NASCAR Notebook: New Hampshire
Barry F. Hess
July 14, 2006
Loud in Loudon
The last time the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series stopped at the New Hampshire Speedway for a weekend drive it ended with NASCAR officials warning every team to cool the aggressive driving or someone was going to miss the next race.
With just seven races until the Chase field is set don’t expect anything different this time around.
There haven’t been many bright spots for Ryan Newman and the No. 12 All-tell Dodge team this season but after creating a few sparks over the last few weeks Newman believes a trip to New Hampshire is just what the doctor ordered to revamp his disappointing year.
After taking the checkered flag at the fall race last season look for Newman, who has yet to win a pole in 2006, to challenge for the pole and keep his Charger in clean air all afternoon.
Currently in the 18th position and 304 points out of 10th place it will be a long shot for Newman to make the Chase but a strong run in Loudon combined with someone else’s misfortune and you never know what could happen.
Another former Loudon winner, Tony Stewart, will be looking to edge closer to the number one position in the point standings as well.
Stewart, who drove his way from the back of the field to a solid third place position before running out of gas and eventually finishing 32nd last weekend, will look to make it back-to-back wins in New Hampshire when he and the No. 20 Home Depot team set up shop.
Stewart, currently seventh in points, has gotten close to the top points position on numerous occasions this year but has suffered minor set backs along the way.
Currently 377 points from Jimmie Johnson look for Stewart to drive aggressive all afternoon and attempt to get closer to the point lead he has not held since winning the championship at Miami-Homestead last November.
For the first time all season Kasey Kahne left an intermediate race track a very disappointed driver.
After bringing a car that already has four wins to its credit Kahne and the No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge team missed the set-up big time.
Look for Kahne, currently fifth in points, to rebound at New Hampshire as he has proven he is capable of doing this season.
With a legitimate shot at winning a championship this season a strong outing this weekend could lock Kahne into a Chase position for the first time in his young and very promising career.
It has been and up and down year for Greg Biffle and the No. 16 National Guard Ford team. After starting the season in a slump Biffle fought his way up to ninth in the points before another spout of bad luck has him in the 11th position heading into New Hampshire.
Look for Biffle to rebound once again this week and contend for the win.
Last year’s runner up to the championship finished inside the top five at both New Hampshire races one year ago and will look to do the same this year as he continues to battle for a place inside the Chase.
Look for Biffle to qualify well and drive a car that needs few adjustments in the long run as he and crew chief Doug Richert tend to hit the set-up just right when their backs are up against the wall.
With little time remaining before the playoffs begin Biffle has little room for error, one more poor outing and he may kiss his shot at a title good bye.
Prediction: Matt Kenseth did it last year; Kurt Busch is desperately trying to do it this year.
Busch, currently in 13th position, has driven his way to five straight top 10 finishes as he and the No. 2 Miller Light Dodge continue to scratch and claw their way closer to a secure slot in the Chase.
This week in Loudon look for Busch to get even closer as he takes the checkered flag for the second time in 2006.
The entire Miller Light team has been focused and determined over the last several races and Busch will look to repay all the hard work by getting at least one Penske car in the Chase this year.
After earning a second place finish in this race last year, a long drive in the hills of New England is just what the doctor ordered for a race team that has been just as dangerous on the track recently as the 12 drivers above him in points.
Chicagoland Fallout
Matt Kenseth knew it was going to happen.
Jeff Gordon tried lap after lap to make it happen.
Neither expected what really happened….or did they.
As Gordon drove by a spinning Kenseth and eventually into a raucous Victory Lane only he truly knew if the tap he put on Kenseth that sent him from Victory Lane and the points lead to a 22nd place finish in a heartbeat was intentional or not though Kenseth, who admitted after the race he was slower than Gordon and probably wouldn’t have been able to hold him off much longer, has his own ideas.
That wasn't an accident. He is not going to do it next week or the week after. He will wait. So I know it was intentional, but that is ok,” said Kenseth referring to a revenge theory after Gordon was sent spinning out of the lead in Bristol earlier this year because of a Kenseth tap. “Part of it is my fault, we got slow. In two laps he could have passed me clean but instead he just dumped me.”
Still, Gordon adamantly denied the payback notions.
He should have expected if I could get to his bumper, there was going to be some action,” said Gordon. “One, because of what happened in Bristol, and I'm not saying I just was going to wreck him but you better believe I was going to make life difficult on him, and then number two, just because we're hungry right now.”
Whatever the reason for the contact NASCAR officials deemed no rules were broken in the process and did not hand out any penalties following Gordon’s second win in three races, a decision that was most likely the best one to make.
A slower car in front of a faster car and passing traffic in the closing laps of a race, it happens a lot," said NASCAR president Mike Helton after the race. “If we had seen anything there for us to react to, we would have reacted to it already.”
In the long run the only damage done was to the back of Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford Fusion.
He came into Chicagoland second in points and left in the same position while Gordon found his way back into the top 10 once again.
While tempers were high in Chicagoland don’t expect a feud between the two past champions to brew from this, in fact, as teams traveled to Indianapolis this week for a test session Gordon was already looking for Kenseth to apologize.
I'd certainly like to see him before I leave here,” Gordon said on Thursday. “I was hoping just to see him here because I figured we'd all be here. I definitely stepped up the aggressiveness a notch and obviously I got him and spun him. I didn't mean to spin him though and I just wanted to rely that to him.”
Yates Savior Has Arrived
Just when Robert Yates thought the 2006 season couldn’t get any worse Dale Jarrett announced last weekend that he was bringing the UPS sponsorship with him to Michael Waltrip Racing next season.
That leaves Yates with no driver or sponsor for the No. 88 Ford and no hope for the future of a once championship caliber race team.
But wait just a second.
In another development late last week the father of IRL driver Danica Patrick has stated he is trying to get his young daughter into the ranks of the NASCAR circuit.
Mrs. Patrick, meet Mr. Yates.
Can Patrick make the adjustment from open-wheel racing to the long and strenuous NASCAR scene?
Would she be accepted by current drivers as the only women in the series?
Can she make an immediate difference on the race track?
To be quite honest the answers to those questions hardly even matter.
The publicity Yates Racing would receive by hiring Patrick to drive the No. 88 Ford would be out of this world and the buzz around the shop may be enough to rebound the entire company after its abysmal 2006 that has Jarrett in 24th place and teammate Elliot Sadler in 19th.
It would also end the sponsorship issue within a blink of an eye as companies would be lining up for miles to sponsor a car Patrick was driving.
In all reality, whether or not she wins right away is hardly a factor at all and in terms of a strictly business decision it’s a no-brainer.
Sure the 24-year old will eventually have to win some races or at least hold her own after a season or two but the grace period before which time certainly has more pros than cons.
The fact of the matter is a simple one, if Patrick, who finished a career high fourth at last year’s Indianapolis 500, wants to make the switch to NASCAR some team out there will sign her.
One team’s gain will be another’s loss and after having lost so much on and off the track this season if Yates Racing fails to jump at the opportunity to sign Patrick they deserve whatever misfortune that falls upon them in upcoming years.
Random Thoughts
What will happen first: Jeff Gordon winning another Nextel Cup Championship or that smoking hot fiancé of his filing for divorce and taking all his money?
Elliot Sadler has come out and said he has no plans of leaving the slumping Yates Racing…umm Elliot, you aren’t fooling anyone you have no plans of leaving because Robert Yates won’t let you.
How great is the coverage on TNT? When will FOX take their heads out of the sand and start producing a quality product that can compete with that of TNT/NBC.
The last time the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series stopped at the New Hampshire Speedway for a weekend drive it ended with NASCAR officials warning every team to cool the aggressive driving or someone was going to miss the next race.
With just seven races until the Chase field is set don’t expect anything different this time around.
There haven’t been many bright spots for Ryan Newman and the No. 12 All-tell Dodge team this season but after creating a few sparks over the last few weeks Newman believes a trip to New Hampshire is just what the doctor ordered to revamp his disappointing year.
After taking the checkered flag at the fall race last season look for Newman, who has yet to win a pole in 2006, to challenge for the pole and keep his Charger in clean air all afternoon.
Currently in the 18th position and 304 points out of 10th place it will be a long shot for Newman to make the Chase but a strong run in Loudon combined with someone else’s misfortune and you never know what could happen.
Another former Loudon winner, Tony Stewart, will be looking to edge closer to the number one position in the point standings as well.
Stewart, who drove his way from the back of the field to a solid third place position before running out of gas and eventually finishing 32nd last weekend, will look to make it back-to-back wins in New Hampshire when he and the No. 20 Home Depot team set up shop.
Stewart, currently seventh in points, has gotten close to the top points position on numerous occasions this year but has suffered minor set backs along the way.
Currently 377 points from Jimmie Johnson look for Stewart to drive aggressive all afternoon and attempt to get closer to the point lead he has not held since winning the championship at Miami-Homestead last November.
For the first time all season Kasey Kahne left an intermediate race track a very disappointed driver.
After bringing a car that already has four wins to its credit Kahne and the No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge team missed the set-up big time.
Look for Kahne, currently fifth in points, to rebound at New Hampshire as he has proven he is capable of doing this season.
With a legitimate shot at winning a championship this season a strong outing this weekend could lock Kahne into a Chase position for the first time in his young and very promising career.
It has been and up and down year for Greg Biffle and the No. 16 National Guard Ford team. After starting the season in a slump Biffle fought his way up to ninth in the points before another spout of bad luck has him in the 11th position heading into New Hampshire.
Look for Biffle to rebound once again this week and contend for the win.
Last year’s runner up to the championship finished inside the top five at both New Hampshire races one year ago and will look to do the same this year as he continues to battle for a place inside the Chase.
Look for Biffle to qualify well and drive a car that needs few adjustments in the long run as he and crew chief Doug Richert tend to hit the set-up just right when their backs are up against the wall.
With little time remaining before the playoffs begin Biffle has little room for error, one more poor outing and he may kiss his shot at a title good bye.
Prediction: Matt Kenseth did it last year; Kurt Busch is desperately trying to do it this year.
Busch, currently in 13th position, has driven his way to five straight top 10 finishes as he and the No. 2 Miller Light Dodge continue to scratch and claw their way closer to a secure slot in the Chase.
This week in Loudon look for Busch to get even closer as he takes the checkered flag for the second time in 2006.
The entire Miller Light team has been focused and determined over the last several races and Busch will look to repay all the hard work by getting at least one Penske car in the Chase this year.
After earning a second place finish in this race last year, a long drive in the hills of New England is just what the doctor ordered for a race team that has been just as dangerous on the track recently as the 12 drivers above him in points.
Chicagoland Fallout
Matt Kenseth knew it was going to happen.
Jeff Gordon tried lap after lap to make it happen.
Neither expected what really happened….or did they.
As Gordon drove by a spinning Kenseth and eventually into a raucous Victory Lane only he truly knew if the tap he put on Kenseth that sent him from Victory Lane and the points lead to a 22nd place finish in a heartbeat was intentional or not though Kenseth, who admitted after the race he was slower than Gordon and probably wouldn’t have been able to hold him off much longer, has his own ideas.
That wasn't an accident. He is not going to do it next week or the week after. He will wait. So I know it was intentional, but that is ok,” said Kenseth referring to a revenge theory after Gordon was sent spinning out of the lead in Bristol earlier this year because of a Kenseth tap. “Part of it is my fault, we got slow. In two laps he could have passed me clean but instead he just dumped me.”
Still, Gordon adamantly denied the payback notions.
He should have expected if I could get to his bumper, there was going to be some action,” said Gordon. “One, because of what happened in Bristol, and I'm not saying I just was going to wreck him but you better believe I was going to make life difficult on him, and then number two, just because we're hungry right now.”
Whatever the reason for the contact NASCAR officials deemed no rules were broken in the process and did not hand out any penalties following Gordon’s second win in three races, a decision that was most likely the best one to make.
A slower car in front of a faster car and passing traffic in the closing laps of a race, it happens a lot," said NASCAR president Mike Helton after the race. “If we had seen anything there for us to react to, we would have reacted to it already.”
In the long run the only damage done was to the back of Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford Fusion.
He came into Chicagoland second in points and left in the same position while Gordon found his way back into the top 10 once again.
While tempers were high in Chicagoland don’t expect a feud between the two past champions to brew from this, in fact, as teams traveled to Indianapolis this week for a test session Gordon was already looking for Kenseth to apologize.
I'd certainly like to see him before I leave here,” Gordon said on Thursday. “I was hoping just to see him here because I figured we'd all be here. I definitely stepped up the aggressiveness a notch and obviously I got him and spun him. I didn't mean to spin him though and I just wanted to rely that to him.”
Yates Savior Has Arrived
Just when Robert Yates thought the 2006 season couldn’t get any worse Dale Jarrett announced last weekend that he was bringing the UPS sponsorship with him to Michael Waltrip Racing next season.
That leaves Yates with no driver or sponsor for the No. 88 Ford and no hope for the future of a once championship caliber race team.
But wait just a second.
In another development late last week the father of IRL driver Danica Patrick has stated he is trying to get his young daughter into the ranks of the NASCAR circuit.
Mrs. Patrick, meet Mr. Yates.
Can Patrick make the adjustment from open-wheel racing to the long and strenuous NASCAR scene?
Would she be accepted by current drivers as the only women in the series?
Can she make an immediate difference on the race track?
To be quite honest the answers to those questions hardly even matter.
The publicity Yates Racing would receive by hiring Patrick to drive the No. 88 Ford would be out of this world and the buzz around the shop may be enough to rebound the entire company after its abysmal 2006 that has Jarrett in 24th place and teammate Elliot Sadler in 19th.
It would also end the sponsorship issue within a blink of an eye as companies would be lining up for miles to sponsor a car Patrick was driving.
In all reality, whether or not she wins right away is hardly a factor at all and in terms of a strictly business decision it’s a no-brainer.
Sure the 24-year old will eventually have to win some races or at least hold her own after a season or two but the grace period before which time certainly has more pros than cons.
The fact of the matter is a simple one, if Patrick, who finished a career high fourth at last year’s Indianapolis 500, wants to make the switch to NASCAR some team out there will sign her.
One team’s gain will be another’s loss and after having lost so much on and off the track this season if Yates Racing fails to jump at the opportunity to sign Patrick they deserve whatever misfortune that falls upon them in upcoming years.
Random Thoughts
What will happen first: Jeff Gordon winning another Nextel Cup Championship or that smoking hot fiancé of his filing for divorce and taking all his money?
Elliot Sadler has come out and said he has no plans of leaving the slumping Yates Racing…umm Elliot, you aren’t fooling anyone you have no plans of leaving because Robert Yates won’t let you.
How great is the coverage on TNT? When will FOX take their heads out of the sand and start producing a quality product that can compete with that of TNT/NBC.
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