0112 A Tribune - eType Services

Madera Tribune, Madera, Calif.M A D E R A T R I B U N ESaturday, January 12, 2013 PAGE C3If you have a question or comment, write: NASCAR This Week, c/o The Daytona Beach News-Journal, 901 Sixth Street, Daytona Beach, Fla. 32117 or send an e-mail to Godwin.Kelly@news-jrnl.com. You can also send your NTW questions via social media to Facebook at facebook.com/daytonainsidetrack and at Twitter.com/racingdaytona. Please specify you are submitting them for NTW. Michael Waltrip is all aboutsharing. He shares the No. 55Toyota with Brian Vickers andMark Martin. Now, he’ll be sharinga Ferrari with Clint Bowyerin the Rolex 24 At Daytonasports-car endurance race laterthis month. It will be interesting to seehow Ford does this Sprint Cupseason since most of the equipmentused will be deliveredfrom Roush Fenway Racing andRoush Yates Engines. Consolidationhelps pays the bills, butthe pressure is on Jack Roushto produce. Several drivers who havebeen on NASCAR probation gottheir get-out-of-jail cards Jan.1. The list includes three SprintCup champions — Jeff Gordon,Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski.Probation is less than aslap on the wrist. It’s more likean ear twist. Still bewildered aboutDodge pulling out of the SprintCup Series? So are we. Thecarmaker was one of the firstto put its 2013 racing modelon public display and wenton to win the championship.Somewhere in between, Dodgeannounced its withdrawal fromCup racing. Since Dodge won’tbe in the game this season,it hasn’t used the title as amarketing tool. Jamie McMurray is spendinga lot of time in DaytonaBeach. He competed in DaytonaKartWeek Dec. 28-30, returnedfor sports-car testing last weekand will return for stock-cartesting Thursday-Saturday atDaytona International Speedway.“I feel like I kind of livehere,” he said during thesports-car test.Chip Ganassi Racing withFelix Sabates excels in the IZODIndyCar Series and Grand-AmRolex Series. But when it comesto its two-car effort in SprintCup, it’s been “THUD!” for twostraight seasons. Look for amajor resurgence in 2013.2013 CUP SCHEDULEFeb. 16 Daytona Shootout FoxFeb. 17 500 qualifying FoxFeb. 21 Daytona Duel SpeedFeb. 24 Daytona 500 FoxMarch 3 PhoenixFoxMarch 10 Las Vegas FoxMarch 17 BristolFoxMarch 24 Fontana FoxApril 7 Martinsville FoxApril 13 TexasFoxApril 21 KansasFoxApril 27 Richmond FoxMay 5 TalladegaFoxMay 11 Darlington FoxMay 18 Charlotte All-Star SpeedMay 26 CharlotteFoxJune 2 DoverFoxJune 9 PoconoTNTJune 16 Michigan TNTJune 23 SonomaTNTJune 29 Kentucky TNTJuly 6 DaytonaTNTJuly 14 New Hampshire TNTJuly 28 Indianapolis ESPNAug. 4 PoconoESPNAug. 11 Watkins Glen ESPNAug. 18 Michigan ESPNAug. 24 BristolABCSept. 1 AtlantaESPNSept. 7 Richmond ABCSept. 15 Chicagoland ESPNSept. 22 New Hampshire ESPNSept. 29 DoverESPNOct. 6 KansasESPNOct. 12 Charlotte ABCOct. 20 Talladega ESPNOct. 27 Martinsville ESPNNov. 3 TexasESPNNov. 10 Phoenix ESPNNov. 17 Homestead ESPN Who’s hot: The tax lawyers at thenation’s biggest “motorsports entertainmentcomplexes” skated over the “fi scalcliff” without a stumble. We won’t tryto explain the accounting details, butthe so-called NASCAR tax credit is saidto be worth about $40 million to thebiggest speedways, which must makethe parent companies in Daytona andCharlotte very happy — and relieved. Who’s not: RobbyGordon’s NASCARcareer appears to beslowing to a full stop.No plans for this year,except for the buildupof his new venture,Robby Gordon’sStadium Super Trucks.R. GordonJohn Clark/NASCAR This WeekDanica Patrick will team up with supermodel Bar Refaeli for apair of Super Bowl ads next month. Patrick, who is still sponsoredby GoDaddy.com, is hoping to have a breakout year inthe Cup Series after her debut last season.A.J. ALLMENDINGER SPRINT CUP SERIES No. 51 PHOENIX RACING CHEVROLETA.J.’s New LeaseOn His Racing LifeAllmendinger working to have a better 2013By Godwin KellyNASCAR This WeekIt’s racing, after all. So it’s only natural: What goesaround, comes around. The alternative is parkingbehind the wall, so you go along with it.This month, A.J. Allmendinger is right back wherehe was a year ago. But boy, oh boy, has the scenerychanged. Nearly a year ago, Allmendinger carried theMichael Shank Racing team to victory in the Rolex 24at Daytona and was sitting atop the racing world.His outgoing demeanor, quick wit and ready smilemade him a perfect fit for modern racing stardom.And that seemed to be in store, since he was on thecusp of long-awaited NASCAR success at the highestlevel, or so it seemed. Several weeks before last year’sRolex, he’d been hired by Roger Penske to replaceKurt Busch in Penske’s No. 22 Sprint Cup Series ride.But any momentum Allmendinger owned disappearedin a long string of mediocre (and worse)finishes during the first half of the 2012 Cup season.But finishing several laps down and behind the wallis nothing compared with the sidelining he sufferedwhen he returned to Daytona in July for the midseason400-miler. Not long after NASCAR’s travelingSprint Cup drivers invade Daytona for Rolex 24By Monte DuttonNASCAR This WeekSeveral Sprint Cup driverswere at Daytona InternationalSpeedway last week for test laps,but not in stock cars.Jamie McMurray, Juan PabloMontoya, Michael Waltrip, MarcosAmbrose and Clint Bowyerturned laps in Grand-Am RolexSeries sports cars over Daytona’s3.56-mile road course.Sprint Cup drivers have competedin the Rolex 24 At Daytonasince the early 1960s, when iconssuch as Fireball Roberts andMarvin Panch tried their skills atroad racing.The most recent Sprint Cupregular to win the Rolex 24 wasAJ Allmendinger, who will returnto defend his title on Jan. 26-27.Hey, it’s been18 years — Every20 years or so, adriver defends hisDaytona 500 title.The driver withthe only chance todouble up at Daytonais Matt Kens-Kensetheth, who won last■ It’s part test session and partpromotion. It’s “Preseason Thunder” atDaytona International Speedway, whichwas once known simply as Januarytesting before someone realized he/she could give it a copyrighted name,design a neat logo and, by golly, sellsome T-shirts.■ The Thursday-through-Saturdaytest session will include a “Fan Fest,”complete with question-and-answeropportunities with drivers. Call it aneducated hunch, but here are threequestions we figure will certainly beasked a lot during Daytona’s test days:■ “Hey, Juan, keeping an eye out forjet dryers this year?”■ No, don’t expect Juan PabloMontoya to enjoy any of this. But heyear’s bizarre race.The last driver to win back-tobackDaytona 500s was SterlingMarlin in 1994-95. It’s been solong that Marlin will return toSpeedweeks 2013 to be inductedinto a Daytona Beach Hall ofFame.McMurray baby— Jamie McMurrayhas a lot on hismind these days.Not only is Speedweeksrapidlyapproaching, buthis wife, Christy,McMurray is expecting theirsecond child.The McMurrays have a 2-yearoldboy, Carter Scott, who waspart of the “great baby wave”that crashed through the NAS-CAR garage about three yearsago.R.I.P. Crawfish — NASCAR lostone of its great characters whenCurtis “Crawfish” Crider, 82,died Dec. 21. Crider, who lived inthe Daytona Beach area, got hisnickname after his car crashedWHAT TO EXPECT AND HEAR IN 2013might as well prepare for it and piecetogether a stock answer.■ You don’t wreck under caution,slam into a safety truck that’s traileringa jet dryer, ignite a fire that engulfs Turn3, trigger a long prime-time delay in‘The Great American Race” and expectfolks to forget all about it in 11 months.■ “What is Bar Refaeli? And does theplace serve draft beer and hot wings?”■ Haven’t heard of Bar Refaeli? Well,for starters, it doesn’t have swingingdoors and a jukebox. She’s a person.A model, actually. A “supermodel,”specifically.■ Bar Refaeli, a native of Israel, willbe teamed with Danica Patrick in apair of Super Bowl ads next month.Danica’s continued Super Bowl profile,John Clark/NASCAR This WeekAfter the promise of a good racing start and the misery of a failed drug test at Daytona in July, A.J. Allmendinger is working his wayback to full-time racing in the Sprint Cup Series. This season, the racer is planning to run in the Rolex 24 and get in some Cup races.road show set up shop for an early-July weekend,word spread about Allmendinger failing a randomdrug test.“That’s when all the hell in my life started — theJuly race (in Daytona),” he said during last week’sDaytona sports-car test session.Allmendinger soon lost his Penske ride. When hissuspension was lifted, he did mop-up duty the lastmonth of the Cup season for James Finch’s PhoenixRacing. As of now, the Rolex 24, with his defendingchampteammates at Michael Shank Racing, is thelone entrant on his to-do list.But he’s painting a positive picture.“I’m a lot better person than I was when I sat herea year ago,” Allmendinger said. “Racing is a priority,but it doesn’t have to control your life. For 30 years,it controlled my life, and once it gets taken away, itdoesn’t control it anymore and you have to figureout, ‘OK, what kind of person am I?’“Once you get all those defense mechanisms andall the walls down, it’s just you standing there as aperson. You gotta look at yourself every day. That’swhat I do. It’s a constant battle, because there’s goodand bad.”John Clark/NASCAR This WeekMarcose Ambrose and a host of other SprintCup drivers will be taking part in this year’sGrand-Am Rolex 24.in a pool of mud and someonenoted, “You look like a crawfish!”Crider once got last-placemoney for starting a Grand NationalSeries race with a car thatdidn’t have a motor.The Crider car was pushed tothe grid. At the start of the race,the driver threw up his handslike his motor would not fire,then got towed off the track.courtesy of her sponsor GoDaddy.com,is an annual part of racing’s preseasonchatter, and if you don’t understand whyan ad campaign would be so topical inauto-racin’ circles, you don’t pay enoughattention to modern auto racin.’■ “Hey man, how’s the new car?”■ NASCAR’s latest generation of“stock” is designed to look a little morestock. None of that new look will mattermuch if the cars don’t provide the typeof action preferred by race fans. Andeven though a superspeedway platerace (Daytona) is like nothing else onthe schedule, folks will want to knowhow teams and drivers feel about thenew car.■ Another educated hunch regardingthe most popular answer: “Pretty good.”GENERATION 6 VS. DAYTONASprint Cup teams will debut theirnew-look 2013 stock cars — nicknamed“Gen6” at Daytona International Speedway’sPreseason Thunder (Thursday-Saturday). The cars look more like theirshowroom namesakes. But how will theyperform on the high banks?NASCAR This Week’s GodwinKelly gives his take: “It will be like thefirst time peanut butter met jelly — theywill fit together nicely, but it could get alittle sticky.”NASCAR Trivia1. Who holds the record for Daytona 500 polespeed?2. Who won the first Daytona 500?3. What was the longest Daytona 500 (numberof laps)?4. What was the shortest Daytona 500?5. Who holds the record for most Daytona 500wins?6. When was the Daytona 500 first broadcastnationally?7. Which driver is the most recent two-timeDaytona 500 winner?8. What is the fastest Daytona 500 on record?9. What year did Bobby and Davey Allison finishone-two in the Daytona 500?10. When did Toyota win its first Daytona 500?11. Who built Daytona International Speedway?12. When did the Camping World Truck Seriesstart racing at Daytona?1. Bill Elliott, 210.364 mph, 19872. Lee Petty3. Jamie McMurray (2010), Trevor Bayne(2011), 208 laps4. Michael Waltrip, 109 laps (rain), 20035. Richard Petty, seven6. 1979 by CBS Sports7. Matt Kenseth (2009, 2012)8. 1980 Daytona 500, 177.602 mph9. 198810. None. Toyota has not won the 50011. William H.G. France (Bill France Sr.)12. 2000The Kez Racing FamilyThe “Racing Keselowskis”didn’t just spring to lifewith Brad. As noted, bigbrother Brian also hasthe racin’ fever, and itwas apparently inherited.Dad Bob Keselowski ranNASCAR’s Truck Series inthe late 1990s and evenwon a race — at Richmondin 1997. Bob’s lone SprintCup Series start came atBradKeselowskiPocono in 1994. He started 42nd and finished41st in a Ford owned by Smut Means.Another Keselowski’s BackWhen NASCAR teams dutifullyreport to Daytona nextmonth for the start of a newseason, don’t be shockedif you see the new champ’sname — Keselowski — nearthe bottom of initial practicespeed reports. A closer lookwill likely reveal that it’sBRIAN Keselowski, olderBrianbrother of Brad. Brian is an KeselowskiARCA racer, who plans toattempt to make his second Daytona 500.