Tag: Jeff Gordon
Truex on Gordon: No More Mr. Nice Guy
Posted Jun 25, 2010, under NASCAR News and Opinion
BOB POCKGRASS
SCENEDAILY.COM
LOUDON, N.H. – Martin Truex Jr. isn’t backing down from his vow to race Jeff Gordon more aggressively, but whether he will wreck Gordon soon in retaliation for getting spun last week at Infineon Raceway remains to be seen.
At Sonoma, Gordon accidentally spun Truex, who then fell to the back of the pack and got caught up in a chain-reaction crash that knocked him out of the race.
Truex, who fell to 19th in the Sprint cup standings after the 42nd-place finish at Infineon, said Friday that he got a voice-mail apology from Gordon, who also told Truex he figured he had a shove coming at some point.
“I’m in the same position I was in then so why would I feel different?” Truex said after practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “I accept his apology, yes, but things are going to change between me and him. That’s just the bottom line.
“The nice guys seems to always get pushed around. I’m tired of being the nice guy. I’m tired of getting pushed around. I’m not going to stand here and say, ‘I’m going to go out and wreck Jeff.’ That’s not me. That’s not how I do things. But things are going to change. I’m not going to take it anymore.”
While Gordon said he understands Truex’s feelings, Truex said his frustration goes deeper than just the race Sunday.
“I’ve always been very, very respectful, and I have just never gotten that back,” Truex said. “You race a guy like Mark Martin and you run him down from a straightaway, he’ll let you go. He doesn’t want to hold himself up, but at the same time, he is doing you a favor.
“If I run Jeff down from a straightaway, he races me like we’re going for a win. … There’s been times when Jeff’s caught me and never even given me a chance to get out of the way and started running into me. And then he’s the first guy to hang his middle finger out the window when he goes by you. Things are going to change, that’s all I’m saying.”
Gordon again was apologetic Friday at New Hampshire.
NASCAR’s Ratings Dilemma
Posted Jun 03, 2010, under John Hall, NASCAR News and Opinion
JOHN HALL
nascarfrontpage.com
After years of growth, NASCAR is experiencing declining TV ratings and lower attendance on race day. There are several factors that contribute to this dilemma, not the least of which is a struggling economy. There is another glaring reason, however. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not having the success many fans would love to see.
While Dale, Jr. has shown signs of improvement this season, he is still 16th in points, 4 spots out of the Chase. It seems he runs into bad luck every week. He cuts tires, has mechanical issues, or just plain gets shuffled back in the waning laps. It is not for lack of talent, as he has shown he is capable of winning at this level. Whatever the reason, NASCAR would benefit immensely if Earnhardt returned to the level of competing for the win week in and week out. People would surely tune in on a Sunday afternoon to see the excitement of their favorite driver consistently running up front and contending for the win.
So what is NASCAR to do? They can’t manipulate rules or do anything to give Earnhardt an advantage. In fact, they have to go out of their way to make sure they don’t make any rulings or decisions that could potentially benefit Earnhardt Jr. because such rulings are always viewed with skepticism by certain fans and even drivers. If the 88 is the first car a lap down and eligible for the lucky dog, any caution for debris better be for an object the size of the Dover Monster!
This presents quite a quandary for NASCAR. The one driver whose success can provide a ratings and attendance boost for the sport is the one driver who can’t be the recipient of any decision which could be viewed with any semblance of impropriety. Does NASCAR meet with Rick Hendrick to discuss the benefits of a successful Earnhardt? I’m sure Hendrick doesn’t need to be reminded that he is providing equipment to the most popular driver in the sport and most fans would love to see that equipment cross the finish line before anyone else’s.
Adding to the problem is who is actually winning the races while Earnhardt Jr. is struggling.
Gordon: NASCAR’s New Hero
Posted Apr 28, 2010, under Lee Buchanan, NASCAR News and Opinion
LEE BUCHANAN
NASCARFRONTPAGE.COM
It was bound to happen.
Jeff Gordon, the former Wonder Boy so reviled for so long by so much of NASCAR fandom, is emerging as its new hero, reborn as an underdog stepping up to challenge the new king.
The simmering rivalry between Gordon and Jimmie Johnson has become the most compelling storyline of the season.
Just when fans were clamoring for someone to start playing hardball with Johnson (where have you gone, Dale Sr.?), they have found an unlikely hero in the driver they’ve spent so many years hating.
A colleague of mine describes his mother as the county’s biggest Gordon hater. But after Texas, when Gordon’s dominant performance again ended in disappointment, mom actually felt sorry for him.
And when Johnson pulled in front of a fast-closing Gordon and triggered the wreck that took out the #24 at Talladega? Don’t get her started.
Admit it: Some of you longtime Gordon-haters find yourselves pulling for him these days.
Gordon, Johnson Disappointed With One Another
Posted Apr 21, 2010, under NASCAR News and Opinion
BOB POCKGRASS
SCENEDAILY.COM
FORT WORTH, Texas – Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were “disappointed” with each after making contact during an intense battle in the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Johnson, meanwhile, was worried about how their contact will be perceived.
“Don’t get the headline writers out saying, ‘Trouble at HMS,’ because it’s really no big deal,” Johnson said after the race. “We all know from scanning during the race, there are a lot of colorful things said on that race track about teammates and other drivers and all that kind of stuff. So to have the word ‘disappointed’ used from Jeff and myself, I don’t think it is a very big deal.”
Even before Johnson got out of his car after the race, people were talking about the contact between the teammates and friends. With fewer than 100 laps remaining, Gordon took the air off the rear of Johnson’s car, getting it loose as they battled for second. Johnson then came down on Gordon and they banged doors.
Johnson eventually had to pit for a tire rub that was the result of the contact.
“Four-time is a little upset,” Gordon said over his in-car radio, using his own nickname for Johnson, who has won the last four Sprint Cup titles. “He [expects] to be treated different than everybody else.”
What was the deal?
ESPN.com – Gordon’s frustration hits boiling point
Posted Mar 31, 2010, under NASCAR News and Opinion
David Newton
ESPN.com
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jeff Gordon went into a brief profanity-laced meltdown over his in-car radio as Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag on Monday at Martinsville Speedway.
He was mad that the final caution came when he was about a hundred yards from taking the white flag and winning in regulation. He was mad that Matt Kenseth slammed into the rear of his No. 24 car on the first lap of the green-white-checkered finish to end any chance he had of winning at all.
He was mad that NASCAR even called the final caution that forced overtime.
“It was pretty obvious to me NASCAR wanted to do a green-white-checkered finish,” Gordon said. “There were cars blowing tires, hitting the wall … they weren’t throwing the caution.
“One spinout and they threw the caution in the blink of an eye. I think it was pretty obvious what they wanted.”
Welcome to the new world of manufactured excitement.
No Surprises: Sprint Cup teams learning that what worked with the wing will work with new spoiler
Posted Mar 24, 2010, under NASCAR News and Opinion
Bob Pockgrass
scenedaily.com
NASCAR ran 93 races with the wing on the car since 2007 but will switch to a spoiler beginning this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. To allow teams to get ready for the change, NASCAR sanctioned a two-day test Tuesday and Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“Other than being around other cars, I really didn’t feel a big change,” said Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon. “Most of what we’ve been learning with this car is in the front end with the splitter and the bump stops and shocks. There are a couple of little things that I can’t tell you about that we feel like we learned with the spoiler with the old car before that we tried to back up with this car, that we do feel like is something that can be a gained here that was not with the wing.
“The information we’ve been gathering over the last several years is certainly not obsolete by any means. But it is slightly different now and we’ll learn as we go. The more time we put on it, the more obsolete that wing information might be. But at this point, I can’t say that it is.”
Restrictor plate size will be key at Talladega
Posted Mar 15, 2010, under NASCAR News and Opinion
Bob Pockgrass
scenedaily.com
NASCAR will use restrictor plates with larger holes than they have used in the past at Talladega Superspeedway Tuesday as its Sprint Cup teams test the new spoiler that is expected to replace the rear win in a few weeks.
The test will not only help teams figure out setups for the new spoiler but help NASCAR evaluate which restrictor plate to use with the new configuration.
The test Tuesday is the first open test for Sprint Cup teams with the spoiler, and they likely will start with a restrictor plate with holes of 1-1/32 inches (66/64ths) – 7/64ths of an inch more than the plates used last October and 3/64ths larger than the plate used for this year’s Daytona 500.
The spoiler is expected to replace the wing starting with the March 28 race at Martinsville Speedway, although NASCAR has not announced a firm start date yet. The spoiler will definitely be in use, however, for the April 25 race at Talladega.
The test Tuesday will run from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. EDT with single-car runs from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and drafting from 2 p.m.-6 p.m.
“When you do all the math from the spoiler to the gear to the speed, you can compute what [restrictor plate] you think you should have, but we feel like it would be nice to have a confirmation of that so maybe if we have to adjust during the race weekend, it’s only once,” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby said.
“We’ll ask them to use all the same size and if it looks good, we’ll press on, and if we have to adjust up or down, we will.”
Most teams are expected to attend the test. But not all teams are going as Richard Petty Motorsports is only sending Paul Menard and Roush Fenway Racing is only sending Matt Kenseth and David Ragan.
“It will be much like the Nationwide [new] car was at Talladega with the spoiler on the car,” said Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick. “The air will be a little bit sharper turbulence than what we saw with the wing.
Tire questions loom for Goodyear
Posted Mar 09, 2010, under NASCAR News and Opinion
Associated Press
HAMPTON, GA. (AP)
Goodyear is facing more questions about the quality of its tires.
At least a dozen drivers were affected by tire problems during Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, stirring up complaints that Goodyear supplied a compound that was good for speed but low on durability at the high-banked track.
“When they come here and test, you expect them to build a tire that we can abuse and that we can race hard with,” said Jeff Gordon, one of those affected. “That obviously wasn’t the case. There is a good chance we were too aggressive, but until we go back and analyze everything it’s hard to say.”
Johnson reels in Gordon for 2nd straight win
Posted Feb 28, 2010, under NASCAR News and Opinion
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS – Jimmie Johnson needed luck to win a week ago in California. In Las Vegas, a city of chance, he didn’t need any help at all.
Johnson reeled in teammate Jeff Gordon, who had dominated Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, to win for the second consecutive week. He took four tires on the final pit stop, chased Gordon for 17 laps, then finally sailed past his Hendrick Motorsports teammate with 17 laps to go to wrap up the win.
“No luck involved in that one, my friend,” crew chief Chad Knaus told Johnson.
Safety measures have worked in NASCAR, but have they taken away an element of danger?
Posted Feb 15, 2010, under NASCAR News and Opinion
By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 14, 2010
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — It was here on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway that NASCAR’s seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt was killed in a last-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500. In the years since, NASCAR has invested millions of dollars and untold engineering expertise in making its brand of stock-car racing safer.
Largely because of its radically redesigned racecar, more forgiving track walls and mandatory head-and-neck restraints, there hasn’t been a death in NASCAR’s top series since, though there have been plenty of wild crashes. Over the same time, growing ranks of race fans have groused that the racing has gotten boring.
As NASCAR officials search for ways to inject new life in what was the fastest-growing sport in America just a decade ago, some are privately wondering whether stock-car racing simply isn’t as compelling in the minds of fans now that the element of danger — or, at least, the perception of danger — has been removed.
No fan, of course, wants to see a racecar driver get killed or seriously injured. The mere suggestion that NASCAR loyalists come to see wrecks raises hackles.
Fans come to see the close competition, they’ll testify. They come to see Earnhardt’s son, known universally as “Junior,” beat the pants off Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. They come for the ear-splitting noise and raw speed.
