Triathlons or 600-mile stock car races: No problem for Johnson

May 23, 2013: Weekend Preview

Staff Report

NASCAR Wire Service

Long distances don't scare Jimmie Johnson.

It doesn't matter whether he's running a triathlon or driving a 3,300-lb. stock car at upwards of 200 mph, he enjoys both, and is pretty good at both.

Though most NASCAR fans know how adept Johnson is at piloting a race car through the banked turns at the 23 tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, some may not be aware of his success away from the tracks.

He's competed in several triathlons and half-marathons. As a matter of fact he competed in an Olympic-distance triathlon (0.93-mile swim/24.8-mile cycle/6.2-mile run) in Palm Springs, Calif., last December where he finished first in his age group and eighth overall. On Feb. 17 of this year, he along with several other drivers participated in Daytona Beach's half-marathon (13.1 miles). He competed in the race shortly after finishing the Sprint Showdown

Therefore, it's no surprise that endurance races such as Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 (6:00 p.m. ET, FOX) at Charlotte Motor Speedway are right up his alley. In fact, the training he does to prepare for the triathlons and half-marathons might provide him with an advantage over his competitors at the speedways.

"It all helps for sure from the physical side. I think the mental side of not feeling good and being uncomfortable for long periods of time is good," said Johnson, who currently leads Carl Edwards in the standings by 44 points. "I feel like I'm a lot smarter now with nutrition and hydration than I was. My body is programmed to live in that environment and deal with those things."

Johnson has experienced great success in NASCAR's longest race having won the 600-mile event in three consecutive years (2003-2005). In addition, he finished second in 2006. In 11 Coca-Cola 600 starts, he has also compiled four top fives, six top 10s and two poles to go along with a driver rating of 108.1. In last year's race, he finished 11^th, one lap down.

The high banks of the 1.5-mile track located in Concord, N.C., have always been welcoming to Johnson, who has won six points-paying events in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series there. Add to that total his record four victories in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, the most recent coming last Saturday night when he pocketed a cool $1 million.

In 23 points races at Charlotte, 11 top fives, 15 top 10s and three poles. His average driver rating at the track is an impressive series-leading 111.7, four points higher than the next driver. The California native has led 1,439 laps here, third most among all NASCAR Sprint Cup tracks behind Martinsville and Dover.

Over the past eight years, since NASCAR has been collecting loop data, Johnson has the best average starting position (6.2) and average running position (7.9) among active drivers at Charlotte. In addition, he has the best passing differential (205) with the fewest times passed (962) during green-flag racing. He has also logged the highest amount of fastest laps (544) and completed more laps at the track in the top 15 (4,932), almost 400 laps more than the driver with the second-most top-15 laps.

This year, Johnson is currently on pace to capture his sixth title after taking a two-year hiatus from celebrating on the championship stage in Homestead. After the first 11 races, he has only finished outside the top 12 once (22^nd in Bristol). He won the season-opening Daytona 500, over Dale Earnhardt Jr., and five races later found Victory Lane again at Martinsville. He has an average finishing position of 6.7 in 2013 with six top fives and eight top 10s.  

If Johnson is able to continue on this trajectory through the remainder of the season, it is quite possible that he and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team will be the ones hoisting the championship trophy at season's end. He would also be the first driver to win the title in the new Generation 6 race car, which has received rave reviews so far.

Johnson is just one of many who have sung the car's praises.

"I think it's proven to be a fun car to drive, a reliable car," said Johnson. "The car has been very durable, very fun to drive and fast."

Regardless of whether or not Johnson is positioned atop the standings in November, look for a very formidable performance and strong race car this weekend at Charlotte.

Flock, Petty, Jarrett, Ingram and Roberts to join the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2014

Flock, Petty, Jarrett, Ingram and Roberts to join the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2014

May 22, 2013

Staff Report

NASCAR Wire Service

Any trip to the NASCAR Hall of Fame puts fans face-to-face with some of the sport's most remarkable artifacts, stories and legends.

Today, five more of those all-timers will live on forever, as NASCAR announced the inductees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2014.

The five newest members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame that will be inducted on January 29, 2014, are Tim Flock, Maurice Petty, Dale Jarrett, Jack Ingram and Fireball Roberts.

Flock, who received 76 percent of the vote, was one of NASCAR's earliest superstars, winning the NASCAR premier series championship twice (1952, 1955). In only 187 starts, he had 39 victories, which ranks him 18^th on the all-time wins list. He won eight races and posted 22 top fives in 33 starts while driving a Hudson Hornet to his first title in 1952. In 1955, his second championship season, he visited Victory Lane an amazing 18 times with 32 top fives and 18 poles in only 39 races.

He also won NASCAR's only sports car race in 1955. For Flock, racing in NASCAR's premier series was a family affair as he was joined on track by his brothers Bob and Fonty and sister Ethel. In 1998, he was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers.

Petty joins his father Lee, older brother Richard and cousin Dale Inman in the NASCAR Hall of Fame after receiving 73 percent of the vote in his first time on the ballot. As the chief engine builder at Petty Enterprises, he supplied the horsepower that propelled Richard Petty to most of his 200 victories in the NASCAR premier series, including seven titles and seven Daytona 500 victories.   

The younger Petty also built winning engines for a number of other drivers, including his dad, Lee. As a teenager, he worked on his father's pit crew alongside his brother. In 2001, he worked as a consultant to Dodge upon its return to NASCAR's premier series in 2001.

Jarrett, who was on the ballot for the first time this year, received 56 percent of the votes. The 1999 NASCAR premier series champion joins his father, Ned, as the third father-son combination to be enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame behind the Frances and Pettys. In the younger Jarrett's championship season, he finished first four times and landed 29 top-10 finishes in only 34 races. He capped off the year with a run of eight consecutive top-10 finishes that propelled him to the title.

By the time he hung up his driving gloves in order to pursue a successful career as a NASCAR commentator for ESPN and ABC, he had won 32 races in the premier series -- good for 21^st on the all-time wins list -- including three Daytona 500s, two Brickyard 400s and a Coca-Cola 600.  

Ingram, who only started 19 NASCAR premier series races, primarily found success in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and its precursor -- the Late Model Sportsman Division. Before the series as we know it today was formed, Ingram won three consecutive championships (1972-1974). He won the NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) title in its inaugural season of 1982, and again in 1985.

After 10 years of racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, he had 31 wins, a record that stood until Mark Martin broke it in 1997. All but two of his wins came on short tracks. He was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1988.

Fireball Roberts, who earned his nickname as a hard-charging high school pitcher, was the last inductee to be announced with 51 percent of the vote. During his career, which spanned 207 starts, he often came up big in the biggest events, winning the Daytona 500 in 1962 and the Southern 500 in 1958 and 1963. His driving style was a perfect match for Daytona International Speedway, where he won seven times.

In 1958, he only competed in 10 of 51 races, winning six and finishing in the top 10 in nine of them. Although he didn't compete in 41 of that season's races, he still finished 11^th in the season-ending points standings. In 1998, he was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers.

The next top vote getters were Jerry Cook, Joe Weatherly and Wendell Scott.

The top five vote getters in the fan vote were (listed alphabetically) Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Jarrett, Benny Parsons and Fireball Roberts.

No Time To Waste Running Coca-Cola 600 Marathon

No Time To Waste Running Coca-Cola 600 Marathon

Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 will be as different as night and day.
That’s because the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ longest – and, perhaps, most grueling – race begins in the late afternoon heat and ends in darkness (FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, 6 p.m. EDT). The 600-mile race comprised of 400 laps around Charlotte Motor Speedway’s 1.5-mile layout is an exercise in strategy.
Run fast enough to keep track position when the sun shines but be able to adjust for the nighttime finish. The race’s extra 100 miles is taxing on both engines and driver concentration.
It’s a marathon but no longer can a driver bide his time and wait to make a late charge.
"You can’t go into this race thinking, ‘Oh, we’re just going to cruise at the beginning and wait for the track to come to us,’" said Jeff Gordon, a three-time Coca-Cola 600 winner. "That used to exist but it doesn’t anymore. You start charging from the drop of the green flag."
No team has a better record at Charlotte Motor Speedway than Hendrick Motorsports. The organization has won 17 points-paying races – nine more than the next-best Roush Fenway Racing and Petty Enterprises.
Kasey Kahne won last year’s Coca-Cola 600 – his third – in his first season in HMS’ No. 5 Chevrolet.
Teammate Gordon’s 1994 Coca-Cola 600 win was the first of his 87 Sprint Cup victories. Gordon is the last to win both race and championship in the same seasons (1997-98).
But make no mistake. Five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson remains Charlotte’s gold standard.
Johnson has won the Coca-Cola 600 three times with six Charlotte victories overall. His next win will make him the track’s all-time winner, breaking a record he shares with NASCAR Hall of Fame members Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip.
As further proof that Johnson is the driver to beat in Sunday’s race – the first with NASCAR’s Gen-6 race car – the Californian won his record fourth NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race last weekend, coming from deep in the field to dispatch Kahne.
Johnson ranks No. 1 in five Loop Data categories including Driver Rating (111.7), Average Running Position (7.9) and Fastest Laps Run (544).
Johnson’s All-Star victory may herald the No. 48 Chevrolet team’s return to Charlotte dominance. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus last won the Coca-Cola 600 in 2005 – before the track was repaved.
"It’s like we know that we’ve had it so we feel like we can find it again and we’re knocking on the door," Johnson said in his post-all-star race interviews.

Solid Season, Experience Gives Junior Optimism

You could say Dale Earnhardt Jr. has some catching up to do.
He’s winless at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne boast a combined 15 victories.
The track hasn’t spun Junior out. But he hasn’t quite conquered the 1.5-mile layout either.
Earnhardt’s record is so-so: five top fives and 11 top 10s in 26 races. Since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, Earnhardt has fashioned a trio of top-10 finishes, including a sixth in last year’s Coca-Cola 600. He nearly won the race in 2011, losing the lead to Kevin Harvick after his fuel cell ran dry during a green-white-checkered finish.
Earnhardt’s Charlotte statistics aren’t stellar: Driver Rating of 78.8 (18th-best); Average Finish of 18.8; Average Running Position of 20.2 (25th-best) and 487 Quality Passes (17th-most).
Yet if the season to date is any indication, this could be the May that Earnhardt finally busts open the gates to Charlotte’s Victory Lane.
Earnhardt has finished second twice, at Daytona and Auto Club Speedway, and led the points standings. Fourth in current points, the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet hasn’t ranked outside the top five this season. He finished seventh in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
Fifteen seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has taught Earnhardt patience – a huge asset in approaching the four-plus hour Coca-Cola 600.
"I think the older you get the smarter you become, and the better you are at making decisions and understanding what are the battles you need to fight and what battles aren’t battles you need to be in the middle of," Earnhardt said a week ago.

Hamlin, Stewart On Similar Chase Trajectories

Denny Hamlin’s on the right track. Tony Stewart needs to get untracked.
That’s the situation for both drivers in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, a race neither has won.
Hamlin returned from the disabled list earlier this month at Darlington Raceway and finished second in his first full race since suffering back injuries in late March. He needs to reach the top 20 in order to parlay one or more victories into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Wild Card.
So far, so good. Hamlin ranked 31st, 76 points out of 20th entering the Bojangles’ Southern 500. He cut the deficit to 61 points and now ranks 27th.  
Hamlin finished second in both of last year’s Charlotte races and rides a streak of five consecutive top-10 finishes.
Things are bit more complicated for Stewart. He’s closer to Wild Card territory – 21st, five points behind Jeff Burton – but has yet to build momentum. In fact, this is the three-time champion’s worst start since becoming a Sprint Cup competitor.
Stewart never has entered the season’s 12th race without a top-five finish. His single top 10 – eighth at Phoenix – is an 11-race low. Until this year, Stewart’s worst 11-race points ranking was 18th in 2010 but he recovered to make the Chase.
Summer, when temperatures rise and track surfaces become slick, is prime time for Stewart. The 47-time Sprint Cup winner counts at least one victory at all but one of the tracks (Kentucky) remaining before the post season begins.
Stewart has won at Charlotte, but not in the spring. He has just one Coca-Cola 600 top-10 finish – sixth in 2007 – in his most recent eight races. His best finish, third, came in 2001. Stewart’s next top-five finish will be his 175th and will tie Bill Elliott for 17th on the Sprint Cup all-time list.

‘Long’ Shot: Stenhouse Hopes Greatness Awaits

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  finished 12th in the season-opening Daytona 500, a result that would come to define his consistent rookie season. Stenhouse, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings leader, continued to hammer away at the top 15 and top 20.
Still, a win – and a top-10 finish – await. And if he gets it this Sunday during NASCAR’s longest race, he’ll join an exclusive and illustrious list of drivers who earned their first win in the Coca-Cola 600.
That list includes David Pearson, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Casey Mears and David Reutimann. Four of those drivers – Pearson, Gordon, Kenseth and Labonte – went on to win NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships later in their respective careers.
Stenhouse leads the rookie standings by one point over Danica Patrick, who looks to become the first female driver to score a top-10 finish in the Coca-Cola 600.
Patrick ran last year’s 600, finishing 30th. She became the second female to race in the Coca-Cola 600, joining Janet Guthrie, who accomplished the feat in 1976 (she finished 15th). Guthrie finished ninth at Charlotte’s 500-mile race in 1977.

For Busch, Charlotte ‘Cup’ Half Empty

All Kyle Busch does is win, win, win – no matter what. Unless, of course, it’s a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Busch nabbed NASCAR national series win No. 11 last week at Charlotte in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event, pushing his career total to 113 victories. Inexplicably, not one of those has come driving a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car at Charlotte.
He’s come close, as his Charlotte top-five percentage of 44 percent would suggest (eight top fives in 18 races). The only track where Busch boasts more top fives is Richmond, with 12. Busch’s best Charlotte finish is second, which he did in the October race in both 2010 and 2011. His best Coca-Cola 600 finish was third, which he accomplished three times – most recently in 2012.
Figure on a win coming sooner than later. He has scored top fives in five of the last six races and has only one finish outside the top 10 in the last 11 Charlotte events.

Statement From O. Bruton Smith

 
CONCORD, N.C. (May 21, 2013) – The following is a statement from Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, O. Bruton Smith:
“The ‘done deal’ report by WBTV regarding moving a race is false. No final decision has been made regarding any race date move, and I have not discussed this with NASCAR.
“Instead of what ‘could’ happen, let’s set the facts straight about what has happened. We’ve invested $100 million in the Charlotte Motor Speedway complex in the past six years to make it even better for the fans. We’ve expanded our fan zone, added pit road suites and built the world’s largest HDTV for every fan to enjoy. We’ve put more people to work with these projects and we’ve added more events to the calendar to bring in more tourists and fans. And we’ve done this during the worst economy since the Great Depression.
“We’ve done this without asking for a handout from the government, like we’ve seen from so many other sports facilities, teams or franchises, and yet at the same time property values are falling during the recession, our Cabarrus County taxes have doubled since 2005. We absolutely love the fans that come to Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s frustrating to think about the future and consider that the local government doesn’t share the same excitement about Charlotte Motor Speedway that our fans do. The Cabarrus County politicians may say nice things to the media, but raising taxes does not support the tourism business, the area economy or companies trying to grow.”

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