Posts Tagged ‘Motorsport’

When the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series cars return to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, two of the corners on the half-mile oval may feel like they’re missing something about three feet of something.

It won’t be an illusion. Bristol Motor Speedway is extending the Steel and (SAFER) barrier 84 feet coming out of Turns 2 and 4,  a move that will narrow those transition areas by about three feet each, which should make for tighter racing at the 160,000-seat facility.

Kevin Triplett VP. of Public Affairs at Bristol Motor Speedway said “We know it’s three less feet coming off that transition. How the drivers will adapt to that, we don’t know.”

“What we’re hearing from folks who aren’t renewing their tickets, from the majority of them is, it’s economically related, and there’s not a lot we can do about that. But we are hearing from a lot of folks who say, Bristol has been known to be tight, and you guys have given them so much room.

“There’s an element out there that loves three- and four-wide racing, and there’s an element out there that would love it to be a little bit tighter. So we looked at how we could do it keeping the element of safety in mind. We decided, well, we could extend the SAFER barriers. And adding SAFER barriers, we think, is always a good thing.”

The alteration, which Triplett said would be completed in time for this weekends race, will not affect Turns 1 and 3. It also does not involve moving the concrete wall, but rather extending the barrier into parts of the frontstretch and backstretch that had previously been uncovered. Some traditional race fans have grumbled about a perceived lack of action on the otherwise popular short track since a 2007 resurfacing which widened the racing surface by about four feet.

“This will take some of that back,” Triplett said. “It will narrow it up. It will tighten the transitions in the turns.”

Triplett said the idea arose in a meeting a few weeks ago, and that the track’s operations team assured management they could get the work done before Bristol’s spring NASCAR weekend. Triplett said he wasn’t sure how the change would ultimately affect the racing at the facility, which has sold out 55 consecutive Cup Series events yet still has tickets available for its upcoming race.

“Honestly, it’s one of those things where, how do we respond to some of our fans and still have what we have?” he said. “We don’t know what the result will be. We know it’s three less feet coming off that transition. How the drivers will adapt to that, we don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see how that goes.”

David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM contributed to this report.

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This was supposed to be the year that Jimmie Johnson got beat. Three consecutive championships on NASCAR’s premier series, something only one other man had ever done, was no doubt historic. But four in a row? Let’s not get crazy. Not with Carl Edwards coming off a nine-win season. Not with Kyle Busch hitting his prime. Not with competition tightening. There were simply too many obstacles, too many reasons for the law of averages to take its toll.

Johnson’s too nice of a guy to say it outright, so his actions said it for him: underestimate the No. 48 team, and they’ll eat you alive.

Instead, this became the year when we all learned never to discount a driver who’s already put himself on the short list of the best ever to wheel a stock car. Remember that short-sighted preseason media poll that predicted Edwards to win the title? Didn’t think so. The end result was Johnson, seizing the sport by the throat, winning his most recent title by his largest point margin, so dominating the Cup tour that by the end of the year his competitors’ only hope seemed to be early retirement.

Johnson’s too nice of a guy to say it outright, so his actions said it for him: underestimate the No. 48 team, and they’ll eat you alive. Don’t read too much into a disappointing 31st-place run in the Daytona 500, another struggle at Las Vegas, or continued goose eggs in the win column at Bristol or the road courses. Don’t buy into conspiracy theories about tire testing or tolerance warnings. Don’t get caught up in the fact that he didn’t take the points lead until only six races remained, later than he ever has in this unprecedented run of championships.

Because in the end they’re going to be there, and they’re going to be better than anybody, just as they were in 2009. After all, so many indicators seemed to point in the same direction — that the No. 48 team was fallible. Sixth in points after first Richmond! Shortcomings on fuel-mileage tracks! And yet, they won four times in the Chase, weathered the first genuine playoff crisis they’d faced in more than three years with typical aplomb, and ran away with a title that was never really in doubt. The end result was another typical Johnson season, with seven wins at strongholds like Martinsville, Dover, Indianapolis and Fontana, and a finishing kick that left the competition gasping for air.

And in the end, a lesson. Whatever yearning there may be in the grandstands or the media center for a new champion should not get in the way of reality. The No. 48 team is more in tune now than at any other point in its existence. Other teams in the garage area are truly confounded by how to confront the juggernaut before them. Other drivers are in awe of Johnson and what he’s done. The distance between him and the rest of the field is wider than it’s ever been. Who do you think will be picked to win the championship in the media preseason poll next year?

Johnson played it cautious throughout most of the year, publicly talking about the race at hand and not the historical ramifications of a possible unprecedented fourth consecutive title. But when the championship was finally secured at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he let it all out. “History, boys!” he screamed on the radio. “No one ever. Ever!” The previous year, he had tied Cale Yarborough’s 30-year-old mark of three consecutive titles. Now, he stood alone, and finally, he could allow himself to enjoy it.

Johnson’s run has been defined by almost mistake-free performances that gradually beat down his competition. So how shocking it was at Texas, the third-to-last race of the season, to see him bouncing off the inside wall with serious damage only two laps into the race. The result was a 38th-place finish, his worst in the Chase since Talladega in 2006, and 111 points cut from his lead. Although he won the next week at Phoenix, Johnson fumed about the incident for days. He’s probably still fuming about it. Maybe that’s one reason he’s so hard to beat.