Sports

Motorsports

No I in team? Not quite true

By BRANT JAMES, Times Staff Writer
Published October 9, 2007

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TALLADEGA, Ala. - The race for the Nextel Cup championship appeared over before summer when Hendrick Motorsports drivers won nine of the first 12 races. At least over outside the team's race shops. But then NASCAR caught up for a while. For a while. Jeff Gordon's last-lap pass for victory Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway gave the four-time series champion back a driver standings lead (by nine points) that he held for 22 weeks during the "regular season." The driver he passed - runnerup, teammate and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson - might be the only one with a chance to catch him. A 12-driver Chase has likely become a two-driver, one-team shootout.

 

WINNERS losers what we learned 1 Jeff Gordon: Five wins, 18 top fives, 24 top 10s in 30 races. Championship consistency. 1 CR-DEI engine-builders: Chasedrivers JeffBurton, right,Kevin Harvick andMartin Truexhad fatal engine failuresthat likely flatlined what was left of their title hopes. Maybe nothing. 2 Jimmie Johnson:Although he hada potential victoryat Talladegaswiped for thesecond straightfall, second is goodenough, especially heading to Lowe's Motor Speedway, where he has five wins and an average finish of 6.2 in 12 starts. 2 Tony Stewart: Looked like he finally had a Talladega win within reach until a move to block Jimmie Johnson led to a draftdump and major frustration. 3 Clint Bowyer: At 63points back, hemight be the onlyhope for the anti-Hendrick front. HisRichard ChildressRacing-Dale EarnhardtInc. motor lasted 500 miles when most did not. big picture With six Chase races remaining, all 12 Chase drivers are mathematically viable, and anyone from fourth-place Tony Stewart (154 points back) to Denny Hamlin (ninth, 262 back) could mount a push. But Jeff Gordon's and Jimmie Johnson's mental approaches or their equipment will have to start coming unbolted for them to be overtaken.

Sam I am

Sam Hornish could make a much more informed decision whether he likes stock car racing at NASCAR's highest level if he could actually make a race. This weekend he didn't qualify for the third time but has at least four more attempts planned before he, team owner Roger Penske and sponsors decide if he will return to the Indy Racing League, where he amassed a record three titles and 19 wins. Oh, and his wife, Crystal, is to give birth to their first child a week before the Daytona 500. Time is dwindling to prove he can be as valuable an asset on the more financially lucrative but statistically less successful side of Penske's operation. Hornish talks about his options:

 

Will this decision mostly come down to what Penske wants?

It's not going to be solely his decision, but he's pretty key. A lot of my decisions are kind of based on what he thinks is the right thing. He's got a pretty good eye for what he thinks the right thing is going to be. I trust his judgment. I'm trying to be as smart as I can be about this and talk to him and figure out where he is standing at and what is the best thing not only for me but for the team.

 

What is he thinking?

I don't think he'd have me doing this if he didn't think we could do it, but we're still working away to try and figure out if that's the right thing.

Quick study

Former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, 36, adjusted well in his first Nextel Cup start after needing the most basic of on-the-job training in the opening laps. Although he qualified sixth, Villeneuve dropped to the rear voluntarily at the start to get out of the way and tried to keep up in a long drafting line of backmarkers.

Crew chief "Slugger" Labbe advised Villeneuve how to properly align his left-side tires with the driver ahead to hold onto that line and when to switch off exhaust fans, and his spotter was at one point making suggestions of when to depress his accelerator as to not lose momentum in corners.

Later in the race, Villeneuve lost his shifter ball, and he was black-flagged when a loose plug made his radio nonfunctional. And he had a pit-road speeding penalty. But he finished 21st as he prepares for a full-time campaign with Bill Davis Racing.

"Early in the race was tough for some reason," he said. "I was really tight. We had a couple of things going on, but it was a great day to learn. I'm quite happy with the results."

Villeneuve's greatest accomplishment: "I'm glad I didn't create any problems with the drivers," he said.

First things

That NASCAR chose Sunday's Chase for the Championship race at Talladega for its first use of the Car of Tomorrow at a restrictor-plate track underscores the upside-down nature of the sport's schedule and priorities.

Vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said Talladega was chosen mainly so teams and the series could have a baseline of information before the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb.17.

In essence, NASCAR used a playoff race to make sure the show wasn't ruined in its season opener.

"We didn't want to start cold turkey in February," he said.

[Last modified October 9, 2007, 14:30:00]