Marcos Ambrose took the lead with just three laps to go in Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen to secure his first career Nationwide Series victory in 59 starts. He received the lead by virtue of Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson running out of fuel in the closing laps in an episode of bitter-sweet redemption after all the tough luck he’s suffered in NASCAR road course racing in 2008. He came close, but eventually took a back seat to Kyle Busch in Mexico City … mechanical issues ended his day in Sonoma when he made his Sprint Cup debut … and, a pit road speeding penalty robbed him in Montreal. But, none of that mattered on Saturday when Ambrose finally stood in a NASCAR victory lane for the first time in his life.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I literally could not believe it. I was just praying the car was gonna hold together and I wasn’t gonna get a late caution. But, we got the job done. I feel really good about it, and it’s just a big lift for our team and it feels like everything’s worth it today.”

Marcos didn’t have much time for celebration, though, because the following day served an even much taller task for the Australian native. He was to return once again to Watkins Glen and step behind the wheel of the Wood Brothers Racing no. 21 Ford to make his third Cup Series start, but after qualifying was washed out on Friday, Ambrose would have to start all the way in the back of the field in 43rd at a track where no driver had ever come from deeper than a 16th starting position to win.

Ambrose quickly made people forget that the team he was driving for on Sunday was a team on the verge of obscurity as he climbed his way into the top-15 by the halfway point. Then, with one of the fastest cars on the track, he dashed up inside the top-5 and was sitting in 3rd after Ryan Newman spun with just 13 laps to go. Even with two restarts to try and get it done, though, Ambrose was never able to get around the 2nd place car of Tony Stewart to try and press Kyle Busch for the lead, but if you ask Marcos, he’ll take his top-five Cup finish anyday of the week.

“It’s a big, bad world out here in NASCAR world, and I’m just pleased that I’m able to have a weekend like this to remember,” said Ambrose. “When it’s all said and done, I’ll be able to go home back to Tasmania and tell them how good I was at Watkins Glen on one year.”

It was certainly a well deserved weekend for Ambrose and his team(s). Ambrose has 5 more races remaining on his schedule driving the no. 21 Wood Bros. car before he competes full-time in the Cup Series next year with JTG Dougherty Racing.

Some would say that it’s been a trying season for Goodyear in 2008 as they continue to work on developing new tires to coincide with NASCAR’s latest project, the Car of Tomorrow. Things got heated early in the season between Goodyear’s racing group and some of the drivers in the garage area, particularly after Atlanta when several of the drivers bashed the tire in public forums. You might recall one man inparticular’s rants regarding the tires as they made headlines for several weeks. Yes, I’m referring of course to Tony Stewart.

It seemed as though things had finally cooled off between all parties involved until just a couple of weeks ago at Indianapolis. It was the first time NASCAR had ever taken the COT to Indy, and the tires that Goodyear brought to the track were inadequate to say the least. The end result was NASCAR waiving a competition caution about every 10 laps and the reviews for the event were terrible.

After a week long of apologies from both NASCAR and Goodyear, both parties were presented with a golden opportunity to redeem themselves during the Nationwide race in Montreal. With bad weather on the horizon, NASCAR decided to break out their inventory of “grooved” Goodyear tires, marking the first time grooved tires had ever been run in a NASCAR points race. The experiment was a tremendous success, and talk about the Indy tire fiasco has been slim to none ever since.

This week, the “Loose in Turn 3″ trio will take a look at the situation and decide the overwhelming success of the rain tires and a solid week at Pocono does in fact take Goodyear off the hook, or if they feel that there are still too many unanswered questions to make that call just yet.

Q: Did Goodyear finally clear their name in NASCAR with the success of their rain tires in Montreal?

TZ: They’re not completely out of the woods just yet, but for the most part, I would say yes. I was pretty upset with the fiasco that took place at Indy, and there’ve been a few other times this season I wasn’t thrilled with their output, but running in the rain at Motreal without any tire issues was a huge plus, and then they were able to follow it up with a successful day in Pocono as well. There are obviously a few tracks that they still need to get some things figured out, but all in all, they’ve rebounded quite nicely.

Bruce:  I’d expect more from a division of a tire company that is supposed to be making racing tires and not rubber confetti at Indianapolis.  Indy was a phenomenal waste of time and they should have tried something else rather than let NASCAR dole out a series of 10-lap trophy dashes, but without the trophy.  I don’t see this weekend as a rebound as much as it is, a “It’s about time they got it back on track.  Now let’s keep it there!”

Charlie:  Goodyear didn’t need to “clear their name”. In fact, NASCAR once
again put Goodyear’s good name at risk by using six year old rubber in a
featured race. They lucked out that the tires didn’t fail. NASCAR flipped
a coin again, just as they did at Indy. Goodyear makes tens of thousands
of race tires that are used at hundreds of races every week. A couple of
high profile failures should be expected when the company is trying to
make a NASCAR work in progress - the vaunted CoT - look better than it is.

the Rest of the Discussion:
There’s still plenty more to read this week from the “Loose in Turn 3″ guys. Make sure you take a trip over to On Pit Row where Charlie asks the question, “Who is the Best Crew Chief in the Sprint Cup Garage Right Now?“, and then head over to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits ‘n’ Pieces where we debate the motive behind Martin Truex Jr.’s Decision to Remain at DEI.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

This week NASCAR heads to Waktins Glen International for one of their two road course races of the season on the Sprint Cup Series schedule. The race comes just one week after NASCAR made history for itself when they raced in the rain last Saturday in the Nationwide Series in Montreal, which most critics feel came off as a huge success. As of right now there are no plans to break out the rain tires on Sunday, but there’s still plenty to look forward to with just five races remaining until the cutoff for the Chase.

Recent Winners:
2007 - Tony Stewart
2006 - Kevin Harvick
2005 - Tony Stewart

Recent Polesitters:
2007 - Jeff Gordon
2006 - Kurt Busch
2005 - “Rained Out”

the Usual Suspects:
Tony Stewart is in the midst of the longest winless streak in his Sprint Cup career, but that should be of little concern to the no. 20 team this weekend. ‘Smoke’ built up a bit of momentum for himself after a 2nd place finish last week at Pocono, and now he heads to Watkins Glen where he holds the best driver rating over the past 3 years and has the second best average finish amongst active drivers. He’s one three of the last four races at the Glen, along with a 2nd place finish in 2006.

The only driver to breakup Stewart’s winning streak at the Glen in the past four years was Kevin Harvick, the winner of this event in ‘06. In his seven career races at Watkins Glen, last year’s 36th place finish is his only run outside of the top-15. He also has four top-10’s in that span ….. Jeff Gordon is considered a threat to win at most tracks, but perhaps even moreso at road courses. Once dubbed “King of the Road”, Jeff has had a rough go of it with only one top-10 finish here since 2002, but he did win 3 of the 4 events prior to that stretch ….. The series points leader, Kyle Busch, was never thought of much as a road course racer heading into this season, but already in 2008 he’s managed to win the Nationwide Series race in Mexcio and then went onto win the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Infineon. After a 33rd place run at Watkins Glen in his rookie season, Kyle has since rebounded with back-to-back top-10’s ….. Denny Hamlin has run here only twice, finishing 10th and 2nd in those races.

the Unusual Suspects:
Robby Gordon has been in dire need of some good runs for the sake of his own race team, Robby Gordon Motorsports, and many fans have long expected that success to come at one of NASCAR’s two road course events. Robby has six top-5 finishes in eight races run here, and even won the event while racing for RCR back in 2003. He currently has a string of three consecutive top-5 finishes at Watkins Glen.

Marcos Ambrose competed in his first Sprint Cup event earlier in the season at Infineon. Known for his road course specialties, Marcos didn’t disappoint, as he had a great top-five effort going until issues late in the race put an end to his day. This will be his first visit to Watkins Glen with the Cup Series as he once again fields the no. 21 Wood Bros. Racing entry, but there’s no reason to think he won’t rise to the occasion once again ….. Juan Pablo Montoya is always a favorite to keep an eye on at road course races as well. An incident with Kevin Harvick here last year put an early end to his day and he finished 39th, but that should be considered a one-off deal. He does have an Infineon win to his credit at the Cup level.

Road Course Ringers are sure to be a factor in any NASCAR road course race, regardless of the series. Though they don’t typically win these things at the Cup level, many of the drivers leave their mark with exceptional runs. Amongst the ringers included in this weekend’s entry list are: Ron Fellows (DEI) - two top-5’s in the last 4 years; Boris Said- finished 3rd in 2005; PJ Jones - finished 4th in 2002; and Brian Simo and Max Papis are on the list as well.

the Unusual Slackers:
Greg Biffle picked up his first ever top-10 Watkins Glen finish last year when he crossed the line in 10th, but each of his four starts previous to that were 30th or worse. His overall average here is 30.2 ….. When you think of road course racing, Kurt Busch isn’t a name that immediately jumps out at you as someone you need to avoid carrying on your fantasy roster, but like Biffle, he also has only one career top-10 at Watkins Glen. Four of his seven races here he has finished outside of the top-15 ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to put together a string of solid runs here at one point, finishing 3rd, 5th, and 10th from 2003 to 2005, but in 8 years of racing here, he’s finished 35th or worse three times, holding an average finish of just 20.6.

Best Driver Ratings:
1. Tony Stewart - 137.9
2. Denny Hamlin - 112.1
3. Jeff Gordon - 108.2
4. Robby Gordon - 106.3
5. Jimmie Johnson - 104.5

Best Driver Averages:
1. Scott Pruett - 5.8
2. Denny Hamlin - 6.0
3. Tony Stewart - 6.1
4. Mark Martin - 8.8
5. Robby Gordon - 9.4

Watkins Glen Facts:
- 8 of the 25 races at Watkins Glen have been won from the pole position. The last driver to do so was Tony Stewart in 2005, but before that it hadn’t happened since Jeff Gordon did it in 1998.
- 16 of the 25 races have been won from a top-five starting position.
- The deepest starting position a driver has ever come from to win at Watkins Glen is 18th. Steve Park did it in 2000.
- Jeff Gordon holds the track record for most wins with 4.
- Mark Martin holds the track record for most poles (3), top-five’s (12), and top-ten’s (16).
- The most different leaders ever during a race at the Glen was 12 - back in 1995.
- Chevrolet leads the manufacturer race at Watkins Glen with 14 wins.
- 5 drivers currently in the top-12 in points have never led a lap at Watkins Glen: Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, and Clint Bowyer.
- In the midst of a 35 race winless streak, Tony Stewart’s last victory came here at Watkins Glen in 2007.

Video of the last 7 laps of the 2007 Centurion Boats at the Glen race:

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner - Tony Stewart
2nd Place - Robby Gordon
3rd Place - Marcos Ambrose
4th Place - Kyle Busch
5th Place - Carl Edwards
6th Place - Kevin Harvick

Lock of the Week - Tony Stewart
Sleeper Pick - Marcos Ambrose
Steer Clear of - Greg Biffle

It was undoubtedly one of the most historic moments in NASCAR when they decided to convert the Nationwide Series field from the “slick” tires that they typically run to “grooved” tires at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this past Saturday for the NAPA Auto Parts 200. With heavy rain working its way to the track and cars sliding all over the place, NASCAR made the call to do just what they’ve been talking about doing and race in the rain.

Incase you missed the action on Saturday afternoon, here’s some video to show you how the cars were handling on the regular slick tires before the teams converted over. The video also carries footage of a drivers such as Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Sr. competing in a 1997 exhibition race at Suzka Circuit in which they raced in the rain, and a practice session at Watkins Glen where they practiced in the rain.

As you can see, the tires didn’t bode so well for drivers such as Stanton Barrett made a few “turns” around the track, but here, take a look at the first 9 minutes of the race with grooved tires, and you can really see the improvement in the handling.

And, just for good measure, I can’t show you highlights of this race without showing you some footage of Carl Edwards with what was undoubtedly the funniest moment of the race:

***
My name is Michael and I wrote over at b5medias’s boxing and pro
wrestling blog, Jab and Grapple. b5’s staff of
writers is guest posting on other sports blogs this week. Look for Tim
over on the sports comedy blog dejuiced.

***

After August 3rd’s long slog of a Pennsylvania 500 one has to wonder
when either:

a) NASCAR joins the rest of the motorsports world and runs races in
the rain with rain tires as the did on August
2 in Montreal,  or
b) Removes at least one of the two races at Pocono.

I was amazed to hear Tony Stewart say during a rain stoppage that
Montreal was the first time many Nationwide Series drivers had driven
on rain tires. Greg Biffle admitted to NASCAR.com that “”I kind of was
looking forward to this because I’ve never raced in the rain, but I
don’t think I will be from now on.”

But what’s the real problem here? What racing problems could rainfall
bring about?

More bumping and unsure driving?The Cars of Tomorrow are
indestructible tanks that can bump and skid into other vehicles to
their heart’s content.

More crashes? The COT’s safety is un-paralleled and it’s not as if
they would be going at the high-end dangerous speeds in the rain
anyway.

Wet fans? Football plays in the rain and their fans have great fun in the wet.

What positives would rain running bring?

Exciting and unpredictable racing is sure to occur. There would be
added elements of strategy and NASCAR drivers wouldn’t seem so prissy
while waiting for a vacuum to suction off an itty bitty section of wet
track. Grand Prix Motorcycle racing competes in the rain why can’t
NASCAR?

As far as Pocono Speedway hosting two races a year, that’s only a
function of fortunate geography and it’s proximity to New York and
Philadelphia. It would have been nice to have moved one of the two to
Nazareth Speedway but that one-mile tri-oval sadly shut down for
business.

The Pocono races are usually long and unexciting (although Sunday’s
finish was fun). If I’m off to a NASCAR race from my Harrisburg, Pa.
home I’m choosing the Monster Mile at Dover, Del. over Pocono 10 times
out of 10. They’re both 120 miles from my door.

But again, the chances of only one race at Pocono per year look about
as good as racing on rain tires.

Written by Michael Sedor

Rain played a large part in pretty much anything NASCAR tried to accomplish this weekend, and Sunday’s race at Pocono was no different. It was also one of the more interesting weekends in Carl Edwards’ professional racing career, that’s for sure. He had to squeegee the rain off his own windshield under caution during Saturday’s Nationwide Series race in Montreal (in which he finished 6th). Then, after both of the Sprint Cup practice sessions were rained out on Saturday, his team unloaded off the hauler on Sunday with a car that Crew Chief, Bob Osbourne, described as “experimental.” Then, they had to weed their way through a slieu of pit strategies that overcame the field when rain crept its way back into Pocono a little over past the halway point in the race, and in the end, it was Carl Edwards stretching his fuel en route to his fourth win in the Sprint Cup Series this season.

Jimmie Johnson was looking to continue his current hot streak when he started the day out on the pole, but it was Mark Martin from the 2nd spot that led the first 21 laps of the race, which saw three caution periods. The first came on the very first lap of the race when Kevin Harvick was spun by Joe Nemecheck, and then just 7 laps later, it was Kurt Busch going around in a single car spin. The third caution was brought out by NASCAR on lap 21 as a competition caution due to the teams not having the opportunity to run Saturday’s practice sessions as a result of inclimate weather.

The field pitted during the lap 21 caution, and Johnson was able to take advantage of a slow stop by the no. 8 team and came out front to take the lead. But, Mark Martin was able to comeback up through the field to take the lead on lap 36 and stayed out front all the way until lap 66, minus a few laps in which he surrendered the lead during a round of green flag stops. The fourth caution was brought out on lap 66 for debris, and this time it was Carl Edwards jumping out to the front.

Edwards held onto the lead until the next caution on lap 87 - also for debris, but it was again Jimmie Johnson’s team getting him out up front off of pit road followed by Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr, and Matt Kenseth. Edwards came out of the pits in 7th, and Mark Martin came out 17th. Carl later passed Johnson for the lead under green on lap 111.

Things started to get a bit more interesting when the race fell under caution on lap 127 due to rain - about 7 laps after the field cycled its way through a round of green flag stops. With pit road open, all but 19 cars decided to pit for fuel, including Edwards, Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Tony Stewart who led the field down pit road.

Kasey Kahne, the winner of the June race at Pocono, was handed the lead for the first time on the day by virtue of the leaders’ decision to pit, followed by Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, and Kurt Busch when the race was red flagged on lap 131 when the rain began to pickup.

The race restarted about a half hour later, and Joe Nemecheck and Paul Menard were the first to find out where the slick spots on the track were as they wrecked on lap 137 to bring out the 7th caution. Juan Pablo Montoya then blew his engine about 8 laps later, but NASCAR decided not to waive the caution. Kurt Busch inherited the lead on lap 158 when some of the cars in front of him started to make their scheduled green flag stops, but he was the next to work his way toward disaster after stretching his fuel out a bit too far, eventually running out of gas on lap 161. He was able to make it to pit road, but lost a ton of time on the track as a result.

Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson both found themselves back out in front momentarily as the 19 cars that stayed out during the rain caution all worked their way to the pits, but it was eventually Kasey Kahne back in the lead with 30 to go once they made their stops as well. Kahne continued to run the next 15 laps out front praying for the caution that never came, knowing that he would be forced to make one more pit stop while some of the other cars claimed that they could run the rest of the way without stopping.

Kahne and Mark Martin both made their final stops with 15 laps to go, handing the lead over once again to Carl Edwards as they watched their premonition come true. Edwards run out to more than a 6 second lead over Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson as he crossed the line to pickup his fourth win of the season.

Knowing that he couldn’t catch Edwards for the lead, Stewart backed off the throttle in the closing laps to conserve fuel, but still ran it hard enough to finish 2nd. Johnson ran out of gas right as he crossed the finish line in 3rd, and from there, things started to get ugly as a ton of cars behind him started to bobble as they ran out of gas as well. Kevin Harvick - who worked all day long to rebound from his spin on lap 1 - kept enough fuel in the tank to finish 4th, and 5th place went to one of the guys chasing him in the points, David Ragan.

Clint Bowyer overcame a long day of struggles to walk away with a 6th place finish. Behind him in 7th and 8th were Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin, both of whom made up a ton of ground despite having to make earlier stops under the green. In 9th was Jamie McMurray, who now has back-to-back top-ten finishes to his credit. And, 10th place went to Jeff Gordon, who ran out of gas after crossing the line and had to be pushed around the track by his Hendrick teammate, Casey Mears.

Other Notables:
Matt Kenseth finished in 11th. He made his final stop with 16 laps to go after he and Crew Chief, Chip Bolin, originally planned on trying to stretch their fuel out ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 4th coming going through the final turn, but ran out of gas just before the line and had to coast his way to the finish. He wound up 12th ….. Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman finished 13th and 14th ….. Denny Hamlin had previously finished no worse than 6th in his first five trips to Pocono, but wound up 23rd after his car got away from him late in the race. He was running 9th when he made his final stop of the day with 26 laps to go ….. Brian Vickers fell victim to a disappointing 28th place finish after running up in the top-15 for most of the day ….. The no. 18 team for Joe Gibbs Racing appeared to have finally gotten the flat track program turned around for Kyle Busch, as he ran inside the top-five late in the race. But, he ran out of gas and was forced to pit with just two laps to go, and they were unable to get his car restarted. He finished 36th.

Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. remain 1st and 2nd in the points standings, but Carl Edwards’ win moved him up two spots to third overall.  Jimmie Johnson held onto 4th, while Jeff Burton’s 21st place run dropped him down to 5th. Kevin Harvick came into the race 2 points out of the final Chase spot, but his top-five effort was enough to move him up to 11th in the standings, while Matt Kenseth gave up two spots and now finds himself on the outside looking in. He’s no 11 points behind 12th place Clint Bowyer.

the Grades:
the Race:  84%
the Drama:  94%
Coverage:  92%
Pre-Race:  90%

Overall Grade:  88.2%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Recommended Reads:
- Carl Edwards Captures 4th Victory of the Season in Pocono (Racing for the Win)
- Live on Type Delay: Pocono II, Part One (Rev Jim’s Rants ‘n’ Raves)

Saturday’s running of the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal was an historic night for the Nationwide Series, and NASCAR in general. As the rainy weather crept its way onto the tracks, the race was red flagged, and for the first time ever in a NASCAR points race, the teams switched over to grooved tires to run the remainder of the race.

The rain was eventually stopped 26 laps short due to poor visibility, and in the end, it was Canadian native, Ron Fellows, out in front of the pack when the race was officially called. Throughout the majority of the race it appeared as though Marcos Ambrose was going to run away with things, leading a race high 27 laps, but a late pit road speeding penalty cost him, and Fellows was there to take advantage.

For Fellows, who was driving the no. 5 entry for the Dale Earnhardt Jr. owned JR Motorsports, it was his fourth career road course victory in 13 Nationwide Series starts, and he also became the first Canadian to ever win a major NASCAR event in Canada.

Fellows was followed to the line by another Canadian native, Patrick Carpentier, who finished 2nd. Ambrose was able to recover from his earlier mistakes on pit road and came back to finish 3rd. 4th place went to Ron Hornaday, and 5th was Boris Said.

Carl Edwards - now 2nd in points - finished 6th, while the series points leader, Clint Bowyer, crossed the finish line in 9th. Brad Keselowski dropped the 2nd position in the points race to Edwards with a 12th place run, dropping Brad down to 3rd overall.

Jacques Villeneuve and Joey Logano dropped about 10 positions in the running order each when they wrecked into other cars during the final caution period.

“I hit a lapped car with no brake lights. I have no idea who it was,” Logano said. “I couldn’t see 5 feet in front of me down the straightaway, under caution. Somebody stopped. I locked up all four and boom! … It’s just not right.”

They each went onto finish 16th and 17th respectively.

It should be noted, however, that the accidents during the final caution were caused by poor visibility, and were not tire-related. In fact, there were really no tire issues the whole race, which should serve as a huge pick-me-up for Goodyear after the debacle that they went through last week at Indy.

Complete Results of the NAPA Auto Parts 200     /     Current Nationwide Series Points Standings

The headlines have poured across the newspapers and internet for the last couple of days, and it’s become a hot topic of debate on morning radio as I learned today while listening to Elliot in the Morning on my way into work. For those of you that have been stuck under a rock or just don’t care, and therefore are not familiar with what I’m talking about, earlier this week Anheuser Busch received an unsolicited offer from InBev, a European brewing company and the largest in the world, to purchase Anheuser for a reported $46.3 billion, which would make it the largest cash transaction in history, and the second biggest acquisition of a consumer product.

Anheuser Busch is the largest beer distributor in America, with their top products including Budweiser, Bud Lite, Busch, Natural Lite, Michelobe Lite & Ultra Lite, and a slieu of others. While some of the Busch family members are strongly opposing such a deal to take place, many reports are indicating that the others are pushing for further negotiations. The problem is that even if the entire Busch family wanted to say no to the offer, they control only 4.5 percent of the total company, and no single family member owns more than 1 percent of the shares. So, the decision may not entirely be their’s to make.

The latest reports state that in an effort to ward off the attempts of a takeover, the family has entered negotiations with Grupo Modelo, the makers of Corona. Anheuser already owns a non-controlling 50 percent of Modelo, and the discussions between the two companies are still a bit vague at this point, but the potential ultimate end goal would be to make the combined company too large for InBev to be able to pull the trigger on.

Okay, so there’s the long and skinny of what’s happening. Right about now, I’m sure you’re checking back up at the top of the page to make sure that this is indeed a NASCAR site, and are now asking yourself why on Earth I would be taking so much time to cover this topic. Well, since you asked, allow me to explain:

Anheuser Busch is headquartered in my hometown of St. Louis, MO. With Gateway International Raceway located just outside of the St. Louis area, and given NASCAR’s recent expansion through the midwest, St. Louis is a growing market for NASCAR. There may be a laundry list of reasons why NASCAR has not given Gateway a Cup race despite the track’s petition for one, but somewhere on that list would be St. Louis’ declining economy. Known as one of the country’s leading banking and car manufacturing markets, several St. Louis residents have recently suffered from mass layoffs with the spike in foreclosures effecting the mortgage industry, and reported losses in 2007 have caused Ford to close plants and Chrysler to cut back personnel. Despite the fact that InBev has made statements regarding that they would not shut down any of AB’s plants, general concensus is that there would still be several cutbacks on employment and that St. Louis would likely lose its status as the company’s headquarters. More layoffs seem inevitable should a deal be struck, and with even less resvenue flowing into the area, it could easily negatively influence future endeavours that Gateway may have planned. 

On an even larger scale, what does this say for America’s economy as we continue to see foreign investors taking control of American products?

As it relates to NASCAR itself, with the recent downward spiral of America’s economy, the sport has experienced some rough goings as of late when it comes to sponsorship. When a team like Yates Racing has drivers sitting 18th (Travis Kvapil) and 23rd (David Gilliland) in the points standings, and even with the backing of Roush-Fenway Racing, the team still cannot lock on permanent sponsorship, you know something’s amis. NASCAR has also seen a bit of sponsorship changes in its two main series within the last decade, with Winston pulling out of the Cup Series, opening the doors for Nextel and then Sprint after their acquisition of that company, and then Anheuser pulled its Busch label off of what is now known as the Nationwide Series. There have even been talks of Craftsman pulling out of the Truck Series in the near future. Yet, Budweiser has been a long-standing sponsor in NASCAR’s premier series, and is still widely associated with their sponsorship of NASCAR’s most popular star, Dale Earnhardt Jr, though their loyalties have now been placed on the hood of Kasey Kahne’s no. 9 Dodge owned by Gillete-Evernham Motorsports. But, if Anheuser were to sellout, as a Euro company, would InBev still wish to remain connected to NASCAR? And, even if so, would the Budweiser logo still maintain its appeal?

Finally, what about NASCAR’s tradition? It’s a sport that was designed for the cars to turn left because European cars turned right. We race on ovals because the rest of the world races on roads. Yet, now we’re going to Mexico and Canada every year for the Nationwide Series, we’re soliciting non-American citizens to compete, and we’ve got a foreign car model running the most horsepower in every race.  I can tolerate a couple of trips across the border, I like diversity, and I’ve learned to live with Toyota. So, in essence, I’m okay with all of that … but, where does it end?

And, you know what, if you can identify with symbolism, then you might even say that NASCAR symbolizes modern-day America in those regards. As a former Marine and a red-blooded American that stops the fast forward on the DVR so that I can listen to the National Anthem everytime it’s on and gets a sense of pride each and every time I see that American flag, I have to wonder what has happened to our sense of tradition. As one of the largest and most profitable companies in America - as well as the leading US beer distributor for over HALF A CENTURY -  people like the good folks at Anheuser Busch are the ones that have the power restore tradition, remind us of our roots, and fend off an economic takeover. We beg of you … stop the bleeding.

*Credit photos to Newscom.

Image details: NASCAR Nationwide Series Corona Mexico 200 served by picapp.com

Finally, a story about a couple of guys making some headlines in the Nationwide Series that typically don’t compete in the Sprint Cup. That’s right, if you watched last weekend’s Mexico Corona 200 from Mexico City, then you already know that I’m referring to non-other than Boris Said and Marcos Ambrose.

On lap 55 of the race, Ambrose was making his way back up through the field after getting sent to the back of the pack, and in the process, got into the back of Said’s car going through the turn. The contact was slight, but it was enough to send Said spinning. The damage took Said out of the race while Ambrose went onto earn his career-best Nationwide finish as he rolled across the line in 2nd.

Following the race, Said had some rather harsh words for the Aussie, stating that he wouldn’t get mad, but he would get even. He then proceeded to go apologize to Ambrose’s pit crew ‘for the car that it’s going to cost them in the future.’

Earlier this week, both drivers appeared on ESPN’s “NASCAR Now” series. Ambrose opened things up with a light mood as he dawned the official “Said Head” doo. He immediately apologized to Boris and let him know that he values him as a friend and that he likes him as a driver. Boris, however, responded by letting Marcos know that the incident cost them a potential earning of $40k to $50k in prize money, as well as cost them $10k in car damages and forced his crew to work overnight to repair the damaged race car.

Not only did Boris say that he felt worse after seeing the video, but he also said, “I feel like I got pushed on the school yard and I’m just not going to race him the same anymore. There’s a certain amount of respect you have to have for the people around you, and I don’t have it anymore for Marcos. I’m just going to have to race him differently than other people from now on.”

Marcos responded with, “I was the first to admit that I got into the back of him going into the corner, but once he corrected his car, our bumpers came unhooked. I didn’t try to drive him up the racetrack. I mean, I damaged my racecar, too, and I went off the track and risked everything. So, it’s not intentional. Hopefully he has some time to settled down, but if he wants to rumble, he’s picking the wrong guy.”

The race was the first NASCAR event for Boris in 2008, and he went onto finish 35th. Marcos earned his second career top-five in two seasons of the Nationwide Series and currently sits 13th in points. The next time these two drivers are scheduled to be on the track together is when the Nationwide Series visits the road course in Montreal on August 2nd.