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.

Post from: EveryJoe

Goodyear Was Starting to Get Loose in Turn 3 … But, They’re Straight Now

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.

Post from: EveryJoe

Kenseth Joins Roushketeer’s Uphill Charge

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

Bill Marx recently wrote an article called Who Turned the Standings Upside Down over at sportingnews.com, and to be quite honest, I just plain ol’ found it rather interesting. All Bill did was simply compare the standings this year as they sit now to what they looked like at this point last season, and highlighted some of the top comers and goers along the way. As I stated, the article peaked my interest, so I wanted to go ahead and touch up on it here as well.

Comers:
Not to be confused with rookies such as Sam Hornish Jr, or drivers who were without a ride in the Cup Series last year like Travis Kvapil, here are some of the drivers that have shown the most improvement from a purely statistical standpoint between the first portions of 2007 and 2008.

- Brian Vickers tops the list by jumping up 27 spots in the standings over the past year. After wrecking out of the Dodge Avenger 500 at Darlington in 2007, Vickers sat 43rd in points, and was well on his way to dismal season finishing outside of the top-35 in points. Now, with a new look to the Toyota-powered Camry’s, Brian has accumlated four top-15 finishes throughout the first 11 races of the season and now sits in 17th place, still holding out hope to be able to make a charge towards the Chase field.

- Kasey Kahne struggled through a nightmarish 2007 campaign. Following last year’s race at Darlington, Kahne sat 30th in points with his only top-ten finish coming in the season opening Daytona 500. This year, Kahne’s got a new sponsor and has been driving with a more patient look.  It seems to have paid off, as he now five top-10’s already – nearly matching his total from last season – and sits 14th in points, trailing the 12th place cutoff spot by a mere two points.

- David Ragan may very well top the list of surprises in 2008 by the time all is said and done. David came into the season completely under almost everyone’s radar, and was widely expected to be competing with teammate, Jamie McMurray, to maintain the fourth spot with Roush-Fenway Racing following 2009. At this point last year, Ragan was 26th in points and eventually finished 23rd. Now, he is the envy of several drivers behind him in the standings, as he sits in 12th and has the looks of a kid on the verge of attaining his first Cup victory.

Go’ers:
- Matt Kenseth has to be as much of a surprise to the average NASCAR fan as anything else that’s happened this year. Matt has made the Chase field ever since the format’s inception into NASCAR, but could very well be on the verge of missing out this year. At this time in 2007, Kenseth was third in points with a win, five top-5’s, and eight top-ten’s under his belt. After a losing crew chief, Robbie Reiser, for “the sake of the team”, he’s a lowly 20th in points with only one top-5 and five top-10’s to his credit, and he trails the Chase cutoff by 153 points.

- Kurt Busch was in 7th place at this point last year, but started to struggle shortly after. Things appeared to be back on track, though, after adding crew chief, Pat Tryson, to the mix late in the season and making some strong runs to close the year out. Kurt came into ‘08 with high expectations, but so far, it’s been all younger brother, Kyle, as far as the Busch family’s concerned. He is now 22nd in the standings – a distant 194 points from the Chase cutoff – and, his only top-ten finish came in the season opener at Daytona.

Season’s Biggest Points Movers:
Brian Vickers (+17) – 2008 Rank:  17th  /  2007 Rank:  43rd
Michael Waltrip (+24) – 2008 Rank:  32nd  /  2007 Rank:  56th
Kasey Kane (+16) – 2008 Rank:  14th  /  2007 Rank:  30th
David Ragan (+14) – 2008 Rank:  12th  /  2007 Rank:  26th
Paul Menard (+14) – 2008 Rank:  24th  /  2007 Rank:  38th

Season’s Biggest Points Losers:
Matt Kenseth (-17) – 2008 Rank:  20th  /  2007 Rank:  3rd
JJ Yeley (-16) - 2008 Rank:  36th  /  2007 Rank:  20th
Kurt Busch (-15) – 2008 Rank:  22nd  /  2007 Rank:  7th
Jamie McMurray (-11) – 2008 Rank:  23rd  /  2007 Rank:  12th
Elliott Sadler (-11) – 2008 Rank:  28th  /  2007 Rank:  17th

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

1. Will David Ragan be able to maintain his current streak and make the 2008 Chase field?
2. Can either Kurt Busch and/or Matt Kenseth rebound in time to make this year’s Chase?
3. What driver has had the most pleasantly surprising turnaround between this season and last?
4. What driver has been the biggest disappointment in 2008?

In a related article, please visit Trouble in Turn 2 to read Mike Muraska’s article, Elevators and Imitators, where he distinguishes between some of the drivers’ current position in the points standings and their actual driver ratings.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tale of the Last 12 Months