DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA, AUGUST 22, 2011-Elliott and his Aaron’s Dream Machine team headed north for the weekend and came home with winner’s trophies from both Dixie Motor Speedway in Birch Run, Mich., and Winchester Speedway in Indiana.

Elliott had never seen the .4-mile Birch Run track before the first laps of practice on Friday but took an immediate liking to it.

“I like this place,” he said. “It’s fun.”

The Dixie Draper 125, a race that included NASCAR veteran Ken Schrader, also was the first time the CRA Super Series had been to the speedway.

Elliott qualified seventh but the invert put him on the pole for the start of the race, a 125-lap affair in which the caution laps did not count.

He led the 24-car field to the green flag, but the No. 51 of Becca Kasten got to the flagstand first, and Elliott fell in line in third place.  By the first caution on Lap 10 he was running fourth amid a three-way battle with the No. 131 of Nick Gullatta and the No. 20 of fast qualifier Brian Campbell. When the next caution flag flew on Lap 29, Elliot was in sixth place, but by Lap 33 he had passed the No. 4 of Derrick Griffin for fifth and by Lap 46 was back around Campbell for the fourth position.

The caution period on Lap 55 gave the No. 72 of Scott Hantz a chance to take the lead away from Kasten, who had dominated all night, but his lead lasted only a couple of turns as Kasten quickly reclaimed the top spot.

Elliott meanwhile was battling side by side with Gullatta, and took the third position on Lap 58 just before the caution came out.  By this time, Elliott had figured out that the high side was the place to be on the restarts, which meant that third place wasn’t a preferred spot for the restart.

“We’ll make it work,” he reassured his crew over the radio.  Gullatta predictably got third back on the restart Lap 58 while Elliott battled the No. 811 of Mason Mingus to maintain fourth.  With the green flying for an extended period, Kasten cruised at the head of the pack while the battle for second through fifth began to heat up between Hantz, Gullatta, Elliott and Mingus.

On the restart following a caution on Lap 89, Elliott took third from Gullatta, who slid into Elliott trying to reclaim the spot but inadvertently did him a favor. During the next caution period, at Lap 91, Elliott reported to his Aaron’s crew that after Gullatta hit him his car seemed to turn the center of the corner much better.

On the restart, Hantz took the lead from Kasten and Mingus got around Elliott, but the caution flew for debris after just one green-flag lap.

On the next restart, Elliott made a bold move, going three wide with Hantz and Mingus. Elliott, the meat of the sandwich, bolted ahead and took the second position on Lap 93. At Lap 100 Elliott was closing on Kasten as the two motored away from the rest of the field. With the caution flag flew with six laps remaining, Elliott was pulling alongside Kasten. Elliott remained right on Kasten’s bumper over the final laps and was preparing for a last-lap pass for the lead when Kasten’s car ran out of gas, ending the battle and securing the win for Elliott.

“It was great to get back to Victory Lane,” Elliott said. “We’ll take it anyway we can get them. You have to cherish it.”

He also saluted his 21-year-old competitor, who wound up 13^th.

That was her race to win,” Elliott said. “I don’t think we could have gotten her if it wasn’t for (her running out of gas).”

With the Dixie winner’s trophy safely stowed in the hauler, the Aaron’s team headed to historic Winchester Speedway for the CRA JEGS All-Star Tour 100. It was his debut with the series but not his first time at Winchester. Last year he won the 39^th annual Winchester 400, becoming the youngest driver ever to win the prestigious event.

Elliott qualified seventh while Erik Jones broke the track record in winning the pole. But the draw for the inverted start was eight, putting Elliott on the outside pole alongside Brian Ross.

Elliott took the lead on the first lap of the race but settled back into the third position by Lap 10. Ten laps later, Elliott moved around Ross to take the second position while Jones, the pole sitter, continued to lead.

On Lap 36 the first caution of the race was displayed for the No. 76 of Wes Griffin Jr., who blew a tire and slammed into in the Turn Four wall.

Elliott radioed to his crew that he was pacing himself and trying not to use up his front tires.  He went on to say that the car turned good and had great drive up off the corners.

On the restart Jones opted for the outside lane, which put Elliott on the inside, which again was not the preferred groove. He dropped all the way to fifth before he could work his way into line after the restart.

At the halfway point Elliott was still fifth but working the No. 45 of Danny Jackson for fourth.  Elliott took the spot on Lap 53 however the top three – Jones, Cody Coughlin and Trent Snyder  - had put some distance on him.

Elliott set out to close the gap, and by Lap 67 had passed Snyder for third.

A lap later, the caution and then red flag were displayed when the No. 42 of Chase Finley and the No. 8 of Eddie Hoffman collided, sending Finley through Turns Three and Four on his roof.

Neither driver was injured, but there was a 20-minute delay while the track was cleared.

Elliott lined up third, on the inside, for the restart, but he told his crew that he’d do his best to overcome the disadvantage of an inside starting berth.

“We’re going to just do our best and have fun,” he said.

Just as he did the night before in Michigan, Elliott went three wide for position on the restart and came out in front of Coughlin to take second place on Lap 69. Four laps later he motored around Jones to take the lead.

He led the pack until another caution was displayed, this time for Jones, who stopped on the backstretch with a flat tire.

Elliott chose the outside line for the restart and pulled away from Brandon Watson over the final 19 laps to take his second win of the weekend and the second of his career at Winchester.

“I was really happy with our performance as a whole up north this past weekend,” Elliott said. “I felt like Friday night we had some work to do with the car to be ideal. Dixie Speedway is a great race track, and I hope to get back up there for another race.”

He also was pleased with his run at venerable Winchester.

“The race at Winchester was a blast, and I am really excited to get back up there for the 400,” he said. “Our car needed a little work but that’s why we went.”

Up next for Elliott is the NASCAR K & N Pro Series East race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on the Monday of Labor Day weekend.

Don’t forget to vote for Chase Elliott for Most Popular Driver in the NASCAR K & N Pro East series! http://bit.ly/mWPH8r

ELLIOTT 2011 RACE-BY-RACE RESULTS

About Aaron’s:  Aaron’s Sales & Lease Ownership stores offer customers access to high-quality furniture, appliances, electronics and computers for sale or as a lease-ownership arrangement.  Customers have the option of buying their merchandise for an attractive cash price or opting to lease their merchandise for even greater flexibility.  With a lease option, customers make modest monthly payments and have the immediate use of the items they need without waiting for credit checks or other delays.  Plus, Aaron’s will take care of delivery, setup, repairs, and more for the duration of a customer’s lease. For more information, please visit shopaarons.com.

Chase Elliott and his Aaron’s Dream Machine crew were back on familiar Gulf Coast turf this past weekend, running a Late Model double-header at Five Flags Speedway and Mobile International Speedway, two tracks where they won championships last year.

Running on the Gulf Coast for just the second time this season, Elliott, who has been concentrating on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East circuit, defeated his old rival Augie Grill in a thriller at Five Flags on Friday night but was swept up in a crash at Mobile on Saturday.

In the opener, the fourth installment of the Blizzard series at Five Flags in Pensacola, Elliott qualified fifth for the Rubber and Specialties 100 with the always tough Grill taking the pole.

With the invert roll of eight by Grill, Elliott started in the fourth spot but didn’t stay there long as he used the outside groove to take the lead on Lap Two just before the first caution of the night was displayed. Elliott maintained the lead through two more cautions until a Lap 14 restart when Grill lined up outside of Elliott for the restart.

The two rivals battled for the position over the next two laps with Grill just a nose ahead of Elliott when another caution was displayed on Lap 16. After the restart, Elliott never took his focus off of Grill and stayed within five carlengths, working his line to better his position on Grill.

Grill and Elliott held the top two spots at the halfway mark, followed by David Rogers, Bubba Pollard and Grant Enfinger.

As the laps wound down, lapped traffic became more of an issue, especially since Grill and Elliott had lapped all but the top seven drivers.

With 10 laps remaining, Elliott was half a carlength behind Grill. With five to go, he had his Aaron’s Dream Machine up to Grill’s quarter panel.

The two raced door-to-door over the final three laps with Elliott gaining a small advantage as the white flag flew. He cleared Grill in Turn Two on the final lap.

Grill came back with a slight tap to his bumper at the checkered flag, but Elliott got the victory.

“Augie’s tough to beat down here,” Elliott said. “I’m happy to come back and run well. Coming back to the Late Models, it showed early on that we needed a little work.  Hopefully, we’re back on the right track. We want to come back for the Snowball Derby and be competitive.”

Elliott also was on the right track with his fans on the Gulf Coast, and they gathered around the flagstand to help him celebrate his victory.

“I have to thank all of the fans that come out and support us here, and I want to give a special thanks to Aaron’s for their support over the last five years,” he said. “They have been great to partner with and I hope to continue that relationship for a long time.”

From there it was on to Mobile International Speedway for the fourth round of the Miller Lite Series. Elliott qualified 11th behind pole-winner Bubba Pollard.

“That’s not what we were looking for,” Elliott said of his qualifying effort.  “It is an impound race so you are not allowed to make any adjustments after qualifying.”

But once the green flag flew, Elliott started working his way toward the front of the pack.

By Lap Six he’d passed Johanna Long and Dale Little to take the ninth position and was reeling in the next pack of five cars.

Elliott’s crew chief Ricky Turner told him he was a fast as the leaders and urged him to roll his car through the corners and go easy on the brakes.

By the halfway mark, Elliott had worked his way around Josh Bragg and Jeff Fultz to take the seventh spot.

During a caution on Lap 51 Elliott indicated in his radio transmissions to his crew that his Aaron’s Dream Machine was capable of contending for the win.

“The car is pretty good,” he said. “I am definitely not giving up. I think we’ve got something we can work with.”

On the restart, Elliott was on the inside of a three-wide battle with Augie Grill and Bragg when Grill and Bragg got together and spun bringing out the caution again.

The second try at a restart on Lap 51 was Elliott’s undoing for the evening. He lined up fifth, but race leader Mike Garvey had transmission problems, setting off a chain-reaction wreck that knocked Elliott out of the race.

He wound up 15^th as Pollard scored his fourth straight Miller Lite 100 victory.

Chase’s next event will be in the Aaron’s Dream Machine Super Late Model this Friday August 19th at Dixie Motor Speedway practice will begin at 3:00, qualifying at 5:45, heat races at 7:30, driver autograph session at 8:15 (following heat races, immediately proceeding race), and the CRA Super Series “125” lap feature will start at approx. 8:45pm.  He will also be racing the Aaron’s Dream Machine Pro Late Model this Saturday night August 20^th, at Winchester Speedway in the CRA JEGS All-Star GM Performance  a “100” lap feature.   Practice will begin at 2:00, qualifying at 5:00, and the feature race will start at approx. 7:00pm.

Don’t forget to vote for Chase Elliott for Most Popular Driver in the NASCAR K & N Pro East series!

http://bit.ly/mWPH8r

ELLIOTT 2011 RACE-BY-RACE RESULTS

About Aaron’s:  Aaron’s Sales & Lease Ownership stores offer customers access to high-quality furniture, appliances, electronics and computers for sale or as a lease-ownership arrangement.  Customers have the option of buying their merchandise for an attractive cash price or opting to lease their merchandise for even greater flexibility.  With a lease option, customers make modest monthly payments and have the immediate use of the items they need without waiting for credit checks or other delays.  Plus, Aaron’s will take care of delivery, setup, repairs, and more for the duration of a customer’s lease. For more information, please visit shopaarons.com.

Published on August 1, 2011 by Official Release ·   No Comments

A TUMS’ “Fights back fast”MOMENT

(For each of the 36 races during the 2011 Sprint Cup season, TUMS will provide a brief historical recap of a moment when a team fought back to overcome an obstacle, one that can easily be described as a TUMS “Fights Back Fast” Moment.  This week, the focus is on Pocono Raceway).

Bill Elliott Fought Off Geoff Bodine and Neil Bonnett for Win

The date was July 21, 1985. Bill Elliott, driver of the Melling Racing Ford, enjoyed his winning ways throughout the 1985 Winston Cup season by scoring his eighth of 11 wins in the Summer 500 at Pocono Raceway. Even though his season was one of NASCAR’s greatest success stories with his family-owned team, the Dawsonville, Ga., native finished second to Darrell Waltrip in the season-long point standings.     NOTE:  TUMS is the sponsor of the TUMS Fast Relief 500, the seventh race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, at Martinsville Speedway on October 30.

Elliott passed Geoff Bodine, driver of a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with 10 laps remaining for the lead when Bodine’s brakes began to fail. Once Bodine faded back, Elliott had to fight a fierce battle with Neil Bonnett, driver of Junior Johnson’s Chevrolet, for the victory. Bonnett was the third of the top-three drivers in contention for the win in the closing laps and proved to be an even bigger challenge to Elliott than Bodine just before the checkered flag was displayed.

“We had to fight for this one,” Elliott said in victory lane.

Short URL: http://www.speedwaymedia.com/?p=14873

For Immediate Release

NASCAR Most Popular Driver Voting Begins Online
Fans Can Vote For Favorite Drivers In NASCAR K&N Pro Series East

FANS MAY VOTE ONE TIME PER DAY EVERYDAY!

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 20, 2011) – For the fourth consecutive year, fans can vote online for the Most Popular Driver of the Year Award in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (Twitter hashtag: #KNEast).
The link to the 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Most Popular Driver ballot will be hosted on www.nascarhometracks.com<http://www.nascarhometracks.com>.
Fans may vote once per day and are encouraged to vote throughout the season. Voting continues through Nov. 20.
Last year, Ryan Truex was voted by the fans as the Most Popular Driver in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.
Voting for all regional touring series will be available on www.nascarhometracks.com<http://www.nascarhometracks.com>, and voting for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series can be accessed by visiting www.nascar.com<http://www.nascar.com>.
Results will be announced at the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala on Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Charlotte Convention Center’s Crown Ballroom in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

By: Brandon Reed

For immediate release-

Dawsonville, Ga. – The votes have been tallied, and the five inductees for 2011 into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame have been chosen.

The 2011 inductees are George Elliott of Dawsonville, Mike Head of Ellenwood, Harold Kite of College Park, Swayne Pritchett of Baldwin and Ken Ragan of Unadilla.

The 2011 Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Induction banquet will be held on Oct. 21, 2011 at 6 pm at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, located inside the Dawsonville Municipal Complex in Dawsonville, Georgia.

A limited number of seats for the banquet are available.  Reservations are required to attend.  For information on purchasing a ticket or on the banquet, call the Hall of Fame at (706) 216-RACE (7223) or go online to www.georgiaracinghof.com.

Here’s a closer look at the five inductees into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame for 2011:

George Elliott, of Dawsonville, Georgia was born April 7, 1924 in Dawsonville.  While he may be best known as the father of NASCAR champion brothers Bill, Ernie and Dan Elliott and the grandfather to up and coming stock car racer Chase Elliott, those who knew him say he was the epitome of a hard worker and a fine gentleman.  George owned a Ford dealership and a speed shop, and from that worked his way into racing.

Elliott fielded cars for Dan Lingerfelt and Aaron Gaily, picking up wins in the NASCAR sportsman division in the late 1960s, including a major win at Atlanta’s Lakewood Speedway, where Lingerfelt bested great racers such as T.C. Hunt, Joe Lee Johnson, Curtis Turner and “Tiger Tom” Pistone.

Elliott would celebrate many times with his drivers in victory lane, and was well known for working barefoot in the pits.

His first stint into what is now known as Sprint Cup racing came in 1966, when Don Tilley drove his #53 Ford to a 42^nd place effort.  Elliott’s next attempt in NASCAR’s top league came in 1971, when Clermont, Georgia’s Harry Gailey drive Elliott’s #94 Ford to a 31^st The #94 would later be used by George’s late grandson, Casey and by his son Bill. place finish at Talladega.

George’s next big push into NASCAR was in 1971, with four races in the #09 with fellow Georgia native Charles Barrett behind the wheel and one event driven by Georgia Racing Hall of Fame member Jody Ridley.  Various other drivers would pilot Elliott’s cars over the next few years, including A.J. Reno, former Formula 1 and sports car star David Hobbs and World Champion sports car ace Al Holbert.

In 1976, George’s son Bill would take his first shot at NASCAR’s top division driving for his father at Rockingham.  He piloted a powder blue #9 Ford to a 33^rd place finish after his run was foiled by a faulty fuel pump (that car today resides in the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame).  With son Bill behind the wheel and sons Ernie and Dan on the pit crew, George’s team would compete sporadically over the next few seasons, often showing promise, including a second at Darlington in 1981 behind NASCAR Hall of Fame member David Pearson.  In all, George’s cars would compete in 54 events from 1977-1981, recording two top fives and 23 top ten finishes, along with one pole at Darlington in 1981.

After 1981, George sold his team to Harry Melling, and the rest is history.  His sons would go on to become one of the most successful families in the sport of stock car racing.  All the while, he continued to serve as the family patriarch.  No matter if it was a short track event or the Daytona 500, George was always there to support his family.

George Elliott passed away in September of 1998.  But the legacy left behind is one that can be seen written clearly on the walls of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.

Mike Head of Ellenwood, Georgia was born on June 25, 1951 in Atlanta, Georgia.  Head began racing in 1970 at the age of 17 and would go on to become one of the most successful and popular dirt track racers in the southeast.  With over 650 feature wins to his credit, Head has won several track championships as well as a multitude of big races, including the Dixie 100, the North-South Shootout as well as the 1991 Northern All-Star Speedweek Championship  and the 1991 Southern All-Stars Championship.  While a tough and aggressive driver on the track, off the track he is known for spending time with the fans and for being a strong man of faith.

After the loss of his son in 1997, Head worked with the Talladega Short Track in Talladega, Alabama to stage the annual Mike Head Jr. Memorial Race, using them as fund raisers to help support his son’s child and to help share Head’s message of faith.

In 2010, Head was inducted into the National Dirt Racing Hall of Fame.

Head continues to be a fierce competitor today, having won the 2011 season opener at New Senoia Raceway in Senoia, Georgia.

Harold Kite, of East Point, Georgia, was born November 14, 1922 in Atlanta.  Kite’s family was in the auto parts business, which led to Harold’s love for things mechanical and for speed.

Kite served as a tank driver in World War II, and became interested in racing following the war. Over the years, he would compete and win at stock cars at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, at the famed Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, at the Birmingham Fairgrounds and at Iron Bowl in Alabama.  He would also compete in a midget racer for fellow Georgia Racing Hall of Fame member Jimmy Baker at the Peach Bowl.

In 1950, Kite decided to try his hand at the new NASCAR Strictly Stock division, which would later become the Sprint Cup division.  Piloting a 1949 Lincoln, Kite started third in his first NASCAR event on the beach course in Daytona on February 5.  He soon made his way to the lead, and would stay there for 38 of the race’s 48 laps, holding off fellow Georgia Racing Hall of Fame member Red Byron to win by a 53 second margin.

Kite would compete in seven more NASCAR Sprint Cup events from 1950 through 1956, racing at Darlington, South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina and North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.  In 1951, he finished sixth in he famed Southern 500 at Darlington.

At the same time, he continued to compete at the Peach Bowl, Lakewood and other small tracks around the south, picking up wins and competing against other Hall of Fame caliber racers.

In 1965, Kite decided to make a return to NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series by competing in the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 17.

Kite qualified 24^th piloting a Plymouth owned by Harold Mays.

Tragically, Kite was caught up in multi-car cash on the second lap that took his life.  He was 43 years of age.

His legacy continues today, as his daughter Lisa serves as a long time volunteer at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.

Swayne Pritchett, of Baldwin, Georgia, was born in 1922, and early on, was fascinated by speed.  After World War II, Pritchett became involved in racing.  His son, Harold, recalls seeing his father finish third at the old Habersham County Speedway north of Mt. Airy, Georgia.

Driving his blue and white number 17 Ford, Pritchett caught the eye of many race fans and promoters around the south. He raced on Daytona Beach in 1947 and raced on Bill France’s pre-NASCAR circuit in 1947, finishing 17th in points.

In 1948, Pritchett became the 23rd driver to obtain a license for France’s new racing organization, named NASCAR.  Racing out of Jack Edward’s garage in Cornelia, Pritchett prepared to run many of the new NASCAR events.

Pritchett piloted his Ford to a fifth place finish on the beach and road course in Daytona. He took third at Augusta and fourth at North Wilkesboro. By the early part of May, Pritchett found himself in sixth place in the NASCAR point standings.

On May 16, 1948, Pritchett was racing in a non-NASCAR event at the Jackson County Speedway near Jefferson, Georgia.  He had won the trophy dash, the heat race and led every lap from the pole position in the feature as he sped to victory.

But on the cool down lap, Pritchett’s car collided with a lap car in the first turn, sending Pritchett’s racer end over end.  Pritchett was thrown out of the car as it tumbled.

Pritchett was still conscious when crew members reached him, and was taken to a hospital in nearby Commerce.  He died soon thereafter of internal injuries.

Swayne Pritchett was buried at the Leatherwood Baptist Church cemetery in Banks County. He had turned 26 years old one month earlier.

Pritchett’s impact is still felt today.  Both of his sons, C.L. and Harold, would become champion racers in their own right, winning across the southeast and keeping the Pritchett name in racing.

Ken Ragan of Unadilla, Georgia, was born on Sept. 12, 1950 into a racing family.  His father, Hugh, owned race cars that raced on Daytona Beach and at the famed Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, among many others, in the 1940s and 1950s, picking up an eighth place finish on the beach in 1948.

Ragan began his racing career piloting high-speed go carts, winning the World Karting Association Championship in 1978 after finishing as runner-up in 1977.  After he and his brother Marvin purchased a sportsman car from Bobby Allison, Ragan began racing in sportsman events across the southeast.

Ragan won the final race held at Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron Georgia, and competed around the nation.

Ragan’s first major race was in an ARCA event at Talladega Superspeedway in May of 1982.  He made more than 50 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts throughout his career, as well as several Nationwide series and ARCA starts.  Ragan ran in four Daytona 500s, in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987.  His best finish in the event was in ’84, when he finished 14^th.

Ragan’s best Sprint Cup effort came at Talladega Superspeedway in 1984, where he finished 11^th.

After retiring from driving, Ragan worked to help establish Legends Cars of Georgia in 1997 and in 2001 would move to Charlotte, North Carolina to manage 600 Racing, which manufactures and sponsors Legends cars around the world.  Ragan was instrumental in opening the door for many drivers to have the opportunity to race, including several current NASCAR stars.

Ken, his wife Beverly and eldest son Adam recently relocated back home to Unadilla, Georgia.  His son David is currently the driver of the number 6 UPS Ford for Roush-Fenway Racing, and won this year’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

About the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame - The Georgia Racing Hall of Fame is owned by Dawsonville History Museum, INC.  The Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 2002, and became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 2010.  The museum, recognized by the state legislature as the official home of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, recognizes prominent members of Georgia’s racing heritage.  The Hall of Fame also plays host to other events saluting the state’s racing history, including the annual Lakewood Speedway reunion.  The Hall of Fame and Museum are housed in the Dawsonville City Municipal Complex just outside of downtown Dawsonville, Georgia on Hwy. 53.  The museum is open Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and Sunday 12 a.m. – 4 p.m.  Holiday and Summer hours vary.  For more information, call (706)216-RACE (7223) or go online to www.georgiaracinghof.com.

For more information on this press release or for photo requests, please contact Brandon Reed at raceinfoga@gmail.com.

Bayne, Earnhardt among NASCAR’s highlights at the season’s halfway mark

Published: Thursday, July 14, 2011, 7:30 AM

By Doug Demmons – The Birmingham News
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Trevor Bayne celebrates his win in the Daytona 500 in February. (NASCAR/Getty Images)

After five years of domination byJimmie Johnson, dwindling attendance and declining TV ratings the cure for what ails NASCAR was said to be simple — more and different winners and close finishes.

Halfway into the 2011 season that’s exactly what NASCAR has gotten.

There have been 12 different winners of the 18 races this year, with three drivers making their first ever trips to Victory Lane.

Races average 14 different leaders and 31 lead changes and there have been nine races in which the margin of victory was less than a second.

The economy is still taking its toll on sponsorships, but the sport’s most popular driver is having a resurgent year.

Here are some of the highlights of the first half of the season:

BEST MOMENT – NASCAR could not have written a better script for the outcome of the Daytona 500 than having Trevor Bayne ending up in Victory Lane. The clean-cut kid from Knoxville’s stunning win in NASCAR?s biggest race was made even better because he made Wood Brothers winners again after the legendary team had fallen on hard times.

BIGGEST SURPRISE — After winning the two biggest races of 2010 Jamie McMurray was penciled in as a preseason favorite to make the Chase this season. His three total wins last year even helped prompt NASCAR to make a change to the Chase qualifying formula. But this season he has just two top 10s and is languishing in 28th place in the standings.

BIGGEST FLOP – Jeff Burton has been a regular in the Chase, but he’ll be on the outside looking in this year. Burton has yet to score a top 10 finish and sits in 25th in the standings.

COMEBACK DRIVER OF THE SEASON – Dale Earnhardt Jr. has three top five finishes and eight top 10s in the first half of 2011. That equals his totals for all of 2010. He is eighth in points — despite a recent run of bad luck — and seems to have finally found a crew chief he can win with.

BEST CHANGE – The Chase last year included the top 12 drivers in points. This year it’s the top 10 in points plus two wild cards. The wild cards are awarded to drivers outside the top 10 but at least 20th in the points who have the most wins. If the Chase started this week, the wild cards would go to David Ragan and Tony Stewart. But a dozen other drivers could grab one of those wild-card spots by winning one or two races between now and Richmond.

BEST FINISH — It doesn’t get much better than Talladega’s three-wide finish in April. The difference between winner Jimmie Johnson and runner-up Clint Bowyer was 0.002 seconds, tying the record for closest finish since the advent of electronic scoring.

WORST RACE — Kentucky’s inaugural Sprint Cup race was ugly on and off the track. The traffic nightmare that kept thousands of fans from getting to the track at least distracted attention from a night’s worth of single-file racing on a cookie-cutter track.

BEST KARMA – David Ragan blew his chance to earn his first career win at the Daytona 500 when he drew a penalty on a late restart. But Ragan made up for it in the second Daytona race when Roush teammate Matt Kenseth pushed him to the win.

BEST UP-AND-COMING DRIVERS — There’s a bumper crop of young talent waiting in the wings for a prime-time ride. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. could step in at Roush if Carl Edwards leaves. Joe Gibbs has two amazingly talented young guns — Alabama native Darrell Wallace Jr. and Georgia’s Max Gresham. Bayne would be contending for the Chase right now if Wood Brothers could run a full season. Johanna Long of Pensacola is a good bet to become NASCAR’s first-ever female winner if the vastly improved Danica Patrick doesn’t do it first. But the best of them all might just be the latest awesome driver from Dawsonville – Chase Elliott, who definitely inherited his dad Bill’s talent.

BEST TREND — NASCAR’s two annual Cup races on road courses used to be rather boring affairs as numerous drivers who knew little about road racing treated them like off-weeks. That has changed big time. Road races are now where the action is. There was more beating and banging and more nastiness between drivers at Sonoma than the average Bristol race.

WORST TREND — Bristol Motor Speedway used to be the hardest ticket in all of sports. Couples going through divorces were known to fight over custody of their Bristol tickets. In March the 140,000-seat Mecca of short tracks was about half full. Many fans blame the repaving job that made it possible for drivers to pass each other without the rooting and gouging that was common.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE — Restrictor-plate racing was turned upside down this season as two-car tandem racing took over completely. But making the tandem work is a delicate and tricky proposition as the pushing car must avoid overheating or turning the car in front into the wall while having to deal with limited visibility and shifting alliances with other drivers.

BIGGEST MELODRAMA — It wouldn’t be a NASCAR season without a good Kyle Buschcontroversy. This year Busch clashed first with Childress driver Kevin Harvick at Darlington in a post-race confrontation that landed them both on probation. He then got a close-up view at team owner Richard Childress’ fist in the garage area after Busch clashed on track with Childress development driver Joey Coulter during a truck race at Kansas Speedway.

BEST HOPE TO EXCITE FANS — NASCAR would like nothing better than to see two things happen this season — Earnhardt in Victory Lane and someone other than Johnson holding the championship trophy at Homestead. Both have a good chance of happening. Earnhardt is having his best season in years and the No. 48 team seems to have misplaced its mojo.

By Doug-Fireball-Turnbull

http://www.wsbradio.com/weblogs/doug-fireball-turnbulls-race-blog/2011/jul/07/noahs-ark-drafting-has-run-its-course/

At the Daytona 500 it was novel and intriguing. In April, at Talladega, it proved problematic, but exciting. The two-car “Noah’s Ark” drafting’s return to Daytona may be the tipping point for the new plate racing technique. While the ending of the Coke Zero 400 was exciting and David Ragan scored a popular win, drivers (including Ragan) were almost unanimous in their dislike of this type of racing. And the tide, too, seems to be turning with fans, who normally are enthralled with plate racing. Comments on message boards and remarks made to me reflect, for the most part, a heavy dislike for the random nature of who leads in these races. What’s wrong with that? Don’t we like seeing lots of drivers with chances to win? Yes we do. Everyone likes to healthy competition. When this kind of tandem drafting started taking shape at Talladega in April 2010 (in a race won by Kevin Harvick), there were 88 lead changes and 29 different leaders. In that race, drivers still raced in a large pack, but the leaders often rose to the front and broke away from the pack by getting a tremendous push from just one other car. The same kind of racing occurred that October in Talladega, but was impossible on Daytona’s old pavement. With a new surface in February, drivers realized that they could improve their speed by several mph per lap by pairing up with one driver and getting or giving that tremendous push continuously. This took shape in the Daytona 500’s preliminary practices and the Bud Shootout. By the time of the big race a week later, teams had not only built enhanced ways to cool their engines (helping correct for the lack of airflow for a pushing car), but had also equipped their drivers with the ability to communicate with up to a dozen of their competitors on the race track. This was a necessity, as a driver had no competitive chance without a partner and the lead driver’s spotter would need to talk to the pushing vehicle, since the two were operating as one.

The “two as one” concept is nothing new at Daytona and Talladega. Teammates often decided to try and stick with each other in the big packs or even drop back behind backs and then work toward the front together. This kind of racing still produced random results, with big crashes always around the corner, but drivers still had the ability to slice and dice through the pack – they could jump from line to line and remain competitive, even if their drafting partner fell out of the race.

When the Noah’s Ark drafting evolved into a track full of two-car pods, drivers’ fates were completely in the hands of their partners.

And this produced strange results – such as Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer squabbling at Talladega in April on a late restart about whether or not they should draft together or Kurt Busch spinning out two or three different partners at least during the race. It also has made the end of races absolutemadhouses, with no driver holding back and each pod making dicey moves and inevitably igniting huge crashes that ripped apart race-long partnerships and ended stranded partners’ chances to win race. Case in point: Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400.

Drivers held back during most of the race that saw a 105-lap green flag period at one point. When the action heated up, Jeff Gordon got spun out of line with just a few laps to go. This left pole-sitter Mark Martin, Gordon’s race-long dance partner, with no one to draft. Knowing he was a goner without a partner, the 2nd oldest driver on the track sought out the 2nd youngest, Joey Logano, who had just lost partner Kyle Busch, who had to pit after the Gordon spin. As they attempted to link up on that first green-white-checkered restart, Martin got turned around in those close quarters and about a third of the field wrecked. With many drivers left without partners after that, the next and final restart saw two separate wrecks on the race’s final lap. Ironically, Logano survived the melee with Martin and pushed Kasey Kahne, who had lost teammate Brian Vickers in the same crash, up to finish right behind winner Ragan and his mate Matt Kenseth.

Late race wrecks on restarts are nothing new. They are a thrilling part of the sport. But the sheer random draw of winners and drivers’ utter dependence on those they should be out-driving each pose a real problem when it comes to racing. Take notes from what one of NASCAR’s best plate racers, Dale Earnhardt Jr., told the media both before and after the Daytona race.

“I’d rather have control of my own destiny and be able to go out there and race and just do my own work and worry about my own self,” he said, when asked what he thought looking ahead to the Coke Zero 400. “It’s really weird and kind of wrong on some levels to race that way and to think like you think. You take care of somebody and you feel this obligation to take care of them and then worry about having them take care of you and how that makes them feel. Been growing up all these years racin’ for number one, lookin’ out for number one. Doing my job. This is what I need to do.”

After the Daytona race, which saw Earnhardt’s pushing partner Jimmie Johnson get called to the pits in the closing laps and the No. 88 car left with little chance to win, the normally chill Junior let loose and pled with the surrounding pool of reporters.

“It was just a foolish race. I don’t know. I don’t know what to say,” he said after finishing 19th and getting caught up in the last big crash before the finish line. “You guys need to get your own opinions and write what you all think about it. I think it is probably pretty … close to mine….Y’all write what y’all think, man. Come on, y’all are good.”

This writer has an opinion – this racing is interesting, but it defeats the purpose of out-running your competition. In fact, Noah’s Ark drafting does much more to undermine the push for a winner’s trophy than points racing (which is oft-criticized) does. NASCAR, however, did not create two-car drafts – drivers did. In fact, NASCAR opened up the restrictor plates on the racecars in hopes of breaking up the big packs. That worked…kind of. Drivers and teams learned how to take the full speed advantage of that and this is the mess with which plate races are left. NASCAR should not do a thing to correct for this racing, unless it can figure a way for drivers to run without restrictor plates, which is about as likely Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick drinking a two-straw margarita together.

Drivers will evolve as this form of racing has. My prediction is that drivers will soon figure out how to continuously draft in a large pack. We saw drivers try trying three and four-car packs in both Daytona races last weekend when they were tiptoeing, trying to find partners. Soon enough, as the Daytona and Talladega pavement wears, the packs will return and drivers like Earnhardt, who had no choice but to push Jimmie Johnson to a Talladega victory in April, will again get to look out for Number One and not have their fate decided so singularly by other competitors. Maybe then Daytona can open the backstretch seats during its summer classic.

Be sure and listen to Captain Herb Emory, Jason Durden, and me on the Allan Vigil Ford Lincoln Speedshop on Saturdays from 12-1 p.m.,  on AM-750 and NOW 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB. Feel free to comment on what you see and hear anytime on this blog.

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