Beyond the Cockpit: Johnny Sauter On A New Year, Down Time And Dirt Track Racing

_After a six-week vacation, the Camping World Truck Series is back in action this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. With a victory to open the season, Johnny Sauter sits as the current points leader, and he’s got his best start to the year since he started racing full-time in the series in 2009. This week, Sauter sat down with Frontstretch.com’s Beth Lunkenheimer to talk about getting the Daytona monkey off of his back, dirt track racing and so much more._

Beth Lunkenheimer, Frontstretch.com: *To get us started, I’ve heard that the number change from the No. 13 to the No. 98 this year had to do with Mike Curb’s association with it, but is that the only reason?*

Beyond the Cockpit: Mark Sibla and the Business of INDYCAR

_The IZOD IndyCar Series returns to the track for the start of the 2013 season this weekend in St. Petersburg, and Frontstretch is here to get you up to speed on your favorite open-wheelers. As part of our season preview coverage, IndyCar Editor Toni Montgomery recently had the chance to speak with Mark Sibla, Vice President of Partner Strategy for INDYCAR, about the state of the sport. Find out how INDYCAR copes with a challenging economy, offers exceptional value to their partners, and who Sibla thinks might be the breakout driver of the year._

Toni Montgomery, Frontstretch.com: Please tell us about your background. How and when did you start in INDYCAR? Did you grow up around racing or did you come from outside and if so, how did you end up in motorsports?

Beyond The Cockpit: A NASCAR Underdog Celebrates A Career-Best Start

_It’s hard to believe it’s been five years now since a smiling, happy-go-lucky kid from Arizona came out of virtually nowhere to earn a spot with Michael Waltrip Racing. That rookie season was full of hard knocks for Michael McDowell, known more for a \"savage crash at Texas,\":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVgQjoW7i To one of the most devastating wrecks I have personally witnessed, than on-track performance. Let go from MWR following the season, it’s been a battle for the now 28-year-old to drive competitive equipment on the Cup Series level ever since._ _But one of the sport’s well-regarded “nice guys” has never stopped fighting. After years of start and parking, hoping to keep his name out there. this year’s Daytona 500 provided an opportunity he made the most of. Earning a career-best ninth place, his first top 10 in 116 starts on the Cup level McDowell hopes that performance will propel sponsorship to look towards the No. 98, underfunded Ford he drives for Phil Parsons Racing. How much money have they raised for 2013? Will NASCAR’s Gen-6 chassis provide future opportunities for the “little guy” to stay competitive? And whose friendship does this driver value, inside the garage area that will always transcend the racetrack? The outspoken driver discussed those topics, and then some with Tom Bowles in this week’s _Beyond The Cockpit._ <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Tom Bowles, Frontstretch.com:</span> *I know it’s been a couple of weeks now. But how does it feel to have gotten your first top-10 finish in the Cup Series, not just in Daytona but the sport’s biggest race?* <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">Michael McDowell:</span> Oh, it was awesome. It was a total team effort. Obviously, Daytona has a lot of variables that are different than the other racetracks. But we definitely had a great race, and a great result. It was a good opportunity. That’s what the Daytona 500 is… it’s an opportunity race. You just know that when you go to Daytona, you can have a shot at winning or you can have a shot at being in a big pileup on Lap 10. You just never know what you’re going to get when you get there. So to come away with a good finish is awesome. <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Bowles:</span> *Chad Knaus, after winning the Daytona 500 with Jimmie Johnson was bragging about how many hours straight he worked on the car. Explain for fans how much you guys put into preparing for the 500, along with the size of your team in preparing the car by comparison.* <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">McDowell:</span> I can promise you our guys put in more hours than Chad Knaus. There were six guys building the car, it was so difficult. The new car, and the jigs, and the fixtures and everything it takes actually to build one of those cars in house is just an incredible task. So our guys, Gene Nead [crew chief], Jimmy Evans, and all those guys worked I can’t even tell you how long. I think the Labor Board would come find us if I told you how many hours they worked. <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Bowles:</span> *When did you feel like you had a shot at really running well?* <div style=\"float:right; width:275px; margin: 20px; border: black solid 1px; padding: 3px;\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/15537.jpg\" width=\"275\" height=\"369\"/><p style=\"margin: 3px; text-align: left; font-weight:bold;\">Michael McDowell has toiled with a start-and-park team in hopes a sponsor will take notice and pay for a full season. Photo courtesy of Chris Graythen, Getty Images.</p></div> <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">McDowell:</span> Well, at Daytona you always do, really. With Ford and the Roush Yates engines, you just know you have a good shot when you get down there. Just getting in the pack, and having a good motor and a good body… all the other moving elements are not as important as, say Texas or Bristol or Las Vegas. So we definitely knew we’d have a shot, or an opportunity. But to go against the powerhouse teams, and do it all day long… It wasn’t just a fluke. It wasn’t like there was a 15-car pileup. We were in the top 15 all day long, and at the end made up four or five spots to get a top 10. It’s definitely a huge deal for our team. <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Bowles:</span> *Now, you guys made $100,000 more than if you blew an engine on the first lap and finished last. How much does that help you guys in terms of running entire races? Can that make a difference in starting a full race itself and running the distance?* <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">McDowell:</span> It does and it doesn’t. For one race, yes but beyond that it’s not like a huge pick-me-up. Obviously, it helps, but for every race we run unsponsored, it costs us $150,000. You have to have sponsorship to be able to run, even with that additional $100,000 you made at Daytona. That’s really just to help make sure when you get down, in the middle of the summer, and you miss one of those races, you stay in business. So this game is very difficult, and it’s so expensive to run these races so that the purse and whatnot doesn’t swing the pendulum enough. <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Bowles:</span> *Do you feel it’s gotten worse in the last couple of years, in terms of the cost making it more difficult to run on the purse?* <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">McDowell:</span> Well, I think the biggest difference now – you’ve always needed sponsorship to go racing. Especially to compete at a high level. But I think it’s harder for the small teams now. Just because of the fact that to make these races, you have to be very competitive, you have to have the latest and greatest equipment. These cars, to build them now, with how tight the templates are from the Car of Tomorrow to the Gen-6 it’s just getting harder and harder. It just makes it more expensive for the teams. The reason they’re doing it is great. I don’t disagree with it. We’re just having to adapt to that, and it’s a process. <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Bowles:</span> *You have firsthand knowledge of the Gen-6 equipment shortage, missing Phoenix. When did you know that was going to happen and how tough was that?* <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">McDowell:</span> Very tough. It’s my hometown race, I’ve got a lot of friends and family there, do a lot of prerace media for the track. I actually flew out from Daytona to Phoenix, was already there… so it was definitely tough. But we didn’t really have a choice. There was no option. We got back to the shop, and we weren’t even close. The hauler needed to leave in 12 hours, and it wasn’t even a possibility. It took everything they had just to get to Vegas, and that’s not anyone’s fault but our own. We just were too late on starting to get our cars ready, and NASCAR was very late on finalizing the rules, and templates, and fixtures and things like that. It was hard for everybody, but let’s get through the next couple of races here, get back on our feet and hopefully get some sponsorship so we can race. <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Bowles:</span> *One of the things we’ve seen early in the season is smaller teams tear up cars. With that equipment shortage, do you think preserving it (I.E. – racing conservatively) will remain an issue?* <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">McDowell:</span> For sure. Our Vegas car is our Bristol car, and our Bristol car will be our California car until we can get on our feet. So you have one bad episode, one bad wreck and you’re going to miss the next race. For us, right now we’ve just got to get through these races and get going. <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Bowles:</span> *NASCAR has done a lot with the Gen-6 in terms of what they hope will level the playing field. Have they done enough? What can they do to make it easier for you guys to compete?* <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">McDowell:</span> No. Anytime the rules change, it makes it harder. The reason is the bigger teams with bigger budgets are able to adapt quicker. They’re able to have the resources to build infrastructure and make changes quickly. Normally, what helps us is at the end of the CoT car, we were pretty good performance wise because there were enough parts and pieces trickling around, plus you have a few years under your belt with the same stuff that you can get things sorted out. When everybody has to go back to the drawing board, the guys that have the bigger Sharpies and the bigger whiteboards win. It will take a little bit longer until it balances out again. <span style=\"color:red; font-weight:bold\">Bowles:</span> *You guys announced a sponsor for Vegas, but it appeared you pulled it in early. Where are you at in terms of races you’ll run the distance?* <span style=\"color:blue; font-weight:bold\">McDowell:</span> It is week by week. We have one more race for Curb, we have one more race for K-LOVE. We’re working on lots of deals, but really right now we have two more races and that’s it. Sponsorship is key to whether or not we’re able to run, and run competitively. Like I said, we’re constantly working on it. It’s not something where we’re sitting back and waiting for a deal to show up. We’re having meetings every week with potential sponsors and it’s just a hard sell right now. It’s hard to get things rolling. So, we’ll see what happens, but the goal for us, like in years past, is stay around, stay relevant and when things start to move and shake, we’ll be in a good position. …

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Beyond the Cockpit: Daytona 500 Finish Gives Yeley Great Hope For 2013

_J.J. Yeley has seen it all during his brief Sprint Cup career. In 2006, he was chosen by Joe Gibbs as the successor to the organization’s famed No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet after the team had parted ways with 2000 champion Bobby Labonte. It seemed like Yeley had a bright career ahead of him, yet just three years later, the Arizona native was out of the sport altogether, sidelined with a neck injury suffered in a Sprint Bandits Series race at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas._

_The road back has been a long and winding one for the now 36-year-old, who bounced from one team to another trying to find the right fit. If the start of the 2013 season is any indication, though he may have found it with Tommy Baldwin Racing. Yeley’s 10th-place finish in the Great American Race was his first top 10 since the 2008 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 in New Hampshire, a consistent run that reconfirmed their status as one of the sport’s top “underdog” organizations. The performance has both driver and team brimming with confidence as they head into the desert this weekend._

Beyond the Cockpit: David Donohue

_For 45-year old Pennsylvanian David Donohue, his career is at a crossroads. After driving full-time in the Rolex Sports Car Series every year since 2003, Donohue came into the 2013 season without a full-time ride after deciding to leave Action Express Racing at the end of 2012. For Daytona, he signed on to drive the No. 16 Porsche Cayman in the new GX-class for Napleton Racing, a team that normally fields cars in Pirelli World Challenge. Napleton Racing also runs the Cayman Interseries, a spec series where teams buy race-prepped cars with directly from Napleton Porsche and race them on various courses with throwback paint schemes._

_After a special Champions’ photo-op in Gatorade Victory Lane at Daytona, Frontstretch’s own Phil Allaway caught up with the veteran driver._