Opinion: Running Nationwide Series at Brickyard is wrong

When Jeff Gluck asked his tweetup crowd at Kentucky Speedway about the impending move of the NASCAR Nationwide Series to the big track in Indianapolis next year, he got a lot of negative answers.

One man even said, “I can take a nap at home.”

Every year around this time the excitement builds for me. I’m a huge fan of the Brickyard 400. It holds a very special place in my heart. Unfortunately, that special place has now been tainted with the news that the Nationwide (nee Busch) Series will now run a race at Indy.

David Newton, of ESPN.com, wrote the same thing in an article last week (Read it here: http://espn.go.com/racing/blog/_/name/newton_david/id/6743367).

“I get that it'll be cool for Nationwide drivers that don't double in Cup to compete at IMS,” wrote Newton. “But it should be a privilege, earned by working their way into the top series. Now among the list of Hall of Fame IMS winners -- Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson -- we could see Reed Sorenson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“Nothing personal against those drivers, but do they deserve to cross the same yard of bricks that A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Al and Bobby Unser and Mario Andretti did after winning the Indianapolis 500?”

In my opinion: No.

I get that the fine folks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are just trying to help race fans get, “more bang for their buck,” as Newton said, but I really enjoy only seeing one thing at Indy: NASCAR’s top level.

Plus, even though I’ve never been to IRP (and I was told by an RCR media rep that I need to go because it’s fun) a lot of fans and media members are very unhappy about losing a short track.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver in the Nationwide Series, told media last week at IMS that fans shouldn’t be discouraged that IRP is losing the race to IMS.

“I think it's going to be a huge weekend,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “I think the fans, the ones that are disappointed that we're not going back to Lucas Oil on this weekend, I think they're going to get to the racetrack and be surprised how much on-track activity, how many things both of these series are going to have to offer them, especially the on-track activity.”

Newton, who has been around NASCAR since the 1980s, disagreed with Stenhouse’s opinon.

“Ultimately, the fans will pay the price because the Nationwide show at Indy will pale in comparison to what they got on the .686-mile LOR oval on which finishes were tight and tempers flared,” wrote Newton.

Kevin Harvick, 2003 Brickyard 400 champ, disagreed with Newton. He thinks Indy is not hallowed ground.

“I see our biggest facility as Daytona and all our series run there so what makes Indianapolis any more special than Daytona? That’s the way I look at it,” he said at Kentucky Speedway last week. “If our cars are good enough to run on the Daytona International Speedway, they’re plenty good enough to run at the Brickyard.”

Harvick is NASCAR’s ultimate bad guy though. This year he’s finished first in two races that Dale Jr. has almost won, and Harvick also nudged sentimental favorite Mark Martin to the line in the 2007 Daytona 500.

 

Sure, Daytona will always be special, but Indy won’t ever be the same after this year.

“The Brickyard just became like every other NASCAR track. Yeah, it's still special, but it's not as special as it was before this announcement,” Newton wrote.

It used to be fun getting ready for the second most prestigious race of the year. It was the biggest weekend of the year on my calendar, and it won’t be the same with the Busch Series running the same weekend at Indy next year.

It won’t be as special, it won’t be as prestigious and it certainly won’t be better. No matter who tells me it will.

Kyle Busch is getting more personable

Let me start by saying at this time last year I thought of Kyle Busch the way many fans think of Kyle Busch. Damn he’s a great racecar driver, but he’s kind of unfriendly. Yet, that unfriendliness is what draws so many people to him, and I respect that.

 

This weekend at Kentucky Speedway, part of that opinion changed.

Kyle Busch is still one heckuva racecar driver; that obviously hasn’t changed. But the fact that he seemed more lighthearted and friendly with the media this past weekend really made me respect him even more.

For years fans have complained that Jimmie Johnson is too vanilla. Then he began to tweet, and it has changed many fans’ views (yours truly included) of the five-time defending Sprint Cup champion.

Kyle Busch had a moment like that on Friday around noon at Kentucky. While sitting in the media center’s “Bluegrass Hall,” where all the press conferences were being held, Busch cracked jokes with reporters about his bright green and yellow firesuit.

Jeff Gluck of SBNation.com mentioned that Busch’s NOS Energy Citrus flavor firesuit hurt his eyes. I’ll let you decide if the bright, almost neon green and yellow is too much of a clash of brightness for your pupils.

I'm not sure this picture does justice to the brightness

And after that question Busch answered one about if racing in all three series this past weekend was tiring.

“Yeah it’s certainly a longer weekend this year because of all the testing and everything that they’ve allowed us and the extra track time and that,” he said. “It’s certainly hot.”

‘This is a great answer,’ I thought. It was interesting to hear the only driver who was running in all three events give his take on how tiring the weekend actually was.

And then Busch dropped something that only Carl Edwards or Michael Waltrip have done in the past: an unbelievable sponsor reference.

“Plus, I’ve got the awesome NOS Energy Drink sponsor that keeps me going. Plenty of flavors to choose from,” he said. “Help yourselves. M&M’s hauler, Z-Line Designs, NOS Energy Drink hauler and pick yourself up one. New charge citrus flavor tastes just like Mello Yello. It’s a Southern thing, right?”

I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes, and that was something I never expected from that short Kyle Busch meeting in the media center.

And I hope it has changed your view. Love him or hate him, I hope you’d enjoy the great comment he had. It wasn’t an awkward sponsor reference either, but it was genuine attempt at comedy. And it worked. I enjoyed it.

More on Kyle Busch’s hilarious comments about an event next season later on today.

Another inaugural race marred by traffic at Kentucky Speedway

I don’t want to say I knew it was going to happen, but I knew it was going to happen. And I wasn’t the only one who predicted that traffic would be terrible heading into the Kentucky Speedway on Saturday evening, numerous friends of mine told me the same thing.

Joe Danneman and I even discussed it last week while at FOX19. Joe said, “I just hope that all those people see the beginning of the race.”

I responded, “They won’t, I guarantee it.”

Last August, right after Bruton Smith announced that the Kentucky Speedway would be holding its first ever Sprint Cup race, I wrote about the horrible time my dad, brother and I had on the trip down to Sparta before the first-ever NASCAR sanctioned race at the track in Gallatin County.

“My first thoughts of Kentucky Speedway are of anger and resentment,” I wrote. “We scored free tickets for the track’s first race in 2000 and left Cincinnati around 3:30 p.m. for the 8 p.m. event. We never made it.

“Stopped three miles short of the exit for the track, we shut off the van and played football on the highway around all the other stopped vehicles. When we got back in the van to get turned around and head back to Cincinnati (because the state police had told us to turn around because the exit to the speedway had been shut down) the van wouldn’t start.”

Friends and family said, “Well obviously you didn’t leave early enough.” My dad said, “We don’t even leave that early when we got to Indianapolis, and we get there with no problem.”

Last night’s Quaker State 400 will not be remembered for Kyle Busch’s dominating performance in the No. 18 car. Nor will it be remembered for all the pomp and circumstance that comes with the sport’s biggest names descending on a track in the Bluegrass State to race for the first time since 1954.

No, this race will be remembered in the same vain that the 2008 Brickyard 400 will be remembered by. And that is unfortunate.

 

But I just knew it was going to happen.

‘You don’t get it,’ I’ve been telling people. ‘You just don’t understand how big of an event this is and will be. This is a big deal.’

Kentucky Speedway officials knew it would be, but they somehow failed to make it all work.

National writers have been lambasting the speedway all day, some of them even took to Twitter (along with myself) last night to tell the tales of those who were stuck outside the track.

But their words can only go so far.

David Caraviello of NASCAR.com wrote, “Saturday brought the big show to a venue that had been expanded to 107,000, and the result was automotive apocalypse so bad that at one point Interstate 71 -- the main artery to the race track -- eventually backed up for 20 miles.”

The Gaston Gazette’s Monte Dutton wrote a column, saying, “At 4 a.m., I was trudging into a hotel elevator at the same time as a man and his wife. The man was wearing a Mountain Dew cap that looked as if it might have dated back to Darrell Waltrip instead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. I didn’t have to say a word. The woman looked at me and said, simply, ‘Never again.’”

I take pride in my city and knew this could be a fantastic opportunity to see NASCAR big stars in and around Cincinnati. Folks in Cincinnati had to pay attention to NASCAR now. Unfortunately, many in Cincinnati my never pay attention again.

“What really hurts is that many of these fans were relatively new to the sport…and some families with kids,” wrote Mike Mulhern of MikeMulhern.net.

“Kentucky has been staging races for 11 years,” wrote ESPN’s Terry Blount. “Surely they have learned something about traffic flow during that time, even for crowds half as large.”

Jeff Gluck of SBNation.com wrote, “Places like Daytona and Talladega routinely see crowds of way more than 107,000 without this kind of backup. It was simply a matter of poor planning.”

Blount called the race a black eye for the sport. Mulhern agreed.

“This was to be a shining hour for this sport. A new market, with new fans, new potential sponsors. And a market that seems filled with solid, bedrock NASCAR fans. Alas, it may have been all but thrown away. Repairing the damage may take a while. This debacle was on par with the 2008 Brickyard 400, in terms of negative impact on fans. And Indianapolis is still struggling to recover from the fallout and disenchantment from that mess.”

FOX19's Joe Danneman interviews frustrated race fans in traffic

They are, and I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. That 2008 race was rough, but I feel that Indy and Goodyear, along with NASCAR did their best to make up for it. It’s an uphill battle, but it’s a battle that Kentucky speedway is about to fight.

“As far as earning back people’s trust, we have to earn people’s trust every single day,” said Kentucky Speedway GM Mark Simendinger (as reported by Bob Pockrass of Scene Daily). “We have to earn their business every single day. … Obviously this will be something that will get a lot of attention over the next 12 months. I’m confident we’re going to earn people’s trust.”

“It sounds simple but I’m not sure it is because there are many fans that have likely already decided they won’t return to Kentucky Speedway. And no doubt there are many more who are thinking seriously about it,” Pockrass wrote.

And Indianapolis Motor Speedway even announced that come Monday they will be tweeting information to fans of the race that didn’t make it in for a special ticket deal to the Brickyard 400.

It didn’t stop there. Talladega Superspeedway issued a statement from their track Chairman, Grant Lynch.

“After hearing how rough the fans had it at Kentucky this weekend,” the release stated, “I wanted to let them know that we're ready to show how a race weekend is supposed to run. We put fan experience at the forefront of everything we do. That's why we allow coolers in our grandstands and provide hundreds of acres of free camping.”

It forced Kentucky to issue a statement, around 7 p.m. on Sunday evening.

“Kentucky Speedway regrets the traffic conditions surrounding the 'Quaker State 400.' We're committed to working with NASCAR, state and local officials and traffic experts to assure that this never happens again. The details of these improvements will be announced over time as they are formulated.

“We also recognize the traffic problems resulted in some fans not being able to attend the 'Quaker State 400.' We are gathering information on this and will announce a policy for these affected fans within seven days.

“Our 'Quaker State 400' ticket holders are invited to share their experiences with us through fans@kentuckyspeedway.com.  We thank all our fans for giving the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series such a great welcome to our venue."

Nowhere in that statement did Kentucky Speedway or Speedway Motorsports Inc. say the two words that NASCAR fans across the country have been waiting to here: we’re sorry.

Gluck issued five things that Kentucky Speedway needs to do to improve their situation. Number one on that list was apologize to fans.

NASCAR issued their own statement around two hours after Kentucky’s statement.

Chairman Brian France said, “While NASCAR was thrilled by the incredible response to our inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Kentucky, we also are extremely disappointed by the traffic problems and inconveniences endured by fans who wanted to be part of our races at Kentucky Speedway.

“NASCAR will be in close communications with Kentucky Speedway and Speedway Motorsports Inc. to see that they work to resolve the issues. This situation cannot happen again.”

 

A fan from LaGrange, Ky., wrote to the Charlotte Observer with his tale of how he finally gave up and headed back home after nearly seven hours in traffic. (Read it here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/10/1335400/one-fans-kentucky-traffic-tale.html)

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that a race fan, “camped in neighboring Sanders, which is typically a 10-minute drive from the Speedway. On Saturday, it took him two hours.”

Kentucky’s Governor, Steve Beshear, who gave the command to fire engines on Saturday night, also issued a statement on Sunday.

“There is no question that the entire week at the Kentucky Speedway was a big success, but it's also clear that there are issues, such as traffic flow, which must be addressed before next year's event. We will work with track officials to determine what can be done to address these problems, so that next year's NASCAR event will be even bigger and better.”

“NASCAR Sprint Cup race No. 1 at Kentucky Speedway was a complete, unmitigated disaster,” wrote SPEED TV’s Tom Jensen. “Immediate action is required to fix the damage.”

It may take years before everything is resolved completely around Kentucky Speedway though. On Thursday, right as the Sprint Cup teams were preparing for their first practice session of the day, I ran into one NASCAR team official, who was angry about the state of the track’s media center.

“This place is totally unprepared,” she told me.

No matter what Bruton Smith promises, fans in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, and those that came from other parts of the country will always remember this first time they came down to Sparta.

We were at the track so late the lights were turned out on us

The track’s former owner, Jerry Carroll, stated this weekend that he was still bitter toward NASCAR for not giving him a Sprint Cup date when he owned the track. I wonder what he thinks of the traffic meltdown that besieged his former track on Saturday night?

It’s going to be another year of improvements, another year of headaches and another year before the big boys of NASCAR descend upon Sparta again. If the fine folks at Kentucky Speedway learned anything last night, it’s that they were totally unprepared for a Cup date, no matter what they said before the event.

I could have predicted that a year ago.

I never wished to say ‘I told you so,’ to all those people who were frustrated, ticked off and missed the race. But I’ve been in their shoes. As much as the Kentucky Speedway has won me over, this event has once again made me believe that the track located 40 miles away from me may not deserve a Cup date after all.

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I had a fantastic weekend (traffic aside) at Kentucky. One track official noted that he loved seeing my stuff online, which was awesome to hear. I attended the Jeff Gluck tweetup (and Jeff even blogged a link to it!) and got to ride in the pace car for a lap with Brett Bodine. Both of those stories are on FOX19’s NASCAR page. However, I will blog about those experiences as well as talking to Larry Mac on Thursday.

I will have more photos, more stories and more memories as the week progresses. I can finally get into my favorite time of the year, the Brickyard 400 countdown too.

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.

NASCAR writers agree: Season off to great start

During NASCAR’s preseason media tour, Larry McReynolds lectured the NASCAR media on being more positive.

“I know it’s easy to write about all the bad things and I know it can't all be about the good things,” McReynolds said (quoted by SB Nation’s Jeff Gluck). “But (here's) the only thing I reach out to you: If it's television ratings (you're writing about), we know the ratings are down, how about also promoting that we're second only to the NFL? If there's 25,000 empty seats at Michigan, how about making sure you document there's still over 100,000 people in those grandstands? Things like that will get our sport back to where we were.”

For those in attendance, it has been tough not to be happy about the first two weeks of the NASCAR season. Gluck wrote earlier today that Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 win was good for the old fans and the new fans. Gordon’s win in Phoenix was pretty good too.

“Fans are liking what they’re seeing,” Gluck wrote. “After Gordon's win, people of all ages lined up along the catch fence from Turn 1 all the way down the frontstretch to salute Gordon – which was something he couldn't remember ever happening before. That was new for a guy who only used to get booed in the old days.”

In fact, yesterday I posted that Gordon’s win—which prevented Kyle Busch from sweeping the weekend—was good because Busch has become the lightning rod that Gordon once was.

Jenna Fryer, of the Associated Press, opined that Gordon and Bayne have done wonders for the sport in the first two weeks of the season.

“Now NASCAR has Gordon, a 20-year veteran and four-time champion, back in Victory Lane after a drought that stretched almost two years, an outcome that sits well with the sport’s aging fan base. The fresh-faced Bayne, meanwhile, attracted the coveted 18-to-34-year-old audience,” she wrote.

“Either way, it’s got the series headed in the right direction after several sagging seasons.”

She also wrote that it’s still up to the fans to tune in for the next 34 weeks. But, she, like a lot of others (yours truly included) feel that the beginning of the season has provided a lot of interesting stories and will keep NASCAR in the limelight for a few more weeks.

“It’s up to the fans to decide if the first two weeks are enough to keep them interested for 34 more races. And while there are still issues to be ironed out…NASCAR finally appears to be doing something right,” she wrote.

And it’s enough to attract older viewers and younger viewers. Trevor Bayne was celebrated in his hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., on Monday. One fan, thirty years older than Bayne, is excited for the youngster.

“He inspires a lot of kids with his faith,” said Knoxville resident Mike Lewis, 50 (quoted in an AP story on Bayne). “I enjoy watching him talk, because I know it’s coming from the heart. Despite his success, he’s very humble right now.”

And that is just one reason why NASCAR is doing so well right now.

Now, if only driver 88 could find his way to Victory Lane.
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Information and quotes for this story came from Jenna Fryer, Jeff Gluck and an AP report from Tennessee.

For Gluck’s entire article, click here: http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/2/28/2021141/nascar-phoenix-2011-results-jeff-gordon-kyle-busch-trevor-bayne
For Fryer’s opinion piece, check here: http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylt=AskvJbNqCe6iaJBnYrZBk.Xov7YF?slug=ap-nascar-inthepits
For the story on Bayne, click here: http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylt=AqeOQ3BER9VyfL9deti3Uynov7YF?slug=ap-nascar-bayneshometown

Bud Shootout bores this fan

The two-car packs sped around Daytona last night and excited the FOX announcers. Heck it was even exciting for the drivers. There were 28 lead changes during the event, the most in the 33-year history of the Shootout.

It didn’t excite me. Call me negative, but I found the two-car packs to very, very boring.

And I sat through the 2008 Brickyard 400 in person.

Drivers disagreed with me though. Race winner Kurt Busch felt the racing was great.

“It’s fun as hell,” Busch said after the race.

“Two cars just hook up, and it seems like the air comes off the front car and clears that second car perfectly,” Busch added. “If you have a third car, the air comes off that front car, lands onto the third car and that third car can't break through.”

Busch was pushed from what he referred to as his “teammate of the day,” Jamie McMurray.

“McMurray was everything for us tonight with his ability to stay tucked up behind us and to keep the two-car chain attached,” he said.

McMurray, the defending Daytona 500 champion, also enjoyed the two-car breakaways.

“It was a lot of fun,” said McMurray. “It’s really weird to push somebody all the way around the track and side draft with two guys that are also pushing all the way around the track. It’s just the strangest feeling. But it was a lot of fun tonight. I really had a good time.”

“That was the most unexpected race I've ever been a part of,” said Ryan Newman, who led the field hundreds of feet from the finish line, but finished 3rd.

Denny Hamlin, who technically was the first car back to the line, also felt the racing was great.

“I thought it was good, I thought the racing was great,” said Hamlin, who was penalized for passing Newman below the double-yellow line, and finished 12th. “It was really hard for any two groups of cars to stay up front. For me, I was hoping to put ourselves in position for the win and made a little mistake.”

SBNation NASCAR reporter Jeff Gluck is running an informal poll on his blog, asking fans for their opinion. As of 11 a.m. on Sunday morning, Gluck has compiled just over 560 votes. Of those who voted in Gluck’s poll, 48 percent say they didn’t like the two-by-two racing, and preferred big packs, like the old-time Daytona.

Slightly below one-quarter of those who voted, 24 percent, said they liked it, and 26 percent of those that voted said they’ll wait to see more racing before making up their mind.

My mind is made up: not so much fun. I too prefer the bigger packs. We’ll see what happens when true racing returns on Thursday for the Gatorade Duels. Until then, there will be plenty of discussion about the upcoming Daytona 500, including qualifying today, and Mark Martin talk all this week.

Enjoy single-car runs today. Thanks for reading.

Martin picked to finish 18th by Yahoo! Experts

Mark Martin had an amazing first season in 2009 with Hendrick Motorsports. The then-50-year-old notched five wins and finished runner-up to teammate Jimmie Johnson in the Sprint Cup standings.

Last season began just as 2009 had ended. Mark Martin won the Daytona 500 pole and finished two of the first four races in the top five. Things were looking up again for NASCAR’s most loveable second place finisher. And then things seemed to unravel.

Was it his team’s inability to adjust to the spoiler? Was it the constant questioning as the season wore on about Kasey Kahne taking over the No. 5 in 2011?

Martin became frustrated with questions about 2011 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last season

Or was Mark Martin just falling apart?

Well, it’s highly unlikely that the now 52-year-old from Batesville, Ark., is falling apart—in fact, he’s probably the best conditioned driver on the circuit—and he’s getting the chance to show his talents with a new crew chief this season.

Part of what was called “The Great Hendrick Switch” left Martin paired with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s old crew chief Lance McGrew. Martin will now work with Jeff Gordon out of the newly designed 5/24 shop.

And because of all this “turmoil,” Mark Martin has been picked to finish 18th in the points standings by a panel of experts on Yahoo.com. Last season he missed the Chase, yet had Martin made the cut, he would have finished the season fourth in points.

So what gives? How did these five sportswriters—all of whom cover NASCAR for big-time publications, including USA Today and the Associated Press—decide Mark Martin would finish so low in the points this season?

“Regardless, the window has likely closed on Martin’s opportunity for a championship. While Martin has the absolute respect of everyone in the garage, many drivers will be paying their respects in the rearview mirror,” the article, written by Yahoo’s Jay Busbee, stated.

Busbee picked Martin to finish 18th. Jenna Fryer of the AP and Nate Ryan of the USA Today both said Martin wouldn’t even crack the top 20 in points. Dustin Long, who writes for numerous Southern newspapers, picked Martin to finish 14th, one spot lower than 2010.

The lone “dissenter” of the group was Yahoo’s Jay Hart who decided Martin’s final season in the No. 5 car would result in a tenth place finish in the final points.

Jay Hart (right) of Yahoo.com, chats with Richard Childress last July in Indianapolis

The article also stated, “Martin’s a future Hall of Famer, and he’s beginning the transition from driver to mentor this year. But he’s still got some racing left to do; don’t be surprised if he grabs a couple more victories on his way out.”

Wait, what?

The same guy who picked Martin to finish 18th in points said he’ll “grab a couple more victories on his way out” the door? I’m confused.

Admittedly I don’t do big predictions like this for one reason. I’m not good enough to put my neck on the line to make predictions like this. But that being said, it’s tough to see Mark Martin in a Hendrick Motorsports car finishing any lower than where Yahoo’s panel has put him.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mark Martin come out like gangbusters again in 2011. If it’s anything like 2009, he’ll prove these folks wrong. And I’m willing to bet that they wouldn’t mind that at all.

It’d make their job easier. Let’s face it, Mark Martin stories are easy to write, and just plain fun to read.

Like the one SBNation’s Jeff Gluck wrote last year. In it Gluck mentioned a letter written to Martin from a fan in Maryland. That fan wrote, “You always give thanks to the people who support you and always speak honestly from your heart, and that is how I try to live my life. You make everyone around you proud to be a part of your life whether being directly involved with you or just being a fan.

“You give so much more to your fans than just your racing. You and your family have in all actuality become part of our family, and I think you again for what you give us just by being a decent human being.”

“That,” Martin told Gluck, “is what I have to say about the haters.”

Line up folks. The Old Man of NASCAR might surprise you this season. He’ll certainly be better than this Yahoo! article says he’ll be.

Mark my words.
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It was good to see some cars on the track today at Daytona, and now we’re four weeks away from the Gatorade Duels at Daytona. In less than 31 days we’ll get to see the “Great American Race,” the 53rd Daytona 500. Join me tomorrow for another Friday Flashback and more on testing as the weekend progresses.

Thanks for reading. Have a good and safe day, especially if you’re dealing with snow like we are here in Cincinnati.

Mark Martin’s rap anthem debuts during ’06 All-Star week

I love Mark Martin. I don’t think anyone who has read my 300 plus blog posts will deny that, but there are some things that very few other people understand about the driver that I have been following for years. One of those things is the fact that the 51-year-old man loves rap music.

I am by no means a fanatic of rap music, but through the years I have found some great songs to listen to by rappers. After all, part of my job with the UC football team means finding songs for highlight tapes to show before games. One of my favorite finds was the song “It’s a Fight” by the Three Six Mafia (played before the 2008 Pittsburgh game which the Bearcats won 28-20).

This offseason I was in the weight room filming the team lift weights, and one of the artists that was heavily played during lifting sessions was Gucci Mane. Guess who loves Gucci Mane? Mark Martin.

Jeff Gluck had an opportunity to sit down and talk to Mark Martin in March (something I wrote about here: http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2010/04/jeff-gluck-provides-awesome-insight-to.html) and they discussed Martin’s love of rap and rappers.

Fact: Mark Martin loves to listen to Gucci Mane (Getty Images)

“It’s a gift,” he told Gluck, mentioning what rappers can do with words. “I guess people say driving cars is a gift. I don’t think anything of it, it’s just something I do.”

Mark Martin also listens to Gucci Mane when he works out. He’s known for being one of the more fit drivers on the circuit, if not the most physically fit guy out there.

So the marriage of rap music and Mark Martin just made sense. In 2006 Mark Martin announced that Roundhouse Multimedia would release “Start Your Engines,” the official Mark Martin rap anthem. “I consider it an honor that there are people in the rap music industry that feel I am deserving of my own rap anthem.” Martin said in 2006. “The song sounds great and I hope all my fans enjoy listening to it as much as I do.”

The lyrics talk of Mark Martin’s accomplishments in the sport. Of course when Budda Early mentions that, “in 2007 Mark Martin gonna chill,” he wasn’t exactly correct, but throughout the song fans of NASCAR find out exactly what Mark Martin has done in the sport.

Mark Martin is, "The only driver with five IROC titles," as the song proclaims (Getty Images)

At the end of the song there’s an audio clip of Mark Martin stating, “You know, I’ve been so blessed,” speaking of fans, other drivers and sponsors that have made him what he is today. Sound familiar to anyone?

Last July I had an opportunity to walk up to Mark and talk to him for two minutes (perhaps you remember: http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/07/mark-martin-im-blessed-to-have-so-many.html) and he said the exact same thing to me.

So, maybe in a few more years Gucci Mane will release his own Mark Martin rap anthem. Mark Martin would definitely love to hear it. And I’m sure some of his fans would too. Even the ones who don’t enjoy most rap music.
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Tomorrow I take a look at the seemingly never ending Jeremy Mayfield saga. On Tuesday a ruling was handed out by a federal judge dismissing the former driver’s lawsuit against NASCAR. I’ll compile some thoughts and feelings to the decision and fill everyone in on Thursday. Until then, have a great Wednesday.

NASCAR thoughts heading to Dover

Last year I wrote that Mark Martin should add Hoobastank’s “So Close, Yet So Far” to his iPod. The song’s title basically described his weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year. Maybe Jeff Burton should do the same this year. His 2010 campaign has been chock full of chances to win, but the 42-year old Burton has yet to capitalize.

In fact, the South Boston, Va., native’s last win was in October of 2008 at Charlotte, but this season he’s had stout cars. He had a great car at California, a chance to win at Talladega, Texas, Richmond and this past race at Darlington. “We are doing the things we need to do. We are leading laps, running in the front. We’re putting ourselves in position to win,” he said. But gaffes on pit road have left the Richard Childress Racing driver wondering, ‘What if?’

Jeff Burton has yet to capitalize on some great opportunities to win this season

“We are capable of winning races and we will win races,” Burton said after the Southern 500. “We’ll get it together and we’ll go race next week.” In 32 races at Dover Burton has only collected one win and has an average finish of 16th. If he doesn’t win this weekend, Burton will need to win the Open race before the All-Star race or win a fan vote to make it into the Sprint All-Star race in Charlotte.

“I will just be honest about it, I’m embarrassed that we are not in it,” said Burton.

Smoke loses Old Spice
Tony Stewart has lost his swagger, at least the Old Spice product with that name. Old Spice, a Tony Stewart sponsor since 1999, announced on Sunday that they wouldn’t be back to sponsor Tony Stewart next season.

Mike Norton, a brand spokesman for Old Spice—a Proctor and Gamble product—says the decision was based on a change in marketing strategies, according to an AP report.

The No. 14 car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year carried the Old Spice brand on the hood

Old Spice’s colors will grace Stewart’s No. 14 this season 14 times. Office Depot will continue as one of Stewart’s co-sponsors.

When Jimmie wrecks, we cheer
Jeff Gluck, the NASCAR writer and Twitter extraordinaire, wrote a piece on SBNation about fans at Darlington cheering in the wake of seeing the No. 48 car in an accident. (Read Jeff’s piece here: http://www.sbnation.com/2010/5/10/1465855/jimmie-johnson-darlington-wreck-nascar-2010)

His Twitter arguments with Nate Ryan on Saturday night were almost as entertaining as the race itself, and his article is spot on. I know most NASCAR fans were relieved to see the Johnson car on a wrecker Saturday night rather than in Victory Lane—a popular spot for the Lowe’s car to show up in the past few years.

It used to be Jeff Gordon who would draw those same cheers whenever the No. 24 ended up wrecked, but lately it’s Johnson who’s drawing the ire of NASCAR fans. And after only one DNF in each of the past two seasons, this year Chad Knaus and crew have had to deal with three DNFs. Is Jimmie vulnerable? I guess we’ll find out this weekend. Johnson and the No. 48 team are typically great at Dover.

The green should drop a few minutes after 1 p.m. at the “Monster Mile” in Dover. Keep it tuned here all week for some more NASCAR news and notes as we head into Dover.

Jeff Gluck provides awesome insight to Mark Martin

With Sunday’s race postponed due to the rain there was plenty of time to sit back and catch up on current events. Or, catch up on new material. NASCAR writer Jeff Gluck profiled Mark Martin, and did it darn well. It’s yet another piece of evidence I can point to when people ask me why I’m a Mark Martin fan.

It’s also yet another reason why I want to get into this world of reporting sports. Anytime I come across a very good article I save it, read it, attempt to analyze it, and I try to become a better writer because of it.

Jeff Gluck got to sit down with Mark Martin about a month ago, and pick the 51-year-old’s brain. Here are some of my thoughts.

Want to know why I love Mark Martin? Amongst other things, the words he speaks ring so true in my own life. In October of 2007 he provided one of many quotes I claim to live by. “Impatience is a real hard thing to deal with and to work with,” he said. “Impatience is waste of time. It's a diversion. If you're impatient, you're worrying about things you can't control.”

Last year while I sat wide eyed in the media room at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway only feet from the man I’d waited twenty years to meet in person, he dropped this gem of wisdom, almost furthering his comments above. He said, “All I can do is use my strengths. That’s all I can do. I can’t do anything about my weaknesses.”

Mark Martin became the oldest polesitter in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history last year

In this article, he told Jeff Gluck, “There are not many people in the world who get to do exactly what they want – and succeed at it.” I feel I can relate to what Mark said, but I doubt I’m as happy as he is right now. After all, he really is succeeding at what he does.

In a time when most drivers his age are driving around in the back of the field, struggling to stay afloat in the Cup Series, Martin is one of the drivers on NASCAR’s “superteam” at Hendrick Motorsports. But almost every one of his fans can recall the time when Martin was Hendrick’s biggest rival.

What feels like it was “back in the day” for some fans of the short statured, yet big hearted man, was a time that Martin would rather forget. “No one probably realizes how dissatisfied with my life I was for several years there and raced for 25th place a lot more than I wanted to,” he told Gluck. “And that was torture. You know, it's torture to be out there on the racetrack and just get your brains beat in. Especially when you're used to doing well. I always did well. I never had to go through that.”

Mark Martin had trouble in his final few years at Roush Racing driving the No. 6 car

So Martin said he was going to scale back from full-time driving at Roush Racing in 2005. Or so he thought. Roush begged Martin to return from one more year because the only owner Martin had ever driven for didn’t have a driver to put in the No. 6 car.

So Martin came back for one final year in the car that had made him recognizable to NASCAR Cup Series fans. One last year in the No. 6 Ford. One last time full-time. Until one of NASCAR’s most successful owners approached him and asked if Martin would return to full-time racing for his team.

And the 51-year-old has loved it, but he couldn’t give more than three years to Hendrick, and last week the team announced that starting in 2012 Kasey Kahne would take over the reins of the car Martin currently pilots.

Each and every week Martin gets out of the No. 5 car and thanks his team, his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, and everyone associated with putting him in position to win. It rubs some fans the wrong way. People think there’s just no way Martin can be that happy every week.

Mark Martin talks with Jeff Gluck in March (Getty Images)

When Gluck inquired about this, Martin got animated. “I do say the same things,” he told Gluck. “Cause it's the damn truth. Cause that's what's on my mind. When I climb out of the race car and I have just received one of the greatest privileges of a lifetime – to drive a frickin' rocketship and work with the brightest people in the business – what do you think I'm going to say?”

Somehow I still find it hard to hear Mark Martin saying that, but his passion and energy doesn’t surprise me. In a book written about him in 2004 he said, “I’ve always been competitive. Anything I’ve ever done, I’ve gone at it 100 percent. I don’t know any other way.”

When my brother told me this weekend that my girls basketball team doesn’t like the way I coach, it offended me. I want to be the best. I want to succeed, exactly like Mark told Jeff Gluck. I want to be the best ever, and even though only winning one game out of 13 doesn’t make me seem successful, I’m giving it 100 percent to make my team better.

The way Kerry Coombs coached at Colerain High School back in the early parts of the decade (and before) really rubbed a lot of fans (myself included) the wrong way. Now being on his team, being a part of something special with him, I know why he rubbed me the wrong way…He had more energy and passion and he didn’t hold anything back.

UC assistant coach Kerry Coombs brings energy and passion to everything he does (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

Mark Martin is the same way. “You haven't ever interviewed me yet when they brought my car in on the hook and I said, ‘Boy, that was fun! I am sure enjoying this!’” Martin continued telling Gluck. “You don't get that from me. You get the truth. And that's what's on my mind. I'm not going to apologize for that because I identify”

He comes from Arkansas. He’s described as a simple guy, and feels that way too. “Look, I don't appeal to everyone. I'm a real simple person and you get what you get. I also am pretty complex, as you can see. Most people don't know that,” he said.

But his impact on the sport, as well as his impact on his fans is felt day in and day out. One fan wrote a letter to Martin, and Gluck was kind enough to share it at the end of his piece. It stated,

“You always give thanks to the people who support you and always speak honestly from your heart, and that is how I try to live my life. You make everyone around you proud to be a part of your life whether being directly involved with you or just being a fan. You give so much more to your fans than just your racing. You and your family have in all actuality become part of our family, and I think you again for what you give us just by being a decent human being.”

When I was a senior at Elder High School, performing a task as the volleyball team statistician, our team’s head coach made some kind remarks about me at a team function. “You’ve taught us to give it 100 percent and to be proud of our work no matter what you’re doing, whether it’s volleyball related or mopping the floor, or doing homework, or being a friend,” he said. His sentiment, although unrelated to the comments by this fan, strike me as having the same idea behind them.

In high school I learned no matter what, give it everything (EHSports.com photo)

Br proud of your work, give it your all, and in the end, just be yourself.

“That,” he said, “is what I have to say about the haters,” referring to the letter. It’s tough to be a “hater” of Mark Martin, especially after reading that article. (linked here: http://www.sbnation.com/2010/4/18/1428471/mark-martin-nascar-2010-car-bio)

It’ll be even tougher to hate Mark Martin if he ever lifts the Sprint Cup trophy over his head, something he still says he won’t think about. Last year he wrote a diary for Yahoo! Sports, and stated, “As far as winning a championship, there won’t be anyone who tries harder or thinks more about scoring the points. But I won’t be doing any daydreaming about what it would be like to hoist the trophy. That doesn’t exist in my head and won’t until it’s over with. That’s how I deal with it. I keep my focus on getting every ounce out of myself, my car and my team, and being a great leader and a good person. If I do all of that when it’s said and done, whether I hoist the trophy or not, I will have been a success.”

Think any “haters” can argue with that? I certainly couldn’t. This article gave me just a few more reasons to love Mark Martin, who, before the 2010 season started proclaimed himself “Mr. Realistic,” and I’m sure there will be more as the season progresses. Until I can find another great article to conjure up the same feelings, this will have to do.

Enjoy your day, and thanks for reading