Intensity And Friday Notes From Vegas

Las Vegas, NV – Can NASCAR be more intense than in the past? Judging from the first two races, it looks to be so.

When asked about the recent ramping up of intensity, drivers point to the how close the competition is in the top level of Sprint Cup racing.

“We know how important every inch is, and we are all fighting for it,” said five-time Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson.

Every time the green flag flies, double file restarts are the perfect ingredient to fuel the fire of competition. Carl Edwards says, “The racing is as intense as ever. The double file restarts make guys think we got to make up positions now.”

“You can gain a lot on those restarts if you do it right. If you can gain two spots on the restart, that is huge,” explained Paul Menard.

Nationwide Series Practice Notes:
Kevin Conway, scheduled to drive the #97 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet, will not compete this weekend after Joe Nemechek crashed his #87 Chevrolet in the third practice session for the Sam’s Town 300. The #97 was Nemechek’s backup car.

Kyle Busch was fastest in the opening practice, second in session number two, third in practice session three and second quickest in the final round prior to qualifying. Mark Martin was the fastest driver in the final practice in the Dollar General Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports with a speed of 178.542mph. Carl Edwards was fastest overall with a lap of 179.104 in the third session.

Danica Patrick is enjoying coming to Las Vegas for the second time, “It is nice going on to the track and not feeling like a road block. Coming back to these tracks I am able to take the car more to the limit and find out what the car is capable of.”

Johnny Benson was hired as a driver coach for Patrick’s Phoenix, Las Vegas and Bristol races. Patrick said, “I’ll take one tip per weekend, it’s valuable and I need it. Johnny Benson has a good reputation around the paddock with helping drivers.” The hire of Benson was a suggestion from Tony Eury Jr.

Jeff Gordon – #24 DuPont Chevrolet – Hendrick Motorsports
Jeff Gordon is “riding the momentum from last weeks win. That was huge.”

Gordon is back in familiar DuPont colors for the race this weekend. “We would love to get them back in victory lane with them as well,” explained Gordon.

With sixty-six races since his last win, Gordon talked about his thoughts during the drought. “There is no doubt that you question is it me, the car, the combination. I can’t change how I drive the car, I can’t change who I am, I just need to give the best feedback about the car. These last two years I feel I have put in the most effort I ever have in this sport. I didn’t do anything different on Sunday than I have the past two years.”

Talking about returning to victory lane, Gordon said, “The memories that I have from my last wins don’t compare to the crowd reaction. It sent chills up my spine. That was the coolest thing that I experienced.”

Kyle Busch – #18 Snickers Toyota – Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Busch is the current Sprint Cup Series points leader. “I wish it was two to go rather than two in,” said Busch.

Speaking about running good albeit early in the season Busch said, “In a perfect world you would run top five every week. You can win a championship that way.”

Brother Kurt Busch is in second place in the points and Kyle said, “It’s a great opportunity for both of us leading the points coming into our hometown. I don’t think there is any added pressure. We just want to keep it going.”

Jimmie Johnson – #48 Lowes Chevrolet – Hendrick Motorsports
Not “Five Time” anymore? Jimmie Johnson may now be known as “Lord of the Rings”, a moniker given to him by Jimmy Vasser this weekend in reference to a cartoon in the paper.

Talking about the Kobalt Tools 400 Johnson describes his mood as, “Optimistic, but just don’t know because we haven’t had our new stuff on this type of track.”

Noting teammate Jeff Gordon’s breaking his losing streak at Phoenix last weekend and also teammates Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt’s length of time away from victory lane, Johnson said, “This magic we’ve had isn’t going to last forever, I sympathize with Dale Jr and Mark Martin who haven’t won in a while.”

The finale of the IndyCar season will be contested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and non-IndyCar Series competitors have a chance to win $5 million by beating the field. “I’d love to drive one,” said Johnson about running an IndyCar. “4 or 5 years ago, I might have done it. Open wheel cars were cool until we had a baby.”

Most NASCAR drivers state logistics and the focusing on Cup racing as reason why they won’t take a shot at the $5 million. Wait and see, plans can always change.

Carl Edwards – #99 Scotts/Kellogg’s Ford – Roush Fenway Racing
A wreck early in the running of the Sprint Cup Series race last weekend at Phoenix eliminated Carl Edwards from any chance on capitalizing on his fast car with a win. Kyle Busch got loose and came down on Edwards forcing him into the grass and back across the track into the wall. “I don’t know if I’ve completely gotten over it yet,” said Edwards. “But the first practice has helped.” Roush Fenway Racing cars were in four of the five top positions after the first Sprint Cup practice session at Las Vegas.

Kyle Busch had tried to call him during the week but he was calling Edwards old phone number. “Kyle and I did talk, yes. I give him a lot of credit for coming over and talking to me. I think we’ll be fine.”

Finishing the race at Phoenix with a battered car and no chance to win was described by Edwards. “I wasn’t sure what had happened and the longer I thought about it the more mad I got. I was trying hardest to give him the benefit of the doubt. The more the race went on and when I saw how well [Kyle Busch] was running, I was upset and I hadn’t decided whether or not to be upset at him.”

AJ Allmendinger – #43 Best Buy Ford – Richard Petty Motorsports
Reminded that he is currently fourth in points coming into the Kobalt Tools 400, AJ Allmendinger asked, “Can we start the Chase now?”

Noting that the team is a lot better start than where they were last year, Allmendinger also pointed out that there are only two races in to the season.

Allmendinger has the least amount of experience at Las Vegas where the series only races one time a year. That lack of experience has Allmendinger calling the track “my Achilles heel. If we can get through this weekend and be strong, that will help our confidence. This is one of the races that I circled on my calender.”

David Gilliland – #34 Taco Bell Ford – Front Row Motorsports
“Our motors and cars are so much better than we had last year. In this sport no one thing is going to make you better, it’s a combination of things,” explained David Gilliland. “I think we have that combination. Our goal for this year is top 20, it would be great to stay in the top 10.”

Benefiting from early success in the season Gilliland explained, “We’ve had alot of interest as far as sponsorship, our phone has been ringing.”

Front Row Motorsports purchased cars from Richard Petty Motorsports and they believe those cars should perform the best at the mile and a half tracks.

“This is the race I’ve been looking forward to, as far as our cars and our motors,” said Gilliland. “I think we’ll have really good weekend.”

David Reutimann – #99 Tums Toyota – Michael Waltrip Racing
Is your food fighting you? That is the essence of a new commercial featuring Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann. The commercial will be show during Sunday’s race. This is the second year that Tums is sponsoring MWR cars and the first that MWR personnel are being used in a national ad.

Videos are also on the Tums facebook page featuring Michael and David – one video shows a burger fighting David Reutimann. It is kind of reminiscent of Michael Waltrip punching the driver of the Spam car after a Michigan race, but that is another story. Fans can determine the end of the story by choosing if Reutimann takes Tums or not. Reutimann says that he likes the version where he takes Tums.

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