He’s the most popular driver in America, and right now, Dale Earnhardt Jr., is the most overrated.
He is in the worst slump of his career. He moved to the best team in NASCAR and has won once — the same number of victories as David Reutimann running for a team that isn’t one of the super teams, or Brad Keselowski running for an independent, for gosh sakes.
In other words, Dale Jr. is just a guy. Because of his extraordinary popularity, he might as well be Anna Kournikova. Or Danica Patrick.
I scribbled these words onto a notepad more than a month ago.
The biggest surprise of the 2009 NASCAR season?
Tony Stewart.
And Ryan Newman.
Stewart-Haas Racing.
Not necessarily in that order.
Newman had finished third and Stewart 23rd at Talladega. “Nine races into the season after having taken on the project that was Haas CNC Racing, both Stewart and Newman are surprisingly competitive.” Those words were written back then, too. Stewart was fourth in the standings, and Newman 13th.
Why so much attention to something written but never printed? Because the Stewart-Haas Racing saga was important — not to mention surprising — even before the rest of the country dialed in and Racescribe had a chance to transcribe his notes.
This is what we’ve been waiting for.
Paul Tracy is driving for A.J. Foyt. Two men with take-no-prisoners attitudes.
This fusion of personalities may be what A.J. Foyt Enterprises has been waiting for. Darren Manning was surprisingly good on road courses last season for Foyt’s team. Vitor Meira may not match Manning on the road, but is a step up on ovals even if the team is a step behind everyone else.
Manning and Meira are extremely nice men.
Tracy is not.
There are moments you should remember the rest of your life. This was one of them.
Fewer than six weeks after being acquitted of tax evasion charges, Helio Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
For the third time.
Winning once is historic. Winning twice is monumental.
Three times?
Most Americans with a rooting interest in the Indianapolis 500 later today will be pulling for the wrong girl.
Instead of hoping that Danica Patrick wins the 500, folks should be pulling for Sarah Fisher. Not that she has any chance of winning. She doesn’t, unlike Patrick, who drives for one of the best teams in the IRL IndyCar Series and does a pretty good job of getting around the iconic 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Yet Fisher is starting her eighth Indy race, more than any other woman. She has never driven for a team as good as the Andretti Green Racing squad that squeezes Patrick into and out of a firesuit, nor the Rahal-Letterman outfit that helped Patrick to a fourth-place finish in 2005 that catapulted her to stardom. For those of you who may have forgotten, Patrick finished fourth in spite of herself; she caused a couple of accidents that took out a handful of competitors.
But Fisher — who was the league’s perennial most popular driver until Patrick arrived on the scene — may be the sentimental choice among other drivers. Helio Castroneves said that if he or teammate Ryan Briscoe didn’t win the race, he was hopeful it would be Fisher. Don’t bet that he is alone.
You could see Austin Coil bristle when the question was asked. A man of intense pride and accomplishment, perhaps the question was worded poorly, or the context misunderstood completely.
Whatever, there was a moment when slapping the reporter silly crossed his mind. He might never admit to it, but that’s not what his eyes said.
“I’ve won 16 championships,” said Coil, who won 14 since joining John Force to become the most dominant crew chief/driver combination in racing history. “How many has he won?”
Alex Lloyd was money. Scott Sharp was off the hook. And Helio Castroneves was, well, Castronevesque.
But clearly the most impressive performer over the first weekend of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 was America’s best hope for a superstar.
Graham Rahal.
His first coup came on Saturday, when he pulled a sixth-place qualifying run off the board and, in a new car, qualified fourth. In other words, he out-qualified Scott Dixon, the defending race champion as well as the defending IndyCar Series champion for Team Target.
St. Louis may be the gateway to the west, but Kansas Speedway is the gateway to the Indianapolis 500. It might also have been the first step toward a legitimate resurgence among American open wheel drivers.
Two weeks ago, Scott Dixon finally got off the schneid, Helio Castroneves showed he’s in midseason form, and Tony Kanaan proved once again he is as reliable as ever. But perhaps the most notable thing to emerge from the heavy skies outside Kansas City in the IndyCar Series Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 is what took place behind them.
Danica Patrick, 27, Marco Andretti, 22, and Graham Rahal, 20 — three Americans — finished 5-6-7 in the running order. That’s about as good as can be expected as they catch up to the aforementioned, as well as Dario Franchitti. That Franchitti was the only sure thing to not finish the race, it turned out to be a banner day for the red, white and blue.
That’s right, Americans.
It’s time NASCAR take a good, hard look at Talladega, maybe not from the front row, but from a seat somewhere near the top of its grandstand.
The track provides close racing and huge crowds, but at what price?
NASCAR nearly suffered a disaster. Seven fans were injured when shrapnel from Carl Edwards’ Ford flipped into the catch fence. The injuries to the fans — lacerations and fractured bones — were nothing critical, which is more lucky than important. Edwards, a superbly talented driver, was the least hurt in the spectacular crash and rightfully called out NASCAR after catching his breath. Later, on Larry King Live, he shared more insight
NASCAR can count itself fortunate that Lady Luck’s evil stepsister carried a gun with a faulty sight.
racescribe 