Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take tests on Monday and Tuesday to determine Martinsville status

21 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is scheduled to undergo tests, both inside the car and out of it, on Monday and Tuesday to determine his availability for Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville.

Junior has missed the previous two Sprint Cup Series races after being diagnosed with a concussion after a last lap pileup at Talladega two weeks ago. At the time, it was also determined that he had suffered a previously undiagnosed concussion at the end of August at Kansas Speedway when he crashed during a Goodyear tire test.

On Sunday, team owner Rick Hendrick originally said before the race that Junior had already been cleared to race at Martinsville. However, in a mid-race press conference on Sunday, Hendrick clarified his remarks, and said that Junior still needed to pass a test in the car at Gresham Motorsports Park on Monday, and would see neurosurgeon Dr. Jerry Petty at Petty's office on Tuesday.

"However, I didn't know until (Hendrick Motorsports PR Director Jesse Essex) informed me that I had gotten ahead of myself and that there is a closed test on Monday that Dr. Petty will attend," Hendrick said. "Dale will be back in the car (for that test) and he'll make the decision with a final test on Tuesday. So, we don't foresee any problems but I didn't read my emails this morning and I kind of got ahead of myself. I talked to the doctor myself and everything went good in Pittsburgh and Dr. petty felt real good about it. And I did know that they were going to shake down a car, but I didn't know that the doctor was going and that he would actually be evaluating him Tuesday. I apologize for that. The test (Tuesday) is in (Dr. Petty's) office. The test Monday is in the car."

Junior saw concussion specialists last week in Pittsburgh, and Hendrick said he would be shocked if Junior wasn't cleared for Martinsville.

"I will be shocked if he's not in the car. Everything looks good. His attitude and the way he feels, he's had no headaches since Thursday or Friday of Charlotte and the tests have gone real well. I think Dr. Petty is just being super-cautious and I applaud him for that," Hendrick said.

Tags: , , , , hendrick motorsports, Kan., Martinsville, Martinsville status KANSAS CITY, , , Rick Hendrick, ,
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take tests on Monday and Tuesday to determine Martinsville status

21 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is scheduled to undergo tests, both inside the car and out of it, on Monday and Tuesday to determine his availability for Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville.

Junior has missed the previous two Sprint Cup Series races after being diagnosed with a concussion after a last lap pileup at Talladega two weeks ago. At the time, it was also determined that he had suffered a previously undiagnosed concussion at the end of August at Kansas Speedway when he crashed during a Goodyear tire test.

On Sunday, team owner Rick Hendrick originally said before the race that Junior had already been cleared to race at Martinsville. However, in a mid-race press conference on Sunday, Hendrick clarified his remarks, and said that Junior still needed to pass a test in the car at Gresham Motorsports Park on Monday, and would see neurosurgeon Dr. Jerry Petty at Petty's office on Tuesday.

[Also: Retaliation attempt fails for Danica Patrick (Video)]

"However, I didn't know until (Hendrick Motorsports PR Director Jesse Essex) informed me that I had gotten ahead of myself and that there is a closed test on Monday that Dr. Petty will attend," Hendrick said. "Dale will be back in the car (for that test) and he'll make the decision with a final test on Tuesday. So, we don't foresee any problems but I didn't read my emails this morning and I kind of got ahead of myself. I talked to the doctor myself and everything went good in Pittsburgh and Dr. petty felt real good about it. And I did know that they were going to shake down a car, but I didn't know that the doctor was going and that he would actually be evaluating him Tuesday. I apologize for that. The test (Tuesday) is in (Dr. Petty's) office. The test Monday is in the car."

Junior saw concussion specialists last week in Pittsburgh, and Hendrick said he would be shocked if Junior wasn't cleared for Martinsville.

"I will be shocked if he's not in the car. Everything looks good. His attitude and the way he feels, he's had no headaches since Thursday or Friday of Charlotte and the tests have gone real well. I think Dr. Petty is just being super-cautious and I applaud him for that," Hendrick said.

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Tags: , , , , hendrick motorsports, Kan., Martinsville, Martinsville status KANSAS CITY, , , Rick Hendrick, ,
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Chase Power Rankings: Have the Big Three become The Big Four?

15 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

The fifth race of the Chase is over, and that means it's time for Power Rankings! But we're doing things a little differently now that we're in the postseason. It's all-Chasers, all the time. Good job, good effort for those of you that didn't make it, but we've got bigger fish to focus on. We'll be judging who's running well, considering not just finishing position but quality of run, expected potential, and general gut feelings. As always, we hate your guy and are biased against him. Now, enjoy.

Oh, and as for last week's attempt at Mafia names for our favorite drivers ... let us never speak of that one again. Every race season has an Auto Club Speedway, right?

1. Denny Hamlin: This top spot is likely to rotate among the Big Three, and perhaps the Big Four, over the next few weeks. Right now, we're giving the nod to Hambone over Vader, but only by a hairsbreadth. This very easily could have been a big victory for Hamlin, and #11 fans should be pleased with the fact that he didn't seem to enjoy his second-place finish very much. Last week: 3.

2. Jimmie Johnson: Another week, another outstanding run from Johnson. Last year, we were all falling over ourselves at how amazing it was that Carl Edwards was finishing so high week after week. Now we've got three guys doing it. Johnson took the wise approach to fuel management on Saturday night; if he'd run out, he'd have a much higher hill to climb. Last week: 2.

3. Brad Keselowski: Sure, he falls out of the top spot here, but he's still running the show points-wise. This makes next week a key for Keselowski: you can afford to have an off week, but you need to be able to rebound immediately or you're going to get passed like you lost the draft. Last week: 1.

4. Clint Bowyer: Rawhide's rise is one of the more notable efforts of the season, and it'd be a shame if he doesn't get himself into the top crew here in the next couple weeks. Also: his press conferences are joys of (perhaps) Five-Hour-Energy-filled energy. Last week: 5.

5. Kasey Kahne: Decent run for Mr. Kahne at Charlotte, but we all expected a lot more out of him. Eighth place is not enough, sir! Anyway, his chances at a Cup are fading fast, but he's already turned a previously horrid season into a success. Last week: 6.

6. Martin Truex Jr.: True story: Truex wants everyone to mean HIM when they refer to "Junior." (May not be a true story.) Also a true story: this will never happen. But MTJ is establishing his good name all by himself. Last week: 9.

7. Jeff Gordon: Looks like the dream is about over for Jeff. Here's hoping that there's some kind of change in the points system (heresy!) in order to prevent one bad finish from decimating your entire season. Last week: 4.

8. Greg Biffle: All right, good to know that Biffle is starting to validate that first-place regular-season finish. Barring some lost haulers en route to a track, Biffle won't be in this hunt. Still, he's the class of the Roush squad this year. Last week: 12.

9. Matt Kenseth: Um, no offense with that "class of Roush" crack in the Biffle entry, Matt. You done good by winning Talladega, of course, but it's been a tough road these last few months. Hopefully your five-race swan song will go well for you. Last week: 10.

10. Tony Stewart: It's been a rocky Chase all the way around for Mr. Stewart, with the Talladega Monstrosity being the worst of a rough go. But he's getting sponsorship lined up for 2013, which has to be a big relief. Last week: 8.

11. Kevin Harvick: Sooner this season is over the better for Harvick fans. Nothing's working well enough, but nothing's going bad enough for a wholesale change, either. Well, at least he had himself a kid, so the year's not a total wash. Last week: 11.

12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Salute to Junior for taking the tough path to stepping out of the car this year. Not like he'll miss out on Vegas; the "most popular driver of the year" always ends up there anyway. Last week: 7.

Non-Chaser of the Week: Carl Edwards. Good to see Carl running strong this week. Shame he wasn't able to earlier this year, but if history is any guide, he'll be right back in the mix in 2013.

All right, you're up. Who belongs where? Have your say!

Tags: carl edwards, , , , Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, martin truex jr, , , , ,
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The Phoenix Racing No. 51 has a smiley face on the hood

11 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

With Kurt Busch in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 for the remainder of the season, Phoenix Racing went with a new paint scheme for its first race with Busch in another car.

This week at Charlotte, the red No. 51 has a smiley face on the hood and the sides of the car. Why? We'll let car owner James Finch explain:

From Fox Sports:

"If you wreck 25 cars this year, you haven't been smiling much," Finch said. "That's 25 wrecks. I don't think the whole garage has used that much sheet metal this year — except at Daytona and Talladega.

"Twenty-five wrecks would make anyone dizzy. For a small team to repair 25 wrecks and show up for every race on time, I think they did a great job."

Regan Smith, who was in the No. 78 until Busch replaced him this week, was scheduled to be in the car this weekend, but he was called into action over at Hendrick Motorsports after Dale Earnhardt Jr. was diagnosed with a concussion. That opened the spot for AJ Allmendinger, who is making his first start after completing NASCAR's Road to Recovery program.

Allmendinger was suspended just before the July Daytona race after failing a drug test after the Kentucky race, and was replaced in the Penske Racing No. 22 by Sam Hornish and eventually released from his contract at Penske. He qualified 38th for Saturday night's race.

Tags: , , , , Furniture Row Racing, James Finch, Kurt Busch, , paint, Phoenix Racing, , remainder, wreck
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. to miss two races after suffering concussion at Talladega

11 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

On Sunday afternoon, with the smoke of a two-dozen-car wreck still lingering in the air above Talladega, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sat on the bumper at the end of his hauler, clearly dazed. He shook off questions about his health and proceeded to give a lucid, if pointed, interview about the state of racing at Talladega. He clearly was not in the best condition, but observers attributed it to the shock of being involved in such a major wreck.

The truth, as it turned out, was much worse. On Wednesday, Earnhardt was diagnosed with a concussion. And now, according to Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt will sit out the races at Charlotte and Kansas. Regan Smith will drive the #88 in his stead.

This, of course, ends Earnhardt's championship hopes, but that's not the real issue. The issue is that Earnhardt suffered a brain injury despite all the safety improvements now in place in NASCAR. This puts a lie to the idea that drivers are perfectly safe encased in their 21st-century cars, and shines an even harsher light on the true effects of wrecks such as Talladega's "Big Ones."

Here, for reference, is Earnhardt's Talladega interview, immediately post-concussion:

Of note: This is Earnhart's second concussion. He suffered one back in 2002 during a major wreck in California, but hid it from NASCAR and his team for fear of being removed from the car. It's good, for his future, that he came forward on this one. This will end Earnhardt's consecutive Sprint Cup starts streak at 461, the fifth-longest current streak. Ahead of him: Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte.

Also of concern: how many drivers suffer undiagnosed concussions? If a driver can wheel his car back to his hauler, as Earnhardt did on Sunday, he's not required to go to the infield care center for diagnosis. Should drivers be required to undergo testing whether or not their cars are driveable?

The issue of concussions is not a minor one, as any observer of the NFL over the last few years knows. The links between head trauma and quality-of-life concerns, as well as early death, are increasing. NASCAR owes it to its drivers' future to ensure that the on-track racing is as safe as possible.

Other sports require a doctor's examination of a participant to first verify no concussion has occurred, and second to permit return to competition. In boxing and MMA -- which, granted, have a far higher risk of head trauma than a NASCAR driver -- fighters can be kept out of the ring for up to 90 days pending a doctor's approval.

Clearly, the Talladega story is not through yet.

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

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Tags: , , , , hendrick motorsports, , Talladega, trauma, wreck
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives Jimmie Johnson a lift back to the garage after Talladega crash

07 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

Yes, sometimes even NASCAR drivers need to bum a ride from their buddies too.

After they were both involved in Sunday's final-lap 25-car pileup at Talladega, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. limped their cars across the start-finish line, Johnson officially in 17th place and Junior in 20th.

Once he was across, Johnson got out of his mangled car and needed a lift back to the garage, so he walked over (without his thumb up, unfortunately) to his Hendrick teammate's battered car and asked for a ride. Junior obliged, but as you know, Sprint Cup Series cars don't have passenger seats. So, therefore, Johnson had to settle for a windowsill ride back down pit road similar to the one that he gave their team owner Rick Hendrick after winning the All-Star race, a week after Hendrick had scored his 200th career Sprint Cup Series victory.

Tags: , , garage, Jimmie Johnson, , , Rick Hendrick, , Talladega,
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Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth are at the head of the class at Dover

26 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

At Dover recently, it's been Jimmie Johnson, then Matt Kenseth and then everyone else.

Johnson is the only Chaser who has a top 10 average finish at Dover, and in the last nine races there, he has four wins and just one finish outside the top 10. (Fun Fact: Carl Edwards actually has a higher average finish than Johnson does at Dover, but alas, he's not in the Chase. And Aric Almirola's average finish is 6th, but the first 2012 Dover race was his first start at the concrete mile.)

Kenseth's run at the top of the Dover scoresheet is pretty impressive too. While he's only got one win to Johnson's four in the last nine races, he's only finished outside the top five once.

How does everyone else fare?

Johnson: The five-time champ's average finish at Dover is 8.5, and those aforementioned four wins in the last nine races include a 2009 sweep and a win in 2011 and this year's first race at Dover. And that one time he has finished outside the top 10 in those nine races was a race that he dominated, leading 225 laps before getting caught out of sequence thanks to an ill-timed caution.

Kenseth: It may be a great chance for Kenseth -- who has an average finish of 11.8 -- to make up some ground on a lot of the drivers ahead of him in the Chase standings. If you're looking for a non-Vader alternative for your fantasy driver lineup, you shouldn't look any further than Kenseth.

Greg Biffle: The Biff's average finish isn't too far behind Kenseth's at 12.2, but his last four races at Dover haven't been very memorable thanks to a pair of 19ths, a 27th and an 11th in June this year.

Jeff Gordon: Original four-time has four wins in 39 Dover starts, and his average finish is 12.3. And while Gordon hasn't been poor at Dover lately, his last top 10 finish came five races ago in the fall 2009 race.

Tony Stewart: Smoke's average finish of 13.4 is inflated by his first 12 starts, which included two wins and 11 top 10s. Since then, it's been a load of "meh" and hasn't finished inside the top 20 in his last four Dover starts.

Clint Bowyer: Bowyer hasn't won at Dover in 13 starts, but has been in the top 10 in his last three starts and has an average finish of 13.5. He was fifth in the summer.

Kevin Harvick: In Cupcake's 23 career starts, he has 10 top 10 finishes and finished second in the summer. In 2011, he was 10th in both Dover races. His average finish is 16.0.

Martin Truex Jr.: Dover is the site of Truex's one and only Cup win in 2007, but since then he's only finished in the top 10 in three races, leading to a 16.4 average finish. Of course, one of those races was earlier this year, when he finished seventh.

Brad Keselowski: In his five Dover starts, Keselowski hasn't finished higher than 12th. But he also hasn't finished lower than 22nd. And that (sort of) leads him to a tidy average finish of 17.0, smack dab in the middle of those two extremes.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Junior won at Dover in 2001, but went eight races between his last two top 10 finishes, a third in 2007 and a fourth in the summer of this year. His average finish is 17.5

Denny Hamlin: A brutal four race stretch from 2007-2009 drags Hamlin's average finish of 20.5 at Dover down, but he hasn't been spectacular there recently either, finishing 16th, 18th and 18th in his last three races.

Kasey Kahne: Kahne has six DNFs in 17 starts, hence his average finish of 21.5. One of his five top 10 finishes at Dover came in in the summer, when he finished ninth.

NASCAR video from Yahoo! Sports:

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Tags: Chaser, , , Dover, Fact, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, , , , ,
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2012 Chase Prospects: Is it Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s time at long last?

15 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

And here we are at last, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in position for a championship. He's in his best position standings-wise in nearly a decade, and he's running better, in an aggregate sense, than he ever has in his career. (His average finish of 9.9 is more than two positions better than he's ever recorded before.)

So why are we not trumpeting Junior as the great green-and-white hope? Why is nobody outside Junior Nation saying this is the year he starts to match his daddy's legacy? Because his daddy never had to race against anyone like Jimmie Johnson, that's why. (Heresy!) Plus, Junior doesn't have his father's skill and temperament, which is not an insult; think about how many other drivers have tried and fallen short of the Intimidator's legacy.

What Earnhardt does have is a team that's absolutely clicking right now, a team that's taken all the jabs at crew chief and pit crew skill and overwhelmingly refuted all of them. Earnhardt is feeling confident behind the wheel, his team has faith in his abilities, and everything's lining up just right for him to reassert himself as a consistent Chase driver, if not necessarily a championship one.

His best Chase track: Martinsville, at which he's got an average finish of 12.6 but no wins, or Talladega, where he averages about a 15th-place finish but has five wins? Pick 'em. Either way, his strong history at tracks that give other drivers fits bodes well for Little E.

His worst Chase track: He's got an average finish of 23.1 at Homestead, but given that most drivers are out of the hunt by then, that's a deceivingly low stat. Instead, look to Charlotte, where he has an average finish of 18.8 as a more reliable (if problematic) indicator of where he'll run at Chase tracks.

JB's take: You need wins to take the Chase (Carl Edwards in '11 is very narrowly an exception that proves the rule), and Junior hasn't shown he's capable of winning very much yet. If he takes an early race or two, the whole picture changes, but as it is, he's not the kind of driver who can rack up bunches of victories. He'll stay in the picture until November, but he won't be a championship factor.

Tags: , , , Dale Earnhardt, , , Jimmie Johnson, junior, Junior Nation, last, , ,
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2012 Chase Prospects: Jeff Gordon is in, now can he win?

13 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

After winning at Pocono in August, Jeff Gordon finished 21st and 28th the next two weeks. Not exactly the best way to follow up a Wild Card contending win.

But over the final three weeks of the NASCAR regular season, Gordon closed with a flourish with finishes of third, second and second, flipping the narrative of his season from "can he make the Chase?" to now "can he win the Chase?"

The answer to the latter, of course, is yes. Gordon has had capable cars all season long. But it also comes with the caveat that this is Jeff Gordon's 2012. Anything can, and has, happened.

There was the blown engine at Daytona, the cut tire with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Bristol, a crash at Talladega after starting on the pole, troubles at Darlington. Yeah, you get the drift.

But all of those issues came in the first 11 races of the season, after which Gordon stood 23rd in the Sprint Cup points standings. Since then, Gordon finished on the lead lap all but once, and that was at Michigan during the great Hendrick engine epidemic of 2012.

Best Chase Track: Gordon was king at Martinsville before Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin challenged his throne, and is still pretty damn good there, with seven wins and 31 top 10s in 39 starts. From the first race of 2003 to the first race of 2010, Gordon didn't finish outside of the top 10.

Worst Chase Track: It's either Talladega or Texas. Gordon's Talladega stats are skewed by wrecks that cancel out his six wins in 39 starts. At Texas, Gordon has one win, and has finished sixth and fourth his last two trips there after three straight finishes outside the top 10.

NB's Prediction: 7th. You can look at Gordon's season one of two ways. Either the NASCAR karmic gods continue to owe him for his horrendous luck at the start of the season, or his good summer stretch has balanced out that awful first 11 races and he's starting the Chase at neutral. Gordon has a fantastic chance of getting to victory lane over the next 10 races, but all it takes is just one race with a bad break to take a driver out of title contention too.

NASCAR video from Yahoo! Sports:

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Tags: answer, Chase Prospects, , engine, Jeff Gordon, narrative, , Talladega, ,
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Based on recent results at Chase tracks, your 2012 winner will be …

12 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy NASCAR, General

The Chase begins this weekend at Chicagoland, and that's one of only two tracks (Homestead is the other) out of the 10-race Chase which is a one-time visit for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. That gives us a statistical basis, if not necessarily a representative sample size, to make some guesses as to which driver is in the best position to make a run at the Cup.

Here are the average finishing positions of each of the 12 Chasers at the eight Chase tracks at which the Sprint Cup series has already run this season. We start with the worst average finish and move upward. No fair peeking at No. 1 ...

12. Tony Stewart (average finish: 19.0)
11. Clint Bowyer (15.00)
10. Jeff Gordon (13.25)
9. Kasey Kahne (12.75)
8. Brad Keselowski (10.5)
7. Kevin Harvick (9.875)
6. Martin Truex Jr. (9.75)
5. Jimmie Johnson (9.375)
4. Denny Hamlin (8.125)
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (7.125)
2. Matt Kensenth (6.875)
1. Greg Biffle (6.375)

So this tracks fairly well with what we've expected. It's important to note that even a single finish in the 30's can torpedo your average ranking, and Stewart did himself no favors by not having any of his wins come at a Chase track. (Apologies to those of you who saw an earlier, less accurate version of this.)

Obviously this is by no means definitive — there are two tracks unaccounted for, for starters — but this is an interesting look at past history and consistency. And it's another way to keep Biffle Nation watching, am I right?

Tags: basis, , , Greg Biffle, , NASCAR Sprint Cup series, , , Sprint Cup Series, the Chase, visit,
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