Winner, Champion…and Racer: Kenny Wallace Is All of These

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_ I don’t care if it’s Travis Pastrana racing World Rally cars, or if it’s Kenny Schrader winning the dirt series in the late models or Kenny right now in modifieds or Tony Stewart—they all have a connection. They’re winners, they’re champions, and most importantly, they’re racers.” –Jeff Hammond_

Saturday morning came early to Loudon, New Hampshire, with the promise of being a scorcher of a day, and Kenny Wallace was sick to his stomach. It wasn’t the heat or the flu that was making the 48-year-old Wallace feel like he’d swallowed a whole herd of angry butterflies, but rather the conflict between commitment and opportunity.

Four Burning Questions: Distractions and Additions

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*What happens at Penske Racing from here on out?*

The suspension of AJ Allmendinger due to a failed drug test has been a gigantic distraction for the race team. You can argue with me all day, but you cannot convince me that _two_ negative tests and the waiting around in between the two hasn’t at least provided some uneasiness in the Penske camp.

Sam Hornish Jr. will compete in at least the next two races, though Penske has yet to announce what will happen after that. While Allmendinger has agreed to go through NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program, that process is at least five months in the making and Allmendinger’s contract with Penske was up at the end of the year.

Do You Think of NASCAR and Integrity In the Same Sentence?

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Aside from not having any…but of course, that is my opinion. I want to know what you think.

Counting the headline as number one, here’s a second question for you to mull over. Do you think AJ Allmendinger is a drug head? While you think those over, here are some quotes from some of the players involved and some who are not.

“I don’t see how any man, if he’s got any (manhood) at all, can go and take what he’s fixing to have to take — and that’s going through the Road to Recovery for a guy who did not take drugs or did not do what they’re saying he did,” Jeremy Mayfield said, when asked about Allmendinger’s situation. “It’d be tough because you’re basically living a lie to be a poster boy for NASCAR’s drug policy.”

Landon Cassill Driver Diary: Move Over Flags and Twitter Trades

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Executing all of our goals as a team, like pit stops or getting through practice without mistakes, or race strategy, or anything that I do in the racecar, it’s kind of just a matter of putting it all together all at once. We need to be able to do that. If we can do that every week, I think that’s where I can run top 25.

In response to the recent issues with lapped traffic, I don’t really think that comparing lapped traffic in Nationwide to lapped traffic in Cup to be apples to apples. I think there’s a vast difference of professional drivers that are in the Cup Series that could drive circles around those drivers in the Nationwide Series that are lapped cars. There’s definitely a huge difference between the guys that are running 30th in Cup and the guys that are running 30th in Nationwide. To me, you’re curious to see what someone like Harvick says about that.

Looking Back: A Surprising 2012 for the Nationwide Series

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Anyone that’s followed NASCAR’s scheduling habits the past decade was far from surprised that one of the sure-fire races of the Nationwide Series season (Lucas Oil Raceway) was yanked from the schedule in favor of a 250-mile jaunt at the Brickyard. Never mind the logic that less crappy stock car racing is still crappy stock car racing.

But having said that as the Nationwide Series approaches its debut on the big track in Indy, the 2012 season has been, well, surprising, on a number of fronts. Enjoying a compelling title race for the second consecutive year after an ugly stretch of Cup dominance from 2006-2010, this year’s campaign has actually been worth watching. Now, heading down the summer stretch, here’s a few of those surprises that have made the season just that.

Truckin’ Thursdays: Miguel Paludo on Chicagoland, Pocono and Paintballing

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Chicagoland was a great race for us. We were just in the wrong place one, two, even three times. But we had a really great truck. We went from 30th to the top 10 after the first problem and even lead or stayed in second for a while. Then we ran up there toward the top 5 but kept having problems. I’m really proud of my team though because we were finally headed the right direction.

The problem we’ve had has been entry into the corners. We’ve always been too loose or too tight, but we changed a rear end housing and used something different. We had been using the same one we used all last season, but with the new one, it gave me a much better feel for what I was looking for. We were actually neutral going into the corners this weekend and that made it easier to drive. Plus Mike (Hillman, Jr., Crew Chief) is getting a better feel for what I like on the track every week and that helps a lot.

Dollars And Sense: NASCAR’s Marketing Switcheroo

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The three other ad agency finalists had either worked with NASCAR or their corporate partners before, not making a strong case for themselves as one of the agencies to take NASCAR in the new direction they seek. After narrowing down to the final four agencies, from what started as 110 inquiries, Young & Rubicam removed themselves from consideration. This left Ogilvy & Mather to compete against just Leo Burnett and McCann Erickson before being chosen as the lead candidate.

“Significant changes in our ecosystem impacted how we deliver our message and position our brand to existing fans while increasing the appeal of NASCAR to new audiences,” explained Kim Brink, NASCAR managing director of brand, consumer and series marketing. “We were thoroughly impressed with the caliber of all three finalists; but Ogilvy’s consistency, creativity and dynamic leadership were the key differentiators. We’re delighted to join the agency’s roster of big consumer brands.”