On Friday at Pocono Raceway Denny Hamlin acknowledged that he, too, was one of the drivers who was “secretively” fined for comments that he has made about NASCAR.  The Joe Gibbs Racing driver acknowledged that he was one of the two drivers that NASCAR levied fines, reportedly $50,000.00, and answered several questions regarding . . . → Read More: Hamlin Acknowledges The Fine]]>

(Photo courtesy of NASCAR)

On Friday at Pocono Raceway Denny Hamlin acknowledged that he, too, was one of the drivers who was “secretively” fined for comments that he has made about NASCAR.  The Joe Gibbs Racing driver acknowledged that he was one of the two drivers that NASCAR levied fines, reportedly $50,000.00, and answered several questions regarding the fines.

Q: What can you say about the fine you received?

Hamlin: “I understand why, I know why they did it.  Whether you agree with it or not, it happened.  They’re in control.  I’ve always been raised to speak my mind and be maybe too over opinionated at times.  Like I’ve told those guys, I hope to be here in 15, 20 years and if that’s the case, I’d like to have a healthy sport going on to have a long career.  We’re all in it together and I understand that.  I definitely understand it.  I don’t really know what it was.  It’s more than likely the Twitter comments more than anything that kind of got me in trouble with them.  I guess the Chicago weekend talking about some of the Nationwide stuff.  Most of those conversations were all direct messages to one person.  It wasn’t really sent out to the public, to all the followers.  I understand it, but whether you agree with it or not, we all have to work together to make this all better.”

Q: How will this change the way you communicate your thoughts on the sport?

Hamlin: “I think there’s a better way to do it.  Up until two weeks ago, I didn’t have Mike Helton’s phone number or Steve O’Donnell’s phone number — nobody’s phone number.  How was I going to voice my opinion if I didn’t know how to get in touch with them?  I’m sure I could have, but on the other hand, Jim Hunter said, ‘Hey, voice your opinion through the media and it will get to us, it’s always worked.’  But they said don’t do that.  It’s kind of contradictory, but I understand there is a better way to do it now.  Still, it’s tough for me because I do feel like I want to make things better and I never really criticize anyone, I just want to voice my opinion and where I think we should go with the sport.”

Q: Why was this fine handled in a secretive nature?

Hamlin: “That I don’t know.  Without getting in word for word, what I asked was what the point of fining me if you’re not going to tell anyone.  They said, ‘Hopefully it will keep anyone from bad mouthing us.’  Well no one knows.  Maybe young guys coming up, if you say, ‘Hey you fined Denny Hamlin for an X amount of dollars for saying this,’ I think you’ll have people in the future saying they need to stay away from those comments.  I think in the future, all this coming out is a positive thing, it really is.  It’s going to turn into a good thing.  Even though they might not have wanted everyone to know, now that they do I think it happened for a reason and it’s going to make our sport better.”

Q: What are you not allowed to say?

Hamlin: “I don’t know.  They did give me a pretty good log book of all the negative things I’ve had to say over the last couple of months.  They were just for sure.  Anybody that follows me on Twitter, probably half of them follow me for the quotes here and there.”

Q: How much was the fine?

Hamlin: “I can’t say that.  There’s been illegal parts in the garage that have not gotten hit as bad as I did.”

Q: Are we going to lose the outspoken Denny Hamlin?

Hamlin: “It’s tough to say.  I don’t want to lose any more money but I just want to be myself.  That’s all I can say and that’s what I’ve told them over and over.  I said, ‘What if I don’t agree with something?  What do you want me to say?  Do you want me to lie and tell something I don’t really truly believe in because I’ve never been brought up to do that.’ And they said no but there’s different ways to do it.  We got to talking about that.  In the end I did see that.  I think you will still see it, but it’ll be a more toned down fashion.”

Q: Do you think NASCAR should have kept the fines secret or announced them?

Hamlin: “In just my opinion and I’m not bashing anyone, but I think I would have for sure said, ‘This person is getting penalized.’  To keep it from happening again.  If nobody knows, nobody is going to learn from the mistakes of others.  That’s one thing that this sport is all about is learning from someone else’s mistake.  For sure, in my opinion it should have been let out, but this garage is a very small family and it will get around anyway.  I think that people were going to find out one way or another.”

Q: Was the fine a surprise to you?

Hamlin: “That’s the thing that I noticed is that other people before me, not to name names — Tony Stewart, have said way worse stuff than I have, way worse.  Direct hits at somebody and got away with it.  But the difference is that this year they said in January, ‘Listen, it’s really taking its toll on people’s outlook of the sport when you say something like that and it shows numbers of when they hear something negative, their interest level drops.’  So they said, ‘We’re going to be more aggressive when you say something that’s negative.’  Of course that’s been six months and my memory is really short so I was just gladly awoken last week.”

WOMR believes that NASCAR, quite possibly, has opened up a can of worms with this latest round of “secretive” fines.  If the sanctioning body,NASCAR, decrees that a team member is to be fined, then they should publicize the name of that person being fined, and the dollar amount of that fine.  If that is not done, the fine looses the affect that was intended by NASCAR!

What is your thoughts on this subject?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

(photo courtesy of NASCAR)

The word in the garage area this week is that two drivers were fined $50,000.00 each by NASCAR for comments that NASCAR deemed to be “detrimental to the sport”.  However, NASCAR has decided not to identify the drivers that it fined, nor publish the statement that they deemed inappropriate!

Last year NASCAR encouraged the . . . → Read More: Censorship In NASCAR?]]>

(photo courtesy of NASCAR)

The word in the garage area this week is that two drivers were fined $50,000.00 each by NASCAR for comments that NASCAR deemed to be “detrimental to the sport”.  However, NASCAR has decided not to identify the drivers that it fined, nor publish the statement that they deemed inappropriate!

Last year NASCAR encouraged the drivers to show their personality and was additionally re-enforced this year when Robin Pemberton issued the now famous phrase, “have at ‘em boys”! This year NASCAR has basically taken a “hands off” attitude and the net results is beautiful races cars are turning into scraps of crumpled sheet metal.  Furthermore, without the dramatic increases in the safety equipment over the past nine years, in both the race cars and the racing facilities, the resultant affects would have been injuries to both the drivers and the spectators alike.

Suddenly this week NASCAR has decided to “secretly” fine two Sprint Cup drivers for comments that were made by them.  Most likely the two drivers that were fined were probably Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman.  Hopefully NASCAR will decide to publish their names and their comments so that all can decide if their comments warranted the penalties.

Ryan Newman may be getting fined for this statement made after the Gateway fiasco with Edwards and Keselowski.

“[The policy] ‘have at it boys’ means even if we crash each other or get into an accident or lose respect for one another, you go talk about it,” said Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Newman. “That’s the ‘have at it boys’ [policy]. You go behind a trailer and you talk about it. We can get in each other’s faces. That’s ‘have at it boys.’

“Going out there and purposely crashing somebody, turning right or turning left just to crash ‘em on purpose, whether you’re winning the race or not, is not at all ‘have at it boys.’ Some people have thought of manslaughter or attempted manslaughter, but that’s closer to what [that] is.  Brad just needs to go up and just lap one across his lip, and everything will be fine!”

If Denny Hamlin was the second driver to be fined, it could be over his comment about the middle of some of these long race just riding around and not racing.

WOMR thinks that NASCAR is speaking with a forked tongue these days!  If they want some emotion and aggressiveness out of its competitors, then some of that emotions will spillover into comments about NASCAR and the competition.  You can’t have one without the other, it is a matched pair.

Now one of the most outspoken drivers in the garage area, Tony Stewart, has come out wholeheartedly in support of NASCAR’s secret fines!

When Tony Stewart said at an appearance at Syracuse University this week that he supported NASCAR’s decision to allow words deemed harmful to the brand to not escape the garages, was he saying what he thinks or was he avoiding the hammer?

Is Smoke being believable or is he learning to sing the company tune?  For a driver such as Stewart, who is quick to criticize NASCAR, G0oodyear,his team members, as well as other drivers who he thinks are not up to his standards, to do a complete role reversal, is very hard to take seriously and to believe!  Can we all sing “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore”?

What do you think NASCAR is doing with their “secret” fines?  Is NASCAR exercising their total control over the competitors?  What is your view?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)

Pocono is a track that most Sprint Cup drivers aren’t really too thrilled to race.  The races there are generally too long for the venue, a some drivers think that the track is dangerous.  However, the history and the design of the track has a uniqueness.

This weekend the Camping World Truck Series . . . → Read More: The Trucks And History Invade Pocono]]>

(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)

Pocono is a track that most Sprint Cup drivers aren’t really too thrilled to race.  The races there are generally too long for the venue, a some drivers think that the track is dangerous.  However, the history and the design of the track has a uniqueness.

This weekend the Camping World Truck Series makes its debut at the 2.5 mile triangular race track in the Pocono mountains of PA.

Despite the Sprint Cup drivers lashing out about about track, there are several Sprint Cup drivers lining up to do “double duty” this weekend at Pocono.

Like Denny Hamlin, who will drive a Billy Ballew Motorsports entry.

“Billy Ballew has always been really good to me and we’ve had a few good runs together in the truck series,” Hamlin said. “I only run about one truck race a year and this year I chose Pocono. I can’t wait to get there.”

Also doing double duty will be Kasey Kahne. He’ll be driving for the Kyle Busch-owned team.

“Kyle and I had been talking about it for a while and I told him I was interested in running a truck race or two for KBM this year,” Kahne said. “He had another obligation with the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday, so he asked if I could race his truck. It’s a great opportunity for me to come back to the series and compete with really good equipment. I’ve watched Kyle put the team together and it’s really been impressive how well they’ve done this year as a first-year team.”

Adding to the allure of the Pocono Mountains 150 is its length. It will be just 50 laps. Nobody was complaining about that this week.

It’s a 50 lap shootout!

Another new innovative feature will debut with the truck race this weekend, a multi-truck qualifying system.  The trucks will be qualifying in the reverse order of their practice speeds, instead of drawing a numbered pill.  The trucks will be released from pit road at 25 second increments for their two lap qualifying attempt.  As always, the fastest of the two laps will count as their qualifying speed.

This new innovative qualifying system might prove to be quite exciting.  What do you think?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

(photo courtesy Geoff Burke/Getty Images)

If anyone doesn’t think that Mark Martin is a proud old warrior, you better rethink that thought!  Martin made it clear last week in a very rare flare of anger after ESPN analyst, former crew chief and team owner, Ray Evernham, suggested that Mark Martin should bow out gracefully from the Hendrick . . . → Read More: Martin-Hendrick: Could Get Ugly]]>

(photo courtesy Geoff Burke/Getty Images)

If anyone doesn’t think that Mark Martin is a proud old warrior, you better rethink that thought!  Martin made it clear last week in a very rare flare of anger after ESPN analyst, former crew chief and team owner, Ray Evernham, suggested that Mark Martin should bow out gracefully from the Hendrick Motorsports stable of drivers to allow Kasey Kahne into the #5 Chevy.

The audacity of that suggestion struck a very raw nerve in the 51 year old warrior.  An irate Martin made it abundantly clear that he will not give up his ride without a fight!  He has a contract with HMS and fully expects Hendrick to fulfill his part of the contract!  Anything less than that is totally unacceptable to Martin.

Rick Hendrick created this mess by signing Kasey Kahne to a contract that is not starting until 2012.  Granted, Hendrick needed to strike and sign Kahne early, however what is a driver of Kahne’s caliber to do for the 2011 season?  Therein lies the confusion, the rancor, and a huge logistics problem.  Hendrick has five drivers signed with the maximum of four race teams allowed by NASCAR.  No problem according to Hendrick, Kahne will join the team after Martin leaves at the end of the 2011 season!

Obviously Hendrick wanted Kahne to join his company, no matter what the cost.  However, it has been a disaster in the making from the start.  Why make the announcement in early 2010 for the 2012 season?  That announcement only fueled the fire of speculation over Kahne’s future employment status for 2011.  The collateral damage from Hendrck’s announcement has caused the waters surrounding Mark Martin to become muddied, turbulent, and infected with alligators waist deep!

In 2010, Martin’s team has struggled with their performance, adding additional fuel to the fire, and magnifying this tenuous position that Martin has been thrust into!  The outside speculation and pressure continues to mount weekly

So this is the deal.  HMS has five very talented drivers, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt,Jr.,Mark Martin, and Kasey Kahne, signed to drive four cars.  It doesn’t appear that Hendrick has been able to line up a ride for Kasey Kahne for the 2011 season, at this point in time.  A talented driver, such as Kahne, will not be willing to sit out an entire season waiting for the contract to become enforceable.

Therefore, having five drivers for only four race teams has put rick Hendrick into a very delicate situation.  Martin has made it very clear that he is not “expendable”, and is not going to be pushed out of the #5 Chevy!  Hendrick has been extremely busy trying to line up employment in 2011 for Kahne.  As the season starts to draw to close, the possibilities for Kahne’s 2011 season are not looking so bright!

The Kanhe signing has had many side affects within the HMS organization.  Nevertheless, you can’t fault Hendrick for grabbing Kahne when he could, even though it has turned into a car owners worst nightmare!

Hendrick’s options seems to be dwindling as the days tick off!  What is car owner to do?

What are your thoughts as to how Hendrick could solve his delicate problem?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)

It appears that Richard Childress Racing is about to announce a new sponsor for the #29 Chevy driven by Kevin Harvick.  All signs point to an announcement that Budweiser will be moving over to the #29 team for 2011.  That announcement could come as early as the weekend races at Watkins Glen, NY, . . . → Read More: Sponsor Changes Coming]]>

(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)

It appears that Richard Childress Racing is about to announce a new sponsor for the #29 Chevy driven by Kevin Harvick.  All signs point to an announcement that Budweiser will be moving over to the #29 team for 2011.  That announcement could come as early as the weekend races at Watkins Glen, NY, on the weekend of August, 8th.

If that announcement comes to fruition, the ramifications for Richard Petty Motorsports could be severe.  A.J. Almendinger has been talking to several teams, including Penske Racing about 2011.  If he were to take his sponsor, Best Buys, and depart RPM, that would leave Stanley Tools as the only sponsor still under contract to RPM for 2011!

Another RPM driver, Paul Menard, has beating the bushes as well.  There is speculation that Menard could well leave, take his Daddy’s sponsorship money (Menard’s), and become the fourth team at Richard Childress Racing!

It  would appear that Menard’s move hinges upon what Almendinger does  for the 2011 season.  If “The Dinger” stays with RPM, Menard would most likely remain at RPM, as well.

However, if both of these drivers leave Richard Petty Motorsports, that could have devastating  ramifications in the garage area. RPM could possibly go under if both of these drivers and sponsors jump overboard and move on to other race teams!  That would effectively remove Richard Petty’s presence from the NASCAR garage area, and that would be totally sad to see!

What is your thoughts on the possible switches to come?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON  MY REDNECK!

(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)

The NASCAR schedule for 2011 is expected to see significant changes, including the site of the season finale.  Some changes are in response to major track owners, International Speedway Corp. (ISC), owned by the France family, and Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI).  Additionally, there are several race dates that are now put into play . . . → Read More: 2011 NASCAR Schedule Possibilities]]>

(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)

The NASCAR schedule for 2011 is expected to see significant changes, including the site of the season finale.  Some changes are in response to major track owners, International Speedway Corp. (ISC), owned by the France family, and Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI).  Additionally, there are several race dates that are now put into play for the schedule realignment.

The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com are reporting that the changes being contemplated include the season’s finale, now held at Miami-Homestead Speedway.  That ISC owned facility could get the second race of the 2011 season, presently held at, the ISC owned. Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA.

The sources said two tracks figure in the options being considered to replace Homestead as host of the season’s final race weekend: Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway.

In addition to the season-opening Daytona 500, the Daytona track currently hosts a Cup race on the Fourth of July weekend. Las Vegas now has one race date, in late winter on the 2010 schedule.

A Las Vegas finale could make it more convenient for fans, teams, media and others to attend NASCAR’s season-ending awards events. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is owned by the Bruton Smith controlled corporation, SMI.  Those season-ending awards events, held in New York City for years, moved to the desert gambling-and-resort city for the first time last year.

ISC spokesman Lenny Santiago declined on Sunday to specifically address the Homestead and Daytona moves.

“We submitted our request to NASCAR to realign a second date to Kansas Speedway for 2011,” he said. “Beyond that, there’s nothing more I can add.”

ISC has requested the second race date for its Kansas track, where work on a casino is moving forward. But it has so far declined to identify which of its tracks would lose a race in the process.

SMI has requested second dates for Las Vegas or Kentucky – or both. Officials of that company also declined to name any tracks that would be part of such a swap.

Few specifics were provided Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by Brian France, NASCAR’s chairman and CEO. Decisions could be finalized within a couple of weeks, he said. (ThatsRacin.com)

What are you thoughts on reshuffling the deck in regards to the present NASCAR race schedule?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Photo courtesy Johns Harrelson/Getty Images

Jamie McMurray greatly increased the quality of his racing resume Sunday with The Brickyard 400 victory.  He now has joined some very good company with the likes of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jarrett.  Johnson and Jarret were the only other NASCAR drivers to win The Daytona 500 and The Brickyard 400 in . . . → Read More: McMurray Wins The Brickyard 400]]>

Photo courtesy Johns Harrelson/Getty Images

Jamie McMurray greatly increased the quality of his racing resume Sunday with The Brickyard 400 victory.  He now has joined some very good company with the likes of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jarrett.  Johnson and Jarret were the only other NASCAR drivers to win The Daytona 500 and The Brickyard 400 in the same season before McMurray’s victory Sunday.  Series points leader, Kevin Harvick, finished second followed closely by Greg Biffle in third.

Juan Pablo Montoya led the most laps, 86, but again had fell disappointingly short when his team opted to pit for four tires while leading with 23 laps to go. Six others took two tires and that pushed Montoya back to eighth on the restart and two laps later, he crashed while scrambling to make up lost position.

That crushed Montoya, who refused to comment immediately afterward. His equally crushed crew chief took the blame.  “Bad call,” Brian Pattie said. “Crew chief error. We should have taken two tires.”

This is the second consecutive year that Montoya was the most dominating race car at the brickyard 400 and failed to win the race!  Last year he was issued a “speeding ticket” leaving the pits.  However, this year Montoya was subject to his own aggressiveness trying to make up for what turned out to be a poor strategy decision on the pit stop.

Nevertheless, team owner Chip Ganassi was not crushed by Montoya’s failure.  The second team at Earnhardt-Ganassi, the #1 Bass Pro Sports Chevy took up the slack, and rewarded Ganassi with his first Brickyard 400 victory.  McMurray’s Brickyard 400 victory put Chip Ganassi in a class all by himself.  Ganassi is the first team owner to win the three crown jewels of auto racing , the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and the Brickyard 400 all in one year!

Of being at his best in the big events, McMurray said, “I think it’s coincidence a little bit that we’ve run well at all those big races. After sitting on the pole at Darlington and running second, then going to Chicago with the same car, sitting on the pole, finishing fifth, we had a car that they had given all the updates to, and we were going to bring here. I asked Bono (his crew chief, Kevin Manion), ‘Any chance we could bring the same car we ran at Darlington and Chicago?’  He’s like, absolutely. We raced Chicago Saturday. I went to the shop on Monday, the car was stripped down, they were taking it in to repair it.

Many pundits thought that Jamie McMurray’s racing career was on the downward slide when Roush-Fenway Racing was forced to eliminate one of their race teams due to the new rules limiting owners to a maximum of four race teams.  That rule went into effect at the beginning of the 2010 race season.  However, with McMurray’s Daytona 500 victory, now his Brickyard 400 victory, and a near miss with Harvick at the spring Talladega race, McMurray is making the pundits “eat some crow”!

Here is the unofficial results from the 2010 Brickyard 400.

What is your take on Jamie McMurray’s performance in 2010?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!