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Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 'Dew Crew' To Decide On 'Dark Knight Rises' NASCAR Paint Scheme For Michigan

2012-05-16T16:00:52Z

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans will pick the No. 88 team's paint scheme for next month's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan, choosing between one of four designs related to July's release of The Dark Knight Rises.

The Batman film has a tie-in with Earnhardt Jr. sponsor Diet Mountain Dew, which gives the driver's "Dew Crew" a chance to vote on which car they like best.

Check out the four possibilities below:

Earnhardt Jr.'s Dew Crew is an online hub for No. 88 team and Diet Mountain Dew fans where the sponsor offers an opportunity for supporters to have their voices heard. It's located on a Facebook page linked from DewCrew.com.

The site gave away Earnhardt Jr.'s Daytona 500 firesuit from this season and lets fans help make decisions such as the Michigan paint scheme.

So why Michigan and why the tie-in? It's because on the morning after the Michigan race (June 18, to be exact), Mountain Dew is kicking off a huge promotional push related to the Dark Knight movie.

It includes a site called DewGothamCity.com, which gives fans an inside look at the film, and a Batman-themed flavor called "Mountain Dew Dark Berry."

To vote on Earnhardt Jr.'s car, you'll have to join the Dew Crew by liking its Facebook page. Here's a video Dale Earnhardt Jr. made to explain more:

If I Were A NASCAR Owner, I'd Hire Kurt Busch

2012-05-15T21:39:10Z

Imagine for a moment you're a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner operating three fully backed cars and who has won a multitude of races and championships.

Now let's say two of your cars are performing to your lofty standards, but the third team has continually underperformed for the last couple of years to the point where you're getting pressure from your sponsors to make changes.

You want to hire someone who can jump in right away and run up front from the get-go, but there aren't a lot of big names available right now. In fact, there is only one who fits the above criteria:

Kurt Busch.

Go ahead -- scoff, shake your head and question why you would want to hire a driver with enough baggage to fill the entire cargo hold of a 747.

(Waiting for the laughter to die down.)

(Still waiting.)

As you compose yourself, here's the truth: Busch is one of the few drivers available -- if not the only one -- who is capable of winning races (plural, not singular) and a championship.

There are many reasons why the pressure to win in NASCAR is greater than ever before, but chief among them is the lack of companies willing to spend millions to sponsor a team.

At the same time, the number of drivers who are capable of making regular trips to Victory Lane to appease said sponsors are also few and far between. Busch, however, is one of those drivers.

His credentials? A Sprint Cup Series title in 2004, 24 career wins, six Chase appearances in eight years and at least one victory a year since 2002.

This is why, despite Busch's checkered past, teams who are committed to winning will always have an interest in him. Because when you take away everything else, at the end of the day he can drive a race car like few others.

And this is why it wasn't surprising last week when rumors cropped up that Richard Childress Racing was going to sign Busch to unseat Jeff Burton. Or why there are those who think it's a foregone conclusion Busch is going to Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the year to replace Joey Logano and race alongside his brother, Kyle.

While it may be great P.R. for a team to say that treating people the right way is more important than winning races, there is far more to it than just that.

How has that high road worked out so far for Penske Racing, which had grown tired of Busch's abrasive and abusive personality and mutually split from him in the offseason?

Busch's replacement, A.J. Allmendinger, has struggled so far and has come nowhere close to replicating the success Busch had a season ago. Through 11 races, Allmendinger has just one top-10 finish -- the same number Busch has accumulated despite having inferior equipment.

I fully admit Busch's behavior has often crossed the line from being overly competitive to boorish, but my hope is that he has finally learned that he has to choose his battles more carefully and realizes he can't continue to act like a spoiled child whose favorite toy had been just taken away.

While critics may point to the events of last Saturday night at Darlington and say Busch is still the same immature hothead he's always been, I counter by asking if you really expect any driver to be perfect 100 percent of the time. Because if you expect that, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

This is big-time, high-stakes racing, where tempers are going to flare from time to time, no matter how nice a person someone may be. And always remember that it's far easier to pull the reins than it is to push the reins.

Maybe it's my memory starting to fade, but I don't recall Carl Edwards' past transgressions being held over his head when he was dipping his toes in the free agency waters. Lest we forget, he could have easily killed or severely injured Brad Keselowski two years ago at Atlanta when Edwards decided to intentionally wreck Keselowski while he was running at speeds in excess of 180 mph.

And that certainly wasn't the first time Edwards showed he had anger issues. Remember when he blindsided Matt Kenseth -- a teammate, no less -- after a race at Martinsville and acted like he was going to punch him because Edwards felt Kenseth raced him too hard?

But I guess when you have a nice smile and know how to act when the cameras are rolling, it's considered water under the bridge. After all, Edwards has had zero issue attracting sponsorships or landing a ride with a top-flight team.

The key for a team to have success with Busch is pairing him with a sponsor who isn't bothered by his bad boy image, much like how Dale Earnhardt was a perfect fit for the images Wrangler and GM Goodwrench wanted to portray.

Busch being sponsored by a candy company like his brother or a product marketed toward children is simply a relationship doomed to fail. What Busch needs is a company with the knowledge that there is a place for bad boys in the marketplace, one willing to embrace his rough edges and use them to their advantage.

So go ahead, Mr. Team Owner, and sign a less talented driver who's better at playing along with others. Because as you go in that direction, I'm going to go in another: I will gladly take Busch and his considerable baggage for my imaginary Cup team.

Now, does anyone know the number for a good sports psychologist?

Guy Fieri To Drive Pace Car At Indianapolis 500

2012-05-15T14:11:54Z

Guy Fieri, the Benjamin Franklin of the 21st century, is not just a TV personality, author, and restaurateur. He's also a person who is capable of sitting inside of cars and driving them! And according to a press release issued Tuesday morning, he's going to drive the Corvette ZR1 pace car at the Indianapolis 500.

Let's help him out, everyone. What is some good advice for driving cars? If you have any advice to offer, please share it in the comments below.

NASCAR Rule Changes Leave Teams Scrambling For Wind Tunnel Time

2012-05-14T14:33:08Z

In one respect, the racecars being developed for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season will be on the racetrack next week -- in the form of ideas that will be incorporated into the new models.

On Tuesday, NASCAR sent a technical bulletin to all Cup owners, crew chiefs and drivers, listing rule changes that will take effect as of May 16, in time for the Sprint All-Star Race.

Typically, NASCAR's technical bulletins are more about housekeeping items and less about major changes to the competition package, but Tuesday's bulletin, which contained a laundry list of rule changes in eight areas, was significant enough that crew chiefs immediately began booking wind tunnel time.

Of greatest interest was the shortening of the side skirts on the Cup cars, designed to create greater ground clearance. NASCAR also has mandated use of superspeedway-sized stationary air deflectors (commonly known as "shark fins") on all tracks of two miles or more.

According to Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, the rule changes were inspired by work on the 2013 car, with an eye toward raising the speeds at which a car will lift off and become airborne.

"In working on our 2013 car, there were some things that we worked on that we can apply to help with liftoff speeds, and one of them was the Daytona and Talladega back glass and (rear) deck fins for the two-mile and above tracks," Pemberton said Saturday at Darlington Raceway.

"The other one was raising the clearance on the skirts an inch on the right and an inch and a half on the left. The majority of that was for safety."

One byproduct of the shortening of the side skirts will be a loss of downforce and a possible decrease in the stability of the cars in traffic.

"In some places where they don't get the (suspension) travel, it'll reduce the downforce just a little bit," Pemberton said. "It's not a bad thing. It's a marginal thing, but it does take some of the downforce off the cars."

Just how much downforce the Cup cars will lose is an open question, and there's no firm consensus among crew chiefs as to what the number will be, even though several teams already have tested the changes in wind tunnels and during a Goodyear tire test at New Hampshire earlier this week.

Most agree, however, that the cars will be somewhat more difficult to handle and that the changes might make it marginally easier for one car to pass another.

There's also a consensus that the changes to the side skirts will force changes to the suspensions of the cars -- particularly to the rear suspensions -- as crew chiefs try to recreate the "seal" (or close proximity) between the side skirts and the pavement as a method to recover downforce.

As one crew chief told the NASCAR Wire Service on Saturday, "We've been working all year to keep the back of the car up; now we'll have to work to get it down."

Even if the loss of downforce is a corollary effect of a larger safety goal, it will be well received by many drivers.

"Hopefully that's part of an evolution away from downforce and away from aerodynamic devices and toward the roots of what we're doing here," said Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards, an outspoken proponent of taking downforce away from the Cup cars and putting more control in the drivers' hands.

"I think it's really cool of them to do that."

Danica Patrick's Talladega Spin Of Sam Hornish Jr. Goes Unpunished

2012-05-10T20:11:15Z

Danica Patrick was on a plane after the Talladega race, taxiing to the runway when she saw a highlight of her incident with Sam Hornish Jr. for the first time.

After their cars crossed the finish line at the Talladega Nationwide Series race, Patrick had chased Hornish out of anger and bumped him from behind, sending the driver crashing into the wall.

Her reaction upon seeing the footage?

"I thought to myself, 'Uh oh,' because he hit the wall, and I didn't know that," she said. "That was not my intention."

She called Hornish that night -- they ended the conversation on good terms and with a laugh, she said -- then she sent Hornish's team owner Roger Penske an apology email.

The next morning, she called NASCAR Nationwide Series director Joe Balash to explain her side as well.

"I was definitely surprised he hit the wall," Patrick said. "That was completely unintentional and I definitely needed to know that was not intentional. And Sam didn't mean to put me in the wall, either. We're both good and we're both looking forward to Darlington."

That's all well and good, but there's something curious about what happened in the days following the incident: NASCAR decided not to penalize Patrick in any way, even though similar incidents have resulted in probation, fines and even a suspension (Kyle Busch at Texas last fall).

"That's not my department," she said. "I don't make those kind of decisions. That's up to NASCAR."

NASCAR apparently bought Patrick's explanation that she just meant to bump Hornish and not actually send him into the wall.

"You can't compare that to Kyle Busch," NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton told SportingNews.com. "Every situation is different. ... There's not a blanket answer to any of this stuff."

As NASCAR's "Boys, Have At It" policy has evolved since it began in 2010, it's been tough to determine which situations will result in punishment and which ones will be declared legal.

Here's a sampling of some notable incidents in the Have At It Era:

• March 2010: Carl Edwards intentionally spins Brad Keselowski at Atlanta, but Keselowski gets airborne -- which Edwards didn't intend. PENALTY: Edwards gets three races of probation.

• May 2010: Clint Bowyer retaliates against Denny Hamlin in the Nationwide Series race at Dover. PENALTY: Bowyer gets one month of probation.

• July 2010: Edwards and Keselowski tangle on track in the Gateway Nationwide Race. PENALTY: Edwards loses 60 points, is fined $25,000 and placed on probation. Keselowski also gets probation for the rest of the season.

• October 2010: David Reutimann intentionally puts Kyle Busch in the wall after earlier contact at Kansas. PENALTY: None.

• May 2011: Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch have a pit-road confrontation at Darlington. PENALTY: Both drivers are fined $25,000 and placed on probation for four weeks.

• June 2011: Brian Vickers intentionally wrecks Tony Stewart at Infineon Raceway after Stewart wrecked him earlier in the race. PENALTY: None.

• August 2011: Greg Biffle and Boris Said clash at Watkins Glen. Said has to be restrained from going after Biffle. PENALTY: None.

• November 2011: Kyle Busch intentionally wrecks Ron Hornaday under caution after earlier contact between the two in Texas Trucks race. PENALTY: Busch is suspended for both the Nationwide and Cup races that weekend, is fined $50,000 and placed on probation.

• May 2012: Danica Patrick chases down Sam Hornish Jr. and intentionally makes contact with him after Talladega Nationwide race, sending him into the wall. PENALTY: None.

Ryan Newman Puzzled By Lack Of Tony Stewart NASCAR Fine After Talladega

2012-05-10T19:08:45Z

Ryan Newman looked a bit perplexed on Thursday when talking about team owner Tony Stewart's sarcastic post-Talladega interview.

"I guess there's a difference when you hold a straight face versus when you don't hold a straight face," Newman said. "I'm not sure exactly how that all works."

Newman was confused because he was secretly fined $50,000 two years ago when he criticized the racing at Talladega, but Stewart wasn't fined at all for similar comments last weekend.

"I'm not sure if the (NASCAR) bank account is full or what," he said with a laugh. "I don't know how to answer that."

Here's what Newman said after the Talladega race in April 2010 that got him slapped with a secret fine:

"I was thinking when I was out there, these shouldn't be points races. If they want to have these races for the fans, just let us come here and do this, but don't let it affect our championship, because it's not racing. ... We should be here for the Talladega Event Marketing or something like that. Something different besides racing."

Stewart pretended to be upset on Sunday because "we still had over half the cars running at the end, and it shouldn't be that way."

The comments were part of a humorous four-minute rant in which he never broke character and said the opposite of everything he believed. But NASCAR chose not to fine Stewart for his comments in the same way it fined Newman (and the sanctioning body said before the season it will no longer issue secret fines).

"I get criticized for being blah and straight-faced," Newman said. "I didn't know that saved you money."

Newman said he wasn't calling for Stewart to be penalized, but said "I didn't see much difference in what he said versus what I said."

"I know NASCAR has supposedly changed their ways a little bit," he added. "I just hope we can put on a better show for the fans and in the end there's more people in the grandstands."

So what's Newman's fix for Talladega? The driver said NASCAR should quit racing at the 2.66-mile superspeedway where wrecks are common and hold a road-course race at nearby Barber Motorsports Park instead.

"It's kind of like Bristol – we're stuck in the whole dilemma of talking about racing versus crashing," he said. "... Not everybody wants to see crashing, but a good part of them want to see a big crash – The Big One.

"I mean, the commentators are playing (the wrecks) up and they're told what to tell. There's no secret about that."

NASCAR At Talladega: Weekend's Winners And Losers

2012-05-08T22:30:43Z

NASCAR's weekend at Talladega Superspeedway has come and gone, so here's a look back at the winners and losers:

Winners

Kurt Busch

In move that was nothing short of brilliant, Kurt Busch decided that the best way to maximize exposure for his underfunded, single-car Phoenix Racing team was by incorporating a paint scheme from "Talladega Nights."

The plan worked perfectly, as the media soaked up the novel idea like a sponge and fans became so enamored with Busch's Ricky Bobby-inspired ride that it was trending on Twitter throughout Sunday's Aaron's 499.

Brad Keselowski

Brad Keselowski put on a clinic both on and off the track. First, despite being in a position no one wants to be in on the last lap at Talladega – leading with a car directly behind you – the Penske driver not only found a way to keep second-place Kyle Busch behind him but also a way to break the draft and speed away from the No. 18 Toyota to score his second victory of 2012.

Afterward, Keselowski again showed why he may be the best interview in all of NASCAR as he was glib, humorous and incredibly insightful in the post-race winner's press conference.

David Ragan

In his first season with Front Row Motorsports, it's been a struggle for David Ragan. Through nine races, he had finished no better than 21st. But on the kind of track he has consistently shown a knack for running and finishing well at – his lone Sprint Cup Series win came at Daytona last July – Ragan deftly avoid the many calamities which victimized others and drove to his best result of the year, a seventh-place finish.

Losers

Matt Kenseth

It's hard to fault a guy who finished third in a race that more often than not resembles a crapshoot. But when you lead the most laps, have the best car, have your teammate behind you acting as your wingman and you lose the race on what you described as "driver error," third can be seen as disappointing.

Stewart-Haas Racing

Through six races, Stewart-Haas Racing had won three times and some – including myself – were praising the two-car team as the most complete in the garage. But in the last four races since going to Victory Lane at Martinsville, the dropoff has been considerable, as Ryan Newman has posted finishes of 21st, 20th, 15th and 36th, while Tony Stewart has finished 24th, 13th, 3rd and 24th.

Carl Edwards

A week after his gaffe at Richmond cost himself a potential victory, Carl Edwards' day came to a premature end 52 laps from the finish after he got swept up in an accident that collected eight other cars. The resulting 31st-place finish dropped the man who many thought would contend for the championship out of the Chase – for now.

Adding salt to the wound, Edwards' Roush Fenway teammates both finished in the top five and left Talladega sitting first and second in the standings.

NASCAR: Penske Racing Crew Chiefs Placed On Probation

2012-05-08T22:22:22Z

Two crew chiefs for Penske Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series were placed on probation and drew $10,000 fines Tuesday for violations found last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

Jeremy Bullins, crew chief for the No. 22 Dodge driven at Talladega by Brad Keselowski, and Chad Walter, crew chief for Sam Hornish Jr.'s No. 12 Dodge, were each fined $10,000 and placed on probation for the rest of the year for illegal modifications discovered during opening inspections on May 3. Car chiefs Thomas Clavette (No. 22) and Raymond Fox (No. 12) were also placed on probation until Dec. 31.

The penalties were identical to those issued one week ago to six crew chiefs and car chiefs with Richard Childress Racing and Turner Motorsports for similar infractions the previous weekend at Richmond, Va.

The two Penske cars failed pre-race inspection at Talladega after NASCAR officials determined that the front bumper covers had unapproved alterations.

With new bumper covers installed, Hornish finished 12th and Keselowski 20th in Saturday's Aaron's 312.