Allison, Mark Martin and Speed. Bodine led the next 18 laps, handing it over to Allison, who took the point until Lap 67. Martin and Bodine then traded the top spot for the majority of the next 100 laps before Speed grabbed the lead for the first time on Lap 170.
From that point on, Speed stayed in control, giving up the advantage only for pit stops and short periods. But it was anything but a Sunday drive.
"I just knew with 20 laps to go a caution was going to come out and then it would be a mad scramble," Speed said.
But the caution never came out and it was just a matter of concentration from that point on.
''I bobbled one time and I said, 'All right, idiot. You had better bear down,''' Speed said. ''[Crew chief] Darrell Bryant called me on the radio and told me I had nine laps to go. I thought gosh, so much can happen in nine laps.
"I didn't pay any attention to the [leader] board and then he called me and told me I had four laps. Then I thought, well, if a caution comes out, I think I can win under the yellow. The last three laps were the only ones I was not concentrating on.''
Speed beat Kulwicki to the
line by 19 seconds and took home $49,435, making him the 30th driver to amass $1 million in earnings. When Sterling Marlin ran out of gas on the final lap, Allison wound up third and Bill Elliott fourth. Marlin was credited with fifth.
Dale Earnhardt, who had won three consecutive Darlington races, was never in the hunt. He fell off the pace with tire issues, then was involved in an accident and wound up 11th, four laps down.
It was only the third time -- Cale Yarborough in 1978 and Buck Baker in 1953 were the others -- that an Oldsmobile had won at Darlington. And in Victory Lane, Speed had a chance to finally silence his critics.
"I always told myself I wanted to master this place -- that if I could win here, can't anybody tell me I can't
drive anywhere," Speed said. "If I have had any place I've really, really concentrated on ... it's always been here.
"I've always looked forward to it, ... especially because so many of the drivers avoid it. If they could take it off the schedule, they'd not come here. To me, that just adds to the odds. It just makes it that much easier for me to beat them, if they don't like it here, if they're scared of it, if they're intimidated by it. It makes it that much easier for me."
Speed would record seven more top-five finishes before an accident at Sears Point in 1998 left him with a broken sternum and led to his eventual retirement. Dieringer, who won the 1966 Southern 500 for Bud Moore, died in October of 1989.
And Speed's prophecy about
Darlington was partially correct. The track's annual Labor Day race, a fixture on the NASCAR calendar since 1950, was given to California Speedway in 2004 and Darlington's second date was eliminated the following season. However, significant track improvements -- including a complete repaving of the Lady in Black -- were completed in time for Sunday's Dodge Challenger 500, and the existence of Darlington Raceway appears safe for the immediate future.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Fast track puts Darlington records in the crosshairs
Speeds are up during rare Cup Series Thursday practice
By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Ward Burton's track record at Darlington Raceway, a mark that's stood for 12 years, is now living on borrowed time.
That much was evident Thursday at the recently-repaved 58-year-old facility, where on smooth
new asphalt 31 drivers bested Burton's record in the second of two practice sessions for Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500. Set in qualifying for the 1996 TranSouth 500, Burton's mark of 173.797 mph also came on the heels of a resurfacing. But it couldn't touch the top lap of 178.679 mph that A.J. Allmendinger -- a go-or-go-homer practicing qualifying runs -- recorded under the lights Thursday night.
And they're not done yet. "It's going to get faster when we get into qualifying trim," said Ryan Newman, who posted the 12th-fastest lap of the
opening session Thursday afternoon. "That's just the way it will be. It's our first hurrah at the new Darlington."
For a while, the Sprint Cup drivers weren't even the fastest ones on the track. Denny Hamlin recorded a lap of 178.348 mph in the day's second Nationwide Series practice, an evening run which trumped the 175.797 mph that Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch put up in an opening Cup practice held in the hotter late afternoon. The existing Nationwide track record is 170.301 mph, a mark set by Newman in 2001.
That mark will also fall on a Darlington surface repaved over the winter as part of a $10 million renovation. Newman was one of three drivers, along with Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle, who participated in a pair of tire tests at the track, the second one necessitated after cars hit speeds of 200 mph in the corners. While the raceway isn't quite that fast now, the slowest Sprint Cup car Thursday was still faster than the fastest car in practice last year.
"It was real similar to what it was when we tire tested," Biffle said. "Real, real smooth. They did a great job repaving it. It's almost Talladega smooth. Pretty fast, a little faster than I'd like to see here. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but tires become a concern when you start getting down to the 28-flats and it's so hot and sunny. It hasn't cooled off at nighttime yet. We'll just wait and see. The track's going to take some rubber, and we'll see what happens."
After the first practice ended, drivers with manufacturers in common huddled for longer than usual in the garage area, comparing mental notes. Newman and Penske teammate Kurt Busch conferred in one place, Dodge drivers Bobby Labonte, Robby Gordon, Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler in another.
"It's pretty much a brand new racetrack," said Sadler, a pole winner at Darlington in 2003. "It's a brand new car on a brand new surface, so everybody is
just trying to figure out what they want, what they've got. I think everybody's pretty much fighting the same thing. Everybody's pretty tight. Track position is going to be important. It's going to be a pretty wild race."
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