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Prep Roundup
Columnists Brian Meadows Brad NormanMembersLocal Connection› Iredell County Young Athletes Association› South Iredell Athletics Association › SHS athletics › WIHS athletics › NIHS athletics › SIHS athletics › LNHS athletics Syndicate RSSAP NASCAR NASCAR Features A look at this year's schedule A look at this year's drivers Differences between stock car and open-wheel racing NASCAR Research & Development Petty Enterprises splitter testing Aerodynamic testing in Concord's wind tunnel Top 10 moments in Daytona history Site StatisticsThis page has been viewed 801132 timesPage rendered in 0.1951 seconds Total Stories: 2136 Total Comments: 34 Most Recent Entry: 08/15/2008 01:53 pm Most Recent Comment on: 04/17/2008 11:54 pm Most Recent Visitor on: 05/23/2012 12:12 am |
• Racing
2007 Sep-21
Johnson, Busch at opposite endsBy Larry Sullivan Mooresville’s Jimmie Johnson finds himself a whole lot better off following this year’s opening 10-race NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship than he did following the same race last year. Mooresville’s Kurt Busch can relate. The two pilots find themselves at complete opposite ends of the spectrum following what transpired during the course of last weekend’s running of the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. While neither fashioned much of a challenge to the eventual race winner, also a fellow Chase competitor, they each head into this weekend’s race with vastly different views. Johnson, the reigning series champion based out of the talent-laden Hendrick Motorsports garage, wasn’t even the highest-finishing area driver in the field but he was able to parlay his sixth-place finish into holding on to the top spot in the updated points standings with just the nine more Chase races left to run. Johnson started fourth and never managed to lead a lap while just missing a top-five finish for just the second time in the last seven races. For Johnson, pilot of the No. 48 Chevrolet backed primarily by the Lowe’s Home Improvement organization that bases its corporate headquarters out of the immediate Mooresville area, it accounts for a drastic turnaround from where he was almost exactly a year ago. Then, he wound up near the back of the pack following the first Chase race and had to fight his way back from a 139-point deficit to eventually claim the coveted crown. That latter position is just where Busch and his Mooresville-based Penske Racing Dodge team finds itself one race into the championship season. Busch battled engine woes early and never found the speed needed to contend. Starting from the third-place sport, Busch slipped into 12th in the points and faces the same kind of hurdle cleared by Johnson on the latter’s way to the top during last year’s title run. As it turned out, on a day that found all 43 cars that initially started the race also running at its end for the first time since that many cars were listed on the track, four of the area pilots in the mix for this year’s series championship all logged in with finishes of seventh or better. Mooresville’s Kyle Busch, with Hendrick Motorsports through the end of the season before embarking on a stint with Joe Gibbs Racing, fashioned a fourth-place finish up from his 12th-place starting nod, an effort that also included a stint as a race leader that was worth the bagging of those available bonus points to boot. As a result, Busch heads back into the saddle this week staying put in the fifth-place spot in the points. Also taking at least one turn as a race leader and picking up points for doing so among local-based entries included Lake Norman’s Ryan Newman, also with Penske Racing, and both Martin Truex Jr., and Mooresville’s Dale Earnhardt Jr., both in Chevy Cars of Tomorrow housed out of the area-based Dale Earnhardt Inc. garage. Of them, it was Truex Jr., who wound up with the most to show for it. He started on the outside pole position and parlayed his appearance as a race leader into an eventual fifth-place finish, second-best among the local Chase pilots in the field. As a result, he maintained his howl on the sixth-place spot in the updated points in quest of his first career title in what is also his first presence among the championship contenders. Mooresville’s Matt Kenseth, out of the Roush Fenway Racing outfit, conjured up a seventh-place finish that served to vastly improve on his 30th-place starting position, an effort that accounted for the highest jump from start to finish of any pilot in the field. For that, Kenseth remained rock steady in seventh-place in the points heading into this weekend’s race. Also placing in the field’s top10 was Newman, who is just on the outside of the 12-driver Chase field. He checked in ninth following a fifth-place start, an effort that keeps him in 14th place in the points. In the field’s second 10: Greg Biffle with the area-based branch of Roush Fenway Racing landed 13th after starting ninth, leaving his 16th in points; and Earnhardt Jr. chalked up a 16th-place showing after starting 19th that is worth a 13th-place spot in points. Also: Paul Menard, with DEI, wound up 24th after starting 17th; Mooresville’s Joe Nemechek settled for 29th after starting 37th; A.J. Allmendinger with Mooresville’s Red Bull Racing clocked in 33rd after starting 39th, Kenny Wallace, subbing for the injured Ricky Rudd with Mooresville’s Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, chimed home in 34th place after starting 27th; Regan Smith with DEI, shouldered a 36th-place finish following a 16th-place start; David Gilliland, also with Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan rode back 39th after starting 35th; and Brian Vickers, also with Red Bull Racing, wound up 43rd after starting slightly better in 42nd place. Area teams and drivers now steer their attentions towards this weekend’s race, the Dodge Dealers 400, set for Dover International Speedway Sunday afternoon. Bookmarkz |
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