Jarrett ready for last trip around a Cup track

SceneDaily.com staff reports
SceneDaily.com

This is it. For the final time in his long career, Dale Jarrett will strap in a NASCAR stock car and take the green flag. The 1999 Cup champion last competed in a points-paying race at Bristol in March, but this Saturday's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race will be Jarrett's final race.

The reality of closing a career that began in 1984 is setting in, Jarrett said. The two months of being out of the car have helped prepare him for the finality.

"When I got out at Bristol, even with all the wonderful tributes and stories, I knew that I had this race left before it was over," Jarrett said. "I've been out of the car for a little while now, so it's something that I've started to adjust to, starting this next chapter in my career.

"The all-star race was just a perfect race to end on for me personally as well as from a sponsor perspective. This is a race for the fans, and it's a great way for me to say thank you to them for the career they've allowed me to have."

Jarrett will drive Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 44 Toyota in the all-star race, an event he's never won. While winning his final race might seem far-fetched, Jarrett hasn't stopped dreaming.

In addition to the 1999 Cup championship, he has won three Daytona 500s and two Brickyard 400s. But he'd still like to win the all-star race.

"It's the one thing that I wish that I had, one of those trophies," Jarrett said. "It would be the storybook ending to finish our last race with a trip to victory lane. We'll try extremely hard and do everything short of cheating to make that happen."

Jarrett said he considered making a points race his final event, but eventually settled on the all-star race.

"After really looking over the schedule, there are a couple of tracks or races that stand out as ones where you'd like to run your last race," Jarrett said. "Obviously the Coca-Cola 600 came to mind because it would be here in Charlotte. But as I looked at that, and it was going to take away from somebody trying to run all the races if I go take a spot there, and I didn't want to do that.

"I looked at Indianapolis, same scenario basically - a great place to end your career, but it is perfect here. This is where it should happen. The all-star race gives me a perfect opportunity to do that with family and friends coming here."

NASCAR special event a true all-star race

BY TIM HADDOCK
Los Angeles Daily News

What makes the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race different than other all-star events is that the participants have to actually earn their way in.

Twenty-one of the 24 starters in Saturday night's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway are either winners from 2007 and 2008, past Cup champions or past winners of the All-Star Race.

Imagine if the Major League Baseball All-Star game or NFL Pro Bowl had such criteria. Instead of fans voting in the starters, players have to actually be league leaders in certain categories: batting average, home runs, touchdowns, rushing yards, to make the team.

No debates. No crybabies. No whining. And too bad if not every team has an all-star. Not every Cup team will have an all-star driver; not every team deserves one.

NASCAR does want the fans to get involved, and lets them pick one driver. Last year it was Kenny Wallace, which is all you need to know about how smart NASCAR Nation is. To their credit, the fans did vote in Martin Truex Jr. one year, when he was a big nobody with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

And NASCAR allows for the underprivileged to earn spots in the All-Star Race. The top two finishers in the Sprint Showdown, which includes Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Brian Vickers, Travis Kvapil, Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti, will advance to the All-Star Race. That would be three winners of Cup races, two Indianapolis 500 winners and a Craftsman Truck Series champion, stars in their own right, just not in recent memory.

Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and even Jeff Gordon, winless in 2008, are the favorites.

Busch and Edwards share the Cup Series lead for wins. Each has three, but Busch might have the edge here. He also has five wins in the Nationwide Series and Truck Series and leads the Sprint Cup Series standings.

Edwards was penalized for not passing post-race inspection after winning the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It cost him 100 points in the Cup standings and knocked him out of the top 12 for a time. He has since rebounded, but if he does qualify for the Chase, he will lose 10 bonus points because of the penalty.

In a way, having Edwards in the All-Star Race is like having Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens in baseball's All-Star game. Then again, no one really cares how Bonds or Clemens got into their all-star games, so why should anyone care how Edwards does it either?

Busch might have some extra incentive here. He can become the youngest driver to win a NASCAR All-Star Race. He is already the youngest driver to win a Cup pole, was the youngest driver to win a Cup race and the first driver to win a Cup race in NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.

Gordon is the youngest winner of the NASCAR All-Star Race at 23 years, 9 months, 18 days. Busch will be 23 years, 15 days old on the day of the All-Star Race.

While Gordon has yet to win a race this year, and sits outside the top 12 and the all-important Chase positions, he has some incentive to win the All-Star Race. Gordon is tied with Dale Earnhardt with three All-Star wins apiece. Gordon can break the tie by winning his fourth All-Star Race.

"To know that we have won it three times in the past really means a lot," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "Those have all been very special occasions and events for me to be a part of in the past, and to do anything that Dale Earnhardt's done and to be in that same category certainly is even more special. We would love to get another one."

Then there's Johnson. He has won two straight Cup championships and is always a threat to win a race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. But after winning 10 races in 2007, Johnson only has one win in 2008. That came at Phoenix International Raceway in April.

Other drivers to keep an eye on: Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin and Truex.

NASCAR Top 10 Power Rankings: Week 11

By Jeffrey Boswell

Note: the quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kyle Busch — Despite a loose lug nut problem that dropped him to 23rd on lap 141, Busch recovered to win handily in Darlington, his third win this year, then took a bow to a chorus of boos. Busch, in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota sporting the new Indiana Jones movie paint scheme, peppered the Darlington walls often, seemingly using them less as a barrier and more as a guide. For the win, the 23-year-old prodigy received $313,700, not bad for a day's work for a race car driver, or for a semester's worth of basketball for a USC freshman basketball player, for that matter.

"It seems like I'm pushing a new product/movie every week now," says Busch. "Some may say I give new meaning to the term 'marketing tool.' Put it on my car and I'll sell it, unless it's my own merchandise. I've got a feeling that once I win the Cup, people will start buying my stuff and claiming they've been fans since I was 14."

"I have a lot in common with Indiana Jones. He's been on adventurous quests to capture valuable pieces of hardware, such as the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. I'm after a historic trophy of my own, the Sprint Cup championship trophy, that will take me to all corners of the earth, or at least various stops in podunk America. Jones has battled Nazis to acquire those artifacts, while I'm dealing with an equally ruthless bunch who consider themselves the super race — the people of Earnhardt Nation."

2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: — Earnhardt started on row one with pole-sitter Greg Biffle and quickly took the lead on lap 2 as his legions of supporters roared their approval, sounding much like they did last year, only over-caffeinated instead of over-intoxicated. Earnhardt led 35 laps on the day and ran among the leaders nearly all day, but in the end, he, like the other front-runners, had nothing to challenge Kyle Busch's dominant performance, leaving Earnhardt's winless streak at 73 races.

"That's over two full seasons without a win," says Earnhardt. "That's a tough pill to swallow, but under NASCAR's current drug testing policy, I can get away with it. And speaking of long stretches without a win, how about Michael Waltrip? He just made his 700th career Cup start at Darlington. The secret to his longevity? Rocket fuel. Incidentally, that's what you get when you mix Amp energy drink and Tang."

"Now, I know fans are hot for that retro Mountain Dew merchandise. It's classic. Ah, the late 1970s/early 1980s. What a memorable era. The Mountain Dew flowed freely, disco was king, and you could actually smoke a cigarette in the pits. Now, everybody's asking for the retro MD gear. Even Darrell Waltrip. I gladly offered him a mesh hat, but not before I made him do four 'Ickey Shuffles,' three 'boogity, boogitys,' two 'let's go racing, boys,' and relinquish his soul."

3. Denny Hamlin — Hamlin led 15 laps and scored his seventh top-10 finish of the year, a seventh in the Dodge Challenger 500. Hamlin improved two places in the Sprint Cup point standings, from sixth to fourth, where he trails points leader and teammate Kyle Busch by 190 points. With Tony Stewart's Nationwide win on Friday and Busch's Saturday win, Hamlin left Darlington as the lone Joe Gibbs driver without a win.

"I've got no hard feelings," says Hamlin. "In fact, I thought it was pretty classy of me when I drove down and parked right in the middle of victory lane to offer my congratulations to my two teammates. You know, it's funny. It doesn't matter where I go, I can always find a parking space."

"Despite our differing personalities, Tony, Kyle, and I get along quite well considering we vigorously dislike each other. The only tension in team meetings is that of Tony's waistband. We're one big happy family, just like brothers, in a fraternity, if you will. The fraternity known as 'Alpha Male.'"

4. Jeff Burton — After starting 33rd, his fifth qualifying effort of 33rd or worse this year, Burton steadily climbed to the front and surged to a tenth-place finish, his seventh top 10 of the year. Burton remains second in the points, and has not had a finish outside of the top 15 this year.

"They don't call me the 'Top 15 Machine' for nothing," says Burton, "especially since I have it tattoed across my abdomen, just beneath my 'Thug Life' tattoo, my homage my brother Ward's early teen years, when he terrorized mailboxes all over the greater South Boston, Virginia area. And they don't call Kyle Busch 'Public Enemy Number Won' for nothing either. And, if the driver of the No. 42 car had three wins and was leading the points, they wouldn't call him 'Public Enemy Number Juan' for nothing, either."

"Anyway, it's an exciting time of the year for drivers and fans everywhere. Racing season is in full swing and there are some big races at historic tracks coming up. In a matter of weeks, hearts will race and excitement will rise, as those exhilarating and stimulating four words will be spoken: 'Danica Patrick on pole.' What? Danica's not on pole? Well then, I guess we'll have to settle for something as equally arousing — Jim Nabors singing 'Back Home Again In Indiana.' Shazaam!"

5. Carl Edwards — Edwards overcame a dismal qualifying effort of 36th to capture the runner-up position in Darlington, finishing over three seconds behind the No. 18 of Kyle Busch. Edwards advanced three positions in the point standings to seventh, and is now tied with Busch for Sprint Cup wins, with three.

"I have to hand it to Kyle Busch," says Edwards. "He really knows how to get the most out of a car. I didn't know a car could hit the wall at Darlington that many times and still run that fast, like he wasn't even affected. Every time Busch grazed the wall, I was reminded by that song by Pink Floyd. No, not 'Comfortably Numb,' but 'Another Dick In The Wall.' Oh, it's 'brick' in the wall. My bad."

"Whether or not there's a rivalry brewing between Kyle and myself is unclear. I know this much. You wouldn't find me posing in a fedora while holding a whip, I don't care who was sponsoring my car. Once I Photoshop that and post it on the internet, Kyle might actually have some fans. And, if Busch thinks his little 'take a bow' race-winning celebration even remotely compares to my back flip, he's crazy. Hey Kyle, 'Take a Bow' is a Madonna song, not a celebration."

6. Jimmie Johnson — By the end of the race weekend in South Carolina, Johnson was practically on a first-name basis with Darlington Raceway's walls, having crashed twice in Friday practice, then suffering two early brushes in Saturday night's race.
Still, Johnson made the most of his backup car, using constant adjustments to salvage a 13th-place finish, which moved him up one spot in the points to sixth.

"That newly-paved surface at Darlington made the track much faster," says Johnson. "It looks like the track got the same treatment I often give my eyebrows — a Brazilian wax. We had so much body work to do last weekend that we had to subcontract some work out to Maaco. But it will be great to have homefield advantage at Lowe's Motor Speedway. And it's great to see NASCAR presenting a concert by a band NASCAR fans actually might listen to — Three Doors Down. Last week at Darlington, Prince's pre-race anthem, 'This Track's 2 Tough 2 Tame' was certainly spectacular, but I don't think there's much, if any, overlap between Prince fans and NASCAR fans."

7. Clint Bowyer — Bowyer finished a respectable 15th in the RCR Jack Daniels Chevy at Darlington, stricken by Kyle Busch's failure to cause a 14-car spinout near then end, thereby opening the door for Bowyer to snatch another unlikely victory. If you'll recall, Bowyer snagged the win in Richmond when contact between Busch and Earnhardt allowed Bowyer to slip through for the win.

"I guess now we're even," says Bowyer. "I refuse to make Kyle my enemy. He feeds off of hatred. You would think he be much heavier, then. Not since Razor Ramon have I seen someone relish the role of the 'bad guy' so much."

"Anyway, we're heading north, from Darlington to Charlotte, in the Jack Daniels Chevy, which I call getting 'liquored up.' Surprisingly, I had more success keeping my car off the wall in Darlington during a 500 mile race than I did in Charlotte in a burnout exhibition. Hopefully, I can keep my car fully intact in the real burnout competition. In other words, having a Jack Daniels 'neat.'"

8. Jeff Gordon — Gordon finished third in the Dodge Challenger 500, his fifth top-10 of the year and the first time in 2008 he's strung together two such finishes. He now sits 10th in the Sprint Cup point standings as the Hendrick Motorsports team continues to search for the consistency that will lead to the team's first win of the year.

"It's good to get two top-10s in a row," says Gordon. "It's no secret we've been slumping this season. In the world of professional sports, athletes have been known to try anything to break out of a slump. Recently, the Chicago White Sox put blow-up dolls in their locker room in an attempt to break a slump. I'm not sure if it worked for them, but I figured we should give it a try. Heck, I've used blow-up dolls to break out of many a dating slump. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but I've found that blow-up dolls consistently display more personality than my ex-wife Brooke, not to mention more affection. And they are immensely cheaper dates."

9. Tony Stewart — Once again, after winning the Nationwide Diamond Hill Plywood 200 on Friday, Sprint Cup misfortune struck Stewart on Saturday in the form of Elliott Sadler, whose No. 19 McDonald's Dodge got loose on lap 2 and drifted into Stewart's No. 20. Repairs left Stewart two laps down near the half-way point, and, without the benefit of any Lucky Dog free passes, he was only able to make up one lap, and finished 21st.

"It wasn't the 'Lady in Black' that got us," says Stewart. "It was the 'Idiot in Red.' I don't know who worked harder on Saturday night — my pit crew making repairs or Elliot Sadler making apologies. Who is Sadler's spotter? Ronald McDonald? If not for Sadler's spin, there wouldn't have been nearly as many views of the 'get a free chicken sandwich' advertisement inside Sadler's car. Sadler's a turkey trying to sell chicken. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to call 'fowl.'"

10. Kevin Harvick — Harvick made brutal contact with the Darlington wall on lap 147, the impact of which sent his No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet to the garage for 100 laps for a major overhaul. He returned to the track in 41st position and gained two spots to finish 39th, and tumbled four positions in the points to ninth.

"That wreck was totally my fault," says Harvick. "It's hard to concentrate on driving when you're daydreaming about your next score. And that, my friend, was my Aaron Fike impression."

"As for drug testing at Kevin Harvick, Inc., it's going great. We've had more leaks than a busted radiator. It looks like hiring Dick Trickle as the head of our drug-testing arm is working out well."

Contents copyright © Sports Central 1998-2006

Earnhardt Jr. says his victory in all-star race is a special one

Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates his win in the 2000 all-star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

CRAIG JONES / GETTY IMAGES

Although it's been eight years since Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the all-star race as a rookie, the Sprint Cup Series driver still has special memories of that race. Read More.

Collector's show set for Saturday near Lowe's Motor Speedway

The NASCAR Collector Memorabilia Show presented by the Racing Collectables Club of America will take place Saturday at the Embassy Suites down the street from Lowe's Motor Speedway prior to the Sprint All-Star Race. Read More.

STANDINGS

2008 Unofficial Driver Standings: Dodge Challenger 500

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	POLES	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10
1	--	Kyle Busch	1690	Leader	11	1	3	7	8
2	--	Jeff Burton	1611	-79	11	0	1	3	7
3	--	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	1556	-134	11	1	0	4	8
4	+2	Denny Hamlin	1500	-190	11	1	1	4	7
5	-1	Clint Bowyer	1490	-200	11	0	1	3	7
6	+1	Jimmie Johnson	1442	-248	11	1	1	4	4
7	+3	Carl Edwards	1400	-290	11	0	3	5	7
8	--	Tony Stewart	1397	-293	11	0	0	4	6
9	-4	Kevin Harvick	1396	-294	11	0	0	2	5
10	+3	Jeff Gordon	1326	-364	11	2	0	4	5
11	-2	Greg Biffle	1308	-382	11	1	0	3	5
12	+2	David Ragan	1266	-424	11	0	0	2	3

2008 NASCAR Sprint Showdown and NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Rules

Risk vs. reward

All-Star risk vs. reward calls for unconventional

The All-Star Race is unlike any other race, so it's only fitting that preparation for the star-studded event is anything but standard and routine.

With $1 million and no points on the line, some teams take the opportunity to be a bit more aggressive or unconventional with their setups.

"We've seen teams try different, off-the-wall things," said Larry McReynolds, former crew chief and SPEED analyst. "In the mid to late '90s, Hendrick and the 24 team broke out that T-Rex chassis at the All-Star Race, which NASCAR said to never bring back again. This is a good opportunity to step outside the box with an engine combination, chassis combination or a different setup to see if it's a little faster or better than what you'd normally run."

All-Star Race

SPEED will again broadcast the Sprint Showdown and All-Star Race. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET on May 17 to watch rivals race for $1 million -- and the fireworks!

• All-Star coverage

While the theme throughout the All-Star Race is "going for broke," crew chiefs say they are responsible for balancing the risk of taking themselves and their drivers out against the reward of winning a cool million.

"You have to measure risk versus reward," said Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson. "If you're second or third going for the lead, you will do whatever you can to win but if you're fifth, it's kind of foolish. As far as throwing caution to the wind, and putting ourselves and Jimmie in harm's way, we're not going to do that."

Kurt Busch laid it on the line in last year's All-Star Race but was arguably the night's biggest loser when he and brother Kyle wrecked.

"In last year's race, we were definitely going for it," Busch said. "We were coming off a restart and I really felt like we needed to be out front and try to build a little buffer. I can't see anything that I could have changed if I had the same opportunity. Like I said, it's an all or nothing race and nobody ever remembers who finished second. Think quickly, can you tell me who finished second in the All-Star race last year?"

Watching your racecar bound for the garage on a rollback is an all-too-familiar sight during the night.

"The All-Star Race falls right behind Daytona, Talladega and Bristol with a good likelihood of getting wrecked," said McReynolds, who won the 1991 and '92 All-Star races with driver Davey Allison. "So many things promote that. There are only double-file restarts and you just know they're going to drive off into turn one side-by-side on every single restart. The different segments don't allow the cars to get strung out as much. All those things can put you in a position where you could lose your race car."

Since the possibility of totaling a race car is so strong, most teams prepare different ones for the All-Star Race and the next week's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. If the All-Star car runs well and escapes mostly unscathed, teams may opt to run it in the 600-mile event.

"Our car from the All-Star Race was in one piece last year and it ran so well that we took it to the 600," said Bootie Barker, crew chief of the No. 66 Chevrolet. "But that's not what we plan on ahead of time. You save your best piece for the 600 and something close to that for the All-Star Race."

McReynolds won the 1992 All-Star Race with Davey Allison but lost the car when Allison and Kyle Petty wrecked coming to the checkered flag. With it, they destroyed the car McReynolds had planned to take to the Coca-Cola 600.

"These teams better plan on having separate cars for the two races and I'm living proof of that," McReynolds said. "We weren't prepared to destroy that car on Saturday night because we needed it the following week. Heading into Charlotte, all we had to do was win the Coca-Cola 600 or the Southern 500 and we'd be the second team to take home the Winston Million.

"We had this race car that was batting close to a thousand getting to Victory Lane and seemed to win everywhere we took it," McReynolds said. "We took it to the All-Star Race because we thought we could win with it. Mission accomplished, to some degree, because we absolutely spanked them in the race but we paid the price."

Despite the dejection and frustration McReynolds and Allison felt that Saturday night, most teams acknowledge there's something special about this race under the lights.

"This is the home track for most of these teams," McReynolds said. "I was part of winning in back-to-back years in '91 and '92 with Davey Allison. It was very cool to have so many people from our shop there who normally aren't at the track, and it was an added bonus for us to carry them to Victory Lane to celebrate with us. They worked on the car week after week but only got to see it race on TV."

And alleviating the burden of points for even one night helps to lighten the mood in the garage area a bit.

"We think about points every single weekend and we don't really have to for one day," Barker said. "We can focus on winning at all costs. The mentality for the All-Star race is going for broke. You're going for the money at the end and if you've got to make it 12-wide to try to get it, do so, and if you wreck, who cares. You won't do that in a points race."

Despite his disappointing finish last May, Busch is going for broke again this year.

"Like Jimmy Fennig, my old crew chief, used to say, 'Hey, either bring us back the winner's trophy or the steering wheel, it really doesn't matter to us,' " Busch said. "I think that the Chase format even further strengthens that attitude of the All-Star race being such a great change from not having to worry about points."

"The guys enjoy the race because it breaks up the monotony of a regular race week and the pressure is off a little bit," Knaus said. "The way the pit crew is included in the selection of pit stalls by virtue of the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge is kind of cool. They get jazzed by that and it's a fun event."

Of course, it's more fun when you're an All-Star champion.

"It sounds like a cliché but it's absolutely all about winning," McReynolds said. "Yeah, you get money for second but nobody knows and nobody cares who finished second or who led the most laps. I couldn't begin to tell you who ran second last year because it doesn't matter. I only remember that Kevin Harvick won."

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 While some people would rather watch rain fall than sit through 3 to 4 hours of cars racing, to others NASCAR is exciting, and more importantly, profitable. When talking to bookmakers they will almost unanimously tell you that auto racing has traditionally been one of the worst sports for the house. In fact the first 2 years that offshore sportsbooks allowed betting on NASCAR at the beginning of the decade the house losses were almost 25 percent. As a result of the sports' growing popularity, along with word in betting circles that the sport was easy to beat, NASCAR betting grew in leaps and bounds. However, most sportsbooks no longer rely on sites like LVSC to create their NASCAR odds and instead employ people who are more knowledgeable with how the bettors think. As a result the sport has become somewhat tougher for the bettor to win at, but still presents an opportunity for the savvy NASCAR bettor. This article is intended to provide some basic NASCAR betting strategies to help those who would like to wager on the sport but really don't know what they are looking at. It also could provide some extra ideas for those who are novices.

The first thing to take note of when betting on NASCAR are the different bet types available. All sportsbooks will offer odds for the race itself, but some sportsbooks also offer odds on qualifying. This feature exists exclusively offshore as no Vegas sportsbooks offer qualifying matchups or odds to win the pole. But those bets can actually be easier for the bettor to win than odds on the race. Since a race is generally 400 to 500 miles anything can happen. A car's engine can blow, a driver can run over debris and force him to come in for an early pit stop that usually takes him out of contention, and of course drivers can end up involved in accidents. In qualifying accidents are rare. Driver's run 2 laps of qualifying and the fastest lap counts. Consequently, qualifying usually goes pretty much according to plan. For that reason some bettors prefer to wager on qualifying. The key to handicapping qualifying is to look at driver and team success on the track and similar tracks (i.e. race tracks with similar layouts to the track being run on) for past qualifying sessions. Note that how the driver traditionally runs in the race on the track is irrelevant. All that matters is how well the driver qualifies. For example, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle are generally great qualifiers, but usually struggle in races themselves.

Nevertheless, how a driver tends to qualify at a particular track is imperative to handicapping. For example, if a driver has qualified well at Michigan in the past they will tend to always qualify well at that track and also at California which has a similar design. Obviously recent qualifying efforts are more important than those which occurred years ago, but even past years' results can provide some handicapping help. If a bettor can identify a qualifying matchup where one driver has great qualifying success at the track and the driver he is matched up against tends to qualify below him, it is generally money in the bank to bet the first driver in the matchup.

The other important thing to look for when betting on NASCAR qualifying is whether a race is an impound race. In the past couple of years NASCAR has implemented races where cars are impounded after qualifying and must race in the same setup with which they qualified. This is particularly true for faster tracks and especially the super speedways such as Talladega. In fact in the last 2 years the worst drivers at the track have qualified up front for the second Talladega race. The reason for this fact is fairly simple. In qualifying the cars are setup for maximum speed. For the race itself cars are setup for endurance and for drafting. Consequently, the race setup generally produces lower speeds than does qualifying setup. At the same time, only 43 cars can make a race and upwards of 15 drivers will be required to finish in the top 5 or 6 spots against each other or miss the race. As a result many of the "go or go home drivers" will race a qualifying setup with the understanding that they may have to make major changes during the race in order to last the distance or be competitive. The drivers who are locked into the race, on the other hand, will run race setups which don't require major changes at race time. For that simple reason if a race is an impound race and a driver who is not locked into the field is matched up against a driver who is locked into the field, betting the driver who is not locked in is almost a certain win. In fact in last year's second Talladega race a couple of sportsbooks offered odds to win the pole with "the field bet" at 4/1 odds. The top 8 drivers were all in the field bet and provided a nice return to anyone who figured out the mistake by those books.

While qualifying presents a great betting opportunity, the vast majority of bettors still prefer to wager on the race itself. The key to handicapping races, as almost any expert will attest to, are threefold: past success at the track and similar tracks, qualifying and practice results (especially final practice). Some drivers just have an affinity to do well at certain tracks and this must be taken into consideration. For example, Jimmie Johnson won every race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2004 and 2005 and has been competitive in every single race he has run at the track. He also is in contention for every race at similar tracks like Atlanta. Similarly, at road courses Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and as of last year Juan Montoya have been dominant. Betting against them has almost been a waste of money. Also, cars belonging to Roush Racing have dominated races at Michigan and Homestead-Miami and there have been similar trends for drivers and teams at other tracks. Learning who does well at which tracks is imperative to handicapping NASCAR and can be learned by looking at past race results, and of course by watching races over time.

The next important statistic to look at is qualifying. It's actually not that significant whether a driver wins the pole or starts in the top 10, but it is relevant whether a driver qualifies well at certain tracks. The reason for this actually has to do with pit selection. At tracks like Bristol and Martinsville driver's who qualify 24th or worse have to pit on the backstretch while the other drivers pit on the front. In the past this has been a huge disadvantage to the drivers pitting on the backstretch, although NASCAR has implemented some changes to even up the pit positions. Regardless, it is still an advantage to pit on the front stretch at those tracks. More importantly though at other tracks there are definite advantages to certain pit stalls due to the ease of getting in and off of pit lane while other pit stalls are a nightmare due to the close proximity to the stalls on either side of them. Getting in and out of the pits for those stalls often ends up with longer pit stops and the driver is more at risk of getting into a pit road accident. Not surprisingly the drivers who qualify well take the better pit stalls, while the other drivers get the poor spots. This year qualifying will take on even bigger importance since all races involve the car of tomorrow (COT). What was evident in watching the COT races last year is that passing with these cars is far more difficult than with the old designs. Drivers who were able to get out front with clean air had a huge advantage over those who were caught up in traffic, and for the most part if a driver was too far back in the field near the end of the race it was almost impossible for them to win regardless of the track. Consequently, for races that used the COT drivers who were often content to lay back in qualifying tried harder to get a good starting position. Hence qualifying position will be even more important when handicapping NASCAR this year since every race is now a COT race.

The last piece of data that most NASCAR experts look at when handicapping races is practice speeds, and most importantly final practice (happy hour). In fact one player who bets thousands every race told me that he weighs happy hour practice to at least 75% of his decision on who to bet. Teams will often make changes throughout the weekend and final practice tends to give an indication of how good the car is going into the race. It isn't unusual for a driver to have a terrible first practice and qualifying session, be near the top in happy hour, and dominate the race. It is unusual, however, for a driver to be great in qualifying, lousy in the practice sessions and do well in the race. The one exception to this rule is races on restrictor plate tracks (Talladega and Daytona). For those races the teams are more concerned with getting an aero package in place that can make them competitive in the draft rather than running quick laps. For those 2 tracks happy hour times can be discarded. One other thing to note about happy hour is that a poor time by a driver who tends to do well in happy hour is more significant than one for a driver who almost always does poorly. For example, if Jimmie Johnson or Tony Stewart have a bad happy hour that is usually more telling than if a driver like Dale Earnhardt Jr has a bad time since Earnhardt often has poor final practice sessions, but his team is often able to make enough changes during the race to make him competitive at the end.

Hartley Henderson
henderson@majorwager.com

Sportsbook Reviews. Safe Bets

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Let us know what you are interested in anytime during the season and we'll scour our contacts to get the stories. Just CONTACT JB here. Don't hesitate...I'm a nice guy, a hard worker and a NASCAR fanatic. Thanks.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. drove down the stretch of the 2007 season in this Mountain Dew AMP(r) COT Impala. The 1:24 scale die-cast car features the sponsor logo on the decklid, side panels and trunk. The limited edition stock car features a die-cast body and chassis, manufacturer specific engine detail and an opening hood and trunk with detailed compartment. The officially licensed stock car is designed with tampo-printed graphics.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. drove down the stretch of the 2007 season in this National Guard COT Impala. The 1:24 scale die-cast car features the sponsor logo on the decklid, side panels and trunk. The limited edition stock car features a die-cast body and chassis, manufacturer specific engine detail and an opening hood and trunk with detailed compartment. The officially licensed stock car is designed with tampo-printed graphics.

Action Racing Collectibles Jimmie Johnson '08 Lowe's #48 COT Impala, 1:24

Action Racing Collectibles Tony Stewart '08 Home Depot #20 COT Camry, 1:24

“We’re racers, we know about racing, we know what works and what doesn’t,” said Andy Schoenfeld, owner of High Desert Raceplace & Remote Control Hobbies.

At the hobby shop, you can purchase or special order RC vehicle parts. The shop has an extensive inventory from major brands such as Kyosho, Novak, Pro-Line, Yokomo, Team Associated, Trinity Products and others.

Quality RC vehicles can cost $200 to thousands of dollars, Schoenfeld said.

Four kinds of RC vehicles run on the indoor track: two-wheel-drive buggies, two-wheel-drive trucks, four-wheel-drive buggies and Mini-Ts. The vehicles can have stock or modified engines.

Beginners race in the novice class before advancing to stock (race at speeds up to 25 mph), before moving up to modified (speeds of 35 to 70 mph).

RC cars have a lot of the same parts real cars have, including camber adjustments, oil-filled shock absorbers and tires. Schoenfeld has 30 different tools in his RC toolbox, including Allen wrenches, socket wrenches, pliers and various screwdrivers.

A radio transmitter is used to direct the car. A small vertical steering wheel is used to direct the car. At High Desert Raceplace as well as in most professional races, drivers are not allowed to put a car in reverse.

For races, transponders in each car clock the amount of time it takes to complete a lap. The timing system generates a computer printout listing qualifying times.

Turn marshals stand around the track watching for stuck or overturned cars, which are quickly flipped over so they can continue.

Every eight weeks, volunteers help Schoenfeld rebuild the track with a new course and jumps.

Super Fast Electric Remote Control Cars

The best writers create from head and heart. They not only know the subject being discussed, but have genuine feelings about and for the topic at hand. They put into practice proper writing skills, communicating information with clear efficiency. Such writers are scarce commodities, so when one is discovered it's worth noting. And when they're writing about something you're interested in, so much the better.

One Helluva Ride, the new book on NASCAR by veteran reporter Liz Clarke, doesn't merely meet the aforementioned criteria. It exceeds them. It is, without exaggeration, easily the best book I have ever read on NASCAR. In fact, it's one of the best sports books I have ever read period. And I've read a slew of them. This book really is that good.

Clarke, who has covered NASCAR for different newspapers since the very early 1990s, has given us an overview of the sport's history both then and now that is all at once completely accurate, informative, easy to approach, and completely enveloping as it weaves first-hand stories from the people who made the history into the history. Her writing style is clean and never dumbed down; easy to understand while being refreshingly intelligent.

Clarke personalizes the story not via manipulations but rather by unobtrusively allowing those involved to speak for themselves. When she does incorporate herself into a particular person or event's narrative, it's because she was there and her experiences as a reporter not lacking in genuine affection for not only the people in the sport, but the sport itself dovetail perfectly into the time and place being covered.

If you are a longtime fan, this book is a comfortable and sometimes poignant look at NASCAR from its beginnings through today. For more recent members of the NASCAR Nation, it is an invaluable history lesson plus reinforcement of the reasons why NASCAR fans are the most passionate fans in all of sports. Whoever you are, give yourself a treat by picking up a copy. You won't be able to put it down once you do. It's far too easy to say One Helluva Ride is one helluva book. But it is. It really is.

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