While you are taking a breather from the non-stop Danica coverage, consider this: this year’s Sprint Unlimited had 17 less lead changes than last year’s Bud Shootout. Granted the 2012 Shootout was seven laps longer, but it also wasn’t broken up into segments which kept the field together. Combine the number of lead changes with [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Daytona’
Why Believe The Penalty PR Game?
March 15th, 2012 
Journo Next week in a room at NASCAR’s R&D facility in Concord, N.C., retired General Motors executive John Middlebrook will hear the final appeal of Hendrick Motorsports. The crime of course being “c-posts” that, according to NASCAR, did not meet specifications. Soon after, we’ll learn what Middlebrook’s decision is. Given his past, there is a chance [...]
Posted in NASCAR News, Racing Observations 
Tags: appeal, c-post, Chad Knaus, Daytona, John Middlebrook, penalties, Rick Hendrick, u 
26 Comments »Why Thursday Won’t Be As Dramatic As You’d Hoped
February 21st, 2012 T.C. Qualifying is already in the books for the Daytona 500, but because of the 500′s unique format, the lineup hasn’t yet been set. Only the drivers that qualified on the front row (Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle for this year) know where they will start. Where teams finish in Thursday’s Gatorade Duel races will determine [...]
Posted in Racing Observations Tags: Daytona, Gatorade Duel, qualifying, restrictor plate 15 Comments »Draft With Who Brought You
October 24th, 2011 Journo Ford and Jack Roush made waves this weekend after word seeped out of the camp that the teams were directed to draft exclusively with their manufacturing counterparts. With two Roush Fords in serious contention for the championship it wasn’t a surprising edict – especially not from Jack Roush. At the end of the race we [...]
Posted in Racing Observations Tags: Carl Edwards, chevrolet, Daytona, dodge, ford, jack roush, Jeff Gordon, manufacturer, Matt Kenseth, NASCAR, superspeedway, talladega, Toyota, Trevor Bayne 20 Comments »Two Car Tandem Or Pack Drafting? What Do You Prefer?
July 4th, 2011 Journo A lesson from this weekend? It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. A demonstration of that is the couple of people telling TC he’s full of it for writing that all those deals for Daytona would fall apart (thank you for pointing out the obvious). Turns out they didn’t. In a couple of instances [...]
Posted in Racing Observations Tags: Daytona, drafting, NASCAR, pack drafting, superspeedway, talladega, tandem, tandem drafting 25 Comments »I’m Calling BS On All Pre-Daytona “Deals”
June 29th, 2011 T.C. Deal making at the restrictor plate tracks is not a new phenomenon. The drivers are constantly working through spotters and crew chiefs to find that always important “dancing partner.” In this new era of the tandem draft however, finding the right guy to work with most likely will mean the difference between a chance at [...]
Posted in Racing Observations Tags: Daytona, deals, draft, drafting, drivers, restrictor plate, tandem 10 Comments »Plate Racing Is The Great Equalizer
April 20th, 2011 T.C. Love it or hate it, restrictor plate racing has created some ridiculously close finishes over the years. This last weekend at Talladega was just another example. Why? Because choking off the engines levels the playing field. Squeezing a restrictor plate in between the carburetor and intake has certainly slowed the cars down, but in the [...]
Should Drivers Be Able To Talk During The Race Via Radio?
April 14th, 2011 T.C. Heading to Talladega this weekend, we are getting ready to bear witness to a couple of newer phenomenon in NASCAR competition. The first of course is the new style restrictor-plate racing that dominated the day at Daytona in February. The tandem drafting will most likely be the name of the game again on both Saturday [...]
Posted in Racing Observations Tags: communication, Daytona, drafting, Driver, Racing Electronics, Racing Radios, radio, spotter, superspeedway, talladega, tandem 8 Comments »Superspeedway Pit Stops Really Don’t Matter
April 11th, 2011 T.C. As we get ready to head to Talladega this weekend, pit crew coaches across the sport will spend the week preaching to their crews about the importance of not making mistakes. Even if it means pit stops take a few extra seconds than normal, it’s more important to get things right, than it is to [...]
Posted in Over The Wall Tags: Crew Chief, Daytona, fuel, fuel only, mistake, pit crew, pit road, pit stop, superspeedway, talladega, tire carrier, Tire Changer, tires, two tire 1 Comment »Was That What You’d Hoped For?
February 20th, 2011 T.C. The opening weekend of the 2011 NASCAR season is in the books. We saw spectacular finishes, a lot of action, and even some controversy. So from Friday’s wild Truck Series race, all the way through Sunday’s incredible finale, was Daytona what you’d hoped for? After Thursday’s Duel races, I can’t lie, I was afraid we might [...]
