Trouble in Turn2

Yeehaw! Almost two full weeks without a Sprint Cup race it’s time for an overdue roundup of some news items. Get along all you dogies. By the way, you know you were about to ask, a dogie is a motherless calf in a range herd of cattle. So there’s that. Let’s move on to the news of the past few weeks.

• Nationwide might have the official naming rights to NASCAR’s second series, but Shrub is doing his best to maintain the Busch Series label. Thanks to the nice people on the Nationwide PR side, here is a post-race interview after Kyle Busch’s win at Mexico City:
  

  It was a good run for us. We had a great race out there. You know, some pit strategy played into it somewhat there towards the middle and towards the end of the race in what was going to happen.

  Obviously, being able to win my first race on a road course is pretty special anytime. It’s fun to be able to win to be able to win on a road course, because there’s only certain guys that tend to be able to do it. Finally, to be able to get a win on a road course means a lot. It shows I’m capable of winning anywhere, I guess, so that’s pretty cool.

  From an upstart blogger’s perspective, Nationwide is doing a lot of cool grassroots things to promote the Nationwide Series. And the first thing you say is, “Sure, that’s easy for you to say when they send you stuff to put on your blog.” And I say, exactly. If they are reaching out to bloggers and recognizing that we have a place of some importance, then that is a good thing. It has very little to do with me personally.

• After a six race “break”, AJ Allemndinger is back in the #84 Red Bull car this week. Substitute driver Mike Skinner made the last six races and edged the car within 108 points of the top 35. Now it’s up to Allmendinger to build on that baseline. He will do so in a new silver paintscheme. From the Red Bull blog:
  

  “Some would call it a mirrored aluminum silver. Some would call it a titanium finish,” said Marty Briggs, the paint shop manager. “We would just have to call it bad ass.”

• The biggest news this week is the speculation about Tony Stewart’s future. Will he stay with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota? Will he return to one of he Chevrolet teams? Will he retire and open a Subway shop in Richmond, Indiana and hang out with Jared Fogel? Perhaps he’s in talks with Daniel Snyder about coaching the Redskins?

  No one knows the exact answer right now, but in the end the winner is definitely Stewart. Just like Dale Earnhardt Jr couldn’t go wrong last year, Stewart can take whatever path he wants. Ownership is apparently the hot item in Stewart’s search, but I’m not sure that makes complete sense. The cost of ownership in Cup continues to rise while sponsorship, and other revenue streams are stagnating and in some cases drying up. Stewart already owns a racetrack, Eldora, that he says he doesn’t make a profit on. Would he really want to take on another pet project? Especially a seven to eight figure one that is not a certain money-maker? If ownership exits the equation, then RCR makes more sense as a destination. As usual I have no inside information, just a guess. It will be interesting to see if Stewart remains winless for a while whether the media pressure intensifies(groan). Stay tuned.

• Earth Day was earlier this week and SI.com’s Brant James had an excellent piece on motorsports and various series’ efforts to go green. It’s a really good read with several good points. Some of the major points didn’t apply strictly to environmental issues either. For example NASCAR’s lack of modern technology in engines isn’t only inefficient fuel-wise, it’s expensive too:
  

  In spending hundreds of millions to improve 1955 engine technology, NASCAR is basically using a jet propulsion laboratory to make a better arrowhead.

  That quote could apply not only to engine research but all of the efforts in the hope of a miniscule gain on the track with today’s cars.

  James goes on to point out that while NASCAR isn’t as progressive as other racing series, advances could happen down the road:
  

  “Years ago we tried to get to 500 horsepower and we thought that would be it,” he[Gary Nelson, former head of NASCAR’s research and development center] said, “Now that engine gets 800. You can never look down the road and say, ‘That’s as good as you’re going to get.’ … If people are working on it, it will get better, and people are working on it.”

  Again, that quote could be applied to the other aspects of the current car. Right now people are saying the Car of Tomorrow is a failure, but when smart people set out and try to improve it, things will improve.

• Finally, if you haven’t already entered the Daytona DVD contest, sign up. Why wouldn’t you want a 50 years of the Daytona 500 DVD?