Goblins and Gremlins

It's near Halloween, and, at Atlanta, the goblins and/or gremlins showed up for the occasion. Kyle Busch literally ran into trouble early, and finished several laps down. Kasey Kahne, the race favorite, put himself out of championship contention, when he forgot that David Stremme's car was to his right, and ran right into him. And, much to the dismay of us sentimentalists, goblins got in the way of Mark Martin, and he wrecked in the closing laps of the race. Kevin Harvick had gremlins in his car the entire race, and he finished two laps down. Matt Kenseth also seemed to have continuing problems with the "Miss Setup" goblin, but still pulled off a very exciting fourth place finish. This is something Matt can always seem to do--take a twentieth place car to a top five finish. This is why I have picked him to win the championship this year.
Gremlins also continued to plague Jeff Burton, as a cut tire relegated him to a thirteenth place finish. But the other Jeff in the Chase, Jeff Gordon, managed to overcome Halloween Demons and finish sixth. As did Denny Hamlin, who was a lap down for much of the race, and finished in eighth.
While the Halloween creepies were bothering all those guys, they left the others alone. Dale Earnhardt, Jr took a gamble on older tires at the end of the race, and still managed to pull off third place, in the aforementioned exciting race with Matt Kenseth. Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson raced valiantly and cleanly for much of the final eighty laps of the race. And Smoke won, his ability and experience guiding him around the track to find the groove where his car ran best, under the changing track conditions.
The beautiful carved bear trophy awarded to Tony for winning the Bass Pro500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway was only the capping off of a wonderful weekend for him. Saturday, he finished the final race of the Crown Royal International Race of Champions series in third place, which was enough to win him that championship. His name on the IROC trophy is added to such racing greats as Mark Donahue, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Al Unser. I was counting all of Tony's championships in go-carts and quarter midgets when I counted 19 career championships for him. Officially, only his USAC, IRL and NASCAR championships count, and now, with the IROC trophy, it makes 11 official national championships for him.
After Atlanta, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Busch have fallen out of contention for the championship. With only three races to go, it was the wrong time for things to go wrong. Jeff Gordon, 144 points out of the lead, still has a chance, if everything goes right for him and goes wrong for the six drivers ahead of him in points. Kevin Harvick is 121 points out of the lead, and can take inspiration from Jimmie Johnson, who made up 130 points in three races to get to where he is, in third place. Jeff Burton is tied in fourth/fifth place with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 84 points out of the lead, and either one of them could still race his way to the championship. For the top three drivers, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin, there are only 66 points separating first from third, and any one of them could leave next week's race at Texas Motor Speedway in the points lead. Here's to another great race in a great season.

JPM Update
Juan Pablo Montoya finished his first NASCAR Busch Series race, the Sam's Town 250, at Memphis, in eleventh place. Not bad for someone who has only driven stock cars for a little over a month.

Atlanta Tricks and Treats

Atlanta is one of the fun tracks on the NASCAR Cup circuits. True, it's a 1.5-mile "D" shaped oval, like Lowe's, Texas, Kansas City, Chicago, and Las Vegas, but each one of these venues has its own personality, and Atlanta is the "fun" one. All the drivers like it, and if you are there and have a ticket, you can see the entire track, which also makes it very fan friendly.
Tricks:
The surface of the track at Atlanta Motor Speedway is termed "abrasive." This means that the tires will grip, for about ten or eleven laps, but then the cars will start sliding and moving up and down the track as the rubber is used up, and the track becomes slick. The good drivers like this--if the car is set up well. We can expect, during the first part of the race, every pit stop to be for four tires and fuel. There won't be that many tricks for fuel mileage until the last quarter of the race, and this depends on how many cautions there are. There may be a caution or two within the first 30 or so laps, but we should see more green flag laps than we did at Lowe's a few weeks ago.
The real trick will be catching--or should I say "katching"--Kasey Kahne. The cute little guy has had an excellent run on the 1.5-mile tracks, winning at six such races so far this year. He won, in fact at the Atlanta race last Spring, and sweeping another venue as he did at Lowe's two weeks ago will be some added incentive for him. There is no reason to believe that he can't win another one. Unless he has engine problems.
The Everham teams--Kahne in the #9, Scott Riggs in the #10, and Elliott Sadler in the #19--have all been gaining in strength. The engine problems suffered by Sadler and Riggs in the last few races are being dealt with, and hopefully we will not see such problems at Atlanta. However, because of the speeds an gearing used at Atlanta, the question of engine durability will remain a concern..
Hendrick Motor Sports (HMS) also has had some problems with engines this season, and if not with engines, then with gearboxes. It seems to be the biggest problem which has kept Jeff Gordon from getting to the top of the points race. Jimmie Johnson, who is only 41 points out of the lead, has also had such mechanical problems throughout the season. The #48 team is good at overcoming obstacles, and it should be remembered that Johnson has never finished a season outside of the top four in points. With that in mind, I am adding Johnson to my list of "drivers who I would not be unhappy to see win the Cup." He is on a roll, coming off of the victory at Martinsville, and he may just have the trick that will get him to Victory Lane.
An engine problem for Jeff Burton at Martinsville is what put the Chase for the Championship back to the piont where any of the top nine drivers can take the Nextel Cup. Kevin Harvick is now in second place, and Burton dropped from first all the way back to sixth, but still only forty-eight points out of the lead. Richard Childress Racing, the team for which both Burton and Harvick drive, is known for engine reliability, which is why the engine failure last week came as a surprise. Hopefully, the team engineers know what went wrong and have been able to remedy it, and they will be able to stay in the race to the finish. I'm expecting top five finishes for both of them.
Possibly the meanest trick was the rain. For A.J. Almendinger, the former Champ Car series driver, it was. Atlanta was to be his first Cup race in NASCAR, but, because of rain, he didn't get a chance to qualify.
Treats:
For the Chase drivers, the rained out qualifying session was the biggest treat, for the cars start in order of owner's points, meaning the top ten start in the top ten positions. We could probably see a relaxing of the insanity that has marked the start of most of the races so far this year, because the chasers will be careful not to take each other out in the first few laps of the race. For fans of insanity, there will still be plenty of that from about twentieth position on back.
Matt Kenseth starts on the pole position, with Kevin Harvick next to him. Harvick will probably take a shot at the lead from the start, but Matt will most likely prevail, coming out of turn two, and be able to lead a few laps.
For those of us who are Mark Martin fans, he has declared that he will win the race. This is uncharacteristic of the driver who has been, at the most, pessimistically optimistic about his chances for winning a race, so we should pay attention to him. Martin is one of the greats, with a unique racing style, and the ability to quickly fill any space in front of him. If he says he will win, we better take that as a strong possibility that he will.
The treat for the multitude of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fans is in the fact that the #8 team has strengthened greatly on the 1.5-mile tracks, and we should see a strong showing for Junior. As a driver, Junior is smart, and his car control abilities are among the best. Atlanta is a track that is good for Junior's style of driving, and he may move up some in the points standings by the end of the race.
Being in the top ten, and in contention for the championship is a treat for Wonder Rookie Denny Hamlin. He has shown some amazing ability to adapt to any type of track, and he is starting in fourth position. We expect him to back off a little in the first part of the race, letting others make their own mistakes, but he will be there at the end. To think, his goal at the beginning of the year was "to finish most of the races and to get Rookie of The Year." Those goals have been met, and there is a very strong possibility that he will be the first rookie in the history of NASCAR to win the championship.
It is my mind, not my heart that is picking Kyle Busch to win this race. He is energized, seeing that he is once again in reach of the points lead, after Burton's engine failure and the finishing order at Martinsville virtually reset the Chase. I'm not a big fan of The Schrub, but we must recognize his talent and his ability, and, if he doesn't put himself in the position of being taken out in retaliation, determination and skill will make for very exciting finishing laps, and victory.
In the end, it will come down to engine durability and pit strategy, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no-one in the Chase has engine problems, just to keep the points close, and the Chase for the Championship exciting.

IROC Final Race is Saturday at AMS

Well, I made the mistake of watching Speed TV's The Chase is On and realized that every time I've written a preview, I sound just like Carl Edwards. I spoiled it--for my Muse, I mean--and can't think of writing anything about Atlanta which hasn't already been said. Not on the Cup level, anyway.
So, let's talk IROC, the Inernational Race of Champions. For those who aren't familiar with IROC, it is a four race series in identically prepared cars. They are Pontiac Firebird based cars, with fiberglass bodies, set up somewhere between the NASCAR stock cars and the GT class we see in the Grand Am series. The drivers in the series are made up of past champions and current champions from the NASCAR Cup series, the Indy Racing League (IRL), the Open Wheel Championship Car Series (Champ Car), The Rolex Grand Am series, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series, the NASCAR Busch Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series, and, this year being the first time for it, the ARCA series. Atlanta marks the fourth and final race in this year's IROC series. If you need more backround, follow this link.
Tony Stewart leads the IROC in points, and can win the $1,000,000 prize if he finishes Saturday's IROC race in third or better. Mark Martin has done that six times, and he is also in the race. They are joined, from NASCAR by Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex, Jr., and Ted Musgrave. Also in the race are , Scott Sharp, Sam Hornish, Jr. from IRL, Steve Kinser, from World of Outlaws, Max Papis, from several different sports car road racing series,Wayne Taylor, from Rolex Grand Am, and Frank Kimmel--the eight time ARCA champion. Most of them are still in a position to win the IROC championship, which is par for the course in IROC, and which makes the final race always exciting.
Smoke can win it, though. He has the reputation of being able to drive the wheels off of anything, and he has amassed 19 championship trophies throughout his career, includng two in NASCAR Cup and one in the IRL. The IROC cars seem to suit him, as he has won IROC races at Texas Motor Speedway, which is similar to Atlanta, and on the Daytona road course. The IROC races depend on drivers' skills, and Tony is arguably the most skilled driver in the series. He has offered a deal with the owner of the IROC series, that if he wins the IROC championship, he will give the million dollars back to the series in exchange for including his dirt track at Eldora in the IROC mix next year. That would be exciting for those of us who follow the series. He is serious about it, and that is an added incentive for him. It should also be incentive for us to watch the race Saturday, and see what happens. It will be aired on Speed TV.

Review: Martinsville II

I'm writing this on Sunday, during the races, and I have to say Thank God for MRN, because I'm trying to follow both the NASCAR race, and the Brazilian Gran Prix, which is the last Formula One race of the season, and, incidently Michael Schumacher's final race of his career. Even if I weren't flipping, I'm still happy to have MRN on to follow the race at Martinsville, because a lot is happening during the television commercials. Mainly restarts--after five cautons, three restarts happened during commercials on NBC.
When ABC/ESPN get their turn, I'm hoping they use the split screen for the ads, like they did for the IRL races, where you can still watch the race while the commercials are on.
The race at Martinsville, was everything we could hope for. Granted, we didn't want to see the wreck on the first lap, which was once again the result of drivers trying to race the first lap as if it was the last, but the remainder of the race featured everything that is great about short track racing. It was actually fairly clean for a short track race--there were few instances on pit road involving contact between cars, and the majority of the sixteen caution periods were caused by single-car spinouts with minimal damage to cars. There were some great moments of racing during the entire course of the Subway 300--lots of drivers working well in traffic, racing each other as cleanly as possible on a half-mile oval. There was some real racing going on, such as Junior racing Jeff, Jeff racing Tony, and Bobby Labonte coming back from two laps down to lead some laps and finish third.
Not that we wanted to see Jeff Burton lose the points lead the way he did, with engine problems which put him out of the race, but what that did to the points standings is simply awesome to those of us who are paying attention to the points race. Now, with Matt Kenseth back in the lead, Kasey Kahne, in eighth place is only ninety-nine points out of first place. It is, with four races left, anybody's championship. But I get ahead of myself.
I genuinely feel that we got to see some of the best racing this year during the last hundred laps or so of the race. Nobody was going to give up anything, but the drivers were very respectful of each other. The only downside was David Regan, who will be driving the #6 car next year, but showed that he is not quite ready for the Cup level, causing many problems for other drivers, especially Ken Schrader, who could have possibly won the race. Smoke retaliated for Schrader, and I imagie he was congratulated for that by every other driver, except for Kyle Busch, who unfortunately hit the wall while trying to avoid Regan's spinning car. Otherwise, there was some great racing between Tony and Jeff, there, where we could see the two best trying to beat each other while avoiding beating on each other. But the race between Home Town Boy, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps was outstanding. Denny did everything he could, running on seven cylinders as he did nearly the entire race, to beat Johnson. He was definitely handling the turns very well, but he just didn't have the power to maintain the lead on the straightaways. I was certainly yelling for him, and he didn't lose the race for not trying.
But I'm not unhappy that Johnson won. He raced to that victory, and earned it well. There was some booing among the cheers--when Jimmie got out of the car he gave the booers The Finger, much to the delight of the crowd--but they don't throw beer cans at Martinsville, to their credit.
Two years ago, four members of the Hendrick family, including the universally liked Ricky Hendrick, Rick Hendrick's son, died when the plane numbered N501RH crashed on its way to the race at Martinsville. Johnson's victory was not without memory of that tragedy. This was another tribute to the memory of the seven who died in that crash. So, even though I was pulling for Bobby Labonte or Denny Hamlin to beat Johnson, my congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for his victory is sincere and heart-felt.
With the Chase for the Championship being reset for all practical purposes, I am still picking Matt Kenseth to win the Cup, because I feel he is every bit as good a driver as Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, and a second championship now would help to prove that. There are some other drivers, if Matt doesn't win , with whom I would not be dissapointed if they won the championship instead, not necessarily in this order:
Jeff Burton
Mark Martin
Denny Hamlin
Kasey Kahne
Kevin Harvick
Next week is Atlanta, a very fast intermediate track. The Chase is anybody's once again, and this makes it exciting. I'm looking forward to some more great racing in each of the four final races.

Schumie's Last Stand

Seven time Formula One World Champion, Michael Schumacher could arguably be called the Greatest. He not only has the record seven championships, but also has ninety-one Gran Prix wins. And, for a little while, it looked as if he may end his career on top. He was three championship points ahead of reigning Champion Fernando Alonso with two races left in the season, and his career. Then disaster struck at the Japanese Gran Prix, when, while leading the race, his engine blew. That was strange, since the Ferrari engines are usually very sturdy and reliable.
One could say that it wasn't in the cards for Schumacher to retire with eight championships. Now, ten points behind the points leading Alonso, going into the Brazilian Gran Prix, Schumacher could still have won the championship if, 1: Alonso had to drop out of the race, for some reason, and 2: Schumacher won the race. After showing some excellent performance in practice and in the qualifying rounds, Schumie was almost a shoo-in for the pole, but, during the pole shoot-out round, disaster struck again when the hydraulic system for the #6 Ferrari's fuel pump failed. The car that should have been on the pole--it had been the fastest during the qualifying rounds--was doomed to start in the tenth position.
But Michael Schumacher, the Great One, was not about to go out with a whimper. Making some amazing passes in the first lap, he quickly worked his way up to fifth. Then, on lap eleven, his right rear tire* blew.
Having to limp around the circuit, pit, and repair, put him back in twentieth position. Again, with his unique and aggressive driving style, he picked off competitors one by one, passing inside when he could, and passing on the outside when there was absolutely no room inside. He was driving that car hard, and wheel hopping didn't seem to bother him--the Ferrari was bouncing, skidding, drifting, and sliding all the way around the Gran Prix course. Watching him, you have to feel, "that's what I'm talking about." You just know he is showing exactly why he is The Great One.
With three laps to go, Michael Schumacher has muscled his way to fifth place. Kimmi "The Iceman" Raikonnen, the man who will be in Schumacher's seat next year, is running in fourth. A battle for that position ensues, and it is racing of the kind rarely seen in Formula One racing of late. Raikonnen, a future champion in his own right, is not about to just let Schumie pass him. Schumacher goes right, and Raikonnen is already there. He goes left, and the Iceman blocks the way. Finally, headed into the front stretch at the end of the lap, Schumacher makes a move only he can make--in front of him is Raikonnen, and to his left is the guardrail. Seeing the slightest hint of daylight between the two, he deftly puts his car into the space where there is barely any space, and successfully passes without wrecking. It is the amazing ability of Schumacher that convinces us that he deserves to be known as one of the greatest racers of all time.
He finished in the fourth position, and Alonso, finishing second, took the championship. Schumacher's teammate, Brazilian driver Philippi Massa, won the race at his home track, giving Ferrari the constructor's championship. Schumacher didn't even make the podium.
But that didn't matter. Schumacher's final race before retirement showed us why he is the Great One, because we got to watch him make some of his greatest moves. It will be etched in our memories.

*Remember, in NASCAR it's "tire," in Formula One it's "tyre." Both mean the same thing.

Old School Racing at Martinsville

Many of the Cup chasers cut their teeth on tracks like the one at Martinsville, VA. This is a one-half mile, flat concrete paved oval, the shortest on the Cup circuit. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Denny Hamlin, for instance, spent their entire pre-NASCAR careers on short paved ovals such as Martinsville. Most of the population of North America lives within a two hour drive of a short oval.
It's old school, but for a longer distance than the Saturday night circle burners usually race. In addition, with 43 cars on the track at the same time, it's crowded, which makes a big difference in how the race is run. The driver has to be careful not to overdrive into the corners, which will certainly use up brakes. The corners are so tight, a car will have to slow from almost 120 mph to 50 mph in order to make the turn without crashing. At least aerodynamics aren't important, because, with the crowded conditions and the difficulty of passing, there will be body parts (auto body parts, that is) flying off the cars from all the beating and banging that will be going on. The late, great Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt, once said, "Rubbin' is racin'," and that saying will definitely come into play at Martinsville
Qualifying is important here, for both pit position and for track position. As has been mentioned, passing is difficult, and it will take a ton of skill to move up through the pack. The pack will, by the way be illustrating the fact that NASCAR racing is a contact sport. You really want to start the race up front in order to have the best chance at finishing up front.
Jeff Gordon has seven victories at Martinsville, including last year's Fall race. This is one race in which we can see the skill that makes him one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. In two of the last three races at this track, he has one, and in the third, he finished second. He certainly has a handle on the track, and has secured a front row starting position in qualifying. He is not yet out of contention for the championship, but he will have to do a lot of winning in the last five races to get there, and it may start at Martinsville.
Junior, who is still within easy striking distance of the points lead, is very comfortable at Martinsville. In his first Cup race there, he learned what not to do, hitting, in his own words, "everything, including the pace car."
Since then, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has raced Martinsville using his extensive short track experience, and it is now, possibly, his favorite track. It is a lot of fun to watch him race there--his car handling technique shines at the races which require a high percententage of drivers' skill. All he needs to do is keep doing what he has been doing--avoid mistakes--and he could win this thing.
But the points leader, Jeff Burton, is also an accomplished short track driver. He needs to finish well to maintain his lead, for Matt Kenseth is only forty-five points behind him. However, Kenseth is not strong at Martinsville, so Burton may not have a lot to worry about, except to get through the traffic jam and avoid being involved in someone else's accident.
Kyle Busch is more of a dirt racer than a pavement racer, from his pre-Cup days, but has shown that he can run well on the short tracks. Like Gordon, he needs a lot of luck to get back into contention for the championship, but that won't prevent him from trying to get a win. Recently, the "Schrub" has shown more maturity than he has in the past, when he used to cause problems for other drivers in traffic, but our biggest concern is whether or not his recent education has stuck. He should make the race interesting, either way.
One would think that a Sprint car driver, like Kasey Kahne, would be good on the short tracks, but Kahne's strengths have been on the intermediate tracks. He definitely is a high quality talent, though, and he should be able to do more than hold his own in the traffic. There is no reason why he can't extend his strength to Martinsville, and he needs to finish all the rest of the races in the top five. He should be considered another driver to watch, come Sunday.
There is no telling how Mark Martin will do, Sunday. All of his good performance has been countered by a lot of bad luck not of his doing. He continues to smile, post race, no matter what happens. He had said that maybe the Championship "wasn't in the cards," for him, but that doesn't mean that he has given up. He continues to have fun, and who knows, he could pull it off. He did have to go to a back up car after crashing in pre-qualifying practice, so Sunday may be an uphill battle for him.
Kevin Harvick is steady, much like Jeff Burton. His performance at Martinsville has been competent, but not spectacular. Like Jimmie Johnson, he is able to adapt to any sort of track and make a good finish. It is my opinion that he may be better in traffic than Johnson. Johnson, a talented driver, tends to get confused in traffic, and his reactions are a mite slower, which could get him into trouble Sunday. If he didn't have such a penchant for running into the back of other drivers, we could have a kinder view of his chances at Martinsville.
Now, my pick among the Chasers to have the highest finishing position is Denny Hamilin, Wonder Rookie. He hasn't been that long away from short track racing, at least not as long as most of the other drivers. And he has shown an uncanny ability to adapt to any situation. If he stays focused, he could, once again, find Victory Lane.
Non-Chasers to watch:
Last week, Tony Stewart showed some great sportsmanship, deigning to avoid racing the race leaders in order to gain a lap, and thus avoiding a repeat of the accident a few weeks ago when his good friend Kasey Kahne was caught up in Stewart's wreck. Smoke definitely knows his way around Martinsville, and has led a lot of laps there, with some close finishes and some wins. He will likely let the Chasers race each other, and try to get around them only when he feels it is safe. He does have the highest drivers rating of any of the other drivers at Martinsville. It will be tricky, but if he gets a chance to try for the win, he will get it.
Scott Riggs, Clint Bowyer, and Dave Blaney all look good to go, Sunday. Riggs didn't qualify as well as we thought he would, but he is another "short track ace," and could make his way back through the traffic. Clint Bowyer is on the coattails of his RCR teammates, and he does have talent, and he is a focused driver, so he could also finish in the top ten. Blaney is a dirt track driver who has adapted well to paved short tracks, and he will certainly be worth watching.
Or listening. Martinsville can be boring to watch on TV, depending on what we see through the cameras, which is often a single file line all the way around the track for most of the race. It is highly suggsted that we listen to the radio broadcast, if available, with the TV on "mute," so as to get a good play by play on the action.
Now, for entertainment purposes, and since we are talking about old school racing, the following video is "Old School" School, and has nothing to do with racing:







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Welcome Back Ward!

Big News for "wahr's Wah'rd" fans: Ward Burton, a long time fan favorite will be in the #4 car for Morgan-McClure Motorsports for the rest of the season. We have fun trying to decipher his heavy South Boston accent. Jeff Foxworthy once said, "I'm from the South, and I don't even know if he's speaking English."
Ward Burton is a very competent driver, and we are happy to see him once again in a driver's suit. In my opinion, he should have never left. He is starting in the 35th position, Sunday, and has said he plans to finish in the top twenty, or better, if my auto-translator was working correctly. Welcome back, Ward, we missed you.