Quaker State 400 Countdown: How much Silly Season news will break at Kentucky?

Three years ago, on July 4th weekend at Daytona, Mark Martin and Rick Hendrick sat at a table and announced that the then 49-year-old Batesville, Ark., native would be driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for NASCAR’s so-called “Super Team” starting in 2009.

Last year, in late July, Martin lambasted reporters for saying he should step aside in the No. 5 one year early to make room for Kasey Kahne, who HMS signed in April of 2010.

Mark Martin was unhappy with a few reporters at last year's Brickyard 400 media day when reporters suggested that ESPN's Ray Evernham was right to say Martin should step out of his car at Hendrick Motorsports one year early to make room for Kasey Kahne

The past few weeks have been full of “Silly Season” news, the most shocking bombshell dropped a few weeks ago when Red Bull Racing announced the team’s Austrian ownership was pulling out of the sport.

Clint Bowyer was apparently close to a deal with Red Bull Racing. Or maybe not. He had his own little tirade last week at Sonoma.

“You guys are pretty creative, you really are pretty good at creating stories and stuff like that,” he told reporters last Friday. “You run into people in the garage and it’s like ‘Hey, what are you going to do next year?’ And it’s like, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ (They say) ‘Well, we might be interested.’ Then the next thing you know, you’re standing on a golf course and everybody is saying ‘Well, now what are you going to do? Your plan just blew up.’ It’s like, what?”

The lynchpin in the whole Silly Season is Carl Edwards, who is in his last year with Roush Fenway Racing. If Edwards stays at RFR, things become a little clearer. If he leaves, wherever he ends up could start the proverbial domino fall.

Juan Pablo Montoya wants to resign with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, and he wants to do so soon. “We’re pretty close,” Montoya said last Friday at Infineon. “I think we’re pretty close, yeah.”

Brian Vickers's No. 83 at Indy in 2009

And Kasey Kahne is scared about the future of Red Bull Racing. Even though Kahne is going to pilot the No. 5 next season, he will finish out the year in the No. 4 at RBR. “As far as Red Bull putting everything they have into the car and the program the rest of the season, they're going to do that,” he said, as reported by SBNation’s Jeff Gluck. “They've said that. But it's the people. And if the people feel like they're in a stable place, they're going to do a better job – they're going to perform better.”

What will happen within the next week, and will anything break in front of my very eyes at Kentucky? It will be quite interesting to see if anything breaks. And if it does, plan on seeing it here, or on my Twitter page: @adamniemeyer

We’re seven days from the NASCAR Nationwide Series “Feed the Children 300” at Kentucky. More to follow this week about the first-ever tripleheader at Kentucky.

Mark Martin’s Chase hopes fading…fast

The lines are too easy to quote.

As a famous, or is it infamous, movie once proclaimed: “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

Or, it’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings.

However, the time is drawing short for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers to solidify their spots in the top 12 in points to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Clint Bowyer is in, and Mark Martin and Jamie McMurray are looking to find a way to take Bowyer’s spot.

Martin and the GoDaddy.com team haven't been able to duplicate the success of their 2009 campaign

After Bristol, McMurray, the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner, sits 102 points back of 12th-place Bowyer. Martin is one point behind McMurray, 103 markers back of Bowyer. Only one man can make the 12 car field, and odds are strong that Bowyer will lock up the final spot.

“We’ve got two races to go,” Bowyer said on Saturday night. “Two good racetracks. I love Atlanta – run well there – and I love Richmond –run well there. With any luck at all, we'll be in this thing.”

And while most signs point toward the top 12 being safe and set, McMurray knows that a lot can happen in the final two races at Atlanta and Richmond. “Two races left, a lot can happen,” he said.

For Mark Martin fans this year has been a disappointment, and although many fans noticed that Martin’s performance had been lacking earlier in the season due to changes at Hendrick Motorsports, it took many more months until Jenna Fryer, of the AP, noted it in a Yahoo! Sports column.

Whatever the reason for Martin’s decline, the end result will be nothing like his five-win campaign of 2009. And although McMurray will be completely satisfied with missing the Chase, as he said after winning the Brickyard 400 one month ago, Martin and his team don’t deserve to miss out this year.

McMurray (third from left) noted after winning the Brickyard 400 that, "Everyone wants to make the Chase. Getting to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 means more to me this year than making the Chase. This year or in 10 years, the guy that won that race one time everybody will talk about. The guy that finished third in the points, nobody cares.”

Maybe it’s time to look forward to his last shot in the No. 5 car in 2011. Maybe by then the ship will be righted at HMS, and Mark Martin will be able to contend like he did in 2009.

NASCAR News and Notes: Drivers look forward to Darlington and more

Drivers who tested at Darlington look forward to Saturday’s race
On March 9th Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose and Elliott Sadler took part in the Goodyear tire test for this weekend’s Southern 500 at Darlington. Ambrose said after the test that Darlington is the place to be if you’re a driver who wants to make it in NASCAR. “Anyone who wants run NASCAR, thinks they’re any good,” he said, “has to come here and prove themselves, because this is as tough as it gets.”

This week Clint Bowyer echoed those sentiments. He said, “It’s the track ‘Too tough to tame’ but I’m looking forward to it.” Bowyer knows he’s had success at the egg shaped 1.5 mile track, and feels this week is his time to step up. “I like Darlington,” he said. “We’ve sat on the pole there before, had a good run last year and got caught up in a wreck but I think that’s a track where we can break out and get our first win.”

Bowyer will attempt to put his No. 33 in victory lane Saturday night

His Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton took a different approach when prepping for this week’s race. Generally when drivers are asked about the biggest race on the schedule they point to the season opening Daytona 500, or my favorite race, the Brickyard 400 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Burton disagrees. “The history at Darlington is unbelievable,” he said. “My Southern 500 win means more to me than any other win I’ve ever had.”

Burton looks forward to the Southern 500 every year. He won the Southern 500 in 1999, the year he captured his only two wins at Darlington in the Cup Series

One of the senior members of the Cup Series continued his reminiscing: “[Darlington is] the epitome of NASCAR. It’s what NASCAR is all about. You can imagine when that racetrack was built, how tight it was, how narrow it was for the cars they were racing. They built it around the pond, that’s why it’s shaped at either end, no fancy suites. It’s just pure racing.”

Mark Martin won last season’s Southern 500, and his teammate Jeff Gordon has been on the cusp of winning races this season. Gordon just hasn’t been able to seal the deal yet this year. “When things are going well for us, Darlington is one of the tracks that we get really excited about,” he told media members last weekend.

Will Gordon finally win a race in 2010?

This weekend might be Gordon’s weekend to shine. Three years ago he won the May race at Darlington, even with an overheating engine. Look for Gordon to be up front again this weekend, but can he pull off a win?

NASCAR opens Hall of Fame for Media day; Logano visits
Tuesday the NASCAR the Hall of Fame was open for Media Day, and certain media members ambled around the facility, checking out the interactive games and multimedia presentations that the newest Charlotte area attraction presents. The youngest Cup driver, Joey Logano, dropped by unexpectedly.

“My first reaction from driving by was, ‘Wow, this is a no-joke building they’ve got here,’” the youngster said. “I wanted to see it and check it out. It’s cool it has the old modified cars and the old Cup cars and stuff like that, it’s pretty cool to see and hopefully I get to walk around a little more and see.”

Logano stopped by the Hall of Fame for a few minutes during Media Day to check the place out. He was surprised.

NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley also spoke, letting some emotions show after seeing his hard work finalized. “I sat down in the skybox and looked out at ‘Glory Road’ and I literally came to tears,” he said, pausing for a moment, full of emotion. “Just because you see such an incredible history of our sport, from the people that I grew up idolizing. I got to work with my childhood heroes, the Richard Pettys, the Junior Johnsons, the David Pearsons, it literally brought tears to my eyes.”

He hopes NASCAR fans of all ages will enjoy the exhibits too. Logano did. “As a race fan, which is what I was before I was a racer, it’s pretty cool to walk through here,” he said. The NASCAR Hall of Fame will open to the public on May 11th. (For more info visit http://www.nascarhall.com/)

Kentucky Speedway may not get Cup date in 2011
NASCAR fans in Northern Kentucky and southwest Ohio may have to wait another year before they get to experience NASCAR Sprint Cup action at Kentucky Speedway. According to Speedway Motorsports Inc., who owns the facility in Sparta, Ky., a Sprint Cup race in 2011, “may not be feasible because of a variety of factors, including capital improvements necessary for the facility.”

A look down the back stretch during practice for last year's Busch/Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway

Bruton Smith, chairman of SMI, has noted that he wants to add seating to the 1.5-mile track. The current capacity of Kentucky Speedway is 69,000. Also, the IndyCar Series stopped by for a test on Tuesday and couldn’t get out on the track because of water seeping through the track’s surface (commonly called “weepers”).

I’ll keep you updated on the Kentucky Speedway stories and everything else through the weekend. Enjoy your Mother’s Day and don’t forget to check out Fox tomorrow at 7:30 for the drop of the green flag in the Southern 500.

Why I love NASCAR (and NASCAR drivers)

As a young kid growing up in Cincinnati I often had to answer the question, “How did you become a NASCAR fan?” Even though today I rarely have to answer the question how, I still find myself justifying why I became a NASCAR fan, and even more, why I continue to be a NASCAR fan today.

NASCAR fans are the best fans in America. I’ll stand by that statement until someone proves me otherwise. It’s not just that NASCAR fans are passionate about their driver, or drivers, but they’re also some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.

Need a match to light your grill with before the race? Ask your neighbor, they’ll likely have one you can use. And if they don’t have one, they’ll be glad to assist you in walking around the camping areas to help you find someone who does.

(That’s actually taken from a true story. That happened at last year’s Brickyard 400. My dad and I found a few nice guys from the Cincinnati area parked near us who actually gave us an entire box of matches to use. Along the way we chatted about NASCAR and much more)

But it’s not just the fans that make everything worthwhile in the sport: It’s the drivers too.

Drivers are everyday heroes in NASCAR. They stop to sign autographs and pose for photos with fans both young and old. Numerous examples of drivers just being normal, nice guys dotted media outlets last year. So, today, just one day closer to the drop of the green flag in NASCAR’s most prestigious race, the Daytona 500, I delve further into why NASCAR fans and drivers are by far the best fans and athletes in all of American sports.

Yahoo! Sports analyst Jay Hart posted this comment from a reader in November of last year. David from Denton, Texas wrote to Hart, “This past week at Texas my son and I were waiting for Clint Bowyer. He signed a piece of sheet metal for me, then he was about to take off and out of the corner of his eye saw my 3-year-old son standing beside me. He stopped, turned around, put his hand on his head, and rubbed his hair and said. ‘Hey Man, can I get a high-five.’

My son was so happy. Clint didn’t have to do it, in fact he had already done what we asked, but he went above and beyond even though we were not at an official signing or anything like that.”

Clint Bowyer’s enthusiasm probably sealed David’s 3-year-old son as a Clint Bowyer fan for life. How many times have you been at a baseball game or a football game and your favorite player is signing autographs, only to walk away as he nears you without so much as a, “Sorry folks, gotta go.”? Clint Bowyer’s ordinary move—giving the young guy a high five—was going the extra distance to create not just a Clint Bowyer fan for life, but in all likelihood, a NASCAR fan for life.

Bowyer may not be the most popular driver but he now has one more fan after high fiving a youngster in Texas

The high-five also reminds me a little of the Hamburger Helper commercial where Bowyer is driving around the track, eating spoonfuls of the sponsor’s product. Bowyer looks at the Hamburger Helper mascot and says, “High five little hand dude!” So, maybe Bowyer was catering to his sponsor a little, but either way, his willingness to go the extra mile just confirms my statement that NASCAR drivers are awesome guys. (Watch the commericial with Bowyer and the “little hand dude” here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ktgWKJwbc)

Hart’s family also was the recipient of a gracious move by NASCAR star Jeff Gordon at Texas in November. Hart wrote, “My sister and her family took in the race Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. A few hours before it started, we were standing in the media center when Jeff Gordon walked in. My 4-year-old nephew, holding a diecast replica of Gordon’s No. 24, thrust the car out and said, “Can you sign this please?” Gordon took the car, penned his autograph across the front hood, then without anyone asking said, “Let’s get a picture.” With that, he knelt down, huddled up my niece and two nephews, waited while my sister got her camera out of her purse, and now they have a keepsake they’ll never forget.”

Gordon knows what it takes to be fan friendly, even if fans aren't friendly to him

Gordon too understands that taking a few extra seconds to do something seemingly ordinary will always make people think that he’s an extraordinary guy. Like him or not—and Gordon is a polarizing figure in NASCAR—every NASCAR fan that reads that story understands that even though they may not like Gordon as a driver, they have to respect his actions as a man. A man that made dreams come true for a few youngsters last year.

Denny Hamlin also made an extra effort to show fans his gratitude for rooting for him after he won at Martinsville last October. A group of fans sat in the darkness watching Hamlin as he went through the “hat dance” in Victory Lane. Marty Smith from ESPN.com reported on the story, noting, “A handful of those folks in the grandstands wore head-to-toe Denny Hamlin garb. And they didn’t know it, but they were soon to fall face-first into a race fan’s dream.”

Hamlin told Smith, “There’s not a whole lot of true-blue Denny Hamlin fans that are all decked out in all my gear and everything, and basically, I saw, I think four people or so with all my gear on. And I told Austin [Peyton, Hamlin's manager] to go get those people because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them to be part of Victory Lane. And it’s a way for me to say thanks for being one of my fans.”

Hamlin understands the plight of the common fan though too. He was once a youngster looking for a signature from his childhood idol, Bill Elliott. “It was just for a brief second. But I remember that feeling,” he said. “It was 15 seconds that I was in front of him that we made eye contact, and I told him I was his biggest fan and he was my favorite driver. For him to acknowledge me then, for 15 seconds, it was more than worth the three hours of waiting in line.”

Elliott made Denny Hamlin's dreams come true many years ago. Now Hamlin gets to re-pay the favor to his own fans

Hamlin continued, “It’s hard for me nowadays to think ‘Man, these fans are getting pushed through autograph lines,’ and all that. They’ve really got to be devoted. But then I realize back then what it meant to me to meet my favorite driver. So that’s why I try to take that little extra time to make it worth my fans’ while to be a Denny Hamlin fan.”

Sound familiar?

When I walked up to Mark Martin last year at Indianapolis I had no idea what to do. I was excited and nervous all at the same time. Even though I was 20 years old and had done many cool things in my life, I’d never done anything quite like meeting the man I grew up idolizing. (For the original story, check out this: http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/07/mark-martin-im-blessed-to-have-so-many.html)

Why do I idolize Mark Martin? Well, there’s just not enough time or room to talk about that, we’ll save that for another day, but it’s important to know that Mark Martin is just as humble and caring as each of his competitors when it comes to talking to fans.

Mark Martin is ready to go in 2010

As his son Matt pointed out last season, “He is extremely humble. He’s just plain hard on himself. I asked him how he could weigh 125 pounds when he looks big, and he says things like, “Well, my brain isn’t that big.” He’ll just say things like that. He’s funny. He’s a simple guy. A cool guy. There aren’t many secrets about my Dad. He’s just a guy from Arkansas.”

He is just a guy who has shown so much in his career to so many people. The least of which is his enthusiasm for racing and passion for being a winner. “I’ve always been competitive,” he said in his book “Mark Martin: Mark of Excellence”. “Anything I’ve ever done, I’ve gone at it 100 percent. I don’t know any other way.”

Sound familiar?
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I hope my thoughts today on why I believe NASCAR is the greatest sport on the planet has fueled your passion for the beginning of the season which is now only 18 days away. If you’d like an autograph or picture with me, I know I’d have to make sure I followed the lead of the NASCAR drivers listed above and help you out. After all, they are great role models.

Have a great day and remember, it’s just 18 days until we get to see the Daytona 500.

NASCAR debates changing rear wing to spoiler on “Car of Tomorrow”

Back in 2007 there was a lot of negative press toward the blocky shaped car NASCAR touted as its “Car of Tomorrow”. In a January 2007 interview with Joe Menzer of NASCAR.com, Brett Bodine, former NASCAR driver and current director of cost research for NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., praised the COT.

Menzer wrote, “The same features that should produce those positives,” like side-by-side passing, “an adjustable rear wing and front-end splitter that will allow the car to run in smoother air—have drawn criticism for taking away from what some have argued are the sleeker-looking current cars that do not have them.”

He continued with, “Bodine has always argued that once the Car of Tomorrow is completely outfitted in a paint scheme comparable to the current machines, fans won’t be able to tell the difference between the cars of today and tomorrow on the racetrack—especially when they’re moving at speeds of 190 mph or more.”

I’m willing to bet if we took a poll today that many fans would call baloney on that statement. But fans that were admittedly angry with the switch from the old style car to the COT might possibly get to see a small change this year. On Jan. 15, NASCAR Cup Series director John Darby released a memo to teams.

“To help put some of the rumor mills to rest, I am sending you the following facts as they relate to changes for 2010,” Darby wrote in the memo. “We will be transitioning from the usage of the current wing to an aluminum spoiler.”

A shot of the "old car" with the spoiler on the back

The wing was a prominent feature on NASCAR's "Car of Tomorrow" design that was introduced in 2007

An example of what the new spoiler will look like on the current NASCAR cars (AP Images)

In mid-March NASCAR will hold meetings with the teams to discuss the new spoiler plan and an open test is scheduled for March 23 and 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Last week at a Goodyear tire test in Texas Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle got to try the new configuration out.

Vickers at last week's tire test in Texas (Getty Images)

“I thought it (the spoiler) was good,” Vickers said. “I thought it added a little bit of front downforce, which is a good thing. I think it’s going to be more accepted to the fans. It looks cooler – a little more retro back to the older car.” And that’s a change I know I’m going to love.

A lot of publicity and media coverage within the past week has focused on NASCAR’s new willingness to listen to the fans and its drivers who have provided feedback on how to make the sport better.

Clint Bowyer confirmed his confidence in the move to the spoiler by saying, “I think as a fan of this sport, that’s what we need—we need to create a positive change that keeps people tuned in to what we all love in this sport and make racing good, keep racing as strong as it’s been over the years.”

Busch was excited about the move as well saying that he’s looking forward to seeing how the cars will react at the larger tracks where “side drafting” occurs. “One thing I’ve always pushed for is to get the spoiler back on the car to get that side draft. That happens at mile-and-a-halfs, it happens at 2-mile tracks and it primarily happens at the restrictor-plate tracks where two cars are side by side and they have a tough time breaking away from each other because you can side draft more prominently with a spoiler on the car than you can with a wing.”

As a man who has seen a lot of changes in the sport since he began racing in the 1980s, Mark Martin offered his opinion on the switch. The 51-year-old said, “The spoiler is going to look like a traditional stock car, and I think that is huge. I think that's big for us all, everyone—fans, competitors and all. The performance of the spoiler may be a little bit different, but that configuration isn’t, I don't think, completely defined yet.”

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon is tired of teams—his team occasionally included—complaining about not getting their car to turn in the corners. “Every weekend, every team out there is complaining the car won’t turn in the middle, won’t turn in the middle, won’t turn in the middle,” he said “I’m up for anything that would get the car to turn in the middle.”

I’m not sure how the car will turn out with the spoiler or if the racing will be better, but I certainly pray that everything will become more exciting with the introduction of the spoiler. If anything else it takes NASCAR back to the past as Martin and Vickers both said. And even though it’ll be a few months before we get to see the results of the Charlotte test, NASCAR fans and media are abuzz with the news of the change to the spoiler.

If anything else, we’ve learned that NASCAR is ready to accept ideas to change its product, and change it for the better.