For Johnson, even small victories can mean a lot (NASCAR.com)
March 22, 2010
A block of cheese lay in one corner of Victory Lane, a croissant in another. A bunch of grapes sat on a coiled bundle of wire, a banana behind a television camera tripod. And everywhere there were peas, little gray nuggets scattered across the black and white checkerboard-painted ground, crunching under each footstep.
Bluto Blutarsky has nothing on Jimmie Johnson.
The four-time defending Sprint Cup champion waged his own personal food fight after winning the Food City 500, just one little indication of how much a long-sought-after first victory at Bristol Motor Speedway meant to a driver who had already won almost everywhere else.
With confetti falling and fireworks shooting off behind him, Johnson didn’t immediately go for the trophy, but the sponsor-provided brown bag of groceries next to it. Suddenly he was slinging food items faster than the Iron Chef, tossing fruits and vegetables in every direction before heaving the bag itself and sending peas everywhere.
Think Johnson has achieved everything? Think there’s nothing left that could possibly gratify a driver who’s won an unprecedented four straight championships and Sunday reached 50 career victories faster than anyone but Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip and David Pearson? Think again. There are the big triumphs, the kind that lead to million-dollar checks at the postseason banquet and his name forever etched in history. And then there are the smaller, more personal ones, like a race victory at a track that had bedeviled him, which prompted a celebration as robust as anything we’ve seen in South Florida at the end of the year.
“Every win is extremely special,” said Johnson, who snapped an 0-for-16 skid at Bristol by charging from sixth to first over Sunday’s final 10-lap run. “But when a track kicks your butt for so long and you finally can win at that track, there’s just something really unique about that. That’s what I experienced today.”
How much does winning at Bristol mean to Jimmie Johnson? He remembers back to his days in what was then called the Busch Series, attending Bristol night race parties that Randy Lajoie would throw in his shop. Each time there was a caution, everybody would do a Jell-O shot. He’s always wanted to run well in a physically imposing, 160,000-seat facility that until Sunday had sold out 55 consecutive Cup-level races. Although he didn’t mention it, surely he’d like to erase memories of his previous most famous—or infamous—moment in the Bristol spotlight, when television cameras caught him sending a single-digit message to Robby Gordon after the two tangled in his rookie season of 2002.
This time around, though, it was pure joy. “Yes, yes, yes!” Johnson screamed over the radio at ear-splitting volume after holding off Kurt Busch for the victory. “We did it, boys! Finally!” The sound of his celebratory burnout echoed to the highest levels of the grandstand.
“It was pretty high on his list,” crew chief Chad Knaus said. “Jimmie and I write a little preseason summary of what it is we want to try to accomplish for the upcoming season. Among other things, Bristol was pretty high on his list. For him to say that he wanted to focus on that and get better at this race track, for us to be able to go out there and do what we did, I think it speaks volumes about the dedication and desire he’s got inside. It’s not different at any other race track. We want to win every single event. This one has eluded us. We’re very proud to be able to have it.”
And yet, despite his track record on the half-mile oval, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Not after last season, when Johnson posted top-10s in both races on a track he once had to convince himself that he liked. Not after Saturday, when the No. 48 car led both Sprint Cup practice sessions. And not after an early part of the race where Johnson led 77 of 93 laps before getting shuffled back by cautions, pit strategy, and tire wear. When Knaus asked Johnson how he felt about the car, the driver responded with a simple answer that should have made everyone else shudder.
“Pretty happy,” he said.
Knaus had a feeling. “For the first time in my career, walking out of Atlanta, I said, ‘I can’t wait to get to Bristol.’ It was the truth,” he said. “We were excited about coming here. We unloaded. The car was fast. Jimmie was comfortable in the race car. He was finding his way around the track well and was able to lead us, tell us what the car was doing to where we could make significant changes to it to make it better.”
Of course, circumstances helped. As strong as he had been earlier in the race, Johnson seemed destined for another close call after a caution for debris turned the event into a shootout. He restarted sixth, behind Busch and several drivers who had taken two tires for track position. But Johnson was on the high side, and it was the quicker lane on the restart. Johnson muscled past Busch, and the tires made the difference.
“In reality, they weren’t the best car, but they made it work,” said Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs. “I think over a long period of time, what’s valued is, just consistency and making the most of the opportunities you have. They made the most of those opportunities.”
They always do. That’s one of the things that makes the No. 48 team so strong—open the door a crack, and they’ll kick it down. Busch, who led 10 times for a race-high 278 laps, was visibly and understandably frustrated with the outcome. Again, there’s talk about how “lucky” Johnson’s team is, as if that blue and silver car drove to the front by itself. Johnson just smiles. He’s got them right where he wants them.
“I get caught up in that mind game stuff, and find a lot of satisfaction in it,” he said. “I told Chad, before the year was over, I don’t have a number of wins, but I wanted to win a lot to frustrate the competitors. I think over the last few years, we’ve been able to get in some guys’ heads, and I think it’s been helpful. I don’t want to lose that advantage if we can prevent it. Granted, it’s awfully early in the year to think about that. If we can keep winning every month, every other month, stay at the tops of people’s minds as we get into the Chase, you know, we know the Chase and those tracks are really good for us, and we withstand the pressure really well. The ultimate goal is to win another championship.”
Knaus credited the physical as well as the mental “I think it falls back on preparation, it really does,” he said. “You know, Jimmie ran [500] laps, got out of the race car, looked like he ran 20. Some of these other guys are falling over, whipped, could hardly drive.”
On a smaller scale, though, challenges still remain. Now there are five Sprint Cup tracks remaining where Johnson has never won—Michigan, Chicagoland, Homestead-Miami and the two road courses, Infineon and Watkins Glen. He’s already road-course testing. “We’re trying,” he said. “It’s a full-blown effort again.”
Bristol was the same way. He used to walk into the East Tennessee facility thinking he was going to stink, going to wreck, going to struggle. Over time, that gradually changed. Sunday, he left Bristol Motor Speedway with a very different mindset. “Winning here,” he said, “I think we’ve got something for [the competition] the rest of the year.”
For the rest of the field, fateful words. Bristol was an especially painful gut-punch given that the Sprint Cup tour now travels to Martinsville Speedway, a track where Johnson has won six times. A second consecutive trip to Victory Lane seems a very strong possibility. Let’s just hope that in his exuberance, he doesn’t heave the grandfather clock.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Sprint Cup Series Standings Pos.+/-DriverPointsBehind 1.—Kevin Harvick774Leader2.—Matt Kenseth773-13.+1Jimmie Johnson760-144.-1Greg Biffle750-245.+3Tony Stewart685-89
Earnhardt up to 8th in standings
March 21, 2010
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP)—It’s been a long stretch of struggles for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who rebounded for a strong finish at Bristol Motor Speedway.
His reward for his second top-10 finish of the season? Earnhardt is back inside the top eight in points for the first time in 48 races.
Earnhardt overcame a pit road speeding penalty Sunday to finish seventh, pushing him up five spots in the standings to eighth. The last time Earnhardt was this high in the points was the third Chase race of 2008, and it was all downhill from there.
He was winless last year, finished 25th in the final standings, and Hendrick Motorsports made getting Earnhardt back on track its offseason priority.
So for as thrilled as team owner Rick Hendrick was with Jimmie Johnson’s victory at Bristol, he was equally proud of the progress made with Earnhardt’s No. 88 team.
“They’ve worked really hard,” Hendrick said. “That team is really coming together. I’m excited about the rest of the year. So we made a lot of progress there.”
Earnhardt had worked his way to fifth shortly after the halfway point Sunday, but he was called for speeding with 174 laps remaining. The penalty dropped him down to 26th and he was furious about the call. He was slightly rattled as he questioned NASCAR over his in-car radio in an expletive-laden rant.
“Getting busted at Bristol for speeding … it’s not the way it should be,” he said. “There should be a different way to do it.”
Crew chief Lance McGrew was able to get the focus back on track, and Earnhardt salvaged the day with his finish.
“Lance and Dale have great chemistry,” Hendrick said. “I think if you listen to them on the radio, they’re working well together. Dale had a great car. I think he would have been in the top-five or had a real shot at it himself had he been able to not have that speeding penalty.”
NOTHING TO SEE HERE: All was calm between the drivers Sunday at Bristol, a place where on-track retaliation is easy and often expected.
But tempers never seemed to boil over, not even when Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski were near each other.
The two had been the center of attention the past two weeks after Edwards intentionally wrecked Keselowski at Atlanta, triggering a crash that sent Keselowski’s car airborne and earned Edwards a three-race probation.
Both drivers met with NASCAR on Saturday, vowing to move forward with their tense relationship. Still, the tight confines at Bristol raised doubt that the two could resist any further contact.
Not only did they succeed in a drama-free day, but they both notched their season-best finishes. Edwards was sixth, Keselowski 13th.
“That’s the best we ran all day was sixth,” Edwards said, “so that’s pretty decent.”
Keselowski’s run helped him move up three positions in owners points to 30th, giving him some breathing room from falling below the top-35 mark that guarantees a driver a spot in the race.
“We did what we had to do and that was run hard, run smart and bring the car home in one piece,” Keselowski said. “That’s great for our team. It’s a great step for everyone on our Penske Dodge team.”
Keselowski, who skipped a pit stop to inherit the lead when a light rain fell over the track, even led 26 laps. He did, however, stay true to his aggressive driving style by making it difficult for eventual winner Jimmie Johnson to pass him midway through the race when the two were racing for position.
“He’ll never learn, man,” Johnson said over his radio.
McMURRAY REBOUNDS: Jamie McMurray, who struggled in the three races following his win in the season-opening Daytona 500, had a strong day at Bristol to stop his monthlong slide.
McMurray, who was 17th, 34th and 29th in the three races after the 500, ran inside the top 10 most of Sunday and wound up eighth. It was his highest finish at Bristol since he was seventh in 2004.
“I will say that I haven’t run this well here in any of my years at Roush,” said McMurray, who had just one top-10 at Bristol in his four seasons driving for Roush Fenway Racing.
“It felt really good to be able to come back.”
McMurray, who was the points leader after Daytona and then slipped to 19th in the standings, moved up to 15th. And he did it despite feeling ill early in the race.
“I don’t know if it was the fumes or something in my drink bottle or what, but 60 laps into the race I felt like I was going to throw up,” he said. “And it just seemed like it got worse every time there was a caution.”
BYE-BYE WING: The race was the final one for the wing NASCAR has used on the back of its cars since it phased in the current model in 2007.
Starting next weekend at Martinsville, the more traditional spoiler will be returned. The swap is an effort to both improve racing and give fans the aesthetic look they prefer for a race car.
“I’m anxious to see what the spoiler is going to be like,” said Jeff Gordon. “I’m really looking forward to it and I don’t know how much change there is going to be, but I certainly look forward to trying it.”
NASCAR will hold an open test session Tuesday and Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway for teams to get track time with the spoiler.
Meanwhile, no one expects the switch to ensure cars will never again go airborne, something the wing has been blamed for recently.
“There is no evidence that suggests going from a wing to a spoiler will stop cars from getting airborne,” Ford aerodynamicist Bernie Marcus said.
Jimmie Johnson wins for 1st time at Bristol
March 21, 2010
BRISTOL, Tennessee (AP)—Jimmie Johnson won for the first time at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday by driving from sixth to first in just three laps.
He plowed through the field on a restart with 10 laps to go, giving him his third victory this season and the 50th of his career.
Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth restarted side-by-side as leaders. Kenseth had trouble at the line and traffic stacked up behind him. That allowed Johnson, who restarted in sixth, to grab four quick spots.
Tony Stewart had moved into the lead, and Johnson needed just more than a lap to cruise past Stewart and win.
Stewart was second and Kurt Busch third. Busch led 275 of the 500 laps. He lost the lead by taking four tires on the final pit stop.
Drivers remain hospitalized after Bristol crash
March 21, 2010
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP)—Two drivers remain hospitalized following their crash in alegends race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The family of Larry Pearson says he is in fair condition and came out ofsurgery “OK” for a broken left ankle he injured in Saturday’s race.
Pearson also broke his pelvis and hand, and his family says he will needadditional surgery on his hip.
Charlie Glotzbach is listed in good condition, and his family says he isfeeling much better.
The two were among 12 former NASCAR drivers racing in a non-sanctionedcharity event organized by the track. Pearson was injured when he spun and washit in the driver-side door by Glotzbach.
Pearson is the son of three-time NASCAR champion David Pearson.
Peugeot takes top 2 spots in 12 Hours of Sebring
March 21, 2010
SEBRING, Fla. (AP)—Alexander Wurz teamed with Marc Gene and Anthony Davidsonto give Peugeot its first victory in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, leading theFrench manufacturer’s sweep Saturday night in the endurance race.
Wurz drove the diesel-powered Peugeot 908 HDi FAP to a 13.817-second victoryover the sister Peugeot driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Nicolas Minassian andPedro Lamy. The Peugeots completed 367 laps on the road course.
Wurz and Gene also teamed for Peugeot’s victory in June in the Le Mans 24Hours.
Greg Pickett, Klaus Graf and Sascha Maassen won in LMP2 in a Porsche RSSpyder, and Jaime Melo, Gimmi Bruni and Pierre Kaffer topped the GT2 class in aFerrari F430 GT to give Risi Competizione its sixth straight victory in a majorendurance race.
In the new LMPC class, Level 5 Motorsports’ Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchutand Mark Wilkins won handily in their ORECA FLM09 prototype.
Alex Job Racing swept the GT Challenge podium, with Butch Leitzinger, JuanGonzalez and Leh Keen beating Bill Sweedler, Romeo Kapudija and Jan-DirkLueders.
Rick Wilson beats Phil Parsons to win legends race
March 20, 2010
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP)—Rick Wilson beat 11 other retired NASCAR drivers to win anexhibition race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Wilson passed Phil Parsons with two laps to go in Saturday’s race to win thelegends race.
The race was stopped for a frightening crash between Charlie Glotzbach andLarry Pearson with five laps remaining. Pearson had to be cut from his crumpledcar, but was awake and moving his arms as he was loaded into an ambulance.
Both drivers were taken to a hospital for further evaluation.
Pearson’s father, David, also was in the race. He stopped racing after theambulance left so that he could travel to the hospital.
Allgaier holds off Keselowski for 1st win
March 20, 2010
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP)—Justin Allgaier grabbed the first win of his NASCAR career Saturday by passing teammate Brad Keselowski on a late restart, then holding him off over the closing laps at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Allgaier, last year’s Nationwide Series rookie of the year, had to hold his line over the final 27 laps to keep Keselowski from passing him.
“That battle with Brad at the end was awesome, and I couldn’t have been happier at the end to see two Penske cars up there running for the win,” Allgaier said in his first visit to Victory Lane.
The win was the first for Dodge at Bristol since Aug., 2007.
Keselowski, the pole-sitter who led 73 laps, finished second to give team owner Roger Penske his first 1-2 finish in the Nationwide Series.
Keselowski said he didn’t mind Allgaier passing him on the restart with 27 laps to go because of an incident at Bristol last year, before they were teammates, when Keselowski wrecked Allgaier in a similar situation.
“I had one coming,” Keselowski smiled.
Keselowski tried to pass on the inside several times, and turned up the pressure over the final 10 laps. But he backed away from his usual aggressive driving—particularly with a potential win on the line—and raced clean to the checkered flag.
“I had the opportunity and just erred on the side of caution,” he said. “The last thing I need is to wreck either one of us. That’s the last thing our program needs.”
Kyle Busch was third and was followed by Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick.
Harvick spun Joey Logano on the final lap to grab his top-five finish. Logano wound up 14th.
“I just raced with him and raced with him, and he kept chopping me and chopping me,” Harvick said. “I got in there and just got into the back of him a little bit and I hate that happened. You’ve just got to have a lane to race, you just got to do what you got to do.”
Logano declined to comment.
Speed and Menard enjoy view from the top
March 20, 2010
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP)—A quick scan of the top drivers in NASCAR shows the usual suspects—the likes of Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin—holding down the top eight spots.
Then it gets interesting.
Paul Menard and Scott Speed made their first appearances this week inside NASCAR’s coveted top-12 rankings, and both drivers clearly liked the view from the top tier of the standings. Menard goes into Sunday’s race ranked ninth, while Speed is 11th.
“It feels good for everyone, mostly because we’ve come a long way and we can see how much progress we’ve made since we started,” said Speed, a former Formula One driver.
Neither driver is accustomed to being so high in the standings.
Menard, in his fourth full season, had a best finish of 26th in 2008 when he drove for Dale Earnhardt Inc. He finished 31st in the final season standings last year with Yates Racing, where he failed to notch a single top-10 finish.
But Menard is coming off a fifth-place finish two weeks ago at Atlanta— only his second career top-five and his first since 2008—and has a strong outlook this season. Yates Racing merged with Richard Petty Motorsports during the offseason, and Menard is pleased with his progression.
“We’ve come out of the box pretty strong and we’re working on a lot of things to make the cars even better so we can hopefully improve throughout the year,” Menard said. “I could definitely get used to this. It’s only four races in, so a lot can happen obviously. But we’ve had fast cars.”
Speed, in his second full season, was 35th last year with Red Bull Racing. But he’s benefited this year from some calculated pit calls that have put him out front for 19 laps—equaling the 19 he led all of last season—and his 22nd-place finish at Las Vegas is his lowest of the season. A year ago, Speed had just six finishes better than 22nd.
“Listen, we’re going to make mistakes, there’s no question,” Speed cautioned. “I think it’s not exactly super realistic that we’re going to stay here (in the top 12) for very long. But it certainly shows how much progress we’ve made, and we’ve still got more to make.”
WALTRIP RETURNS: Retirement was short-lived for Michael Waltrip, who returned to the track this weekend as a driver a mere three races after giving up full-time racing.
Waltrip hired Martin Truex Jr. this season to drive for Michael Waltrip Racing, a personnel move based on his desire to plan for the future of his organization. Although the season-opening Daytona 500 was initially scheduled to be his only race of the year, he quickly put together a deal to race next month at Talladega Superspeedway.
Then came the opportunity to run this weekend at Bristol.
Waltrip agreed to help Prism Motorsports by qualifying the car for Sunday’s race. He got in with the 39th spot, but the team doesn’t have enough money to run the entire race. Waltrip said qualifying the car for the race means a check for team owner Phil Parsons that can be used toward bolstering that operation.
Prism, who will field Waltrip’s car at Talladega, buys used cars from MWR.
“I’ve gone from two Daytona 500 championships to a start-and-park deal,” Waltrip joked. “We didn’t have the money to race here and Michael McDowell usually drives it and he’s bouncing back-and-forth from Nationwide and doesn’t have a lot of experience here. We thought maybe our best chance to make it was with me.
“It was just a chance for me to say hi to my team and get used to the guys calling the shots so we have the best chance (at Talladega).”
Waltrip said he watched the race two weeks ago from atop an MWR pit box, and quickly realized he doesn’t miss full-time racing.
“They threw the green flag at Atlanta and I’m on the pit box with a headset on and I’m happy,” Waltrip said. “My cars were running good. They threw the green flag and they flew down into Turn 1 and I said, ‘Why are they in such a hurry?’
“They act like they’re going to throw the checkered (flag) off of 2. What the hell? Why don’t they calm down?”
PETTY’S TAKE: Richard Petty has a solution for feuding drivers that doesn’t include on-track retaliation.
Petty, the seven-time NASCAR champion and a member of the inaugural Hall of Fame class, raised his fist to show how drivers resolved arguments during his racing years.
“If that would have been in our day, the two parties would have penalized each other before it was all over with,” Petty said, holding up his fist.
Petty offered his opinion in the wake of Carl Edwards’ deliberate wreck with Brad Keselowski two weeks ago in Atlanta. Petty felt Edwards’ action was excessive, but believed if Keselowski’s car had not gone airborne, no one would be upset about the incident.
“NASCAR told them at the beginning of the year they could beat and bash on each other,” Petty said. “And if (Keselowski) had just spun out and hadn’t turned over, it would have just been a no-event deal.”
Waiting for Godot? No, just Edwards and Keselowski (NASCAR.com)
March 20, 2010
It’s 9:15 a.m. at Bristol Motor Speedway, and still cold enough that each breath expels a smoky plume. Nationwide cars are being pushed from their narrow garage area to the frontstretch pit road, in preparation for qualifying later in the morning. The public address announcer is already hard at work, rattling off announcements about an upcoming track walk and a contest to win a pace car for the few bundled-up diehards shivering in their grandstand seats.
The real action on this Saturday, though, isn’t on the race track—at least not yet. It’s going on behind the opaque windows of the black and gold Sprint Cup hauler, where Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, and their respective car owners are meeting with NASCAR officials in an attempt to end the running feud that two weeks ago sent Keselowski’s car airborne and landed Edwards on three week’s probation. The whole situation has mushroomed into a national story, and its dénouement has begun to feel like some stock-car version of the summit at Yalta.
Which is why roughly 25 media members are milling around the outside of the hauler, holding cameras and voice recorders and notebooks in frozen fingers, watching the shadows on the other side of the mirrored sliding doors and waiting for the principles to emerge. The most-asked question this weekend at Bristol wasn’t over who was going to win the Food City 500 on Sunday, but what time are Carl and Brad meeting with NASCAR on Saturday morning? The sanctioning body, understandably, was hesitant to provide an exact time, so reporters were left to guess—something they do very well. Given that both drivers were taking part in a Nationwide qualifying session that started at 9:45 a.m., the consensus seemed to be about 9:15. Close. The major players arrived shortly after 9, and in media circles word traveled faster than a Jimmie Johnson pole run.
So by 9:30, there was a veritable horde outside, one swollen in size by the presence of photographers, a few NASCAR officials, and a number of onlookers curious about what was going on. The two drivers were in there, presumably hashing out their differences with NASCAR president Mike Helton, VP for competition Robin Pemberton, and Cup Series director John Darby. Each time the mirrored doors slid opened, dozens of heads popped upright, bodies tensed in anticipation of the rush—but it was just an official or a public-relations representative. False alarm.
Everyone watched the clock, knowing that the drivers couldn’t stay inside much longer. An engine fired. The first Nationwide qualifier, Jason Leffler, took to the race track. They’d be coming out any minute now, unless things had gone so thermonuclear that NASCAR was willing to make Edwards and Keselowski miss their qualifying spots and start in the rear. Goodness, a treaty hadn’t taken this long to hammer out since Carter and Brezhnev finalized SALT II.
Finally, the doors opened. Edwards and Keselowski, both smiling and clad in their firesuits, emerged together. No time to talk, though—they each had early draws in Nationwide qualifying, and literally sprinted to their cars. Jack Roush, though, had a few minutes. The media crowd squeezed around Edwards’ car owner, whose words were nearly drowned out by the now-constant engine noise. Pressed close to the Roush Fenway co-owner, you realize his trademark Fedora isn’t brown, but olive green.
“Carl and Brad both said things that would indicate that they’re willing to put it behind them and let bygones be bygones, to give one another racing room, and that’s what’s needed,” Roush said. “They need to give one another a little extra room for awhile.”
Did they see eye-to-eye? “No,” Roush answered, honestly, “but I think that they will give one another enough respect that we won’t see another occurrence like [Atlanta]. I think Carl is not likely to have incidental contact with Brad and cause a wreck, and I think Brad is not likely to have incidental contact with Carl and cause a wreck in the foreseeable future.”
Then, like a herd of pack animals, the media horde was on the move—to the backstretch pit road, where the Nationwide cars were being parked after their qualifying attempts. Strangely enough—and terribly convenient for reporters—Edwards and Keselowski went out back-to-back, and parked right next to each other. At one point the two former combatants exchanged a few words across the roof of Keselowski’s No. 22 car, which ultimately won the pole.
Was that a moment of tangible détente? Had a truce been declared? Maybe not. “Just asking how each others’ cars were,” Keselowski said.
The peace process itself, the Penske Racing driver said, was an “evolving discussion,” leading you to wonder if the two will ever be in accord. But hey, they don’t have to like each other. Evidently, they only have to stay away from each other, at least enough to avoid a repeat of what happened two weeks ago.
“Carl and I have talked about leaving each other more room,” Keselowski said, “but I guess when it comes down to it, it never works out. It’s racing. The biggest thing to me is, incidents are going to happen because we race against each other 60, 70 times a year. And we’re almost always running well, so we’re going to run by each other. We just have to each build up a tolerance.”
A scant 10 feet away, Edwards sounded more hopeful. “Everything went really well,” he said. “I think the biggest thing coming out of that meeting is that now, I think, Brad and I understand one another a little better. I think we’re going to be able to just go forward and go racing, and that’s what this is all about. It was really cool to be able to talk with Jack and Roger [Penske] and Brad all at once. We laughed. We cried. In the end, I think it’s going to be good.”
And with that, the Great Bristol Summit of 2010—and hopefully, this entire Edwards vs. Keselowski saga—came to an end. There was no official bury-the-hatchet moment, no grip-and-grin for the cameras, no attempt to mask the fact that serious differences between these two drivers still exist. Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski, a headstrong veteran and an unapologetic rookie, may never find anything approaching common ground. For now, keeping their distance and using their heads seems progress enough.
“The guys agreed they’re going to race hard, fair, and give themselves some room on the race track so we don’t become the poster boys every weekend on what’s happening,” said Penske, Keselowski’s car owner. “I said, ‘hey, at the end of races, if we’re racing for the lead with a lap or two to go, you’re going to have to run hard. But try to stay out of each other’s way during the race.’ It was a good conversation. They’re both good guys. It’s great to have an environment where we can sit down.”
Back over at the Cup hauler, the scene had changed considerably. The media contingent had drifted off to other things. A few crew chiefs stood in a circle talking, a few fans watched Nationwide qualifying on the video screen atop the scoring tower. A lone NASCAR official sat in a director’s chair. All was quiet—at least, until the next time a driver is summoned inside.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Related: • • | • |
Storylines: Will Keselowski bring the noise? (Yahoo! Sports)
March 20, 2010
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The most intriguing moment at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday will come before the green flag drops on the Food City 500: How will the crowd of 160,000 react when Brad Keselowski’s name is announced during driver introductions?
It doesn’t matter if Keselowski is cheered or booed, as long as the fans are paying attention – something Dale Earnhardt Sr. told Jeff Gordon years ago.
More From Jay Hart Ten years in, Busch finding comfort Mar 19, 2010 NASCARs rule book called into question Mar 16, 2010
“In ’95, we came out, we were just strong right from the beginning and started being very competitive, winning races, and a threat for the championship. That’s when I really started to see, you know, the split between my fans and Earnhardt fans,” Gordon explained Tuesday. “Early on, I was like, ‘Hey, what’s [the boos] all about?’ But then I realized pretty quick. Earnhardt was probably one of the first ones to say, ‘I learned a long time ago, as long as they’re making noise …’ ”
Brad Keselowski has chosen Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down has his introduction song to the Food City 500.Getty
… Fans care.
There’s a good argument to be made that Gordon wouldn’t be as popular today if it weren’t for his perceived rivalry with Earnhardt. (The two were actually friendly off the track, even venturing into business together.) With Earnhardt, Gordon played an antagonist. Without him, Gordon would have been Jimmie Johnson – a slick, California boy turning fans off for doing nothing more than beating the pants off everyone else.
Keselowski has neither the charm of Earnhardt, the polish of Gordon nor the winning percentage of either needed for fans to really give a damn. But Sunday’s crowd reaction will be a test of how inspiring he potentially could be. In the wake of the scuttlebutt between him and Carl Edwards, Keselowski has stood firm, saying he’s not going to dial back his aggressive driving style. Apparently it wasn’t enough just to say it; he’s showing it, too, by choosing Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” as his intro song prior to Sunday’s race.
It’s a bold move, especially when the consensus amongst his peers is that he probably should back down, if only just a little.
“He’s got to stand up for what he feels is right for himself and his race team,” Johnson said Friday. “But you just don’t turn off a garage area as fast as he has for no reason. So he’s got to work on that in my eyes.”
This assumes that Keselowski cares how he’s perceived inside the Cup garage and that that’s more important than how he’s looked upon outside of it. Whether the drivers themselves want to admit it, fans do provide credibility. They should, because ultimately they’re the ones paying the freight.
This is why it matters how they receive Keselowski. Will they buy his defiance or pass it off as a disingenuous cry for attention? If it’s the former, and Keselowski is able to start winning races, then NASCAR might just have the antagonist the sport’s been desperately missing for almost a decade.
Here are three more storylines to watch for in Sunday’s Food City 500:
1. Are we witnessing the coming of age of Joey Logano?
By the end of 2009, it was apparent that it was only a matter of time before Joey Logano found his way to the front on a regular basis. But no one could have predicted that four races into the 2010 season, Logano would be the top-ranked Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
Joey Logano collected the first pole of his career.Getty
The 19-year-old heads into Sunday’s race 14th in the standings – he’d be higher if he hadn’t gotten collected in an early accident two weeks ago at Atlanta – ahead of preseason darling Denny Hamlin (22nd) and the supposed driver of the future Kyle Busch (15th).
Both Hamlin and Busch have shrugged off their slow starts, pegging equipment issues as a scapegoat. Meanwhile, Logano keeps on trucking in the same equipment. He has the organization’s only top 10s of the season (two) and it’s only pole – claiming Sunday’s, the first of his career.
“Experience, that’s the biggest thing,” Logano said of his improvement from last year to now. “Coming to these places a few times, knowing what I want in the race car. Me and Zippy [Greg Zipadelli, crew chief] work great together. Those are the biggest things; that’s what really changed us around.”
Prior to the season, Logano said qualifying for the Chase was a realistic goal. Less than two months later, he’s proving that he wasn’t just flapping his gums. The question from here through September will be if he can maintain this pace and be one of the 12 drivers to race for a championship.
2. Will Jimmie Johnson achieve world dominance?
The last two unconquered quests for the four-time defending champion are winning on a road course and at Bristol Motor Speedway. As of late, he’s gotten closer to doing both, especially the latter.
In his last two Bristol appearances, Johnson has led 88 and 107 laps, while finishing third and eighth, respectively. Friday he qualified fourth. Saturday, he backed that up by clocking the fastest lap in both practices.
“There’s just a certain rhythm here that has not fit my style,” Johnson said. “I have continued to work on it. The last two races here I’ve felt very competitive. I seem to still struggle in qualifying, but I feel we can get that under control this year. But I feel much more confident in the race, and I feel that we do have a chance to win here.”
3. What’s going on with Kyle Busch?
He’s won the last two races at Bristol, so Kyle Busch should be the favorite, right?
Not in the slightest.
To find Busch on the speed charts this weekend you have to scroll down and then keep scrolling down some more, all the way to the bottom. He was 38th in Practice No. 1, 37th in Practice No. 2 and XX in Practice No. 3. He qualified 38th. All of this coming at a track where he’s finished in the top 10 in seven of the last eight races.
“We’re hoping for some magic to come back and hopefully get us back into victory lane,” Busch said earlier in the week.Clearly that hasn’t happened, and since when has Busch had to rely on “magic?”
To be fair, Busch isn’t having a terrible season so far. He’s 14th in the standings, just 14 points out of the top 12. That said, he’s yet to record a top 10 this season, has led just 37 laps – he’d led 139 at this point a year ago – and now is struggling mightily at what could be his best track. All of this sets up the obvious question: Did the team make the right decision late last season to part ways with crew chief Steve Addington?
So far, the answer is a resounding no.
Jay Hart is the NASCAR editor for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jay a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.