It does not matter what level of racing a driver is in. Whenever that driver is making his or her first few starts in a a series, there is going to be a steep learning curve. So it comes as no surprise when Aric Almirola struggled in only his second race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Almirola began the Goody's Cool Orange 500 strong, but quickly fell to the back of the pack. Despite his poor performance in Martinsville, Almirola is one of the most promising rookies in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Excellent pit strategy and dominant driving allowed Denny Hamlin to take his #11 FedEx Toyota to victory lane in the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Denny Hamlin was ecstatic about his victory because it was in front his hometown crowd. This is the fourth career win for Hamlin and the second win for Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota in 2008. In a post race interview, Jeff Gordon stated that the race came down to strategy, and that Denny Hamlin's team had the right strategy.
After a much needed week off, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series heads to Martinsville Speedway in the sixth race of the season. Hendrick Motorsports has been criticized for not winning any races so far this season, but all that can change at the half mile paperclip. Eight of the last ten races at Martinsville Speedway have been won by a Hendrick Motorsports team. the keys for any team to win at Martinsville will be tire wear and track position. It is difficult to win races from the back of the pack when running on a short track, though I can be done. If a driver has to be aggressive to stay in the lead, the tires wear will be greater. The last thing any driver needs is to lose a tire when running in a tight pack at any short track. There are many talented short track drivers in the field on Sunday. As such, here are the drivers to watch in the Goody's Cool Orange 500.
Jack Roush has continued its public battle with Toyota teams by accusing a Toyota team of stealing a "proprietary" part from a Roush Fenway Racing during post race inspection. Jack Roush refuses to name the team which allegedly took the part. Jim Aust, the president and chief executive officer of Toyota Racing Development, said that the team that had possession of the part returned it to Roush Fenway Racing once the team discovered the actual owner of the part. Aust stated that "The only thing I know is it wound up with parts we had and [which were] returned to Roush. It's unfortunate it happened the way it did. It wasn't anything intentional. There's no reason to be done intentional. I have no idea how it happened to begin with." The increasing animosity between Jack Roush and Toyota is just what NASCAR needed.
Saturday's Pepsi 300 from Nashville Superspeedway provided fans a racing fix for a weekend when the Craftsman Truck Series and the Sprint Cup Series had off. Despite the rare weekend off, some of the Cup drivers still decided to run the Nationwide race. Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, David Ragan and Denny Hamlin all ran on Saturday. Despite all the Cup drivers in the field, Scott Wimmer was able to take his #29 Holiday Inn Chevy to victory lane. Here are some observations I made during the race:
Hendrick Motorsports dominated the 2007 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with 18 wins among all four drivers in the team. The dominance which they showed during the 2007 season made them clear front runners for the 2008 season. Things have not gone as planned for Hendrick Motorsports so far, however. Last year's champion, Jimmie Johnson, has had a hard time having the top 10 finishes he is used to. Jeff Gordon, an early favorite this season, has also struggled posting top 10 finishes. Casey Mears is performing, well, like Casey Mears. So far the only driver with consistant performances is Hendrick newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. Five weeks into the 2008 Sprint Cup season, Hendrick Motorsports has yet to win any event and many individuals are wondering why.
There is a loophole in the NASCAR rule book that allows teams to switch owner's points between cars during the season. While this loophole was originally in place in order to allow drivers to make the transition between teams, it also allows other teams to abuse the system. Some of the teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series are considering abusing this rule in order to guarnatee a starting spot in each race. Allowing teams to switch owner's points between cars during the season will only have negative implications in the long run for NASCAR, the teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage, and most importantly, the fans. NASCAR must take steps in order to close the loophole in order to allow all drivers to have a fair chance in each of the events in the NASCAR schedule.
The Food City 500 brought great racing to Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday. The newly repaved track allowed for exciting side by side and three wide racing all day long. Despite all the side by side racing, the race was a typical Bristol race with drivers beating at banging each other all day long. In the end Jeff Burton took his #31 AT&T Mobility Chevy to victory lane. This would give Chevy its first win in 2008. Tony Stewart dominated the race, leading the most laps, but got into a wreck with 2 laps to go. As a credit to the new car, all 43 cars finished the race, despite some major damage to some of the cars.
The beginning of the Sharpie Mini 300 was delayed an hour and a half due to rain over Bristol Motor Speedway. On lap 171, NASCAR brought out the red flag because the rain began to fall again. As is the case any time there is rain at the track, there were some teams hoping the rain continued, while others hoped that the rain would blow out of the area so they can continue racing. Clint Bowyer must have done a very good rain dance in the infield after the red flag. NASCAR called the Sharpie Mini 300 because of rain, Giving Clint Bowyer and his #2 Chevy the team's first victory in NASCAR Nationwide Series racing of 2008. Bowyer is running for the Nationwide Series championship this season.
