A Glimmer Of Hope For Small Teams, Sponsors
Sponsorship woes: it seems like they’re everywhere in NASCAR these days, and the reality is that they are. Even some of the sport’s biggest names, …
By Amy Henderson
Brendan Gaughan Driver Diary: A Racing Deal, Shark Diving, and the Nerd Machine
It really kind of stinks for the team the way the schedule is set us, because you don't get in a rhythm. You go one race, and you know, for the guy that wins at Daytona, it's great. He gets a month and half of being the only winner and the points leader. But for the rest of us, we want to get racing. With the RCR bunch, I was supposed to go to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was really smart on Richard's part; we took my whole truck team. Because the Truck Series was off, we took my truck team, and they were working on the car, and Danny Stockman and the No. 3 team in the Nationwide shop set the car up and then we took it and let our boys do the nuts and bolts. We took our truck, our trailer, and we sat in Las Vegas and watched it rain. That was a big bummer for all the boys. But that's part of the deal; no biggie. Now, we're having a busy stretch of testing. I'm sitting right now at Motor Mile in Radford, Virginia, testing all day. We leave Sunday for Texas Motor Speedway, so we're busy right now. It's not like we're just sitting on our butts saying, 'hmm, what do we do?' We're keeping busy and learning a bunch, but it does stink, because as a racer, you want to race. You want to get in a rhythm, you want to keep going, and you just kind of sit here going, 'Okay, well, I've got time off. My car chief took a vacation. One of our guys just had a baby, so it's nice for him…' but all of us are sitting here thinking that we want to get to the track and race. The Truck Series needs to have a couple more races. The real reason for that being the sponsors; we've got to give them value for their dollar, and 22 races is not enough to give the sponsor value. It didn't save us money; it didn't save the teams a whole bunch of money having three fewer races. NASCAR knows this, and they tried to add a couple races to the schedule. They're still trying. They didn't get it worked out. They added a road course, they added the dirt track, so they've taken some bold steps. We've heard they're going to add a new short track to the schedule next year. They'll probably gain a track somewhere, so we'll probably get back to the right number of races. That's all you can really do, just add races. We need about three or four more races for the trucks. There's a big gap here where you could add one or two. There's another gap where you could maybe add one. I don't think it's anything that's vital; it just isn't good from the sponsor end because we needs those races for sponsor value. <div style=\"float:right; width:275px; margin: 20px; border: black solid 1px; padding: 3px;\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/14494.jpg\" width=\"275\" height=\"181\"/><p style=\"margin: 3px; text-align: left; font-weight:bold;\">Find out how Brendan Gaughan has spent the long early season truck series break. It's probably not what you expect!</p></div> Our Chevy was fast at Daytona. It was way fast. It was a bummer. Everybody looks at it and some people say, \"what the hell, you're an idiot,\" and some people say they saw what happened. It depends on your point of view. I made a mistake on pit road that put us back further than we should have been. Then you only have one more stop to make the difference, and the guy that is pitting in the stall right in front of me happens to be two spots ahead of me on the race track. So, you want to get in front of him because that's the guy who gives you a good opening on pit road. I wanted to get by him, I set the deal up for about five laps. I kept watching Newberry, and the kid's never been to Daytona, so he's just trying to bide his time and be patient, but I kept making him look outside, and I made him open a hole. I was intentionally doing something to get him to open a hole. He opened the hole and I went through the hole. Once you're in the hole, I'm now basically at the mercy of somebody else to sit there and do the right thing. As soon as he felt me, he should have just moved back up, but he did not. And look, he'll never do that again. There's a difference as a driver. If I'm at your rear bumper, just barely in there, yeah, I need to get out of there. If I'm pushing at your bumper, I'm not there. But if I'm at your rear tire, there's no more 'pretty much;' I'm there. So it's a deal where, he's a good kid, he made a mistake. You can say I got impatient, I got this or that. I had a reason to get there, and it wasn't impatience. I spent laps setting it up. It was just a racing thing. I got put in a bad spot—I put myself in a bad spot. He got in a spot where he could have got himself out of it, because once I committed, there's no getting out of there. There's no hitting brakes or anything like that. It's not a big deal. It was just a racing gig, that's all. It stinks for points, but we're going to go to Martinsville, my favorite place in the world, and we're going to go there and win a race. We spent a lot of time during the offseason at our family's house in Colorado. We went up to Colorado and I had my 25-month-old skiing with me, and we went from the top of the mountain to the bottom. He's 25 months old and we went from the top of Vail Mountain to our house at the bottom. As a father, I don't know if there's any cooler of a feeling than watching your son accomplish something like that and being a part of that. It was so neat. I've been skiing since I was two and a half. It was just so invigorating to have my son and do that. It was neat. And then the new baby, there's a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of bottles and poopy diapers, but it's all worth it. It's all great. Now it's race time, and they travel to a lot of races with me. I got a new sponsor, Alliance Coach. For the last couple of years, they gave me a coach for Daytona, because we're there for two weeks. Well, I finally talked them into giving me a deal for the year. The main reason for that is I can't expect Tatum and the babies to come and stay in a hotel if they're going to come watch a race. I've got to have a motor coach, a place for them to be. Alliance stepped up and gave me a sponsorship, and I go pick up my motor coach in a couple of days, and I'm excited about that. Now I get to have the babies at a bunch of races with me, and that makes me happy! I'm a Dive Master for Lake Norman SCUBA. I do a whole lot of diving. As a matter of fact, I have a trip planned during one of our breaks, where I'm going out to this middle-of-nowhere island. I'm really excited about it. I'm taking the owners of Lake Norman SCUBA and a bunch of friends from Colorado and my wife, and the grandparents are going to watch the babies, and we're going to go do a big dive trip. I'll dive anything. This place we're going to, there's no shipwrecks; it's all big animals. We're going in a season that has schooling hammerheads, whale sharks, giant Pacific rays—it's a big animal place. I tech dive; I'm a dive master, and I'm working on getting my instructor rating. I do a lot of diving and enjoy the hell out of it. My favorite place to dive is this island called Soccoro Island. It's a protected area off of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. It's like the Galapagos of Mexico. It's phenomenal. The giant Pacific manta rays are the most gorgeous animals you'll ever see. Shark diving is fun. Stephen Spielburg created a phenomenon that lives to this day. I love diving with sharks. There are a ton of sharks out there. We're hoping this year to see schooling hammerheads and whale sharks. I could go to heaven then, it would be amazing. It's unbelievable how the rays are. They're like dolphins almost; they're very social animals. They come and play with you forever, it's just really impressive. That's my favorite place to go right now. I'm a tech diver, and what tech diving means is that I can go past what's called the decompression limit of recreational diving. I can go deeper than that; 225 feet is my max depth right now. To do that, you carry four tanks, two on your back and two on your chest. I've been to the USS Oriskany that's off the coast of Florida. The cool thing about the Oriskany is that that's the boat that John McCain took off from when he got shot down in the Vietman War and became a POW. I've been inside it, we penetrated the wreck, and I've gone to the bottom of it at 220 feet down. I love tech diving. It's a phenomenal time. I love my diving. If I can be underwater or on a mountain skiing, that's where you'll find me. There's a new Star Wars movie coming out in 2015. Lucas is a genius. He took some heat over the first three movies, so he got mad and sold the rights to Disney. They're probably the only company that has the money to do that correctly. I love the director; I do know the storylines and what they're supposed to be like. I can't wait to see what it's going to look like on film. I'm pumped. I can't wait until they come out. To watch them filmed would be another one of those heaven-type moments. It's cool. I'm waiting for them I think it's going to be done well, and they have the right people doing it. In this world, it doesn't matter if you're a race car driver or a movie producer, you need the right people. Those deals are so cool. I'm just a geek like that. Have you seen my race helmet? It's called the Nerd Machine helmet. If you watched the TV show _Chuck_, it was a TV show about a computer geek that became a spy and a computer got put in his head. He worked for the Nerd Herd, which was like the Geek Squad, but he was just this everyday computer geek that became a CIA agent. I've had a chance to meet him, the guy that owns this, and they have a Website called the Nerd Machine. I'm a big dork. I'm a _Chuck_ nerd, I'm a Comic-Con kind of guy, and I've got the Nerd Machine logo on my helmet. *Connect with Brendan Gaughan!* <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com/Brendan62\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6502.jpg\"></a><a href=\"http://www.brendangaughan.com\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/11799.jpg\"><br> \"Contact Amy Henderson\":http://www.frontstretch.com/contact/14352/
_Looking for the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How behind Sunday's race? Amy Henderson has you covered with each week with the answers to six race day questions, covering all five W’s and even the H…the Big Six._ *Who…gets my shoutout of the race?* While he only led 12 laps on Sunday, *Brad Keselowski* reminded everyone why he's the reigning champion on Sunday. Keselowski waged fierce on-track battles for position all day long and never once backed down from a challenge. His dogged fight with Kyle Busch for third place showed what the 29-year-old is made of. Keselowski never gave an inch, but he never crossed the line into over-aggression, though he's had issues with Busch in the past. What did Keselowski show on Sunday that makes him a champion? First, he's willing to take a risk during a race, even if it's not for the lead. Lots of drivers are willing to settle for a point or two less in the late going rather than risking a crash and the loss of many points, but Keselowski isn't. Two, he knows that if you ruffle too many feathers, it will come back to bite you. He races as hard as anybody, but with nothing but respect (though he will drive others the way they driver him if he feels the need to send a reminder), and that means his peers will remember that down the road. Three, Keselowski knows how to take care of his equipment while racing for a top finish, and that's not something that just anyone can do. In short, if anyone doubts that Brad Keselowski is the real deal after his 2012 title, they had better adjust their thinking in a hurry—this driver is goin to be a title contender for years to come. *What… was THAT?* It was kind of funny that when NASCAR VP of Competition Robin Pemberton discussed the fine levied against Denny Hamlin last week for his comments about the new Gen-6 cars being difficult to race, he said that constructive criticism was acceptable. Really? Because if you listen to the comments Hamlin was fined for, that's exactly what they were. They didn't slam the car or the racing, unlike the comments fired by Kyle Busch when the CoT was rolled out (Busch as not fined for flat out saying the car sucked). I'm sure the back helicopters were circling for the conspiracy-minded when Hamlin, who has said he will not pay NASCAR's fine, was penalized for speeding on pit road, too. So what gives? For fans who want to hear their favorite drivers discuss their races and not off-track news, *it has to be frustrating knowing they're being throttled at every attempt and will soon be afraid to say anything*. This is exactly the type of thing that makes so many drivers seem so very bland—they're afraid to bite the hand that feeds them, be it sponsor or sanctioning body. It doesn't matter how genuine or funny they are outside the sound bites, because a lot of people aren't looking beyond the broadcasts to see their personalities. If NASCAR—and team sponsors—want to see more fans following them, they need to consider what's really important here. And this week, NASCAR failed miserably to put things in perspective. *Where…did the defending race winner wind up?* For Tony Stewart, winning at Las Vegas last spring was the case of a driver still riding the wave of momentum from his 2011 Cup title, and it made Stewart an early favorite to repeat in 2012. It was the first of three wins for Stewart last year, but not the start of a fourth overall title run. Stewart, who has been known to heat up with the weather, didn't get nearly as hot as the summer sun, and his repeat bid faded to a ninth-place points result. This week's performance, while not as engaging as a year ago, was more in line with Stewart's career numbers at LVMS. Stewart finished *11th* on Sunday, slightly ahead of his 12.7 average finish. Last year's winning performance was the only Vegas victory for Stewart, who was not among the eight drivers to lead this week. Still, it was uneventful, and that's exactly what Stewart needs after finishing 41st at Daytona. After finishing eighth last week, Stewart climbed to 18th in driver points this week, up five sports form Phoenix. *When…will I be loved?* I'm sure there will be fans clamoring to blame the Gen-6 car for a lack of competitiveness on Sunday, but here's the thing: it could, and did, pass without getting all upset. What it couldn't do (and neither could its predecessor) was catch the cars in front of it. I heard a rumor that NASCAR is considering limiting horsepower using a graduated spacer like they use in the Nationwide Series, but that's not enough. *If NASCAR wants tighter racing, they need to slow the cars down by about 30 miles an hour.* There are several ways they could limit the horsepower if they chose to do so. Faster isn't always better, and as speeds rise, the racing is getting less and less competitive. Couple that with the points racing NASCAR has created (that's all on them), and well, you get what you saw Sunday. The Gen-6 can race side by side, and it can pass, but it can't fix problems NASCAR won't address in the right way. *Why…worry now?* It's still a whole lot of too early to pick favorites to make the Chase, let alone win the title, but there are a few trends forming early that warrant a look. *Hendrick Motorsports* is looking strong early, with all four of its drivers in the top 14 in points, including point leader Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in third. Johnson and Earnhardt, in particular, look to be very comfortable in the Gen-6 cars at this point, and Kasey Kahne is rapidly catching on. Still, it's very early, and an advantage with the Gen-6 now doesn't mean it will still be there when the Chase rolls around, and there are other teams looking to pounce as they gain on the car. *Roush Fenway Racing* has three drivers in the top 11, including last week's winner, Carl Edwards, and rookie Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Greg Biffle and Stenhouse stumbled a bit at LVMS, though, while Edwards put up a fifth-place run. What puts RFR just a tick behind Hendrick in recent years is the team's seeming inability to sustain top finishes for all three teams; at least one has been a step behind as the season wears on. Brad Keselowski is picking up right where he left off for *Penske Racing* as the only driver with three straight top-5 runs to open 2013, but new teammate Joey Logano hasn't gotten up to speed as quickly, having yet to score a top-10 finish. *Joe Gibbs Racing* should be there when it counts, but engine and mechanical woes have plagued them early. Matt Kenseth's birthday win was a step in the right direction, and Kenseth knows how to win a title—something neither Denny Hamlin nor Kyle Busch has proven able to do yet. Finally, *Michael Waltrip Racing* is looking to show that 2012 wasn't a fluke, and are off to a good start, with both Mark Martin and Clint Bowyer in the top 10 (though Martin won't stay there due to a partial schedule; the team could still post a strong owner point run). *How…did the little guys do?* *Furniture Row Racing; Kurt Busch* (No. 78 Furniture Row / Serta Chevy): FRR was the only small team to land among the top 20 on Sunday, with Busch's 20th-place effort. Busch was the first driver to finish a lap down to Matt Kenseth, but it looked to be a 50-50 proposition for the Earnhardt-Childress Engine crowd this week anyway; while Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard finished in the top 10, Busch and Jeff Burton finished the day midpack, with Busch besting Burton by six spots. *Phoenix Racing; Austin Dillon* (No. 51 Tag Heuer Chevy): Dillon had a solid day given the equipment he's in. His 21st-place finish was second-best among this group, not bad for a driver with limited experience on a track where the small teams are unlikely to compete with the poerhouses. It was also Dillon's best result in his four-race Cup experience, so it wasn't a bad day for this team, just an average one. *Wood Brothers Racing; Trevor Bayne* (No 21 Motorcraft Ford): Bayne is a better intermediate-track driver than his Cup results show, but he's one of the drivers whose day hinges more on the engine the team is given from Roush-Yates, and Wood Brothers is about eighth in line in that hierarchy. Bayne finished the day a lap down in 23rd place. *Tommy Baldwin Racing; Dave Blaney & J.J. Yeley*(No 7 SANY Chevy & No. 36 Accell Construction Chevy): It wasn't an easy day for the TBR drivers, but it wasn't a start & park day, either. This is a team that wants to go the distance every week, but were often forced to the garage early last year when the money wasn't there. Blaney had the better finish of the two TBR drivers on Sunday, finishing 24th, a lap behind the leaders, while Yeley had a rougher go of it, ending the West Coast trip eight laps down in 36th. *Front Row Motorsports; David Ragan & Josh Wise & David Gilliland* (No. 34 Ford & No. 35 MDS Transport' Riviera Hotel & Casino Ford & No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford): Just one of the three FRM cars managed a top-30 result in Sin City, with David Gilliland leading the team to a 28th-place finish. Unsponsored David Ragan ended up 31st, and Josh Wise came home 35th, seven laps down. This is one team who is probably glad NASCAR did away with the top 35 rule-not one of the FRM cars is among that group this year so far. *Germain Racing; Casey Mears* (No. 13 GEICO Ford): Here is a team that's shown vast improvement in the last couple of years-Mears entered the day 19th in driver points after a top 15 run last week and has been strong in the last several restrictor-plate races—but is in the same boat as the other small teams on the intermediate tracks. Perhaps even a smaller, leaker boat; if Wood Bros. Racing is eighth in the engine line, Germain is somewhere between ninth and 12th every week, and that shows up on this type of track. Mears also fought an ill-handling car all day en route to his 29th-place finish, two laps off the pace. *JTG-Daugherty Racing; Bobby Labonte* (No. 47 Kingsford Toyota): Labonte had a tough day on Sunday, going for a spin late in the race. Still, the veteran driver was able to recover enough to finish 30th, four laps behind. Labonte may not be the championship driver he once was, and he's certainly not in championship caliber equipment, but one thing you can say for the 2000 champ is that if he can find a way to salvage at least a halfway decent run, he will do it. *Swan Racing; David Stremme* (No. 30 Swan Racing / Lean1 Toyota): Perhaps the most memorable moment for this team on Sunday was in the closing laps, when Matt Kenseth was pleading with his spotter to ask lapped traffic to give him the top lane, and Stremme was the only one to challenge him, giving Kenseth and his fans a momentary fright before their victory. Still, this new team was running at the end and not in the garage as so many start-ups find themselves early. Stremme wound up six laps behind Kenseth in 32nd spot. …
_Charles Schultz,_ the creator of The Peanuts, crafted a line of books that followed the idea of: _Happiness is…_ Each page depicted different things from which a person should find - guess what? - happiness. The overall concept showed how the emotion comes in many forms, blah blah blah… this idea is not one that requires any kind of advanced degree. Well, Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway should, like Schultz's book serve to bring a little bit of happiness to everyone that follows NASCAR. Was the race outstanding? No, but it was not terrible either. For the first time, perhaps this season the racing the Gen-6 car provided gave fans at least a few solid nuggets of hope to hang their hats on. Let’s get the negatives out of the way first, ones we've heard too often in recent weeks. First, by lap 35, the gap between first and tenth had already grown to ten seconds, which would hardly establish competitive racing. Even worse, by lap 60, half of the field had already fallen a lap behind. Maybe that is growing pains with the Gen-6 car, or maybe something was amiss, but any time half the Sprint Cup grid is already down a lap, a quarter into the race something is problematic. And then, almost by script, the mysterious debris caution arrived at lap 66. Any fan could have predicted this occurrence – they are as routine as Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, and taxes. Or the sun rising in the morning. To the surprise of no one, the magical debris failed to be shown. No need to mention the caution on lap 160 – just another reason to bunch the field, even though not only did Marcos Ambrose not spin, but blended back into traffic. Whatever. So where’s the good stuff, the happiness? Glad you asked. *Happiness is…* Darrell Waltrip. Thank you, Darrell Waltrip. You gave us another one. With “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity†as stale as a bag of marshmallows opened in 1998, you gave us another word to add to our lexicon. On lap 127, Waltrip referred to a gaggle of cars that impeded the leader Jimmie Johnson as a \"debalacle.\" The spelling may not be right, but any time viewers get treated to a mix of debacle, diabolical, and bottleneck all in one word, then everyone has gained something. What that something is – yet to be determined. Feel free to impress everyone by using debalacle in your conversations. Oh, right, there was racing. *Happiness is…* Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne battling to the end. Kahne looked like the proverbial \"class of the field\" all day, and when the green flag dropped on those last laps, Kenseth appeared to be nothing but a stepping stone on the way to Kahne’s victory. As Lee Corso would be happy to deliver – not so fast, my friend. Kahne could not muster the speed to pass Kenseth, even though the two of them ran within car lengths the final 20 laps. Was it good racing? The easy answer is yes. The more philosophical answer is: well, it wasn’t bad. *Happiness is…* The third and fourth place cars of Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch battling for position. Fans have indicated that they want to see more racing on the track and with dual battles for the top 4 spots, there's reason to believe that some of what fans have been looking for might be showing up at the track, more consistently soon. Setting aside the fact that first and second had run away from the field, there's a sense of encouragement to be gleaned from a weekend in Sin City. The cars in the top 10 all raced with a certain amount of competitiveness; Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Martin Truex, Jr. also were side-by-side at the end for seventh. One of the intentions of this car was to encourage this type of racing, on intermediates once again. It is possible, that even with a modicum of success they might have found something to work with down the road. *Happiness is…* Tires not being a factor. Kenseth drove to the victory on old tires and there was nary an issue throughout the race. After the problems that many faced at Phoenix, having their treads last so long allowed for crew chiefs and drivers to opt for varying strategies. Of course, the flip side of this notion is that Goodyear still has yet to make a tire that degrades in a way that provides tactical decision-making. But hey, it was better to watch drivers actually turn laps rather than waiting for one to pound it into the wall with another right-front blown like last week. *Happiness is…* Keeping your mouth shut. What’s that you say, Denny Hamlin? NASCAR showed its totalitarian rule by muzzling Hamlin and sending a message to all its drivers. With a программа, or program, straight out of the Cold War, the \"powers that be\" again showed a lack of vision. Isn’t the United States the country who established that whole freedom of speech idea? That may be the case, but it does not cover criticizing NASCAR. Tsk tsk, Denny, didn’t you know? *Happiness is…* Watching the cars a lap down have to race each other. Though FOX focused on the leaders, and for this race, with some good reason, many of the position battles in the back of the field were competitive. Overall, this notion indicates that while some teams may have nailed the Las Vegas set-up, that those still figuring it out are all in the same situation and will be fighting each other race by race. The monster organizations like Joe Gibbs, Hendrick, Roush, and even Childress are all going to sit in the front, as the past two races illustrate. The fluctuation, however, between those outside of the top 10 might be some of the more interesting competition as the season progresses. *Happiness is…* …
The 2012 season saw Sam Hornish Jr. solid but winless in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, despite ending 2011 on a high note with his first career win. Just three races into 2013, it's already another story entirely. Saturday, the driver of Penske Racing's No. 12 rolled into victory lane at Las Vegas for his second NASCAR win. His win didn't come easy. Though Hornish led four times for a total of 114 out of 200 laps, he was hotly pursued by Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers, the former attempting to score his second straight victory in the series after dominating at Phoenix. The threat of the hometown hero snagging a win coupled with the possibility of fuel mileage becoming a factor by race's end created a formidable match for the Defiance, Ohio, native, Hornish prevailed in the Sam's Town 300. Lady Luck didn't smile on a number of drivers during the race. Perhaps the most notable stroke of bad luck was the race's final caution, which saw rookie Kyle Larson total another car after getting caught up in a wreck with fellow youngster Joey Gase. Overall, the caution flag flew eight times for 37 laps, five of those for crash-related incidents. Winning pushed Hornish into the overall points lead after entering the race tied for first with Justin Allgaier. He now leads the standings by 19 over Allgaier, who could only manage a finish of 15th, one lap down. <div style=\"float:right; width:275px; margin: 20px; border: black solid 1px; padding: 3px;\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/15519.jpg\" width=\"275\" height=\"178\"/><p style=\"margin: 3px; text-align: left; font-weight:bold;\">Sam, Hornish, Jr. was the class of the field in the Sam's Town 300, leadin 114 laps en route to his second career victory.</p></div> Victory at his home track eluded Busch once again, but the driver of the No. 54 still finished a close second, followed by teammate Vickers in third. Trevor Bayne recovered from an early scuffle with Larson to finish fourth, while Elliott Sadler rounded out the top five. <b>Worth Noting</b> <b>The Good</b> <b>Sam Hornish Jr.</b> is rarely thought of as a major contender in the points race, but after a strong second half in 2012 and great start to 2013, it's time to change that. Many have said that in order for Hornish to win the championship, he simply had to win more. A win in the third race of the season isn't bad, is it? Plus, while it's early, a 19-point lead over second is sizable. Look out, Joe Gibbs Racing. Vegas saw <b>a lack of Cup regulars</b> in the field despite it being a companion event. Besides Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski were the only other major competitors, and Earnhardt wasn't even a factor at all, experiencing a flat tire late in the race to set him back, while Keselowski had a vibration mess up his day. Many cars sometimes housing Cup regulars either had younger guys (see: No. 33, Ty Dillon; No. 5, Brad Sweet) or didn't even travel to the track at all (see: No. 18). <b>The Bad</b> <b>Brad Keselowski</b> seemed to have something for his teammate, but after leading 18 laps, his No. 22 started a vibration that eventually ruined his day, relegating him to a disappointing 37th-place finish, 58 laps down. Luckily for Hornish, the same problems didn't affect his No. 12 to the same extent. <b>Eric McClure</b> kicked off 2013 with his first-ever top-10 Nationwide Series finish, a cool feat for a guy who's been running for quite a while. In the succeeding two races? 29th at Phoenix with an engine issue, and now a 40th in Vegas after an oil pump ended his race before it had even really began. It's a tough break for a veteran driver whose season started off on such a high note. <b>The Ugly</b> Three races, two wrecked cars. The year hasn't been kind to <b>Kyle Larson</b>, though his final result of 32nd was not his fault. While racing for the lead with Trevor Bayne, Bayne drifted up the track, clipping Larson's No. 32 and sending him into the wall. And later, Ryan Sieg ran into a slowing Joey Gase, knocking Gase into Larson's car and finishing it off entirely. Larson's bad luck puts him a mere 14th in points, which is a tough hole out of which to climb, despite it being only the year's third race. <b>Rain</b> canceled both Nationwide and Cup Series qualifying Friday, ending the weekend prematurely for Brendan Gaughan and Kevin Swindell, whose teams were showing up to the track for the first time in 2013. You have to feel for Gaughan especially; not only is Vegas his home track, but he also has a good history at the speedway, finishing fifth in a Richard Childress Racing car one year prior. And Swindell had been impressive in Biagi-DenBeste Racing's No. 98 during a limited trial in 2012; Vegas could have been more of the same for the part-time team. <b>Underdog Performer of the Race:</b> After becoming a casualty of the qualifying rain-out in Cup, <b>Mike Bliss</b> kept his No. 19 – a back-up car from teammate Eric McClure – out of trouble, coming home 17th overall. Considering McClure's misfortune, I think his fans, who dub themselves \"Blissfits,\" were mighty excited indeed. Alternate shoutout goes to Ryan Sieg, who finished 18th in only his second Nationwide start, subbing for Jeremy Clements. <b>Ill-Gotten Gains</b> Start-and-parkers occupied two of the 40 starting positions in Saturday’s race, taking home $29,230 in purse money. Cup regulars scored one of the top 10 finishing positions, occupied four of the 40 starting positions, and took home $117,475 in purse money. <b>The Final Word</b> Kyle Busch didn't win. Is that good enough? Hint: It sure is. And Sam Hornish, who was on the cusp of breaking out in 2012 but never really got there completely, won a race and leads the points by a wide margin. Vegas didn't answer a lot of questions, nor did it pose many, but it has continued to establish Hornish as a guy to beat in 2013. Chances are he won't be throwing a Cup ride into the equation halfway through like he did last year, so the added focus might do well for him. If Saturday was any indication, he's a force to be reckoned with, especially if he can continue to drive past Busch as he did. *Connect with Kevin!* …
_Did you miss an event during this busy week in racing? How about a late-night press release, an important sponsorship rumor, or a juicy piece of news? If you did, you’ve come to the right place! Each week, The Frontstretch will break down the racing, series by series, to bring you the biggest stories that you need to watch going forward for the week ahead. Let our experts help you get up to speed for the coming week, no matter what series you might have missed, all in this edition of Pace Laps!_ *Sprint Cup: Kenseth Clawing Forward In No Time* Just three races removed from Roush Fenway Racing, after choosing a fresh start Matt Kenseth is making his presence felt with new owner Joe Gibbs. The driver winning on his birthday, just the third driver in Cup Series history to do so was special enough. But to cash in at Vegas, a place his former employer has dominated - Roush had captured seven of 15 Cup races here entering Sunday - made him that much more emotional. Everything, from screaming at his spotter during the final laps to thanking the Lord post-race felt out of character for the usually even-keeled, deadpan humor type from Wisconsin we've come to know. But it's clear that, whether it's disrespect he felt at RFR or simply nervousness about such a major career decision Kenseth has felt the need for instant success. \"I felt a lot of pressure that I put on myself to come in here and perform,\" he said. \"My goal was to win and to win early. You don't want to disappoint people.\" Clearly, Kenseth has done anything _but_ that, tied for seventh in the standings despite a DNF in this year's Daytona 500. In that one, he had the fastest car, putting forth a dominant performance before being sidelined by engine woes. Leading the circuit with 128 laps led, Kenseth has proven already the versatility required to be a champion. Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski, above him have better consistency; but overall, through the first three races it appears JGR, through Kenseth, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin have better overall speed. Will the two titans at the top have to make room for Kenseth and his crew? Early accounts point to a resounding \"yes.\" Kenseth has gotten off to this type of start before, winning the first two races of the season back in '09 but what we saw Sunday was a type of resolve that won't lend itself to a summer slowdown. Ladies and gentlemen, get used to the No. 20 running up front, consistently once again throughout 2013. _Tom Bowles_ *Nationwide: Vegas Is Sam's Town, Indeed…* A 36-race losing streak might pale in comparison to, say, Carl Edwards's 70-race run snapped at Phoenix, but for Sam Hornish Jr., a win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series couldn't come soon enough. Despite top equipment and a fourth-place finish in 2012 points, Hornish went without a win after his victory at Phoenix in late 2011, but the dry spell was snapped at Las Vegas in the Sam's Town 300. Hornish still may not be a favorite for the series title over the formidable lineup at Joe Gibbs Racing, but he takes a 19-point advantage into Bristol this weekend. Sure, that track can be unpredictable and the Penske driver could lose all of his lead and then some to pursuers Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler, but that big a lead is still that big a lead, and provides the Ohioan with a nice cushion. Last year he was a dark horse. This year, consider him a front runner. _Kevin Rutherford_ *ARCA: Enfinger Gets His Chance To Shine* Sometimes, good guys do finish first. Grant Enfinger has been a mainstay on the ARCA circuit for several years, trying in vain since '09 to win a series event. In the meantime, he's won in just about every other car he's ever driven but bad luck has caused potential ARCA victories to elude him… until this weekend. Mobile International Speedway is Enfinger's home track, for all intents and purposes and the perfect place for the veteran to \"cash in.\" When he rolled into Victory Lane, it was one of the biggest cheers heard in a long time at an ARCA race. The only louder cheer on Saturday was when Enfinger donned an Alabama Crimson Tide baseball cap during the victory celebration. 15-year-old Kyle Benjamin gave Enfinger a run for his money in his first ever ARCA start. Leading 26 laps, Benjamin was at the point when Enfinger grabbed the lead for the final time on a restart. Benjamin was making a move to reassume first place, putting himself in position when a final caution flew. Enfinger held the teenager off on a final restart to score his first win for himself and BCR racing. In addition to Benjamin, Anderson Bowen, another 15-year-old, crossed the finish line in third as the \"young guns\" took center stage. The two youngsters are 63 years younger than James Hylton, the 77-year-old driver who is the oldest competitor in the ARCA series. _Mike Neff_ *Short Tracks: Big Names Off To Big Starts* Lee Pulliam had a storybook 2012 that culminated with his claiming the National Championship in the Whelen All-American Series. The third-place finisher in the points last season was C.E. Falk. The two of them split the twin features at South Boston Speedway to kick off the season for the storied race track. Pulliam followed that win with a victory at Caraway Speedway, on Sunday as the Asheboro track started off their season as well. If this weekend is any indication, Pulliam and Falk might be preparing to have a season long duel for the National title. There are thousands of drivers across the United States that will have something to say about who takes the crown, but these two are certainly setting up to duke it out for supremacy in the state of Virginia if not the nation. Ronnie Bassett Jr. had some success during 2012 but he also had some difficulties. Bassett was disqualified from two different UARA races and was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR after a dispute about caution flag positioning during the Virginia is for Racing Lovers' 300. As the UARA kicked off their 2013 season, Bassett was back in Victory Lane, taking the win at Southern National Motorsports Park. Bassett finished off 2012 with four wins at the track so he obviously knows his way around. It will be interesting to see, should he be reinstated by NASCAR, will he run for the UARA title or begin chasing a NASCAR championship of some sort? _Mike Neff_ *Connect with Tom!* <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com/NASCARBowles\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6502.jpg\"></a><br> \"Contact Tom Bowles\":http://www.frontstretch.com/contact/14345/ *Connect with Kevin!* <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com/surfwax83\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6502.jpg\"></a><a href=\"http://facebook.com/surfwaxamerica\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6501.jpg\"></a><br> \"Contact Kevin Rutherford\":http://www.frontstretch.com/contact/37802/ *Connect with Beth!* <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com/Beth_Frntstrtch\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6502.jpg\"></a><a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/writerbeth\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6501.jpg\"></a><br> \"Contact Beth Lunkenheimer\":http://www.frontstretch.com/contact/14353/ *Connect with Rick!* <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com/FrntstretchRick\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6502.jpg\"></a><a href=\"http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003916630748\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6501.jpg\"></a> \"Contact Rick Lunkenheimer\":http://www.frontstretch.com/contact/38029/ *Connect with Mike!* <a href=\"http://www.twitter.com/mneffshorttrack\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/6502.jpg\"></a><br> …
Let's Be Realistic: Putting Gen-6 Expectations In Perspective
The complaints are raining down fast and heavy about NASCAR's new Gen-6 race cars—they can't pass, they don't draft well. Even the drivers have been in on the discussion; Denny Hamlin got a fine from NASCAR for his complaints about the car after the race at Phoenix last week. Everyone seems ready to jump on the \"Gen Sux\" bandwagon after two races this year. Now hold on a minute. Wasn't this the car that was supposed to save NASCAR and make all the races full of on-track action? Well, yes. But there are two things going on here that are fueling the complaints. One, perhaps the expectation that a redesigned car could fix everything was a little unrealistic. Two, it's still several months too early to make an accurate assessment of what this car can and cannot do. Let's take a look at the Gen-6, why it's simply impossible to give it a final grade of any kind, and what fans can—and can't—expect from it, along with some of the more realistic ways to turn things around in the sport. *Why it's too early to pass judgment* I've said all along that everyone, from drivers to media to fans, needs to wait until the second race at tracks to even begin to say with any kind of understanding whether or not the new cars are up to snuff. The reason is simple: you have to remember that the teams have had limited track time with these cars, and they don't have a folder full of notes from previous races to compare them to. Plus, every track has some individual quirks and is raced under different conditions, so even applying, say, notes from Fontana to Michigan, will not give an accurate picture the first time or two. Because teams are still trying to figure out how to make the cars handle, it's not really fair to accuse them of not trying on track, either. Car inventory is not where it was for most teams with the old car yet, and they're not going to risk a month's setback racing for fifth on lap 100. It's entertainment to fans, but to race teams, it's their livelihood, and they're going to do what's best for them long term. That can be applied to racing in general. To fans in March, it's frustrating that teams concentrate on the Chase, but the reality is, that's where the money is, and that's where they focus (along with the biggest reason that the Chase is bad for the sport, but I digress…). Once teams are better adjusted to the car, then it will be time for NASCAR to take an objective look at the racing (and I sincerely hope they will do so), and make tweaks as necessary. Expect them to take a look at things like spoiler height and angle and other things that affect handling and downforce. Hand it to NASCAR, they have already made one change to help reduce the huge benefit of clean air by eliminating the camera pods on the car's roof once it was discovered that they gave the leader a significant advantage (80-90 pounds of downforce, which translates into quite a bit of speed) but not the cars behind him. If they can continue to do that without worrying about what the manufacturers and teams say, the cars can and will improve. <div style=\"float:right; width:275px; margin: 20px; border: black solid 1px; padding: 3px;\"><img src=\"http://www.frontstretch.com/images/14618.jpg\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\"/><p style=\"margin: 3px; text-align: left; font-weight:bold;\">It's too early to pass judgment on the new Gen-6 cars, but everyone has to be realistic about just how much of what ails NASCAR one car can fix.</p></div> All of that means that it's just way too early to call the Gen-6 car a success or a failure. Everyone needs to take a deep breath, be patient, and remember that good things come to those who wait for them. Once the teams and NASCAR learn more, it's likely that fans will see the benefits of making changes the _right_ way—based on knowledge and forward thinking, not a knee-jerk reaction to what happened during one or two weeks. *What fans should be able to expect from the Gen-6 down the road* While a lot of people talked about the Gen-6 car as if it would be the one savior that racing has been looking for, that's simply not true. Fans can and should expect some things from this car, but perhaps not on the grand scale that they had hoped for. First, the car goes back to one thing fans have been clamoring for since the Car of Tomorrow made its debut and probably even before that: brand identity. The SS looks like an SS, the Fusion looks like a Fusion, and the Camry looks like a Camry. Hopefully that will bring back a bit of the \"win on Sunday, sell on Monday\" attitude that was a part of the sport for so long before the COT and the later incarnations of its predecessor. That's good for the sport because it's good for the industry. Simply put, if Chevy, Ford, and Toyota are making more money because people like what they see in the cars, they can put more money back into improving their racing programs, which produces a better product on the racetrack. While it may seem like a small thing, in the larger picture of the sport, what the cars look like is very important. The Gen-6 design changes also mean that teams shouldn't be able to skew them to the right the way that they did with the fourth-generation cars and even, to a smaller extent, to the COT. While that may have helped handling, it looked grotesque and prompted cries of foul among teams. This car can't be as easily manipulated, so teams won't gain an advantage by altering the geometry. Plus, the more the cars got skewed in the past, the worse they looked to the observer. While people thought the COT was ugly, the car before that, the fourth-generation, was even worse by the end of its era; if you looked at one from the front, it was apparent just how out-of-shape they really were. Fans can also, hopefully, expect to see the racing put more in the drivers' hands and less in the hands of the engineers. While that might bring complaints from some drivers, it does showcase some of the talent that may have been overlooked with the older car. If you look at the results from Phoenix, for example, there were teams in the top 15 that you might not expect—because they figured it out first. That's good for the sport (or at least it would be if those teams got the broadcast time they deserved) because it forces drivers to drive, and it puts the emphasis on what the fans see every week, the drivers behind the wheel, rather than on what happens behind closed doors back at the shop. Hopefully, if the car is difficult to drive, this will remain even after the teams with more resources get better at working with it. *What nobody should expect* Simply put, anyone who expects this race car to magically create 500 miles of non-stop action every week is going to be sorely disappointed. That's just totally unrealistic at most tracks for many reasons. First and foremost, in the 65-year history of the sport, it has never been nonstop passing and vying for the lead on every lap of every race, or even most of them. When part of what the sport is testing is the endurance and flexibility of both driver and equipment as it is at the Cup level, racing every lap like it's the last just isn't part of any smart race team's strategy. Any driver worth his salt will tell you that to finish first, you must first _finish_, and sometimes that means not taking every available risk. Winning is still what teams want most every week, and they will do what they can to make sure that the driver and car are capable of making the moves when it counts…and that's just not every lap, and never has been in the longer Cup races. The emphasis that's put on the championship, however, has changed teams' focus, especially in more recent years, and even more especially since the addition of the Chase. There is a ton of money at stake in the year-end point fund, and the top teams know that. They race for points when they can't race for the win, and some teams do revert to a kind of test mode once they're comfortable with their Chase status because they know that those ten races are more important in the scheme of things than a win at Pocono in August. That mentality is far more destructive to the on-track product than any race car ever has been or will be. Simply put, if NASCAR wants teams to race for the win, the emphasis needs to be on winning races throughout the season rather than the championship. Perhaps they should put that year-end point money into the winners' purses for the 36-race season and give a nice trophy and a trip to the banquet for the champion and that's all. It would still be an honor to win the title, but it would put the actual races higher on the priority list. Most local short-track teams race for the win every week first and their title second because the title just isn't that big a deal—and they all race every week like it's a title battle. Perhaps NASCAR should be taking notes on that. Also, if people want the race cars to look like the street cars, it's time to accept that aerodynamic dependence isn't something NASCAR can get rid of. They can tweak with downforce with spoilers, etc., but the reality is that if people want the cars to look like the street version, they're going to be aero-dependent because the _street version_ is aero dependent. As drivers, we want cars with better fuel mileage and that are fun and easy to drive. A more aerodynamic car gets better mileage and is, generally, easier and more fun to drive (If you disagree, try driving a box truck instead of your car for a couple of weeks and see if that's really your definition of fun.). There is a reason that the cars of the 1970's and 1980's became obsolete-consumers wanted better gas mileage and more streamlined cars. And so, if a race car is to look like a street car as the word \"stock\" in stock car racing implies, it's going to have superior aerodynamics to its predecessors…and be more dependent on that aspect for handling. *So, is there a fix?* There are a few fixes, actually, but making drastic changes to the Gen-6 have little to nothing to do with them. The cars are beautiful, but they aren't the real answer. If NASCAR really wants to combat aerodynamic dependence and make it easier for cars to pass, the solution is there, but it's a little radical to most fans: slow the cars down. Somehow, we’ve been conditioned to think that faster is always better, but that's not always true. Look at tracks like Martinsville—it's the slowest track on the circuit in terms of miles per hour, but it consistently produces action. The fastest tracks, the mile-and-a-half and two-mile ovals, have much faster speeds but often far less passing than the shorter, slower tracks do. In a nutshell, racing at 200 miles per hour isn't necessarily better than racing at 165 miles per hour. Slower speeds (which could probably be easily achieved by reducing horsepower through EFI programming), in general, mean less turbulent air, or at least less effect of turbulent air on the cars. It's air turbulence that makes a race car \"aero tight,\" or \"aero loose,\" terms we’ve heard drivers use in describing their cars' handling in close-quarters racing. If turbulence, or its effects, can be reduced by reducing speeds, it should follow that cars would be less likely to be influenced by the air around them, and in turn, it would be easier to pass. It flies in the face of what most people think about racing, but it's the truth. And while NASCAR doesn't want to look into that type of solution because it might be confusing to fans, the reality is that if fans saw a better product, they wouldn't care if the physics behind it were confusing. Another way to slow the cars down, of course, would be to race at more shorter tracks. You simply can't go as fast at say, Dover, as you can at Atlanta. Second of all, as I said above, the emphasis needs to be redirected from winning the championship to winning races. Whether that comes from eliminating the huge point bonuses drivers get for finishing near the top of the standings and making every race worth a huge amount for the win, or by changing the points system or how championships are won, it could have a big impact on what fans see every week. Heck, there used to be bonus money for leading at halfway—that money would still be valuable to many teams, and it might even encourage the mid-tier teams to step up their game to earn it over the big teams each week. …
The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2013 Daytona 500
Matt Kenseth looked like he might be the first driver to go back-to-back in the Great American Race since Sterling Marlin did it in 1994-’95. Kenseth led four times for a total of 86 laps and ran in the top group all day, until a drivetrain failure ended his race 51 laps early in 37th place. (Editor’s Note: The official cause listed on the results sheet was “engine;” Joe Gibbs Racing officials are still determining the ultimate culprit). Kenseth did nab the bonus point for leading the most laps, impressive for his debut with a new team but left Daytona 33rd in points. Realistically, that won’t hurt his title hopes, but it had to be deflating for a driver in his first race with brand-new sponsors and crewmen.
The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2013 Budweiser Duels at Daytona
The Duels aren’t points races, so nobody saw their title hopes go up in flames like you might see at Talladega in October. However, the week’s activities did leave a few drivers behind the eight-ball to start the season. In particular, Carl Edwards has suffered what could be an early season blow, beginning with a hard crash in preseason Daytona testing. Last week, practicing for the Sprint Unlimited, Edwards wrecked his car for that race, forcing him to go to his Daytona 500 backup. His team made preparations to return to Charlotte for a replacement, which was a smart move because they’d need it: Edwards suffered another practice crash before having his primary car turned into sheet metal spaghetti in the first Duel.
The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2013 Sprint Unlimited at Daytona
The good news is that nobody had to worry about points on Saturday night. The bad news is that many teams come to Daytona with three cars: their Sprint Unlimited car, Daytona 500 car and Daytona 500 backup. After a practice wreck, some teams could be left scrambling. Carl Edwards’s team already loaded his Unlimited car on a hauler bound for Charlotte after his practice wreck; they’ll fix it, hang new sheetmetal, and bring it back to serve as the Daytona 500 backup as Edwards was forced to pull his original second car out for Saturday’s race.