NASCAR didn’t sabotage Juan Pablo Montoya July 26, 2009
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Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, but was penalized for speeding on pit road in the closing laps of the race.
If you’re one to believe the mysterious hand of NASCAR controls every aspect of the stock car racing universe, you have to understand that other than Juan Pablo Montoya himself, there’s no one who would want to see the No. 42 team win at Indianapolis more than NASCAR.
It almost happened, too. Montoya, who won the Indianapolis 500 in his first attempt in 2000, drove a Chevrolet with a throwback Target paint scheme harkening to that race at Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
It was his day. Montoya led 116 of 160 laps, and was cruising toward victory. After last year’s debacle at Indianapolis, where bad tires forced NASCAR to throw a competition yellow every 15 laps, fans were about to see the first driver to win both the Allstate 400 and it’s big brother, the Indianapolis 500. All would have been forgiven for 2008. (more…)
Lifelock make fans millionaires on Martin, Gordon finish July 11, 2009
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Mark Martin, right, celebrates his win at Chicagoland as team owner Rick Hendrick, left, looks on.
In the wake of the worst recession since the Great Depression, corporate sponsors that, at one time, had the millions to spend on NASCAR sponsorship, are reconsidering whether they can afford to be in the sport.
But identity theft protection company Lifelock still sees the value in sponsoring NASCAR, after not only paying for the naming rights on two Sprint Cup Series races, but also making one lucky couple millionaires.
Through its “Lock in to Win” contest, fans could pick the two drivers they thought would finish first and second at both Lifelock-sponsored races. Donna and Richard Musgrave were chosen for the contest and after Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon repeated their first and second place finish from June’s race at Michigan International Speedway at Chicagoland Speedway, they won $1 million.
The win was special for Martin, who earned his fourth checkered flag of the season on the eve of team owner Rick Hendrick’s 60th birthday.
With 15 laps to go, Martin got past a dueling Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson to take the lead. (more…)
Restrictor plate racing needs to be safer for drivers, fans July 5, 2009
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Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge, crashes into the rear of Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, after Kyle hit the wall on the final lap during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 51st Annual Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 4, 2009 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Tony Stewart’s win at the Coke Zero 400 was an exciting spectacle, but it’s not the way NASCAR should be putting on races at its most well-known track.
It was speculated that NASCAR might taken some action to adjust the cars after Carl Edwards’ wreck at Talladega that sent him into the catch fence. Conventional wisdom said officials would have made the restrictor plate holes smaller, I suggested more drastic changes.
But NASCAR did nothing, and what Daytona fans got was a wreck that, while not as severe, had shades of Edwards’ high-flying Talladega incident.
It would be easy to blame Kyle Busch and his Ricky Bobby-esque attitude of “If you’re not first, you’re last,” mentality for why he chose to block Tony Stewart not once, but twice, coming to the checkered flag. But it’s not as if any other driver in the field would have acted any differently. And the results wouldn’t have been any different with any other driver. (more…)