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NASCAR – And The Pole Winner For Pocono is.. Montoya? – Earnhardt Has The Points Lead – Allmendinger Released From Penske

August 5, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk 3 Comments

Juan Montoya has the pole for todays race in Pocono Pennsylvania

Although he has been most well known for fireworks off the track in incidents with other drivers, and for a firey crash at Daytona to start the year, Montoya has been pretty quiet so far this year.  Not having won a pole since Richmond in April of 2011, he surprised even himself with the pole in Pocono for the Pennsylvania 400.  With his last win in NASCAR coming at a road course, Watkins Glen in 2008, Montoya has been working to achieve more consistant results, and being patient for that next win, or any win on an oval, to show that he is more than just an aggressive road course driver.

“We know we’re working in the right direction, we know we’re working hard, we feel the cars are getting a little better,” Montoya said, “but to go out there and get a pole … I just went through the hauler and all the engineers, they’re all happy and laughing. I’m used to long faces, a lot of long faces, a lot of stressful faces. We needed something like this as a company. This is big for us.”

“I think we’re quite a ways away from as a company where we want to get to,” he said. “We want to be able to come every weekend knowing you can beat a Hendrick, beat a Gibbs. That’s our goal.”

Montoya knows he was as unlikely as any driver to win the pole.

“If you told me this morning I was going to be sitting on the pole, I’d say, `pfff,'” he said. “I thought we were going to be OK. I thought we’d be 12-15. And we’re sitting on the pole.”

“I know tomorrow is going to be a reality check,” Montoya said. “I’m really open-minded about tomorrow. But let’s enjoy today.”

———————————————————————————-

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will Start 8th today and has the points lead for the first time since 2004.

Following on of his most consistent season of his career so far, Dale Earnhardt Jr is atop the leader board this weekend after taking the points lead at the Brickyard.  Running well for the entire race, his points position drastically improved when a late race incident with the 17 of Matt Kenseth ended with a 36 place finish, while Jr. finished in 4th allowing for a 32 point gain and the top of the board.

“I think a lot of people downplay it,” Earnhardt said of being the points leader. “I think it means the same to the other drivers, probably, but they downplay it obviously because the guys that are saying that may find themselves in the points lead or battling for it more often than I have been. It’s been a long time since I was in the points lead. It’s been forever — I can’t even recall the last time we were in the conversation for the championship. These things are really validating the effort and the work we’ve done.”

After dealing with the pressure of a long drought, Jr finally got the monkey off his back in the June race in Michigan, and he has been showing even more confidence each week since then.  His relationship with Steve Letarte has been under constant watch by the fans who were unsure that it would bring results, but moving forward, Jr has been more consistent than at any other point in his career.

“We worked hard, and we found some speed,” he said. “We’ve been having those type of deals all year long where we’re working hard, and there are some gains that are made. I’ve worked my tail off most of my career for little gains — or, at times, no gains. So this year it’s been awesome to go to the race track on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, and work with Steve, and come away really happy with what happened. … The points lead is sort of the symbolic piece to all that effort. The points lead recognizes all that hard work, for me.”

Knowing that the points lead with shuffle when the chase begins a mere 6 races after this weekend, Jr knows he needs to get at least one more win to take some pressure off his championship hopes for this year.

“We’re running well, but we need to win more races. We need to show up and be the fastest car more often,” he said. “We’ve been quick, but in my opinion we’ve been the fastest guy only once or twice this year, and I don’t know if that’s good enough. I’m going to say it’s not good enough. I know our team would like to win more races, and to be able to contend for the championship, our team needs another 10-15 percent.”

—————————————————————————————————————–

A.J. Allmendinger will be without a ride after being released by Penske Racing earlier this week.

Finally, after weeks of drama, A.J. Allmendinger was released from Penske racing earlier in the week.  After failing a random drug test administered by NASCAR, and having his B-test fail as well, Allmendinger has entered the road to recovery program provided by NASCAR in hopes of returning to the track as soon as possible.  After his apology to fans and to his sponsors, Roger Penske released him form his contract and has put Sam Hornish Jr in the number 22 for the forseeable future.

“Penske Racing fully supports NASCAR’s substance abuse policy, and we are disappointed with AJ’s positive drug test results,” Roger Penske said. “AJ is a terrific driver, a good person and it is very unfortunate that we have to separate at this time. We have invested greatly in AJ and we were confident in his success with our team. The decision to dismiss him is consistent with how we would treat any other Penske Racing team member under similar circumstances. As AJ begins NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program, we wish him the best and look forward to seeing him compete again in NASCAR.”

A.J. himself made a statement that echo’s the sentiment of his former team.

“Effective today, I have been released from Penske Racing as driver of the No. 22 Dodge Charger,” Allmendinger said in a statement. “I wish to thank Mr. Penske, Penske Racing, their sponsors, and especially all the of the No. 22 team for the opportunity they provided me and for their support in this difficult time. I also, again, would like to thank all the fans that really have been awesome through this. I apologize for the distraction, embarrassment, and difficulties that my current suspension from NASCAR has provided. As I stated last week, I have begun NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program and look forward to using those resources and its completion to compete again in NASCAR in the near future.”

It is going to be interesting to see if Allmendinger is able to return to NASCAR.  While everyone likes a comback story, in this sponsor driven world where image is everything, it may be hard for A.J. to find a ride of the caliber of the one he just lost, which was also the best of his career so far.

 

 

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Wins Another With Martin Runner Up as Late Race Call Wins The Race Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Gordon Wins at Pocono For His Second of the Season Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kyle Busch Gets His First Pole at Watkins Glen Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Matt Kenseth Sets the Pace in Phoenix, Stewart Keeps Up the Trash Talk, Edwards Keeping Cool

NASCAR – Matt Kenseth Wins The Raintona Firehundred in Daytona – Montoya Starts The 2012 Season With A Bang

February 29, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

The Daytona 500 that no one will ever forget ran finally after a 30 hour rain delay.  In a race that had never before in 54 years been postponed by rain, the green flag flew on a Monday for the first time in history proving that Mother Nature really is not a fan of Motorsports.  A race that was destined  to break new ground by including the first woman driver in the history of the race.  A race that many were worried would never start in the first place.  A race that once it finally did start, the fans were wondering if it was ever going to finish.  The fans had returned to the coliseum in record numbers to watch the long awaited starting race for the 2012 season and they weathered storms, rain delays, and even a firey crash and a 2 hour red flag clean up, and they stayed into the wee hours of Tuesday morning to see it through to completion.

The carnage started early when Jimmie Johnson got loose on lap 2, thanks to a love tap from Elliot Sadler, which sent him nose first into the wall in turn 2, collecting the 21 of Trevor Bayne, the 10 of Danica Patrick, the 51 of Kurt Busch, and the 34 of David Ragan, bringing out the first of 12 caution flags to wave over the Great American Race.

On Lap 13 Ryan Newman got loose all by himself on the back stretch after blowing out his right rear tire, spinning towards the inside wall but regained control and was able to keep it off the wall, and most importantly, on the lead lap.

Once everyone got the jitters out of their systems the race settled down and the fan were treated to a return of the pack racing of old.  No more 2 car dances going on all over the track, this is what the fans came to see.  An old school pack race, with 43 cars all trying to out manouver each other, chasing the glory and even a mid race bonus of $200000.  Martin Truex Jr scored the midway prize .

Between lap 65 and 70 some of the cars from the lap 2 crash began to return to the track.  Trevor Bayne brought his battered #21 Wood Brothers From back to the stage  as did Danica Patrick, both prepared to run with the pack and keep the DNF column clear.  Why would they return more than 60 laps down you ask?

“Every lap that I turn is a progression, that’s for sure,” Patrick said on pit road after the race. “That’s why I was so proud of everyone working so hard — and they were working hard — to get me back on the track. There wasn’t much to gain, as far as position-wise, but what there was to gain was for me to get the experience of running out there.”

“I’ve got to get further up the grid [because] the further you are up front, the less things happen,” Patrick said of her three days of wrecks. “Every time the accident happened I was further back in the field. The further up front you are the better off you are — but then again, you need that experience to get further up front, which is what I’m trying to get.”

“So I’m sure this is not new territory for a new driver, I just wish it could have gone better for everybody that was so excited — especially the fans. It was great to see them cheering all the way around the track, even when we were parked on the back straight [under a red flag with 40 laps to go]. But it would have been nice to have a solid finish.”

The on track action continued in the second half  and it was just as unpredictable and crazy as the first half, if not even more so.

Jeff Gordon blew his engine in a flaming and spectacular fashion, pulling out of line and waving the other drivers by just before a complete catastrophic failure, flames billowing out either side of the engine from the fuel and oil spraying on the engine block, as Gordon managed to get the car off the track without further incident.

Lead changes were not happening as we had seen in pack racing of old.  The outside line just did not seem to be able to catch the leaders.  Running about 5 or 6 cars back the lead car on the outside line just never seemed to be able to make up the distance to challenge the front pack of 5 or 6 cars.  The exception to this rule was Denny Hamlin being pushed by Jeff Burton, and it only happened once.

Then came the fireworks.  On lap 160 Juan Pablo Montoya was returning to the track after a pit stop to try to correct a vibration he was feeling in the car.  As he brought the  #42 Target car up to speed to catch the pack which was running under caution, something broke in the rear end of the car and it slid towards the outside wall.  Unfortunately the jet dryers which were removing the moisture from the track which had brought out the caution flag,  were on the track and between Montoya and the wall.  Slamming into the Jet Dryer at 150 mph the ensuing explosion was incredible to say the least.  Montoya’s car exploded first, throwing car parts everywhere on the track and causing Montoya to come to rest on the infield grass, his car reduced to nothing more than a shell, as he walked away from it unharmed.  The Jet dryer however did not get off as lightly.  The driver of the jet dryer was helped from his truck and away from the flaming wreck as 200 gallons of Jet fuel, used to fuel the Helicopter Turbine engine, poured down the race track and ignited.  The fire crews were on hand immediately and kept the fire from getting out of hand, putting it out as soon as the jet fuel burned away.

“I wasn’t even going that fast,” Montoya recalled. “It just felt really strange, as I was talking on the radio the car just turned right . . .I have hit a lot of things. But a jet dryer? No.”

Duane Barnes, the jet dryer truck driver, was pretty shaken up, but he did get to share an ambulance ride with Juan Pablo Montoya himself.

“He was pretty scared,” Montoya said. “ . . . I am sure he is pretty shaken and is going to be sore to his person, but I think he is OK.”

The came the final 40 laps, and 3 more caution flags.  As is usually the case at Daytona, as the laps wear down, so does the patience of everyone in the race.  Making moves to get to the front can put you or the car next to you into the wall, fast.

The real show however was out front.  Dale Earnhardt Jr Pushing Greg Biffle and both of them were chasing Matt Kenseth.  On the final restart Kenseth got out front of the tandem pair behind him and stayed there.  Everyone was waiting for a move to be made, for the 2 cars to blow by the single after they hooked up, but it never came.  In turn 4 for the final time Dale Jr made his move on Greg Biffle and got by him but just did not have enough steam to catch the 17 car of Matt Keseth, Leaving Earnhardt to settle for 2nd.

“Those Roush cars are just really strong,” Earnhardt said. “I could get in between them. I just couldn’t get in front.”

“Even on them restarts when Dale Jr. tried to push me, I tried to give him air and stay with him, but our car just ran so good, he couldn’t quite keep up and stay attached to us,” Kenseth said. “So I had to make other moves to keep the momentum up. I think when you come to plate racing, a huge, huge percentage of it is the car and how fast the car is. But I think Thursday was really good for us, because we learned some things in them last few laps that I think probably helped a little bit [Monday].”

Greg Biffle had the catbird seat witting in second, where every other race over the weekend was won from, but he could not capitalize on the opportunity.

“Once we got straight, I pushed the gas down, I thought that we’d drive up on the back of the No. 17 without a problem,” Biffle said. “It must have just pushed enough air out in front of my car that it pushed the No. 17 car out about five, six feet in front of me, and I couldn’t get any closer. I thought, well, I need to get out from behind him because then we’ll be able to go by him. So on the back stretch I moved up a little bit, and Matt is not stupid. We had no run at him. We were all going the same speed.”

“Then we could have moved up beside him coming off the corner, and then Junior and I would have had to dice it out to the line,” he said. “That’s probably what I should have done, is just anchored down the brakes down the backstretch and put distance in between us. [That’s] the only way we probably would have got a run at him. But I thought for sure I didn’t need to do that. Of course, Monday morning quarterback, I’d do it now, but I didn’t think I needed to. I thought [Earnhardt would] shove me right up to his back bumper. He had all night. I had no doubt it would happen then.”

So how did Earnhardt Jr feel after all was said and done?

“I’m very happy,” he said. “I’m really in a good place. I’m not frustrated at all, I promise. I’m in a great mood. I run second here a lot, though, so I know I don’t feel it right now, but I know later [Tuesday] and [Wednesday] and the rest of the week it’s going to eat at me what I could have done to win the race. So that is kind of frustrating.”

 

 

 

 

Crazy things continue.  Under caution while gaining on the pack Juan Montoya in teh 42 car slammed into a jet dryer after something broke in his car.  REd Flag on lap 160. 2 hr delay

 

 

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNASCAR- Greg Biffle Takes the Pole And Feels Like He Can Win It Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Wins Another With Martin Runner Up as Late Race Call Wins The Race Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Tony Stewart Scores the Pole for Charlotte in the Half Way Race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Championship Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Martinsville Qualifying Gets Cancelled by Rain Putting all the Chasers Together at the Front – Edwards Gets the Pole By Points Default ThumbnailNASCAR – With Stewart’s Win at Martinsville is the Chase Down to a Two Man Race?

NASCAR – Montoya Leads the Field at Richmond Under The Lights.

April 30, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 4 Comments

 

Montoya Chats with Trevor Bayne and A.J. Allmendinger before the race in Texas - Image provided Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Juan Pablo Montoya has taken his second pole this year and is hoping he has the car that will bring him to victory lane for his first oval win in NASCAR.  Montoya won the pole at 128.639 m.p.h. in his No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.  Reagan Smith and Clint Bowyer round out the rest of the top 3 putting Chevy all over the front of the field again.  For those fans that are manufacturer driven Chevy has shown it’s dominance so far on the poles but the wins have been almost evenly divided amongst 3 0f the 4 major brands so far this year with Kyle Busch delivering Toyota’s only win so far this season.

So who’s your favourite to win in Richmond?

I always want to say Tony Stewart but his record at Richmond is not as good as I am sure he would like it to be.  Dale Jr always looks good at Richmond.  It is one of his, and many other drivers, favourite tracks and he always runs well here.  Kevin Harvick has shown us time after time that he is able to get the job done, even better this season than last where he finished 3rd in points overall.  Mr. “Where’d he come from” knows that the most important lap to lead is the last one, and he’s shown that he can close when the pressure is on.

Although Harvick has only one win at Richmond he has an amazing 9 top 10 finishes in his last 10 races here.  Certainly the best record in the garage going into tonight’s  Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

“Yeah, this has been a great race track for us and no matter how our year is going or has been going, this is always a place you come to as a team we think we can run good,” Harvick said Friday just before qualifying. “It’s a fun race track to race on and our car has always seemed to drive good in the race and we always seem to be able to produce a result here.”

“So that’s fun when you can come to a race track knowing that in the back of your mind.”

He believes the track lends itself to producing the best kind of racing that is both aggressive and strategic, like combining the attributes of a Talladega Superspeedway with a short track like Bristol.   Richmond is almost the perfect track for stock car racing with its wide, banked corners and short configuration.

“Aggressiveness from a car standpoint, pushing the limits on your engine and taking chances on pit road that you probably don’t need to be taking as far as pit strategy and things like that,” he said. “It’s just trying to use strategy as part of your game.”

Harvick qualified 12th with a lap speed of 127.660 m.p.h.

Jeff Gordon get's the once over by a Texas Ranger - Image provided courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Jeff Gordon caused a bit of a firestorm in the media this week after stating that Dale Jr may just be too nice a guy for his own good.

While commenting about the race at Martinsville where Harvick passed Dale Jr. on the final lap to take the win, Gordon suggested he would have done things differently if he were in Jr.’s racing shoes.

“If I was Dale Jr., I would’ve pushed him (Harvick) out of the way” Gordon said. “I feel like if you’re Dale Jr. you can get away with anything.”

“It’s been a long time since he won a race (101 starts entering tonights race in Richmond) and he had a car capable of winning.  I think the place would have stood up and cheered.”

So off we head into Richmond and into a series of nights races in the next few weeks and hope the cooler temperatures of the night will lend themselves to some great racing action.

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Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Bowyer Takes 4th Career Win at the Scareless Talledega Halloween. Default ThumbnailNASCAR – The Season is Almost Upon Us. Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead Default ThumbnailNASCAR – And Then There Was Juan Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Johnson Wins at Talledega – Is The 2 Car Push Here to Stay?

NASCAR – And Then There Was Juan

March 26, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Race #5 in the 2011 Sprint cup season in Fontana California at Auto Club Speedway. Juan Montoya who has had a rough start to the season this year when it comes to qualifying,  has found his way to the front of the field in Sunny California.  Maybe it was the sunshine, maybe it was the cool mountain air, or maybe it was Montoya’s will to succeed in Sprint cup, but whatever his motivation it seems to be working.  Montoyas average starting position so far this year has been a disappointing 23.5 so winning the Coors Light Pole Award for this Sunday’s race was a marked improvement for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup race at the 2-mile track.

With a lap time of 38.992 seconds (184.653 mph) Montoya was the only driver to turn a sub 39 second lap in time trials.  Denny Hamlin will be sitting beside him on the front row with his qualifying speed of 184.270 mph. [Read more…]

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Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Sprint Cup Heads to Phoenix – New Points System Makes the Standings Look a Whole Lot Different Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Jeff Gordon Gets His First Win Since ’09, Denying Kyle Busch a Weekend Sweep Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Takes the Pole in Record Setting Fashion – Busch Brothers at the Tops of the Points Board Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Where Did The Real Kyle Busch Go? Dale Jr. Moves into the top 10 in Points.

NASCAR – Edwards Takes Vegas, Stewart Has a Late Race Pit Stumble But Ties For First in Points Lead

March 7, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 2 Comments

Image Courtesy of JDTImages.ca

Carl Edwards was feeling like he had missed his chance up until the end of the race at Vegas.  After finishing second at Daytona and suffering from an early wreck last week, Edwards felt he had something to prove for himself, for his team, and for his fans.  While Tony Stewart had led the race for the majority of the day, Edwards was working his way through the field quietly, running lap times very close to those of Stewart while he was leading, and a late race pit gaffe penalized Stewart allowing Edwards to get the win.  Taking his first victory for 2011 meant more to Edwards than trophy.  After spending time with the Airmen on Nellis Air Force Basse, Edwards wanted to thank them for all that they do, and all the votes of confidence they gave him.

“This means a lot, coming off Phoenix,” said Edwards, who led the final 23 laps. “After last weekend, I had no clue — I just didn’t know how things were going to go from there. You don’t get a good race car like that very often, but I had another one.”

“I’ve got to thank the Air Force, the Thunderbirds. They let me fly with them on Thursday, and this trophy is going over there in that hangar (a reference to nearby Nellis Air Force Base). They taught me a lot about discipline and about believing in what you do. I can’t thank them enough.” [Read more…]

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Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Sprint Cup Heads to Phoenix – New Points System Makes the Standings Look a Whole Lot Different Default ThumbnailNASCAR – The Season is Almost Upon Us. Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Jeff Gordon Gets His First Win Since ’09, Denying Kyle Busch a Weekend Sweep Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Kenseth Takes the Pole in Record Setting Fashion – Busch Brothers at the Tops of the Points Board Default ThumbnailNASCAR – Bowyer Takes 4th Career Win at the Scareless Talledega Halloween.

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