Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

Bench Racing caption contest - win a Boris Said hoodie

Come up with the best caption for this picture taken of Mark Martin at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday, prior to winning the Sam’s Town 300 and I have a great prize for ya.

to read the rest of this post go to the new home of the Bench Racing blog.

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

Bench Racing’s top 18 Budweiser Shootout countdown

OK, Kurt Busch is on the pole for Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout but does that mean anything?  It might.  Check out our countdown of compelling Bud Shootout factoids and impress your friends at the 2008 NASCAR kickoff party.

70 - Total laps in the race, up from the 20 run the first year of the event in 1979

44 - No, not DJ’s UPS truck car number. It's the most laps led in a single Bud Shootout, by Greg Biffle in 2005

22 - Largest field in event history in 2002 also the number of career starts by Awesome Bill from Dawsonville

19 - Dale Earnhardt Jr’s starting position in ‘03, the farthest back anybody has started and won also the number of consecutive starts by Mark Martin, most by any driver also..... Go to the new home of the Bench Racing blog for the rest of this post.

Johnson takes fourth in a row and seals champ bid

Jimmy Johnson makes another late race push to the front and moves to a commanding points lead.

Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart all made late race runs at JJ but none seriously threatened to take the lead.  Johnson and Chad Knaus seem to have it figured out and nothing short of a disaster at Homestead next week can derail this train.

The best finishing Toyota was Brian Vickers in 21st.  The desert wasn't a kind place for the Toyota group as none of Michael Waltrip Racing's entries made the field.

With Dale Jarrett not making the race and Mark Martin and Ken Shrader not entered - there has now not been a driver who has participated in all the Phoenix Cup events.

The Buzz ON PIT ROW is:

Is America's love of the underdog strong enough to make Gordon haters root for him to win the Championship?

The Fast Lap this week asks:

1)  Will the 48 team continue their "race to win strategy" at Homestead or will they race for 18th?

2) Is Homestead the best place to finish the season?

3) Should Petty Enterprises merge/partner with Gillett-Evernham?

4) Will any of the three 2008 open wheel rookies not make it to the end of the season?

Let us know how you feel about these questions, or anything else that happened at in the desert.  If we like your comments, whether we agree or not, we may use them on the air during Tuesday's ON PIT ROW.  Leave us a comment on the blog or call the show--toll free at 1-877-502-8255 between 5-7pm edt on Tuesdays.

photo: Jason Smith/Getty images/NASCAR

NASCAR changes according to Hammond

My favorite part of being involved with ON PIT ROW is the people that I get to work with.  Last night, Jeff Hammond was one of our guests.  Jeff has been a pretty regular part of our show for three or four years now and there is more than one good story attached to his appearances with us.

We weren't sure that we were going to get him yesterday.  The craziness of trying to do a live radio show and actually hook up with busy NASCAR people to participate is tough.  Steve had been trying to make the Hammond connections all afternoon and we had resigned ourselves to failure.  Then at about 6:30 pm we got a cell phone call from an out of breath Jeff Hammond - who said he had run in from somewhere on his property, to do the show.  Pretty cool stuff for us.

Earlier in the show, we had as a guest, Michelle Thierault - Busch East and ARCA ReMax Series driver and participant in the Toyota NASCAR All Star Challenge over the weekend. Michelle is a big talent and is on track to get to one of the major series in NASCAR soon - maybe even the Cup Series. I asked Jeff what he thought was going to happen with all of the new, young talent entering the NASCAR ranks.

Hammond predicts a large turnover in the driver ranks of NASCAR's top series.  No real surprise there.  But he also told us that he thinks that drivers like Tony Stewart , Jeff Gordon and others will go the Mark Martin route - opting for more part-time participant status in the Cup Series.  He feels that the importance of winning the Cup Series championship will revert to more of what it was in the old days - less important than winning races - especially the high profile races like the Daytona 500, the Brickyard and Bristol night race.

No body is better connected in the NASCAR garages than Jeff Hammond.  We don't see him as much as when Fox Sports is the lead dog in NASCAR TV coverage.  Even so, Jeff is very visible on Speed doing the Trackside show.  He is also a big part of the Direct TV Hot Pass programming.

I had a chance to watch some of the Hot Pass stuff recently.  If you are a NASCAR geek, it is a fantastic way to experience a race.  Currently, you have five different drivers to choose from each race and you essentially become part of the crew for that driver.  There are multiple split screens, in-car camera views, full scanner audio and commentary by guys like Jeff Hammond and Larry MacReynolds.  It's frickin' awesome.  Get a dish and buy it.

Update:  The Black Flag Blog has a very cool contest running where the creative creature in you can win Direct TV Hot Pass prizes!  Check it out.

NASCAR's second twelve has winners too

Fourteen different drivers have won races in the 2007 Nextel Cup Series.  Three of those winners failed to make the Chase to the Nextel Cup.

Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears and Juan Pablo Montoya each captured a win this season.  Despite the hype that smothers the twelve Chase qualifiers - including the winless Clint Bowyer - I like the chances for upsets from the ranks of the non-champ contenders. 

Does anyone think that Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Mark Martin are incapable of pulling out a win in the next ten races?  What about Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle or even Petty Enterprises' Bobby Labonte.

I believe that this year's champ will come from the trio of Gordon, Johnson and Stewart.  It wouldn't surprise me though, if three or four non-Chasers manage to grab the checkered flag  before we're all done.

Picture credit: allposters.com

So how does that DEI driver line up look now?

The big splash of the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. merger with Ginn Racing has passed.  Ripples remain but they aren't exactly rocking any boats.

Three weeks ago, excitement reigned.  DEI fans welcomed Mark Martin as Dale Jr's new team-mate.  Martin Truex Jr was on a six race roll and looking capable of leading the team in the new era.  Paul Menard, Aric Almirola and Regan Smith were being touted by Martin and others as future stars, emmerging from prior shadows.  Rumors circled that a Kyle Busch or Kasey Kahne would certainly sign soon to form the super team.

Reality has dawned.  Dale Junior is leaving.  He always was.  Martin Junior is slumping and in real danger of falling from the Chase.  Mark Martin will  be back -  but only to drive a 2007-like partial schedule.  Kyle Busch is going to Gibbs Racing and  Kasey Kahne is going nowhere.   The latest  hot rumor I've seen for DEI is  David  Stremme.  I wonder if Gannasi would miss him?

Does a line up of Martin Truex Jr, Paul Menard, Aric Almirola/Mark Martin and Stremme/Smith get your heart pumping, DEI fans?

Got a race car? Aric Almirola will drive it

Aric Almirola will drive for Joe Gibbs Racing this weekend in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.  The Rockwell Automation Chevy has been a competitive car in Busch this year.  A controversial ride at times too, for Aric.

Almirola has put the Busch car on pole twice in the past month or so.  He started, led and received credit for the win in the Milwaukee race - a race finished by Denny Hamlin.  Another pole and a bunch of laps led at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis last weekend culminated in a solid sixth place finish.

We had a chance to interview Aric at Indy.  You can't help but come away impressed by the young guy.  He has everything a sponsor would want.  And I would think, everything a team owner could ask for as well. 

Aric was asked all the expected questions and handled them all with ease.  He told us that the Milwaukee escapade had nothing to do with his move to Ginn Racing.  All of that was already in the works.  And as for any feeling that he would be "getting Mark Martin's scraps", he said this.

"I just want to drive race cars. I don't care if it's an ARCA car, truck, Busch car or Cup ride. I want to be driving something every week.  That's the way I'll get better as a driver."

This week he'll have his hands full against an international field of Busch-wackers of a different breed.  The Busch teams have stocked up with road race warriors for the first Canadian round of the series.  If that wasn't enough, Juan Pablo Montoya, fresh off a strong 2nd at the Brickyard, will try to continue his NASCAR Road course sweep.

You can here all of our Aric Almirola interview when ON PIT ROW is re-broadcast Thursday at 7:00 pm EDT on Race Talk Radio.

Picture credit: Beth Anne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Wood Brothers/JTG Racing big winners in DEI/Ginn merger

“NASCAR's cap of four teams per company meant we had to give something up," said Bobby Ginn. “We felt so strongly about this merger that we surrendered the value of the 13 car. We all were completely comfortable that the benefits of working together far outweighed the value of points.”

By relinquishing those points that Joe Nemechek worked so hard to establish for former boss, Bobby Ginn, Wood Brothers/JTG Racing will move from the outside--looking in, to the inside--looking back.

There is now a 225-point gap between the #70 team from Haas CNC Racing and driver Johnny Sauter in 34th and the Wood Brothers in 35th.  Dave Blaney’s #22 Toyota team from Bill Davis Racing goes into the Brickyard 400 only seven points behind Bill Elliott.  Scott Riggs’ No. 10 Dodge team from Evernham Motorsports is only 67 behind the #21.

The new DEI will field Chevys for Mark Martin in the #01, Martin Truex Jr. in the No. #1, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. #8, supposedly through the end of 2007, and Paul Menard in the #15. With Menard’s team in essence becoming the former #14 team, they will assume the points garnered by Sterling Marlin for Ginn in the season’s first 19 races. All four teams are in the top 35.

DEI/Ginn officials said the merger is all about creating one strong four-car team to compete in the Nextel/Sprint Cup multi car world.

“Our stated goals included an expansion to four cars as quickly as possible and, in order to do that, we had to acquire more shop space,” said Max Siegel, DEI president. “This relationship with Bobby Ginn and his company allows us to accomplish both, which makes this a perfect transaction.”

The immediate future will have DEI operating teams out of both its existing 100,000-square foot complex and the 180,000-square foot Ginn Racing complex. Both shops are located within 5 miles of one another in Mooresville.

“The value of additional square footage is easy to see, but the value that Mark will bring to our company is harder to measure and may be even more impactful,” Siegel said.

Seigel said he considers adding Martin to the lineup a key factor in the deal. Martin and Aric Almirola are scheduled to share the # 01 for the remainder of 2007 and in 2008.

“Mark has pledged his support to our young drivers and our entire company in an effort to make us all better. Given his stature in the sport, this benefit cannot be quantified.”

DEI owner, Teresa Earnhardt also plans to use Bobby Ginn for “strategic development projects that Teresa has been planning for years.”

Regan Smith, who had been sharing the #01 with Mark Martin until the signing of Almirola; and was  headed to the #14 for the rest of this year, will instead move to the Craftsman Truck Series, at least for this weeks race at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

According to a statement from DEI, specific schedules for Martin, Smith and Almirola will be announced later. DEI/Ginn will continue to field cars in the Busch Series, CTS and Busch East Series through 2007, but changes are expected as those programs are evaluated.

There are still many questions to be answered, including the future of Ginn’s development drivers, including AMA champion Ricky Carmichael.

Congratulations to the Wood Brothers for getting into the top 35 in points; even if it came from off track manipulating.  Now, it is a matter of staying there, and whether Kenny Shrader will return to drive the #21 or will he turn his "one off" at the #49 into something more permanent.

And, how will the pending merger of Robert Yates Racing with Indycar team Newman/Haas racing impact that team and others in the NASCAR garage?  Stay tuned for another episode of "As the Garage Turns"

photo:   news.appstate.edu

NASCAR mergers and aquisitions day at Indy

This is more like it.  Drivers fired.  Drivers hired.  Teams merged. Or sold.  Car numbers transferred and changed.  This was the NASCAR that we all expected during the lull between the Chicagoland race and the Indianpolisland carnival.

The widely speculated merger/buyout of Ginn Racing and DEI has just been confirmed.  Reading the quotes of Bobby Ginn would make one think that this was his carefully planned strategy from the very beginning.

"When I purchased Ginn Racing last year it was done with a goal of fielding a multi-car effort capable of winning races and championships," Bobby Ginn said. "We came very close to winning the season's biggest race earlier this year with Mark (Martin) and today we feel as if we have done one better by partnering with a company with the legacy of Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Whatever.  Good for DEI and especially Paul Menard, who will benefit from his #15 taking the owner's points of Ginn' former #14, currently in the top 35 of NASCAR owner points.  Paul gets to race this week, for sure.

Maybe, not so good for Ragan Smith and Aric Almirola.  They now get to split Mark Martin's leftovers between them.  Did Gibbs Racing know this was coming when it let Aric out of his contract?

Finally - and this will run under the relative radar because the name Earnhardt isn't attached to it - current Champ Car World Series leading Newman - Haas Racing is rumored ready to announce the purchase of Robert Yates Racing.  Lee Spenser has it.

Could this be the sign that those at the very top of open wheel racing in North America have acknowledged the oracles, and are coming over to the Dark Side?  Can Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and (gasp!) Danica be far behind?

Tune in next week. Same bat-time. Same bat-channel.

Marlin, Nemechek out--Almirola in at Ginn/(DEI)

Barely half way through the Nextel Cup season, Ginn Racing has restructured their driver lineup for the remainder of the year.

  Joe Nemechek has been relieved of his driving duties on the #13 and Ginn has mothballed that operation due to lack of sponsorship.

Regan Smith will assume full-time driving duties in the team’s #14 Chevy, beginning with the Nextel Cup race July 29 in Indianapolis. Smith replaces Sterling Marlin.

Aric Almirola has signed with Ginn Racing and will become Mark Martin’s co-driver in the #01 U.S. Army Chevrolet for the remainder of the 2007 season.  He will also share the ride with Martin in 2008. His first race in the #01 will be Aug. 12 at the road course in Watkins Glen, N.Y. As part of his contractual obligations, Almirola will compete in five remaining Busch races for Joe Gibbs Racing this season.

Almirola was quite miffed with JGR after qualifying on the pole and leading the early laps at Milwaukee, for Denny Hamlin,  during a Busch Series event.  He was removed from the car, by sponsors request, midway through the race.

Sterling Marlin had this to say to Dave Moody on "Sirius Speedway" Tuesday afternoon:

"I was planning on cutting back next year but still would have liked to finish the year out like you're supposed to and do everything that was in the contract that we're supposed to do and we just don't look like we're gonna do it."
... I've had some guys call already and we've just got to get this contract worked out. Like I said, I've got a contract with them. We've just got to come together and see what we're gonna do. Let the lawyers handle it and if I want to run somebody's car next year I can run somebody's car [for] 15-20 races next year. Or, somebody's Busch car. I still enjoy racing, still enjoy it a lot. The travel part of it is getting old but as far as firing a car up on Sunday, there's nothing like it. We'll see what happens. I've got a ton of things going on around here but it's still fun to race, too."

This move also ends, for now, speculation that Mark Martin will return full-time in 2008 to chase his first Sprint Cup title.  Martin had been rumored to be looking to make at least one more serious run at a championship in 2008.

Also on the outside, looking in is Joe (Front Row Joe) Nemechek who is known as for his proclivity of putting race cars on the pole.  Nemechek has been given his release and is free to look for other opportunities.

Ginn Racing that was being heralded as quite the up and coming team early in the season has fallen on hard times due to lack of major sponsor commitments.  The #01 car, shared by Mark Martin, Regan Smith and now Aric Almirola was the only Ginn car with a full sponsorship from the U.S. Army.  The #13 and #14 had only partial sponsorship deals to start the season.  That lack of full-time sponsorship has caught up with them now as they try to revert back to the two car team that Bobby Ginn bought into originally.

This also sets up the highly speculated merger/buy out of Ginn with/by Dale Earnhardt Inc.  Rumors have been flying that Ginn and DEI will have a new, combined relationship before their cars hit the track at Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400 in two weeks.

Martin Truex Jr. has said he his committed to DEI in the #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy.  He, along with the #14 and #01, gives DEI/Ginn three-Fourths of their allotted team lineup.  Where does that leave Paul Menard and the speculation that Kyle "Rowdy" Busch will sign to drive what was the #8 of Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

Look for Menard to be given his walking papers and Busch to sign a long term contract with DEI/Ginn, perhaps as soon as this weekend.  Busch has been doing everything in his power to get fired from Hendrick Motorsports ever since the presser that announced Junior was coming to Hendrick.

The final piece of this puzzle is; where does Budweiser fit for 2008, with Rowdy or Regan?

photos:  scenedaily.com, nascar.com, robiecapps.com,