Brickyard 400 media day unlike any other

In two weeks I’ll be on the road to the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and you know I couldn’t be happier about it. The Brickyard 400 is a big deal, a huge deal, for me and a lot of other NASCAR drivers.

Jeff Gordon has won it four times, Tony Stewart has done it twice, and Kevin Harvick became the first-ever driver to win from the pole in 2003. Jamie McMurray captured a win in the Brickyard 400 last year, months after winning the Daytona 500.

From left: Felix Sabates, McMurray and Chip Ganassi in the post-race press conference at IMS

“Getting to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 means more to me this year than making the Chase,” McMurray said after winning last year. “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.”

Winning once at Indy immortalizes you amongst the greats, and not just the NASCAR greats. If you look at this list of winners at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway you’ll be reminded of history: Foyt, Unser, Andretti, Mears, Fittipaldi and Luyendyk. Names that made the world-famous 2.5-mile rectangle in Speedway, Ind., their home and they invited NASCAR into it.

A win at Indy is priceless.

But some of the best drivers in the sport have yet to visit victory lane, which is why, every year, the same question is asked: “What would it mean to win at Indy?”

Martin and Montoya prepare to start the 2009 Brickyard 400, a race that Montoya dominated, but was caught speeding on pit road, and Martin finished second to Jimmie Johnson

Mark Martin has never done it in NASCAR’s top division (he does have three IROC wins at IMS). Dale Earnhardt Jr. has also never won at IMS, and Juan Pablo Montoya has won the Indy 500 and the U.S Grand Prix, but has never won the Brickyard 400.

To each of these men close is not good enough. They’d love nothing more than to step into Victory Lane, and all three are fan favorites.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning at Indy would make a lot of fans very happy. His dad won in 1995.

But this season has been a season of firsts: Trevor Bayne’s exciting Daytona 500 win, Regan Smith capturing victory at the Southern 500 and David Ragan’s first career win at Daytona two weeks ago have all made headlines.

It seems we’re due for an unlikely winner at Indy.

In two weeks, when media day is upon us, maybe the question to every driver at Indy should be, “Who’s going to be the surprise winner this time?”

I’ll be there. And I can not wait. The countdown is on to the Brickyard 400.

My Guide to Kentucky Speedway’s Quaker State 400 weekend

A view of Kentucky Speedway during the June 1st Goodyear tire test

I’ve done this before, but I’ve never done this before. I’ve been to ten Brickyard 400 weekends, and that is the pinnacle of the year for me. It’s like Christmas for me, but as I’ve said, this year is like having two Christmases.

I’ve had all access pit passes for the past two years down at Kentucky Speedway for the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. It’s a pretty big deal, but nothing like what will happen on Saturday night when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series takes to Kentucky for the first time.

Here’s a guide to some of the events this weekend, and what I suggest you take in. For Kentucky Speedway’s full schedule from their website, check this page: http://www.kentuckyspeedway.com/fans/fan-guide.aspx

Wednesday

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Practice 4-5 p.m.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Practice 6-7 p.m.

Mark Martin driving through turn three during the Goodyear tire test that was closed to the public. Kentucky Speedway opened up a viewing area in turn three for the test. No word if they'll do the same for the Wednesday evening Truck practices.

Both of these practices are closed to the public. So, there’s not a whole lot you can do. The June 1st Goodyear tire test was also closed to the public but the Speedway opened up a section of grass outside the track’s offices in turn three. Maybe that’s the option for you to get your fill of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice.

Also on Wednesday, around 7 p.m., the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series haulers will begin to arrive at Kentucky, according to a preliminary schedule I saw a week ago. If you want to see history, check out the hauler parade for the first-time in Kentucky Speedway’s history.

Thursday

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Final Practice 10:00 a.m.

This is the only chance for fans to see the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in action from the stands before the Thursday night race.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Testing 11:05 a.m.

History is made when one driver pulls out onto the pavement at Kentucky Speedway and turns the first practice lap for the Sprint Cup Series. Drivers like five-time defending Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., Columbus, Ind. native Tony Stewart, Owensboro, Kentucky’s Michael Waltrip, and my personal favorite Mark Martin should all turn laps in this practice session.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Qualifying 3:05 p.m.

The trucks will turn laps one at a time to set the field for the UNOH 225. Austin Dillon, the grandson of Richard Childress, sits fourth in Truck Series points, and Parker Kilgerman, who won the 2009 ARCA race at Kentucky, is eighth in Truck Series points.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Testing 4:00 p.m.

After a break to break down the data from the morning practice session the big boys will be out on the track again. Jeff Burton said these testing sessions are important for the teams who have no data on the track. “Kentucky is a race that might help us get jump started because it’s going to be our first opportunity to sit down and analyze data, really sit down and understand what our car is doing and what I’m doing different as a driver, to really help us improve. I think it’s going to be very beneficial,” Burton said in a teleconference on Wednesday.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Practice 6:10 p.m.

Nationwide Series regulars like Aric Almirola and Elliott Sadler will practice against Cup Series drivers like Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne and three-time defending race winner Joey Logano, trying to dial their cars in to bring Logano’s dominance at Kentucky to a halt.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Driver Introductions 7:35 p.m.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race "UNOH 225" 8:00 p.m.

Kentucky Speedway image

It’s the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series getting the weekend of speed at Kentucky started with the 150-lap, 225-mile UNOH 225, sponsored by the University of Northwestern Ohio. Johnny Sauter leads the Truck Series points, but lurking in third is Ron Hornaday, who won the 2009 Truck Series race at Kentucky.

Friday

NASCAR Nationwide Final Practice 9:00 a.m.

One last chance for the Nationwide Series guys and possibly gals (I have yet to see an entry list, but I believe Jennifer Jo Cobb will attempt to run—Danica is not, to my knowledge) to get their cars in tune for the Friday evening race. Look for Joey Logano and Kyle Busch to top the speed charts in this session.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Practice 11:30 a.m.

The third of four Sprint Cup Series practices. Somewhere in this two-day set of practice sessions, Sprint cup teams will be testing the new fuel-injection systems that NASCAR wants to use next season.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Final Practice 1:30 p.m.

Final practice, aka “Happy Hour” will be the final chance to see the Sprint Cup cars drive around the track in Sparta en masse before the Quaker State 400. By this time fans will be able to see who is handling well and which drivers are going to be the ones to watch come Saturday night.

Mark Martin will drive the No. 5 Quaker State Chevy at Kentucky (Photo from Kentucky Speedway)

NASCAR Nationwide Series Qualifying 3:40p.m.

Joey Logano has won three consecutive poles for the Nationwide Series race in Kentucky. It would surprise no one to see Logano’s No. 20 Toyota turn the fastest lap in this qualifying session.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying 5:10 p.m.

The record books will be written and rewritten all weekend. Who will ink his name as the first polesitter in Kentucky Speedway’s Sprint Cup history? One by one the Cup guys will head out onto the track to decide who gets the inaugural pole for the inaugural Quaker State 400.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Driver Introduction 7:00 p.m.

Image from Kentucky Speedway

NASCAR Nationwide Series Race "Feed The Children 300" 8:00 p.m.

Can anyone stop Joey Logano at Kentucky in the Nationwide Series? In the 200-lap Feed the Children 300, we will all find out. If I was a betting man, though, it would be tough to bet against the youngster, who, by the way, won on Friday night in Daytona.

And could more history be made at Kentucky in the Nationwide Series? If Mark Martin wins in the No. 32 Turner Motorsports car he will extend his Series career wins lead over Kyle Busch. It will also be Martin’s 50th win in the Series formerly known as the Busch Series. If Busch wins, he’ll tie Martin for the most wins all time in the second-tier Series.

Saturday

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Driver Introductions 7:00 p.m.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race "Quaker State 400" 8:00 p.m.

This is it. “History Starts Now,” has been the campaign for Kentucky Speedway, and history comes to fruition on Saturday night.

The Quaker State 400 image (from Kentucky Speedway)

“When 43 cars start up and every one of them has over 800 horsepower and they’re going around there reaching top speeds of over 200 miles per hour, it’s just something you can’t describe unless you’ve seen it, heard it and felt it,” said Jeff Burton last week.

Let’s get it started.

“There’s only one first race and you can only win it once,” said Tony Stewart.

Who will win and how will it affect the Chase standings? Will Joey Logano’s Nationwide success carry over to the Cup Series? We’ll find out in six days.

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Remember, if you’re going to Kentucky, this is just a short preview. Also, if you’re coming on down to Kentucky, let me know! Tweet at me (@adamniemeyer) or leave me a comment here (which in turn e-mails me). I’d love to meet up with some readers and get their thoughts on the first-ever Cup Series weekend at Kentucky.

Markaholics reading this, feel free to PM me on the message board, or leave a comment in the threads I have created.

Will Dale Earnhardt Jr. break winless streak at Daytona? Gordon says he could

On Tuesday I asked a question that FOX19’s Joe Danneman proposed a week ago: “What if Dale Jr. won at Kentucky?”

While that would be a big-time, important win for the sport of NASCAR, any time Jr. wins a race at Daytona, the place where his father died on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, is a storybook ending.

And while I know Dale Jr. fans in the Cincinnati area would love to see their man win the inaugural Quaker State 400, I think every NASCAR fan knows this weekend’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona could be Jr.’s best chance to break his now 109-race winless streak.

His teammate, Jeff Gordon, a six-time winner at Daytona, calls his Hendrick Motorsports teammate one of the favorites to win this weekend at Daytona.

“I think when I think it of going to restrictor plate races, even though things have changed, I still think that Dale Junior is one of the best out there,” Gordon said on Tuesday’s NASCAR teleconference.

Earnhardt Jr. has two wins at Daytona in 23 attempts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He won last year’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona in July driving a No. 3 painted like his dad’s old Wrangler car. A late crash took Jr. out of contention in the Daytona 500, but he’ll be good on Saturday night according to his teammate Gordon.

Jr. pushed Jimmie Johnson to the win at Talladega in April in NASCAR’s last restrictor plate race. Gordon says the two should work together again at Daytona.

Earnhardt Jr. pushed Johnson to the win at Talldega in April (Getty Images for NASCAR)

“We saw how good they were putting themselves in position to win, with Jimmie getting the win. There's no reason why that can't continue and Junior happens to be leading instead of being the pusher and maybe Jimmie can return that favor,” Gordon said.

In fact, via Twitter, Johnson joked with Earnhardt’s fans (commonly referred to as “JR Nation”) by saying, “Jr nation you crack me up. Yes the 48&88 will work together again and I do know he pushed me to the win in dega. Let's go racing!” He continued the thought with, “Let's be clear, my job is to win the race. If the same situation develops like we had in dega 9sic) & I'm pushing him, I will push him to the win.”

There will be plenty of happy Dale Jr. fans if that happens this weekend. You can count on that.

Gordon to pair with Martin at Daytona

Whatever you prefer calling restrictor plate racing nowadays; “Pairs racing,” “tandem racing” or even “Noah’s Ark racing,” one thing remains the same: drivers will be paired up from the beginning of the race until the end, two-by-two, nose to tail.

The four HMS cars at Talladega (Getty Images)

At Talladega in April, a race won by the Hendrick Motorsports tandem of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., it was the other HMS tandem that led coming to the white flag: Jeff Gordon being pushed by Mark Martin.

What are the chances that it will happen this weekend in Daytona? Pretty darn good.

“I'm really excited about working with Mark Martin this weekend like we did at Talladega.  We worked a lot together at Talladega, worked really well together and had a shot at winning the race there late, and I think we are going to be able to evolve with that and make it even better for Daytona this weekend,” Gordon noted during Tuesday’s NASCAR teleconference.

Gordon has six wins in 37 starts at Daytona, including three Daytona 500 victories. Martin, meanwhile, is still searching for win No. 1 at the track nearest to his home in Florida.

Gordon talks to the media before the 2009 Brickyard 400. I loved the perfectly positioned Pepsi bottle too. Got to get your marketing in order!

But Gordon and Martin have been around the sport for quite some time, and both have seen a lot of changes in the sport, including the way drafting has evolved over the years.

Restrictor plate racing used to be large packs, running two and three-wide, sometimes ten cars deep. One small mistake could take out twenty cars. Drivers needed to constantly be focused on what was happening in front of them, and what was coming from behind them. One move could take you from 20th to first, or first to 20th, all in the matter of one lap.

Now, that’s all changed. Just like in high school, the new tandem drafting is all about finding the right partner to dance with.

“You really have to find somebody to work with,” said Gordon, a four-time Sprint Cup champ. “And you have to really compromise, because there are some times, you may be getting pushed and other times where you're going to be pushing.”

A.J. Allmendinger described restrictor plate racing on his May 11th visit to Kentucky Speedway in quite the same way.

“It’s scary to be out there at times. It’s insane. And I know the fans love it…but from the seat, the toughest thing is just knowing that you can’t get off their bumper. You have to be pushing and if you check up, you’re going to lose 20 spots,” he said.

Gordon also talked about the details that go into the new type of racing.

“If you're the car in back, you just follow that rear bumper and try to keep as much air getting into the radiator as you possibly can, and you just follow that car wherever it goes. And each lap, you will get a sense of where the driver that's leading, where their line is and so that you can kind of anticipate that,” he said.

One of the newest, and maybe weirdest, phenomenons at Daytona and Talladega is the sharing of radio communications between teams, even between drivers who are not teammates.

“It is odd to me, you know, to give those channels up to the other teams. It's not something that we are used to doing,” said Gordon. “But you know, restrictor plate racing has always brought a unique style of racing and going about things different for all of us involved in the throughout the years.”

Martin and Gordon work together during practice at Talladega in April (Getty Images)

One thing that Gordon expects not to change is working with his veteran teammate this weekend.

“I feel fortunate,” he said. “We had a great working relation with Mark Martin, our teammate, at Talladega and we continue to do that and plan to continue to do that in Daytona this coming up weekend.”

Maybe Gordon can push Martin to his first win at Daytona, beginning a month of firsts for NASCAR’s most respected driver. I wouldn’t hate it.

Quaker State 400 Countdown: Could Earnhardt Jr. break “The Streak” at Kentucky?

Last week Joe Danneman, FOX19 Sports Anchor, and blog frequenter, posed a thought: “What if Dale Jr. won at Kentucky?”

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car sits in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway garage area before practice for last year's Brickyard 400

I think that would qualify as pretty darn big time.

There is no bigger name in the nation’s No. 2 sport, and although Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won exactly two races since May of 2006, he continues to be the main draw for fans everywhere. Love him, hate him, or feel indifferently about him, Dale Jr. taking the first ever checkered flag in the Sprint Cup Series at Kentucky would make for some big-time headlines.

The last time Dale Jr. won a race was three summers ago, in June of 2008 at Michigan. A few weeks back, in NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Jr. held the lead on the final lap, but when he dropped into turn three, his No. 88 shut off. He was out of gas.

Kevin Harvick whisked by NASCAR’s most popular man and won the Coke 600, leaving Jr. fans the world around disappointed in coming so close yet again.

This season has been a season of rebirth for Earnhardt Jr., who was paired with Steve Letarte in the great Hendrick crew chief swap at the end of last season. Letarte and Earnhardt Jr. have been pretty consistent all year, scoring two runner ups (Martinsville and Kansas) and having finished in the top ten eight times.

Although Jr. winning at Kentucky would be a heck of story line, his best chance, at least according to some experts, would be to cross the finish line first at Daytona, a track where he’s scored three wins since he began racing there in 2000.

Jr., however, isn’t looking forward to Daytona

“I’m not looking forward to going to Daytona, not with the way the (two-car) drafting is there,” he told reporters after finishing 41st on Sunday at Sonoma. “But we’ll just have to see if we can get lucky out there. What's after Daytona? I'll be glad to go there.”

Did you hear that? Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be glad to get to Kentucky Speedway. This could be fun.

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I’ve got plenty of opportunities here in the next day to ask drivers some questions. Today at noon Tony Stewart is on a video teleconference with Cincinnati, Lexington and Louisville area media members to make up for his rained out chance to talk last Tuesday at Kentucky. Jeff Gordon is on the NASCAR national video teleconference at 3:15 p.m.

I’ll be listening in on both, and hopefully I can sneak a question or two in to Smoke in the hour he’ll be talking with us. I might ask Gordon a question, but that’s a national feed, so odds are some of the bigger, more important folks will be asking questions.

And tomorrow I have an opportunity to go one-on-one with Jeff Burton via a video feed. Mark Martin’s former teammate will have ten minutes with me from Atlanta Motor Speedway where he’ll be taking Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson/Ochocinco around the track.

I’m not interested in Chad, just Jeff Burton and any thoughts he can provide about Daytona, Kentucky and Indy…oh, and how is Ward doing?

Got any questions for Smoke, the original four-time champ Gordon, or Jeff Burton? Tweet them to me, or leave a comment here. It gets e-mailed to me. I’ll see what I can do.

Keselowski’s roller coaster weekend ends in Victory Lane

Talk about a wild turn of events. In NASCAR you can go from zero to hero pretty quickly. But, as Brad Keselowski has found out this season in the Nationwide Series, you can go from hero to zero just as fast.

Last year he won the Nationwide (nee Busch) Series title. This year he’s recorded five DNFs in 14 races in NASCAR’s second-tier series.

Keselowski recorded six wins in the Nationwide Series one year ago on his way to that title. But even with five DNFs, Keselowski has six top-5s and nine top-10 finishes this season.

On Saturday night Keselowski was running in the top ten during the STP 300 at Chicagoland. Then his engine blew up.

“It’s been one of them years where we’re catching some bad breaks,” he said after the race.

Keselowski may have been bummed after exiting Chicago on Saturday evening, but on Sunday afternoon in Kansas, I’m sure he forgot about his engine woes on Saturday.

Keselowski runs a lap at Kentucky on Wednesday during the Goodyear tire test in Sparta

By running the final 57 laps on one tank of fuel, Keselowski coasted to victory in the inaugural spring race at Kansas, the STP 400.

“There are some secrets to [saving fuel] and I just maximized them all,” he said post-race. “I had plenty [of fuel] left.”

And for the second race in a row, Keselowski got to be the mean guy in the beer car that held back NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., from getting the win.

It’s been nearly three years—a 105 race drought—since Earnhardt Jr. has been in Victory Lane.

“We shouldn’t have run second again. We’ve got to fix some things. We’ve got fast cars so we can be fast.”

And sooner or later Earnhardt Jr. will find himself where Keselowski was on Sunday.

Keselowski went from hero to zero and back all in less than 24 hours. When will Dale Jr. be able to become the Sunday hero again? My money is on the first weekend in July when the Cup Series heads back to Daytona.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Let me know. Just leave me a comment. Thanks for reading and enjoy your Monday night.

1100 miles of racing, two wild finishes

If you thought the Indy 500 had a wild finish, NASCAR has something of their own to say about wild finishes on Memorial Day weekend.

In case you weren’t watching, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s streak of 104 winless races was about half a mile from ending when his No. 88 Chevy slowed in turns three and four at Charlotte. He was out of fuel. Kevin Harvick scooted on by for the improbable win, and Jr. coasted to a 7th-place finish.

After the 500 on Sunday I literally said, “Have you ever?”

Mike Joy, the founder of the “Have you ever?” saying (at least in my mind) could only say one thing as Harvick drove around the 1.5-mile track on a victory lap: “Have you ever?”

Not sure that I have, but on Sunday it seemed that the unexpected was the norm.

Coming off of turn four in the 100th Indianapolis 500 rookie J.R. Hildebrand looked like he was going to pull off a crazy upset. However, he got to high trying to pass a lap-down car and whacked the turn four SAFER barrier, riding along the wall all the way to a second place finish behind Dan Wheldon who won his second Indy 500.

J.R. Hildebrand was this close to winning the Indy 500 on Sunday when he hit the wall somewhere in the sight of this photo, which I took from my seat at last year's Brickyard 400. He limped along the wall to a second place finish

So how could NASCAR one-up that ending? By having the sport’s biggest name snap his nearly three-year losing streak of course.

Except that Dale Jr.’s fuel cell had other plans.

Kevin Harvick, who ironically enough is driving the car that Earnhardt Jr.’s late father used to drive at Richard Childress Racing, scooted on by the coasting car of Earnhardt at the entrance of pit road and took NASCAR’s longest race.

“I knew when I got out of the car I wasn’t going to be the good guy,” Harvick said. “But that’s just the way it works. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. And fortunately today was our day to win.”

That was what Kevin Harvick said in 2007 after beating Mark Martin to the line by .02 seconds in the Daytona 500. But it might as well have been from Sunday night’s race.

Nate Ryan, USA Today’s NASCAR writer stated that Harvick felt almost the same way after getting out of his No. 29 last night. “Harvick was sincerely contrite about denying NASCAR’s most popular driver’s first trip to victory lane in nearly three years,” Ryan wrote.

“I feel like complete crap, to tell you the truth,” Harvick said after the race on Sunday night. “Man, when I saw that thing slowing down, I was like, I really want to win the race, but why can't it be on a day when we're running bad or have something going wrong.

“Everybody sitting up here would say we want (Earnhardt's team) to win, and they're so close to winning and both times they had a chance. We are going to do what we have to do to win the races, and today it all just worked out strategy-wise that we won. But I feel so stinking bad for him, and I know how bad he wants it. But it'll happen. They keep running like that, it'll happen.”

Earnhardt Jr. echoed those sentiments telling Jeff Gluck of SBNation.com, “It was a long race and a really hard race – and I haven't ran good here in a long time,” he said. “But we ran really, really good here tonight. And I'm really happy about that.

“Wins are going to come, we've just got to keep working. We're going to get our share.”

And his late father’s car owner said the same thing.

Richard Childress said, “We all want to see Dale Jr. win. Like Kevin said, he's going to win his races, and I'll be the first one there to congratulate him because I am an Earnhardt fan at heart, no doubt.

Childress (right) signs an autograph for a fan in the garage at last year's Brickyard 400

“But I pull for my guys and I want to see them win, and I'm really proud of everybody on this Budweiser team for what they did, and Junior will win.”

And when he does all of NASCAR will breathe a collective sigh of relief. It’s been a while since the No. 88 was this competitive, and if Dale Jr. keeps knocking on the door, he’ll be in Victory Lane soon enough.

As long as he has enough gas to make it there.