|
Russ Bond Motorsport Report: Jimmie Wins in Vegas
| AUTO FINANCE | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Auto News Tools | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
When the Nextel Cup series rolls into Las Vegas, you can be pretty sure of one thing – Jimmie Johnson winning. For the third time in a row, Johnson has won at Vegas, and even acompletely new track couldn't derail the Johnson dominance of Las Vegas.
"This track was a different challenge for us, no doubt about it," said Johnson, who led his teammate Jeff Gordon across the finish line for a 1-2 Hendrick Motorsports finish that gave the team its 150th NASCAR victory.
The talk of the weekend was all about the track, more than the teams and the cars. It was like watching a hockey game, where all they talked about were the referees.
Changes to the track included an increase in the banking from 12 degrees to 20, a curved pit lane unlike anything the drivers had seen before, and a surface that produced 200+ mph speeds. With those speeds, Goodyear had to bring a very hard left-side tire that was, “capable of withstanding the loads.”
I'm thinking that the major load should have been on the right side of the car, not the left, but that's just me. Anyhow, like I talked about before with the car setup, many cars
 |
| Jimmie Johnson won for the third time in a row at Las Vegas. (Photo: Bob LeSieur, GM Racing) |
"I felt like I was on ice from lap one until the last one," said second place man, Gordon. "There is no reason for us to show up at racetracks and be at a white-knuckle experience for an entire weekend."
"It was out of control pretty much all day," Clint Bowyer said, after emerging from his late race crash."It was the poorest race I've ever been in. It wasn't fun to drive," David Stremme said. Stremme was on the front row, but went backwards pretty quick. "You couldn't run side-by-side. When you got alongside of somebody, you were scared to death you were going to wreck," Matt Kenseth said.
While I can see blaming the track surface to a certain point, Nascar also used the small fuel cells at Vegas, and surely a softer
 |
| Kasey Kahne went from the pole to the wall. Many teams left Vegas with destroyed cars. (Photo: Rusty Jarrett, Getty Images for NASCAR) |
Who's Going Home?
The other news circulating the garage at Vegas was the number of cars that were sent home – those that didn't qualify. Ken Schrader and Michael Waltrip both crashedin qualifying, and both failed to make the race. It's the second straight race Waltrip has failed to qualify for. Team Red Bull didn't get A.J. Allmendinger or Brian Vickers into the 43-car field. Allmendinger seemed to be in until Kenny Wallace, the last car to attempt to qualify, bumped him. David Reutimann, the rookie driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, failed to qualify and Jeremy Mayfield missed the cut in what's been a disastrous start to the season. A two-time Chase qualifier, Mayfield has failed to make all three races this season.
Red Bull, which is new
 |
| Michael Waltrip was on driver not making the Las Vegas race. (Photo: Bob LeSieur, GM Racing) |
Vegas Notebook
The best quote from the weekend came from Casey Mears after he was taken out by Robby Gordon in the opening stages of the race. "It amazes me," Mears said. "Every time I think Robby can't do anything any more stupid than he's already done, he one-ups himself.”
Is it just me or is Dale Jarrett doing something fantastic I can't see. Every race this year he marches straight backwards and just stays there. Maybe he should race the UPS truck, couldn't be any slower. The in-car camera from his UPS Toyota shows him getting his doors blown off every race. He gets in on a champion's provisional, or he'd be going home with his teammates before the race more often.
2007 Unofficial Race Results : UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 | March 11, 2007 | Race 3 of 36
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS 
Juan Pablo Montoya started on the second row and had a good run to finish 22nd. (Photo: Todd Warshaw, Getty Images for NASCAR)
2 36 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont / Nicorette 180/10 267 Running
3 17 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet FedEx Kinko's 165/0 267 Running
4 37 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 165/5 267 Running
5 14 01 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 160/5 267 Running
6 13 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 155/5 267 Running
7 25 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 146/0 267 Running
8 39 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 147/5 267 Running
9 12 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet Kellogg's / CARQUEST 143/5 267 Running
10 33 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 134/0 267 Running
11 28 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 135/5 267 Running
12 26 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 132/5 267 Running
13 42 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 129/5 267 Running
14 3 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 126/5 267 Running
15 5 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 123/5 267 Running
16 18 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M / Ameriquest 115/0 266 Running
17 38 7 Robby Gordon Ford Robby Gordon Motorsports
112/0 266 Running 
Alex Tagliani is back with Rocketsports for 2007. (Photo: LAT USA, Rocketsports Racing
18 24 18 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 114/5 266 Running
19 2 40 David Stremme Dodge Coors Light 106/0 266 Running
20 27 96 Tony Raines Chevrolet DLP HDTV 103/0 266 Running
21 21 38 David Gilliland Ford MandM's 100/0 265 Running
22 4 42 Juan Montoya * Dodge Texaco / Havoline 97/0 265 Running
23 6 10 Scott Riggs Dodge Auto Value / Bumper to Bumper - Valvoline 94/0 265 Running
24 15 78 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 91/0 265 Running
25 29 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Samsung Four Seasons of Hope 88/0 265 Running
26 10 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 85/0 265 Running
27 20 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 82/0 265 Running
28 22 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo 79/0 265 Running
29 41 21 Jon Wood Ford U.S. Air Force 76/0 264 Running
30 40 88 Ricky Rudd Ford Snickers 73/0 264 Running
31 7 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 70/0 263 Running
32 19 15 Paul Menard * Chevrolet Johns Manville / Menards 67/0 263 Running
33 43 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 64/0 263 Running
34 8 14 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Waste Management 66/5 251 Out of Race
35 1 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge McDonald's / Dodge Dealers / UAW 63/5 251
Off Track 
i and his new Rocketsports colors (Photo: LAT USA, Rocketsports Racing)
36 16 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 60/5 239 Out of Race
37 35 6 David Ragan * Ford AAA 52/0 236 Running
38 9 13 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet CertainTeed 49/0 156 Off Track
39 32 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Yellow Trans. 46/0 147 Out of Race
40 34 25 Casey Mears Chevrolet National Guard / GMAC 43/0 141 Running
41 31 180 Aric Almirola Chevrolet Joe Gibbs Driven 40/0 46 Out of Race
42 11 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 37/0 17 Out of Race
43 30 4 Ward Burton Chevrolet State Water Heaters 34/0 15 Out of Race
Tagliani Back with Rocketsports
While some will say that what's wrong with Champcar is that alongside the two Americans racing in this year's series (which takes place predominantly in the U.S.) there will be at least two Canadians (remember that Canada enjoys a population of about 10 percent that of the US of A), they've got a point. If you don't happen to like the two nationals in the series, the whole loses its interest pretty fast.
| • Acura • Alfa Romeo • Ariel • Aston Martin • Audi • Bentley • BMW • Buick • Cadillac • Campagna • Caparo • Chery | • Chevrolet • Chrysler • Dodge • Ferrari • Ford • GMC • Honda • Hummer • Hyundai • Infiniti • International • Jaguar | • Jeep • Kia • Koenigsegg • Lamborghini • Land Rover • Lexus • Lincoln • Lotus • Maserati • Maybach • Mazda • Mercedes | • Mercury • Mini • Mitsubishi • Morgan • Nissan • Pininfarina • Pontiac • Porsche • Rolls Royce • Saab • Saleen • Saturn | • Scion • smart • Subaru • Suzuki • Toyota • Vanderbrink • Volkswagen • Volvo • Yugo |
|
Home
| Classifieds
| News
| Directory
| Car Reviews
| Car Dealers
| Forum
| Blog
| Sitemap
| Privacy
| Contact
Copyright © 2008 Automobile Inc. |
 |
