Dan Greene – Page 17

Did You Notice? … Sponsors Make Things Silly

February 10, 2019September 5, 2012 Dan Greene

*Did You Notice?…* Sponsorship is what’s making the Silly Season world go round these days? Matt Kenseth didn’t have enough of it at Roush Fenway; Joey Logano had it stripped from him at Joe Gibbs Racing. Their financial problems, not personality conflicts or performance issues led to the biggest day of announcements we’ll see for 2013.

Kenseth’s time in front of the cameras came first, one of the most poorly kept secrets in NASCAR history due to a contract that kept him from “officially” announcing his move until a certain date. (Side note: When will NASCAR get with the 21st Century? Do they really think an archaic piece of paper will keep the Twitterverse silent for three months? Hello… someone get Jack Roush an iPhone and a paper shredder – that contract should have been ripped up and a press conference held back in July. But I digress.)

Top News: Hamlin hoping for slightly better luck with Sports Clips in Atlanta

February 10, 2019August 30, 2012 Dan Greene

Sports Clips returns to sponsor Hamlin in Atlanta Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will once again feature Sports Clips as the primary sponsor. Earlier this year, Hamlin posted a runner-up finish at Darlington with the company’s colors on his car in retro scheme honoring Cale Yarborough’s NASCAR Hall of Fame induction. Hamlin …

Nationwide Series Breakdown: Food City 250

February 10, 2019August 27, 2012 Dan Greene

Joey Logano emerged victorious yet again in Nationwide Series competition Friday night, capitalizing on a strong qualifying effort and off-sequence pit strategy en route to score his sixth trophy of 2012 and his first at Bristol. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top 5.

The story of the night emerged with less than 10 laps to go after a lap 242 caution that saw Austin Dillon slip up and slam polesitter Trevor Bayne into the fence. With points leader Sadler in position to challenge for the victory, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. executed a textbook bump and run on the lap 249 restart, driving off to a runner-up finish. Stenhouse went to Sadler’s car immediately post-race to try and clear the air, but Sadler in his post-race remarks noted that the move would open the door for the rest of the season in terms of racing aggressively with the championship on the line.

RPM makes crew switches for Ambrose, Almirola

February 10, 2019August 23, 2012 Dan Greene

RPM Makes Pit Crew Switches for Ambrose, Almirola According a report from FoxSports.com’s Lee Spencer (http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/Richard-Petty-Motorsports-shifts-parts-of-NASCAR-Sprint-Cup-pit-crews-082212), Richard Petty Motorsports announced they’re changing up the pit crews for Marcos Ambrose’s No. 9 team and Aric Almirola’s No. 43 in hopes of helping performance for both drivers. “We’re trying to move things around to improve the performance …

Fantasy Friday: Ambrose’s chase of Chase spot a chance to break stereotypes

February 10, 2019August 16, 2012 Dan Greene

Often times in sports, after an athlete has three or four seasons of experience, we make evaluations and sometimes rightly or sometimes wrongly think, this person, as an athlete, is who he or she is. We have a past performance to base our current thoughts and future assumptions on. And that’s not all bad. We …

Professor Of Speed: Good Finishes Make A Good Start

February 10, 2019August 16, 2012 Dan Greene

So there I was … pretty much finished with NASCAR, when …. Wham! There’s Kyle Busch slipping and sliding, and there’s Brad Keselowski running through the grass, and there’s Marcos Ambrose beating and banging his way to a .571 second margin of victory in the Finger Lakes 355 at Watkins Glen. It took just a moment for the final lap of that race to become etched in NASCAR folklore; all the radio announcers said so, as did the television commentators. The newspaper/internet writers who covered the event echoed the same fact when their stories were posted.

What a difference an exciting finish makes.

Ambrose Repeats Amid Last Lap Insanity (Includes Point Standings and Top 35 check)

February 10, 2019August 13, 2012 Dan Greene

Marcos Ambrose entered Sunday’s Finger Lakes 355 at the Glen as one of a number of drivers who could be considered a favorite to win, and despite his rather ho-hum season up to this point the Australian headed to victory lane ahead of Brad Keselowski following a white flag lap full of slipping, sliding, beating …

Montoya Claims Pole for Finger Lakes 355 with Record Lap

February 10, 2019August 12, 2012 Dan Greene

On Friday during the brief amount of practice time that Sprint Cup Series teams got, speeds appeared to be down quite a bit. This was mainly due to the lack of rubber on the track. However, when the time came to qualify, everyone kicked it up a notch. Juan Pablo Montoya turned in a lap …

‘Dinger and Jimmie and Right Turns-Oh My! Mulling NASCAR’s Past and Possibilities

February 10, 2019August 9, 2012 Dan Greene

It’s certainly been a busy week on the NASCAR front. Between AJ Allmendinger, Dodge, Mother Nature and a did-he-or-didn’t he between Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon at Pocono, there has been plenty of fuel for the fire for NASCAR aficionados to mull over. So, being a muller by nature, I’ve had plenty to keep me busy!

First off, check out Mirror Driving…did we call it or did we call it on the Parker Kligerman situation? It wasn’t hard to put two and two together and figure that once Roger Penske replaced Kligerman with Ryan Blaney as Brad Keselowski’s fill-in in the No. 22 Nationwide car that it would only be a matter of time until Blaney would land a more permanent role.

Blackhawk Down: NASCAR Conspiracy Theorists Run Amok

February 10, 2019August 9, 2012 Dan Greene

After Sunday’s race, as I sat down to write my recap I was on edge because I was already hearing rumors some fans had been struck by lightning and some of those individuals were badly hurt. (Tragically, we know now that Brian Zimmerman, a 41-year-old married father of three lost his life.) I immediately focused on that story and began calling friends I knew had been in the grandstands to ensure they were safe. But elsewhere on the Internet and in Twitterville (which I am rapidly learning is a lot less friendly place than Who-ville or Margaritaville), a cauldron was boiling over as more fuel was added to the fire by people hiding behind funny screen names. (I’ve been asked, so my Twitter handle mcmatt76 was chosen because “Matt McLaughlin” and “Mcmatt” were already in use. The “McMatt” part should be obvious. The 76 was added because a picture of my 1976 Trans-Am hangs over my desk.)

Did You Notice? … AJ’s Sigh Of Relief?, No Dodging This Bullet And Kyle’s Crisis

February 10, 2019August 8, 2012 Dan Greene

*Did You Notice?…* Dodge’s departure from the sport dashes expansion dreams? In the past few months, the manufacturer has been linked with Furniture Row Racing, looking to add a a second car with driver Kurt Busch; Andretti Autosport, exploring the option of debuting a team in 2013; and Richard Petty Motorsports, whose funding from Dodge could have spearheaded co-owner Andy Murstein’s desire to build from two cars to three. It’s clear, despite the loss of Penske Racing that Dodge had options; they just clearly didn’t like any of them. Why?

“Really this issue started many, many years ago as we consolidated down to one team,” explained SRT’s Ralph Gilles, President Of Racing and Technology. “We had a very, I would say, an elegant situation with the Penske group, having a one-stop shop, an engine, everything, a very high quality team to work with.”

Making Sense of Kligerman / Brad Keselowski Racing Breakup

February 10, 2019August 8, 2012 Dan Greene

Do you follow Parker Kligerman on Twitter? Well, if you’re one of over 15,000 that can say yes to that question, it’s a possibility you saw a cryptic post-Pocono tweet from the former ARCA standout.

“Great Recovery by whole Of BKR. I’ve enjoyed the last year and a half,” he tweeted Saturday. “Things you’ll see soon, r 4 the better 4 everyone! #excited4future”

Two days later, Kligerman was no longer the driver of the No. 29 Dodge RAM for Brad Keselowski Racing in the Camping World Truck Series. The change comes as Kligerman sits sixth in championship points through 11 races, with two top 5s and seven top-10 finishes. His lone finish below 11th? A 19th at Kentucky.