The winless streaks by drivers such as Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick have ranked amongst some of the biggest stories so far this season. They came into this week’s race at Watkins Glen as some of the odds-on-favorite to win, but alas, Kyle Busch shut the door on those plans yet again. This week’s “List of the Week” will feature the 10 longest winless droughts amongst the drivers inside the top-20 in points.

10. Matt Kenseth - 22 races - Last Win: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Fall 2007
9. Jeff Gordon - 27 races - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Fall 2007
8. Greg Biffle - 29 races - Kansas Speedway, Fall 2007
7. Tony Stewart - 36 races - Watkins Glen International, Summer 2007
6. Jamie McMurray - 40 races - Daytona International Speedway, Summer 2007

5. Martin Truex Jr. - 45 races - Dover International Speedway, Spring 2007
4. Kevin Harvick - 57 races - Daytona International Speedway, Spring 2007
3. David Ragan - 60 races - No NSCS wins
2. Brian Vickers - 68 races - Talladega Superspeedway, Fall 2006
1. Elliott Sadler - 141 races - Auto Club Speedway, Fall 2004

Welcome everyone to yet another rendition of your favorite weekend blogging series.  I’m joined here by Bruce Simmons from Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces, and the infamous Charlie Turner from On Pit Row for our weekly rendition of “Loose in Turn Three”.

This week here at Do You NASCAR, we’re going to determine what effect - if any - the big penalties handed out by NASCAR to Haas CNC Racing will have on Tony Stewart’s future in the sport. Over at the Bits & Pieces, with Pocono now in the rearview mirror (temporarily), we talk about whether it’s time for them to repave the track, and On Pit Row, Charlie poses an interesting potential solution to reviving some of the races at the “less popular” tracks.

So, sit back and buckle up tight. Three questions, three voices, and three different answer … we’re about to get Loose in Turn Three!

Assuming that he was seriously contemplating the move, do the recent penalties awarded to Haas CNC Racing deter Tony Stewart from pursuing future ownership with that organization?

TZ: I really think it does. Granted, Stewart’s highly regarded as a guy that can drive the wheels off virtually anything, but we’re seeing a trend in NASCAR where drivers’ careers seem to be tapering off at an earlier age than they had in the past. With Joe Gibbs Racing - or really any top-tier team - Stewart can still contend for championships, but it would be a real challenge for him to find a high level of success with any below average team, just as it would be difficult for any driver. He can find ownership otpions with a number of organizations, so with the financial blow that the team’s just been dealt with - not to mention a tarnished image - I just don’t see this as an appealing offer for Smoke anymore.

Bruce:  I don’t think a little thing as a fine / penalty would deter anyone if they were serious about a perspective team.  A plan is a plan, regardless.  As far as a tarnished image, any press is good press, so it would be a turn-around fairy tale story if Tony went there.  It would be an incredible “human-adversity” story the media would eat up.  Would he really go there?  Probably not.  It’s not an impossibility.  Look at when Mark Martin went to the 01 car.  It was a total surprise that they put him up at the front more than anyone ever expected.  But I can’t see him going to Haas.  He’s said in the past that he’s going to finish out his career at Gibbs.  Now we’ll see if that was just company talk or real loyalty.

Charlie:  If none of those Haas cars are in the top thirty five in owner’s points at season’s end - and with the penalties, they probably won’t be - then the Haas CNC team is worth much less than it was when both cars were top thirty five. That might be a key reason for Stewart to put on the brakes in a purchase bid. The fact that the Haas team tried to push the rules won’t - in itself - be a negative. That’s the job of the crew chief - get an edge where ever you can. The owner’s concerns are not necessarily the same. You need some cars in the top thirty five.

Follow the rest of this discussion:
- If NASCAR retains two races at the facility, (And I don’t see why they won’t) do you think the track management should at least repave the track or is there something they can do to change up the action?

- Would requiring race tracks that host multiple races, to have different race lengths for each race resolve the complaints of those who want to take races away from the Poconos and Californias?

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Image details: Dodge Challenger 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

A few weeks ago following the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond, things were beginning to look a little grim for car owner, Jack Roush. Ten races into the season, and only two of his five drivers were sitting inside the top-12 in points, though at the time both Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards were less than 120 points away from a potential slip to 13th in the standings. David Ragan was in 14th, Matt Kenseth in 22nd, and Jamie McMurray a very distant 26th. What’s happened since then? Well, things have gotten better to say the least. Biffle and Edwards have solidified their stance inside the Chase field; Ragan and Kenseth still have a good fighting chance to crack the top-12; and Jamie McMurray has evaded the danger zone of falling outside of the top-35 in owners points, and now sits in 22nd.

Matt Kenseth has seen perhaps the most drastic improvement. After scoring only four top-ten finishes through the first ten races of the season, Kenseth has answered back by firing off three consecutive finishes of 7th or better at Darlington, Charlotte, and most recently, Dover, where he earned his first top-five since Fontana two weeks into the season. While Matt still lags back in 16th in the points standings, he’s closed the points gap significantly and now trails 12th place Kasey Kahne by a mere 95 points.

Trailing the points leaders at this point in the season is by no means new territory for the man affectionately referred to as “Weasel”. In 2005 - two years after winning the Cup Championship - Kenseth sat 22nd in points after the first thirteen races. At that time, the Chase field consisted of only the top-ten drivers, and Matt trailed 10th place by a distant 278 points. He would not be denied, however, as he rattled off 9 top-ten finishes throughout the next 13 races and entered the Chase for the Cup 8th in points. He finished the year in 7th, but many Kenseth fans still tout that season as a victory nonetheless.

Since entering the Cup Series full-time in 2000, Kenseth has finished outside of the top-12 in points only during his first two seasons. Since then, he has finished no worse than 8th in the standings, and won the championship for Roush in 2003 - as well as finishing runner-up for the title to Jimmie Johnson in ‘06.

Up until this year, Kenseth had known only one crew chief - Robby Reiser - who had been with Matt during his entire NASCAR career. Robbie has since been promoted within the Roush organization, and Matt found himself struggling with his new Crew Chief, Chip Bolin. Things appear to be coming together at this point, though, and Kenseth could very well be on his way to keeping his Chase streak alive.

Kenseth has long been known as the type of driver that can turn a bad situation into a good one without anyone ever seeing it coming, and that’s exactly what we could be looking at from the no. 17 team this season. Since 2005, in races number 14 through 26 on the schedule (39 races in all over the past 3 years), Kenseth has tallied 3 wins, 13 top-five’s, and 23 top-ten’s, and has a 12.15 average finish over the course of those races. If he can hold true to form, there should be plenty of time left for Kenseth to “weasel” his way back into Chase contention.

Image details: Coca-Cola 600 served by picapp.com

Utter heartbreak and sheer disappointment. That’s the best way to describe Kurt Busch’s career in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ever since younger brother, Kyle, joined the circuit full-time for Hendrick Motorsports back in 2005 … well, I guess you could throw subtle envy into that equation as well. Since then, it just seems as though the seasons have been getting longer and tougher for the 2004 Cup Series champ.

Okay, so maybe it has less to do with Kyle and more to do with Kurt’s jump from Roush-Fenway Racing over to Penske Racing, but the numbers don’t lie, and the numbers indicate to us that there’s something amiss with the no. 2 Miller Lite Dodge team these days. In his first four full seasons of racing in NASCAR’s premier series, Kurt tallied a total of 11 wins, 34 top-five’s, and 61 top-ten’s and won Jack Roush’s second consecutive Cup for him. Since the beginning of 2005, however, those numbers have taken a severe hit, as he’s put together only 6 more wins, 23 top-five’s, and 45 top-ten’s, with his best points finish in that span coming during his 8th place run last year after having to put together a late-season rally just to make the cut for the Chase field.

To add a little salt to the wound, since Kyle’s emergence onto the Cup scene, he’s beaten big bro in every major statistical category with the exception of pole awards - only due to the 6 poles that Kurt won in his 2006 campaign - and, Kyle appears to be in major contention to win the title this year while Kurt lags back in 21st place in the points standings.

After finding some success with the addition of Pat Tryson as his crew chief late in the ‘07 season - a move that many people feel salvaged the year for the team - many people expected a big year from Kurt this season, but that hasn’t been the case by any means. He was able to finish runner-up to teammate, Ryan Newman, at the Daytona 500 and received many kudos from around the racing nation for the big push that he gave Ryan at the end of the race to push him across the finish line and secure the first restrictor plate win for car owner, Roger Penske.

Since then it’s been downhill, though. He went onto score top-15 finishes at Atlanta, Fontana, and Bristol, but finished outside of the top-20 in the five events that followed, as Kurt plummeted down the points standings. They put together a decent run at Darlington, where they finished 12th, and then they got the car out front last weekend in Charlotte and appeared to be the class of the field through the early portions of the race before that heartbreak and disappointment kicked back in.

After leading 64 laps in the race, Kurt was running second behind race leader, Brian Vickers, on lap 161 when a blown right tire sent him flying into the wall and ended his bid for the win. He was able to get his car back out on the track without losing any laps, but the damage was severe enough to halter any progress he attempted to make towards the front, and ultimately settled for a 16th place finish.

Now, with only 14 races remaining before NASCAR sets their Chase field with the top-12 drivers, Kurt finds himself all the way down in 21st - 668 points back from his brother and current points leader, Kyle Busch, and 262 points separating he and 12th place, Kasey Kahne. This is the furthest back in points that Kurt has ever been at this point in the season. The good news for Kurt Busch fans, though, is that his average finish in races 13 through 26 last year was 13.07 and consisted of 2 wins and 7 top-ten finishes.

NASCAR’s Worst Tracks:
5. Pocono Raceway
4. New Hampshire International Raceway
3. Auto Club Speedway
2. Michigan International Speedway
1. Texas Motor Speedway

NASCAR’s Best Tracks:
5. Richmond International Raceway
4. Daytona International Speedway
3. Lowe’s Motor Speedway
2. Chicagoland Speedway
1. Bristol Motor Speedway

Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 served by picapp.com

Sprint Cup Series driver, Ryan Newman, started the 2008 season off in grand fashion by winning the race of all races, the Daytona 500. Things couldn’t be better for Newman at the time. He was leading the Sprint Cup standings for the first time in his career, he’d bolstered the public perception of how well he and teammate, Kurt Busch, could work together after Busch gave him that huge push to win the race, and he’d forever solidified his name in the walls of Penske Racing by giving Roger his first-ever restrictor plate win.

Newman followed up his big win with a 10th place run the following week in Fontana, CA during the Auto Club 500, but things started to turn south real quick after that for the driver that fans once highly regarded as “Flyin” Ryan. Following that race, Newman then embarked on a string of four consecutive races outside the top-ten, including a 33rd place finish at Bristol thanks to mechanical issues.

Things have since started to turn back around for Newman, though. He’s currently pieced together three top-ten finishes in his last four starts, and would probably have four straight if not for another engine failure at Phoenix that caused him to finish dead last. After once looking as though he might slip outside of the top-12 in points, he remains in 11th place with a 56 point cushion between he and 13th place Jeff Gordon, and after ten races, he has been within the Chase field for the entire season now. Looking forward, the immediate future is looking bright for Newman, as he boasts the fourth best driver rating at Darlington according to racingone.com, and has an overall average finish there of 5th place.

It should also be noted that this is a pivotal year in the career of Newman, for both he and Penske Racing. Newman’s contract is up following the 2008 season, and if he fails to resign by the end of the season, he could potentially leave his name out there as the hottest free agent on the market. In the two years prior to ‘08, Newman compiled zero wins and finished outside of the top-12 both years.

In Other News:
- Roush Racing is looking more and more like they will be heading into 2009 with the same driver lineup as they entered this season with, despite having two of their biggest contracts expire at the end of the season. Carl Edwards, who currently leads the Cup Series in victories this year, recently inked a deal with Roush that will keep him with the organization for another three years, reported to be worth approximately $6 million a year. Greg Biffle’s contract is also up after this season, but continues to report that he’s 99% confident that a return to Roush-Fenway Racing is eminent, and that he has not yet begun fielding offers from any other race teams.

- It was recently reported widely across the internet that Bobby LaBonte signed a deal over the weekend with his current team, Petty Enterprises, that will lock up the driver of the no. 43 Dodge with the organization for the remainder of his career. The news came after Richard Childress Racing announced the formation of a fourth race team next season and that they had already signed General Mills to be their sponsor in 2009, and speculation immediately ran rampant that LaBonte would later be announced as the team’s driver. In response to the news of him resigning with Petty, LaBonte told the media Saturday in Richmond prior to the race that, “Unless you’ve heard it from me, it’s probably not true.” To that, there is still no official word as to whether or not these rumors hold true.

Back on April 7th, Do You NASCAR asked its readers what track (if any) should NASCAR remove a race from in the Sprint Cup Series? We asked, and here’s how you answered:

A) Auto Club Speedway (California) – 46%
B) Michigan International Speedway – 17%
C) Texas Motor Speedway – 17%
D) None – 17%
E) New Hampshire International Speedway – 7%

2/23 – The negotiations between the IndyCar Series and the Champ Car Series have finally concluded with the two open wheel series merging and their first race just five weeks away. Read More.
2/23 – Kyle Busch won the San Bernardino 200 on Saturday making him the new points leader in the Craftsman Truck Series. Read More.
2/24 – Twenty-Seven year old Ashley Cooper, a V8 Touring Car driver died on Monday as a result of injuries sustained from his accident two days prior.  Read More .
2/25 – After a long extended weekend in California due to rain, Carl Edwards finally won the Auto Club 500 over Jimmie Johnson.  Kyle Busch finished fourth and took control of the Sprint Cup Series points lead.  Read More.
2/25 – Tony Stewart won the Nationwide Series’ Stater Bros 300 in Fontana, CA to maintain his points lead in the series. Read More.
2/26 – Auto Club Speedway president Gilliand Zucker is currently entertaining the idea of converting the 2-mile track in Fontana, CA into a restrictor-plate track. Read More.
2/27 – Jon Wood was originally expected to replace Bill Elliott in the no. 21 Woods Bros car this weekend at Las Vegas, but due to a lack of seat time, he will instead by replaced by Johnny Sauter. Read More.
2/27 – Adidas is reportedly negotiating with Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR to broaden its presence in the sport beyond their current partnership with Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Read More.

After a long, wet, and miserable weekend for racing fans at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA, fans filled the seats for 87 laps on Sunday – 27 of which were spent under caution and multiple red flags – only to be told in the early hours of the morning that competition would not resume again until the following afternoon.

The portion of the race that was run on Sunday was clearly dominated by the no. 24 car of Jeff Gordon, as he led the majority of the first 87 laps, despite the fact that his teammate Jimmie Johnson finished the segment at the front of the field. The day was filled with caution after caution, and many drivers felt that the mayhem on the track was to be credited not only to the fact that the drivers ran only 17 laps of practice prior to the race, but also to the notion that water was actually seeping through the track. The frustration was painted clearly on the face of Dale Earnhardt Jr after he was innocently taken out of the race by a spinning Casey Mears. In a post-wreck interview on FOX, Junior stated that NASCAR rushed the start of the race and that the track clearly wasn’t ready. The major concern in that pileup, however, had little to do with NASCAR’s most popular driver, but more so with Mears. After Mears hit Junior, he spun back up the track and was resting on the wall when rookie driver Sam Hornish Jr. blew into him, inverting Mears’ car and leaving it sitting on its roof.

When racing resumed on Monday afternoon, Johnson resumed as the race leader and dominated the majority of the second segment. When the field came out of its eleventh caution of the race on lap 225, it was Johnson still in command with Gordon, Jamie McMurray, and Carl Edwards following behind. McMurray – who had taken only two tires on the stop – was easily passed by Edwards, who then went onto take second from Gordon as well. With only 13 laps remaining on the books, Carl then took the lead from Johnson coming through turns one and two on lap 138. The defending NASCAR champion made a race of it, though, regaining the lead coming out of turn four, but Edwards reconquered the throne on the following lap and never looked back. With a sizeable lead to his advantage, the race ended when Dale Jarrett spun on the final lap of the race to bring out the twelfth and final caution. With the field frozen, Edwards crossed the line to bring home the checkered flag marking his eighth victory in the Sprint Cup Series.

Johnson maintained 2nd place, and Gordon was also able to hang onto 3rd despite blowing his engine on the last lap. Kyle Busch brought home a fourth place finish, which was enough to gain him the points lead for the first time in his career, and the defending race winner Matt Kenseth finished fifth. Ryan Newman lost the points lead despite finishing 10th, while Tony Stewart’s seventh place finish was enough to keep him in third in the standings.  Kurt Busch dropped to fourth in the points after a 13th place finish.

It’s also worth noting that Dale Jarrett led his first laps in the Sprint Cup Series since October of 2006 by staying out on the track while the field was under caution, and rookie Dario Franchitti led the first lap of his career by doing the same.

 Grades (on a 100 point scale):
The Race: 73%
The Drama: 84%
Coverage: 81%
Pre-Race Ceremonies: 62%

Overall Grade: 75.7%
*Note – the Race accounts for 50% of score; Coverage & Drama is 20% each; Pre-Race is 10%

 Results (from nascar.com):

2/20 – After failing to attain full-time sponsorship to run in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series for Bill Davis Racing, former F1 Series Champion Jacques Villeneuve has reportedly contacted former IndyCar team owner Barry Green. Green will work with Villeneuve to find the right sponsors so that he may continue his pursuit to find full-time in rides in either or both of the series.  Read More.

2/20 – Tony Stewart has worked out a deal with Old Spice that will give fans the opportunity to bid in public auction for the Old Spice towel Stewart wears into Victory Lane everytime he wins a race in either the Sprint Cup or Nationwide Series this year. The towel will, of course, be autographed and proceeds will go to the Tony Stewart Foundation.  Read More.

2/21 – The Petty family has recently announced the opening of a second Victory Junction Gang Camp, which will be located in Wyandotte County in Kansas.  Read More.

2/21 – DishNet has signed on for a second year with Roush Racing in 2008 and will serve as the primary sponsor in 15 Sprint Cup races between Greg Biffle (11 races), Carl Edwards (3 races), and Matt Kenseth (1 race).  Read More.

2/21 – DEI recently announced that their 01 Sprint Cup Series car driven by Regan Smith will carry Coors Light as their primary sponsor for the next two races at California and Las Vegas.  Read More.

2/22 – Robby Gordon Motorsports has appealed the penalties handed down by NASCAR for rule infractions that occurred during Daytona Speedweeks. While Robby isn’t very hopeful of getting NASCAR to drop the points hit altogether, they are trying to at least reduce the 100 points that the sanctioning body has hit them with.  Read More.

2/22 – In a recent survey, NASCAR fans have voted that the Toyota commercial in which the kids are controlling the cars via remote control is the best new ad of the 2008 season.  Read More.

2/22 – Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer apparently had a confrontation with one another following last Sunday’s Daytona 500, reportedly because each driver felt they didn’t receive enough help in the closing laps from the other.  Read More.

2/22 – The newly-formed partnership between International Speedway Corporation and the Automobile Club of Southern California has sparked the renaming of California Speedway to what is now the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California.  Read More.

2/22 – After Earl Pearson Jr. had to be cut from his car following an accident in a dirt late model race for Bobby Labonte Racing in Barberville, FL, Bobby Labonte has begun taking several safety measures to ensure the safety in his rides.  Read More.

2/22 – Rain has caused NASCAR to cancel qualifying for all three of their series’ races this weekend at California. Each of the series will line their cars up based on owner points.  Read More.