“Smoke” takes Daytona and Allmendinger Takes Drugs??

By Sherri Breaton

 Tony Stewart picked up his 47^th win in 482 starts following a wild night at the Coca Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway July 8, 2012. It was his fourth Sprint Cup victory at the track yet the “big prize” – the Daytona 500 has continued to elude him.

Crew chief Steve Addington gets ready to soak Tony Stewart
with champagne in Victory Lane
Photo courtesy of NASCAR.com



"I don't know, but I'll trade 'em all in for just one Daytona 500," Stewart said of his four summertime wins. "This is 18 wins at Daytona -- we just haven't got the right one yet. But all of 'em are special, and it's cool to do this."

As per usual in Daytona, just as Tony was crossing the finish line, total mayhem was occurring in his rear view mirror. A previous wreck caused by Denny Hamlin had already taken out quite a few in the field. Two out of three of Michael Waltrip’s cars were out, as was all of Joe Gibbs’ Racing Team. On the restart, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle were side by side by and somehow Tony Stewart side-drafted the two of them and pulled ahead for the victory.

Carnage outside of Turn 4
Photo courtesy of NASCAR.com

Jeff Burton came second followed by Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Stewart’s team mate Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Brad Kesolowski, Michael Waltrip and one of my favourite drivers, Bobby Labonte rounded out the top ten.

On a side note, Joey Logano’s Nationwide car failed inspection following the Subway Jalapeno 250 Friday night. Penalties are expected to be levied on Tuesday.

I am not really a fan of watching restrictor plate racing on TV. Having not yet experienced it in person at a track, I can’t speak to what it’s like to watch live. If you are not normally a NASCAR viewer and/or are one of those people with the skewed ideal that “all they do is drive around in a circle”, you should probably not watch restrictor plate tracks. Yes it is exciting to see the cars quite literally stuck to each other’s bumpers at ridiculously high speeds, but unless there is a wreck, that’s all you are going to see.

Can you just scootch over a bit please?
Photo courtesy of NASCAR.com

The sideshow of the Allmendinger drama made for some interesting moments off and on track. A.J. Allmendinger, the driver of the #22 car for Penske, had been informed only two and a half hours prior to the green flag start that he failed his random drug test performed last week in Kentucky.

NASCAR announced that he was temporarily suspended for failing to pass his “A” sample which included a banned substance. Allmendinger as the option to ask for his “B” sample to be tested within 24 hours.

If his “B” sample comes back positive, he will be indefinitely suspended and will not be allowed to drive until he completes a recovery program prescribed by NASCAR. He would be evaluated by a substance abuse professional and subsequently be required to enter a rehabilitation program would be tailored specifically for him. He is only the second Sprint Cup driver to be suspended since NASCAR began random testing in 2009.  Jeremy Mayfield shared the honour in 2009.

Sam Hornish Jr., literally turned into a superhero and bolted into action to take over driving duties for Penske. Kenny Wallace was on standby (poor guy was on standby for Kevin Harvick too in case his wife Delana went into labour...sigh..I love Kenny!), just in case Hornish could not get to the track in time. He was literally doing a live, in-studio race interview for Speed in Charlotte, NC when his phone went off in his pocket. He ignored the call but checked soon after the taping and sprung into action.

Penske arranged for him to hop a flight to Daytona and once he landed there was a caravan of police cars waiting to escort him to the track. "It's kind of a weird thing when you land in an airplane and you see cop lights that are out there for you," he said.

Sam Hornish Jr. gets a quick pre-race talking to with
fellow Penske driver Brad Kesolowski
Photo courtesy of NASCAR.com

He arrived at 7:30 pm just as the invocation had begun. I swear Robin Meade (yes THAT Robin Meade from the CNN Morning Express show! Who knew she could sing??), really milked that national anthem to give them time to get Hornish into the car! He managed a 33^rd place finish for Penske.

It should be noted that NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations Steve O’Donnell, who announced the suspension but did not field any questions and did not elaborate on what drug was found in Allmendinger’s system. It could be something as simple as an over the counter medication or something as severe as a narcotic. We will have to wait and see what unfolds.

Next week we head over to Louden in New Hampshire for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301.

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Brad Keselowski Gets By With a Little Help From a Friend

By Sherri Breaton

Brad Kesolowski wins the 2012 Aaron's 400
at Talladega Super Speedway
Photo courtesy of Nascar.com

Everybody knows that the guy usually running second at Talladega Super Speedway normally wins. It’s rare for the leader on the last lap to take the checkered flag. However, Brad Keselowski once again proved that he is an unpredictable force to be reckoned with at the Aaron’s 400 yesterday. He could not have envisioned that ending any better had he not already had a dream about it. Hmmmmm calling Brad on the psychic hotline tomorrow.....

"I had this whole plan if I ever got in that situation where I was leading; I thought about it and thought about it, dreamed about what to do, and sure enough, going into (turn) three, it was just me and Kyle," Keselowski said. "I knew the move I wanted to pull. It worked because the guy running second should have the advantage, but I had this move all worked up in my mind."

The Super Speedway at Talladega
Photo courtesy of Nascar.com

 That little move gave him his second career win at Talladega as well as his second win of the 2012 Cup race season. Had it not been for the unlikely drafting partner of Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth was set to win. Kyle gave a huge push to Keselowski enabling the victory and leaving the Daytona 500 winner to watch from behind. Following the race Busch had nothing but praise for the winner’s driving ability.

"He's no dummy, that's for sure," said Busch, for the second time in as many days ended up the ugly stepsister. Kyle was the leader on the last lap of Saturday's Nationwide Series race, and was schooled by the kid Logano, who beat him to the finish line.

Matt Kenseth was more involved in his self imposed pity party after literally handing the win to Keselowski.

"I think we had the winning car, really just didn't have the winning driver," Kenseth said and continued, "I wasn't too fast. I was just too stupid I guess at the end to keep a win." Poor guy.

Kasey Kahne finished fourth and was followed by Biffle, Clint Bowyer and David Ragan. Trevor Bayne was eighth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ninth and Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10.

I am really starting to think this cloud of “200^th win” is hanging heavy over the Hendrick’s teams. Not that two top ten finishers is anything to scoff at but I just wish ONE of them would get Mr. Hendrick the win and get on with it.  The other two Hendrick drivers had a dismal weekend once again. Jeff Gordon got caught up on a wreck and Jimmie Johnson had engine failure this week.

Bump drafting at its finest
Photo courtesy of Tyler Barrick Getty Images 

Bump drafting and tandem racing is always nerve racking to watch. To see these drivers practically hooked onto each others bumpers in a chain like a locomotive going around the track at speeds up to 200 MPH is restrictor plate mayhem at it’s finest.

For those fans who love to see them wreck the Aaron’s 400 ended a three race drought of multi- car wrecks. The last multi-car wreck was in Martinsville when Clint Bowyer took out Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in the final ten laps. For the record I am not one of them. It is potentially life threatening for any one of these drivers involved in a wreck as witnessed in Saturday’s Nationwide race. Fans watched in horror as driver Eric McClure was airlifted unresponsive to a local hospital for treatment following a hard hit to the “soft wall” that sent the wall flying back three feet. He has since been listed in stable condition.

With 45 laps to go Aric Almirola ran out of gas and the cars following close behind were not able to clear in time. The chain-reaction crash involved Jeff Gordon, Carlo Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, J.P. Montoya, Terry Labonte, Landon Cassill and Dave Blaney. This was only the first of four multi-car wrecks in the final laps, including another nine-car crash that involved Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Logano (Again), Paul Menard, Michael Waltrip, A.J. Allmendinger, Robert Richardson Jr. and Denny Hamelin. 


You have to hand it to defending champion Tony Stewart for his commentary on the recently clean races and those fans who crave “more action”. Tony had this to say following the race.

"Honestly, I think if we haven't crashed at least 50 percent of the field by the end of the race, we need to extend the race until we crash at least 50 percent of the cars. It's not fair to these fans to see any more wrecks than that, any more torn-up cars. I mean, we still had over half the cars running at the end, and it shouldn't be that way. I'm upset that we didn't crash more cars. That's what we're here for. I feel bad if I don't spend at least $150,000 in torn-up race cars going back to the shop. We've definitely got to do a better job at that." He finished 24^th following a wreck.

Ouch!
Photo courtesy of Getty Images 

Love him or hate him, there is no “grey area” with Tony. Mr. Stewart, please do not ever change.

Greg Biffle still sits on top of the overall leader board followed by Matt Kenseth and OH WOW Dale Earnhardt Jr. in third place!


Next week we are onto Darlington for a Mother’s Day showdown.

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