tony stewart

Kyle Busch at Infineon in 2011You know what they say, it only takes a few to ruin it for the many.

It seems that after a few incidents with Kyle Busch, NASCAR is pondering the “Boys have at it” stance, and trying to determine where the line should be drawn when it comes to letting the drivers settle things amongst themselves.

It wasn’t just Kyle Busch, but also incidents with Brian Vickers “fencing” Tony Stewart onto a pile of tires at Infineon an then again, Vickers raging vendetta against Matt Kenseth at Martinsville.  (If you remember that race, that was a pretty piss-poor move on Vickers part… blatant and arrogant.)

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NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton feels that generally speaking, the self-policing policy is working.  It would only be the intent of a few that are making headlines from the sport.

He also pointed out that he’s also aware of differences like retaliations at a small track vs a high-speed track, and takes everything into consideration.

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At one point, drivers weren’t sure where the line lay, as far as having gone too far with their need for retaliation.

Common sense says one thing, but in the height of competition, it can become an entirely different beast.

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Tony Stewart 2011 NASCAR Champion

Last year, the entertainment product that NASCAR produced was some of the best racing I’ve seen, across all three series, in a long time.  Many races were decided by mere seconds as contenders traded paint and hand gestures throughout the season.  And in the end, we saw one of the closest points finishes, well, technically, the closest points race, for the championship in the history of the sport, seeing as how it ended in a tie!  That tie was thanks in part to the new points system NASCAR instituted last year and Tony Stewart‘s team.

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When we watch any entertainment venue, it’s usually (for me) the first and last impressions that stick with me.  Or, in NASCAR terms, the starts, the restarts and the finishes generate a lot of drama and excitement for me because that’s when the poop can potentially hit the fan.

And NASCAR is cursed with the long-lasting middle section of every race… the time-period that fans call snoozers, nap-time, break-time, do the laundry time, etc..  It’s a little bit different when you’re at the track but on TV, this is the dark period of any race.

But in the end, when two cars are rubbing fenders or Kyle Busch wrecks someone or Kurt Busch (Yes, they’re related: brothers) flips off the world and degrades a veteran ESPN reporter, well, those are the moments that generate the buzz.  Those are the moments that send the fans to work on Monday, saying, wow, did you see that?!

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NASCAR News and opinion from NASCAR BITS & PIECES on Brusimm.comThe upcoming NASCAR 2012 Daytona Shootout will be the 34th time it runs.  It’s been through a rule change here and there, so the field has grown a bit…

The Shootout launches NASCAR‘s Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway and is taking place on Saturday, Feb 18th, 2012.

NASCAR drivers qualified for the Shootout (I have such an urge to type Budweiser in front of that…) by the following qualifications:

  • The highest ranked 25 competitors in 2011 NSCS driver points
  • Previous winners at Daytona, including the Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola, and Shootout events

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With that in mind, here is the field for the 2012 Shootout at Daytona:

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54th Annual Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race

Softer springs, smaller spoilers, smaller radiators, new fuel system and a no-talk rule are all the new rage in NASCAR for this 2012 season…  is everyone ready for some racin’?  I know I sure am…  NASCAR has always been good to me, and the folks within the industry are just awesome to deal with, so bring it ON!

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With the Daytona 500 only 45 days away, well, one of the longest sportings seasons is about to get back underway, and it started with PreSeason Thunder as the teams got to get out on the track and test the new scenarios they’ll be up against when the 2012 NASCAR season commences once again.

Jeff Gordon paced the morning pack today in practice hitting a lap speed of 192.773 as everyone got on-track and practiced their solo and two-car runs, to see how things are going to shake out.

Daytona Preseason Thunder - Day 1 - Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M's Toyota

Kyle Busch, with Joey Logano tailing him, paced the afternoon pack with a 202.402 speed.

And not to mention, how the new fuel injected systems are going to work for the gang.

As teams hit up the track, this is the race, the Super Bowl of NASCAR.  Sure, it’s the first race of the season, but it’s a storied track and many important events have taken place here, in Daytona Beach, Florida.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr during Daytona Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway on January 12, 2012

Coming into today, everyone was looking to get a feel for the smaller spoiler, smaller radiator & larger restrictor plate!  And I presume, they were also possibly playing around with the new radio rule, which is no more chatter between drivers in a race.

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NASCARThe 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season broke a few records, and it was fun to watch.  On top of that, the local or regional NASCAR series have a new points structure.  Check it out below!

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2012 Record Breaking NASCAR Season

Did you know that the 2011 NASCAR season was the most competitive in the history of the sport?  Yep, check out these stats…

First up, the average lead lead changes and leaders per race records were broken.

There were 27.1 lead changes per race in 2011 and an average of 12.8 leaders per race.

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If you’re counting, there were 131,989 total green flag passes (an average of 3,666 per race), which is a series-high since NASCAR began tabulating passing numbers in 2005. (And 118 of them were Tony Stewart in that last race at Homestead!)

A record 23 races featured a Margin of Victory of under one second.

Five new drivers found themselves added to the list of first-time winners.

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Last week Tony Stewart was playing coy about who they were hiring to be his new crew chief, replacing Darian Grubb.  His quote was that they were considering all options.

Despite Grubb showing that he has what it does take to win a championship, SHR hired Kurt Busch’s ex-chief, Steve Addington, to helm the No. 14 team of Tony Stewart.

Addington assumes the position immediately.

Stewart already has a good comfort zone with Steve Addington since they worked together under the roof of Joe Gibbs Racing from 2005 to 2008.

(Did you know that Stewart is the only man to have won a championship in both IndyCar and NASCAR?)

Steven Addington has crew chiefed for Bobby Labonte, J.J. Yeley, Kyle Busch and most recently, was being yelled at by Kurt Busch for the last two years.

(Did you know that Tony Stewart is the ONLY man to have won a NASCAR championship under each series sponsor:  Winston, Nextel and Sprint?)

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For certain things, I’m pretty lucky to be a fan of both sci-fi movies and NASCAR. In this case, something was triggered in my brain!

Tony Stewart 2011 NASCAR Champion

The other night my family came by for Thanksgiving and we popped in Transformers: Dark of the Moon in for the kids.  And just last week, Tony Stewart won the 2011 Sprint Cup championship.  And I’m wondering if Michael Bay wasn’t some kind of lucky charm for Tony Stewart?  you’re probably wondering exactly how the heck I just connected the two?

Check it out:

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2011 Homestead NASCAR Sprint Cup Tony Stewart Winning Finish

The battle for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship was a battle of the ages.  This race brought the championship down to the last lap, and I’m not just saying that.

NASCAR‘s Ford 400 ended up averaging 6.8 million viewers, netting the broadcast a 4.6 rating. This broke ESPN’s previous record from it’s 2008 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.  These numbers were a 21% increase from last year… but then again, NASCAR fans were a bit tired of Jimmie Johnson always winning.

Then again, you can also see the writing on the wall long before any race finishes, who will clinche the Sprint Cup Championship.

But this year was different than most.

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Most years the top two contenders usually are looking at a mix of different finish potentials to see how they would clinch the trophy title.  But this year, with the new points system put into play by NASCAR, this race came down to those last laps.

Tony Stewart had to win the race to beat Carl Edwards.  But that didn’t seem doable.  Stewart’s track record for Homestead was mediocre, at best, compared to Edwards’ own statistical performance at the track.

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Darian GrubbGoing into the Homestead-Miami NASCAR finale, where Tony Stewart won the 2011 NASCAR Championship, Darian Grubb, had known for 6 weeks that this was his final green flag event with the crew chief hat, under Stewart-Haas Racing.

Grubb joined SHR three years ago when Tony Stewart joined forces with Haas to form the team.

And each year, for a new team that I myself didn’t expect championship caliber performance right away, well, performed admirably over these last three years.

Year 1, they got their feet wet as a team.  Year 2, they improved on their performances.  Year 3… well dang, they took the trophy.  That’s not a bad transition.

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2011 Homestead NASCAR Sprint Cup Tony Stewart Winning Finish

Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, NASCAR fans were witness to the closing of one of the most incredible season-ending races I’ve ever seen from the sport.  The first and second points contenders were facing off, in the 1st and 2nd spots racing for the checkers.

Going into Homestead, Carl Edwards led Tony Stewart by 3 points.  There were just a few limited options for how Tony Stewart could possibly win the championship.  One of them was winning the race.

All stats pointed to Carl winning.  All the banter from the two during the previous week was entertaining banter, with Tony seeming pretty relaxed while Carl kept dropping notes of confidence.  And both drivers put on such an air of calm confidence, it was crazy!

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2011 Homestead Sunday Tony Stewart Crew

In the end, Tony Stewart won the Ford 400, against all odds, grill holes and predictive statistics.  Even during the weekend, Tony’s practice speeds and qualifying effort all seemed to point to a lackluster performance ability.

But was it a ruse?  I wouldn’t be surprised if we later hear they were playing mind games all weekend.

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