Published on March 5, 2012 by Official Release   ·   No Comments

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· Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA Filters Toyota – finished seventh – tied for sixth in points.

· Mark Martin, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota – finished ninth – tied for sixth in points.

· Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota – finished 30th – 17th in points.

Martin Truex Jr. Race Summary:  No. 56 NAPA Filters Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. finished seventh in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver took the lead for 10 laps about the 200-lap mark when he stayed on the track during a long green-flag run while others pitted. Truex took the lead for another 19 consecutive at the lap 230 mark when others pitted. The No. 56 used good strategy but was also very fast. Truex restarted 16th with 50 laps to go and raced his way to seventh by the checked flag. The seventh-place finish moves Truex and the No. 56 team into sixth place in the standings after the first two races. The NAPA AUTO PARTS team returns to action Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

· Started 25th and finished seventh

· Stretched a fuel run and led for 10 laps near the 200-lap mark.

· Led 19 consecutive laps after staying on track during pit cycle at the lap 230 mark.

· Restarted 16th after pitting for fuel and tires with 50 laps to go

· Moved from 16th to seventh over the final 50 laps to record first top-10 of the year.

TRUEX QUOTE: “It was a good day for our NAPA Filters Toyota. We fought track position all day long. Finally at the end we had a little bit better tires than some of the guys and knew we could make it on fuel and were able to go the distance there, so that helped a little bit. We were just really fast at the end on new tires. We were able to get the lead and with no tires and 20-lap tires were able to check out and leave them. It’s just a shame we had to pit. I’m not sure how those guys made it — there’s no way we could have made it from there. We’ll work on that. I’m really pleased with the team and the car. We fought hard all day and got us a good finish.”

Mark Martin Race Summary: No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver Mark Martin finished ninth in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver started on the pole for the 52nd time in his career. He led the first lap and never ventured far outside the top 10 in the early going then climbing as high as second at the halfway mark. Martin ran in the top three throughout the second half of the race. Martin restarted 14th after a pit stop for fuel and tires with 50 laps to go and raced his way to a ninth-place finish – his second consecutive top-10 finish to start his tenure at Michael Waltrip Racing. The Aaron’s Dream Machine returns to action Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

· Won the 52nd pole of his career and the eighth pole for Michael Waltrip Racing. His first pole came in 1981.

· Led first lap and stayed in the top 10 throughout the race climbing as high as second at the halfway mark.

· Spent second half of the race in top three repeatedly turning the fastest laps on the track.

· Restarted 14th after pitting for fuel and tires with 50 laps to go

· Moved from 14th to ninth over the final 50 laps to record his second consecutive top-10.

MARTIN QUOTE: “Proud of the effort and any time you get a top-10 with this group of guys, you have to say it’s a reasonable run. We had a little more than that, maybe not quite enough to win, but definitely a shot at a top-five. I’m excited for what we have here at MWR and what’s coming up. This is going to be a lot of fun.”

Clint Bowyer Race Summary:  No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota driver Clint Bowyer finished 30th in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver endured terrible luck in the early going when he hit the wall on lap 15 and lap 25 because of cut tires. Bowyer fell down about five laps to the leaders and spent the remainder of the race trying to recapture the lost laps. His lap times were as good as any of the leaders, but couldn’t contend because of the early trouble. The 5-hour ENERGY team returns to action Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

· Started 16th and 30th

· Bowyer brought out the race’s first caution when he cut a tire on lap 15 and hit the wall.

· Another flat tire on lap 25 also sent Bowyer in the wall dropping him about five laps behind leader.

· Spent rest of the race trying to recapture lost laps.

BOWYER QUOTE: “I thought we were in for a good strong run today and unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. We had some issues early on that caused cut tires to start the race and that really put us in a tough spot a bunch of laps down. We tried like crazy to get the laps back, but it’s tough when you fall that far back. I think the most frustrating thing is that we had a great 5-hour ENERGY Toyota and turned some really fast lap times, but we just couldn’t gain any ground. Today is one of those days where you take what you can get, try to put it behind you as fast as you can and start fresh next week in Vegas.”

RACE NOTES

· Denny Hamlin edged Kevin Harvick by 7.31 seconds for the victory.

· Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five

· Seven cautions slowed the race for 35 laps.

· The race featured 25 lead changes among 15 drivers.

· NASCAR estimated a crowd of 76,000 fans.

RESULTS

Geoff Burke / Getty Images Kyle Busch celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series race in Richmond, Va., on Saturday. View related photos

Slideshow

INTERACTIVE

Kyle Busch sweeps Richmond NASCAR weekend Kyle Busch wins at Richmond, pads point lead Joey Logano top rookie finisher in Richmond Denny Hamlin WIX lap leader at Richmond Martin Truex Jr. runs fastest Richmond lap

Slideshow

updated 12:21 p.m. ET, Sun., May 3, 2009

RICHMOND, Va. – Kyle Busch raised a few eyebrows when he casually mentioned he’d like to collect 200 victories in his NASCAR career.

That’s a mighty big number, associated only with Richard Petty’s unreachable record of 200 Cup Series wins. It was once thought Jeff Gordon might challenge the mark, but he fell off the pace long ago and currently has 82.

But if Busch is flexible with the goal he revealed before this season, he’s got a shot at reaching Petty’s mark.

Story continues below ↓

With an asterisk, that is.

Busch's win Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway was the 50th of his career spanning NASCAR's top three series. It came on his 24th birthday, and Busch believes he could reach 200 NASCAR wins if he maintains his desire to race in every event possible.

"But I know the older I get I'll start slowing down some way," he said. "Hopefully I can achieve that goal. It would be sure nice to get that. I know it's not 200 Cup victories like Richard Petty has, but it will still be a phenomenal mark for me."

A mark few thought he could ever reach just two years ago. His talent level has never been questioned, but there's a reason Busch has often been called "Wild Thing."

He was ready for NASCAR when he was just 16, but an age minimum sent him back to the sidelines for a two-year wait. Once admitted to the big leagues, he came full of unbridled desire, fearlessness and a lack of maturity.

Busch pushed his cars beyond the limit, taking risks that often ended in a wad of crumpled sheet metal. He pouted when he didn't win and threw temper tantrums when things went against him. Team owner Rick Hendrick tried to tame the wild child, but finally cut him loose at the end of the 2007 season to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

So Joe Gibbs Racing snapped him up, and Busch has steamrolled his way through NASCAR since. He won 21 races last season spanning the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series.

How is it that Mark Martin can win his first race since 2005, yet Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to be stuck in a tunnel that seems to have no light at the end of it?

That was pretty much the story in Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway: Martin won from the pole, lead the most laps (157, more than half of the race’s 312 circuits around the flat one-mile oval) and broke a 97-race winless streak.

Earnhardt, meanwhile, led the second-highest number of laps (63), yet was once again victimized by misfortune: a bad set of tires, followed by being punted into the wall late in the race.

End result for the driver of the No. 88 Chevy – and Martin’s teammate: a very disappointing 31st-place finish. Earnhardt has now finished 20th or worse in half of the season’s first eight races.

And while Martin jubilantly breaks his winless streak, Earnhardt’s streak of frustration now extends to just one win in his last 106 starts.

Oh yes, one more thing: Saturday night’s win helps Martin, who earlier this season was as far back as 34th in the standings, jump up from 18th to 13th in the rankings heading into next week’s race at Talladega, just nine points behind 12th-ranked and former Roush Racing teammate and prodigy Matt Kenseth.

Earnhardt, meanwhile, falls from 16th to 19th and is starting to reach a point where his chances of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup are becoming more and more questionable.

Earnhardt is now a massive 399 points behind teammate and series leader Jeff Gordon. Even guys like David Reutimann (9th), Kasey Kahne (10th), Ryan Newman (17th) and even Juan Pablo Montoya (15th) are ranked ahead of Earnhardt in the standings after the first eight races.

It’s getting to the point where a major shake-up of Earnhardt’s team, which more and more fans have been calling for as he continues to fade further down in the standings, may be closing in on the horizon, faster than we might think. What may have seemed unthinkable at the beginning of the season may now have reached a point where it’s inevitable.

Even though he’s done a great job under some very trying circumstances, will crew chief Tony Eury Jr., ultimately become the fall guy and be relieved of his duties – even though Dale Jr.’s struggles really haven’t been of Eury’s doing?

Or, might team owner Rick Hendrick give Eury a few weeks off and try someone else at the helm to see if it might change things?

Or, will Hendrick do what he’s done several times in the past when one or more of his teams have struggled: shift several personnel from one team to the team that needs the most help (in this case, Earnhardt’s)?

But with four-time Cup champ Gordon in the points lead, three-time defending Cup champ Jimmie Johnson now in second place and Martin knocking on the door of the top-12, where would Hendrick move folks from?

Had this been earlier in the year, when Martin was in danger of falling out of the top-35, a case maybe could have been made to switch crew chief Alan Gustafson with Eury, even if for just a few races, to see if the change might make a difference for both teams.

But now, with the driver Hendrick pursued for nearly two years – to convince him to return to full-time racing for one last try at the championship that has eluded him throughout his Cup career – on the verge of becoming a bonafide Chase contender, Hendrick’s hands suddenly seem very tied.

He can let Earnhardt and Eury muster on and hope their horrendous run of bad luck and bad breaks turns around eventually.

But by the time that would come – and some are starting to have doubts that it will come any time soon – it may be far too late to salvage 2009, making two straight disappointing season finishes with an organization that was supposed to revitalize Junior’s career and make him a champion.

Junior left Dale Earnhardt Inc., after the 2007 season, convinced that Hendrick Motorsports would give him everything he needed to become a consistent winner and eventual Cup champion.

But the way things have gone in his 44-race tenure with HMS up to now, Junior’s best days may not necessarily still be ahead of him.

Rather, how long will it be before many of his diehard fans start thinking that perhaps the best days of his career may have already passed during his time at DEI.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: contrary to what many of his fans think, I don’t hate Junior. I really do want to see him succeed. In fact, I’m shaking my head from side to side as I write this, virtually incredulous at how much bad luck Earnhardt and his team have endured this year.

But even I’ve hopped on the Earnhardt bandwagon, essentially calling for ANYTHING that can help pull him out of the dive that he’s currently in.

Sure, much of that misfortune has come from within: Earnhardt’s bonehead move in the season-opening Daytona 500 that took out several race leaders, speeding onto or off pit road, and how he’s missed his pit stall at least twice this season – not to mention pitting outside of it – for starters.

There’s also been several pit crew errors, as well, including dropped lug nuts, and poor pit calls that have turned his car from a finely tuned machine into a vehicle that drove like a tank that can’t turn.

Frankly, I’m getting tired of criticizing Earnhardt and his team for its mistakes and shortcomings. I’m actually feeling very sorry for them, because they can’t catch a break.

Saturday night was just another example. He leads the second-highest number of laps in the race, looks like he might actually win at a place that he historically has done very well at (and won twice at previously), and yet ends up with another exasperating finish.

I’ve REALLY tried not to say it up to this point, but I can’t ignore it anymore:

With the way Saturday’s 50-year-old race winner has bounced back from his early season struggles, I have to wonder if even venerable, old-school Mark Martin, who has gone nearly 30 years without winning a Cup crown, may wind up winning a Cup championship before Junior does – if he ever does.

Monster Racing Excitement
Drive a Winston Cup Ford Taurus on the Monster Mile at Dover, Delaware. Courses offered, schedules, pricing, and online enrollment.

RacingSchools.com
A guide with links to over 200 motorsports racing schools presented and maintained by the Interactive Motorsports Entertainment Corp.

Richard Petty Driving Experience
Drive a 600 hp Winston Cup Richard Petty Enterprises Pontiac. Info on different levels of courses available, locations and pricing. You can also enroll online.

Drive Pocono
Check out the school for open wheel cars. The NASCAR school is not up and running for the time being. Check back later in the year.

Nascar drivers home pages

Bristol Motor Speedway
The official Bristol site is updated daily with track news and coming attractions. A very good race track site with a lot of extras for race fans.

California Speedway
The official site of California Speedway. Tickets, schedules, track facts, and photo gallery. The site is updated weekly with track news coming attractions.

Charlotte Motor Speedway
The Charlotte Motor Speedway site is another fan oriented site with lots of news and archives. Fans will find a souvenir store along with great photos. You may even find the name “Lowe’s” printed somewhere on the site………..

Chicagoland Speedway
The official site of Chicagoland Speedway. The site is offering a great ticket deal, along with track facts and corporate info. Some parts of this new site are still under construction.

Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway’s official site contains all of the usual track info, including a museum, track action photos, and maps. The site isn’t updated regularly, but there’s news of the events that are held there during the season.

Daytona International Speedway
Daytona’s official site has the usual ammenities, with a great archive section. News items include Cup testing and upcoming events. The site is updated regularly.

Dover International Speedway
The motorsports area of the site is crammed full of info about the track, and past racing history. This is a site you can spend a lot of time on, the photos are great.

Homestead-Miami Speedway
The site is entitled “racemiami.com” and contains loads of info about the track and different types of races held there. It has a great fan feedback section along with the usual racetrack site ammenities.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Brickyard 400 site is part of Indy Racing.com. The Brickyard section has all of the info available on past Brickyard 400′s including puzzles, photos, and screensavers.

Kansas Speedway
Official site of the International Speedway Corp.’s Kansas Speedway. The site includes ticket sales, track facts, souvenir sales, race schedules, and much more.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The site is updated daily, with testing news and results. One of the most comprehensive race track sites available. This site is geared toward the race fan.

Martinsville Speedway
This official site is very comprehensive and is geared toward the race fan. Lots of upcoming news and even a coloring book for the kids.

Michigan International Speedway
Another International Speedway Corp. site, they all follow the same format.

New Hampshire International Speedway
An unusual site as to the format, it’s definitely refreshing. This is another outstanding fan oriented site.

North Carolina Speedway
Another International Speedway Corp. site with the same format as the others that include news updates as available.

Phoenix International Raceway
Another International Speedway Corp track. Check out the “fan club.”

Pocono Raceway
Not a very good site………. There are three areas available, containing limited info. I’d rate it a two on a scale of one to ten.

Richmond International Raceway
Another International Speedway Corp site with all of the general track info.

Sears Point Raceway
A good site with the usual ammenities, including an excellent photo and video gallery.

Talladega Superspeedway
Another International Speedway Corp clone. The site includes lots of news of upcoming events at the largest track on the circuit.

Texas Motor Speedway
An excellent site. A truly refreshing design, and the info is geared toward the race fan. This is another site you’ll want to spend some time on.

Watkins Glen International
A different type of track web page, designed and maintained by North American Motorsports. There’s lots of info about “The Glen,” including track diagrams that show elevation and corner design of the famous road course.

CONCORD, N.C. — Dale Jarrett finally got to drive the big brown truck on a racetrack.
Now he can truly call it a career.

Although there were times during Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway when it appeared the big brown truck might have been able to go faster than the racecar Jarrett tried to drive later, it was, in many of the best ways, a perfect night under a full moon for the veteran driver.

He received a hearty standing ovation from his peers in the pre-race drivers’ meeting. He received the honor of being the final driver introduced to the fans for what he insisted was his final race, and again the cheers flowed forth — as did, apparently, a few tears. Jarrett appeared to wipe his eyes as he climbed into his No. 44 Toyota for the last time.

Others have retired and then come back, and then done so again and again. Mark Martin comes most immediately to mind. Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte, who recently signed on to drive some races later this season for Petty Enterprises, have found themselves to be hot commodities because of the past champion’s provisional starts that they carried away with them in pockets of driver’s suits that supposedly were being hung up for good.

Jarrett said he already has been approached by teams inquiring about his future availability for spot duty, per his own cache of provisional starts. He said he knows that he could procure “crazy money” for such part-time stints, but is not so inclined to pursue them.

He keeps insisting that for him, retirement actually means retirement.

“I hate to use the word never, but I have no plans whatsoever of getting back in a car,” Jarrett said. “I can’t even come up with a scenario where I would.”

Dale Jarrett

Career Statistics

Another life
Jarrett announced prior to this season that he would drive the first five points races, through the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 16, and then in Saturday’s All-Star Race before calling it quits.

Just since stepping away over the last several races, Jarrett has discovered there is more to life — his life — than racing. He continues to do announcing work for ESPN that requires him to stay in close touch with the sport, for now particularly with what’s happening in the Nationwide Series. Yet he admitted that the previous two weekends he hadn’t seen but the last portion of Cup races at Richmond and Darlington.

“It’s been nice to get away and have that time and see another side of life,” Jarrett said. “On the weekends that I’ve been home, if I’ve wanted to sleep in a little late and get up with the kids and go for a late breakfast, I was able to do that. I’ve heard about people doing that, but I hadn’t been able to do it.”

He said he can go to early church service on Sunday mornings now and be at the golf course by 10 a.m. Then he can play 18 holes and still get home in time to help get his son, Zach, to baseball practice.

“I’ve just seen another side of life that I knew was there, but haven’t been able to experience. And now I am and I’m really enjoying it,” Jarrett said.

Jarrett was nostalgic when discussing his looming final ride a day earlier in the Lowe’s Motor Speedway media center.

“It’s just difficult knowing that when I climb out of that racecar Saturday night that it’s the last time that I will ever compete at this level,” Jarrett said. “You can do a lot of fun things. I can go to the golf course and have great matches, but nothing will ever match the excitement that you get from driving a racecar and being able to compete at this level.”

DALE JARRETT

Father vs. son
Dale’s career in many ways was the polar opposite of his father Ned’s.

Ned Jarrett retired young in 1966, only one year after winning his second points championship in NASCAR’s top series. Ned was only 34 years old at the time — the same age Dale was when he finally won his first Cup race, beating Davey Allison at the wire for a win at Michigan while driving for the Wood Brothers in 1991.

There were those who thought Dale might never win at all, even though he had experienced success in what was then the Busch Series. And even after Michigan, there were those who thought perhaps he would never win again — especially when it was more than a year until he won again, this time giving the fledging Joe Gibbs Racing operation its very first Cup victory in 1993.

But that was hardly the case.

Dale Jarrett was like a fine bottle of wine, getting better with age. He didn’t hit full stride until 1996, when he won four times while driving for Robert Yates Racing. The next year, he won seven times — followed by four more victories and his only points championship a year later in 1999.

By the time he climbed out of the car Saturday night, it didn’t matter that he had quickly fallen off the pace and slogged his way to a 21st-place finish. This was his version of a career Victory Lap after amassing 32 Cup wins in 668 career starts.

He accomplished more than even he ever believed possible — and there was no bigger believer in Dale Jarrett in the late 1980s and early 1990s than Dale Jarrett himself. That’s because few others believed in him at all.

That slowly changed over the years.

“I didn’t have anything to base that on at that time, but I knew that the determination and drive that I had within me to succeed would help to carry me on. As long as I could get others to believe in me as much, then I knew I would have some success,” Jarrett said.

“I’ve exceeded the amount that I thought I could accomplish when I started in this business, but that’s because I was fortunate to surround myself with some really good people at a really good time in my life. Everything came together, even though it was in the latter stages of my career.”

It was, he added a moment later, “perfect timing.”

So was his decision to step down with class when and where he did. Well done.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.