Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

Au revoir Jacques, that was fast

Jacques Villeneuve has apparently decided that NASCAR Sprint Cup racing ain’t his glass of wine.

Villeneuve will take his prodigious talent to the sports car ranks, leaving Bill Davis not only without a once rumored partner-buyer but short a full-time driver for the second BDR Toyota Camry. Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson will share the driving duties for now in the #27 car.

I never felt confident in Villeneuve’s commitment to Sprint Cup racing. Almost as soon as he started testing for Davis in 2007, rumors started floating that Jacques and his business partner Craig Pollack were interetsed in partnering with, or outright purchasing a Cup team. Davis was the most rumored target..... to read the rest of this post go to the new home of the Bench Racing blog.

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Four will go and the rest go home

Boris Said is an ON PIT ROW favorite. He said yesterday that he’s either going to get his 7 Eleven - Spurpie - No Fear Racing Fusion into the Daytona 500 or it’s going home in a basket. Boris will be racing with six other go-or-go homers for two spots in NASCAR’s Super Bowl.

Warren Wallace’s other second cousin, Kenny Wallace, Red Bull twins  Brian Vickers andA J Allmendinger, Awesome Bill Elliott, Daytona winner Sterling Marlin and Carl Long are the competition for Boris in race number one of the Gatorade Dual 150′s.

The wild card in that race is Kurt Busch.  Busch’s owner’s points were transferred to teammate Sam Hornish ......

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Which of the Preseason Thunderers has the most to prove?

Even after an admittedly short, semi-off-season without NASCAR's Chargers and Impalas, it's tough to guard against putting too much stock in the daily results of the Preseason Thunder testing going on this week in Florida.

The NASCAR news for the last couple days has been full of reports of how Kyle the Younger Busch has been faster than anyone in Daytona.  Kyle's switch from his Hendrick ride to a Gibbs Toyota would have been the big story most years in the France Republic. But 2007 saw his story barely make the top five, behind the loss of the late Bill France, a couple of Earnhardt related sagas and the Gibbs to Toyota switch.

One of our Fast Lap questions ON PIT ROW this week asked who has the most to prove at testing this month.  It might be Kyle, and if it is, he is showing some pretty good stuff so far.

Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing team and even his manufacturer of choice, Toyota, have plenty to prove to sizable numbers of NASCAR watchers too.  Staunch Tony Stewart/Chevrolet followers are going to take plenty of convincing that Smoke's kidnapping by them evil fereners was, in the long run, a good thing.  Tony being fast out of the 2008 box would help with that.

I'm sure that Earnhardt Jr feels some pressure to start well and he probably will.   How about Michael Waltrip, who may be feeling heat from sponsors and his manufacturer?  Do you think that J J Yeley might have a little extra motivation to put that Hall of Fame Racing Camry in front of a Gibbs car or two?

Yates Racing is looking for sponsorship.  Gillette-Everham Motorsports sucked last year and has all new sponsors - and partners - to please.  On and on and on, throughout the garage the pressure -  if it ever let up at all during the shortest winter in sports - is back on in full.  Thank you NASCAR.

Picture credit: Sam Greenwood - Getty Images for NASCAR

Phoenix qualifying should cause some sparks

Pinch me.  Jacques Villeneuve, Patrick Carpentier and Sam Hornish Jr are in for the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix on Sunday.

Yep Sam is in.  Maybe the fact that he finally announced that he was making the move from pointy cars to the Car of Tomorrow - the all the way move - was all it took.  That and the talent that has made him one of the best Indy Car racers in history.  He will run the Busch Series race on Saturday and jump in the #77 CoT on Sunday.  Good luck Sam.

Other surprises in the desert were Johnny Benson and Sterling Marlin qualifying on speed while Daytona 500 winners Dale Jarrett, Ward Burton and Michael Waltrip all failed to make the race.

Carl Edwards is on pole with Truex Jr along side.  It's no shock that Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon are starting in the top six.  But those two share the 2nd and 3rd rows with the surprise pair of J J Yeley and Johnny Sauter.

Surprising results for sure.  Sunday ought to be fun to watch.

Picture credit: Beth Anne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Can NASCAR thrive without Jarrett, Rudd and Marlin?

Gradually, the face of NASCAR is being changed in a big way this 2007 season.

Dale Jarrett announced last week that he's going to move to the broadcast booth on a permanent basis after five races in 2008.  Ricky Rudd says he's not coming back next year.  Sterling Marlin's prospects for the Cup series don't sound very promising.  Those are three faces and personalities that are very recognizable to NASCAR fans.  Everybody  walking the garage area or hanging on the fences around the infield knew who these guys were.  You knew the Coors Light uniform, or before that the Kodak yellow was Sterling.  Ricky Rudd was the Tide #10.  D J and UPS have been synonymous.  That's all gone or soon to be.

The #10 will be driven by Patrick Carpentier.  Coors Light is going too, but that's OK because  Dario Franchitti's in that car now.  And Jacques Villeneuve will drive a Toyota.  I have no problem with any of this really.  It's just that the atmosphere at the track is bound to change.  Those three veterans had loyal fans - and they were traditional NASCAR fans.

I read somewhere today, that there are only four active, Nextel Cup drivers born in North Carolina, the home of the sport. One of them is Kyle Petty. Change is inevitable, I know.  I wonder how much longer Kyle will drive?

Chase to the Nextel Cup round four - ding ding

NASCAR's version of the prelims are now over.

It started with talk.  Talk about the controversies of the Kansas race and squawk about Jacques Villenueve's debut.  Who's still in the Chase and which drivers have taken the count. 

The ARCA RE/Max race Friday was entertaining as they always are and gave a preview of coming Cup attractions, Dario Franchitti and Scott Speed.  There were other future cupsters in that race as well - we just don't here much about drivers coming up through the stock car ranks much anymore.

Nextel Cup practice didn't tell me much - other than these CoTs are going to wear out some bumpers and splitters during 500 miles of "aggressive driving".

Qualifying was an upside down affair with the Go-or-Go Homers finally hitting on the right set-up - for qualifying anyway - and filling the front rows for a change.

But the battle is for real today.  A four wide restrictor plate race.  Car of Tomorrow's first time out on one of the big tracks.  Desperate Chasers trying to claw their way back into contention. Championship front-runners attempting to avoid the big wrecks . The spectacle of Talladega.

When it's over, the talk will start again.  Until then, I'm going to enjoy this one.

Toyota storms qualifying at Talladega

Stunning.  What else do you call the surprising qualifying results for the Toyota teams at Talladega Superspeedway today?

Michael Waltrip is on pole.  Dave Blaney shares the front row and five of the top six are Toyotas - including Jacques (gasp!) Villenueve at sixth freakin' fastest!   Dale Jarrett starts 43rd, despite his 8th fastest time.

Start the inquiries!  Where's the jet fuel?  Why is Joe Gibbs smiling?  How soon is Daytona?

Picture credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Watching Friday Cup practice with real interest

I paid more attention to NASCAR Nextel Cup practice this week than I ever have before. This is facsinating stuff at Talladega this year. 

Everyone wants to know how the Car of Tomorrow will perform in it's first superspeedway debut.  I'm not sure if you can figure anything out by watching practice but it's fun to think that you can. 

Cars ran around in packs - one time a point was made that the five Rousch Racing and two Yates Racing Fords were running in a pack separate from everyone else.  Commentators Jeff Hammond and Larry MacReynolds speculated that the Ford teams were trying to learn something specific about the handling of the Fusion.   Then in the next sentence they talked themselves out of that, saying that other than the headlight and grill decals, the Fusions were no different  from the Chevys, Toyotas and Dodges than from each other.

Jacques Villenueve negotiated practice without incident and seems to be surviving the weekend with his self-esteem intact.  Everytime I tuned in to the television coverage, someone had a microphone in the grill of a driver who thinks that Jacques' Talladega start is bad news.

The best argument came from Boris  Said.  Boris thinks that Villenueve should have run the ARCA REMax Series race here, like Dario Franchitti and Scott Speed did today.  Said made the point that the ARCA cars are fast and competitve, run two and sometimes three-wide and provide a good intro to the drafting and traffic.  The Cup cars will be three, and sometimes four-wide all day and are a whole different ball game.

At least Villeneuve didn't get benched for rough driving.  Denny Hamlin was singled out for overly aggressive driving - read bump drafting - and forced to sit out the end of morning practice.   I wonder what the NASCAR police are going to do during the race when everyone but the leader will be bumping?

I'm really looking forward to this race.

Picture credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR