Full Throttle

The NASCAR season started with one bookend at Daytona, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. taking his first 500 victory. In the center was 9 long months, 35 races and over 14,000 miles of racing. The opposite bookend was also a Florida race at Homestead, the Chase, and five drivers left standing to compete for the title and write the final chapter on 2004.

NASCAR’s Brian France couldn’t have scripted a more dramatic season finale than this madcap 4-hour affair, wild and furious right down to the stunning green-white-checkered finish. A finish that added 6 miles to the race distance and a sputtering, out of gas Dale Jarrett who may have been headed for a top five finish.

In the end Kurt Busch survived a wheel center separating sending him into the pitsand the wheel onto the track creating a yellow that saved Busch from going down a lap. A few short laps later Busch again escaped with his title chances intact after a botched pit stop that resembled a Ted Turner “colorized” version of a Three Stooges episode.

Jeff Gordon trailing Busch when the wheel went its own way thought his opportunity for a fifth NASCAR title had improved by at least 20%.

“I was just a few cars behind him and saw it, and I looked at that as a golden opportunity,” Gordon said “But then the caution came out. That’s the way their year has gone. They’ve had good fortune. When they needed good luck, they got it, and that’s what makes a champion.”

Exactly, I had noted previously I thought Busch would win the title. He had made too many escapes from disaster in the first 7 Chase events, and this race was no different. He just seemed destined to win.

Speaking of winning, in what is almost a footnote to NASCAR’s season finale, Roush stablemate Greg Biffle won the race, his second of the year and third in his career. It was Jack Roush’s second consecutive NASCAR Championship after Matt Kenseth’s title in 2003.

But what of the Chase? Here are the final top ten positions:
Rank +/- Driver Points Behind
1 – Kurt Busch 6506 Leader
2 – Jimmie Johnson 6498 -8
3 – Jeff Gordon 6490 -16
4 +1 Mark Martin 6399 -107
5 -1 Dale Earnhardt Jr.6368 -138
6 – Tony Stewart 6326 -180
7 – Ryan Newman 6180 -326
8 – Matt Kenseth 6069 -437
9 – Elliott Sadler 6024 -482
10 – Jeremy Mayfield 6000 -506

And for all the France haters, conspiracy buffs and those that are just curious, if compiled utilizing the 2003 formula Gordon would have won the title by 47 points over Johnson, and Busch would have finished 247 points down and fourth in the standings. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished a dismal 23rd yesterday, would have finished third in the standings, 173 points behind Gordon.

Take that for what it’s worth. Jeff Gordon has already made a few complaints:

“This points system only makes careers shorter, it doesn’t lengthen them out,’ the four-time NASCAR Cup champion said on Sunday after finishing third by 16 points to champion Kurt Busch in the closest title race in NASCAR history.

“The intensity of this (playoff) points system has increased. The pressure is unreal. I know right now I can’t wait to get out of this race track and not see a race track for a couple of months, other than that one in Paris.”

Shorter careers? That sounds a little extreme, but maybe not, Clint Newlin claims they have put him on “suicide watch” after Busch won the title so maybe Jeff is onto something.

By talking smack about series officials over the radio during Friday’s Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Oh… that’s how

“It showed complete disrespect for NASCAR and its officials, so after a meeting with Mike Helton, he was sent home for the weekend,” said NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo.

Anyone have a clue what was said, I’d love to know?

Will it make a difference Sunday now that Dale Jr will have a new spotter? NO, very doubtful. How hard can it be to key the mike and say:

“inside,”
“still there,”
“go low, 31 is in the turn 2 wall… GO LOOOOWEEER, yellow is out” [yea I know 31 is in the wall almost every week - ed}

Saturdays 10 lap qualifying race saw Christian Jones finish in 22^nd position that equaled his pre-race practice times. Nelson Piquet Jr, son of the F1 legend, had a disappointing day with an early retirement. Son of Keke Rosberg, Nico, faired much better and will start Sunday’s Grand Prix outside of the first row.

As yet I have not seen a race recap, but suspect with five cars not completing a lap there may have been a rather large shunt on the first trip thru the tight hairpin.

UPDATE: So I was wrong about the hairpin, the open wheel bumper tag started much earlier, on the starting grid.

The safety car appeared, having been summoned to clear the wreckage of a series of start-line incidents. Richard Antinucci, who had won the Korean leg of last year’s Far East double-header, had made a slow getaway from third place on the grid and was clouted from behind by Nelson Piquet Jr, but there was a bigger incident further back in the pack.

Eric Salignon, only recently recovered from the road accident that ruled him out of the F3 Euroseries finale, slammed into the back of the stalled Kazuki Nakajima before spearing off into the barrier, while ‘local’ favourites Marchy Lee, Ho Pin Tung and Rodolfo Avila were also caught up in the shunt. Lee, stepping up to F3 after previous Macau success in Formula Renault, was forced to the right to avoid Nakajima’s stranded car, but Tung, who had started directly behind the Meritus driver, was unable to avoid the evasive manoeuvre and the two clashed, sending Tung into the air and Lee in to the wall.

1. Lewis Hamilton Manor Dallara-Mercedes 10 laps 33m 16.057s
2. Nico Rosberg Rosberg Dallara-Opel +02.284s
3. Alexandre Premat ASM Dallara-Mercedes +03.982s
4. Robert Kubica Manor Dallara-Mercedes +04.984s
5. Jamie Green ASM Dallara-Mercedes +05.454s
6. Fabio Carbone Three Bond Dallara-Nissan +07.551s
7. Loic Duval Signature Dallara-Opel +17.289s
8. Lucas di Grassi Hitech Dallara-Renault +18.888s
9. James Rossiter Signature Dallara-Opel +19.439s
10. Danny Watts Hitech Dallara-Renault +20.513s
11. Adam Carroll Menu Dallara-Opel +21.685s
12. Franck Perera Prema Dallara-Opel +23.761s
13. Katsuyuki Hiranaka Prema Dallara-Opel +24.752s
14. Robert Austin Menu Dallara-Opel +25.335s
15. Naoki Yokomizo Inging Dallara-Toyota +26.494s
16. Ronnie Quintarelli Inging Dallara-Toyota +27.688s
17. Alvaro Parente Carlin Dallara-Mugen +28.012s
18. Daisuke Ikeda Swiss Dallara-Opel +31.813s
19. Marko Asmer Carlin Dallara-Mugen +31.990s
20. Matteo Cressoni Ombra Dallara-Mugen +32.891s
21. Giedo van der Garde Signature Dallara-Opel +34.658s
22. Christian Jones TME Dallara-Toyota +55.774s
23. Michael Ho TME Dallara-Toyota +58.889s
24. Lei Kit Meng Ombra Dallara-Mugen +1m 43.680s
25. Jo Merszei Swiss Dallara-Opel +2m 01.384s

Rtd Richard Antinucci TOM’s Dallara-Toyota 8 laps completed
Rtd Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Dallara-Mugen 1 lap completed
Rtd Eric Salignon ASM Dallara-Mercedes 0 laps completed
Rtd Rodolfo Avila Carlin Dallara-Mugen 0 laps completed
Rtd Kazuki Nakajima TOM’s Dallara-Toyota 0 laps completed
Rtd Ho Pin Tung Hitech Dallara-Renault 0 laps completed
Rtd Marchy Lee Meritus Dallara-Mugen 0 laps completed

The penultimate race of the NASCAR season, the Ford 300 at Homestead Speedway, saw Kevin Harvick win the years final Busch Grand National event. NEXTEL Cup star Harvick, running part-time in Busch for Richard Childress, won for the second time this year. Jamie McMurray finished second and couldn’t take advantage of “overtime” mandated by a lap 197 crash by Mike Bliss that forced a white-green-checkers finish.

Martin Truex Jr celebrated the series championship he clinched a week ago at Darlington. Truex, who finished ninth Saturday after leading 55 laps early, ended the season 230 points ahead of rookie Kyle Busch. Truex will run another season in Busch with DEI/Chance2. Busch will move up to Nextel Cup with Rick Hendrick.
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Kurt Busch had to sweat out 54 other drivers, from his last in line qualifying position, and then won the pole for the season-ending Ford 400 which will determine the 2004 Nextel Cup champion. Busch turned a lap of 179.319 mph Friday, beating out the 179.307 of Greg Biffle for the third pole of his career.

“It was just one of those laps,” Busch said. “It’s really been a storybook effort so far in this championship chase.”

At the other end of the qualifying line was Jimmy Johnson, trailing Busch by 18pts in the Chase, who watched his early speed of 175.029 slowly drop down the starting lineup, bottoming out on the inside of the 20^th row in 39^th place. Clearly upset with the effort his team covered his car with a tarp and he hurried out of the garage, then disappeared.

Four-time series champion Gordon, Johnson’s teammate and just 21 points behind Busch, will start fifth Sunday, with fourth-place Earnhardt, 72 points out, starting 16th and Martin, 82 points behind, in the 11th spot.

Source: MSNBC Sports
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Bobby Hamilton, at 47, became the oldest champion of the Craftsman Truck series and gave Dodge its first NASCAR title since Richard Petty won the stock car championship in 1975. Added to Dodge’s Homestead success was Kasey Kahne’s drive to his second straight victory.

Kahne, the top rookie in the Nextel Cup series, also became the first driver to win his first two starts in the truck series

“To go two-for-two, that’s pretty awesome,” Kahne said after leading a race-high 54 of 134 laps and beating Ultra Motorsports teammate Ted Musgrave to the finish line by 1.016-seconds _ about five car-lengths.

“It’s really surprising,” added Kahne, who has five runner-up finishes in the Cup series. “It’s tough to win these races. We’ve been trying all year and come up short (in Cup).”

Hamilton came into the season-ending race knowing he needed to finish 14th or better to wrap up the title even if runner-up Dennis Setzer won. Setzer, finishing second in the points for the second straight year, wound up 10th in the race.

The champion wound up 16th and won the title by 46 points. Musgrave finished third in the standings, 70 points behind. Like all drivers on the verge of winning a big race or close to wearing a championship crown the sound of “strange noises” intruded during the late stages of the race:

“I finally just decided not to listen to that anymore and just keep an eye on Dennis and stay focused on winning this championship,” he said. “Man, it was tough. I can’t imagine what those guys are going to go through Sunday.”

The race, slowed by nine cautions for a total of 32 laps, started about 30 minutes late because of the length of Cup qualifying and ended as darkness settled in over the unlit track.

Jordan are to hand a test drive to Dutch driver Christijan Albers as they finalise their 2005 driver line-up.
The team’s first-choice drivers are Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock, and Albers, 25, will take part in a three-day test session at Jerez in December.

“He’s a quick and committed up-and-coming talent, as we’ve seen in German Formula Three,” said boss Eddie Jordan.

“I’ve wanted to test him for some time so I’m glad the opportunity has finally come - it’s exciting for all of us.”

Christian Jones qualified much closer to the pace today in his Asian Formula Three supported car, satisfying the team, TME, with his performance.

Robert Kubica qualified on pole with a blistering 2m 12.155 lap. Jones steadily improved to 2m16.871, a highly respectable time for a circuit and car novice. The qualifying session, as ever in Macau, was interrupted by several red flags and Jones was unlucky to have his best laps on new tyres spoilt by the session stoppages.

Starting 28th on the grid at most tracks would leave the driver with no chance of a top ten finish but in Macau just finishing the race can give a great chance of a good result. This year Macau has a new format with a 10 lap qualifying race on Saturday followed by the 15 lap GP on Sunday. The starting grid for the GP is determined by the finishing positions of the Saturday race.

Homestead, FL - David Reutimann captured the pole for Friday afternoon’s Ford 200 Craftsman Truck Series event at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The No.17 NTN Bearings Toyota circled the 1.5-mile, 20-degree banked speedway in a track record 31.532 seconds (171.255 m.p.h.). The old mark was 31.905 seconds (169.252 m.p.h.) set in November 2003 by Bobby Hamilton. The pole victory was Reutimann’s second of the season and second of his truck career.

Starting on the front row with Reutimann will be Matt Crafton who posted a time of 31.601 seconds. Carl Edwards (31.684) and Jack Sprague (31.750) will start in row two.

Bobby Hamilton, who will start ninth, leads four drivers who are still mathematically eligible for the Craftsman Truck Series title. For two of the drivers, Ted Musgrave (-130) and Edwards (-148), their chances for the title are a long shot at best, but they still hold out hope. For second-place Dennis Setzer (-70) the chance to catch Hamilton is real. However, Setzer will begin in the 23rd position.

2004 Indy Racing League champion Tony Kanaan along with teammate Rubens Barrichelo recently won the Granja 500 kart race in their native Brazil. Kanaan, during a late night auto racing talk show decided to feed the NASCAR Kool-aid crowd who believe in convienent “late race yellow flags” and various other devices employed by the sanctioning body to “tailor” the results.