Happy Thursday. 

Today In Nascar History

June 4, 1995: Kyle Petty wins the Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Dover from the 37th starting position, the lowest for a race winner at Dover. Petty leads 271 laps and beats Bobby Labonte to the line by .22 seconds.

Thanks to Anthony for the heads up on these…

Two really cool events going on at the moment.  Please let your fans know about www.vest4k9. com and www.smokescamaro.com.  Greg and Tony are doing some great work for their foundations, and allows fans some fun opportunities.

Hey,

We've launched a NASCAR related contest on Facebook and Twitter. Here are the details. You can win $500 in Tools and more. All you have to do is fan us on facebook. You should send this out to your readers so that they can take advantage of this:
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Regards,
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Comments from the Peanut Gallery

From RD

I like, dare I say love, Danica and what she stands, sits, lays, poses, sleeps, or struts on in or around.  I love her GoDaddy ads also, especially the ones that are Internet only, too hot.

Dirty Ole Man Of NASCAR.

rd

From Chip

Dear NASCAR Momma: I have a suggestion for fans attending this weeks and any other upcoming NASCAR events. At driver introductions do not boo poor little displaced pouting cry baby Kyle. Complete silence would be the best response. The best way to treat the bad behavior he has exhibited on and off the track and in news conferences is to ignore him and act like he doesn't exist. Booing him has not managed to get the message to him. For reporters to suggest that he has the right to his attitude because he was tossed at Hendrick to make way for Dale Jr, only feed this hoping that it turns into some sort of feud that will give them much fodder for job security. There have been numerous drivers in the past who have been replaced or just let go from many different race teams and they do not play and replay the pitty me card or the na na na na card when they win a race with a new team. To Kyle on a personal note - grow up, act like a man or just get out. If this is the future of NASCAR and that is the kind of driver that they think fans wish to see, then it will be a shrunken version of what it once was. I remember years ago when Rusty Wallace was on a bumper sticker toted as the resident CRY BABY of NASCAR. Maybe it's time for a new bumper sticker. Chip

From Dana to Pops

Ok, now enough is enough with givin Jr all kinds of caca (can I say that?), but Pops, this is way out of line!!!  We all expect an apology from you, or you have to drink at least one Tradin Paint everyday for the rest of the season! LOL

From Pops

I think Danica would be a real boost to the falling NASCAR ratings..just think what the rednecks and hillbillys would say if Danica shows up driving the Hendrick N# 88 Amp Chevy with an all-girl pit crew in bikini's..Heck! Lou and I might even start going to a few more races per year to watch a winning 88...LOL

Pops 

Uh oh Pops, looks like you riled up more than me!  LOL

To Gary…very funny…hahaha!

Bits and Pieces

Career start 300 for Harvick: #29-Kevin Harvick will make his 300th-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start this weekend at Pocono Raceway. Dating back to February 26, 2001 the Bakersfield, Calif., native has earned 11 wins, five poles, 58 top-five (19.3%) and 122 top-10 finishes (40.8%) in NSCS competition, in addition to one win each in both the Sprint All-Star Race (2007) and the Budweiser Shootout (2009). He has led 2,991 laps and earned close to $53 million in purse money. Over those 299 starts, Harvick has logged a 17.9 starting average and a 15.6 finishing average. The 11-time Sprint Cup Series winner has been running at the finish in 285 of those 299 races and finished on the lead lap 193 times.(RCR)

Logano to Pull Double-Duty in Sonoma: #20-Joey Logano will compete in the Bennett Lane Winery 200, presented by Supercuts, NASCAR Camping World West Series race at Infineon Raceway on Saturday, June 20. Logano joins road-race veteran Boris Said as the latest two entries for the Camping World West Series race, which is part of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend, June 19-21. Logano will pull double-duty for Joe Gibbs Racing, competing in both events. Logano competed in the West Series event at Infineon Raceway two years ago, but was sidelined by engine trouble. (Infineon Raceway)

Persistent Rain Postpones Fifth Annual Prelude to the Dream: Persistent rain has forced officials at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, to postpone the fifth annual Prelude to the Dream. The all-star dirt late model race has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9. A decision regarding the broadcast of the event will be made at a later date. The wet weather made it impossible to run the event that was slated to benefit four military-themed charities – Wounded Warrior Project, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Operation Homefront and Fisher House. “We worked really hard to make sure everything was right for the drivers, fans and viewers at home on HBO Pay-Per-View, but the weather was the one element we couldn’t control,” said Tony Stewart, two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and owner of Eldora Speedway. Those who have already purchased the Prelude to the Dream on HBO Pay-Per-View will be refunded. Those who purchased a ticket to the event can apply the value of their Prelude to the Dream ticket toward any remaining event on the 2009 Eldora Speedway schedule. To view the schedule, please visit www.EldoraSpeedway.com or call the track office (937) 338-3815.

Crew Chief Changes for Germain Racing: Germain Racing has added veteran NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief Peter Sospenzo to lead the efforts of the #13 GEICO Camry and driver Max Papis. This move allows general manager Mike Hillman Sr. to work with the #15 Pilot Travel Centers/HYPE Energy Drinks Camry team and driver Michael Annett in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series. “When we started our season, we knew it would be a learning experience running rookie drivers in each of NASCAR’s top two series. Germain Racing is a very competitive organization. We expect a lot of ourselves and after watching both of our Camry programs at Dover, we saw some opportunities to strengthen each of those teams. Peter Sospenzo is taking over as crew chief for Max Papis and the GEICO Camry, and I’m going to head to Nashville this weekend with Michael Annett and the #15 Camry crew to see if there is more we can bring to the track for Michael,” said Hillman. Peter Sospenzo has been with Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR), which is the engineering partner for Germain Racing’s GEICO Camry program. Mike Hillman Sr. has served as crew chief for Germain Racing in each of NASCAR’s top three divisions. He holds two NASCAR championship titles. Hillman will call the shots for Annett and the #15 Pilot Travel Centers/HYPE Energy Drinks Camry on Saturday at Nashville. (Germain Racing/GEICO Racing.)

TV switching gears

TNT airing next 6 races

By GODWIN KELLY|Motorsports Editor

DAYTONA BEACH -- The echo of "boogity, boogity, boogity" is quickly fading from the television set in the living room as TNT prepares to take the NASCAR broadcast baton from Fox Sports.

This has been an annual ritual since 2001 when the first, big NASCAR television contract was activated.

TNT will get the next six Sprint Cup Series races, starting this weekend in Pocono and ending six weeks from now at Chicagoland Speedway. TNT then hands off to the ESPN/ABC Sports group, which broadcasts the final 19 events.

Part of the abbreviated TNT package is the July 4 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. That race will see limited interruption from commercials.

"When TNT runs its 'wide open' coverage of the Coke Zero 400, the race fans love that," said Kyle Petty, who joins Wally Dallenbach and Bill Weber in the booth during TNT races.

"That's incredible. Each year that gets bigger and bigger. I'm hoping in time they can expand on that."

Petty inherited the color commentator position from former NASCAR champion Benny Parsons, who died two years ago.

"I just stepped in after we lost Benny," Petty said in a telephone interview. "I took a seat beside where he was sitting. You could never fill that seat. Never."

Petty, who has competed in at least five Sprint Cup races a season since 1979, doesn't anticipate any starts in NASCAR's marquee series this year.

He has become a corporate spokesman for three companies and does all sorts of odds and ends in media, including stints on the Speed channel.

"I'm not doing any driving," he said. "I'm still looking for something. My life and world still revolves around the Cup track on weekends. To make a living, I needed to be over here.

"I wanted to drive a race car, but to make a living, I'm over here doing this stuff. I'm still looking for a Cup deal. I'm working on a couple of deals, and hopefully, if they pan out, I'll be doing something next year, but I really got nothing going on this year."

Instead of racing, he'll be reporting the races with the TNT group, which has a refreshing, easy-going way about broadcasting NASCAR events.

"These guys realize the most important thing is the sport," Petty said. "It's not ESPN. It's not Fox. It's the sport.

"These guys at TNT present the sport, not themselves, you know what I mean? They are more laid back because they are just presenting the sport. The people who run the network transmit that message down the line."

TNT, part of the Turner Broadcasting family, has done business with NASCAR or its member tracks, for more than 25 years. In addition to the six races, Turner has the digital rights to the Cup Series, and holds the license to nascar.com.

"Turner is more like a boutique sports network," Petty said. "They have the British Open. They have Major League Baseball. They have the NBA."

Writer shows skills on track

By GODWIN KELLY |Motorsports Editor

It was an offer that could not be refused, the chance to race head-to-head with Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth at Daytona International Speedway.

And so, on Tuesday morning, I arrived at the Speedway's Turn 4 tunnel and went through security not strictly as media, but also as a competitor, ready to do battle with the 2003 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

On the high banks?

Not exactly.

As a way to promote the July 4 Coke Zero 400, the Speedway invited the media, mostly from Florida, to race Kenseth on a small -- but extremely challenging -- go-kart course located on the east end of the infield.

Kenseth spent the day doing promotions for the racetrack to help hype the upcoming race weekend.

"Tickets start at just $40," Speedway chief Robin Braig told the assembly. "We're trying to get the word out."

OK, mission accomplished.

On to my racing career and the Kenseth challenge.

The Richard Petty Driving Experience hauled over about a dozen high-performance karts, plus driving equipment, from Walt Disney World Speedway.

Those in the competition were required to wear a fire suit, helmet and a neck brace for safety.

About five minutes after suiting up, I was ready to hit the showers. It was sunny and hot and sweaty at the big track.

The fire suit was a loaner from RPDE rack, kind of like a renting a bowling shoe, expect for this covered the whole body.

FOOT ON GAS

Before Kenseth arrived, each media member got four or five laps of practice over the tight, twisting course.

After my first lap, I felt like Jenson Button dominating the streets of Monaco in his Formula One machine. By the time the session ended, two of the guys, who started ahead of me, had gone by and lapped me.

On the long walk (second trip) to the men's room, I decided my 25-year-long streak of racing failures would end.

Over the years I have finished last in media racing events at Orlando SpeedWorld, St. Augustine Speedway, New Smyrna Speedway and Volusia Speedway Park.

I was going to keep my foot on the throttle all the way around that bad-boy track and beat somebody.

There were eight in my heat, including Kenseth, who participated in each race and was guaranteed a spot in the final. I'm guessing he got the lucrative exemption for winning the Daytona 500.

STREAK ENDS

Kenseth finished first in the first two heats but wound up second in the third qualifier.

In my race, historic Heat 2 as I call it, there were eight competitors, including Kenseth, who started shotgun. I was lined up sixth. Kenseth shot around me like I was standing still and went right to the front.

Dang!

Safety be damned, I got around two karts in the first lap and nudged past another on the second. On the last lap, I was third in running order among media members behind racing writer Bill Whitehead, from the South Florida area.

I had an inside opening as we weaved through the "esses," but Whitehead shut the door and we made heavy contact.

There was no catching him after that. My No. 25 kart finished third and missed the shootout final.

Still, my primary objective was achieved. For the first time in my media racing career, I had not finished last and had not been lapped.

Kenseth finished second in the finale behind a writer from racingone.com, but echoed the sentiment of all those who felt the need for speed.

"I got knocked out of the way on the last corner you could pass on, but it was a lot of fun," he said.

"These cars all go the same speed and it's a neat little track," he added. "I've never raced go-karts or did much road racing, so I learned as much today as you guys did."

Voices from the Heartland

Studies Have Shown, NASCAR Is ‘Full Of It’

Jeff Meyer | frontstretch.com

Over the last couple of weeks, ever since the rumors started flying about the demise of Tony Eury, Jr. as Dale, Jr.’s crew chief, the ‘media’ has reported several times, in various ways, that “studies have shown that when Jr. isn’t running well, NASCAR’s ratings are down.”

NASCAR of course, actually likes to hear that because it shifts the blame from where it really lies; Brian France. As much as the media (with the exception of this media) and NASCAR would like you to believe their standard party line, I’ve done some ‘studies’ of my own which point to the fact that, believe it or not, NASCAR is full of it, and we all know what ‘it’ is. (For those more sheltered readers out there, here is a hint: it rhymes with ‘scoop’ which, oddly enough, is what you need to dig yourself out of ‘it’ whenever Brian France starts slinging ‘it’!)

First of all, NASCAR has always said that ‘no one man is bigger than the sport itself’ so why, all of a sudden, is the recent demise and the apparent future of NASCAR so dependant upon Dale, Jr.? The truth is it is NOT. Yes, Jr. is the ‘most popular’ driver and he has millions upon millions of followers, to the point that they have seceded from the Union and formed their own ‘nation’ but they are not culprits here. Let’s face it, most of this ‘nation’s’ populace would tune in to see their leader take a crap, which as fate would have it, is exactly what they have been seeing most Sunday afternoons anyway. No, the Jr. Nation is not the problem as NASCAR would like you to believe. Let’s look at some other cold, hard facts.

Brian France became the head of NASCAR in 2003. In 2004, he instituted his brilliant idea of The Chase ‘playoff’ system because well, other major sports had that type of system and he wanted to go head to head against the NFL on any given Sunday.

During the 2004 season two things happened that are purely coincidental and independent of one another. The first is NASCAR’s ratings did in fact rise, partly because fans wanted to see how this new system would work, and partly because they already had been rising at an almost exponential rate since the tragic season of 2001. The second thing that happened was that 2004 was Dale, Jr.’s ‘breakout’ season of his career where he scored 6 wins, 16 top 5s and 21 top 10s.

Technically speaking, I will say that 2004 was the zenith for both NASCAR and Dale, Jr. and that is probably where most of the recent ‘studies’ have stopped. My study does not. Let’s look a little deeper.

Up until the year 2000, television coverage of the races was brokered by deals between the networks and the owners of individual tracks. Despite this unruly, hodge-podge system, all the races were being televised and NASCAR’s popularity was growing. In December of 1999 however, NASCAR, sensing a dollar to be made, allowed their then head of marketing genius, Brian France, to negotiate a centralized, six year television deal between NASCAR, FOX Sports, FX, NBC and TNT, which he did to the tune of 2.4 BILLION dollars!

As we all know, since Brian successfully brokered that colossal deal, other major changes included naming Brian as the head of NASCAR and a Cup Series name change (from Winston to Nextel/Sprint) which resulted in yet even more BILLIONS pouring into the sanctioning body’s coffers.

As a result of that first ‘centralized’ TV deal, long time fans began to become disenfranchised from the sport mainly because of an increase in commercial breaks, emphasis on the more popular drivers and teams to the total and blatant exclusion of others, and the de-emphasis of actual racing coverage in exchange for an increase of hype, fluff and general BS!

Late in 2005, with first deal’s expiration looming and the announcement of NBC’s desire to ‘get the hell out’, France was able to fleece a whopping 4.8 BILLION dollar, eight year contract out of FOX, Speed Channel, ABC/ESPN and TNT! As one might expect and we all have had to endure, with a price like that to pay, the networks have relied on even more commercials, more fluff, more hype and all around bigger heapings of non-race related BS the likes of which would make a billy goat puke!

Other unpopular contributions that Brian has brought to the sport include (but are not limited to) the SPECtacular and hated Car of Tomorrow, the quest for the ‘casual fan’ and the insistance of two races a year in Fontana, CA! I could go on but I don’t think I have to. The point is that since its peak in 2004, NASCAR ratings and fan satisfaction have been dropping in almost the same exponential way they rose.

Meanwhile, what has Jr. been doing since his peak in ’04? In the last 5 years, he has amassed (to date) 3 wins, 35 top 5s and 61 top 10s. No, it’s not what I would call lighting the racing world on fire, but there are guys out there that never reach those numbers during their whole career.

When you lay it side by side, I defy anyone to logically tell me that Jr’s less than stellar performance is more responsible for the drop in ratings than the dealings of Brian France. If anything, NASCAR should be grateful for the fanatical tenacity of the Jr. Nation, without which the ratings would be even lower.

I have never personally heard a die hard 88 fan say that they are not going to watch the race because Jr. has been sucking as of late. I HAVE heard numerous once die hard NASCAR fans, myself included, say they don’t care if they see the race because NASCAR in general has been sucking (for various reasons) of late!

The truth of the matter is is that there IS one man bigger than the sport itself, but it is NOT Dale Earnhardt, Jr. That honor squarely belongs to the man that sits behind the CEO’s desk in Daytona, FL. A desk upon which you will NEVER see a ‘The buck stops here!’ sign!

Stay off the wall,

Jeff Meyer

The Ponytail Express Is Ready To Roll

John Daly/dalyplanet.com

There is little doubt that Kyle Petty is ready for the upcoming season of NASCAR on TNT. Freed from the day-to-day chaos of Petty Enterprises, Kyle has been limited on TV this season to a silly trivia show on SPEED.
Last week, Petty filled-in for Jimmy Spencer on RaceDay. Petty kept his cool and had fun on the two-hour show until the topic of the recent NASCAR driver and owners meeting arose. Then, Petty took a deep breath and just laid out NASCAR's senior management live on national TV.
Reminding NASCAR that he was a third generation participant, Petty said NASCAR normally pays only "lip service" to the competitors and better follow through on the ideas raised in the meeting. When Petty was done, the looks on the faces of host John Roberts and fellow panelist Kenny Wallace were priceless.
Petty recently wrapped-up another successful charity motorcycle ride. This time, in addition to raising money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp in North Carolina, Petty and his wife broke ground for a second camp in the Greater Kansas City area. Petty captured the interaction of the riders with NASCAR fans along the way and posted his photos online for all to see.
Now, Petty is embarking on another effort that should raise some eyebrows in the normally structured NASCAR TV world. At Petty's suggestion, he is going to be traveling to the six TNT races on his motorcycle. As you can see in the picture above, he recently added a sidecar for a passenger. That passenger will be SPEED's Rutledge Wood.
What Petty found on his most recent motorcycle ride is something many high-profile NASCAR TV types have forgotten. The survival of this sport depends on people who live outside of the Greater Charlotte area. It depends on folks whose only relationship with GM is a monthly car payment. It depends on those who have never flown on a private jet and are still saving-up for a High Definition TV.
Sticking Rutledge in the sidecar and taking-off to see real American NASCAR fans over a six race stretch is something we would never see from Fox or ESPN. Thankfully, Petty does not have the "Fox Sports attitude" and his wardrobe does not contain enough neckties to get him through even one NASCAR on ESPN weekend.
Dubbed "The Ponytail Express," the journey will be relayed in text and photos on Twitter directly from Wood and Petty. Video from several "lipstick cams" on the sidecar will be sent to NASCAR.com for posting. TNT will also use some of the video during the Sprint Cup Series pre-race shows to update fans on the trip.
Make no mistake about it, there are no chase vehicles or support staff on this journey. There are no helicopters or police escorts. This is just a 49 year-old man with a ponytail and his sidekick driving to six NASCAR races to experience reality outside of the "NASCAR bubble."
If there was ever a time when NASCAR needed a good swift kick in the rear, this is it. If that can be delivered by a couple of maniacs on a motorcycle with a video camera and a GPS then more power to them. It's about time some TV personalities stepped out into the world and made the statement that NASCAR is about the fans.
We fully expect that YouTube, NASCAR.com, Twitter and even CNN.com's iReports will soon be sprinkled with rather interesting video footage. Plenty of NASCAR fans will no doubt bump into this duo going from race to race. Michigan to California and then back to New Hampshire all in 12 travel days during the middle of the TNT stretch should certainly prove to be interesting.
As the memories of Digger begin to fade and before the suit-and-tie Connecticut crowd arrives, it might make for some fun this summer to keep up with "The Ponytail Express" as these two guys put their money where their mouth is and hit the road.

By the Numbers: Pocono

RCR hopes to turn fortunes around at Tricky Triangle

By Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM

It's been a rough start for Richard Childress Racing in 2009. Last year, all three RCR teams made the Chase. This year, Jeff Burton, currently 10th, looks like he will be the only one to qualify for NASCAR's postseason. Clint Bowyer (16th), Casey Mears (21st) and Kevin Harvick (24th) are all struggling as the Cup Series reaches the halfway point of the regular season with the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway (12:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

And if history is any indication, the disappointing finishes that have plagued RCR this season are likely to continue.

Not one of RCR's current stable of drivers has visited Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway. And if that wasn't enough, as an owner, Richard Childress has just two wins at the track -- and they came a while ago, both courtesy of Dale Earnhardt (1987, 1993).

Inside the Data

RCR drivers career Cup stats at Dover

DID YOU KNOW?

1992  Tony Stewart is the first owner/driver to lead the point standings since Alan Kulwicki won the championship on November 15, 1992 -- nearly 17 years ago.

NECESSITOUS NUMBERS

0  Mark Martin has more top-fives (19) and top-10s (31) than any other driver in the history of Pocono Raceway, yet he has yet to win at the track.

2  There have only been two green-white-checkered finishes at Pocono, both occurring in 2005.

2  Two drivers entered in Sunday's race have an average finish inside the top 10 at Pocono: Denny Hamlin (6.2) and Jimmie Johnson (9.8).

4  There have been four repeat winners at Pocono since 2000: Jimmie Johnson (2004), Carl Edwards (2005, 2008), Kurt Busch (2005, 2007) and Denny Hamlin (2006).

4  Number of times Kyle Busch has finished 20th or worse in eight starts at Pocono. He finished 39th in 2005, 22nd in 2006 and 43rd and 36th in both Pocono races last year.

4.5  Average starting position for Kasey Kahne in the last six Pocono races. Unfortunately, it didn't always lead to a strong finish. In three of those races, Kahne finished 22nd or worse.

45  Number of consecutive races Michael Waltrip has raced at Pocono without a victory, tops among active drivers. Surprisingly, Mark Martin is second on that list with 44 consecutive Pocono races without a win, although the two have drastically different average finishes at the track (Waltrip, 21.6; Martin, 10.7).

432  Number of laps Mark Martin has led at Pocono, tops among all drivers without a win at the track. Martin has 19 top-fives and 31 top-10s in 44 starts and has finished second an astonishing six times.

605  Number of points Jeff Gordon has scored in the last four races at Pocono, tops among all drivers. In that stretch he has a win, a fourth, a 10th and a 14th. Second on the list is Dale Earnhardt Jr. with 594 points, although he is winless at the track.

Confessions of a NASCAR fan

Carolyn Brewster/scenedaily.com

Start times not as important as being at track

Loading the car to head for the track, we have a list of things we must take. Did we bring the map to the track? A map of the track? Who has got the sunscreen, and where is the backpack with the scanners? Sunglasses? Check! Case of lighter fluid and portable grill? Check!

Grab two dozen doughnuts on the way out of town, and we’re off. Somewhere in the flurry of loading the car with the important elements essential for successful tailgating and race watching, we are always certain to ask the important question: Did you bring the tickets?

We have never forgotten our tickets. These days, you can print them at home right after you buy them online. Sometimes you can get tickets mailed to your house, and then, there’s always the “Will Call” window at the track where you can pick up those tickets.

Sometimes, however, at some tracks, on those essential tickets, the start time of the race is not listed. Instead, it simply lists the time the gates open.

We have made it to the track before without bringing the vital knowledge of when the green flag is actually scheduled to drop. It’s not as if it’s a secret. As a matter of fact, I usually have a general idea of when the race is scheduled to begin, indicating, that at one point in time, I did run across the information, probably when I was actually purchasing the tickets. But the time between purchasing tickets and using the tickets can be months.

On more than one occasion, we have been standing in line at the merchandise hauler, and my husband asks me when the race starts. I don’t know; maybe noon-ish?

We ask other fans in line who apparently are just as happy knowing it is a day race rather than a night race, and that information is good enough because they don’t know exactly what time it starts either.

If you have the tickets somewhere in that traveling tailgate party known as a car, the specifics of when you actually are supposed to find your seats in the grandstands is less important than just being there.

That is, of course, unless you have children with you. Once, I guessed when I thought the race started, and let’s just say I was off by an hour or so. I burned my kids out sitting in grandstands watching nothing, and when the race finally did start, they were done. My mistake.

We tend to leave so early for the track on race days that it almost seems inconsequential when the actual race begins. If we’re going to the track, that’s the important part. Race time, well, that will just work itself out. Look for the flyover or listen for the sound.

Waid's World

A NASCAR BLOG BY Steve Waid

Stewart-Haas Racing has already done more than expected

I’ll admit I was one of those who suggested that Tony Stewart would have a very difficult time in his first year as a co-owner/driver with Stewart-Haas Racing.

The widely held belief was that in this day of multicar, multisponsored teams, which have dominated NASCAR Sprint Cup racing for years, a driver who raced with his own team could not possibly be competitive.

There would simply be too many responsibilities – involving everything from bills, payroll, personnel, sponsor relationships and more – and that the demands on his time would be too great. He wouldn’t be able to focus solely on competition. Thus his on-track performance would suffer.

Years ago, drivers who raced for themselves were plentiful. But they were, for the most part, unsuccessful. They could never attract necessary major sponsorships and were thus relegated to little more than field fillers against the powerful, factory-backed teams of the day.

They went into extinction.

But the idea evolved that to be an owner/driver was considered, by some, to be a sound business practice.

If appropriate sponsorship could be found, a competitor could be his own boss, and at the same time, fatten his bankroll.

Several – Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough, and, most recently, Ricky Rudd and Darrell Waltrip - tried it and failed.

Only the late Alan Kulwicki made a go of it. He was a owner/driver throughout his career and turned aside offers to race with other successful multicar teams in an effort to realize his goals.

He won what is now the Sprint Cup championship in 1992 and is the last driver who owned his team to do so. For that he has justifiably earned admiration and respect.

But in today’s environment, Kulwicki wouldn’t have come close to a title.

Which brings us back to why most of us thought Stewart could not succeed.

Fact is, he already has.

After his runner-up finish at Dover, Stewart moved into first place in the Sprint Cup point standings. His teammate, Ryan Newman, ran eighth for his fourth consecutive top-10 finish and is now fifth in points.

Think of it: Stewart-Haas Racing, which many thought would struggle mightily this season, currently has two drivers among the top five in points.

Neither has won a points race. However, it’s no longer a question of if, but when.

Statistics tell us that drivers among the top 12 in the point standings after 13 of 26 races have gone on to contend for the championship. There have been exceptions, of course.

So the odds are very good that Stewart and Newman will be part of a the Chase for the Sprint Cup in the first year of Stewart’s role as a team owner.

Not many of us predicted that. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone did.

That tells me Stewart-Haas Racing has already succeeded.

There are a couple of major differences why this team is removed from the owner/driver organizations of the past.

Stewart is not a rookie team owner. For years he has overseen his personal Sprint and dirt track organizations and has been successful.

When I asked him about that once, he explained that he hired good drivers and people and kept in constant touch – most often by phone – and received needed, accurate information. That allowed him to make directives and decisions, most of them right.

It’s likely he took that experience to his current Cup team. If I had to guess, I would say that he’s now more hands-on, but that makes no difference so far. He’s confident in the people that work for his team. And, given his and Newman’s situations now, he should be.

That Stewart-Haas Racing receives engines, chassis and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports is huge and might just be the biggest reason why Stewart’s team has done as well as it has.

It’s acknowledged that Hendrick is the most formidable team in NASCAR today, and, given that Hendrick’s Jimmie Johnson has won three straight titles, no further evidence is needed.

For Stewart-Haas Racing, the flow of Hendrick experience and information has obviously been of tremendous benefit.

If Stewart does not win a third career title, and if Newman doesn’t win his first, both drivers will understandably be disappointed given the way things have gone exceptionally well so far.

But despite the disappointment, in the long run, it will not matter.

The team has already accomplished much more than most of us ever anticipated.

NASCAR ON TV THIS WEEK

All times Eastern

Well, that's all for today.  Until the next time, I remain,

Your Nascar Momma

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

his list is authored by:

Sandra Monacelli
221 W. 57th Street 18B
Loveland, CO  80538
970/663-6967