Daily NASCAR

The Cup teams get their final off weekend of the season, but there won’t be a shortage of racing action this week.  The Truck Series is off to Chicagoland Speedway, and the Nationwide teams head north of the border to tackle the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.   If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

1. From Justin:

Thanks for a great site. Have you heard anything about why Scott Wimmer cannot get a decent ride in the Nationwide series? He has a lot of success in the past. What is the knock against him if any?

Thanks Justin! I think Wimmer’s problem is not so unsimilar to a large number of racecar drivers. He’s getting older, his performance was never spectacular and he doesn’t have funding. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not bad, you certainly know what you’re getting with Wimmer, but he’s not necessarily the kind of driver big teams are going to be willing to take a risk on at this point. – Journo

2. From Dave:

Does the first start and park team still face the rigorous “just
because” tear down process that some cars went through at the start of the season?

Yes, NASCAR continues to tear down start and park teams like they were doing earlier in the year.  This week, the #55 of Michael McDowell was the first car out of the race and NASCAR took their engine back to the R&D center. – T.C.

3. From Jamie:

You guys tweeted free beer at RCR. So do one or both of you work for RCR?

You caught us… Just kidding. I’m not sure where you saw that tweet, but it wasn’t on our twitter feed. Because of the nature of the site we’ll never disclose where we work, and we certainly wouldn’t be that obvious. – Journo

4. From Dan:

Hey Guys, According to the results of the Saturday night Bristol race the #48 car was listed as running at the end of the race with 415 laps completed. Why would Johnson stay on track after he couldn’t gain any more points? Hamlin who finished one position ahead had 58 more laps completed. Johnson was well ahead of Conway, who finished behind him, with only 212 laps completed and no threat to Johnson losing a position. Seemed odd considering it was Bristol, since a lot of chaos can go on there nearing the end of the race.

Well first, you never retire from a race if you can help it, because you never know what may happen.  Johnson was involved in the wreck around lap 260 or 265, which means there was still half the race in which something could go wrong for somebody else and he could gain more points.  Second, even once you mathematically cannot gain any more spots, you keep running for pride (for lack of a better word).  You don’t want that dreaded DNF on your record and you never give up, even when you know it’s over.  And finally, sponsors are paying your team to get exposure for them, and that can’t be done with a car loaded on the hauler.  I personally commend them for running until the finish. – T.C.

5. From brotherflounder:

What do you think of Kyle Busch winning the triple?

I thought it was a cool moment, certainly something historic. Is Kyle winning in the Nationwide and Truck Series much of a feat? Not really. But still, to be able to do all that in one weekend is nothing to sneeze at – which is why no one has done it before. – Journo

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!

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Car owner Michael Waltrip, currently 31st in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, recently announced that Martin Truex Jr. will essentially replace him next year, though Waltrip will continue to drive the No. 55 Toyota in 4-10 races. (Photo: John Clark/NASCAR This Week)

For Michael Waltrip, the end is near.

But that’s only his driving career. The younger brother of NASCAR great and Fox television analyst Darrell Waltrip owns his own team. Last week he announced that Martin Truex Jr. will essentially replace him, though Michael will continue to drive the No. 55 Toyota in 4-10 races next year. Truex will drive No. 56 full-time.

Darrell Waltrip won 84 races in the series now known as Sprint Cup. Michael has won four, but he has won the Daytona 500 twice, once more than Darrell.

"When I was born, my brother was 16 years old, and all I’ve ever known my whole life is running up and down the road going to races," said Michael. "From a very young age, I knew exactly what I wanted to be: I wanted to be a race-car driver, just like my big brother."

At present, Michael Waltrip ranks 31st in the Sprint Cup standings. He finished 20th in the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. His most recent victory occurred in Talladega, Ala., on Sept. 28, 2003. He also won what is now the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (Concord, N.C.) in 1996.

Truex will move at season’s end, apparently, from Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

"I’m turning my car over to a guy whom I think can go win the championship," said Waltrip. "I’ve always said … (that) if I wasn’t the guy to go race it on Sunday, somebody else would take my place.

"Martin (Truex) is the right guy to take over my car and go win races in it. … I didn’t have to quit. I didn’t need to quit. I just wanted to do this for … the sponsors, and NAPA has been the greatest sponsor I could ever have, and I thought this was an opportunity to put them in victory lane on a regular basis."

Waltrip, 46, presently fields Toyotas for himself, David Reutimann and, through a cooperative relationship, Marcos Ambrose. Reutimann won the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 on May 25 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

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Mark Martin celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. It was Martin’s fourth win of the season, one shy of matching Harry Gant’s 1991 season record for a driver age 50 or older. (Photo: Getty Images)

The only driver with four victories this year is Mark Martin, and it’s because he’s got more sense than all the drivers he’s racing.

Martin had a dominant car, but this was the second time (Michigan being the other) he’s won because he kept a cooler head than those in front of him. Oddly enough, both races had the world "LifeLock" in the title.

In the LifeLock 400 at Michigan, Martin resisted the temptation to speed up while two others, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle, couldn’t. They ran out of gas.

In the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Martin watched Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers tangle in front of him. He seized the advantage and never looked back.

By every possible measure, this victory was richly deserved. Jeff Gordon finished second, but his gains were minimal as Sprint Cup point leader Tony Stewart, finished fourth behind Kasey Kahne.

The plot of races on intermediate tracks is unerring. After a flurry of early activiity, everything settles down for the next two hours, with most passes made in pit sequences.
Then, near the end, caution flags start flying. All the calm of two hours evaporates, and everyone starts beating and banging.

Martin and Gordon, by the way, also finished 1-2 in the earlier LifeLock 400, and as a result, the encore was good for a million-dollar bonus put up by the race sponsor.

So there’s that.

The guy who won was the fastest (duh!), but a level head and cool hands set Martin apart from the rest.
 

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TNT reports that its coverage of Saturday night’s LifeLock.com 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway drew a 3.0 rating from Nielsen Media Research, 18.9 percent lower than the 3.7 rating it earned for the race last year.

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Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew claimed the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award for last Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway.

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