Daily NASCAR

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, NASCAR Crashes, NASCAR Fights, Joey Logano, NASCAR

Since NASCAR famously adopted and embraced its “Boys, Have At It” policy, some drivers are “having” more than others. Aggressive driving is nothing new to NASCAR. Most fans consider hard-nosed driving and rough-and-tumble finishes a large part of what makes their sport so compelling.

In these last few crucial weeks to set the 12-driver Chase for the Championship, however, this go-for-it mindset has risen to new heights — or lows. There has been as much finger-pointing and shoving in the garage as bump-and-run on the race track … and even a little profane name-calling during driver introductions.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Daytona Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Crashes, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — By the time rain halted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice Thursday night, a half dozen race cars sat hobbled in the garage while teams furiously prepared back-ups.

It was a wild first day out here at Daytona International Speedway thanks to a combination of an extremely slick track, unusually warm and humid weather conditions — even by Florida standards — and the largest restrictor plate ever used on this famous 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Reed Sorenson, David Ragan, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne were among those involved in practice session accidents. All but Edwards will use back-up cars in Friday afternoon’s qualifying for Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 here.

“I guess when we come to the superspeedway, we should prepare our back-up cars more than the primary,” said an exasperated Hamlin, who was hit from behind by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, triggering a five-car accident that also collected Reed Sorenson, Robert Richardson Jr. and Stewart with just less than an hour remaining in the evening session.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Nationwide Series, Joey Logano, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

LOUDON, N.H. — The NASCAR education of Danica Patrick continued Saturday with a hard-knocks 30th place finish — five laps down to winner Kyle Busch — in the New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It was a day of frustration, tough lessons and small accomplishments for the IZOD IndyCar Series starlet, whose effort Saturday is actually her best showing in four Nationwide Series starts.

It didn’t feel like that for Patrick, however. She spent most of the day mired in the back of the pack carefully avoiding the race leaders as a dominant Kyle Busch led 126 laps to become the all-time laps leader in Nationwide Series history.

Patrick brought out the first caution of the day only eight laps into the race — spinning out after a collision with veteran Morgan Shepherd. Frustrated, she radioed to her crew, “He totally took me out.” And then later asked, “Doesn’t he get some sort of penalty for that?”

On the ensuing restart and again as cars parked on pit road after the race, Patrick handed out her own justice — driving her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet into Shepherd’s rear bumper to let him know she didn’t appreciate the run-in.

“I obviously got dumped in the first corner,” Patrick said. “It’s hard to recover from that. … but I guess that’s racing.”

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When it comes to racing Joey Logano, a pattern is starting to emerge with how some of the veterans treat the young driver.  And the message from the veterans appears to be that they don’t respect this kid very much.  Recent run-ins with Kevin Harvick and Juan Pablo Montoya kept Logano from good finishes at Pocono and Infineon, and it’s no secret he doesn’t get along with Greg Biffle.  Instead of complaining about his fellow competitors to the media like he’s been doing though, it’s time Logano finally took action on the track.

The most talked about incident between Logano and a veteran happened a few weeks ago at Pocono.  While running in the top five late in the race, Logano was turned by Harvick with two laps to go.  Logano charged back to finish 13th, but after the race, Logano spouted off in anger and said:

“It’s disappointing, to be honest with you.  I had a top-five run going. I was racing the 29 and he let me go in the middle of the straightaway and decided to dump me in the next turn.  I don’t know what his deal is with me. It’s probably not his fault, you know? His wife wears the fire suit in the family, tells him what to do, so it’s not his fault.”

Besides the comment, Logano also took the opportunity to get in Harvick’s face after the race and let him know he was upset about what happened.  ”Sliced Bread” was so angry, he had to be restrained by crew members.

The move ultimately backfired on Logano though.  Instead of making him look tougher, Harvick and his wife Delana turned it around and made light of the situation by selling “firesuit” t-shirts, with proceeds benefiting the Harvicks’ charity.  Not exactly what Logano was looking for.

Now that he’s gotten a taste of how this all works, I’m of the opinion that Logano needs to quit talking.  The next time he gets wrecked by a competitor, he needs to exact revenge.  Whether that means waiting for a payback track like Bristol or Martinsville, or taking out his frustrations under a caution a la Clint Bowyer at Dover, it’s time for action.  These guys won’t get the picture that Logano isn’t to be messed with until he shows that he isn’t afraid to ruin someone else’s day.  Some of these guys are messing with Joey because they know they can push him around and he won’t do anything about it.  That needs to change.

Don’t get me wrong here though, I’m not usually one for wrecks.  When I watch a race, I want to see good, hard, clean action.  I know too many drivers, and seeing somebody get hurt is the last thing I want. 

At some point though, Logano needs to stand up and make a statement.  And that statement needs to be made with action, on track, and not by complaining to a guy with a microphone.

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Pit-road name calling and NASCAR tire penalties led the news this week after a raucous race at Pocono. The Joey Logano vs. Kevin Harvick feud was given teeth after a late-race wreck saw Logano confront Harvick on pit-road. Logano’s father was called to the NASCAR hauler following the confrontation after he made contact with TNT pit reporter Ralph Sheheen. In other news, Front Row Motorsports and Braun Racing received penalties this week over infractions involving tires at Pocono. Both teams received monetary fines and suspensions; Front Row was penalized 150 owner and driver points. This is the NASCAR week that was June 6 to 12, 2010.

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