THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 25th, 2009
Volume III, Edition CCXXX
Editor's Note: Look for a second, special edition of the newsletter to come out later today along with Tom Bowles' column staple, Did You Notice?.
Today's Top Newsby Phil Allaway
NASCAR Asks Court to Keep Mayfield's Lawyer From Brian France's Ex-Wife
In a slightly bizarre twist to the ongoing Jeremy Mayfield vs. NASCAR saga, on Tuesday NASCAR went to federal court to try to prevent Mayfield's legal team from gathering information from NASCAR CEO Brian France's ex-wife, Megan.
This is in response to Mayfield's lawyer, Mark Geragos, subpoenaing Megan France last week to gain information about Megan's lawsuit against Brian France. The requested information is said to include joint tax returns and mail. This information, controversially sealed late last year, is technically part of Brian's 2008 lawsuit against Megan.
In NASCAR's official statement, they argue that December 4th is a terrible day for the deposition since the day Geragos wants it is "...when neither NASCAR's corporate representatives nor Mr. France can attend." For reference purposes, December 4 is the day of the Sprint Cup Series Banquet in Las Vegas. NASCAR wants the deposition held no earlier than December 14.
"Nothing surprises me with trial lawyers in the 21st century," Brian said when asked about Mayfield's legal term dragging his ex-wife into the fray. "They are an amazing group of people."
Mayfield Injunction Officially Rescinded
Also on Tuesday, the July 1st injunction that technically allowed Jeremy Mayfield to return to the racetrack was officially withdrawn at the request of Mayfield's legal team. This injunction has been officially stayed at the request of NASCAR since July 24, after Mayfield tested positive for methamphetamines for a second time. The decision was made in order to expedite a potential trial.
As it stands now, that trial will not begin before September, 2010. Until the trial ends, Mayfield will be forced to obey NASCAR's indefinite suspension and be unable to drive in a NASCAR-sanctioned race.
Chad Knaus Likely to Extend Contract with Hendrick Motorsports
ESPN is reporting that Hendrick Motorsports founder/owner Rick Hendrick is working on signing Chad Knaus, crew chief for four-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, to a contract extension that will keep him as Johnson's crew chief through the end of the 2015 season. Originally, Knaus' deal with Hendrick Motorsports was due to expire at the end of the 2010 season.
It is unclear whether Knaus will be atop the No. 48 pit cart for the full length of this deal, but it is designed to be flexible. The main purpose of the extension is to allow Knaus to work for Hendrick Motorsports until his retirement.
"Chad [Knaus] and I have talked about what he would like to do down the road," Hendrick said in a NASCAR teleconference on Tuesday. "[Chad] likes his role as crew chief right now ... but down the road when he's tired of being a crew chief, he can make a big impact on the whole company and he's already doing that. If he gets tired of it in three years, we'll do something else. But he tells me that he wants to do this, and the number he gave me was another five years."
Donnie Wingo to Crew Chief Sprint Cup No. 6 in 2010
Roush Fenway Racing announced on Tuesday that Donnie Wingo, formerly of the No. 26 team that is being forced to close as a result of NASCAR's four team rule, has been named the new crew chief of the No. 6 UPS Ford, driven by David Ragan. He replaces veteran Jimmy Fennig, who will now oversee Roush Fenway Racing's R&D testing.
"It's an honor to have the opportunity to work with David Ragan next season, as well as our sponsor UPS," Wingo said in a release. "UPS has been a great sponsor in NASCAR for years and I'm truly looking forward to the chance to get the No. 6 Ford the finishes it deserves. I'm glad to remain with Roush Fenway Racing because I believe in the success we'll be able to achieve in 2010."
Said driver David Ragan, "I’m proud of my time with Jimmy [Fennig], he’s taught me a lot over the years, but now I’m looking forward to next year and working with Donnie Wingo and his engineer Derek [Stamets]. Those two are a great combination, and it will be fun to work with someone new with fresh ideas. I’m excited to test a few times this offseason and get things moving forward for next season. We’ll be ready for Daytona with a fast UPS Ford."
Wingo came to Roush Fenway Racing this season after being released as crew chief of the No. 42 Texaco Havoline Dodge for Juan Pablo Montoya before last year's Coca-Cola 600. In 36 races as crew chief of the No. 26 for Jamie McMurray, McMurray won the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega in November and racked up five top 10 finishes on his way to a 22nd place finish in points.
Under Fennig's third year of leadership in the 2009 season, the No. 6 team was supposed to have a breakout year after coming within 70 points of qualifying for the Chase in 2008. However, the team regressed significantly this season, as Ragan fell from 13th to 27th in the points standings. After 14 top 10 finishes in 2008, Ragan only managed two all season, a sixth in the Daytona 500 and a seventh at Fontana in October.
Have news for Phil and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashl...@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.
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here, and look for the newest edition to head your way sometime later this week! Of course, if all else fails, you can always listen to us on iTunes for FREE! Search for our weekly show under "
Athlon."
Today's Featured Commentary
If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix ItFull Throttle
By Mike Neff
Jimmie Johnson hosted his fourth Sprint Cup trophy this past weekend. For each of those four seasons, and for all of his eight seasons in the Cup series, Chad Knaus has been on top of the pit box making the calls. After Johnson signed a contract last week that will keep him at Hendrick Motorsports through at least 2015, Knaus is expected to follow suit, ensuring that the most dominant driver/crew chief combination in the sport today will continue terrorizing the tracks of the series for the next six seasons.
For those who don’t have their NASCAR history books handy, remember that Johnson has been in the top 5 in points each and every year of his career, also finishing second in 2003 and 2004. In 2004, he was just eight points behind Kurt Busch when the checkered flag flew in Homestead after finishing 37th at Talladega and 32nd at Kansas. Had he finished three positions higher in either of those races, he would have just passed Jeff Gordon in the total championship category with five. Johnson has also finished fifth in points twice: in his rookie season of 2002, and in 2005. That year, he wound up 127 points behind Tony Stewart, and would have been much closer were it not for a crash at Homestead that left him 32nd.
Looking back at the stats, it's obvious the Knaus/Johnson combination has been lethal over the last eight years and is showing no signs of slowing down. Knaus’s drive for perfection is unquestioned. When other teams are rolling out of bed before they head to the track on race day, the No. 48 team is waiting for the doors to the garage to be opened. That type of dedication comes from the top down. This past weekend, the pre-race show had video of Knaus measuring his pit stall, analyzing the space behind the wall where his team’s pit cart would be located in an exquisite attention to detail. When the No. 48 leaves the garage on Sunday mornings, the team lays out front end and rear end parts, hoods, fenders, everything they might need to try and fix a car if it is involved in a wreck. It is all about preparation and doing things better than everyone else... something Knaus strives for each and every day he leads the team.
For a man who cut his teeth under Ray Evernham, it's clear Knaus has taken the commitment and organization that Evernham espoused to a whole new level. Everyone in the garage works hard, and to say someone is working harder than the others is probably inaccurate, but when the combination of a ridiculous work ethic is combined with a brain that processes information on a plane that many others cannot fathom, the end result is a team doing things that are unheard of and untouched in the history of the sport.
There is also no question that Johnson is a great race car driver. He’s taken a car that was a fifth place car and won with it in recent years, and there haven’t been many drivers who could do that with the modern car design. Knaus has helped that effort by making pit calls that have put Johnson in position in front of the field and given him the opportunity to hold off stronger cars. It is certainly easier to hold off faster cars with an inferior one than it is to pass better cars with a car that isn’t handling perfectly, but either situation has seen Johnson excel over the last eight years.
So where do they go from here? There are two primary goals on the horizon, with a number of secondary ones to be achieved along the way. Johnson has to now be thinking about the magic number seven. That is the standard for championships in the sport, and he is more than halfway to the total in eight years. In comparison, it took Richard Petty 13 years of running a majority of the schedule to win his fourth title, and it was 20 years before he was able to capture his seventh. Dale Earnhardt was running the Cup series for 12 years before he was holding the championship trophy aloft for the fourth time, and 16 years before he captured his seventh title. So Johnson is at four titles in two thirds of the time it took Earnhardt and a little less than it took Petty to get to four. If the Chase format and schedule stay relatively static for the next few years, and there is no reason to believe it won’t, Johnson has to be a favorite to hit the magic number within the twelve year window.
At the same time, Knaus has one crew chief in his sights. Dale Inman won eight Cup championships as a crew chief. No one has won four in a row before now, and Knaus is the only one besides Inman and Kirk Shelmerdine with four. If Knaus can maintain his focus and keep him team together while Johnson continues to excel and even improve as a driver, they very well could catch Inman and pass him before the end of their contracts. Assuming an addition of six years to both men's respective deals, Knaus and Johnson are poised to set the impossible mark and win 10 championships in a row.
Will it happen? Probably not. Could it happen? Certainly. Might it happen? As long as the duo stays together, there is no question that Knaus and Johnson have the potential to keep hoisting the big hardware for years and years to come.
Mike Neff is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached at mn...@carolina.rr.com.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
by Vito Pugliese
by Jeff Meyer
by the Frontstretch Staff
compiled by Mike Neff
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In articles written over the past couple of years, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has revealed that he was a big fan of independent Jimmy Means while growing up. One of his biggest memories of his Means fandom was when Means finally got a shot at a competitive ride in 1987 in the Oakwood Homes 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Who was Means driving for at CMS that day, and how did that opportunity come together?
Check back Thursday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Tuesday's Answer:
Q. In 1991, Tommy Kendall, subbing for the injured Kyle Petty, had a real shot at winning the Banquet Frozen Foods 300k at Sears Point Raceway. However, it all fell apart in the last four laps. What happened to Kendall?
A. With three and a half laps to go, Kendall was trying to hold off Mark Martin for the lead. Going into turn 7, Martin got a run on Kendall and tried an outside pass. Martin overcooked the corner just a little, locking up a tire in the process. The two bumped twice in the turn, and the second bump spun Martin into the one rail tall guardrail and tires at the exit of turn 7.
This contact, unfortunately, cut Kendall's left front tire. Second and third place runners Davey Allison and Ricky Rudd quickly ran down Kendall and passed him exiting turn 2 on the next lap. Kendall had to pit to change the flat tire and finished 18th. Of course, Kendall's downfall was just the beginning of the wackiness that day.
A video clip that shows both the aforementioned Kendall-Martin incident, and the infamous coming together of Rudd-Allison can be seen at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHqsps4c210. Bob Jenkins has the call for ESPN, with Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons. Jarrett is stationed in Turn 7, while Parsons is stationed near Turn 1a.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to tri...@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
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Coming Monday, November 30th in the Frontstretch Newsletter:--
Top News from Phil Allaway-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more ... including the start of our
2009 Driver Reviews!
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