DingerWorld

Monday, May 31, 2010

Charlotte Post-Race Quotes

PAUL MENARD - No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion
Finished 8th
"We've had a really good Ford Fusion since the test here a while back. We learned a lot then and just fine tuned on the car after that. We were strong in the Showdown last week and we're hopeful we would have a good car in race trim this weekend too - and we did. Our Menards pit crew was great again tonight. This finish was totally a team effort."

***

AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
Finished 14th
"We were terrible. I am proud of my guys for taking a 25th place car and getting 15th out of it. Because of that I am really proud of my guys. That was a really long night. Overall I am just proud of my crew chief Mike Shiplett and my engineer Phil and all my guys - they fought hard. It wasn't easy and it certainly wasn't fun. We got a decent day out of something that wasn't good."

Credit - Ford Racing

Charlotte Results

Coca-Cola 600 Finishing Order
1. Kurt Busch
2. Jamie McMurray
3. Kyle Busch
4. Mark Martin
5. David Reutimann
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Paul Menard
9. Ryan Newman
10. Matt Kenseth
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Kasey Kahne
13. Joey Logano
14. AJ Allmendinger
15. Tony Stewart
16. Carl Edwards
17. Sam Hornish, Jr.
18. Denny Hamlin
19. Regan Smith
20. Brad Keselowski
21. Elliott Sadler
22. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
23. Martin Truex, Jr.
24. David Ragan
25. Jeff Burton
26. David Gilliland
27. Bill Elliott
28. Travis Kvapil
29. Casey Mears
30. Scott Speed
31. Bobby Labonte
32. Greg Biffle
33. Robby Gordon
34. JJ Yeley
35. Kevin Conway
36. Marcos Ambrose
37. Jimmie Johnson
38. Juan Pablo Montoya
39. Joe Nemechek
40. Todd Bodine
41. Johnny Sauter
42. Michael McDowell
43. Dave Blaney

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Charlotte Post-Qualifying Quotes

KASEY KAHNE -- No. 9 Budweiser Ford Fusion
Qualified 4th
"That was a good lap. If felt really good. Everything about that felt good actually. I am really happy with the car and the adjustments and where we are at. I am a little surprised it wasn't faster actually. That will be a good spot."

***

PAUL MENARD -- No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion
Qualified 32nd
"I was hoping for a bigger pick-up than that. We struggled getting off turn four all day today. That is where I made up a lot of time last week in qualifying here. We just have to see how it shakes out. We have a good race car nonetheless."

DO YOU FEEL IT WAS A DISADVANTAGE GOING FIRST ON A DAY LIKE TODAY AT THIS TRACK? "Yeah, the sun is going down pretty quick. It is a disadvantage but there is nothing we can do about that. We just have to go do the best job we can."

***

ELLIOTT SADLER -- No. 19 Air Force/Stanley Ford Fusion
Qualified 40th
"That is a pretty bad lap. The car didn't drive anything like it did earlier in practice. We need to go figure that out. We are going to have to get it better. We will go try to find out what happened and go from there. It is a long race on Sunday, so we will just work on getting better."

Credit - Ford Racing

Charlotte Qualifying Results

Coca-Cola 600 Starting Lineup
1. Ryan Newman
2. Kurt Busch
3. Martin Truex, Jr.
4. Kasey Kahne
5. Jimmie Johnson
6. David Reutimann
7. Denny Hamlin
8. Joey Logano
9. Kyle Busch
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Mark Martin
12. Jeff Burton
13. Casey Mears
14. Sam Hornish, Jr.
15. Jeff Gordon
16. Matt Kenseth
17. Dave Blaney
18. AJ Allmendinger
19. Joe Nemechek
20. Juan Pablo Montoya
21. Scott Speed
22. Johnny Sauter
23. Kevin Harvick
24. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
25. Bill Elliott
26. Tony Stewart
27. Jamie McMurray
28. David Gilliland
29. Todd Bodine
30. Michael McDowell
31. Carl Edwards
32. Regan Smith
33. Paul Menard
34. Marcos Ambrose
35. David Ragan
36. Robby Gordon
37. JJ Yeley
38. Brad Keselowski
39. Bobby Labonte
40. Elliott Sadler
41. Greg Biffle
42. Travis Kvapil
43. Kevin Conway
DNQ Reed Sorenson
DNQ Max Papis
DNQ David Stremme
DNQ Mike Bliss

Charlotte Preview

AJ ALLMENDIGER - No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion
* Allmendinger has made six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway
* The driver is currently 25th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings

AJ Allmendinger on Charlotte Motor Speedway: "We had a really fast car last weekend in the Sprint Showdown. The No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion ended up with some damage after slight contact in one of the incidents, which I think affected how well the car had been running. But that race gave us a sense of what's ahead this weekend.

"600 miles is a long way to go but I'm confident in the car we'll have and this Richard Petty Motorsports team. They've been working hard and I'm proud of them. This is another race that goes from day to night. We'll have to be patient and just keep our focus until those last 100 laps or so. I'm looking forward to going out there and giving Best Buy and our fans a good run."

Crew Chief Mike Shiplett's Thoughts on Charlotte: "When we go to the 600, that's just about survival. You'll start in the heat of the day and finish at night. The track will be cooler. You just have to get through the first 300 miles and start racing the last 100 or 150 laps. That's when you can win or lose that race."

Chassis History: The No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team led by crew chief Mike Shiplett has prepared chassis No. 294 for this weekend's event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Monday, May 24, 2010

All-Star Showdown Post-Race Quotes

PAUL MENARD -- NO. 98 SERTA/MENARDS FORD FUSION
Finished 4th
“That was a good time. Our Serta Ford Fusion was really fast at the start of the race and took off really well on four tires, so that’s where we were able to gain a good bit on the field. We just needed a little bit more time, I think. We took four tires when some took two, but I’m not sure that set us too far back in the field or not. It was a tough call and we did what we thought was best for our car. This gives us a lot of hope for next week-end. We’ll bring this same car back for the 600 and we’re anxious to see what we can do.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER -- NO. 43 BEST BUY FORD FUSION
Finished 8th
“I really thought we had the car to beat and that’d we’d race our way into the big show. The rear quarter panel got some damage there in the wreck around Lap 22. It seemed like that took away from how good the No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion had been. But I’m proud of this Richard Petty Motorsports team and want to thank all the guys for working so hard. A big thanks too to Best Buy and for all the fans for voting in the Fan Vote. Its so amazing to see all the support. We’re going to win a race this year so that we’ll be in the Sprint All-Star race next year.”

ELLIOTT SADLER -- NO. 19 HUNT BROTHERS PIZZA FORD FUSION
Finished 11th
“I can’t thank the fans enough for all their votes and support. It was amazing. I would have loved to have put this No. 19 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford in the All-Star race. Both the Showdown and the Sprint All-Star races are always fun events for all the teams and, of course, the fans.”

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Thursday, May 20, 2010

All-Star Preview

AJ ALLMENDINGER
NO. 43 BEST BUY FORD FUSION
• AJ Allmendinger has made three Sprint Showdown appearances
• Allmendinger won the Showdown in 2008 after qualifying in the fourth position
• Racing Dreams will be featured on the Best Buy car this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway

AJ Allmendinger on the Sprint All-Star Race: “We’ve been working really hard to get the Fan Vote so we can make sure we’re in the All-Star Race, but that’s just a backup plan because we plan to race our way in. It’s been a fun campaign trying to get people to vote for me and I’ve been flattered by all the people that have. The Sprint All-Star race is something special. It’s great not only for the fans, but for the crew and for our sponsors. Best Buy and all of our partners deserve to be a part of that event and we’re going to do everything it takes to get there. I think we’ve got a car to beat.”

Credit - Richard Petty Motorsports PR

Monday, May 17, 2010

Dover Race Recap

It was a roller coaster of a day at the Monster Mile for AJ Allmendinger and the #43 crew on Sunday. After a solid qualifying effort at the Dover track, AJ started off the Autism Speaks 400 in 8th position. He maintained a top 10 spot through the first run of green flag racing and then came in for four fresh tires under the first caution. The pit crew had a great stop and got AJ a couple of positions to restart the race in 6th spot.

When the race went green again, it was like watching Richard Petty himself rocket through the field in the classic Petty blue and STP red colors. AJ made quick work in getting into the top five, but wasn’t satisfied with just making laps. He quickly conquered 4th and 3rd positions and then he set his sights on leader Kyle Busch and 2nd place Jimmie Johnson, who had put some distance on the rest of the field.

The fastest car in the field for quite some time, AJ gradually reeled in the two front runners and came up on the back of them just as Jimmie Johnson got around Kyle Busch to take the lead. AJ also made quick work of the younger Busch brother and then went after the four time champion. It looked like he was going to get past JJ a couple of times as they worked through traffic, but AJ finally settled into 2nd place as the two of them put a five second gap on the 3rd place car.

When it came time for a green flag pit stop on lap 130, AJ brought the Richard Petty Tribute car in for four tires and fuel. Unfortunately, a dropped lug nut on the right rear cost the team some time as the tire changer had to come back around and put the lug nut on. Thankfully the mistake was under green instead of yellow, so while AJ lost his large time advantage on the field, he only dropped one spot to 3rd once everything cycled through.

The pit stop had more severe consequences than just the lost position though. NASCAR only requires that the lug nuts be fully on the stud, but not necessarily tightened all the way. So when AJ’s tire changer went back for the lug, he tried saving time by not taking his air gun. Instead, he simply hand tightened it to get past the requirement so that AJ could shoot out of his stall immediately.

It might have saved a little bit of time by not having to run the air gun back around the car, but in my opinion they should have taken the extra time to do it right. That loose lug nut quite possibly cost the team a top five finish as AJ reported in 30 laps later that he had a bad vibration. Knowing the problems on the stop and suspecting a loose wheel was the culprit, AJ made the decision to come down pit road rather than ending up in the wall.

Luck wasn’t on AJ’s side as the caution came out on lap 165 while AJ was still on pit road. The pace car picked up the field and AJ couldn’t quite beat them out of pit road, trapping him not just one, but two laps down. All wasn’t lost though, as the new wave around rule benefitted the #43 team. AJ got one of his laps back after the leaders pitted and started at the tail end of the field, now one lap down and hunting for the lucky dog spot.

With what was still a top five race car on the speed chart, AJ picked his way through all of the lap down cars and eventually had a rough and tumble brawl with Ryan Newman to take the lucky dog position. When the caution flag fell giving AJ his lap back, he restarted in the 17th position and went to work again, moving up through the field.

Making it all the way up to a top 10 spot, the caution again flew and AJ brought the Tribute car back to the attention of the crew. This time it was the driver who made the error in the pits. Pitted right at the end of pit road, crew chief Mike Shiplett urged AJ to race out of his stall, possibly thinking that there wasn’t enough distance before the time line for the car to break pit road speed. That wasn’t the case though, and AJ was forced to start at the end of the field for a speeding penalty.

Restarting in 17th position, AJ only made up a couple of spots as he battled an ill-handling car. An adjustment on a green flag pit stop helped a little bit, but the handling still wasn’t near where it had been at the first part of the race. While he had been the fastest car in the field in the early running, he was now only clicking off top 15 lap times. Which is pretty much where he finished, ending up with a 14th place effort when the checkers fell.

While there were certainly disappointments throughout the race, I can’t say that the day was all bad. In fact, I think there were more positives to be taken away from the race than negatives. Certainly the #43 team needs to work on some things to make themselves into a race winning team, but this weekend they managed to prove to everyone that they aren’t far off the mark.

Mistakes by the pit crew happen to even the best of teams. That’s just the consequence of trying to make every 1/10th of a second count. I’m sure they will review what went wrong and take measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The speeding penalty was also the result of knowing they had a car capable of winning and trying to take advantage of every opportunity. AJ rarely has issues with speeding, and since the one on Sunday was more a consequence of where their pit stall was, I don’t even consider that an issue that needs resolved.

Honestly, I think the biggest thing that hurt the #43 team’s efforts on Sunday was just consistency with the handling of the car. The way the track rubbered up threw all the crew chiefs a curveball, and made the cars a handful for the drivers. While AJ obviously had one of the fastest cars at the beginning of the race, they either couldn’t keep up with the changing conditions, or else the rest of the field made their cars that much better.

In any case, even without the speeding penalty or the loose wheel, I think AJ would have had a tough time keeping the Tribute car on pace with the top 5 cars at the end of the 400 miles. That consistency and making good changes is the biggest thing that they need to work on right now. They’ve proven that they can build race winning cars – now they need to learn how to tweak those cars during the race so they can close the deal.

The Sprint Cup level of competition is fierce. It is getting more and more difficult to win races, even with the absolute best equipment out there – look at Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton as examples. Not only do you have to have a super fast car, but a flawless pit crew, a machine for a driver, and apparently the perfect alignment of the stars in order to make the trip to Victory Lane, as luck certainly seems to be a factor.

While AJ and the #43 team have had their flashes of excellence, they haven’t quite managed to put everything together for that one perfect race. But yesterday they showed me that they’re not that far off the mark. That’s why, all things considered, I look at Sunday’s race in Dover as a success rather than a failure. The best is yet to come.