“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.

Post from: EveryJoe

Ambrose Celebrates a Career Weekend at the Glen

After rain canceled Friday’s qualifying session, the field lined up based on their order in the car owner’s points standings, setting Kyle Busch out on the pole position for the start of the race. Kyle led the first lap before handing it over to Dale Earnhardt Jr, who started on the outside of the front row. As Busch dropped back to third in the running order, Earnhardt gradually expanded his lead through the next 28 laps, but found himself in 6th after the field completed their first round of green flag pit stops.

Kyle Busch once again took the race lead on lap 30, and was still in charge when the first caution of the day came out on lap 47. NASCAR made the decision to waive the yellow due to debris on the track that was a result of some loose gravel that had been kicked up on the track. The caution was a huge break for Jimmie Johnson who had just pitted a few laps earlier when he had a rear left tire going down, but because he was running up in the top-five at the time, he was able to make his stop without losing a lap. Once pit road opened up, 14 cars remained on the track, including Johnson. Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart – running 1st and 2nd at the time – also elected to stay out.

Kyle Busch was still the race leader when the field went back to green, but the most impressive story to this point was Marcos Ambrose, who was driving the no. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. He was forced to start dead last due to the car’s position in owner points, but had worked his way all the way up inside the top-15 for the restart.

Kyle Busch moved to the side to allow his teammate, Tony Stewart, to lead a lap and pickup the 5 extra bonus points on lap 53, but Tony returned the favor and let Kyle go back by the following lap, and that was the only movement up front until the leaders again came into pit on lap 56. Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson each led a lap during the exchange of green flag stops. Johnson came into pit on lap 58, which handed the lead back over to Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With more than a 25 second lead, Earnhardt was the only car still out on the track that had not yet made his final pit stop. Despite continuing to lose a second per lap to the 2nd and 3rd place cars, Tony Eury Jr. – crew chief for the no. 88 team – elected to keep Earnhardt out on the track, but the call completely backfired when NASCAR waived the second caution flag on lap 64. The caution was again for loose gravel that Travis Kvapil kicked onto the track when he ran off the track. Earnhardt was forced to pit while the other race leaders remained out on the track, and with just 25 laps remaining, he lined up 37th for the restart.

Kyle Busch was once again deemed the race leader by virtue of Earnhardt’s misfortunes with Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman chasing him. With the laps dwindling down, it almost looked as though we might have another caution when Sam Hornish Jr. spun PJ Jones on lap 70, but both cars were able to get going again, and NASCAR saw no reason to bring out the yellow.

The complexity of the race changed on lap 77 when Ryan Newman got into the corner too hard, resulting in a single car spin in Turn 9. Unable to get his car restarted, he had several close cars as the rest of the field tried to avoid the stalled car as it rolled back out onto the track. NASCAR eventually brought out the third caution, and luckily, the entire field was able to get around Newman without hitting him.

The fourth and final caution came with just 8 laps to go when Michael McDowell spun David Gilliland, setting off a huge multi-car crash that involved 9 cars right near the pit road entrance. Michael Waltrip, Bobby LaBonte, Sam Hornish Jr, Reed Sorenson, Max Papis, Dave Blaney, and Joe Nemechek all got caught up in the mess, and LaBonte appeared to be mildly injured as he was seen limping back to the infield care center.

After NASCAR stopped the race under red flag conditions for more than 40 minutes, they finally got the race restarted with Kyle Busch still in the lead, and behind him were Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr, and Kevin Harvick. Busch took the green flag with just five laps to go with Stewart keeping within a couple car lengths for the first few laps. With about 2 to go, though, Busch started to pull away, and Stewart’s new task became keeping the no. 21 of Ambrose in his rearview mirror. Busch went onto take the checkers, and Stewart was able to fend off Ambrose to give Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2 finish.

Marcos Ambrose fought off Juan Pablo Montoya to hang onto third, and JPM finished 4th. Martin Truex Jr. held onto 5th to earn his first-ever top-five finish at Watkins Glen. He was followed by the 2006 winner of this event, Kevin Harvick, in 6th. 7th place went to Denny Hamlin, who capped off a solid run inside the top-ten for most of the day. Jimmie Johnson rebounded from his cut tire earlier in the race to finish in 8th. AJ Allmendinger walked away with the best NSCS finish of his career in 9th, also giving him his second top-ten in the last 3 races. Carl Edwards completed the top-ten.

Other Notables:
Matt Kenseth had a pretty quiet day, but finished 12th ….. Kasey Kahne matched his best Watkins Glen finish with a 14th place run ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wound up 22nd after his team’s race strategy put him in the back of the field with just over 20 laps to go ….. Jeff Gordon had an eventful day. His team had to have NASCAR black flag him to get him into the pits for the first round of stops after the team’s radio became disconnected. Gordon’s car, unfortunately, handled much like the radio, as his struggles throughout the day led to a 25th place finish ….. Robby Gordon started near the back of the pack and never was able to find his way to the front, finishing with a very disappointing 27th place finish ….. Ryan Newman’s spin on lap 77 led to a 28th place effort, as that team continues to watch their Chase hopes keep slipping away.

Kyle Busch now holds a 242 point lead on 1st in the standings, while Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson both moved past Earnhardt Jr. to take over the 2nd and 3rd spots. Tony Stewart’s back-to-back 2nd place efforts have also moved him up to 7th overall, and he now has a 138 point cushion in the Chase standings. Matt Kenseth also moved up a spot to take over the 12th and final spot in the Chase, moving Clint Bowyer back down to 13th. He’s now 22 points out of the Chase.

Grades:
the Race: 75%
Drama: 74%
Coverage: 90%
Pre-Race: 81%

Overall Grade: 78.4%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Rating the Race: Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen

Through 55 years of racing at NASCAR’s top level, the Wood Brothers have established themselves amongst the all-time winningest teams in the sport’s history with an accumulated 97 wins amongst the organization. The organization has housed such legendary names as Cale Yarbrough, David Pearson, Davey Allison, AJ Foyt, Tiny Lund, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, and Dan Gurney. The team made history in the late 70’s when they were invited to the White House by former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter … Yet, Wood Brothers Racing has not visited Victory Lane since Elliott Sadler’s 2001 win at Bristol Motor Speedway, and the organization has been relegated to one of stock car racing’s proverbial laughing stocks in recent years.

With the team struggling, and the evolution of the NASCAR economy seeming to work against them and the Ford Racing program, team owner Glen Wood sought to keep the driving program afloat by signing veteran drivers Bill Elliott and Ken Schrader to drive the no. 21 Ford for the team in 2007. The end result, however, was less than desirable as the combination failed to net the Wood Bros. a single top-ten finish, and much hasn’t changed in 2008 with Elliott again behind the wheel this year, this time being complimented by Jon Wood on occassion.

So, what does a team do when they’ve fallen so far off of the mark of excellence that they themselves established so long ago? They go out and fetch themselves the 31-year-old Aussie that’s largely credited with the revival of Ford Racing in Australia - Marcos Ambrose. Adequately named the “Tasmanian Devil,” Ambrose, a former Formula Ford Euro Cup and 2x former V8 Supercar Championship Series champion, broke into the NASCAR scene in 2006 when the Wood Brothers / JTG Racing partnership signed Ambrose to compete in full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series. Not being cleared by NASCAR to compete in the first three races of the season, Ambrose was limited to 22 races in which he garnered 4 top-ten finishes, including a pair of 3rd place runs at Nashville and Kansas.

The team then set Ambrose’s sights on the Nationwide Series in 2007, where Marcos tallied 6 top-ten runs through 35 events and ultimately finished 8th in the overall points standings, and was the third highest ranked non-Cup regular in the standings. 2008 has gotten Marcos off to a bit of a slower start in the series, where he currently sits 13th in points, but a 2nd place run at the road course in Mexico earlier in the season prompted a callup from the Wood Brothers this past weekend at Infineon.

Slated to make his long-awaited Sprint Cup debut behind the wheel of the famed no. 21 Ford Fusion, Ambrose got the weekend off to a great start when he was the 7th fastest during qualifying, and then led the final practice session on Saturday. Looking to prove his road course prowess was no joke and that he belonged at NASCAR’s premier level, Ambrose then established himself as one of the top cars in the field and definitely one of the guys to beat on Sunday, though looking at the box score following the race, you’d have never known it unless you’d watched the race yourself.

Marcos ran with the leaders and stayed up around the top-five all day long, even when pit strategies shuffled several of the other race leaders back into the pack. Only some unprovoked contact from Elliott Sadler late in the race kept him from getting the finish he deserved, and yet, even after a 42nd place run, both Ambrose and the Wood Brothers organization were rather upbeat following the race.

“Just awesome,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. Here I am, passing Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, racing with Earnhardt Jr, it’s just fantastic. It’s what I dreamed about, what I dreamed it would be like. It’s certainly like that. It’s just fantastic. It’s just a real shame we couldn’t finish the race.”

While most people probably find it tough to see the silver lining in a 42nd place finish, those that have followed the Wood Brothers throughout the years know that they’ve been far from competitive the last few years, and that even though the finish wasn’t indicative of the good run, it’s a huge morale booster for the organization to have a car run as well as Marcos did on Sunday. Ambrose is now scheduled to compete in seven more Cup events in the no. 21 car, including next weekend at New Hampshire and the August road course race at Watkins Glen.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Is Ambrose the Ticket for the Wood Bros.’ Return to Prosperity?

As you tune into TNT this Sunday afternoon to watch NASCAR’s Cup race, your first inclination may very well be that you mistakenly tuned into the IndyCar Series race … but, wait … why are they driving stock cars, right? Well, don’t try to adjust the set or flip the channel, because that, my friend, is indeed the Sprint Cup Series, and that’s what we call road racin’.

See, for as long as I can remember, twice a year team owners go out and fetch themselves an experienced road course racer in an effort to tame the mountains in Sonoma, CA or the hills at Watkins Glen, NY, replacing their less-than-adequate Cup drivers that have never driven anything other than a stock car since the day they graduated from go-karts and late models.

Scrolling through this year’s entry list for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, though, at first glance it doesn’t really seem that bad. Of the 47 entries, all 7 of them are fairly familiar names to viewers that follow the Cup Series exclusively, but this year is unique in that there are also four drivers entered for the race that are full-time Cup drivers, yet they actually have more open-wheel and road course racing experience than they do driving the ovals (Patrick Carpentier, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr), not to mention two more drivers that also have their share of experience in the open wheel ranks (Robby Gordon, AJ Allmendinger).

The most notable of the changes taking place amongst the teams this year is no doubt within the ranks of Chip Ganassi Racing, where Reed Sorenson – in his second season of Cup racing – has been replaced by one of the most famous road course ringers of all, Scott Pruett. Pruett has driven in 11 road course races in the Cup Series that have resulted in 3 top-five’s and 5 top-ten finishes, and also finished 3rd earlier this year in the Corona Mexico 200 in the Nationwide Series. He does not currently compete full-time in any of racing’s premier series, and is frequently used as a hired gun of sorts, often by Ganassi. Pruett’s also won three Daytona Prototype races this year alone, including the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

My gripe on this one doesn’t necessarily lie so much with the addition of Pruett to the team for the road course race, but moreso with the seclusion of Sorenson. I’m a huge advocate of the theory that if you hired a guy to be your driver, then for Pete’s sake, let him drive! It may seem like an unlikely scenario at this point in Sorenson’s career, but what happens if the day comes that Sorenson is competing to make the coveted Chase field? You can’t pull him from the race at that point, but with minimal road course experience under his belt, you’re hurting his chances of salvaging a decent finish and moving onward to stay competitive for the Chase. Granted, that’s far from the case this season as Reed currently sits 32nd in points, but to me it’s a clear cut case of Ganassi being near-sighted … meaning that he’s only looking at the here and now, wanting to increase his odds for a win on Sunday. But, whatever happened to planning for the future? Of course, they’re doing the exact same thing over at DEI where they’re replacing young Regan Smith this weekend with the likes of Ron Fellows. Different team, but I hold the same opinion.

One driver that I’m very particularly interested to see this weekend, however, is Marcos Ambrose who will be making his Sprint Cup Series debut behind the wheel of the no. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Early in his career, Ambrose had driven in the open-wheel circuit, garnering the Formula Ford Euro Cup championship in 1998 and two V8 Supercar Championship titles in ‘03 and ‘04. He broke into the ranks of NASCAR through the Craftsman Truck Series in 2006 and then progressed to the Nationwide Series last year, where he finished 8th in points.  This year he currently sits in 13th with only 3 top-ten finishes through 16 races, but there have been several occassions where he’s looked promising, including his near-victory at the Corona Mexico 200 road course race where he finished 2nd.

And, of course, we cannot mention road course ringers without including the beloved Boris Said. Boris’ last attempt to compete in a Cup race came at the beginning of the year when he failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, but he did compete in the Nationwide Series race in Mexico, and as some of you may recall, Marcos Ambrose’s road to second traveled through the Boris’ back bumper. If you don’t remember what I’m talking about, go back and read “Ambrose is the Latest Said Head.” With no points on the line, if these two happen to cross paths at some point during the race, well, let’s just say things could get exciting really fast.

Other road course ringers on the entry list for this weekend’s race include Brian Simo, Max Papis, and Brandon Ash.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Road Course Ringers Flood Sonoma

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.

Post from: EveryJoe

An Anheuser Sellout Would Effect More Than Just The Beer

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.

Post from: EveryJoe

Ambrose Is the Latest “Said Head”

Image details: Corona Mexico 200 served by picapp.com

NASCAR superstar, Kyle Busch, recently sat down with some of the folks over at Nationwide for an exclusive Q&A session. He shares his thoughts on road course racing and what it means for him to have won in Mexico, as well as some of his keys to success in 2008.

After capturing the checkered flag south of the border, Kyle Busch had this to say:  
“It was a good run for us. We had a great race out there. You know, some pit strategy played into it somewhat there towards the middle and towards the end of the race in what was going to happen. We weren’t exactly sure which way to go, but we stuck to our plan. What we had originally anticipated on which was to pit at lap 12, pit at lap 44 to 46 and try to go the rest of the way from there. ”

“We had a caution there at the end, and when we had a green checkered flag, Marcus was pretty good at coming up there.  Fortunately, I built up a bit of a lead there, where I could hold him off. And I got by Pruitt there with a little mistake he made getting into turn four and smoking the tire. From there on out it was a sort of smooth sailing. (I was) just trying to bide my time, hit my marks, and make sure that I didn’t screw up any in order to come home with a victory.”
 
Q. This is your first win on a road course. Can you talk about that racing in this format?
A. “Obviously, being able to win my first race on a road course is pretty special anytime. It’s fun to be able to win to be able to win on a road course, because there’s only certain guys that tend to be able to do it.”
 
“We should have had some better finishes at Watkins Glen in the Cup car a couple of times. I had a shot to win there a couple of years ago.  Finally, to be able to get a win on a road course means a lot. It shows I’m capable of winning anywhere, I guess, so that’s pretty cool.”
 
Q. You’ve won three of these races in a row. Have you done anything different in these last three races compared to the first six of the season?
A. “A little bit. I think there’s been more patience in these three races, which is sort of proving dividends, I guess. Fortunately, in these three races we’ve been pretty much mistake free.  The guys on pit row have been awesome. They’ve been flawless each week and here again today, they were pretty good at getting us out and getting us a gap built up on the pit stops, even though cautions were thrown.”
 
“All in all, it’s just down to smart racing and being able to be smooth and having a good car. Everybody thinks we’re cheating or doing something, but when it comes down to it, this Joe Gibbs Racing Team is just pretty up on top of their game, and myself, I’ve been on top of the wheel. With those two combinations put together, it’s hard to beat.”
 
To hear an audio version of this interview and more about the race in Mexico CityVisit http://www.nationwide.com/about-us/busch-wins-mexico.jsp .
 
Test your knowledge about the NASCAR Nationwide series in the Up to Speed Challenge, an exciting NASCAR fantasy game, with great prizes including a $100,000 grand prize. Visit www.espn.com and enter key word “nationwide” to participate.*Thanks go out to Nancy Smeltzer for providing me with this coverage

Post from: EveryJoe

Exclusive Q&A With Kyle Busch

Image details: Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

The Sprint Cup Series was off this past week while the Nationwide Series took to the streets of Mexico City for the Corona Mexico 200 as Kyle Busch cruised to his third consecutive Nationwide Series victory. That, however, was not the headline that the sports world took away from auto racing on that day because while Kyle Busch was debating whether or not to dump Scott Pruett, Danica Patrick was out in Japan making history en route to winning the first IRL race of her career, as well as becoming the first female driver to ever win a race in that series.

In a pure incident of coincidental timing, just days before Danica broke down the barriers for females in racing, Chrissy Wallace inked a deal with Germain Racing that will have her competing full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2009.

Chrissy made her NASCAR debut just a few weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway in the Truck Series’ Kroger 250. Despite starting that race all the way back from the 35th position, she was able to find her way up to 18th by the final lap of the race. Her run was impressive enough to force the hands at Germain Racing to offer her up a contract, and they finalized the deal this past Wednesday. Chrissy will run another six races this year in the no. 03 Toyota Tundra – the first of which will be on June 20th in Milwuakee, and from there she will begin to prepare for her 2009 rookie campaign.

Regarding her signing with Germain, Chrissy stated, “I’m extremely excited. This is a big deal for us. When I saw my name on that contract, I almost couldn’t believe it. But, I’m thrilled about this opportunity.”

Chrissy comes from a long line of racers in her family, to include her father Mike Wallace, and uncles Rusty and Kenny. She has spent the majority of her amateur career racing late model stock cars, and became the first female driver to win at Hickory Motor Speedway in 57 years.  She has also earned herself the backing of the unofficial NASCAR spokesman himself, Tony Stewart, and that just simply can’t hurt matters.

The official signing of Chrissy Wallace is a huge step for NASCAR as they continue to work on building diversity within their garage areas. In recent years, the sport has added a number of drivers with foreign backgrounds, to include such names as Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, and Patrick Carpentier. They have also created and contributed to a multitude of diversity programs in an effort to help this cause. Although Chrissy certainly is not the first female to dawn a NASCAR firesuit, it certainly appears as though that she may potentially be the first to have the necessary combination of talent AND proper equipment afforded to her that it takes to win at NASCAR’s highest levels.

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You Nascar also asks its readers …

1) Do you think that Chrissy Wallace will be successful in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2009, and will she win Rookie of the Year?

2) Are female drivers often given some of their driving opportunities simply because of their market value as women?

3) Have NASCAR’s diversity programs been successful, and is the diversity they’ve added been good for the sport?

4) What could NASCAR do to expand their diversity programs?

Post from: EveryJoe

Women Charging on Cup Series’ Week Off

In the closing laps of the race, Kyle Busch – who had won the two previous Nationwide races this year – was riding on race leader Scott Pruett – who got turned around in the closing laps of last year’s race by his teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, as those two raced for the win. This year, Busch was also getting annoyed by the tough blocking of Pruett and advised his team over the radio that he would get dumped again if he kept it up.

So, with only nine laps remaining, Pruett finally let Kyle by him, as the no. 18 Toyota cruised on to Busch’s third consecutive Nationwide win, and the first NASCAR road course win of his young career. Pruett was eventually passed by Marcos Ambrose as well for second, and Pruett came across the line in third after leading 36 of the 80 laps. Carl Edwards finished 4th and Patrick Carpentier settled in at 5th.

Marcos Ambrose knocked road course specialist, Boris Said, out of the race with 28 laps left on the ticker. Following the race, Said was not very happy with Ambrose and vowed that he would settle that score with him on the track in the future, though Ambrose was quick to apologize and said that if he had it to do over again, he would.

Clint Bowyer maintained his points lead in the series with a 6th place finish, but now leads Carl Edwards by only 9 points, and the charging Kyle Busch by 66.

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Nationwide Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

“Wild Thing” Does It Again

Stan’s NASCAR career came to an end at Infineon back in 1990 when he finished 17th after getting caught up in a wreck between Ernie Irvin and Sterling Marlin. Stan was headed for a third place finish in that race, which would have qualified as his best Cup Series finish. Alas, following the race, Stan was left with an ill taste in his mouth and withdrew his name from the remaining events on the calendar.

Since then (and prior to, actually), Stan has worked primarily as a stuntman and was even the inspiration of the character “Ski Chinski” in the 1978 flick, “Hooper.” He also keeps in racing shape by competing in Go-Karts and Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) races.

Stan was 42nd fastest in the first practice session, and Stanton practiced the car in the second session. It’s still undetermined if Stan will attempt to qualify the car himself.

In Other News:
- Professional tennis star, Andy Roddick, was recently overly critical about NASCAR due to the fact that NASCAR is viewed by more fans across America than his own sport. In his comments, he eluded to the fact that he doesn’t see the spectator appeal in watching guys turn left for four hours.

- The Midwest region (primarily Illinois) was recently hit with an earthquake that registered a 5.2 magnitude on the Richter scale. Located nearby in Madison, IL (just outside of St. Louis) is Gateway International Raceway, where NASCAR holds an annual Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series event. Fortunately, the track was reported to have suffered zero damage from the quakes, and all racing will resume as planned. The next NASCAR event held here will be the Nationwide Series’ Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 held on July 19th.

Post from: EveryJoe

Barrett’s In Search of the Record Books