Trouble in Turn2

A few notes for a hot(100+ in Portland) weekend.

• Is there a such thing as breaking news in sports anymore? With the immediacy of the internet and more extensive coverage at all levels, it’s hard to keep announcements secret. Which is why everyone has already known about Ryan Newman joining Stewart-Haas Racing before the official announcement tomorrow. The consensus is that Newman is the best driver available and will at least manage to qualify for the first five races on speed. Newman is a talented driver that given the right car is capable of winning at any kind of track. Although most of his poles have been won at intermediate tracks, his numbers are actually better at short tracks.

  While Newman enjoyed some impressive seasons with Penske, most notably his 8 win 2003 season, he hasn’t been a consistent front runner for years (one Daytona 500 win does not make a season). Obviously things at Penske got stale and a change was probably in order for Newman and Penske. And while Stewart’s clout will ensure better cars than the current Haas fleet, the expectations for Newman shouldn’t be very high. He may pop up for an occasional top five, but more likely Newman will be found in the low teens in the point standings. It may sound harsh, but compared to the real estate Haas-CNC is used to occupying, a 19th place finish is not that bad.

• The Southern 500 is back! And when I say back, I mean the title of the Darlington spring race will be named the Southern 500 (sponsored by Dodge, Lifelock or Mountain Dew). When I first read that news, I pictured the tens of hundreds of angry fans (who typically frequent forums or David Poole’s blog’s poor comments section) that have beaten the “NA$CAR has sold out!” drum since 2004, pumping their fists at their small victory. On to phase 2 boys, bringing down this confounded Chase conspiracy.

• DEI hired a VP of competition this week, Bobby Hutchens from Richard Childress Racing. The position is new for the organization, which if you’re snarky or cynical might lead you to ask why it took so long for the team to want to be competitive.

• I got an email this week about the Drive Smarter Challenge that was pretty interesting.
  

  NASCAR and the Alliance to Save Energy have teamed up in a number of ways to “drive forward” the Alliance’s Drive $marter Challenge campaign designed to save drivers hundreds of dollars on gasoline and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

  The website has a lot of simple tips that can stretch your gas mileage. Maybe the Cup guys can even incorporate some of them this weekend, like “Curb your Road Rage”, “drive sensibly” and and “decrease your speed”. Alright some won’t apply to a driver trying to go 200mph around an oval.

Adios, Sort Of

A few weeks ago I marked the two-year birthday of Trouble in Turn 2. At the time I said I’d be surprised if the blog lasted another two years. I really didn’t mean anything by it and had every intention of maintaining this site for as long as I could. Then I got an email from my buddy Darren Fauth at One Bad Wheel. I have been writing a weekly article for him this season and we were talking about some different projects and ideas we had. So he proposed what he called “The Tony Stewart” offer, to come and maintain the blog section of his site. Essentially it was a reverse Tony Stewart offer because instead of running 100% of my blog, I would only have to deal with 50% of the site at Darren’s. For all of the things I enjoy about running this site by myself, it can sometimes be very hectic. Writing on a daily basis, managing the nuts and bolts plus trying to find a way to promote my humble creation. So I decided to take Darren’s offer and, beginning Monday, will be moving to One Bad Wheel. It’s really quite logical, since the most common way to find trouble in Turn 2 is when your car has one bad wheel (oh, the rimshots today)

It really doesn’t change anything, because I will still be posting my same statistically infused, snarky nonsense, but at a place where more people might see it. This site will remain up so if you’re ever in the mood for checking out the archives. I really appreciate everyone that has helped make this site into something that I have really enjoyed and hope you will stop by next week and help me grow the site.