Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images North America)
Crew members push the #14 Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 Chevrolet of Tony Stewart on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 400 at Kansas Speedway on April 19, 2013 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images North America)
All Kinds of NASCAR Tidbits Including Pictures and A Question.
Posted by in General | NASCAR - (2 Comments)Since I got all philosophical, sentimental, or whatever you would call that with the Texas Race Report –I left out the “Notes” section where I usually go into all things NASCAR that didn’t fit nice and tidy in the race post. So I present to you- NASCAR tidbits in no particular order that have been floating around in my brain: (more…)
There is just something that I have always loved about watching races at Martinsville. I think it’s the close quarters, the rubbing, the inevitable tempers that eventually flair- it makes for a usually exciting race to watch on TV. Unless, of course, your driver doesn’t have so good of a day. Sigh. I still enjoyed watching the race on Sunday- don’t get me wrong. According to Tony’s radio on the NASCAR 13 sprint mobile ap it sounded like he was having handling issues. They missed the first pit stop accidentally (it was a caution and it sounded on the radio like Tony didn’t hear Steve call him in) and didn’t make one- so then when Tony did make it to the pits during the next round of pit stops the team noticed his tire wear on one of his tires was bad. Tony said something to the effect that this would pretty much mean they would have to change their strategy.
Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, is interviewed after practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP Gas Booster 500 on April 5, 2013 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.
(Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images North America)
I can’t even tell you how much I wanted to title this post “Tony Stewart-Finally A Daytona 500 Winner” but instead I had to refrain from using “Welcome To Daytona- This Bitch Bites.” This was not the way any fan wants to see their driver start the season. Tony went from being the favorite in Las Vegas to win the race to finishing the race 82 laps down in 41st place after sustaining considerable damage on lap 33. Needless to say this Smoke fan threw a bit of a hissy fit- stringing along words that are not fit for mixed company. Some of the tamer things I said during my little fit: “$#!& our day is already over. @#*&%^@*@$ may as well not even bother to watch the rest of the race.” Yeah I was not a happy camper. I had my iPhone headset in because I was using it to listen to Tony’s scanner on the NASCAR13 Sprint Mobile ap and I can’t even tell you what he said on the radio after the wreck if anything because I ripped my headphones out of my ears and tossed my phone (harder than I meant) onto the table. All I can say is THANK YOU OTTERBOX (my phone has never NOT been in an otterbox- I bought one at the same time I bought my iPhone and put it directly in).
This was the one event during Champions Week this year I was REALLY looking forward to. I can’t even explain why- except that you all know that I am a fan of Chevy drivers, I drive a Chevy myself, my father drives a Chevy, I have a love of the Camaro, well I guess I am just a Chevy girl. So I was REALLY looking forward to this. I had no idea what to expect. I have been to one other car reveal in my life and that was for the Ferrari FF when I attended Ferrari Days out at Mazda Raceway At Laguna Seca (see A NASCAR Girl In A Ferrari World) a couple years ago. When I saw that as one of the possible events on the calendar for Champions Week- I signed us right up!
Up until the reveal the only sight I caught of the 2013 Chevy SS Cup car that I had seen was on the Internet in it’s camo paint:
Tony Stewart drives the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet during NASCAR testing at Phoenix International Raceway on October 23, 2012 in Avondale, Arizona. (October 22, 2012 – Photo Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images North America).
The “camo” paint does a good job of hiding body features…so I think. I was really looking forward to the reveal where I could see the new body style up close and personal- and I was hoping it wouldn’t have the weird camo paint scheme.
The Chevy reveal was our first activity in a Thursday CHUCKED full of stuff to do. We got to the Wynn early and walked around until they opened the doors and then checked in and found seats (IN THE SECOND ROW) and waited excitedly. I was attempting to live tweet the reveal but neither Misty nor myself got ANY phone reception at all in the theater and very little in the Wynn in general. I think I was able to get this picture out and then nothing:
My Tweet Said: Waiting for the 2013 Chevy SS Sprint Cup Reveal (Photo Credit: Amy K. Marbach)
Chase Races 9 & 10: Phoenix & Homestead-Miami (Catching Up)
Posted by in General | NASCAR - (1 Comments)And just like that the season is over. Not much fan fare for this Tony Stewart fan. The last two races in the 2012 season weren’t great for Tony. He spun at Phoenix to finish 19th and fought another ill-handling race care to finish 17th at Homestead-Miami. Points wise, Tony finished 9th in the points standings for 2012. The 2012 Sprint Cup champion is Brad Keselowski.
Brad went into Homestead the points leader to a second place Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie gave a valiant fight but was foiled by a bad pit stop and then a mechanical failure of a rear gear. The Race winner at Homestead-Miami was Jeff Gordon- who won at the track for the first time. Jeff has now won a race at every current sprint cup track except Kentucky (Tony Stewart is right behind him at having won a race at every track except for Kentucky and Darlington).
Important Notes about Homestead Miami-
Tony Stewart ran two special decals at Homestead Miami on his car:
Tony completed his 500th start at Homestead-Miami (photo courtesy of The Official Tony Stewart Facebook page- click on picture to be taken to the original).
Tony Stewart also ran a special sticker thanking Office Depot for their 14 wins and 1 Championship. Office Depot resigns their spot as a primary co-sponsor of the #14 at the conclusion of this season. (Photo Credit: The Official Tony Stewart Facebook page- click on picture to be taken to the original.)
Important notes about Phoenix:
The biggest news out of Phoenix was the ontrack and off track altercations between Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and their respective crews. While yes I was at the track- I did NOT witness the altercations personally. However- I will say this about the whole thing: Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer have been rubbing each other the wrong way all season. Jeff Gordon finally had enough and took matters into his own hands. He stood up for himself and I really don’t have an issue with that. Yes he retaliated and yes he owned up to that right away. He was fined a significant amount of money and points as well. I felt the penalties were just. I do NOT think he should have been parked. If you remember when Kyle was parked he had been parked because he had had multiple incidents of retaliation ontrack- some of which on pit road. He had altercations in multiple series. He was a serial repeat offender. Prior to this Jeff Gordon’s last real altercation was fighting with Jeff Burton on track at Texas two years ago. My only issue with the fines that NASCAR levied as a result of the melee at Phoenix is that I think that Clint Bowyer should have been placed on probation as well…after all he showed intent to join the melee with his now famous sprint through the garage area and then having to be restrained at Jeff Gordon’s hauler.
I did attend the race at Phoenix. Phoenix is one of my favorite tracks that I have been to. Here is a collage of some of the pictures I took:
All photos in this collage are credited to me Amy K. Marbach. Click on the collage to be taken to the flickr photo album with the full sized copies of these pictures (and more!) that I took during my race weekend in Phoenix.
I got a couple of good post ideas from my time at Phoenix that I hope to flesh out and share with you within the coming weeks.
Chase Race 8- Texas (AKA The Comeback You Didn’t Hear About)
Posted by in General | NASCAR - (1 Comments)Unless you happen to be a Tony Stewart fan like me- I bet you didn’t notice the AMAZING comeback that Tony Stewart had during the race at Texas. Seriously- I mean he IS a chase driver so I don’t understand WHY they failed to mention the while he had a mostly mediocre run at Texas- staying between positions 18 and 23 for probably 90 percent of the race- only to end up finishing 5th. I am STILL not sure where he came from at the end of that race- but all of the sudden I noticed he was 10th (my Sprint Cup Mobile scanner for Tony’s radio only worked for about the first half of the race) after a round of pit stops. I was previously distracted by the rivalry brewing between Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson. And then he was 7th, then 6th, then whoo hoo the race is over and Tony is 5th!!! Now while I do realize that Jimmie and Brad are the main contenders for the cup right now and certainly they should garner most of the spotlight…I am pretty certain that Tony’s finish deserved SOME sort of mention.
Tony Stewart pits the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 4, 2012 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images North America)
The G-W-C finish may have pushed the broadcast over it’s allotted time slot a bit, but still I think it deserved SOME mention. We saw replays of the restarts, we saw and heard from Jimmie in Victory Lane, we heard from Brad about the last restart, how about “a let’s hear from Tony Stewart about that comeback to finish 5th” and THEN go to SportsCenter. Because I watched the first couple minutes of Sports Center and then my attentions drifted elsewhere and they didn’t mention it so I wandered away. That race seemed REALLY LONG to me. I think I probably would have dozed off during the first 150-200 laps IF I hadn’t been listening to Tony’s scanner (thank you for keeping me awake Spotter Bob!). To tell the truth? This time change absolutely kills me. With the chase races starting later than regular season races combined with the time change- I was TIRED and the race at the beginning wasn’t THAT exciting until the end, so I got a little heavy lidded from time to time. Especially for Tony Stewart fans- who got to see their driver only on the scrolling banner on the top where the positions are and on a rare occasion during a pit stop to say well they are making adjustments.
I LOVE these helmet shots of Tony in his helmet in his car. (Photo Credit: Copyright CIA Stock Photography, Inc. as seen on The Official Tony Stewart Facebook Page- click photo to be taken to original)
Like I mentioned, I listened to Stewart’s radio chatter as long as sprint cup mobile would let me- and they were throwing ALL kinds of adjustments at that car EVERY SINGLE pit stop that I heard. Including putting shims in because the splitter was hitting during one of the cautions. They were discussing taking the shim out of the left front if they got another caution when I seemed to lose all driver radios so I am not sure if they ever made that adjustment. I am not saying they should only focus on Tony- that would be boring and we would have missed the excitement of the racing between Keselowski and Johnson. But just a couple more mentions through out the broadcast and after the race would have been nice!
Race winner was Jimmie Johnson, who has 7 championship points over second place Brad Keselowski. Tony finished 5th, and moved up to 8th in the championship standings.
Notes About Texas:
- Something else you might have missed during the race- Carl Edwards hit his tire changer MikeLingerfeltduring a pit stop. Yikes!!
- This picture of Tony Stewart from practice at Texas Motor Speedway humors me:
Tony Stewart standing in the garage at Texas. (Photo Credit: The Official Tony Stewart website- click on photo to be taken to the original).
- On Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway- several of the Coca-Cola Family drivers took part in a Google + Hangout chat with fans. If you are like me- you probably missed it, but fear not! They have the video up and I have embedded it for your pleasure (of course it doesn’t hurt that Tony Stewart is in it- as is his 100 lb lapdog Hank…which reminds me of Misty’s Gidget who who was such a sweetie- she was german shephard/chow mix and also thought she was a 100 lb lap dog).
Next Race: Phoenix- and YES Misty and I will be there!