Ambrose Looks for Redemption at Sonoma Road Course

Last season's trip to the Infineon Raceway was one that Marcos Ambrose likely wants to forget about. In fact, he had forgotten all about his heartbreaking miscue in the final laps of last seasons race until reporters mentioned it to him this weekend. For those who didn't catch what happened, in the last few laps of last year's event the Tasmanian Ambrose was trying to conserve fuel under a late caution period. As the field crossed the start finish line he cut his engine off before they reached the hill in turn one. Perfectly routine... that is until the car wouldn't refire. The field then began their assent into turn one, making firing the engine in Ambrose's No. 47 car next to impossible. His car stopped at the top of the hill, Nascar penalized him for not maintaining "reasonable speed" and he was strapped with a sixth place finish.

Even i you're not a fan of the smiling driver from down under, you had to feel bad for him. Having a a shot to win your first race in Nascar's premier series and losing like that is unfathomable. But this season, Ambrose has a new team and some new colors on his car, but he still has the same passion he's had since his first truck series start in 2006.

Ever since he climbed in a stock car, Ambrose has been fighting to prove he belongs. He made his name racing (and dominating) the V8 Supercar Series in his native Australia. This series races strictly on road courses and uses a car similar to a Nascar stock car. They race the same Holdens and Fords that fans drive to the track. Ambrose won series titles in 2003 and 2004 and brought his expertise to our sport in 2006.

Despite his road racing prowess, Ambrose wants to be known as a racer, not a road racer. While he hasn't silenced all of his critics, he has proven that he does belong and he can get it done in Nascar. He has top five finishes at Las Vegas and Dover and has led laps in more than a few events this season. But while he has proven his worth on ovals this season, now the series returns to Ambrose's forte. Now they will turn left and right on the tricky Infineon Raceway. Ambrose and his Stanley team are pretty much a lock for a top ten.

But to win would mean so much to so many more people than just those on the No. 9 Ford team. The team's sponsor Stanley Tools has already committed $100,000 to the Children's Miracle Network. But if Marcos wins the race Sunday, Stanley will add a zero to the check and donate $1,000,000 to the hospitals. Yes a win would cement Marcos Ambrose a place in Nascar and the Sprint Cup Series, but it would also help some very sick children and their families and that would be the most important part of a Marcos Ambrose victory come Sunday.

Silly Season in Full Swing as Nascar Enters Summer Strech

As Nascar heads into the dog days of summer, the weather isn't the only thing about to heat up. The hot seat that several drivers and crew chiefs are on is beginning to get warmer by the race and add to the pressure their teams already feel to perform at the sports highest level.

Roush-Fenway Racing is the team in the biggest quandary. All of their driver's and sponsor's contracts are up this season and the only combo they have managed to lock down was Greg Biffle's No. 16 car with 3M sponsorship. Carl Edwards, David Ragan and Matt Kenseth, as well as their respective sponsors (Aflac, UPS and Crown Royal) have yet to sign on the dotted line and commit to racing the team's Fords in 2012. The biggest player in this deal is definitely Edwards. He leads the points, has already visited victory lane twice and has eleven top tens in fifteen starts this season. It would be hard to imagine him leaving his cushy seat in the Aflac No. 99 right?

Not if Jack Roush can't afford his price tag. With Edwards' new-found stardom comes a hefty asking price. If "The Cat in the Hat" can't put together the cash, Joe Gibbs Racing is set to pounce on the superstar wheelman. It has also been rumored that JGR has been courting

Edwards for a while now and that he may move into a second car for the Toyota organization (Tell me Edwards going to a Toyota team wouldn't stick in Roush's craw). It was also rumored that current Roush sponsor UPS, one of the richest and most prestigious sponsors in the garage, would accompany Edwards should he move to Gibbs Racing.

That's another key factor in how Roush-Fenway will go about preparing for 2012. David Ragan has shown several signs of promise, but has been relatively unimpressive so far this season. This could play into UPS's decision to stick around and if they follow Edwards to JGR, that's millions in sponsorship dollars that RFR will forfeit to the Totoya juggernaut. If this did prove to be true, then fans could expect Edwards' current sponsor, Aflac, to move over to Ragan's No. 6 team.

The other question is if Edwards did move to Gibbs, would it really be in a fourth car? Joey Logano has done very little to impress in his three years in cup and Home Depot has to be a little miffed that the driver who replaced two time champion Tony Stewart in that ride has not lived up to the hype. However, JGR has said that both the home improvement giant and Logano will return in 2012. But they also said that about Stewart in 2008. Smoke then left to form his own team in 2009, despite still having a year on his contract at Gibbs.

On the crew chief side of things, it was also reported that Greg Zippadelli would jump ship from the struggling No. 20 car and reunite with his longtime driver and friend Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing. This would allow the current head wrench on the No.14, Darian Grubb to take over as SHR's director of competition, a position recently vacated by Bobby Hucthins. Zippy and Stewart were very successful in their decade long run at Gibbs Racing, winning more that thirty races and two titles in 2002 and 2005.

So we will have to wait and see what happens. The merry-go-round of rumors has been spinning out of control in recent weeks and it will be very interesting to see where all the drivers and sponsors involved will land once it stops at season's end.

JGR Penalties Announced

Just in case you've been out of the loop this past weekend, Nascar found the three Joe Gibbs Racing cup teams to have unapproved oil pans on their Camrys at Michigan last Friday. As you might expect, there had also been a lot of speculation prognostication about what penalties the organization might receive for this infraction.

That all ended Tuesday when the sanctioning body announced that the teams crew chiefs, Mike Ford (No. 11), Dave Rogers (No.18) and Greg Zippadelli (No. 20) had each been fined $50,000 and placed on probation until December 31st. In addition, the teams car chiefs and senior vice president of racing operations each received a year of probation.

This is just not a sufficient penalty. They really needed to deduct points from these teams. While JGR still adamantly denies that they were trying to gain an advantage, the facts are the facts. These oil pans weighed between twenty five and thirty pounds apiece. They also laid extremely close to the underside of the engine. At a 2 mile oval like Michigan International Speedway, what other explanation could there be for an infraction like this than to gain an aerodynamic advantage over the competition?

This isn't the first time that the team owned by the former Washington Redskins coach has had a run in with rules violations. A Busch Series race at Michigan where magnets were used to prevent the throttles in both their cars from running wide open comes to mind. They just play stupid and hide behind their Bibles. For a team that displays such religious, moral values and has a play-by-the-rules mentality, its quite surprising that they try and bend those same rules as much as possible.Instead of just looking at the pans as "unapproved", Nascar really should have asked more questions and thought about what the team had to gain. They definitely botched this call.

Red Bull Done in Nascar?

When Toyota entered Nascar's Sprint (then Nextel) Cup Series in 2007, three teams signed up to field Camrys for the rookie manufacturer. They were Bill Davis Racing, Red Bull Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. Four years later, it appears that only Waltrip's organization (predicted by fans to be the first to fold) will be the lone team of those original three racing in 2012. Davis' team closed up shop after the 2008 cup tour due to sponsor Caterpillar leaving for Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 car and now it seems that Red Bull is pulling support of it's two car operation after this season.

It was reported Monday that the Austria-based energy drink juggernaut will no longer fund it's Nascar team but still be involved in other forms of motorsport. The team is sponsoring Formula One driver Sebastian Vettle's championship run, winning just about everything on that circuit, but the team has struggled mightily on the American side of their racing endeavour. They have come close to winning a few times this year with Kasey Kahne and have a few top tens with Red Bull veteran Brian Vickers.

In it's four year history, RBR has earned just one win with Vickers at Michigan in 2008 and one Chase for the Cup berth in that same season. Other than that, the team has been a middle of the pack one at best.

Even though the story just broke, there are already two scenarios for this operation next season. The first, and most likely, involves team GM Jay Frye and driver Mark Martin buying the team and racing with equipment supplied by Hendrick Motorsports. The other involved former crew chief and team owner Ray Evernham buying the team, a story that Evernham insists is false.

One has to wonder though how committed the Red Bull brand actually was to their Nascar program. They are based in Austria and, because of that, spend no time at the racetrack. You can't run a successful racing organization when every other owner shows up at the races every week, concerned and interested in how their team is running and operating and you aren't. Both the team's drivers are moving on after this season (Kahne to Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 car and Vickers has said he's exploring his options) and their lack of success on the track is doing very little to entice other drivers to sign up to race the team's Toyotas. There are still many questions to be answered and it will be a little while longer before we know all the details, but it will be very interesting to see how this all unfolds.

Michigan Race "Pans Out" for Hamlin Team

The weekend for the Joe Gibbs Racing organization didn't start all that promisingly. All three teams were found to have unapproved oil pans on their Toyotas, each weighing about twenty five pounds. Later, in the final practice of the day, Joey Logano blew an engine. This was JGR's ninth engine failure of the season. Surly their race weekend would not be all that spectacular. Right?

The HelluvaGood 400 started when Kurt Busch (after winning his third consecutive pole award) led the field into turn one flanked by David Reutimann's Aaron's Dream Machine. It didn't take long to get exciting because withing the first several laps Jimmie Johnson spun his No. 48 Lowes Chevy off turn two. The Chad Knaus led team later discovered that they had sheered off one of their front sway bars in the spin and lost several laps making repairs. This cost the five-time defending champions any shot at the victory.

The Roush-Fenway Fords also flexed their muscles early on. Greg Biffle jumped out to an early lead and was joined up front by team mates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. The blue oval brigade has proven all season long that the FR-9 engines they have under the hood are unstoppable on 1.5 and 2 mile tracks.

Pit road and fuel mileage also proved impactful. Matt Kenseth's team failed to get their Crown Royal Ford full of fuel and had issues with hung lug nuts during their stops. Marin Truex, Jr had a top ten car, but was relegated to mid pack because a loose wheel forced him to pit his NAPA Toyota. Dale Jr also had a car that could have contended for the win, but a slow stop (where he lost eleven, yes eleven, spots) placed him in the middle of the pack. David Reutimann also encountered issues. Despite the car's speed, the engine lost all fuel pressure as the No. 00 car entered the straightaways. The team replaced the fuel cable and the carbourator which eliviated the problem. It also cost them about twenty laps on the racetrack and any chance of a top ten finish.

More controversy started when, late in the race, Mark Martin slid up the track off turn two and forced teammate Earnhardt, Jr into the outside wall. This led to Junior blowing a right front tire, hitting the turn two wall again, and setting up the final restart of the day. This time, Kenseth spun his tires, held up Edwards and allowed Hamlin to jump out to a pretty stout lead. The No. 17 Ford made one last run at Hamlin's No. 11 off turn two, but could no complete the pass when the air off the 11 caused the nose of Kenseth's car to push up the racetrack. But on the final lap, off the final corner, Kenseth made one final run at the FedEx Toyota. He got loose, almost wrecking his Fusion, and sealed the win for Denny Hamlin.

This was Hamlin's first win of the season, snapping the four year long jinx on drivers that have not won after finishing second in points the previous season. But the race this weekend will prove more difficult for Nascar regulars like Hamlin. The race this weekend will be in Sonoma, California, where drivers will have to make right and left turns on the Infineon Raceway and there will be some new faces up front because of that. Will Denny Hamlin make it two in a row or will a "road course ringer" finally conquer the twists and turns of the Napa Valley road course?

JGR Teams Caught Red Handed

Before the Sprint Cup Series racers even hit the track for practice there was controversy in the garage area. The No. 11, No. 18 and No. 20 team out of Joe Gibbs Racing were found to have illegal oil pans on their cars that were never submitted for approval by Nascar. The teams were forced to replace the parts before they took to the track. Now the talk is about what penalties, if any, there will be.

It was originally reported that there would be no repercussions because the violation was discovered before the teams hit the track. But now, Nascar is saying that it would be similar to the penalties Michael Waltrip Racing faced at Texas last season. MWR's No. 00 and 56 teams as well as the JTG Racing No. 47 car and the No. 13 Germain Racing team (both built in the MWR shop) were found to have radiator pans that weren't approved by the sanctioning body. The 47 and 13 teams were penalized 50 driver and owner points and $75,000, while the 00 and 56 crew chiefs were fined $25,000 and no points were deducted. The pans weighed anywhere from 25 to 45 pounds depending on the team. Because of this Nascar classified the pans as "unapproved ballast weight" and that they "should weigh a couple of pounds at best."

Fast forward to Friday afternoon in Brooklyn, Michigan. The oil pans on the Gibbs Racing cars were reported to weigh about 25 pounds apiece. Other teams oil pans weigh about four pounds. Nascar said that there probably wouldn't be a points penalty, just a cash fine because they don't have to judge if a part is too light or too heavy because they were never used in the track. That's baloney. If the intent to cheat is there, there should still be a points penalty involved.

For a team owned by such a Bible banging holy roller like Joe Gibbs, they sure to get involved in cheating scandals a lot. Lets all remember the Nationwide (then Busch) Series race at Michigan in 2008 when the JGR No. 18 and 20 cars had magnets in the throttle to prevent it from running 100 percent wide open. Now this. You can't tell me that the team was not trying to gain more front downforce by having an oil pan that weighed about 20 pounds more than a normal one. But Nascar won't look at it from that perspective because the parts were never used on track? Give me a break. Typical Nascar favoritism and I can guarantee you that his Holiness, Mr. Gibbs, and his team will all hide behind their Bibles and talk about how they didn't mean to do anything wrong. I wonder what Jesus would have to say about your team's recent rule breaking Mr. Gibbs.

Third Hall of Fame Class Provides Great Mix of Cup, Mods and Mechnics

In recent years, one of the biggest debates outside of who is going to win on a given weekend is who would make up the next class of inductees to be enshrined in the Nascar Hall of Fame. Well that question was answered Tuesday afternoon when it was announced that Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Inman, Richie Evans and Leonard Wood would be the third class of stock car legends to be immortalized in the Hall of Fame.

The first driver announced was Cale Yarborough. He made his name in racing by winning 83 races and three consecutive titles from 1976-'78. Three consecutive titles was unheard of during that time. He also won four Daytona 500s. Yarborough was a good ol' boy with a temper (this was evident at the end of the 1979 Daytona 500) and he was also aligned with one of the greatest owners of the day, Junior Johnson. His No. 11 Holly Farms Chicken Chevelle Laguna was always a threat to win on Sunday. The man that replaced Cale behind the wheel of Johnson's No. 11 was the next name announced.

Darrell Waltrip spent his life trying to make it in the then Grand National Series. He made his first start in the No. 95 Terminal Transport car and has since won 84 races and three championships. Ol' D.W. won all of his titles driving for his hero, Junior Johnson. His No. 11 Mountain Dew Buick is still one of the most iconic cars in the sport today. Today, many newer fans know him as a color commentator for Nascar on FOX and the guy that yells "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity! Lets go racing boys!" before the start of every broadcast.

The third man inducted will be the first crew chief in the hall. Dale Inman, the winningest crew chief in Nascar history, scored a staggering 198 race victories and seven titles (eat your heart out Chad Knaus) with his cousin, stock car racing legend Richard Petty. In an era where there was no two way radio communication and pit boards were the main line of communication between a driver and crew, it was very important that the crew chief knew what his driver wanted in a race car. Inman knew how Petty wanted his car to feel and it showed on the race track. Their Petty Enterprises No. 43 team was the team to beat on a weekly basis.

The fourth name announced was a bit of a surprise. Rome, New York's Richie Evans made his name racing in Nascar's modified division, winning an unprecedented eight consecutive titles (Jimmie who). The "Rapid Roman" won virtually everything there was to win in the modified division and turned down several offers to go Cup series racing because he was having too much fun racing his famous No. 61 orange and black modified. But despite this success, his career was tragically cut short.While practicing for a race in Martinsville, Evans' wrecked hard in the third turn and perished in the accident. It is great to see an icon from one of Nascar's lesser known divisions getting the recognition he deserves.

The final name announced was legendary owner Glen Wood. The patriarch of racing's second most famous family, Wood and his Wood Brothers Racing team (revolutionized the racing world. The Wood's No. 21 team was also selected to pit Jim Clark's Lotus in the 1965 Indianapolis 500. Clark and the Wood's went on to win the event. This team did some pretty revolutionary things to save time on pit road and practiced their pit stops to make them more of a mechanical ballet than a change of tires and a full tank of gas. One of their most significant innovations was using an adhesive to bond the lug nuts to the tires. This saved the team the trouble of having to put the lugs on the studs by hand, saving precious seconds. The No. 21 car also won an impressive 98 races ad has been wheeled by legends like A.J. Foyt, David Pearson, Morgan Shepherd, Michael Waltrip and Kyle Petty. They also won the 2011 Daytona 500 with rising star Trevor Bayne.

So I think the voting committee definitely got it right this time. The mix of two cup champions, a legendary crew chief, one of the most successful owners in the sports history and probably the greatest driver to never reach the Cup series. Names like Yarborough, Waltrip, Inman, Wood and Evans are all hall of fame material with hall of fame numbers. These five names revolutionized the sport and dominated during their careers. But more than that, this class also demonstrates what this hall of fame is really about. It isn't a Sprint Cup Series Hall of Fame, it's a Nascar Hall of Fame and this diverse group confirms just that.