CHASING SPOTS IN MICHIGAN.Byline: TIM TIM Timothy TIM Technical Interchange Meeting TIM Transient Intermodulation Distortion TIM Time Is Money TIM The Invisible Man (movie) TIM Telecom Italia Mobile (Italian cellular provider) HADDOCK MOTOR SPORTS With four races to go before the NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Nextel Cup The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series is NASCAR's top racing series. It was formerly known as the Strictly Stock Series (1949), Grand National Series (1950-1971), and the Winston Cup Series (1972-2003). Series Chase for the Championship begins, there are essentially 14 drivers still alive for the 10 spots. Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards, II (born August 15, 1979) is a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and Busch Series driver for Roush Fenway Racing. In the NEXTEL Cup Series, Edwards drives the No.99 Ford Fusion that is primarily sponsored by Office Depot, NASCAR's Official Office Products Partner. is the 14th-place driver in the standings as the series heads to Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile (3.22 km), moderate-banked, D shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than 1,400 acres [1] near Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. for Sunday's Cup race. He is 190 points out of 10th. Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne (born April 10, 1980 in Enumclaw, Washington) is a race car driver in NASCAR's NEXTEL Cup Series. He currently drives the #9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger/Dodge Avenger for Gillett Evernham Motorsports with teammates Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler. , Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a NASCAR driver. He drives the #2 Miller Lite Dodge in Nextel Cup Series and part time in Busch Series driving the #12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge. and Greg Biffle Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969 in Vancouver, Washington) is a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver. He now lives in Mooresville, North Carolina. He has also left a lasting impression as the "Most electrifying Craftsman Truck Series driver of the late 90s". are with Edwards, outside the top 10 and without a Chase spot. Here is look at how the drivers in the top 10 have fared at Michigan in the past and who may be taking a fall. On the decline: Dale Earnhardt This article is about the elder Dale Earnhardt. For his son, see Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. For the racing team he founded, see Dale Earnhardt, Inc.. Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Jr. has to be about as nervous as a cat napping Cat Napping is a Tom and Jerry cartoon from 1951. It was directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. Plot Jerry is snoozing in a hammock, until Tom walks out with a drink, a radio, a pillow and a newspaper and tries to sit on it. on a car hood. He climbed back in the top 10 with an 18th-place finish at Watkins Glen Watkins Glen (wŏt`kĭnz), resort village (1990 pop. 2,207), seat of Schuyler co., W central N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region, at the southern end of Seneca Lake; inc. 1842. It is in a grape and wine area and has extensive saltworks. in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of on Sunday. But his record at Michigan is far from stellar. Junior has three top-10 finishes and an average finish of 19th-place in 14 career races at Michigan. On a positive note, Junior is coming off a third-place finish Noun 1. third-place finish - a finish in third place (as in a race) finish - designated event that concludes a contest (especially a race); "excitement grew as the finish neared"; "my horse was several lengths behind at the finish"; "the winner is the team with the at Michigan in June. He'll need a similar effort to stay in the top 10. On the rise: Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is a professional American race car driver. He was born in Vallejo, California, raised in Pittsboro, Indiana, and currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. is ninth in points, 30 ahead of Junior and 34 behind rookie Denny Hamlin James Dennis "Denny" Hamlin, Jr. (born November 18, 1980) is a race car driver currently contracted to Joe Gibbs Racing, driving the number 11 car in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and sponsored by Fed Ex. for eighth. Gordon is a good bet to move up in the standings after Michigan. He has two wins and has led 844 laps at Michigan, sixth-best all-time. On the rise: Hamlin, by far the top rookie in Cup this year, is only making his second career start at Michigan. He was 12th in the June race. To his credit, he has been the top-finishing rookie in 12 of 22 races this year. On the rise: Tony Stewart made huge gains in the standings with a second-place finish at Watkins Glen. But Michigan has presented some recent problems for the 2005 Nextel Cup Series champion. He was 41st in the June race, his worst finish at Michigan since August 2000. Of course, he won the June race at Michigan in 2000. Perhaps a sign of things to come? On the decline: Mark Martin has won four races at Michigan in his career, the latest coming in June 1998. He has led more than half the 41 races he's entered at Michigan, but his past two races have produced some poor finishes. He was 17th last year and 27th in June. On the decline: Kyle Busch has led two of his three Cup races and had a career-best ninth-place finish in his first start at Michigan in 2005. He can look to last year's win at California Speedway, which is a sister track to Michigan. But he also finished last at Michigan a year ago. On the decline: Jeff Burton dropped to fourth place in the Chase standings after the Watkins Glen race, and his history at Michigan indicates he could fall again. He has eight top 10s in 25 career races and an average finish of 14th place. On the rise: Kevin Harvick, Burton's teammate, is on a roll. He won the Watkins Glen race, but he could hit a speed bump at Michigan, where he has an average finish of 17th. On the rise: Matt Kenseth won the Michigan race in 2002 and has an average finish of eighth place, second best among active drivers. Edwards, his Roush Racing teammate, has averaged a fifth-place finish, best among active drivers, in three career races at Michigan. Kenseth did lose some ground against points leader Jimmie Johnson, falling 124 points behind after a 21st-place finish at Watkins Glen. On the decline: Johnson, after an unimpressive 17th-place finish at Watkins Glen, built his biggest lead of the year over Kenseth and the rest of the Cup field. Johnson has been on top of the Cup standings since winning the season-opening Daytona 500, but he has yet to win at Michigan in nine career starts. ``The biggest goal I've set for this season is the championship,'' Johnson said. ``And then there are tracks that have given me a hard time. You never know when you're going to win -- when that day is going to come along and everything is going to work out right for you.'' An Elite extension for Michels By winning the NASCAR Elite Division, Southwest Series, race at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday night, Rip Michels gave himself a little breathing room in the standings. He extended his lead from five points to 21 over Eric Holmes. But Michels said it's far from a comfortable lead. ``I'm going to try not to think about it,'' said Michels, a driver from SanFernando. ``It's so close that in my eyes In My Eyes was a Boston straight edge band that spearheaded the 1997 youth crew revival along with Ten Yard Fight, Bane, The Trust, Fastbreak and Floorpunch. The band and its members were a part of the hot bed that was the Boston music scene in the late 90's and early 2000's. , it's out of my hands.'' The top three drivers in the Southwest Series standings are separated by 30 points. Fourth-place driver M.K. Kanke of Frazier Park is 102 points out of first. But Kanke has won twice this year, the only Southwest Series driver with multiple wins. ``If I can just stick to my game, finish races, finish the best, it'll fall where it will,'' Michels said. ``We're going to keep doing our game plan, making the car the best we can, run as good as we can.'' Michels won his share of track championships at Irwindale Speedway. He is a Super Late Model champion and a Grand American Modified champion. But racing for a Southwest Series championship is a lot different, he said. He recalled his Super Late Model days at Irwindale Speedway racing against Greg Pursley, who finished second in the Southwest Series race. The two of them were the class of the Super Late Model field for three years. Both won NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series championships. Michels' title was a regional championship. Pursley has a national title to his credit. ``With the Tour, it's like racing against 15 Greg Pursleys every night,'' Michels said. ``Super Lates, it would be two or three tough guys. Even though it didn't look like it (Saturday), 15 of those guys have track championships. They're all good.'' It took Michels nearly three years onthe Southwest Series to win his first race. He'd been close, leading races three times this year and has posted three top-five finishes. ``Really what happens is the guy that hits it that night, he's got to hit the set-up, get a good starting spot and make no mistakes,'' Michels said. ``That's the only way you're going to win a Tour race. You miss it by a hair, you're not going to make it.'' Pursley was making his first start of the year driving the same car he raced for Craig Keough last year. After setting fast time in qualifying and finishing second in the race, Pursley said there's little chance he was going to enter this weekend's Southwest Series race at Colorado National Speedway. ``Probably not,'' said Pursley, who lives in Canyon Country. ``I'm happy to come out of here second.'' Pursley added that Keough is planning on entering the Southwest Series at Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix International Raceway, or just PIR, is a one mile tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. It opened in 1964, as the new home of major open-wheel racing in the Phoenix area, replacing the track at the Arizona State Fairgrounds as an automobile racing venue. in November, but has no other plans beyond that. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 2 boxes Photo: (1) Jeff Gordon has two wins and has led 844 laps at Michigan International Speedway. Jamie Squire/Getty Images (2) HERTA Box: (1) THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE (2) Etc. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion