Nationwide Series

Tonight at Chicagoland Speedway Danica Patrick starts what will be the rest of the races in her Nationwide Series rookie campaign.

Other than her ARCA Debut, Patrick’s initiation into NASCAR racing hasn’t been all that great.

Along the way there have been some frustrations, some crashes and some harsh words, mostly directed at other drivers who she feels got in her way.

Her last race, at New Hampshire was pretty much the same.

Early into the race she got tangled up with Morgan Shepherd and ended up spinning her car. She would finish the race five laps in arrears.

Shepherd finished eight positions higher.

Patrick had some harsh words to say about Shepherd. Basically a regurgitation of the same harsh words she’s leveled at other drivers and her crew at one time or another. In all fairness, she has apologized once or twice for her words.

After the race she made a statement by introducing her car to Shepherd’s on pit road.

This type of behavior isn’t exactly foreign to Patrick. Her antics in the IRL have been well documented and parallel her behavior at New Hampshire.

It’s time Patrick takes a good look at what lies ahead for her in NASCAR.

Morgan Shepherd does not have the giant Pez dispenser of cars like Patrick does. Using your car to pick on the little guy isn’t making a statement; it’s making a fool of yourself.

Morgan Shepherd doesn’t have the sponsor dollars you have, or the endorsements, or the unlimited resources.

He does however have respect.

He’s liked well enough by the other drivers that they buy him tires, fuel and parts for his race car. They do what they can to help him race each week.

Shepherd has run more races than the number of months Patrick has been alive. He deserves the respect that she, a driver who has spent less than 40 hours in a Nationwide race car, demands.

Your time in a Nationwide car is short, you are, for all practical purposes, just passing through.

Make the best of it, learn everything you can and leave the drama to the others. You will need friends and respect at the next level.

There are several key items inside the cockpit of a race car. Most notable are the driver, accelerator and brake. Any one of these three items, used either alone or together, could have avoided the incident with Shepherd.

I assure you Sprint Cup teams and drivers take lots of notes.

Patrick’s time spent in the IRL is what paid the ticket for her to be in the Nationwide series. Using the guidelines set down by NASCAR, if she were any other driver at this point, she would not be allowed to drive in the Nationwide series without first spending time in the lower tiered K&N series.

It’s time to settle down and give this a chance. Patrick has the car, the backing, the talent and certainly the ability to win a Nationwide race. It might not happen overnight, as we have seen, but it can happen.

Put some faith and trust into the guys who do the work under the hood. Give the other distractions a week off. Tell the marketing people and the public relations people and who ever else are stretching you from end to end that this week, and next, you’re concentrating only on what’s inside the track, nothing else.

NASCAR fans are fickle. They tire easily. You don’t have to win races, or even be that competitive to be popular (your boss can attest to this), but you do have to be respectful.

Survival in this business, on both sides of the fence, requires a certain level of respect.

How do we associate drivers with their cars? Is it their sponsors, their nicknames, the car they drive?

More than likely, it's the car number. It's easy to remember and can often be recognized by everyone. There are some numbers that even though someone else is driving, it's associated with the driver that made it famous.

Look at the No. 43 of Richard Petty. That is his number and we all recognize that. How about the No. 17.  Sure it's with Matt Kenseth, but the old-school fans always remember the "Tide Ride" of Darrell Waltrip.

What number do all generations remember? What number can be associated with NASCAR that just emulates what the sport is about?

That is the No. 3.

It doesn't matter what car the fans cheer, what driver they support, or what colors they wear at the track. When it comes to the No. 3, every fan of every age recognizes who drove it and what it represents.

The No. 3 will always represent Dale Earnhardt.

Even now, over nine years since his untimely death the No. 3 has not been associated with any other name. However, since his death has Earnhardt's number become both magical and mysterious in NASCAR?

Consider this, when Earnhardt had his unfortunate accident in the 2001 Daytona 500 he was running in the third position. And it was the third turn when all the action started taking place.

That day many believed the No. 3 had seen it's last race. Starting with the next race at Rockingham, Earnhardt's number soon took on an almost magical power.

Steve Park won that next race at Rockingham, which was the first team Earnhardt started with his new company, DEI. It was the third year for that team competing in NASCAR competition with Park behind the wheel full-time.

Two weeks later Kevin Harvick took Earnhardt's old team and old car to victory lane in Atlanta. Some fans believe the race was won from above, as if a higher power was driving the car to victory.

Harvick won in his third start. The race was the fourth of the season, with Harvick in the No. 29. He started fifth and won the race.

Those numbers put side by side would read 4-29-51, the birthday of Earnhardt.

When NASCAR returned to Daytona it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. putting the Earnhardt name back in victory lane, vindicating what was lost that February. That night the son of the No. 3 went to victory.

Junior would then go on to win three consecutive races at Talladega, the track where his father had his most success. It was in 2000 when Earnhardt went from 18th to first in just three laps.

Coincidence or magic?

In 2002 Junior got an opportunity many thought would never happen. He got the chance to race his father's number at Daytona. It may have been for a Nationwide race but an Earnhardt behind the wheel of the No. 3 at Daytona meant something special to everyone.

Junior won that race at Daytona, putting the No. 3 back in victory lane. His first race in three years driving the No. 3 in the Nationwide Series and he won.

Mysterious or mystical?

In 2004, three years after his father lost his life in the biggest race of the season Junior went on to win his first Daytona 500. Three races later he went back to victory lane in Atlanta.

It began to seem as though Earnahrdt's number was gaining some kind of power. It couldn't be explained and left all wondering what was next.

This year when Junior announced that for one time, one last time, he would drive the No. 3 in honor of his father, we fans ate it up. No other driver would do when it came to racing the No. 3 at Daytona.

It would be the first time in over eight years that the No. 3 would have an Earnhardt behind the wheel. Could that magic return or had it been buried in the years that passed?

After 100 laps we all had an answer.

Junior and the Wrangler Chevrolet started third. When the fans held up three fingers on the third lap of the race that car went to the front of the pack for the first time.

At the end of the night the third time was the charm as the No. 3 went back to victory lane in Junior's third race driving his dad's number.

That race ultimately would be the last time Junior would drive that number in NASCAR.

He made it crystal clear, he's done with the No. 3. It's a fitting way for his run in his father's number to end. The first time he ran it after his death, he went to victory lane. The final time, he won yet again.

There's no other reason to have Junior run it again. He doesn't want to and Richard Childress himself said there's no plans to do it again. What's done is done, and it's put to rest.

It's one of those things in NASCAR that is simply unexplainable. That number since the passing of Earnhardt has just been magic for the sport.

Is it really magic? Possibly.

Is it one of those mysteries that will go unsolved? Most likely.

Should we try and figure out why the No. 3 is so mystical? For many people, that answer is no. It's best to know that the mystical powers of that number has meant nothing but good for NASCAR.

I know there's one person that has an answer to why that number has been magical. Unfortunately, he's not here to give an explanation.

He's looking down, most likely with a large pair of sunglasses covering his blue eyes. Underneath his mustache a smile is bright and wide as he looks over the joy he's brought to so many.

Heroes don't die, they are just slowly woven in to the fabrics of history.

At least a half-dozen times during Saturday's New England 200 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Danica Patrick made statements or asked questions over the team radio that would have been easy to answer for most people who had watched a NASCAR race or "Days of Thunder" or even "Talladega Nights." 

Before jumping to your keyboard and typing a nasty reply about what a misogynist I am, or how I must resent Danica and how she's taking up somebody's spot who is far more deserving in a racing discipline she doesn't belong in, let me stop you right there. 

Sure there are other drivers out there who have put in the time and effort to be better prepared stock car drivers than she.

And it may not be fair that she gets all the attention and all these sponsor dollars and a quality ride in a Junior Motorsports car while they toil away in the lower ranks or in lesser equipment. That's just how the game is played.

That's a whole article topic in itself. But it's not what this article is about.

Moreover, that is not what I am about. To begin with, I am a Danica-maniac. Okay, maybe I don't qualify for "maniac" level status, but I'm a big fan.

I not only own die-casts of her IndyCars from the past few years, but I also own a couple of Danica T-shirts and a really cool No. 7 hat that I wear quite frequently. 

[And this from someone who owns more "M&M" and "Electric" gear (including a 3d "Volt" tattoo) than I'm guessing 95% of all Kyle Busch fans out there.]

The first of those Danica T-shirts I bought when first released two years ago—a special "Danica's First Win" shirt commemorating her win at Twin Ring Motegi on April 30, 2008.

So I am no "Johnny-come-lately" to the so-called "Danica-mania bandwagon." I may not be an expert on where she finished in every race since she started in the IRL, but whenever I'm watching an Indy race, I'm pulling for Danica to do well.

And the same holds true of her move into racing stock cars. I didn't expect that she was going to come out and start reeling off top 10s every race (although her Daytona ARCA finish was quite impressive), but I am pulling for her to succeed every time she gets into her Go-Daddy Nationwide car.

True, I'm sure I'd be cheering for Rowdy should it ever come down to a race between the two of them for the checkered flag, but I don't see that happening anytime soon so I'll deal with what I'd do should that possibility arise down the road.

That being said, I can now get back to my point...

At least for me, the first major telling signs of her lack of knowledge of the fundamentals of NASCAR came when Patrick became involved in an incident with Morgan Shephard on (ironically enough) lap No. 7.

I have since read questions and comments made before this incident that also display her lack of knowledge of the basics of stock car racing, but I wasn't aware of them at the time so for the purposes of this article, they don't count.

Going into one of the turns the two were side by side with Shephard on the inside and it looked like he got loose and slid up into her, which ended up spinning her around and into the wall.

"He totally took me out" she was heard to say. Later, she asked if he wouldn't be given a penalty of some sort for his actions on the track.

Immediately my mind raced back to her radio chatter at the ARCA race in Daytona, when Patrick asked how long red flags normally lasted. "As long as it takes" was the first thing that shot through my head at the time.

At first I thought what I was seeing on Twitter and what I was hearing on TV was a joke. A penalty? For getting loose and relying upon the old "eight wheels are better than four" maxim?

And of all people, a penalty for Shephard? The 68-year-old roller-skating "Racing for Jesus" car driver who is so well-liked in the garage that other drivers have, in the past, chipped in to buy him tires so he can compete in the next week's race?

That Morgan Shephard?

But sure enough, there it was, streaming across my screen as reporter after reporter in tweet after tweet repeated the same thing. And it didn't stop there.

Later in the race she was heard to ask crew chief Tony Eury, Jr. "Got any tips on how to get this car to turn?" 

A few laps later when trying to pass one of the backmarkers she asked "How do I set him up? ... Every time I try to move past somebody I just lose time. I don't know how to do it."

And most telling in my mind was when she asked with surprise "Did I do something? Why would he just hit my corner?" after another driver tapped her to get her loose to make a pass. 

After Eury Jr. explained to her that other drivers in NASCAR often loosen other cars up by doing that to make them drift up the track so they can pass, she asked "So that's like a technique?'

The statements and the questions listed were but a few and I'm sure were just the ones that I saw come across twitter or get mentioned on television so they stood out in my mind. 

Now I'm sure to your average baseball or football fan who knows little to nothing about NASCAR, those would seem like sensible questions. They may even seem quite advanced. 

But for anyone who has watched a NASCAR race or even half paid attention to the commentators during a race, these things are fairly common knowledge. 

Or at least they should be.

The big question here is, why aren't they common knowledge for the driver of the No. 7 Go-Daddy Chevrolet?

Why is it that the diminutive driver at the center of this year's biggest open-wheeler-turning-to-NASCAR story knows almost nothing about racing in NASCAR?

Of course, there are many possible answers and no way for me to know which is most correct. But I'll take a shot at a few anyways.

It could be that she is just having a much more difficult time retaining what she learned and what she might have been taught months ago.

And now that she's been living back in the world where drivers hold their line, where drivers' cars never touch, and where penalties are handed down for not abiding by those rules, she's having to re-learn these things.

But I don't think that's it. I'm sure it's part of it, but not the most important part.

Jeff Gluck, in his article on SBNation.com, had listened to much of the radio chatter that went on between Patrick and her team throughout the race and was tweeting about it all through the race. 

Afterwards he interviewed her (as well as Shephard) and came to the conclusion that it was stunning to listen to her radio chatter and find out how little she knows about NASCAR.

"Danica was asked about why she seemed so surprised about the contact between drivers, as if no one had ever bothered to warn her. Either way, it was clear she hasn't watched much NASCAR," Gluck wrote.

The real answer lies, I believe, not in Patrick's "lack of talent" or "lack of potential" as I saw splattered about various sites on the net.

In fact, I believe the fact that she managed to qualify decently and that she managed to finish the race despite the early mishap and even seemed to learn as the race progressed—improving her lap times as the race went on—shows she has plenty of potential. 

What she seems to be lacking is the ability to actualize that potential. Many people commented about how down Patrick seemed after the race and about how her explanations of what she had learned showed how far she still has to go before becoming at least a decent NASCAR driver.

And if she's left to her own devices and only ever learns anything while actually racing on the track, it will be a long and possibly painful process—or at least longer and more painful than it needs to be.

One of the comments left on Gluck's article hit the nail on the head when the writer (Christopher Leone) discussed how "the folks at JR Motorsports need to be viewing this as a wake-up call."

He brought up a pre-race interview with Tony Eury Jr. which echoed what I heard in pre-race interview with Danica on ESPN. 

Both talked about how Eury Jr. was learning to adapt to her way of doing things—in particular she discussed how he had told her to describe how the car was behaving in terms she was comfortable with, using terms heard more often in the Indy world like "understeer" and "oversteer," and letting him do the translation. 

In short, the comments by Leone and the general feeling left by the Patrick interview left one feeling like Danica was being left to be Danica and the team was adapting to her instead of the other way around.

And that, according to Leone, was definitely not the way to go about preparing her to race in NASCAR.

"If Danica is ever going to succeed in stock cars, she needs to learn the established way of doing things—beating and banging, none of the 'respecting the line' you get in IndyCar. JRM needs to drive that into her, and fast. Maybe more ARCA time would have helped."

Just as telling was an article that came across the wire about how Patrick had received help from Dale Earnhardt Jr. himself.

According to that article, after Patrick arrived Thursday night, she and Earnhardt Jr. paid a surreptitious visit to the track and the two did a ride-around the track in a street car. 

"Well, Dale Jr. took time out of his schedule [Thursday] night to go around the track for a couple of laps—I don't know how secret this stuff is, he's Dale Jr., he can go anywhere," Patrick said Friday after Nationwide Series practice.

"He showed me the line and gave me tips about running out here, whether it's the race or pitting or whatever, or where to go to help your car do different things. It's incredibly helpful."

"I got in [Thursday] night after, I don't know ... I'm not big like all these guys, and I don't have my own jet. So I flew commercial here—and regretted every minute of it, while I sat in Philadelphia during the rainstorm and sat there for a couple of hours. I got into the track at like 8 o'clock [Thursday] night, and Dale took time to do that. It's stuff like that that makes a huge difference for me."

Which begs the question, what else, if anything, has JRM or anyone else been doing to ensure that Patrick is getting the education in the "cultural differences" between the two racing disciplines that she will need to succeed?

It seems that a simple course in NASCAR 101 might help immensely and could easily be undertaken without breaking any of NASCAR's rules against testing.

True, JRM did arrange for some testing at the Milwaukee Mile to prepare her to race on flat tracks, but has anybody sat down with her and gone over basic racing NASCAR strategies and techniques? 

Has anybody advised her to watch some races—Cup or Nationwide—and come back with any questions she may have about what she perceives as differences between what she sees and what happens during an IndyCar race?

And although it may seem silly, has anyone thought to sit down with Danica and watch a recent Nationwide race with her, going over not only racing tips and tricks but also familiarizing her with the other drivers in the field?

Every other driver on the track knows approximately what to expect when they hear their spotter say that the No. 18 or the No. 22 is nearby, but does she?

Does she know what to expect when racing around Stephen Wallace, Brendan Gaughan, or Morgan Shephard? 

I'm guessing not, or she probably would have never made the statement that Morgan Shephard "totally took her out." 

The blame for her not knowing these things cannot all be laid at JRM's doorstep—although if I was a team owner, manager, or crew chief of a driver with Danica's visibility, I'd make pretty darn sure she was getting the education she needed to succeed from every possible avenue.

Patrick also needs to look at this experience as a chance to learn—not just the things she found out about on the track during the race, but that she has a lot more to learn and that some homework off the track might be in order.

All in all, it just goes to show that being able to control the car and do decently when practicing and qualifying when you are essentially out there running by yourself is not all it takes to succeed when going fast, turning left, and trying not to hit anything.

Yes, she may learn the rest—one race at a time—but it seems that a simple course in NASCAR 101 would quicken her education far faster than letting her learn one question at a time during the races themselves.

As usual, that's just my $0.18. What's yours?

(Photo credit: M Brian Ladner)

Kevin Harvick Inc.'s team co-owner Kevin Harvick returns to drive the No. 33 Jimmy John's Chevrolet in Saturday afternoon's New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The Sprint Cup points leader skipped the last three standalone Nationwide races, but he's back to racing at one of his better tracks, and is considered a favorite for the win.

His worst finish was 18th during his rookie year. Since then, he hasn't finished worst than eighth place.

Harvick has made nine previous starts at the track—compiling one win, seven Top Five finishes, and eight Top 10s, winning four poles, leading 588 laps, and earning an average start of 3.0 and an average finish of 5.0.

Happy's lone win came in 2007 when he started from the pole and won. He also accomplished the same feat in the Cup in 2006.

New Hampshire is a flat oval that brings out four important elements in racing: the driver, the car, the set-up, and your team on pit road.

"It's one of those places where you have to get through the center of the corner and get off the corner wide open."

Track position is everything at NHMS, and Happy will try to put his No. 33 on the front row in qualifying.

He will be racing chassis No. 058 this weekend, which finished seventh in its last race in Richmond. He should have another stout Chevrolet, compliments of his team.

Happy should be among the lead pack and run the majority of the race in the Top Five, if he's not already leading.

He will be in the closing laps with the hope of holding off any challengers, and claim his second win on New Hampshire's Magic Mile.

Source for quote and Photo Credit: kevinharvickinc.com

With the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Summer vacation being off the next four weeks.

Kevin Harvick Inc. didn't have to look too hard for a driver to run the No. 33 Nationwide entry at Saturday's Bucyrus 200 at Road America.

They'll have four-time Champion Ron Hornaday Jr. behind the wheel of the No. 33, and he'll have Longhorn on-board for there final race in NASCAR.

Horn will make his first career start on the 4.048-mile road course, as the Nationwide Series hosts it's inaugural event at the Wisconsin track.

He's made six previous road course starts in the Nationwide Series, the last four have been with KHI and actually is a better driver than his stats indicate.

Horn has compiled one top-five finish, two top-10 finishes, and led 11 laps, but several other races he has over-driven while running the top-10, and has spun out off the course.

"The Road America track is awesome. I was going down the front straight-a-way and I thought it would never end," said Hornaday.

"I learned so much about the track and I think I have a good grasp for what it is going to take to be fast there."

Horn's looking forward to racing on the track with the No. 33 Longhorn Chevrolet, and working with the Ernie Cope led pit crew.

The No. 33 KHI team is still alive in the owners title hunt, some 203 points back in fourth, and all Horn wants to help them all I can pointwise.

Horn will be racing chassis No. 045 this weekend. It was last on the track in August 2009 at Watkins Glen, were Kevin Harvick broke the track record qualifying and finished fourth.

He should qualify well in top-15, have a fast car, and battle hard for a top-10 or better finish.

Source for quotes and Photo Credit: kevinharvickinc.com

Robb Brent, current ARCA driver and noted road racer, will make his NASCAR Nationwide Series event debut Saturday at Road America in Elkhart, Wisc.  

Brent will take the wheel for RAB Racing for this weekend's race, the Bucyrus 200, presented by Menards.

Brent caught the eye of RAB principal Robby Benton during an ARCA race at New Jersey Motorsports Park, where he finished fourth, and at Palm Beach earlier in the year, where he finished second.

"Robby Benton had a car in the Palm Beach race and he was watching," Brent said. "He thought that I would have a good chance at running competitively in the 09 RAB car."

"Boris Said normally drives this car in the road courses," Brent continued. "But he's in California this weekend. So, he thought I would be a good fill-in."

"I got the call and I'm excited."

Brent has spent the week in North Carolina, familiarizing himself with the race team and the equipment. Eddie Pardue will be on the pit box as crew chief, but Brent will also be bringing his ARCA crew chief Dave Leiner to assist as well.

"I have Boris Said's number, and I'm going to give him a call after practice for sure and get some tips," Brent said. "The team is pretty excited, the car looks great, and I'm looking forward to getting their best finish of the year."

While Brent has been piloting the No. 36 Allgaier Motorsports Dodge, the family team of Nationwide racer Justin Allgaier, in the ARCA Series this season, this marks the racer's first ever time in a Nationwide car.

"This is my debut," Brent said. "I've been looking for this opportunity, and I've always wanted to do that on a road course since I feel that's my strongest suit."

This will also mark Brent's first time at Road America. He has been going on to YouTube and playing the video games to prepare and is definitely looking forward to the extra day of practice on the track.

"I'll go out and ride in the pace car around the track," Brent said. "We'll have plenty of time on the track and all I need to get where we want to be."

Brent, who is a 23-year-old Shelby, Michigan, native, came to racing later than most. He started his career at age 16 at a local go-kart center.  In 2006, Brent won the national Auto Sport Association Series Camaro Mustang Challenge Championship, as well as the Rookie of the Year honors.

At age 20, Brent competed in the Grand Am Series, where he was crowned Panoz Racing series Winter Champion.  Brent has also added the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona to his racing pedigree.

Brent is also a member of the cadre of race car drivers who have recently graduated from college. He earned a bachelor's degree in Automotive Marketing/Business Management from Northwood University, graduating magna cum laude.

As Brent approaches the upcoming race at Road America, he is trying to be realistic. His biggest goal is to keep the car on the track, which is harder than it seems.

"I definitely want to complete all the laps," Brent said. "And keep the car on the track and in one piece."

"I think we're capable of a top-15, which would be a solid goal," Brent continued. "Of course, I'd love a top-10 but a top-15 is doable given the competition."

The competition is indeed tough at Road America, with some road aces like Ron Fellows, Jacques Villeneuve, and Carlos Contreras, in the field.

Brent, however, is philosophical about the competition.

"Hopefully, we can get up there and get in the mix," Brent said. "Once we get a few laps down and get my confidence going, we should be OK."

"You've got to beat the best to be the best," added Brent.

Brent is also philosophical about the potential for leveraging this Nationwide ride into something further in his career. Given the tough economic times, Brent is willing to parlay his hopeful success at Road America to another Nationwide gig or any other ride for that matter.

"I don't know what the future holds as this is a money-driven sport," Brent said. "I'm open to do Trucks or Nationwide or even a road racing ride. I'm not really too picky at this point.

"Hopefully this might catch someone's eye in the oval or road racing world," Brent said.

The Bucyrus 200 presented by Menards will be broadcast on ESPN2 and MRN Radio, 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

NASCAR driver and co-owner Kevin Harvick along with representatives from JEGS High Performance will be making a special announcement at 2PM on Wednesday, June 23rd at the JEGS Race Shop in Delaware, Ohio.

It will mean one of three things, either Harvick and wife Delana are buying into a NHRA team, they are set to announce JEGS as Ron Hornaday Jr. sponsor on the No. 33 or they will be sponsoring both KHI entries in the Trucks and it's lone Nationwide Series's entry in 2011.

Of course Hornaday, would start being sponsored by JEGS the remainder of the 2010 season and share the sponsorship with the eight races that already are sponsored.

KHI just lost Longhorn to the new FDA tobacco rule. They have half of the 16 remaining truck races sponsored and still looking for more sponsors for the four-time champion.

So the latter makes a lot of sense, but it's no secret that Happy is a NHRA fan and has been interested in starting or buying into a existing team.

All of KHI's sponsor deals end in 2010, so it makes sense that JEGS would jump into NASCAR in it's two lower series.

Legendary Motorsports announcer Paul Page, the voice of the NHRA will be the master of ceremonies and mediator for the event.

While there is still the chance that JEGS could become Harvick's new Cup sponsor, but that's doubtful since RCR wasn't named in a release about this event.

The race shop, located next to JEGS headquarters, has been in lock down the last couple of months and only a few employees have access to the facility.

It would be cool to see the long standing NHRA sponsor, make the leap to NASCAR as not only Horn's sponsor but also affiliating themselves with KHI.

The No. 33 truck will look sharp with the JEGS paint scheme of a yellow body, and with black trim.

We'll know for sure which scenario will happen with JEGS and KHI on the 23rd.

After letting Kelly Bires go, JR Motorsports vowed to get the driver development program going with a new face in the No. 88 car for 2011, and one of the drivers they hired to potentially fill the seat is Fort Frances, Ontario native Steve Arpin.

Arpin has shown, as he’s moved up the ranks, that he can drive and is someone with the potential to fulfill the spot. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that Arpin was one of the chosen drivers via the recommendation he got from Carl Edwards and Mark Martin.

Arpin’s first race came at Talladega, where he says it finally set in.

“To be honest, it didn’t set in till I was sitting on pit road with Carl Edwards beside me, Kevin Harvick on the pole and saw Dale Jr.’s name on the car,” he said. “Just to be involved and to be recognized for what I’ve done is an honor. It’s the biggest accomplishment so far for me with having Tony Eury Jr. as the crew chief and Kelley Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the owner.”

Though it was a couple weeks before in Texas where he met the boss, which he called a cool experience.

“It was pretty cool,” he said. “I was always a Dale Jr. fan growing up. I liked how he showed a lot of respect and didn’t tear up a lot of his equipment. It was neat as the first time I met him, he was sitting in the trailer and you’d never know you’re sitting next to Dale Earnhardt Jr."

"Since then, we’ve been able to hang out a little bit though not that much with both of our schedules. He’s also been good at giving me advice whenever I need it and sometimes we walk through what to expect at a track before running it.”

Right out of the gate, he met expectations as he qualified fourth in his first start at Talladega Superspeedway. Though a pit road speeding penalty set him back and a crash late in the race resulted in a 26th place finish.

“It’s been a struggle,” he said. “We had a really good car at Talladega. The pit road speeding penalty put us behind; we were only speeding by 0.03mph.”

The next three races he ran didn’t end much better, with the only highlight being a qualifying effort of seventh at Charlotte.

“Charlotte was the means of miscommunication and me not checking my mirrors,” he said in reference to the wreck. “You’ve got to learn every time you’re out, whether good or bad, and it’s been a good learning experience. Actually, this past month I’ve learned more then I had up to this point in racing.”

In the minds of part-owner/crew chief Tony Eury Jr., Arpin has done well.

“Steve has impressed us with what he's been able to do in the No. 7 Chevrolet with his limited experience," Tony Eury Jr. said. "There's no doubt the kid has a lot of talent, especially with what he's been able to do dirt racing.  He had a couple great qualifying efforts at Talladega and Charlotte over the past few weeks." 

"He did have his work cut out for him at Richmond and Darlington, which are two of the toughest tracks we race at. Being a rookie in the series it's not easy to run at those facilities. We've had some growing pains, and caught some bad luck with a couple wrecks, but overall, he's shown promise.”

Arpin is taking each race one step at a time, learning as he goes along, ready for the next race. With the chance to drive 12 more races this year, Arpin looks to continue to improve.

Away from the track he’s got his mind on racing, though he likes spending time with his wife Katrina.

“Thinking about the next time I’m going back to the track,” he said when I asked what he likes to do away from the track. “With the schedule, I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t had a lot of time to do much otherwise. When I’m not at the track, I’ve been running the simulator's to try to get better."

“When I do get time, I like to hang out with my wife (Katrina) as we don’t get a lot of time. The other day we played tennis. When we get back from Michigan actually, we’re going to take a trip to Charleston.”

Though five years down the road, Arpin hopes he’s at the Cup Series level.

“My dream is to be in the Cup Series,” he said. “I’d like to win the ARCA Championship this year and then keep a relationship going with JR Motorsports next year. Though I don’t want to move up too quick as I want to make sure I’m ready when the opportunity comes.”

And he’d also like to have the chance to run the Prelude to the Dream.

“If I could be there tomorrow, I would do it,” he said on Tuesday. “That’d be a dream come true.”

Steve Arpin is having the dream season so far this year, as he’s got his first ARCA win under his belt and a Nationwide Series deal with JR Motorsports.

 

For Arpin, the journey started back when he was little kid going to the local dirt track with his dad.

 

“I started going to the dirt tracks with my dad and watching dirt track racing with my dad and I’ve just loved it ever since,” he said. “When I was about eight years old, when I found there was a go-kart track that was about 45 minutes away, I just kind of worked my butt off for two years delivering newspapers and all that kind of stuff like that to try to save enough money to buy my first go-kart. By the time I was 10, I had enough money saved up to buy a go-kart and that’s where it all started.”

 

Arpin quickly showed that he had the talent as he started winning races at the go-kart and dirt modified level quickly, including a record that still stands today of winning every race at Emo Speedway for three straight years.

 

His success on dirt at Emo Speedway in Ontario and across the United States caught everybody's attention, including Sprint Cup Series veteran Mark Martin.

Martin was quoted saying on SB Nation that he’d pick Arpin against anybody on dirt.

 

“I didn’t know he said that till I heard Dale Jr. say that on national TV,” Arpin said of the quote. “It knocked the wind out of me hearing that. For Mark Martin to go out of his way and say something like that means a lot to me. He’s a guy with a lot of respect so you listen if you hear something coming from him.”

 

The beginning of 2008 was rough for Arpin, as he would suffer burns on his hands, thighs, and groin as a result of a radiator hose blowing off and spraying him with water.

 

Two months after  he was healed and ready to go, he was offered the chance to drive a late model on pavement for the Schoenfeld Headers team out of Concord, N.C.

 

The transition from dirt to pavement wasn’t easy for Arpin—he had to forget most of what he knew about racing.

 

“The hardest thing was to forget all I knew on dirt racing that I thought would help on asphalt,” he said. “It was a real eye opener when I started running asphalt. Basically, you got to throw away 98% of what you know about dirt racing.”

 

Success with the Schoenfled Headers team led to a call from NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards who offered Arpin a USAC Silver Crown ride.

He continued having success as he took home Rookie of the Year honors.

 

This success caught the eye of Eddie Sharp Racing (ESR), where he drove the No. 20 Taylor Motorsports Toyota for the first half of the season. 

However, this didn't work out and he made the transition to Venturini Motorsports.

 

“Before I signed up with Venturini Motorsports, I had talked to Bill Venturini a little bit and we really hit it off good,” Arpin said in speaking of how the deal came together. “But we were so far ahead with our deal with ESR that we decided to go with ESR and start in that direction and we really just kept in touch with Venturini. They just watched our performance and about halfway through the year when I talked with them, when my deal with ESR was up, we re-evaluated our program and we realized things weren’t going right there we decided to go with Venturini.”

 

Arpin ended the 2009 ARCA Season seventh in points and took home the Most Popular Driver award.

 

The 2010 season has been a big year for Arpin, so far as he has won two ARCA races this year (Salem and Texas) and currently sits fourth in points.

 

“I think of all the places to get your first ARCA win, Salem is just the coolest place in the world,” he said in reference to the first win at Salem. “Regardless, you’re going to absolutely love it but just the history and looking at who has run there and who has won there is absolutely unbelievable. There’s just so much history. Like, almost every driver that’s in the Cup Series has raced at Salem one time or another. It’s just a really cool place.”

 

Last week at Pocono he didn’t have the day he was looking for, as he qualified 14th and finished 11th.

 

“Frustrating —that’s the first thing that comes to mind,” he said. “We weren’t where we needed to be when we unloaded. We took a new car and it wasn’t good off the truck and we didn’t get the best qualifying effort. We should’ve been able to make it six more laps on fuel; we were under horse-powered all day. A lot of things just didn’t go our way.”

 

Michigan looks to be the right spot to turn things around as the test went well for Venturini Motorsports. Teammate Mikey Kile was at the top of the charts while Arpin was fourth.

 

“We had a really good test,” Arpin said. “We had such a good test that we decided to take a different car to Pocono. We didn’t want to take a chance at wrecking it with the quick turnaround.”

 

To those who are looking to get to Arpin’s level, he says stick with it no matter what.

 

“Don’t get down,” he said. “There was a lot of people telling me you can’t do it, it’s all about the money, but I stuck with it and went after it. If you know you can do it, then keep going after it.”

As a child, I fell in love with Dodge and Plymouth because Richard Petty drove them. I drive a Dodge to this day, in large part a product of watching the King win in one.

His cars looked like the Chargers I saw on the road every day, well except for the dayglo Orange and Petty Blue paint. Benny drove an Oldsmobile, others drove Mercury, or Pontiac, or Ford. It was fun to watch.

Until, as recently as a decade ago, NASCAR meant something. Then it became something that many of us no longer recognize as the sport we grew up with. Today, we have the COT, and while I'm a firefighter who's all about safety at the track, I cannot stand the cars.

Mind you, I think they are closer to stock cars than the super modified posing as Dodges, Fords and Chevys had been since the early part of the 2000's. At least the corners are corners and not just a wedge with decals.

Instead of making everyone even, the field is so uneven that you can count on one hand the number of wins by non Rousch, Hendrick, Penske, or Gibbs racing have won over the past year. Make that last four years.

Give the teams enough latitude to make needed changes and get away from balancing every car so as not to have any kind of advantage.

Go back to Sheet metal that resembles the actual cars. Use the COT developments to make the drivers safe and put manufacturers sheet metal back on the cars.

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday would actually have meaning again. With the Nationwide series primed to debut their COT's, it will be very interesting to see what fan reaction they get to their non standard fascia.

When fans can sit in their seats and tell you the makes of every car on the track without having to squint for the shape of the grill decals Nationwide will suddenly be more watchable than the Cup series.

Very interesting indeed.