Lug NutZ

Another Tough Week for Ambrose and Team

 

By: Dennis Terry

After three DNF's in a row at Charlotte, Dover and Pocono our team really needed a top ten finish.  

It seemed like we couldn't catch a break. 

We raced good, had fast cars, good pit stops and we were in striking range of a top ten each week, but we always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We were expecting to end our run of bad luck in California at the Sonoma road course.  Our driver, Marcos Ambrose has always been strong there and everyone's expectations were high.

Once again, we had a fast car, fast pit stops and a great race when yet another late race incident ruined our day.

Ambrose was trying to save fuel by shutting his engine off under caution.  When his engine had trouble restarting, Ambrose failed to maintain a consistent speed and NASCAR moved him from first to seventh.

We finished the race a disappointing 6th. 

I think NASCAR made the correct call (that's hard for me to say out loud by the way), but it was still a tough decision to accept. 

I would have been pumped up with a 6th place finish at any race this year, but when victory is so within your reach, anything less is just as painful as a DNF.

Next stop, New Hampshire. 

DT

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Time To Travel

By: Dennis Terry

 

After two weeks of racing in Charlotte, home to almost every team in the sport, the NASCAR schedule is taking us to Pennsylvania this weekend, Michigan next week and then to California, New Hampshire, Florida and Illinois.

 

Six more races until the July “midseason” break which means a lot of summer travel for teams.  

 

Our hauler drivers will be logging over 15,000 miles during this six week stretch and they’ll be lucky if they get to spend four nights at home before the July break.

 

It was nice to get two straight weekends of sleeping in our own beds and driving to the track as opposed to waking up at 3:00 am and catching the team plane, but it will also be nice to cool off a little this weekend in Poconos!

 

Right now we are looking at 40% chance of rain for Sunday, so we may be cooling off on Monday too.

 

DT

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Time To Travel

By: Dennis Terry

 

After two weeks of racing in Charlotte, home to almost every team in the sport, the NASCAR schedule is taking us to Pennsylvania this weekend, Michigan next week and then to California, New Hampshire, Florida and Illinois.

 

Six more races until the July “midseason” break which means a lot of summer travel for teams.  

 

Our hauler drivers will be logging over 15,000 miles during this six week stretch and they’ll be lucky if they get to spend four nights at home before the July break.

 

It was nice to get two straight weekends of sleeping in our own beds and driving to the track as opposed to waking up at 3:00 am and catching the team plane, but it will also be nice to cool off a little this weekend in Poconos!

 

Right now we are looking at 40% chance of rain for Sunday, so we may be cooling off on Monday too.

 

DT

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Howard Stern's NASCAR Debut

 

By: Dennis Terry

 

On the heels of the 2010 pit crew competition, this weekend’s pit road at Dover proved to be a game changer for many teams.

The big news was a rare Jimmie Johnson’s mental error that cost him a drive thru speeding penalty and ultimately a shot at victory!

 

Other teams also had costly pit road issues that took them out of contention.

A.J. Allmendinger was battling for the race lead when a slow pit stop sent him to the back.  Soon after the stop, he had to come back into the pits because of a loose wheel.  He ended up two laps down as a result.

 

It’s easy to let one small mistake snowball into a catastrophe on pit road and that’s what happened to those guys.  I really hated to see it too, because it was nice to see the 43 car up front while sporting their commemorative Richard Petty Hall of Fame paint scheme.

That was a great looking car!

Clint Bowyer was penalized because some pit equipment left the pit stall.

 

NASCAR rules say that pit equipment; guns, hoses, wrenches, gas cans, catch cans or JACKS must remain in the pit box.  Clint dragged his jack all the way around the track and what was left of it he brought back to pit road as he was serving his penalty.

 

Dale. Jr. lost six laps on pit road while his team tried to diagnose a problem with his car’s steering.  He dropped four spots in the championship standing and fell out of Chase contention.

 

We hear that races are won and lost on pit road and this weekend at Dover was no exception.

Tomorrow night we get to watch these pit crews showcase their abilities to win (or lose) races in NASCAR’s annual All Star Pit Crew Challenge. 

 

Last year’s team champions were Jeff Burton’s pit crew and they will be strong contenders again this year.  I think I’ll put my money on Truex’s 56 crew to win this year, and as always, the 12 car will also be strong contenders.

 

Our team is currently 28^th in points, which means we won’t be competing.  Last year, I won the individual front tire changer event, so of course I was disappointed to sit this year out, but….. “that’s racin’”.

 

Although, I’m not competing I will be there pulling for my fellow competitors.  I’ll be on the arena floor doing “play-by-play” reporting and interviews for Sirius Satellite Radio’s Clare B. Lang.

 

This should be fun!

 

If you thought Howard Stern rocked the Satellite Radio waves you ain’t heard notin’ yet!

DT
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NASCAR After Adam

 

By: Dennis Terry

 

Ten years ago we lost Adam Petty.

 

 

 
  

I never met Adam personally, but I always felt like I knew him.

 

Our paths briefly crossed in 1999 on pit road before a Busch race at the old Nashville speedway.

 

Adam was driving a car sponsored by Sprint and built by Petty Enterprises and I was changing front tires for Barry Bodine, son of Geoff Bodine.  Geoff was still recovering from his 1999 Daytona truck crash at the time.

 

Busch beer was the series sponsor back then and Nationwide Insurance was still too “corporate” for NASCAR.

 

Our pit stall was just off the turn three pit road entrance and I could see Kyle Petty standing in the infield, alone and undisturbed by fans, as he watched his son's entry and exit off of turn three.

 

Kyle would radio instructions to Adam from time to time and you could see Adam learning and improving as the race went along.

 

We finished 25^th (but, had awesome pit stops).  Dale Jr. was on the pole.  Jeff Green won, Casey Atwood finished second and Adam finished 13^th.

 

It was Justin Labontes first Busch race and one of Dick Trickles last.

 

NASCAR was a lot different back then.

 

I was never much of a “NASCAR fan” before I got involved in the sport. 

 

I grew up in the country working on a farm.  I spent my Saturdays nursing Friday night football injurys and my Sundays at church or at the river.  At that time, I just wasn't into watching cars go in circles. 

 

But, I did know who Dale Earnhardt was and my dad always pulled for Bill Elliott and of course everyone knew Richard Petty was the King of stock car racing.

 

When Adam came along as a fourth generation driver, I immediately became a fan because I appreciated the reverence and the honor of carrying on the family business.  I understand people when they say, "It's just in my blood".

 

I respected Adam's confidence and desire to carry the Petty banner into the sport's most revered arenas at Daytona, Charlotte, Darlington and Talladega. 

 

He would follow in great footsteps while leaving behind his own tread marks.

 

Adam was part of a racing dynasty and he never seemed to fully recognize what his status in the racing world would someday be.

 

He was personable, funny, witty and had a Petty smile that was destined for the Hall of Fame.

 

He also had charisma, charm and his own individuality that let you know he wasn’t expecting anything to come easy just because he was a Petty.

 

Adam was talented too! Maybe even more so than Richard and he was going take the sport to new heights just as his grandfather did in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s.

 

Today, maybe Adam would be a Sprint Cup champion.  He would at least be a championship contender and he would be duking it out every Sunday with Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Dale Jr.

 

Petty Enterprises would still be a part of the family and not just part of a racing conglomerate just trying to stay in business. 

 

Adam’s team would most likely still be operating out of Randleman, NC where the locals consider the Pettys neighbors and friends more than racing legends.

 

I can see Adam driving the number 45 Dodge Charger in the Sprint Cup series with STP, Coca-Cola and John Deere on board as sponsors.  All American companies standing behind an all American kid from North Carolina.

 

BUT, fate had other plans for Adam and for NASCAR.

 

Adam was killed when his car crashed into the turn three wall at New Hampshire during Busch practice in 2000.  His throttle hung as he was accelerating down the back stretch. He hit the turn three wall at full speed.

 

This was before the NASCAR mandated HANS head and neck supports and “soft walls” to absorb the force of impact.

 

This was before the COT cars were implemented with a more crash absorbing design and before steering wheels were retrofitted with “kill switches” so drivers could cut off the engine in emergency situations.

 

This was all before the youngest Petty racer had a chance to show the rest of us what a great driver, and role model and ambassador of the sport he would soon be.

If I could go back in time and change one thing about this sport I would go back to New Hampshire in 2000.

 

If so, I believe that NASCAR would be a lot different today.

DT

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A Darlington Stripe of My Own

By: Dennis Terry

Darlington was a huge weekend from my perspective. 

Both my Cup team and Nationwide team barely cracked the top 30, so there was nothing big about that except for a big disappointment.  But, that's racin' and you will have weekend's like that from time to time.

Our Cup team struggled with the car's handling all night.  Ambrose crashed our primary during practice, so we qualified and raced the back up with NO practice at all. 

That made for a busy night on pit road, but we did finish better than Jimmie Johnson, and usually that a VERY good sign!

NASCAR sponsorships are still declining! 

It's been obvious for the last few seasons that full time sponsorship has been hard for most teams to secure. 

GEM racing, MWR, Bill Davis, Roush, Petty, Yates, DEI, Ganassi, and other teams have merged, closed up shop or brought on financial partners.

This weekend we learned that top teams and drivers like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are also looking for additional sponsorship after this year. 

This is a big deal! 

I've got no doubt that Stewart and Gordon will be able to secure top notch sponsors because of the branding they offer sponsors, but I am concerned that this is a sign of more trouble to come for the lower tiered teams who have been cutting jobs, reducing expenses and reorganizing however possible to do more with less sponsorship.

Lastly, I made it down and back from Darlington without any issues with the SC Highway patrol.

Unfortunately, I left Darlington with my own "Darlington Stripe" when I backed my Tahoe into a guard rail leaving the parking lot on Saturday. 

The guard rail is OK, but the Tahoe is going to need some duck tape and body work.

DT

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Too Tough To Tame

By: Dennis Terry

I'm driving down to Darlington, SC for the Nationwide race tonight and the Cup race tomorrow.

Pit crews fly to most all races with the exception of Darlington, Martinsville and of course Charlotte.

Darlington is a fun drive for me. Like most everyone else, I take Highway 74 out of Charlotte and then 601 south to Pageland in Monroe.

In Pageland I take 151 south through all the tiny SC towns that are famous for peaches, tomatoes and most notable SPEED TRAPS!

These little towns love race weekend where they can supplement their tax base and the cops usually take a cut too.

Race fans and pit crews just seem to make for easy targets especially where the speed limit drops from 55 mph to 35 mph on the country four lane highways.

I hope I make it down and back with the same insurance rates and license points I started with.

DT

Hendrick VS Hendrick

By: Dennis Terry

 

It looks like we have a new feud in town folks!

 

Talladega once again proved to be a restrictor plate showdown all the way to the finish line, but the most exciting lap was when Jimmie Johnson ran into teammate Jeff Gordon.

 

It was especially exciting for Talladega fans who ALL hate both drivers with an Alabama passion!

 

That’s two races in a row where those teammates have tangled for those of you who are keeping tabs.

 

Gordon emotionally voiced his frustrations following the race and Johnson manned up and accepted responsibility for “this” incident, but I’m betting those two aren’t planning any baby showers together this year.

 

I’m also betting that this will be one of the biggest issues of the year and most definitely a changing point for both the 24 and the 48 team’s season.

 

Gordon is looking for wins and at least one more championship and even for the causual fan it’s easy to see that he has lost the winning “spark” that he has had for most of his career.

 

Some blame age, some blame marriage/family, some blame the size of his wallet and MANY just blame Johnson! 

 

Then you have Johnson who has been NASCAR’s golden boy lately.

 

He seems to avoid every crash, every controversy and somehow he even avoids the preverbal bad luck that hits all of us from time to time.  The only thing Johnson really fails to avoid lately is Gordon.

 

To complete the story line, Gordon is the veteran, mentor and valued leader at Hendrick Motorsports… not to mention the OWNER of Johnson’s team.  

 

But, year after year, Johnson seems to “one-up” Gordon in wins, championships and overall performance.

Gordon always smiles and congratulates Johnson and his 48 teammates and as he pats them on the back he comes across as being the proud “big brother” and successful team owner, never a hint of frustration.

I think we are going to see a big change in Gordon’s demener not to mention his driving style and competitiveness for the rest of the season.

I think Johnson has ignited Gordon’s winning “spark” and championship drive once again and it’s going to cost him a fifth consecutive championship!

 

DT

 

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NASCAR Two in One

By: Dennis Terry

I just checked the weather report for this weekend's races in Talladega.  80% chance of rain on Saturday and 20% chance of rain on Sunday.... for now.

After spending three days in Texas last weekend it would be nice to stay dry this time around.

Once the rain stopped and the racing started, I actually enjoyed the Monday double header in Texas.  My Nationwide team finished 18th and my Cup team finished 17th.  Good pit stops and two decent finishes made the long day a lot more enjoyable for me.

I think NASCAR should take a serious look at adding a few double header dates to the schedule.   

We could run the Nationwide race at noon and then follow that up with a 7:00 night race for the Cup guys.  It would be a heck of a long day for those of us who are working in both series and of course you have some logistical and operational nightmares that would need to be resolved.

Still, it would be an awsome day of racing for the fans!

A double header date would also go a long way at fixing the attendance problem at tracks like Atlanta, California and Kansas.

It also might mean that we see less Cup drivers competing in the Nationwide races too. 

Just a little food for thougth before I start packing my rain gear for Talladega.

DT

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Texas Washout

By: Dennis Terry

Another soggy day on pit road in Texas.

Yesterday's Nationwide race at TMS was rained out and rescheduled for tonight at 8:00 pm following the Cup race.  Now it appears that today's CUP race is a "wash" too.

NASCAR says that the rain has to stop and track dryin gmust be underway by 5:30 (Texas time - 6:30 Eastern) in order to get both races in. 

That's not going to happen.

Looks like Monday racing to me! 

DT