April 19, 2007
- Jeff Gordon wins pole at Phoenix: #24-Jeff Gordon won the Budweiser Pole for the Subway Fresh Fit 500k at Phoenix International Raceway with a speed of 133.136mph for his 3rd pole of 2007 and 59th of his career [tied with Darrell Waltrip for 4th ALL-TIME]. The rest of the top-10 are #26-McMurray, #11-Hamlin, #10-Riggs, #48-Johnson, #2-Busch, #1-Yruex Jr., #29-Harvick, #20-Stewart and #9-Kahne. The non-top 35 teams that made the race were: #10-Riggs, #22-Blaney, #00-Reutimann, #78-Wallace, #15-Menard, #21-Schrader, #4-Burton and #44-Jarrett [used his 5th champ prov, only one left].
Two twists to Gordon’s pole, Gordon has never won a Cup race at Phoenix AND in 21 races, no driver has ever won from the pole at Phoenix.
See the qualifying results/starting lineup on my Starting Lineup/Qualifying Results/Order Page.(4-19-2007) - Seven do not qualify for the Subway Fresh Fit 500k at Phoenix International Raceway: #36-Mayfield, #55-Waltrip, #37-Andretti, #83-Vickers, #84-Allmendinger, #49-Bliss and #02-Ash.(4-19-2007)
- Fastest Qualifier at Phoenix by Manufacturer::
Chevy: #24-Gordon, 133.136, starts 1st
Dodge: #10-Riggs, 132.338, starts 4th
Ford: #26-McMurray, 132.577, starts 2nd
Toyota: #22-Blaney, 131.229, starts 11th
(4-19-2007) - Ramblings – Phoenix Qualifying Notes: Jeff Gordon toured the Phoenix International Raceway flat mile tonight in a smooth 27.040 seconds (133.136 mph) and took the Bud Pole for Saturday Night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 by a little over 1/100th of a second ahead of Jamie McMurray. This is the third top-spot of the season for Gordon (no one else has more than one) and the 59th of his NEXTEL Cup career (he’s now tied with Darrell Waltrip for 4th all-time with 59). Gordon’s won 17 times from the pole, btw.
Scott Riggs (4th) has his best starting spot since he had the outside pole at Homestead last November.
STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 5 Top-5 starts in a row.
Denny Hamlin has 4 Top-10 starts in a row.
Tony Stewart has 4 Top-10 starts in a row.
Jimmie Johnson has 4 Top-10 starts in the last 5 races.
(Stock Car Fans)(4-19-2007) - Raker back as Kurt Busch’s crew chief this week: Troy Raker will again be standing in for #2 Miller Lite Dodge crew chief Roy McCauley this weekend at Phoenix as Roy is spending time with wife, Amy, who is battling cancer. Kurt Busch drives the #2 Dodge for Penske Racing, sone facts aboyt Raker:
Joined Ford Motor Company as an engineer in 1993
Liaison between Ford and Bud Moore Engineering 1995
Engineer for Ricky Rudd Racing 1996-closing
Engineer for Bill Elliott Racing 2000
Engineer for Joe Gibbs Racing 2001-2006
Joined Penske Racing January 2007 as Chassis Engineer
(Tom Roberts PR)(4-19-2007) - Intersting stat: This week’s quirky stat is that the driver who won the eighth race of the season in 1957, 1977, 1987 and 1997 all went on to win the championships in those years ending in 7s. Those champions were, in order, Buck Baker, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. It didn’t work in 1967, when David Pearson won the eighth race but Richard Petty won the championship.(Thatsracin/David Poole)(4-19-2007)
- Waltrip gets new crew chief: Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) announced today that Buddy Sisco will move over to the #55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry team as crew chief for Michael Waltrip. Sisco, who most recently served as car chief on the #00 Domino’s Pizza Toyota Camry, begins his new role with Waltrip this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. “I am honored to be stepping back into the role as Michael’s crew chief,” said Sisco, who was Waltrip’s part-time crew chief last year. “This is a position I have wanted for a long time. You have to remember that this team is a start up team with a new manufacturer to the sport. We have veteran people on our crew, but this is not a veteran team. I owe my dedication to Michael and his team, which I know has great potential.” Waltrip has confidence in Sisco’s leadership abilities to deliver results. “Buddy provides the guidance that our team needs,” said Waltrip. “The core individuals that proudly wear the NAPA shield continue to be diligent. Through all of the ups and downs this season, their efforts and loyalty have not wavered. Buddy will focus solely on the performance of my #55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry.” Sisco has vast experience in the Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series as a crew chief. The move is another step forward in the significant reorganization taking place at MWR. In addition to Sisco’s new role, Derrick Finley will take over as Lead Team Engineer on the #55 NAPA Toyota.(MWR PR), Sisco takes over for interim crew chief Scott Eggleston after Texas in April, no word on Eggleston’s plans. Former crew chief David Hyder is suspended but supposedly still working at the shop.(4-19-2007)
- Phoenix Goodyear Tire Notes: Both the NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series will run the same tire codes at Phoenix this weekend . . . this is the first time Goodyear has brought these tire codes to the track . . . teams in these two series will also run this tire setup at Richmond and New Hampshire this year . . . as on most NASCAR ovals less than one mile in length, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at Phoenix. The estimated pit window for the Cup cars is every 70-80 laps, based on fuel mileage.(Goodyear PR), see the full notes, codes, pressures on my Phoenix Race Info page.(4-19-2007)
- Stewart discusses ‘retirement’ on his radio show: On last night’s edition of his weekly SIRIUS NASCAR Radio show “Tony Stewart Live,” #20-Tony Stewart and co-host Matt Yocum reviewed the weekend in Texas, looked back at Stewart’s post-race comments on retirement, and talked about his run-in with #42-Juan Pablo Montoya. On his post-race comments on being “ready to retire” after a frustrating day at Texas Motor Speedway: “I love the Home Depot team. I love my guys. We’ve still got unfinished business with the Daytona 500 and four other tracks that we haven’t won at, I guess. I don’t know. It’s just kind of a weird deal. I didn’t mean to put all of our fans in a three-alarm fire situation. It was more just emotion speaking than it was common sense. Trust me. There’s one thing I can promise you. I’m not retiring before my contract is up [2009]. I’ve made a commitment to Home Depot and Joe Gibbs Racing. Even as disappointing as it was we’ve been in this situation before and we’ve battled back and won championships with it. So there’s nobody on our race team that will throw in the towel, myself included. It’s definitely tough when you have a car that you think you’re going to have a really good weekend with and all of a sudden the next day it kind of washes away. After you’ve been at the racetrack for five straight days it’s easy to let that emotion get to you.”
On his run-in with Juan Pablo Montoya: Stewart said: “We had Juan Pablo Montoya behind us on a restart and he tried to go to the outside of me and put me in the middle of three-wide before we even get to the flag stand and I didn’t really appreciate that much. So about 15 laps into the run here he comes and instead of just being courteous to him I thought, ‘Well, he was going to put me in a bad spot so I’m going to put him in a bad spot.’ So I raced him and raced him and raced him and that’s where I made my mistake. Juan didn’t get to this position and didn’t get to Formula One by making bad decisions. Even as a rookie this year, and it being a different series, even as much as he’s accomplished in his career, you’ve still got things to learn when you move to a different series. We’ll talk on Friday morning before we go to practice. I know he tried to get a hold of me yesterday and I told the Godfather (Eddie Jarvis) to call Chip [Ganassi] and make sure he got a hold of Juan and said, ‘Hey, we’re cool. We’ll talk about it this weekend.’ But I don’t want to do it on the phone. I want to sit down so I can explain it to him. I’ve got a lot of respect for Juan. I still stand behind what I said at the beginning of the year. He’s got more natural ability than 99% of the guys I’ve ever raced with.”
“Tony Stewart Live” airs every Tuesday (8-10pm/et) exclusively on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, channel 128. The show re-airs Saturday at 7am/et.(SIRIUS PR)(4-19-2007) - Pinnacle Las Vegas to Sponsor Nemechek at PIR – IMAGE: Joe Nemechek’s #13 Chevy will have a new look at this weekend’s Nextel Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. The Ginn Racing entry will be sponsored by Pinnacle Las Vegas, the distinctively designed $850 million managed condominium resort-hotel. The twin 36-story towers with 1,104 luxury residences are scheduled to open in late 2009 and will be situated on 12 acres just west of the famed Las Vegas Strip. “Pinnacle Las Vegas is a stunning development and we are thrilled the company is partnering with Ginn Racing in its first venture in motorsports,” said Jay Frye, CEO and general manager of Ginn Racing. “We look forward to delivering results to Pinnacle, both on and off the track.” For more information, visit www.ThePinnacleLasVegas.com..(Ginn Racing PR)(4-18-2007)
IMAGE: see image of the scheme on my Paint Scheme Gallery.(4-19-2007) - Phoenix Rookie News and Notes: #42-Juan Pablo Montoya was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Montoya finished eighth, his second top-10 finish in eight Nextel Cup Series starts. He took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the third time in 2007. Montoya leads #6-David Ragan by four points (81-77) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Montoya is 13th in the Nextel Cup Series championship standings, best of any Raybestos Rookie. At least one Raybestos Rookie has finished inside the top-10 in each of the past FIVE consecutive Nextel Cup races at Phoenix: 2004: Kasey Kahne, fifth (fall race) 2005: Kyle Busch, eighth (spring race) 2005: Kyle Busch, FIRST (fall race) 2006: Clint Bowyer, fifth (spring race) 2007: Denny Hamlin, third (fall race) Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart are the only Raybestos Rookies to win in 21 Nextel Cup races at Phoenix. Three Raybestos Rookies have won pole positions at Phoenix, all coming in the fall race: Stewart, Casey Atwood (2001) and Ryan Newman (2002).(Camp and Assoc/Raybestos PR), for rookie standings, history and more, see my 2007 Rookies page.(4-19-2007)
- Martin’s Pit Crew Takes Top Honors in Texas: Mark Martin’s #01 pit crew earned its fourth Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge win of the season Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway — lifting its team to a third-place finish in the Nextel Cup Series event. With four Double Drive-Thru Challenge victories, the U.S. Army/Ginn Racing pit crew is the only multiple winner in the first seven races of the 2007 season. “What can you say about these guys, they are just awesome,” said Martin. “This is the best race team that I’ve ever worked with. The Army pit crew really stepped up on Sunday and help gain us some really needed track position. I love working with this team. They make coming to work really fun.” Martin’s over-the-wall crew includes: Scott King (jackman), Colin Pasi (front-tire carrier), Charlie Brock (front-tire changer), Dwayne Moore (rear-tire carrier), Dave Woodhead (rear-tire changer), Danny Harrington (gasman), Scotty Hazlett (catch can) and J.D. Hilton (windshield). The pit crew coach is Lance Munksgard. Checkers/Rally’s awards the winning Nextel Cup pit crew each week with a cash prize of $11,000. The #01 crew has collected $44,000 in prize money for its wins this season and currently boasts a three-win lead in the standings. “It was another solid performance by the 01 Army crew,” said crew chief Ryan Pemberton. “The guys are doing a fantastic job of having consistent pit stops each week and it is really showing in the team’s results.” To win the Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge, teams are required to finish on the lead lap while spending the least amount of time on pit road. Checkers/Rally’s is in its third season as title sponsor for the pit crew challenge. Checkers/Rally’s is the Official Burger and Drive-Thru Restaurant of NASCAR, more info at checkers.com.(DMF Communications PR)(4-19-2007)
- Special Scheme for Reutimann at Talladega: David Reutimann will carry a special paint scheme on his #99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota at Talladega Superspeedway in the Busch Series Aaron’s 312 that nine-year-old Marina Sansom from Madras, Oregon designed. Sansom was chosen as having the winning car art for Aaron’s nationwide “Color Your Way to Talladega” sweepstakes. Sansom along with her family will attend the race courtesy of Aaron’s to see the florescent crayon design come to life and also root for the Aaron’s Dream Team.(DavidReutimann.net), see an image of the car on my Paint Schemes Page.(4-19-2007)
- White to drive for Pennington Motorsports at Kansas: Pennington Motorsports officials say that Jason White will drive the organization’s #7 Chevy in the Craftsman Truck Series beginning April 28 at Kansas Speedway. White has made 12 Craftsman truck Series starts with a career best finish of 13th at Martinsville Speedway. (scenedaily.com)(4-19-2007)
- NASCAR To Honor Victims Of Virginia Tech Tragedy: NASCAR has received permission from Virginia Tech to display the school’s logo on race cars for the next three weeks, in a tribute to the victims of this week’s shootings at the university’s Blacksburg, Va. campus. The logo will be displayed against a black background on the “B-post” – the area just to the right of the driver’s side window net – of cars competing in Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series events at Phoenix, Talladega (April 28-29) and Richmond (May 4-5). Additionally, trucks competing in the Craftsman Truck Series event April 28 at Kansas Speedway also will display the logo. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, their family members, their friends – and the entire Virginia Tech community,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. “We wanted to make a simple, but strong, gesture of remembrance. We are grateful the university gave us clearance to display their logo.”(NASCAR PR)(4-19-2007)
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