No real problems here, except some brainchild at the Las Vegas Police Department of the Clark County Sheriff's Department decided to close down the access gate that is used by the media to get to the track. After some maneuvering and off-roading in my rental car I was able to get to the infield tunnel. If you have ever thought about buying a used rental car — DON'T!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to begin shortly
The green flag is scheduled to drop in the next 30-minutes for the Shelby 427 and right now the drivers are being introduced to the crowd and making there away around the track to get to their racecars.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Biffle beats an angry Lady Luck to win Sam's Town 300
By Jerry Jordan
Motorsports Editor
There were only 10 cars left on the lead lap at the end of the extended Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and 18 cars out of the race but Greg Biffle was the one who overcame an angry Lady Luck and brought home the checkered flag.
It was a race full of cautions and misfortunes and for a time it looked like no one wanted to win the thing. With about 50 laps to go, one leader after another had their own issues with Lady Luck. Biffle had already overcome a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 30 to fight his way to the front when the car lost power coming through Turn 3 — he was out of gas for the second time during the race. And it looked like that would be the end of his comeback run for the win.
After the race, Biffle said the car wasn’t completely out of fuel but was low and that allowed air to infiltrate the fuel line.
“We probably could have kept running another 10 laps once it was through the carbuerator,” Biffle said. He explained that it is possible that a trap door in the fuel tank hand hung and allowed fuel to run out of the inlet box.
“I think it was a good race but all kinds of things happened,” Biffle said. “It definitely not short on action.”
Finishing second was Biffle’s teammate Carl Edwards, who was fighting Biffle hard for the lead in the final laps — a decision he reconsidered when he almost lost the car in Turn 4.
“About half way through steering left and right, I was thinking I should be racing him more gingerly,” Edwards said. “In a way you race your teammates a little differently but more of that, you are able to swallow it better if he beats you. I thought for a second it was going to be a disaster but gathered it back up and were able to finish second.
“Man it was a wild day from the beginning. There were a lot of wrecks. The Nationwide car, it’s like a slot car and you’ve got the throttle down and running wide open through the corners and you don’t want to let off.”
Edwards also overcame a pit road speeding blunder but he chalked it up to an error with the pace car’s speed, which is how the drivers set their tachometers to monitor their own speed.
“It seemed like the pace car was fast,” Edwards said. “I got caught speeding and I was 100 rpm over. I think they do a horrible job at that.”
His beliefs were echoed by third-place finisher Brian Vickers, who was also busted for speeding on pit road.
“I don’t even pay attention to the pace car anymore,” Vickers said. “I second what Carl said. What I had set was five over so I ignored it and went with our calculations.”
Edwards also contributed the wackiness of the race and the number of wrecks to the down force of the Nationwide Series cars.
“The Nationwide cars have too much down force for the power they have,” Edwards said. “They are like slot cars. The cup cars you can drive them more and control them, at least I am hoping, that we will be able to drive them tomorrow and it won’t be a disaster.”
Leaders' blunders wreak havoc on Sam's Town 300
It doesn't look like anyone wants to win the Sam's Town 300 as the past four leader shave had some type of mistake that took them out of contention.
The latest was Brian Vickers, whose crew on the No. 32 Dollar General Toyota missed a lug nut on the right front wheel. NASCAR caught the mistake and penalized Vickers with a pass thru penalty to get the lug nut back on.
Oh my God, the leader of the race, David Ragan, just spun coming onto pit road and slammed into the Turn 4 wall.
I was just about to write that Carl Edwards was penalized for speeding on pit road and Brendam Gaughan spun turning onto pit road. We're back to 10 cars on the lead lap and somehow, Greg Biffle has found his was back to the front of the field. But, at this point, is it worth leading the race?
Biffle runs out of gas, costs self a shot at win
Greg Biffle was looking good with 52 to laps to go in the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas mOtor Speedway but as he was passing car after car, the No. 16 Citifinancial Ford began to sputter and Biffle was out of fuel.
Coming around the track, he could only coast to the pits and then he stalled the car trying to leave pit road. The incident likely took away any shot that Biffle had of redeeming himself for a poor performance on pit road last week at California.
With only 3 laps left in the race, the cars are beginning to make their final green flag put stops. According to the leader board, there are only nine cars on the lead lap.
Denny Hamlin inherited the lead when Biffle ran out of fuel but NASCAR busted him for speeding on pit road and now he is running two laps down in 14th place.
Another Turn 4 crash takes out frontrunners
It was beginning to look like Kevin Harvick might give his wife, DeLana, a victory in the couple's No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet but that all went up in smoke as Jeff Burton lost control of the No. 29 RIchard Childress Holiday Inn Chevrolet and spun in front of Harvick's car.
Harvick tried to avoid Burton but he ended up collecting him just past the exit of Turn 4 and destroyed the No. 33 Rheem Chevrolet.
Once again, I was all over the action as you can see in this shot of the crash. I will post more later but right now we have been through nine cautions and there are only 14 cars on teh lead lap of the race.
I will try to get a comment from Harvick's PR people about what he saw as Burton was coming across the hood of his car.
Kyle Busch in massive crash coming out of Turn 4
Kyle Busch was going for the lead over Kevin Harvick as the two went into Turn 4 at Las vegas Motor Speedway and he lost control of the No 18 Z-Line Toyota Camry slamming into the outside wall and then collecting the No. 99 Toyota driven by Scott Speed.
I was right on top of the action with the BIG GUN, a Nikon 600 F4 Nano-Crystal Coated Lens, that I borrowed for the weekend. Check out this shot.
We are only a few laps into the Nationwide Series race and already there is talk that Sunday's Sprint Cup race may be a caution-filled event. The cars are going much faster than in the past with the softer tires brought by Goodyear and that is leading to control issues.
Sam's Town 300 about to get underway
The star of the NASCAR Nationwide Series finished with qualifying earlier in the day and took a sort break while the Sprint Cup drivers took to the track for their final practice.
Now, the Nationwide Series drivers are back on the track and readying themselves and their crews for the drop of the green flag in the 12th running of the Sam's Town 300.
The Top 10 starting grid looks like this:
10th Brian Vickers
9th Mike Bliss
8th Brad Kesolowski
7th Carl Edwards
6th Steve Wallace
5th Kyle Busch
4th Denny Hamlin
3rd Greg Biffle
2nd Kevin Harvick
1st Coor's Light Pole Position: Scott Speed
Check back for photos and race coverage throughout the afternoon. And just a little tidbit of information. Kyle Busch got into the wall during final practice and scraped up the side of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota. It appears that the car can be repaired and the team will not have to go to a back-up car for Sunday's race. Busch is already giving up his front row pole starting position because he blew an engine on Lap 4 of the first practice session on Friday.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Brothers Busch grab front row for Shelby 427 at LVMS
Kyle Busch bested big brother, Kurt, in pole qualifying for Sunday's Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by two-tenths of a mile per hour faster, or four one-hundredths of a second.
But the younger Busch won't get to enjoy the fruits of his labor because an engine change from earlier in the day will force him to move to the back of the field.
It was on Lap 4 of the first practice session, that the motor in the No. 18 M&M's Toyota gave way and sent Kyle to the garage. He came back out in the second practice session and laid down a pretty good lap but he said he never got to run a lap in qualifying trim, so he was glad his Toyota was fast.
"It's cool that we're both up there but unfortunately for myself, I won't be in the cool photo at the drop of the green flag, next to my brother," Kyle said. "I'll have to drop to the back of the field for the engine change.
"I didn't know what to expect so I just gave it what I thought it needed in order to run a fast lap and it stuck pretty good. It was just a little bit edgy in three and four coming to the green."
Kyle said early on to his brother that he didn't think either of their qualifying laps would hold up.
"Apparently we were both wrong in figuring what the fast time was going to be," Kyle said.
Kurt said he would have liked to seen which one of them would get to Turn 1 first but that he can't get "caught up" in that.
"It felt like I had a solid run through (Turns) 1 & 2 and after looking at the lap tracker, Kyle had a little bit better in 1 & 2 and that enabled him to beat us by a little bit," Kurt said. "I felt that…like Kyle did…a lot of guys were going to come up (later in qualifying) and knock us off. It feels good with the Miller Lite Dodge to be running good. We qualified fourth last week and second this week. It’s just been a long offseason scratching our heads trying to find a good direction and so far it’s paid off.”
Jimmie Johnson qualified for Sunday's race in the third position and there were two surprises to round out the Top 5. David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose, were fourth and fifth, respectively.
First Practice ends with two having trouble
Kyle Busch blew an engine on the fourth lap of the first practice session and was forced to come off the track and wait for his crew to make the swap.The crew immediately went to work making the changeover. Knowing their odds were long on getting Busch back out on the track in the first practice session, crew chief Steve Addington and crew just wanted to ensure there were no unexpected problems that might appear later.And apparently swapping engines is a pretty secretive deal as Busch's crew members did their best to keep spectators and the media from snapping photos of the "Top Secret" engine package.
Sam Hornish Jr. also had trouble in practice as he got into the wall. The incident forced his crew chief Travis Geisler to take a hard look at the No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge. Good news for Hornish as the damage was just superficial and not severe enough to force him to a backup car.
A little Bondo and some fresh paint and the car should be fine. Hornish went back out on the track to shake the car down a little after the incident and finished practice in 25th spot.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Eddie Gossage on what TMS is doing to help fans
I spent some time with Eddie Gossage on Wednesday during the Media Day at Texas Motor Speedway and while some of these comments were in my post from yesterday, I wanted to let fans know just how serious Gossage is about making it affordable to attend the Samsung 500 in April.
I edited this video and you can hear my questions in the background. Gossage won't "fire sale" TMS tickets but he is making sure that fans who want to attend the races can do it affordably. Watch the video and see how easy TMS is making it.
And don't forget, you can win a VIP trip to Texas Motor Speedway, courtesy of The Examiner, Market Basket, Time Warner Cable and Kickin the Tires. All you have to do is register to win at any area Market Basket location. Remember, our lucky winner will get to take four laps around the track in a special two-seater NASCAR Sprint Cup Series card riven by a professional race instructor at speeds in excess of 160 mph.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Media Day still underway at Texas Motor Speedway
Sorry for the delay in updating, I was having technical difficulties with editing the videos. Now that I have that behind me, here is what is going on. The big press conference and the streaming video portion of the Media Day at Texas Motor Speedway is behind us and the break-out interview sessions are wrapping up. I just asked Ryan Newman about what he is dealing with in getting the monkey off his back heading into the third race of the season and true to form, Newman shot back that the "plane didn't fall out of the air" on the way to TMS, so I guess things are okay.
I will have the video of Newman's answer to my question posted shortly.
As far as the mood here at TMS, things are pretty jovial. Eddie Gossage and I will sit down for a short Q and A, just after 3 p.m. and he is going to tell me (and you) why Texas Motor Speedway is the best racetrack on te NASCAR circuit and what fans can expect in April for the Samsung 500 Weekend.
And remember, if you want to attend the races in April, all you have to do is register to win at any area Market Basket and you could be touring the pits and possibly getting autographs from your favorite drivers.
UPDATE! Media Day at Texas Motor Speedway
It was just pointed out to me that I forgot to remind everyone that they can watch today's press conference via live streaming at the TMS Web site.
Log onto www.texasmotorspeedway.com and catch 90-minutes of Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Colin Braun, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and my personal favorite Danica Patrick.
Now, Patrick, Dixon and Franchitti won't be here live because they are in Miami at an Indy Racing league test session but it's still worth logging on.
If you want to throw yourself into the role of being a motorsports reporter, TMS is also giving fans the opportunity to ask the drivers questions during the press conference. Go to the site and find out more information but from what I have been told the response has been overwhelming. Here's your shot at getting some real-life behind the scenes information from some of the best drivers in the world.
And remember, if you sign up to receive information from the Web site, you will receive a $10 discount on your next ticket purchase at TMS.
Media Day at Texas Motor Speedway
I am sitting here in the banquet room on the 9th Floor of the Speedway Club at Texas Motor Speedway waiting for the Media Day festivities to get underway. Right now, we are waiting for the press conference with Tony Stewart to begin.
I should have some one-on-one time with Stewart later on today, so be sure to check back and see what he has to say.
Walking into the Speedway Club, I couldn't help but notice the massive inflatable replicas of the trophies given away at each NASCAR race here. Check out the photo.
Well, it's time to get to work.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Your chance to ask questions
Have you ever wanted to ask Tony Stewart a question? What about Danica Patrick or Ryan Newman? Well, this is your chance.
All you have to do is go to the Texas Motor Speedway Webs site and sign-up for the media-day question and answer session that will take place on Wednesday. You can post your questions via a special hyperlink on the site and you might just get your answer. Regardless of whether or not your question is picked, you can still watch the media-day press conference over a live feed from Texas Motor Speedway.
All you have to do is goto www.texasmotorspeedway.com and check it out. This is what you can expect.
While the drivers will field their traditional questions from the media during a 90-minute session, Texas Motor Speedway also will give fans the opportunity for some of their questions to be answered by the special guests. Beginning today, fans can post their questions for any of the drivers within our new discussion forum (hyperlink to the specific thread) and TMS will select several of the best for Gossage to ask the guests during the live webcast. For a question to be considered, fans must send in their full name and hometown, designate for who the question is for and include only one question per user.
For race fans that thought they would never have the chance to interact with a NASCAR driver, this is their opportunity. Oh yeah, if you sign up you will get $10 off on the purchase of race tickets.
The whole idea is to show-off TMS's new multimedia Web site and get fans acclimated to what is going on at the track. Remember, it's www.texasmotorspeedway.com
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Kenseth wins rain-shortened Daytona 500
After a 15-minute period under the red flag for rain, NASCAR decided to call the 51st Daytona 500 with Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 DeWalt Ford sitting at the front of the field on pit road.
It was Kenseth’s first-ever victory in a Daytona 500, likewise it was a first for team owner Jack Roush.
With almost three-quarters of the racing action behind them the field battled for position on the track, knowing the rain was coming. Kenseth was able to pass Jeremy Mayfield and then hold off Kevin Harvick and A.J. Allmendinger as Aric Almirola spun on Lap 147 going down the back stetch to bring out the final caution of the race. The yellow flag delay ate up enough time to allow the skies to open up and soak the track.
As Kenseth exited his car, he wasn’t sure if NASCAR was going to call the race but 15-minutes later, he got his answer.
From Victory Lane, Kenseth said, ”It’s gonna be really wet out here because I am crying like a baby, but I’ve
Got to thank my team and thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity first of all. I’ve had a lot of great opportunities in my life — from my family getting me in racing and really DeWalt, Ford, Carhartt, USG Sheetrock, R&L Carriers, all of the sponsors that we have that have stuck by us and made this happen in an up and down economy. Man, I don’t know, Winning the Daytona 500 is definitely a dream moment. It’s just an unbelievable feeling.”
Keith Urban dazzles the media in mini-concert
If you are a Keith Urban fan then you would love to be in the very crowded Daytona Media Center right now, as the country music chart-topper just serenaded the press with a couple of his hit songs.Unlike other performers that have graced the Daytona Media Center, Urban grabbed his guitar, sat next to the Harley J. Earl Trophy that is awarded to the winner of the Daytona 500, and drew thunderous applause and laughter from the usually jading media.
During a brief question and answer session, Urban said that his favorite driver is fellow Aussie, Marcos Ambrose, who is starting the Daytona 500 in the 23rd position. Urban was coy when asked bout just how fast he had driven in a car, again bringing laughter from the crowd when he replied, “65, you know. Well, maybe 165, no, about 130 mph but that was insane.”
Urban also confirmed that his wife Nicole Kidman was at the speedway with him. And the final question, “What’s your favorite racing movie?”
“Cars,” Urban replied, which again brought cheers and laughter from the media members.
Personally, I am just glad he didn’t say Talladega Nights. That movie is an abomination and every copy should be burned.
As for what is happening around the track, well, I am not quire sure as it has been drizzling and nasty all morning.
I did just confirm that the start of the 2009 Daytona 500 will likely be delayed.
According to track officials it takes three hours to get the track dry after a rainstorm and there is a band of showers about an hour away from the speedway.
The one good thing is that Daytona has lights, so NACAR will do everything humanly possible to get the race completed today. And there is added pressure because the teams have to pack up and head to the second race of the season in Fontana, Ca. at the Auto Club Speedway. The Sprint Cup garage opens on Thursday.
Well, that’s it for the morning update. Enjoy the photos of Keith Urban and wish us luck with the weather.
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