It finally happened!

After the lackluster Samsung 500, the semi-short track/semi-speedway Subway Fresh 500 was a much needed blast of excitement in Sprint Cup racing. We knew it was going to take some time for the teams to get a handle on the Sprint Cup car this season, and the level of the racing has been inconsistant as the teams have worked on the car. But Phoenix is a different story, as the teams have tested there extensively, have had some previous experience racing the new car there, and thus have extensive notes concerning the behavior of the car at PIR.
And it paid off for both the teams and the fans. We were treated to some excellent racing throughout the field and throughout the race. The race begain with several teams that seemed capable of winning, and the action was as hot as the track itself right from the start. Ryan Newman wanted to make sure he got his bonus points, and held off the competition from Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards for a few laps before dropping back. The lead was never, at any point in the race, given up easily, so the racing was always hard and admirably clean, no matter who the leader was.
Highlights and pitfalls included Carl Edwards taking a penalty in the first half of the race that put him down a lap. He recovered from that, finishing in fourth place. Elliott Sadler, who started the race from the front row, fell back early in the race, but regained postition as high as fourth place as night fell, only to have to retire from the race due to engine failure. Another driver from Dodge, polesitter Ryan Newman, also saw his hopes for a good finish disappear with catastrophic mechanical failure. Mark Martin definitely had the car to beat, but his team, like most of the other race leaders, found it necessary to refuel before the end of the race. The "what if" story here is that if Martin had pitted just a few laps earlier, he more than likely could have made his way back to the front in time to take the checkers. His car was the class of the field, and he even claimed, post race, that he thought he had had enough fuel to make it to the end before the final pit stop. "Coulda, woulda, shoulda," as the saying goes.
Mstt Kenseth seems to be using up all his bad luck early in the season. Once again, he had many problems attributed to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a cut tire pretty much put him out of the running early on in the race. Kenseth is one of the top drivers in the series, so we know his luck is going to get better. The question is, "When?"
So the big story is the gamble that paid off. Chad Knaus decided to keep the #48 car on the track during the final fifteen laps of the race, even after a lengthy green flag run, a strategy that won the race. With the other cars pitting and the closest to the lead, after the pit stops--being the #07 Chevy of Clint Bowyer--nearly ten seconds behind, Johnson had plenty of room to lay off the throttle and conserve fuel. He reportedly ran out of fuel on the backstretch of the final lap, and finished the race a little over eight seconds ahead of Bowyer. Now that's drama!
Oh, by the way, Hendrick Motorsports is back. Who didn't see that coming?

Ya Gotta Love...

...Junior Nation! In general terms, their loyalty for their driver goes beyond mere fan loyalty. It is what they know to be the truth! Jr is in fourth place in the standings after seven races, so it must be the crew chief's fault. The #88 team is brand new, and has outperformed all the other Hendrick Motorsports teams, but that isn't good enough. Tony Eury, Jr. is letting Junior Nation down. Why not give Jr Alan Gustafsen as a crew chief? Sure, Gustafsen is sitting in 26th place in points, with struggling driver Casey Mears, but he has to be better for Dale Junior's interests because he is not related to Junior, and he never worked for DEI.
If you don't understand that logic, don't worry. You are not part of Junior Nation, and you are not expected to understand it. You don't even need to understand it. That's another thing I love about Junior Nation. They don't try to push their driver on you if you are the fan of another driver. They have a great sense of humor, and their logic is kept secret from outsiders. God Bless them!
I recently posted a satirical piece, and the only people who commented on it were Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fans. They generally liked it. To be honest, they saw it in a completely different light than in which it was intended, but that is just a sign of good satire--it can be seen in many different ways, and can be funny to different people for different reasons. To my friends, and I mean that sincerely, thank you for your comments, and for letting me see the joke in a different way.
Ya gotta love night racing. The drivers do, but the crew chiefs often don't. The changing conditions create unique situations for both the driver and the crew chief, and the challenge to both is different. The driver is expected to adjust his driving to the changing conditions, but the crew chief is responsible for making sure that the driver has a car in which he can adjust to the changes. This is even more pronounced in the new car. But that doesn't really matter to the fans, as long as it is fun to watch.
And you have to love night racing at Phoenix. The track layout is crazy--there is nothing remotely like it anywhere on the Sprint Cup circuit.
It is the first Saturday night race of the season, which also gets us excited as fans, and that excitement is enhanced by the atmosphere of a venue at which the entire community gets enthusiastically involved.
While we're on the subject of Phoenix and the community around it, we gotta love Jaynelle Ramon, the enthusiastic NASCAR blogger with journalistic credentials for the Arizona Daily Star, who is blogging from the track this weekend. She makes no secret of the fact that she is a diehard Jeff Gordon fan, but since the beginning of the season, she has become a semi-official Ryan Newman reporter. Fun, and awesome. Congratulations, Jaynelle.
Back to the track, we will probably see better racing Saturday night than we did at TMS last weekend. That is mostly because the camera angles will be better because it is a smaller track. But short track racing, which is what a race on a one mile or shorter track is considered, is almost always better than intermediate-class track racing anyway. At Phoenix, there are as many lines to follow as there are drivers, which always makes for an interesting race. In addition, unlike, TMS, this is not the first race for the new car at Phoenix, and there has been testing earlier this year. If Goodyear brought the same tire to the race as was used in testing, the teams should be better prepared for this race than they have been for any other race so far this season.
If Dale Earnhardt, Jr isn't saving his first win with HMS for Talladega, let's hope he lets his cousin Tony Eury, Jr off the hook by not only winning this one, but by gaining first place in the points. Are you with me, Junior Nation?

Not playing nice

After watching the Craftsman Truck Series race at Phoenix last night, I realized that the Cup guys will not race like that. The CTS is unique among the major leagues of NASCAR in that these guys do not worry about how many points their team mate has.
Johnny Benson, who was in sixth place in the points, going into the race, and his team mate, points leader Mike Skinner, presented an excellent scenario emphasizing this point. At the end of the race, restarted with seven laps to go after a debris caution, there were several battles going on around the track. Kyle Busch was holding off Mike Bliss, who was doing some incredibly hard racing with Ron Hornaday without displaying his knack for poor sportsmanship, while back in the field Skinner and Benson were running seventh and eighth, respectively. Shortly after the very aggressive Hornaday passed and cleared the very aggressive Mike Bliss, Benson made the unbelievable move of passing his team mate. "What the h---," Skinner probably thought, My team mate is stealing four points from me!?!"
My thought is, why not? Because Kyle Busch was kind enough not to play favorites, and won the race himself, Hornaday would not get the winner's bonus points and Skinner would maintain his 29 point lead. What difference would four points make? Benson could find better use for them, those four points would move him up a notch in the points standings. This is CTS racing, boys, and it's every man for himself. There are, as Skinner lamented post-race, no team mates when every driver is out to get what he needs.

“I guess we’re not a team,” Skinner said. “I’m not in too good of mood right now. It’s better than being 29 points behind.
“We’re just one team, the No. 5 team. I don’t know how many teams we’re going to have to race against in Homestead.”

The CTS is the closest of the major leagues of NASCAR to the Saturday night circle burners that are still a passion of mine. All that was needed was a bar across the street from the track, where a spirited fist fight between the two "team mates" would have taken place.
Now, for Sunday, I was going to pick Jeff Gordon to win. His experience and history at Phoenix provide him what he needs to overcome Chad Knaus' genius. But then I saw this headline at That's Racin'.com:

Hendrick aiming for 1-2-3 sweep of season standings
By JENNA FRYER - The Associated Press
AVONDALE, Ariz. – With 17 wins by its four drivers, Hendrick Motorsports has clearly been the most dominant team in NASCAR this season.
Now, if Kyle Busch can close the year with two strong runs, he could give the organization a clean sweep of the Nextel Cup standings.

Now, because HMS teams do follow team orders--witness how two weeks in a row, Kyle dutifully followed the advice passed to him by both his crew chief and his boss, not to race Jimmie or Jeff, even though he couldn't be fired because he already has been--this means that Kyle Busch has to win at Phoenix. And, because he is 158 points ahead of Busch, Clint Bowyer has to have problems, which could happen, but not likely with the way his Chase has been going. But, without making any accusations, which I sincerely feel would be unwarrented, Hendrick Motorsports seems to get what it wants during the Chase, and it would be no surprise if Kyle Busch were to win at PIR, while Jimmie and Jeff stay far enough back to keep Bowyer from gaining much ground, if any, on Kyle.
And this plan leaves little room for my favorite driver.

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday!!!

Of all the tracks on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit, my favorite tends to be the one on which they are racing. But, I must admit, I really like the one mile tracks. Every one of them is unique in obvious ways.
Take, for instance, Phoenix International Raceway, which is shaped like Lowe's Motor Speedway, but is one-half mile shorter. half mile makes a big difference in the type of racing we see, as the turns are tighter and the straightaways are shorter. Phoenix is big enough to accommodate forty-three cars, yet small enough to keep the fastest cars from getting strung out.
What really gets me excited about the Phoenix race is that it is Saturday Night Racing! Those of us who grew up watching stock car races, Saturday night is the proper time to race stock cars.
The Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fans have plenty to be excited about Saturday's race--it is one of his favorite tracks, and his record there proves it, with two wins to his credit.
No doubt that Mark Martin will, in his first COT (retrocar) race, get a top ten. The way things are going for him--especially his driving while just having some fun--it is unimaginable that Phoenix will stop his streak of top five finishes.
One of the drivers who is claimed to be an Alien by The Church of the Great Oval, Kurt Busch, not only seems to be assimilating into Earthling society, but he also looks good for Phoenix, where Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is known to be tough on Aliens has made him an honorary Deputy Sheriff.
This race could be a turn around for Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne, a breakthrough for Scott Riggs, and a continuation of the potentially exciting Johnny Paul/Smoke Stewart feud. It should noted that another driver likely to enter that fray, The “Jeff” Gordon, holds the pole, and though that starting position has yet to win a race at Phoenix, The Gordon has the best finishing average of all active drivers at Phoenix.
No matter who wins, Saturday night's race will be a good one, as will be tonight's NASCAR Busch Series race. That race, as are all Busch Series races, will be run in what is still the standard NASCAR machine. Carl Edwards is already in the process of running away with the NBS championship, and there is no doubt that the race is on at Phoenix to beat him.
I should note here that One Bad Wheel has an excellent site for stats, drivers, teams, tracks, and races, and is very easy to navigate and read to find the information you may want to find. Still, it hasn’t improved my accuracy, since I still tend to write off the top of my head no matter what stats I see. But, for those who do appreciate states, One Bad Wheel is highly recommended.