A backmarker affected the outcome of Saturday night’s NASCAR race, allowing a pretender from nearly out of nowhere to steal a Sprint Cup victory. At the Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway, it was Ryan Newman doing the theft work on the inevitable green-white-checkered ending that has become the de rigeur NASCAR finish to almost every race.
In this instance, the race’s ninth caution wiped out a commanding Kyle Busch lead over Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon with just three laps to go. The yellow flag fell as a result of 28th-place-finishing Scott Riggs’ crash on Lap 372 of the 375-lap affair, ending a 51-lap stretch of green-flag racing that had been Busch’s sole domain after he took the lead from Johnson on the restart following the race’s Caution No. 7, more than 120 laps earlier.
The race order changed when everyone pitted after Riggs hit the wall. Four-tire strategy did not play out well for Busch and Johnson, who deferred off pit row to Gordon and Ryan Newman, both of whom opted for two tires in taking the No. 1 and 2 spots for the restart. When the green flag flew, it was Newman, running fifth at the time of the final caution, who got under Gordon on the inside in Turn One and never looked back. It was the 39 car’s first victory since the 2008 Daytona 500.
Prior to the upheaval of the closing laps, it had looked to be possibly a day for Juan Pablo Montoya, followed by an impressive long stretch by Johnson at the front. Tough-luck Jeff Gordon, who has been beaten for wins in the last two races on green-white-checkered endings, finished second. Johnson and Busch placed third and eighth respectively.
IndyCar: In the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, a new venue named after the well-known driving school instructor, race-long leader Marco Andretti had to abdicate the front with just eight laps remaining for a splash of fuel. Looking for his second IndyCar career win, Andretti executed a sensational pass on early race leader Helio Castroneves on Lap 16, then led the next 58 laps of the 90-lap race. But Andretti’s crew chief’s fuel strategy ultimately left Mario’s grandson on fumes at race’s end. Castroneves then drove on for the win, having stayed out longer than Andretti each time before pitting. The difference in fuel consumption was all Helio needed to claim his 17th career IndyCar series race and first since Texas last year. The victory also enabled him to tie Dario Franchitti and Tommy Milton, the 1921 Indy car champion, for most all-time open-wheel racing victories, with 23. Castroneves cited turbulence as a critical factor in lessening passing opportunities, which was why Andretti’s pass of the effervescent Brazilian for the early race lead was a work of beauty.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Pitbox Mayhem or How A.J.’s Rear Panel Wound Up on My Front Bumper
During the 2010 Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway back on Feb. 28, Greg Biffle, exiting his pitbox, had to back up to get around the protruding rear of A.J. Allmendinger’s 43 car, which had just nose-dived into the box ahead of Biffle’s.
But Allmendinger, like dozens of cars before him in any number of races you care to examine, failed to enter his space in a traditionally clean manner, squared to the box. Biffle’s resulting backup cost him precious seconds reentering the fray and indicates a problem that seems to be patently ignored by NASCAR officials. Most of the cautions that occur during the course of a race tend to bring the majority of the pack down pit lane at the same time. That’s akin to a downtown Atlanta traffic jam at the peak of rush hour.
There is a solution to all this pitbox mayhem, albeit NASCAR’s brain trust would have to—pardon the pun—think outside the box. One might suppose that a favorable resolution would be to simply lengthen the pitboxes. But as is the case with most tracks, there just isn’t enough room on the interior of the track to lengthen them more than they already are, unless you put pit lanes on both sides of the track and divide the total number of pitboxes between them. Again, not very practical with the current layouts of most of the circuits.
The solution? Cut that 43-car field! I’ve long advocated such a measure for other reasons, mainly the logjam of perennial backmarkers created by a large field, and you know who they are: the Joe Nemecheks, the Dave Blaneys, the Michael Waltrips. How many times in the past two years has Waltrip drawn the first caution or instigated initial contact—usually with the wall—in a race? Got a calculator?
I say get the field down to 35 and leave it there. That would still be a third more than the field of an F1 or an IndyCar race, but at least it would create manageable breathing room—and then you could lengthen the pitboxes on pit lane and eliminate conditions that cause a Greg Biffle to have to go backwards before he can go forward on exit.
F1: It is safe to say after just three races on the F1 calendar that Red Bull Racing/Renault’s young driving prodigy, Sebastian Vettel, is clearly the man to beat for the series’ 2010 driving title. Sunday, Vettel showed his tail feathers to the rest of the field at Kuala Lampur’s Sepang International Circuit, in the Malaysian Grand Prix, the young racer’s first victory of the season, after leading the first two races handily before mechanical breakdowns forced early retirement in both. At Sepang, Vettel out-dueled fellow Red Bull running mate Mark Webber on the first turn and was never headed. But race watchers also got to see a phenomenal charge through the field by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who started 20th on the grid after poorly qualifying in the rain the previous day. By just Lap 4, Hamilton had brilliantly moved up to 10th spot but could ultimately get no higher than sixth. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonzo run 1-2 in the standings.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
But Allmendinger, like dozens of cars before him in any number of races you care to examine, failed to enter his space in a traditionally clean manner, squared to the box. Biffle’s resulting backup cost him precious seconds reentering the fray and indicates a problem that seems to be patently ignored by NASCAR officials. Most of the cautions that occur during the course of a race tend to bring the majority of the pack down pit lane at the same time. That’s akin to a downtown Atlanta traffic jam at the peak of rush hour.
There is a solution to all this pitbox mayhem, albeit NASCAR’s brain trust would have to—pardon the pun—think outside the box. One might suppose that a favorable resolution would be to simply lengthen the pitboxes. But as is the case with most tracks, there just isn’t enough room on the interior of the track to lengthen them more than they already are, unless you put pit lanes on both sides of the track and divide the total number of pitboxes between them. Again, not very practical with the current layouts of most of the circuits.
The solution? Cut that 43-car field! I’ve long advocated such a measure for other reasons, mainly the logjam of perennial backmarkers created by a large field, and you know who they are: the Joe Nemecheks, the Dave Blaneys, the Michael Waltrips. How many times in the past two years has Waltrip drawn the first caution or instigated initial contact—usually with the wall—in a race? Got a calculator?
I say get the field down to 35 and leave it there. That would still be a third more than the field of an F1 or an IndyCar race, but at least it would create manageable breathing room—and then you could lengthen the pitboxes on pit lane and eliminate conditions that cause a Greg Biffle to have to go backwards before he can go forward on exit.
F1: It is safe to say after just three races on the F1 calendar that Red Bull Racing/Renault’s young driving prodigy, Sebastian Vettel, is clearly the man to beat for the series’ 2010 driving title. Sunday, Vettel showed his tail feathers to the rest of the field at Kuala Lampur’s Sepang International Circuit, in the Malaysian Grand Prix, the young racer’s first victory of the season, after leading the first two races handily before mechanical breakdowns forced early retirement in both. At Sepang, Vettel out-dueled fellow Red Bull running mate Mark Webber on the first turn and was never headed. But race watchers also got to see a phenomenal charge through the field by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who started 20th on the grid after poorly qualifying in the rain the previous day. By just Lap 4, Hamilton had brilliantly moved up to 10th spot but could ultimately get no higher than sixth. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonzo run 1-2 in the standings.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Rain plays role in all three series’ races
As a child, I remember there were those kids who would look for cover when it rained. But of course opposites fill our planet too. Conversely, like a two-sided coin, others reveled in the wet stuff, taking off shoes and luxuriating in the same downpour that the less adventurous ran from.
It was in similar fashion that Sunday’s motorsports calendar played out, with NASCAR’s rain-held hostage Sprint Cup drivers dashing for umbrellas at Martinsville, Va., waiting hopefully for a chance to start the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500, which ultimately was postponed until Monday.
Contrasting that disappointing picture, the F1 boys visiting Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia, for the second leg of the F1 Grand Prix season, happily traded in umbrellas and goulashes for rain tires and a winding wet weather road course in a race that started under rain and finished in the dry. And what a race it was!
For the second race in a row, Red Bull Racing/Renault’s Sebastian Vettel roared off into the distance, dusting the remainder of the field from the get-go. But just as in Bahrain two weeks ago, Vettel’s commanding lead was sabotaged by mechanical failure, this time just under halfway through the race, when front-end brake failure sent him into the gravel traps, ending his day.
But it was the opportunistic Jenson Button, the F1 series’ defending champion, who made a daring strategy call on Lap 7 of the 58-lap affair that dramatically altered the race’s outcome. Languishing in seventh spot after a poor start in the rain, Button radioed in to his crew that he was coming in and wished to switch to slicks. The bold maneuver looked initially foolish when Button careened all over the course on his in-lap, falling way off the pace. But several laps later, the Englishman was turning laps five to six seconds quicker than anyone else, and the copycat effect soon followed: the remainder of the 24-car field all pitted to switch to slicks from the rain tires. Button managed to pass several cars reentering the circuit on cold slicks, improving his position to fourth, and later, to second. When Vettel’s misfortune occurred, Button was in the clear for his and McLaren/Mercedes’ first victory of 2010.
Sunday’s third race, in IndyCar, was to be run on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on a cool track layout that included parts of an old airfield. On this day, IndyCar played the role of the kid who was on the fence about coming out to play in the rain: sort of “should we or shouldn’t we?” The series prides itself on running in the rain, as it did partially two weeks ago in its season debut at Sao Paulo, but as was the case in Brazil, lightning, monsoon-like thunderstorms, and ultimately a track awash in deep pools of gathered water postponed the event until Monday. But if attitude counts for anything, the IndyCar “kids” wanted to play in the rain, if they'd had their druthers. Said driver Marco Andretti during the delay before postponement was announced: “I think we’re getting too soft. We should get out there and race!”
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
It was in similar fashion that Sunday’s motorsports calendar played out, with NASCAR’s rain-held hostage Sprint Cup drivers dashing for umbrellas at Martinsville, Va., waiting hopefully for a chance to start the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500, which ultimately was postponed until Monday.
Contrasting that disappointing picture, the F1 boys visiting Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia, for the second leg of the F1 Grand Prix season, happily traded in umbrellas and goulashes for rain tires and a winding wet weather road course in a race that started under rain and finished in the dry. And what a race it was!
For the second race in a row, Red Bull Racing/Renault’s Sebastian Vettel roared off into the distance, dusting the remainder of the field from the get-go. But just as in Bahrain two weeks ago, Vettel’s commanding lead was sabotaged by mechanical failure, this time just under halfway through the race, when front-end brake failure sent him into the gravel traps, ending his day.
But it was the opportunistic Jenson Button, the F1 series’ defending champion, who made a daring strategy call on Lap 7 of the 58-lap affair that dramatically altered the race’s outcome. Languishing in seventh spot after a poor start in the rain, Button radioed in to his crew that he was coming in and wished to switch to slicks. The bold maneuver looked initially foolish when Button careened all over the course on his in-lap, falling way off the pace. But several laps later, the Englishman was turning laps five to six seconds quicker than anyone else, and the copycat effect soon followed: the remainder of the 24-car field all pitted to switch to slicks from the rain tires. Button managed to pass several cars reentering the circuit on cold slicks, improving his position to fourth, and later, to second. When Vettel’s misfortune occurred, Button was in the clear for his and McLaren/Mercedes’ first victory of 2010.
Sunday’s third race, in IndyCar, was to be run on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on a cool track layout that included parts of an old airfield. On this day, IndyCar played the role of the kid who was on the fence about coming out to play in the rain: sort of “should we or shouldn’t we?” The series prides itself on running in the rain, as it did partially two weeks ago in its season debut at Sao Paulo, but as was the case in Brazil, lightning, monsoon-like thunderstorms, and ultimately a track awash in deep pools of gathered water postponed the event until Monday. But if attitude counts for anything, the IndyCar “kids” wanted to play in the rain, if they'd had their druthers. Said driver Marco Andretti during the delay before postponement was announced: “I think we’re getting too soft. We should get out there and race!”
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
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