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NASCAR and Firestone Tires–Is Goodyear’s Reign Slipping Away

“It was not a Firestone test and it was not a NASCAR test.”  Okay so what was it?

According to a report for SPEED; ON PIT ROW contributor Robin Miller; quoted Firestone-Bridgestone motorsports executive director Al Spreyer as saying, “It was a technical exercise to try and develop current stock car technology.”

This side step-shuffling attempt was after Scott Pruett was seen driving a Chip Ganassi owned ARCA car, this past weekend, at Miami-Homstead’s road course.  This is interesting on several levels.

First the rest of the ARCA bunch was busy testing at Daytona last weekend for their undercard race during Speed Weeks.  That three day test saw Will Kimmel, nephew to nine time series champ Frank Kimmel lead all of the sixty-one testers with a speed of 180.977mph.

Second item of interest shows the test being performed at Miami-Homestead Speedway which will be on the banned track list come 2009.  But because the driver and the road course are not part of the NASCAR world, the test went on without much fanfare.

And lastly, NASCAR has vehemently denied that they are looking for a new tire supplier.  The contract with Goodyear will be up for renewal before the 2011 season.  Could Firestone be looking to that time frame to make a comeback in the NASCAR ranks?  Or are they looking to unseat a supplier in another series?  Hoosier and ARCA are signed through 2011.

So this week our BUZZ ON PIT ROW is:

Would you like to see multiple tire manufacturers in NASCAR?

Let us know what you think and as always we may use your answers ON PIT ROW.  Listen live from 5-7pm ET every week except for our 2 week Holiday break.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

2008 OPeR Award: Worst Driver

I don’t like writing negative things. Especially about a driver whom I - 1) like and 2) is from our hometown region in Northwest Ohio.

But there wasn’t much escaping the choice for 2008’s Worst Driver OPeR. As was pointed out by Race Talk Radio’s Dennis Mickelson, in a Facebook message to me -  “Sam Hornish Jr gets my vote for worst driver! He was given a gift of starting in the first five races and still fell out of the top 35!”

Sam had his moments in 2008 - the Daytona 500 was encouraging - just not possitive ones.

2008 OPeR Award: Worst Team/Owner

This one hurt a little bit. Both Steve and I are fans of The King. We’re Kyle Petty fans too - of the driver, the philanthropist and the analyst.

But whomever bears the blame for what has become of the once dominant Petty Enterprises racing organization must be recognized. It’s broke. Probably, irretrievably so. And that is a shame, which is what this OPeR is all about.

The King is dead. Long live the King.

2008 OPeR Award: Best Race of the Year

I think NASCAR fans forgot how good the 2008 Daytona 500 was.

We live blogged the race at the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog - and had a blast - and the whole thing went incredibly fast.

There was drama - Jeff Gordon went out early, the Toyotas were in the mix right to the last lap in their first Sprint Cup race and Ryan Newman took the checkered flag for Roger Penske.

It was a long time ago. But a worthy OPeR winner.

NASCAR Fans–Do You Believe in Miracles

Bobby Labonte holds the only win at Homestead-Miami Speedway in a Chevrolet, while Matt Kenseth is the defending race winner.

The only Dodge win in the short history of the south Florida track come from the unlikely source of Bill Elliott. Elliott only won four races for Evernham Racing after resurrecting the brand in NASCAR.  Tony Stewart picked off the first two wins ever at HMS in Pontiacs.

The majority of wins have come from the Blue Oval Boys.  Fords of Jack Roush have won five of the nine races.  Kurt Busch started the winning in 2002.  Greg Biffle “owns” Homestead with three consecutive wins in ‘04 through ‘06; while Matt Kenseth is the defending race winner.  While Roush drivers have been celebrating race wins over the last three years at the finale; they have had to watch Jimmy Johnson revel in his championships.

Jack Roush would like nothing better than to be able to celebrate a championship and a race win for Carl Edwards. It’s the long shot of all long shots to believe that JJ can’t pull off a 36th place finish.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Carl Edwards trying to get Ford back to Winning at Phoenix

Seven of the last eight races at Pheonix International Raceway have seen Chevrolet drivers head to victory lane.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. started the turn of events in 2003 when he won the first of back to back wins.  Only in 2005 was the recent Chevy dominance interrupted by Kurt Busch in a Roush Ford.  It has been all Chevy power ever since.  Kyle Bush, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon have preceded defending race champ Jimmy Johnson as the most recent GM winners.

Phoenix hasn’t always been so Chevrolet biased.  The early Cup years saw Ford win eleven of the first fifteen races held on the unique mile oval.  Alan Kulwicki, Bill Elliott and Davey Allison all won races in the first few years of the journey out to the Valley of the Sun.

Carl Edwards is hot and a man on a mission while Jimmy Johnson is looking to hang on to win a record tying third straight championship.

This could be the year that Ford begins to re-assert itself as a dominate player at Phoeniz.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Phoenix International Raceway: Kasey Kahne Kant

Most weeks, even though 2008 has not been a banner year for Kasey Kahne, his stats make him look like - at least - a dark-horse contender to win. With mile-and-a-half tracks comprising a majority of the Chase races, and Kahne being a relative stud on the intermediates (he swept the two Cup races at Lowes in May) Kasey has been a legit consideration most of the last eight weeks. But not this time.

PIR has not been good to Kahne. Eight races there with three top tens and three finishes of 31st or worse. Zero laps led, a 20th best Loop Driver Rating of 70.9 - compared to stat topper Jimmy Johnson at 118.0 - and an Ave Finish in the last seven races of 23.4. Kahne has run only 39.1 percent of his Laps in the Top 15.

There is no other driver whom I look upon as a consistent contender, that looks as unlikely to win this race, this week. The Dodge teams don’t strike fear into anyone. Budweiser, I would think, must question their selection of the Gillette-Everham/Kasey Kahne choice as the replacement - as if - for Dale Earnhardt Jr and DEI/Chevy. 

The results this weekend from the Desert probably won’t help.

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - OnPitRow.com

Finally–Advantage Ford

Yates Racing and Roush-Fenway Racing lead the way in victories at Texas.

Of the fifteen races held at Texas Motor Speedway eight have come with the driver behind the wheel of a Ford.  Elliott Sadler and Dale Jarrett each have a win behind the wheel of a Yates car.  Carl Edwards has two wins for Roush and is the only multiple winner for the Blue Oval Boys.

Texas is the only track in the Chase that has given an advantage to Ford teams.  If Carl Edwards is going to make a run at Jimmy Johnson, he has to make a move at Texas.  He has done what he must do at Atlanta and it do any good because Johnson was able to mount a comeback after early race misfortune.  Cousin Carl needs to replicate his Atlanta finish and hope that Johnson has some real problems at Texas.

Texas has the potential for a big one like crash.  The speeds turned there are close to Atlanta and with a less than perfect track, bad things can happen in a furry.

Look for Edwards to mount a great fight at Texas.  He has history on his side, at least as far as car make is concerned.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Dodge Going Away–Say It Ain’t So

Four races to go and driving a Chevy is as important at Atlanta as it has been everywhere else on the Chase circuit.

The strength of the Hendrick cars and Richard Childress Racing along with Joe Gibbs Racing tenure with the GM brand is the reason it is the brand to beat of late at Atlanta.  The question has been; is it the car or does Chevrolet just have the best drivers and teams?  It’s hard to argue that the three teams listed above along with Dale Earnhardt Inc. hasn’t been the best equipped over the past ten to fifteen years.

It is difficult to go too far back to try and gain any perspective on how brands do at particular tracks when everything has been changed by the “New Car”.  The car makes and models are literally just shells of what they once were.  It has been since the mid to late Eighties that definite car makes made a difference in their ability to affect the outcome of a race.

There was a time when car owners would change brands or models of car to gain an advantage over the competition.  Going back to the Sixties the Mercury Cyclones were the car of choice over the Ford Torino, later Talledaga, because its shape was more areodynamic.  The Monte Carlo Aero Coupe was the answer to the teams that found slipperier makes from Olds, Buick or Pontiac in the Ninties.

But, of course, the days of having all those makes of car are long gone.  Granted they were all GM makes, but having the long list of models made for more interesting chatter on Mondays.  It has only been a relative short few years since Dodge has returned to the Cup series.  Now with the talk of mergers on and off the race track, the future of Chrysler in racing is in doubt.  Any time you lose a brand, it isn’t a positive.  Dodge came back into the sport with high hopes and eventually re-introduced one of its most popular models, the Charger, because of it.

The new car has stripped all brand identity except for the decals and engine block.  It is really too bad that with that little difference in cars; more models, even in name only, aren’t represented.  It’s a pipe dream on my part, but since NASCAR didn’t listen to me when I asked for factory roof, hood, deck and glass, what the hell, I can dream can’t I?

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Martinsville Drivers Win in Many Brands

Nine of the last eleven races at the paperclip shaped track in Martinsville, Virginia have been won by drivers sporting the Chevrolet brand.

Chevy hasn’t always been the dominate nameplate.  Martinsville started holding NASCAR Cup level races in 1949.  In the 119 Cup races held there have been eleven different brands seeing victory circle.  Even the Fabulous Hudson Hornet tasted victory there twice in 1952.  Mercury also got a pair of wins; one in 1968 with Cale Yarborough and the other in 1973 with David Pearson.

Toyota picked up its lone win with Kyle Busch at the Spring race this year.  Chrysler and Buick own three wins each.  Chrysler’s came early on in the Fifties while the Eighties were kind to the Buicks.  The General Motors brands of Pontiac and Oldsmobile were the cars to beat four and eight times respectively,

Dodge and Plymouth have combined for 26 wins over the years with twelve of those at the hands of Richard Petty.  Petty had two wins in a Ford in 1969 while feuding with Chrysler.  The Blue Oval boys have 24 other victories as well.  The first coming with Fast Freddy Lorenzen behind the wheel in 1961 and the most recent by Kurt Busch in 2002.

Once again Chevrolet drivers have had the upper hand at a race track.  Thirty-eight percent of all wins at the half miler have been with Chevy sheet metal.  A total of forty-five wins greatly out numbers its nearest rival.  Buck Baker was the first to taste victory and started a string of four consecutive wins beginning in 1957.  Jimmy Johnson is the most recent winner, capping off seven straight Chevy wins that he began in the Fall of 2004.

So once again the numbers favor a win coming from Jimmy Johnson.  This race and the championship seem to be his to lose.  He has wins at the paperclip and he drives the right car.

photo credit:  Jason Smith/Getty Images

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