Joe Gibbs Racing

That is a question that may be circulating around the garage this weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Speculation about Greg Zipadelli’s feelings toward Joey Logano, the #20 Home Depot Toyota and the driver’s performance this season has led to speculation that the driver’s crew chief may be looking to change rides and may be reunited with his former driver and close friend, Tony Stewart.

Logano is currently 23rd in the points chase with little hope of making a run at the title.

"I am unhappy with our results," Zipadelli said in a report from the Associated Press that appears on NASCAR.com. "Of course I'm not happy right now. Who would be happy 23rd in points?"

Zipadelli had been paired with Stewart since the first day he joined Joe Gibbs Racing. Together, they won 33 races and two points titles.

The reunion would seem like a no-brainer in light of the struggles the #20 team has had this season with only two top-10 finishes, but Zipadelli is also not committing to anything and downplaying the rumors.

Stewart, the majority owner of Stewart Haas Racing is currently looking for a director of competition. There has been speculation this is a position that the former crew chief could fill, but there are two years remaining on a contract with JGR. He said he has no plan to leave the team or the operation before his contract expires.

"I love Tony, he's as close to me as my brother," Zipadelli said. "But that doesn't mean anything. I love the organization I work for; they've been very positive and very supportive for over 13 years. I learned a long time ago to never say never in this sport about anything."

The only statement SHR has made is that the organization is nowhere near ready to hire someone to fill the open slot in its organization.

"We haven't got anywhere yet. We are still looking at our options," Stewart said. "It would be nice to have a person in that position. We definitely want to get that role filled. At the same time… we want to make sure we're hiring the right person. So we'll take our time on it."

With all that is going on with Logano’s team, there are other factors that JGR may consider next season. Carl Edwards has not signed a new contract with Roush/Fenway Racing. He could be a very sought after free agent if he decides to change organizations.

Rumors have circulated that the current points leader could look to JGR and drive the #20 Toyota next year and that Gibbs would move Logano to a fourth ride for the 2012 season.

Kyle Busch made NASCAR history last August when he won the truck, Nationwide and Cup series races at Bristol Motor Speedway. He became the first driver ever to sweep all three national touring series races in a single weekend.

On Sunday, Busch will attempt to complete another weekend Bristol sweep, although this time it would include only the Nationwide and Cup series races; the truck series is not racing this weekend.

Busch has led an incredible 2,349 laps at Bristol across the three series in his career. He has 10 career wins at the track, with four in Sprint Cup, three in Nationwide and three in the truck series.

Busch won Saturday's Nationwide race in dominating fashion, leading a race-high 268 laps. It was his 45th series win and third Nationwide win at Bristol. Busch recorded another milestone Saturday, passing 10,000 laps led in Nationwide races, easily the most of all time.

Winner of three of the last four Sprint Cup Bristol races, Busch has to be considered the favorite in Sunday's race. In his last nine Bristol starts, he has two runner-up finishes and three more top-10s to go along with his four victories.

Busch will start the race in the 12th position, but that shouldn’t present much of a problem. Each of his previous Cup wins at the track came after qualifying 15th or worse, and Busch has demonstrated time after time his ability to drive aggressively through the field.

Despite his recent record at the track, Busch insists that he’s not the favorite in Sunday’s race. He pointed out that Carl Edwards won the Cup race at Las Vegas two years ago, and could have won all three races this year with a little luck.

Busch’s comments were a bit ironic, since he wrecked Edwards at Phoenix in the second race of the season when Edwards had a dominant car and thought he would win the race. He’s right about Edwards, however. Edwards is sitting on the pole and has a couple of Bristol Cup series wins himself.

If Busch wins the Food City 500 on Sunday, it would be the fourth time a driver has swept the Nationwide and Cup events at Bristol. Previous drivers who completed the Bristol sweep are Dale Earnhardt Jr. (August 2004), Matt Kenseth (August 2006) and Kyle Busch (last August).

Busch nearly completed a triple sweep at Phoenix International Raceway last month. However, after winning the truck and Nationwide races, he was passed by Jeff Gordon only a few laps before the end of the Sprint Cup race and finished second to fall just short of the weekend sweep.

Denny Hamlin won eight NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2010 and had his best ever finish in the points, finishing second to Jimmie Johnson. How does that bode for his 2011 season?

Take a look at the recent history of the drivers who finished runner up during Johnson's five year title run.

In 2006, second place Matt Kenseth won four races. The following year, he slipped to fourth in the standings and saw his victory total cut in half.

In 2007, Jeff Gordon won six races and pushed Johnson to the wire. The next year, he went winless for the first time since his rookie campaign.

In 2008, Carl Edwards led all drivers with nine victories while challenging Johnson for the title. He failed to reach Victory Lane the following season and dropped all the way to eleventh in the standings.

In 2009, a resurgent Mark Martin posted five wins and finished second in the standings for the fifth time in his career. Last year he netted zero victories and missed the Chase field altogether.

See a pattern?

After each of Johnson's championship runs, the pundits invariably anointed the previous year's runner up as a favorite to beat Johnson. None of them have even come close.

Denny Hamlin must try to buck the trend of those who fell just short of the title, but there are even more compelling stats that stack up against him.

Loop data shows that Hamlin wasn't nearly as dominant in 2010 as you might think based on his eight wins.

In fact, Hamlin had just the fifth best average driver rating. He ranked ninth in average running position, and 12th in quality passes. Hamlin was eighth fastest early in runs and also ranked eighth in laps run on lead lap. Hamlin actually led fewer laps in 2010 than he did in 2009.

Those stats indicate that Hamlin’s eight wins were likely an aberration. Only once previously had he won more than two races in a season, and it is unlikely that he can produce the same results two years in a row.

In addition, Hamlin wasn’t nearly as consistent in 2010 as his second place points finish might seem to suggest. Johnson and Kevin Harvick each scored more than Hamlin’s fourteen top fives. Even more significantly, a total of four other drivers—Johnson, Harvick, Edwards, and Greg Biffle—compiled more than Hamlin’s eighteen top tens.

To put Hamlin’s top ten total in perspective, consider that Jimmie Johnson has never scored fewer than 22 top 10 during his five year title reign. That type of consistency is required to win championships, and Denny Hamlin doesn’t have it. He has never scored more than twenty top tens in a single season.

Denny Hamlin will almost certainly win some races this season, but he will not come close to matching his 2010 victory total. Nor will he seriously contend for the title, unless he finds a way to boost his top ten total.

The 2011 season is young, but after three races Hamlin has just one top ten and has led only sixteen laps. He'll need to pick up the pace if he wants to fulfill his goal of finally winning a Sprint Cup championship. Don’t count Denny Hamlin out, but take care before assuming he will automatically repeat his brilliant 2010 season.

Open the closet and get out the broom, Kyle Busch is possibly on his way to another trifecta. 

In sweeping the August weekend at Bristol in 2010 by winning the Camping World Truck Series race, Nationwide Series race, and Sprint Cup Series race all in one weekend, he became the first driver ever to make a complete sweep since NASCAR expanded to three national series in 1995.

And now Busch is on his way to yet another non-stop winning weekend here in Phoenix, where's he's always competed strongly and collected multiple wins in previous years.

Friday night's win in the Camping World Truck Series was a clear sign as to how strong he was propelling through his busy weekend, and nothing is slowing him down. 

After starting on the pole in Saturday's Nationwide Series race, he swept all 200 laps with his name at the top of the charts, lapping and dropping cars one-by-one with few cautions to hold him back—making him the only driver to lead from green to checkered in a NASCAR series event since Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed the task in a Nationwide event at Daytona in 2003.

It wasn't until late in the race that he and Carl Edwards began to have an up-front battle, which soon ended with Busch pulling away from the pack yet again and crossing the finish line first. 

With Sunday's Sprint Cup race quickly approaching, its time to hand the broom to it's soon-to-possibly-be rightful owner, Kyle Busch.

So while last weekend at Daytona, a "Cinderella Story" was written when rookie Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500, don't be shocked if Kyle Busch regains a lot of the attention by his attemp—or success—at earning only the second weekend-sweeping trifecta in the NASCAR National series. 

You couldn’t exactly call Denny Hamlin the typical kid growing up in Chesterfield County.

By the age of seven, he won his first go-cart race, and by 15 he was winning races at Southside Speedway while a student at Manchester High School. He continued up the ladder in the late model stock car division before getting his big break in 2004 when he signed with Joe Gibbs Racing.

The Gibbs-Hamlin relationship has been a winning one, with Hamlin now perceived by many to be among the top five drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

In fact, Hamlin is expected to challenge Jimmy Johnson for the series championship for the second consecutive season. 

Hamlin led Johnson by 15 points going into the final race at Homestead last fall, but damage from an early race spin led him to a 14th place finish. Johnson, who wound up second, still accumulated enough points to claim his fifth straight Cup championship.

The 2011 season opens Sunday with NASCAR’s own version of the Super Bowl. It’s also known as the “Great American Race,” and Hamlin has already served notice that he’ll be ready.

In Saturday night’s Bud Shootout, a 75-lap, no points battle, Hamlin was hooked up with Ryan Newman on the exhibition’s final lap, leading Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray who were also driving in tandem.

Just yards from the finish line, Hamlin made his move to pass Newman, but slid below the yellow line, thus bringing about a penalty and allowing Busch to squeeze out the win.

NASCAR has been trying its best to have exciting races on its two super speedways since introducing restrictor plates in 1988 in an effort to control speed at Daytona and Talladega.

In this year’s shootout, just about all of the 24 drivers strategized that cars ran best in packs of two. But speeds surpassed 200 mph, and NASCAR has decided a few changes are necessary.

The teams will decrease the front grill opening and install a pressure relief valve inside the cooling system. Bump-drafting for long periods of time will then cause the cars to overheat.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jeff Gordon have qualified one-two for the Daytona 500. The remaining positions will be determined during the two Gatorade Dual 150-mile races Thursday.

Hamlin, who has 12 victories in the least two seasons, would certainly like to start 2011 with his first Daytona 500 win.

Speaking of firsts, should Hamlin eventually win the Cup title it would also be a first for Richmond. It may be hard to believe, but a driver from Richmond has never won a Sprint Cup Championship.

Sunday’s 53rd running of the Daytona 500 begins at 1 p.m. ET and will be televised by FOX. 

After a night of two-car drafts, speeds surpassing 200 miles per hour and close calls including multiple crashes, crossing the finish line came through no where like most imagined it would be.

"Winning the shootout is not worth sending the 39 into the grandstands," Denny Hamlin said as herds of reporters surrounded him to find out his reasoning behind taking a penalty during the final lap by going below the yellow line of Daytona International Speedway.

The move shocked fans who watched as Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota, pushed Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Chevrolet, and dropped completely below the double-yellow line on the track, sending his finishing position to the end of the lead lap. 

"You got to, that yellow line is there to protect us and the fans in the stands' safety," he mentioned after settling with his black-flagged pass. "I just chose to take the safer route." 

Coming toward the finish line, Jamie McMurray held onto the tail of Kurt Busch, while Denny Hamlin dove below Ryan Newman after pushing him for multiple laps in their two-car draft.

The final lap pass was expected, but his duck below the yellow line eventually handed the win over to Kurt Busch, sending him through with the win of the 33rd Budweiser Shootout, making him the first Dodge to ever win the unofficial season opener. 

Hamlin states that he understands NASCAR's ruling and made the move below the line to prevent sending Newman airborne and putting drivers and fans at risk. Although he does believe that NASCAR should look into lifting the rule of the yellow line for the final lap, not for his benefit but for safety regarding cars pulling away too closely at the finish line.

There’s been no shortage of reasons offered to explain NASCAR’s ongoing loss of fans and plummeting TV ratings: 

• The car of tomorrow makes for boring racing. 
• Junior has to win. 
• Johnson has to lose. 
• The points need rearranging. 
• The Chase needs changing.

Most are valid observations, but none of the arguments get to the root cause of the basic problem: NASCAR is getting old. Very old.

Racing Against the Clock

Motor racing is a young man’s game. Young drivers dominate. And a youthful, growing fanbase is essential to the sport’s ongoing success.

But you wouldn’t know it when you look at who’s running the teams that dominate NASCAR today. They are old and they are tired:

• Roger Penske turns 74 this month and he appears to have lost his mojo.  He signed on one of NASCAR’s most successful drivers, Kurt Bush, and turned him into an also-ran. The Sam Hornish, Jr. experiment was a similar disaster. Captain, we're taking on water.
• Joe Gibbs will be 71 in November. His team runs two of the most talented young drivers  in Sprint Cup, but it can’t seem to give them what they need to seal the deal with a championship. (On the plus side, Gibbs’ son, J. D., actually runs the team as its president. That arrangement provides a working line of succession, which Joe Gibbs would be advised to take advantage of now.) 
• Jack Roush and his favorite hat will be 69 years old in April. His multicar team has gone from being consistent contenders to visiting Victory Lane on rare occasions. Meanwhile, Jack has kept himself busy crashing his private aircraft. Maybe it’s time to hand in the old pilot’s license, Jack, and sell your NASCAR team to someone knows how to fly right.
• Richard Childress will celebrate his 66th birthday in September. Ever since the tragic demise of Dale Earnhardt, Richard has been promising a championship performance from his multicar team. Delivery has been a problem. To be fair, it’s a long season and it’s hard remembering in November what you promised in February.

Even the young lions are starting to look long in the tooth. Rick Hendrick has dominated the championship with his Jimmie/Chad combination. But he has failed to give the sport’s most popular driver a winning team. Meanwhile, time’s a wastin’. Rick is entitled to start collecting Social Security this July.

Old Guard vs. Bold Guard

The main problem with NASCAR’s aging leadership group is that they can’t relate to the younger fans who are needed to keep the sport growing. The aging owners are too cautious and set in their ways to make the changes that are necessary to ramp up the action.

The car of tomorrow is a perfect example of this. Everything about it is “comfortable” and “safe.” Those are attributes that are attractive to old folks. But nothing about it is exciting and compelling. 

Now turn up those hearing aids and hear this: Fans like NASCAR because it’s exciting and compelling, not because it’s comfortable and safe. You got that, grandpa?

Youth Movement

Which brings us to Chip Ganassi, who at 52 is in his prime compared to the senior citizen brigade which is dominating NASCAR. Chip is winning all the big races not only in stock cars, but in open wheel racing and sports car events as well. He’s overdue for a Sprint Cup Championship, but time is still on his side.

And there’s a younger hope on the horizon. What may save NASCAR from its doddering ownership class is the reemergence of the owner/driver.

Tony Stewart is carrying that torch, straight to Victory Lane. And drivers like Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Junior are dabbling in team ownership in the lesser series. They will be ready to kick that commitment up to Sprint Cup when the time is right.

With reservations to the NASCAR Nursing Home filling up, perhaps that time is sooner than they think.

When the National Assocaition for Stock Car Racing Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway completed its fourth and final day in late January, justifiably fatigued media members had happily endured more than 21 press conferences, taken 12 bus trips and visited six NASCAR team garages in four days.  

Uninterrupted presentations, interviews, dining and hospitality certainly put a strain on the creative time for 200 select media members, but they proceeded into the final day of activities to gather more information starting with a NASCAR.com breakfast.  
 
The last work day was shorter but impressive.

NASCAR.com has a new page for loyal internet fans and Jason Williams, general manager, was quick to point out what’s coming.

 "We see NASCAR.com as the 24/7/365 presence of this sport,” Williams said.  “It's always on, and it's always available.  And in some cases, it's the first interaction a new fan has with NASCAR.  So, we need to consistently deliver every single product available. It gets them more deeply engaged in the sport, or maybe even introduces them to something they have never experienced before.
 
"Our redesigned home page will have a lot of new data.  Fans can actually watch it change during the race to reflect the status of the race.

“For our Race View product, it will be absolutely the most in-depth and in control a
fan can get with both the action on track and some of the data."

National Hot Rod Association drag racing is as different from NASCAR stock car racing as straight is different from circles, but they share speed.  In Charlotte, they also share turf with Charlotte Motor Speedway with the zMAX Dragway built by Bruton and Marcus Smith in Concord, N.C.   

NHRA President Tom Compton announced the creation of a limited-edition pewter
version of the Wally trophy that will be awarded during NHRA’s 60th anniversary this
season.

 "It's hard to believe it's been three years since we sat here and talked about building the Bellagio of drag racing," Compton said. "At our awards ceremony last November, we presented Bruton (Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.) with a 'Wally' trophy for what he's done for our sport. We've never honored a non-driver like that before."

Compton also said to celebrate its 60th season in 2011 the NHRA will have special programs aimed at "an homage to hot rods and our fans."

"The NHRA Legends program is how we will introduce our young fans to the glory of the past at races," Compton said.  "Those Legends will participate in special media events before and during races.  A very special one is the Walk the Track program, where a lucky group of fans will get to walk the track before final eliminations on Sunday with one of the legends of our sport."

Buses loaded with media members took to the road again for stops at Roush Fenway Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. 

At the Roush Racing headquarters jet hanger, Jack Roush was optimistic about the future.

 "All of our sponsors agree they continue to see NASCAR as the sport that's very important to their marketing efforts," Roush said.  "They see Roush Fenway as an organization that's a terrific investment and for good reason. For 2011, every Cup program has all new cars built.  We have realigned our engineering department and we have new software to run our programs on.

"The economy is getting better," Roush said.  "The challenge now is to bring new partners into the sport."

Award time came to the Roush hanger as Edsel Ford presented the Spirit of Ford Award to Kevin Kennedy, director of Ford Racing public affairs for PCGCampbell.

Also announced were the AFLAC Russ Catlin Award winners.  The 26th annual Aflac Motorsports Journalism Awards of Excellence recipients were: Daily News—Nate Ryan of USA Today.  Other News—Chris Johnson of NASCAR Illustrated.  National Broadcasting—Lauren Stovall of ESPN.  Local Broadcasting—Brian Kessler of Fox News

Then the buses rumbled on to the final stop of the tour at Joe Gibbs Racing headquarters where media members were treated to a 20th anniversary presentation.  Joe Gibbs and J.D. Gibbs invited guests on stage former JGR drivers Tony Stewart and, Bobby Labonte and then current drivers Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano with vice president of racing operations, Jimmy Makar.    
 
 "Twenty years ago we had 16 employees working in a small leased building," Joe Gibbs said.  "Today, we have more than 400.  This is a good time for us.  We've had two of our most important sponsors re-up in the middle of this financial situation.  We're also adding a Nationwide team this year."

Labonte remembered his JGR moments. 

"What made the team click for that 2000 championship?" Labonte asked.  "A lot of things were responsible, but Jimmy Makar and I were very tight.  That had a lot to do with it."

Joe Gibbs was quick to talk about Stewart’s reputation.

"There were only a few times that were a little bit, uh…Gibbs said.  “Then, he became an owner and not one ripple.  He doesn't call Goodyear names, nothing.  I wondered, 'has he had a lobotomy?'”

J.D. Gibbs brought up a piece of history about Tony Stewart.

"For 1997, we wanted to form a second team,” Gibbs said.  “We asked all the guys to write down the name of the driver they wanted the most and put it in a hat.  There was one name on every piece of paper.  That was Tony Stewart."

The tour ended on the high note of the humorous display by many on the JGR stage and one-on-one interviews later.  It was great entertainment for weary press members.

With that the buses fired their hearty engines and press members were released at the Hilton late afternoon.  Most climbed into their vehicles and hit the road without a bus under them. 

Rest for those on the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway is something done after the trek home.

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com

Quotes and schedule courtesy NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

FYI WIRZ is the swift presentation of pertinent motorsports topics by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com.