Saturday Richmond Rain Day
By Don Runkle

          As most everyone knows by now NASCAR decided to change this weekends race schedule, from Saturday to Sunday, with tropical storm Hanna soaking the area with up to 2 inches of rain, the chance of any racing at Richmond Intl Raceway was out the door.  A good call by NASCAR with the Sprint Cup drivers due to race at noon on Sunday and the Nationwide series right after that, the only problem I have is the fact of a lack of qualifying.

          The Sprint Cup drivers were out on the track when I arrived at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) yesterday, and practice was going on as planned, as the threat of rain was at least 4 to 5 hours away. After practice was over, nothing was on track, zero! Why? I didn’t understand why NASCAR didn’t decide to have both series, or at least the Sprint Cup drivers, qualify.

          The stands were almost completely empty, so its not like anyone cared about seeing the cars do their once around the track, and with this weekends race being the final run to see who is in the top 12 in points, why not have the drivers go out early?

          I over heard many people in the media center saying the same thing. There is way too much on the line for the field to be set by points. With Kyle Busch, once again, starting on the pole. What is the reasoning behind not having qualifying a few hours earlier? All the cars were ready, and this is an impound race, so no changes would be made to the cars, everything was ready, all but NASCAR.

          The call to have the races postponed until Sunday was the right one. Fans would not have to travel to the track in rough conditions, with the weather making the roads very dangerous, and the cost of having all the track personnel at RIR, would be a huge waste of money. So NASCAR did the right thing with the reschedule, but there was no excuse for not letting the field qualify. That was a mistake, in my opinion.

          So as the media was hard at work to keep busy as the rain moved in, many drivers were in and out of the media center and took questions, here is what some had to say.

JEFF GORDON:

Q.  The one thing you've really battled this year is consistency.  You've had some weeks where you've run really well and some weeks where you haven't run well.  Assuming you make it into the Chase, what's your personal forecast for -- do you think you'll have something for them, as they say?  

JEFF GORDON:  Yeah, you know, you're right.  It has been inconsistent for us this year.  You hear drivers talk a lot about it.  If you were in our debriefs and our meetings, you would hear me talk more about it probably than anybody.  The inconsistency isn't just with our performance, it's with these bump stops that we have to run on.  I can't stand them, and trying to get them figured out is just near impossible.  

Some have done a better job with it.  Maybe it suits come guys' driving styles better, but it's one of the things that challenging us.  

And especially this year -- you can go off last year and say you were good at this track and this track and this track.  Yeah, that's true, but if we went back there with the same old setups, we wouldn't be as competitive just because teams have gotten better and we've learned more about how we set these cars up.  

Then you add in the mile-and-a-halfs, and it's a whole 'nother challenge.  That's the biggest inconsistency that we've had is whether we're on the left front bump stops, right front bump stops, front bumps upright, both bump stops, the timing of the bump stops, we've just had one heck of a time trying to get the front of the car to be consistent in and through the corner at a lot of tracks.  And when you see us running good, it's usually because we've got those close and it allows me to do what I need to do.  

CARL EDWARDS

Q. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU CARE ABOUT THIS WEEKEND OTHER THAN WINNING?

 Edwards:  “I’m watching David Ragan real close.  That’s gonna be fun for the fans to watch that fight for the chase.  I know how that feels.  It doesn’t get anymore stressful than that – maybe going to Homestead with a chance to win the championship – but that’s what I’m watching.  Really, I feel like we’re just out to win.  This is our last real fun race, where we don’t have much to worry about.” 

Q. WHAT’S THAT LIKE WHEN YOU GET IN THE CAR KNOWING YOU HAVE TO RUN WELL TO MAKE THE CHASE?

Edwards:  “In 2005 I will never forget.  That race was the most stressful race I’ve ever been a part of because there was a wreck over in turn three and I was real close to getting caught up in it and we ended making the chase by just a real small margin.  And then it led to us almost being able to win the championship.  I felt like that Richmond race in 2005 was a bottleneck.  I mean, so much stress went on in that race and I don’t envy those guys that are in that position right now.” 

MATT KENSETH:

Q. WHY IS IT MORE DIFFICULT TO WIN?

 Kenseth:  “It’s definitely a lot different.  This car, we can’t work on the bodies.  What you have aerodynamically is basically what you have.  Back a few years ago, even when Mark was there or Greg’s cars for that matter, you could really change the cars aerodynamically a lot for your own driving style and how you wanted to adjust it.  Greg and I had totally opposite bodies on our cars with aero loads and all the stuff we had going on.  We can’t do that anymore, so you kind of have to adjust to what that is and work on it from there, so that makes it a little bit difficult because if it’s not driving like you want, you can’t really do the things you used to do to try to fix that and make it run better in traffic and do that.  So it is a big advantage to be in front and some guys have been able to figure their cars out better than others and they’re very sensitive to being in front and being in the clean air, and they’re also real sensitive to adjustments and things like that.  So I think it’s made it a little bit better too.  Carl and some of those guys, when they qualify better they can stay up there all day.  I’ve watched some of these races and I see the top five cars – like at Bristol – I think the top five or six cars basically ran in the top five or six for 500 laps.  It’s harder to come from the back than it used to be and get up front and challenge them.” 

JIMMIE JOHNSON:

Q. YOU WENT THROUGH A FEW YEARS TRYING TO GET A CHAMPIONSHIP. HAS KYLE BUSCH GONE THROUGH THAT NOW WHERE HE IS READY TO BREAK THROUGH?

Johnson: “Definitely. I think he’s shown that all year long. I’ve said all along, even when he was a teammate with us, once he figures out how to win a race he’s not going to stop, and he’s done that. I feel the same for a championship. He’s been his own enemy at times with trying too hard and being too aggressive and forcing things. And growing up, like we all have, you run a short format races and everything is set at 100 percent and you go and these long Cup races have a different rhythm to them. I think Kyle is figuring that out and is going to be a serious threat this year and for the years to come in the championship.”

Q. IS HE TOO AGGRESSIVE?

Johnson: ”He’s aggressive in the right way. He can get in there and lean on someone without wrecking them. You can intimidate someone without knocking the side off their car. You can run a fast lap without knocking your own right side off your car. And if you think about how many times you’ve seen them pounding out the right side on one of his cars (laughs), the guy is just using every inch of the track. When you run out of room and you’re only giving yourself an inch to spare, you’re going to hit something. And he’s learned all that. And he’s had great teams that believe in him. And everyone at Hendrick believed in him. Now he’s at Gibbs and he’s earned their respect and those guys don’t care what he knocks off the car. They’re going to keep giving it too him and letting him go out there and do it.

 KYLE BUSCH

 Q. How much does this track change in day conditions versus night conditions?

Busch: “Jimmie (Johnson) talked about it a little earlier that it’s just the pace will slow down and Carl (Edwards) said that he will be all over the place because he wasn’t driving too good today. It becomes real slick. The more rubber that gets down it will get even slicker yet and we will be running all over the race track trying to find where the grip’s at. Racing side-by-side, it will be a little harder to do that so there’s going to be more guys side-by-side because it’s harder to complete a pass. We’ll be fighting it all over trying to find something.”

Q. What are your thoughts on Sunday’s race?

 Busch: “I think we’ve got a pretty good M&M’s Toyota for Sunday. We’ll see how it all plays out. Judging from practice today, feels like it was a top-five, top-10 car -- something to contend with. If you’ve got a contender then hopefully you can put it in the right positions all day to have a shot at being able to win the race. I feel good about it.”

          Other drivers to watch this Sunday will be the #6 of David Ragan and the #07 of Clint Bowyer. Both drivers are right on the cut of being in the chase, Ragan is in 13^th only 17 points out and Bowyer is in 12^th only 17 point in the chase as of now.

Here are a few words from both: 

CLINT BOWYER

Q.  Is the pressure of the situation you're in now the most you've ever been in or similar to some other situation you've been in, or how could you quantify it?  

CLINT BOWYER:  No, probably last year trying to figure out how to beat Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson to win the championship.  That's a lot of pressure.  But I like pressure.  Pressure is good.  There's no way of getting around it.  But I'd rather be me in the Chase right now than them out of the Chase trying to figure out how to beat me at one of my favorite tracks.  

Q.  You seem completely over talking about this.  How tired are you of discussing this?  

CLINT BOWYER:  It's been three weeks of it.  I am over it.  But I mean, obviously everybody has got a job to do and I understand that and respect that.  But I owe it to my guys to give them 100 percent here and try to stay focused on the task at hand, and right now that's making the Chase.  

Q.  If you don't make the Chase, is the season a failure in your eyes?  

CLINT BOWYER:  It's just been a struggle all year.  Definitely started off the way we wanted it to, the way we expected it to go and had a tough summer.  The Chase could save that some, you know.  

DAVID RAGAN

Q. DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE KICKER NOBODY WANTS TO TALK TO WITH TWO SECONDS LEFT IN THE GAME? 

Ragan:  “Yes and no.  It’s a deal where it’s certainly riding on our shoulders, but it’s not to that point yet.  If you were to ask me that question before I sat down in the car before tomorrow’s green flag run and started to go, it might be a little different, but we’ve still got a lot of racing with the Nationwide race tonight and qualifying and 400 laps tomorrow.  I’ve tried not to put a lot of pressure on myself.  Certainly, if we make the chase it’s not gonna be because we had a good race at Richmond, it’s gonna be because we were pretty solid all year.  If we don’t make the chase, it’s gonna be because we made some mistakes throughout the year.  So Richmond, it’s an important race, but it’s not the only race of the year we’re gonna look at and say, ‘Hey, this is the race whether we’re in or out.’  I’m just trying to go out and not put a lot of pressure on myself.  Certainly we’ll be a little more cautious at times and pay attention to the details, but I’m not putting that kind of pressure on just this one race.”

          More updates to come…

Will Hanna be a Richmond Spoiler?
By Don Runkle

            September 5, 4:45PM; Richmond, VA--- At Richmond Intl. Raceway the roar of the Nationwide series cars are in the background, but the roar everyone is talking about is the one Topical Storm Hanna could make this weekend Hanna is traveling up the east coast on a line right for the North and South Carolina coast and moving up to Virginia late Friday night and into Saturday morning. The storm could be a spoiler for the race weekend, and as of Friday afternoon RIR and NASCAR both say the races will go on as planned. Information as to any changes will be updated at RIR.com. 

            So stories coming out of Richmond this weekend besides the weather, is the fight for the last spot in the chase. Only 14 drivers have a mathematically chance to make the Chase to the Cup, but the only 2 drivers to keep your eyes on are Clint Bowyer and David Ragan. Bowyer is 17 points on the plus side of the 12^th spot and Ragan is 17 points on the bad side of 12^th.  

Remember last year Bowyer won at Richmond, so many would say that he has the upper hand. But Ragan could easily be considered the most improved driver this year. Ragan has torn his way the through the points, to have a fighting chance at the final position for the chase.

Ragan told the media today that he feels that its his spot to win, and Bowyer is the one that should feel the pressure.

So with the rain coming, another question is will Joey Logano make his first Cup start? If qualifying gets rained out, then the field will be set by points, and Logano will be the odd man out.

As I look at the radar the chances of Logano starting is not good. I guess Hanna is not a NASCAR fan. 

More from Richmond later. 

Archive of SPRINT CUP SERIES NOTEBOOK columns

February 17 - Tammy Longacre

February 7

January 26