News for February 9th 2010

Danica Patrick at Barbermotorsports

Danica Patrick had said she would need to have a “stellar weekend” in the ARCA race here to encourage her to enter Saturday’s Nationwide Series race.

A sixth-place finish and remarkable recovery after spinning through the infield grass qualifies as “stellar.”

JR Motorsports, the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned team which fields Patrick’s GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, announced Monday she will enter the Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Edited: February 9th, 2010

Can it Happen in NASCAR?

CAN JIMMIE JOHNSON EXTEND HIS REIGN TO FIVE CONSECUTIVE CROWNS?

You bet he can.

Whether it’s mechanical reliability, crew chief Chad Knaus’ ability to pull the pin at the right time in any given race, flawless work, or a stellar driver behind the wheel, there are no weak links on the No. 48 team. That said, there’s no sure thing in NASCAR’s Chase format. Johnson has excelled in the playoff system, but all it takes to derail a championship effort – as Johnson nearly discovered at Texas last year – is getting ensnared in other drivers’ problems.

CAN DALE EARNHARDT JR. REDISCOVER HIS GROOVE?
Junior hasn’t been a dominant performer since 2004, when he scored six of his 18 career victories. He’s won just once in his past 134 starts, and last year’s 25th-place points showing was the worst of his career. That just shouldn’t happen to a driver with Hendrick Motorsports’ assets at his disposal. Given his 2009 performance, it wouldn’t take much for the upcoming season to be an improvement.

CAN RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS BECOME A TITLE CONTENDER WITH THE MOVE TO FORD?

No, not across the board. Elliott Sadler and Yates Racing holdover Paul Menard have given no indication they’re championship material, and speedy AJ Allmendinger is still learning the ropes. Kasey Kahne, on the other hand, could be the guy to capitalize on the changeover from Dodge. He and crew chief Ken Francis work well together, and Kahne swears he’ll only be more of a threat with Yates horsepower at his disposal. It’s not inconceivable that Kahne could emerge as one of the top two drivers in the Ford camp.

WILL ROUSH FENWAY RACING RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE HEAP AFTER A HIT-AND-MISS 2009?

Things could hardly have started better than they did last year, with Matt Kenseth opening the season with wins at Daytona and California. But other than Jamie McMurray’s victory at Talladega in the fall, Roush Fenway was shut out the rest of the way. Kenseth was blanked, and Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and David Ragan all posted big, fat zeroes. The only way to discern whether Roush Fenway has made a step in the right direction is on the all-important downforce tracks. Check back at the end of May after Vegas, Atlanta, Texas and two weekends at Charlotte for the answer.

WHO WILL BE THE SURPRISE DRIVER OR TEAM OF 2010?

Some say it could be Jamie McMurray back at Earnhardt Ganassi, but it’s more likely to be Michael Waltrip Racing and its affiliate, JTG-Daugherty. Waltrip has replaced himself as the team’s primary driver with 2004-05 Nationwide Series champ Martin Truex Jr., and with the maturation of the MWR operation, he could be a factor most weekends. Then there’s JTG-Daugherty’s Marcos Ambrose, a hard-charger capable of winning anywhere from Talladega to Bristol to Sonoma.

Edited: February 9th, 2010

Gentlemen: Start your Restrictors

Although restrictor-plate racing at Daytona and Talladega is unlike any other competition the rest of the season, no driver needs to get off to a great start in Sunday’s race more than Dale Earnhardt Jr.

That’s why his front row qualifying performance last weekend has his camp so upbeat. While suffering through a miserable 2009 season, Earnhardt was as down on himself as he’ ever been. With just one victory since May 2006 and on his way to a 25th-place finish in the standings, he bared his soul before last October’s Cup race in Charlotte, admitting that he was beginning to doubt himself.

He appeared much different Saturday. The beard he grew during the offseason was much fuller than the one he showed off last month during the Media Tour, but more noticeable was his renewed self-confidence. He had just qualified for the front row of the Daytona 500. The only driver who went faster in Saturday’s qualifications was Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin, 51, the oldest driver to win the pole for NASCAR’s biggest race.

“[Dale] knows how hard we worked as an organization,” said team owner Rick Hendrick. “We feel like we let him down last year. We tried, but we were just not getting it done. I don’t know anybody in that garage that would have taken on the task that Alan Gustafson [Martin's crew chief] did with Lance McGrew [Earnhardt's crew chief]. I told them today I was as proud of them as if they had won a championship because they sat down and came up with a game plan and really went to work.”

It was Hendrick’s plan to merge the two teams into one race shop, and that decision paid off immediately in the first competition of the season. “I told him when he came over here, I was going to give him the best stuff I could,” Hendrick said of Earnahrdt. “I tried, but I think we could do better, and we have. I’m just really excited. We worked hard. I’m proud of the guys. But Alan and Lance and Mark and Dale deserve all the credit.”

No one in the camp is disillusioned, however. They all know the true test will come when the team heads to the “normal tracks,” such as California, Las Vegas and Atlanta because that is where the total package of team, car and driver comes into play rather than a restrictor-plate track such as Daytona, where the draft is so important. But for now they’re extremely satisfied with the renewed commitment.

“For it to pay off instantly like this, to have the 5 and 88 on the front row is really gratifying for us,” Gustafson said. “I think it will be a big shot in the arm for us for the rest of the year.”

And nobody needs that shot in the arm more than Earnhardt as he tries to regain some of the promise and performance he once displayed.

What I’m Looking Forward to This Week
As I sit in my hotel room in Miami, sulking after watching my Indianapolis Colts lose the Super Bowl to the New Orleans Saints, I am disgusted at my fellow Colts fans who sat there as if they were at the County Fair, allowing “Who Dat Nation” to be loud and proud. I need a big event to clear my mind of that debacle. And in NASCAR, there is no bigger race than the Daytona 500 to help me forget my Super Disappointment.

Edited: February 9th, 2010

A “Bright Star” in Bessemer

Today, the James Beard Foundation announced the five honorees for the 2010 James Beard Foundation Awards America’s Classics category. The America’s Classics award is given to restaurants with timeless appeal, beloved for quality food that reflects the character of their community – from small, regional restaurants, watering holes and shacks, to lunch counters and down-home eateries that have carved out a special place on the American culinary landscape. This year’s five America’s Classics honorees will be celebrated at the annual James Beard Foundation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious recognition program honoring professionals in the food and beverage industries, in an awards ceremony taking place on Monday, May 3, 2010 at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City.
Among the 2010 James Beard Foundation Awards America’s Classics award winners was the Bright Star restaurant in Bessemer. In an area where many of the local restaurants are Greek-owned, The Bright Star continues to outshine the competition as the oldest and most storied of the pack. Tucked away in Bessemer, Alabama, an old steel town southwest of Birmingham, The Bright Star serves up an intriguing and delicious menu of Greek-meets-Southern cuisine, as interpreted by African American cooks. From broiled Greek-style snapper to fried red snapper throats (house-cut from whole Gulf fish), cornmeal-crusted okra and field peas with snaps, the menu reads as a melting pot of culture and cuisine. The Bright Star has been family-run since 1907 when Greek immigrant Tom Bonduris (a Peloponnese native) first opened the restaurant, with its tiled floors, mirrored and marbled walls, intricate woodwork and painted murals lining its walls. His cousin, Bill Koikos, emigrated from Greece in 1920 to join the business, and today, many of Tom and Bill’s descendants still run the restaurant, with septuagenarian Jimmy Koikos and his younger brother Nicky leading the charge since 1966.

Edited: February 9th, 2010

Seats at Talladega

Talladega Superspeedway – A strange sight at the Talladega Superspeedway on Wednesday…. every seat in the lower grandstand is gone. But not for long as a work crew fast-tracks a renovation by installing thousands of new seats one by one.

They about four inches wider with armrests and drink holders, but to get the bigger seat the Speedway must sell fewer seats.

Superspeedway Presiden Rick Humphrey explains, “We’re going to reduce capacity by about 13,000 seats for the this project.” It won’t affect ticket prices – that stays the same. Tt’s a thirteen million dollar upgrade using a one-hundred member work crew to install row by row along a one mile stretch of sideline. There’s enough concrete being poured on this project that would serve for the foundations of 300 single family homes. It’s a massive project giving the forty-year old facility a fresh feel to, as Humphrey says, “provide for a better experience for the fans.”

You may need a hard hat now but not in April. That’s when phase one of this project is complete and race fans can try out the new grandstand seats from themselves.

Humphrey adds, “The second half will be done in time for the fall event in late October 2010″

The original seats – installed in 1969 – won’t be lost. They’re for sale in sets of four. They’re available at the Speedway, waiting for fans.

According to Humphrey fans can “… take it home with them, put it in their recreation room and some people have even said hey I’m going to sit on this to watch the upcoming races.”

Edited: February 9th, 2010