CUP: Head To Head – Which Of These Drivers Will Do Better?
Team, crew chief, resources, teammates, sponsorship, etc.
But in a sport that pits 43 drivers competing against each other every single week, there are always odd scenarios that link some of them together.
Some are teammates. Some are rivals. Some drive for another driver’s former team. Some have a rival’s former crew chief. Some have had intense battles in the past.
Here’s a look at the some head-to-head match-ups that should be interesting to follow in 2012, and which drivers have the edge:
Tony Stewart vs. Denny Hamlin
Stewart won last year’s Sprint Cup championship while Hamlin nearly won it 2010.
The common theme is crew chief Darian Grubb, who led Stewart to the 2011 title and then was released by the team.
Grubb is now Hamlin’s crew chief and would like nothing more than to win a second straight title. And, deep down, there is probably no one he would rather beat than the driver/team owner who essentially fired him despite winning a championship together.
Stewart, a three-time champion, also used to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, which would like to prove that it can win a championship without the driver, who left the organization to run his own team.
The edge: Last year, it was clearly Stewart, though not until the Chase began. He, too, has a new crew chief and must essentially start over instead of building on the momentum of last season. Hamlin likely will return to championship contention and benefit from the presence of Grubb, giving him the edge going into the season.
Kevin Harvick vs. Kyle Busch
This one is irresistible since the two hot-headed drivers are such heated rivals. The two can’t stand each other and have made no secret about it, getting into it on and off the track last season.
They also happen to be consistent winners and championship contenders. Whether they can behave and stay out of each other’s way will determine how far they go.
The edge: Harvick. Busch likely will win more races, but Harvick gets the edge in the Chase. He’s finished third in the standings the past two seasons while Busch always seems to fade in the Chase.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. vs. Kasey Kahne
These two aren’t rivals, they’re teammates. But it will be interesting to see which one has the best season at Hendrick Motorsports.
Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are the top dogs at Hendrick and both should be serious contenders for the championship. Kahne and Earnhardt Jr. will be hoping to challenge them and establish themselves in the Hendrick stable.
Before Kahne, who joins the organization this year, Earnhardt Jr. was the team’s last big free agent signing. That hasn’t gone quite as planned. He has made the Chase twice, but has won just one race in four seasons at Hendrick.
Will Kahne, who has 12 career victories, fare better?
There always seems to be one team at Hendrick that struggles. For two straight years, it was Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88. Last year, it was the No. 5 team that Kahne takes over.
Which will it be this year?
The edge: Kahne. Though Earnhardt Jr. returned to the Chase last year, he hasn’t won a race since 2008 and still struggled at times last season.
Kahne won with Red Bull Racing last year and is considered one of the top talents in the sport. Look for him to have a monster year.
Jimmie Johnson vs. Jeff Gordon
Gordon says there’s a “good and friendly rivalry” between the four Hendrick drivers, but the one between he and Johnson has gotten intense and heated at times.
Gordon is a four-time champion and the third-winningest driver of all-time. But he hasn’t won a championship since 2001, and Johnson has won five of the last six.
That doesn’t sit well with Gordon, so it’s understandable if their rivalry sometimes goes a bit beyond friendly. Gordon desperately wants a fifth championship and there’s no one he would rather beat to get it than his own teammate, old “five-time.”
The edge: Johnson. Though Gordon appears poised to be a serious contender again, Johnson likely will bounce back to championship form, making life difficult for everyone.
Carl Edwards vs. Matt Kenseth vs. Greg Biffle
It’s always difficult to compare NASCAR drivers and their performances because there are so many variables to consider.
Edwards nearly won the championship last year, finishing in a points tie with Stewart, but Kenseth won more races (three to one). Biffle had an off year and will be looking to bounce back.
All three are capable of winning races and contending for the championship, but there always seems to be one Roush driver who is a little ahead of the others. Which one will it be this year?
The edge: Edwards. It’s hard not to give the nod to the guy who had the best average finish in Chase history last year and nearly won the title. But Kenseth will be strong again and should continue to contend. Biffle should return to victory lane but has been plagued by inconsistency in recent years.
Kurt Busch vs. AJ Allmendinger
Busch was released by Penske Racing after a series of controversial incidents and emotional outbursts. With few options, he is now driving for Phoenix Racing, an underfunded, single-car team with Hendrick support.
Though he could surprise, Busch likely won’t have the type of success he is used to.
Allmendinger, meanwhile, gets the best opportunity of his career by replacing Busch at Penske Racing. He finished a career-best 15th in points at Richard Petty Motorsports last year but has yet to win a race.
The edge: Allmendinger. While Busch might win a couple of races, Allmendinger should be more consistent and contend for a spot in the Chase. Busch can’t expect to be that consistent with Phoenix Racing.
Clint Bowyer vs. Jeff Burton, RCR
Bowyer won five races and made the Chase three times at Richard Childress Racing. Will he be as successful at Michael Waltrip Racing?
Comparing him to Harvick probably isn’t fair since Harvick is a legitimate championship contender. But a good gauge might be Burton, who has made the Chase four times at RCR and is looking to bounce back this season.
The edge: Bowyer. He will be the lead driver at MWR and the organization will do everything it can to get him to victory lane and into the Chase. Burton could benefit from RCR’s reduction to three Cup teams and could bounce back, but he’s got a long way to go after last year’s struggles.
Juan Pablo Montoya vs. Marcos Ambrose
These two aren’t teammates, aren’t bitter rivals and really don’t have much of a NASCAR connection.
But they do have two things in common: They are NASCAR’s top foreign-born drivers, and they both excel on road courses.
They both have won their only Sprint Cup races on road courses and will be two of the heavy favorites on the winding circuits again.
The edge: Ambrose. While Montoya has the better record and a bigger and better funded team, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing really struggled last year and could get off to a slow start again this year after massive changes. Ambrose had his best season last year at RPM and is making steady progress.
Mark Martin vs. David Reutimann
Reutimann scored the only two victories so far for MWR, but was released after struggling last season.
His replacement is Martin, the 53-year-old veteran who will run just a partial schedule for the organization.
Reutimann landed a ride with Tommy Baldwin Racing and it looks like it will be a bit more lucrative than expected. Reutimann was expected to run only a partial schedule, but the team struck a deal with Stewart-Haas Racing in which Reutimann will split a ride with Danica Patrick, possibly giving him as many as 26 races.
While he won’t be driving SHR cars, the team will get some support from the multicar organization, which could help Reutimann’s chances.
The edge: Martin. Reutimann will still be driving for a small, underfunded team still trying to establish itself. Martin, who has 40 career victories, could win a race or two for MWR – even in a part-time role.
SceneDaily.com • Chad Knaus says rare vacation nice, but not life-changing
Article source: http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup-head-to-head-which-of-these-nascar-drivers-will-have-better-year/
Dillon happy to be called ‘Austin’s little brother’
Austin Dillon’s little brother? If that’s supposed to be a taunt in some way, Ty Dillon is actually flattered. To him, any comparison to the driver who won the 2011 Truck Series champion is a compliment — especially if down the road, he can equal or exceed Austin’s wins and championships.
When your grandfather is the guy who owns Richard Childress Racing and your father is Mike Dillon, big things are expected of you — even if you’re the little brother. And 19-year-old Ty Dillon feels he’s more than ready to step into the spotlight.
“It doesn’t bother me, but if I win races, I’ll make a name for myself,” Ty Dillon said during NASCAR’s preseason media tour. “I’ll grow my own identity. But it almost means more to me that the Dillon brothers are winning races and going to the top in NASCAR.
“It means more to me to support our family and the hard work that my grandfather and my dad have put into this company and the development of our racing careers. Either way it comes, that’s fine with me. I’m just here to race and I want to win races. That’s my main focus.”
Ty had his own ARCA championship to celebrate in 2011. Now he’s stepping up into Austin’s Truck ride for 2012: admittedly some big shoes to fill. Austin won at Nashville and Chicago — along with 16 top-10 finishes — on his way to the championship.
But Ty sees no reason why he can’t pick right up from where his big brother left off, especially after finishing third at Texas and sixth at Homestead in a three-race “preview” at the end of last season designed to let Dillon get his feet wet before leaping headfirst full-time into the series this year.
“I’ve got the trucks that won a championship last year, so I have all the resources and the ability to do it,” Ty Dillon said. “I have confidence in myself and my guys that we can go out there and get it done. It’s just going to be overcoming our bad days and making them good.”
Much of Ty Dillon’s confidence comes from watching how Austin came into the series full-time as a 19-year-old in 2010 and finished fifth in the points after winning twice. Ty Dillon won’t turn 20 until the day after the Daytona 500, so the parallels are there.
“[Austin] did such a great job of developing this Truck program, back to what it used to be when the series started and we had a team in it,” Dillon said. “He and his crew chief did a great job — and Joey Coulter also. And the three races that I ran, I leaned on them a lot. And I’m sure I’ll be leaning on them again this year.”
It doesn’t hurt that Ty’s driving style mirrors Austin’s in some ways. But Ty admits there are some subtle differences.
“We were raised the same way, so we’re very similar in the way we drive,” Ty Dillon said. “We’ve both run a lot of dirt races and everything he’s done, I’ve done right after.
“But he’s a little more high-strung and I’m more laid back. Everything about your personality kind of relates back into your driving style.”
There’s a determined confidence in the way Ty Dillon fields questions about his short but successful racing career, much like the way he expects to attack the track and the competition every weekend. He believes he has the talent, the equipment and the drive to succeed. And having to learn as he goes this season only makes him hungrier to go out and prove it.
“I like to see all of the tracks as my strengths,” Dillon said. “If I find a weakness, I try to capitalize on it. Not that I’m being cocky about it. It’s that I’m not going to let any track make me discouraged.”
And if he is able to accomplish the goals he’s set for himself, maybe there’ll come a time when people will refer to Austin as “Ty Dillon’s big brother.”
Related:
Dillon transfers championship feel to Trucks in ‘12
Year in Review: Truck Series title even sweeter for family-oriented Dillon
Article source: http://www.nascar.com/news/120204/tdillon-adillon-brother-comparison/
Giants NASCAR package ready for no-huddle
INDIANAPOLIS — When the Giants line up four defensive ends side-by-side to crash down upon an opposing offensive line, they call it their NASCAR Package.
They are more thoroughbreds than they are Fords, Dodges and Toyotas, though. Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka — a linebacker out of Boston College who sometimes plays on the line to pass-rush — are muscular and fast. Coach Bill Belichick said it’s basically impossible to simulate their burst in practice. So how can they be corralled?
“After 15 straight plays of that, you’re not going to get off the ball the way you usually do,” Umenyiora said. “But at the end of the day we’re gonna rotate, we’re gonna bring fresh bodies in. Whatever they throw at us, we’re gonna try to be ready for it.”
The problem for the Giants is that the no-huddle often makes it impossible to sub players in and out. Try it, and Brady will have the ball snapped before the next man in is set.
If the Giants don’t stop the no-huddle before it gets rolling, they could be stranded, gasping for air.
“Any time you talk about no-huddle, it’s definitely a challenge to your conditioning level,” said Giants defensive lineman Chris Canty. “You have to push through it. It comes down to being able to make plays, make negative plays and being able to slow the pace of that offense down.”
The Giants say they’re in good enough physical shape to handle the fast-paced game. With so many linemen on the team — they have 10 listed on their 53-man roster — they don’t always get as many repetitions in practice as they’d like, but to keep up their conditioning they’ll race each other in between practice periods.
“Everything they do is competitive,” said Giants defensive line coach Robert Nunn. “There’s not much they do that isn’t competitive so when they run, they compete against each other . . . They’ve done a good job with [their conditioning], managing that, and I think they’re in pretty good shape right now.”
The Patriots practice the no-huddle so much that they’ve been conditioned for it since training camp. Their receivers and running backs are ready to go as soon as Brady’s set. And offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia has his linemen whipped into good enough shape that they don’t need to do extra conditioning to prepare for a gameplan that’s no-huddle heavy, as Sunday’s could be.
“Overall, it’s been a change of pace for us,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “I think it forces the defenses to play at a different tempo where they can’t fall into a natural rhythm. They have to be ready for things to speed up, be ready for things to slow down and have different personnel groups.
“It just puts a little more stress on our defensive opponents to prepare for more things, more personnel groups, faster pace, change of formation, communication, things like that. If we can do it better than they can, it’s an advantage.”
Article source: http://www.csnne.com/blog/patriots-talk/post/Giants-NASCAR-package-ready-for-no-huddl?blockID=644964&feedID=10426
Delaware takes hiatus from NASCAR series
Delaware Speedway Park is doing its best to calm the fears of its racing community after its affiliation with NASCAR ended for at least for this year.
Delaware presented a reduced 2012 racing schedule to NASCAR officials. The two parties could not work out a compromise for the number of races Delaware wanted to run.
The planned 2012 schedule did not meet NASCAR’s Whelen All-American Series requirements of 14 racing dates at a track in order for it to qualify for the weekly series standings. Drivers were able to count their best 18 races in the driver standings. Last year some 10,000 drivers participated in the series looking for points.
Delaware — one of three Canadian tracks that participated in the series last year — is scheduled to hold 12 races for the late model category this year.
Overall, the track will be running 26 events, down from 32 last year. Among the events this year will be the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. Delaware also intends to continue to bring in NASCAR drivers for its Summer Showdown.
John Houghton, public relations director for Delaware Speedway, said the track is financially stable and that they still have a positive relationship with NASCAR.
Houghton went on to say one of the big differences this year includes a later start to the season. Racing will begin in late May instead of April.
“Not only does it save our drivers money but it puts our season in a better weather window,” he said.
The news has caused many race fans to worry it is a further decline in quality of racing at the track.
Houghton said despite the loss of the NASCAR label the changes at the track will be negligible.
“We’ve been informing our drivers of the NASCAR withdrawal over a number of weeks,” Houghton said. “They are almost unconcerned about it. From the survey that went out, the majority of drivers did not see the value of (the label) period.
“When you look at the fans, they aren’t really concerned about NASCAR. They are concerned about two things, are they able to see the same great racing every week and are they able to see a NASCAR superstar at Summer Showdown 3. The answer to both those is yes.”
Financially the drivers will save some money since they don’t have to pay membership fees to NASCAR. The downside is they won’t have the benefit of the NASCAR name. The track will save some money in that it won’t hold as many races as last year operating a shorter season.
Houghton says that there is no need to panic about the quality and quantity of the racing.
“On a weekly level the show the fans will see is the same great show they’ve seen over the years,” Houghton said. “They’ll see the same great drivers, same great weekly cars. For drivers, the major change is where the competitors send their weekly money. That all stays in Canada. We pay the points fund now instead of NASCAR.”
Houghton denied the track was in any way in trouble and that the racing program was being diluted.
“That’s unfounded,” Houghton said. “The shortened season . . . it’s a reaction to the financial reality of the business we are in at this stage in our development . . . Not only does the economy affect the race track, all of our drivers are independent drivers. These are not multi-millionaires running these cars. Anything that affects their revenue affects their ability to race. With the shortened season we’re seeing a good car count increase in our top level division.”
Houghton points out that this is not the first time the track and NASCAR have parted company. It happened in 2004 as well.
“For the majority of its existence the track was run independently,” he said.
The half-mile oval was sold last year by Arlen Scherba to an ownership group made up of the deMelo and Spivak families.
The Spivaks have been involved in the track for a number of years. They own the land the track sits on.
The deMelos are a racing family.
“We are new to this business and we need to get our feet wet,” said track owner Mannie deMelo in a press release. “The decision has nothing to do with not wanting to be involved with NASCAR. We will work with NASCAR to see if our concerns can be addressed in the future.”
Article source: http://www.lfpress.com/sports/columnists/morris_dalla_costa/2012/02/03/19336396.html
NASCAR Night on SportsZone at Skyline Chili
ACCESS DENIED
We are sorry to inform you that you have been temporarily blocked from this website.
Your IP Address or perhaps someone from the same geographical area as you has been tracked
visiting one or more websites and requesting large amounts of content in a short amount of time.
This has caused your IP Address to be flagged as a possible bot, spider, crawler, spyware, or some other malware.
In general, we do not allow bots, spiders, or crawlers to access our websites.
This is not meant to accuse you of anything.
If you are a legitimate user and feel that you have reached this page in error, please complete the form below.
Our staff will review the information that you provide and determine what options are available.
You are browsing this site with:
Your IP address is:
184.172.176.8
(184.172.176.8)
<!–
Referring URL:
–>
Article source: http://www.wnewsj.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=196334
NASCAR: Kansas Speedway rolling the dice with new casino
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Kansas Speedway has opened a $411 million casino that overlooks turn two.
When Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway opened on Friday it became the first gaming-themed property planned, built and owned by International Speedway Corporation. The $411 million facility that overlooks turn two of the 1.5-mile NASCAR speedway is a joint effort of Penn National Gaming and ISC, which owns the speedway.
The casino has upward of 1,000 full-time employees, 95,000 square feet of gaming and is expected to attract four million guests annually. Its annual economic impact is estimated to be approximately $200 million into the Kansas City/Wyandotte County area. Casino officials expect customers to come primarily from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.
Hollywood Casino has 2,300 slot machines, 61 gaming tables and 25 poker tables on its gaming floor. It also features 28,000 square-feet of other amenities including restaurants, clubs and night-life attractions. ISC and Penn National Gaming broke ground on the project in of May of 2010.
Among the drivers on hand for the grand opening were Kansas native and NASCAR star Clint Bowyer of Michael Waltrip Racing and Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports. Lesa France Kennedy, president of ISC and granddaughter of NASCAR founder the late Bill France Sr., led the effort to build the casino.
Dover International Speedway in Delaware is the only other major stock car facility with a casino on the grounds.
“The combination of a world-class sports facility with the premier Hollywood-branded casino will set a new standard in gaming entertainment excellence,” she said. “We appreciate the collective confidence and support of state and local leaders that recognized the tremendous benefit that Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway will provide for the citizens of Wyandotte County and the state of Kansas.
“ISC and Kansas Speedway have been a collaborative partner with the community to increase area tourism and create jobs for more than a decade. We continue to make significant investments in the facility, most recently with the start of the speedway’s permanent road course construction. This partnership started with a mutual vision to create a true destination for visitors and residents, anchored by a premier motorsports racing facility. Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway will build upon our successful track record.”
The 11-year-old speedway has one ARCA and four NASCAR events this year. The Sprint Cup Series races are April 22 and Oct. 21, its Camping World Truck Series race is April 21 and its NASCAR Nationwide Series race is Oct. 20. The 2012 ARCA finale is scheduled for Oct. 19. Kansas Speedway will be repaved and slightly reconfigured – its banking will go from a consistent 15 degrees to a variable 20 degrees – between its spring and fall events.
Get more car news, reviews and opinion every day: Sign up to have the Autoweek Daily Drive delivered right to your inbox.
You must have JavaScript enabled to post and recommend comments or to report abuse.
Article source: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120203/NASCAR/120209937
Danica scores big in Super Bowl ads
VIDEO PLAYLIST 
- Priority Shifted For Danica
Priority Shifted For Danica
- Danica Dealing For Daytona
Danica Dealing For Daytona
- espnW: Week In Review
espnW: Week In Review
Michele Steele introduces the latest edition of the espnW’s Week in Review, highlighting the week in women’s sports.Tags: espnW, Danica Patrick, NASCAR, Michele Stele, Week in Review, UCONN, Duke, Australian Open, Tennis, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Danica Patrick was on stage for a promotion at Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s downtown nightclub last week when a fan shouted, “Hey, Danica! Turn around!”
Patrick playfully spun her 5-foot-2 frame around, then kicked her hip out ever so slightly to display an asset NASCAR drivers normally don’t share with fans.
“Well, I am a Go Daddy girl,” she said.
Men and women in the Whisky River crowd howled. Patrick hammed it up even more during a question-and-answer segment, asking one of the male participants to turn around for her.
Her connection with the crowd was show-stopping.
“It was almost in the Richard Petty mode,” said Doug Rice, the president of Performance Racing Network, who emceed the event. “The King has a way of connecting with fans and making them feel 100 percent at ease. So does she.”
Patrick creates excitement wherever she goes these days. Her move to NASCAR full-time is expanding her exposure well beyond what she was used to in the IndyCar Series.
On Sunday, NASCAR will benefit from Patrick’s popularity when she appears in two GoDaddy.com Super Bowl commercials, giving her the unofficial distinction of being in more Super Bowl ads (10) than any other celebrity.
You won’t see Patrick in a stock car, but the sport will benefit because she’s associated with driving in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series as much as she is with those edgy, sexy commercials.
“Any time our sport is presented to new audiences on a broad scale, it is great for NASCAR,” said Steve Phelps, NASCAR’s chief marketing officer.
The Super Bowl commercials give Patrick and the sport a bigger audience than it will have all season. The Nielsen Co. said 111 million people watched last year’s game at any given time.
That Patrick likely will be the only NASCAR driver featured during the three-hour-plus telecast speaks volumes.
“She’s the whole package deal,” said Barb Rechterman, the senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Go Daddy. “With her, the pieces come together pretty well. She’s competitive, she’s a race car driver and she’s got a commercial side of her where she can peel off a little bit and show more of her feminine side.”
Let The Fun Begin
You don’t have to wait until Sunday to see every Super Bowl commercial, including the Go Daddy “Body Paint” ad featuring Danica Patrick and her Go Daddy sidekick Jillian Michaels. Here’s a sneak peek … Kelley Carter »
The new Super Bowl commercials definitely show that. In the “Body Paint” ad, Patrick is featured with fellow Go Daddy girl Jillian Michaels and seemingly nude Colombian model Natalie Velez. Patrick is wearing 4-inch stilettos, a tight black skirt and a black leather Go Daddy jacket.
In other words, an outfit you’d fortunately never see Cup boss Tony Stewart or Nationwide boss Earnhardt wearing.
Yes, sex still sells.
Patrick opens the commercial painting a message on Velez and saying, “This sure is a crazy way to draw attention to dot-co [.Co] domains from Go Daddy.”
“Who will notice a hot model in body paint?” Michaels responds.
The commercial ends with the camera carefully scanning Velez’s body and Patrick saying, “I think we missed a spot.”
“Spots,” Michaels says.
In the other commercial called “Cloud,” you’ll get to see Patrick dance — again, better than the imagery of Stewart shaking his booty.
“Yes, I dance,” Patrick said. “And I’ll say this, the dance sequence is as Go Daddy-esque as it gets!”
The commercials are certain to draw attention, which means Patrick draws attention, which means NASCAR draws attention. Because the NASCAR audience is much larger than what Patrick experienced in the IndyCar Series, it’s a win-win for everybody.
How much larger? According to Go Daddy, the potential draw for a NASCAR televised event is 71 million, compared to 19 million for IndyCar.
“Whether she loses or is middle of the pack, she draws attention to her cars because she’s a female in a male-dominated sport,” Rechterman said. “So yeah, it’s broader for us, and we are excited to have her.”
So is NASCAR. Patrick has a polarizing effect on fans similar to that of Earnhardt. It’s more about what she represents than what she does on the track.
Earnhardt to many represents the legacy of his father. Patrick to many represents a hope that a female can succeed in a man’s world.
“Having her in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series will help draw casual fans for the sport,” Phelps said. “That will create opportunities to promote our style of racing and other great personalities in the sport.”
If you question the power of Patrick, just look at the numbers in the Davie Brown Index, which measures a celebrity’s ability to influence brand affinity and consumer purchase intent. Before Patrick climbed into a stock car, she trailed only four-time champion Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt. They remain the only drivers she trails.
Of the 2,200 celebrities in the DBI, Patrick ranks 330 in endorsements, putting her in the range of Magic Johnson, Kelly Ripa and Bruce Willis. She ranks 400 in influence, putting her in line with Tony Romo, Madonna and Kevin Durant.
She ranks 402 in trendsetters, which ranks with Kim Kardashian, Patrick Dempsey, Kirsten Dunst and Albert Pujols.
Patrick is known by almost 70 percent of all U.S. consumers, and of those, 84 percent like her to some degree.
The Super Bowl commercials also reflect Patrick’s popularity. In 2006, Go Daddy earned a 32 percent market share of new domain names from its commercials. In 2007, the first year Patrick appeared in them, the percentage rose to 42 percent.
It’s now at 53 percent.
And there don’t appear to be many limits on what Patrick will do in the commercials, although there is a limit to what the networks will allow. The 2009 “Exposure” commercial featuring Patrick holding a live beaver and playing off a Britney Spears mishap you might have heard about was banned.
“
She’s the whole package deal. With her, the pieces come together pretty well. She’s competitive, she’s a race car driver and she’s got a commercial side of her where she can peel off a little bit and show more of her feminine side.
”
– Go Daddy’s Barb Rechterman
But Patrick was game for the filming. The only request she’s turned down came a couple of years ago when she was asked to wear a tiny red bikini.
“She is very comfortable in working with us on the creative content of our commercials,” Rechterman said. “She has a lot of fun with it.”
So you can see why NASCAR is excited about having Patrick in Super Bowl commercials, and why Go Daddy is excited to have NASCAR to carry the momentum of the commercials for the next 10 months.
“It’s definitely obvious that NASCAR has a really big platform and there’s a big following,” Patrick said during last week’s media tour. “Between promoting the Nationwide Series and all of its drivers and Stewart-Haas’ media day, I’ve never seen so much media concentrated in one space in all of my life.
“It’s always fun when you think people care about what you’re doing and pay attention. It’s nice to come to events where there’s good turnout.”
But Patrick didn’t go to NASCAR just for the attention, any more than she appears in commercials just for the exposure. She’d trade all the attention for a win. It’s her competitive nature.
“I can confidently tell you the reason I came over here was because of the cars and racing,” Patrick said. “If I wanted to come for the platform and the bigger base of all kinds of different things, I would have done it a lot earlier, because those opportunities were there and the interest was there.”
Now that Patrick has the best of both worlds, those around her will capitalize. Perhaps that’s why NASCAR stretched its rules allowing Stewart-Haas Racing to form an alliance with Tommy Baldwin Racing to guarantee Patrick a starting spot in the Daytona 500.
After all, the 500 is NASCAR’s Super Bowl, and there’s no better commercial for the sport than to ensure Patrick is in it.
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DNewtonespn.
Article source: http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/cup/story/_/id/7532792/nascar-danica-patrick-scores-big-super-bowl-ads
Marketers Are Coming Back to NASCAR? Fan’s Analysis
Sponsorship funding is more important to motorsports than to any other sport. The business relationship built between the race teams and marketing partners is vital. But most importantly, what the marketer wants is consumers and when the health of the economy is as poor as it has been been during the Great Recession, the sport suffers. But there may be a change in the wind.
It can be argued that the recession is still alive and well – when you delve into the real facts of the economy here in the United States, much of what is needed to revive the countries viability is nowhere in sight. However, the ingenuity of businesses in this nation is quite amazing and it may be paying off … at least for the motorsports world. Making the dollar work more for everyone is paramount.
Fans of motorsports are quite a bit more loyal than for any other sport so the feasibility for businesses to market to potential customers is quite good (source – Eagle2Team.com). There have been some recent business deals between teams and corporations that may be good news for the industry.
Extensions
As I mentioned a week or so ago (see related articles), Penske Racing received an extension of the Miller sponsorship on the #2 Dodge driven by Brad Keselowski. Another team that received extensions for all their cars is Joe Gibbs Racing with primary partners FedEx, Home Depot and MM’s. Yes, MM’s who didn’t want Kyle Busch driving the car at the end of last season after all the turmoil Kyle created. I’m sure Kyle will be on a short leash.
NASCAR themselves has a contract extension from their title sponsor Sprint to put a boost in their sails. That may or may not have been the result of NASCAR announcing that there had been an increase in television ratings for 2011.
It’s been said that GoDaddy has very big dollars attached to Danica Patrick’s program. So no, the rumor of GoDaddy pulling their sponsorships when they were bought by private equity firms last year was erroneous.
Remember GoDaddy didn’t move their sponsorship when Patrick left IndyCar (see related articles). I might add that IndyCar has also shown to be adding more teams and sponsors, so the industry as a whole may finally be earning and getting their due … perceptions be damned.
More for less
More teams are being funded by more sponsors but with less regularity, meaning the paint shop and sticker machines are working overtime to keep pace with the different marketing partners from race-to-race. Richard Childress said recently that he will have over three dozen sponsors on his three cars (source – CNBC). Non-endemic (non-automotive related) businesses are more the norm than ever before such as last year’s newest additions suggest: AARP Foundation, Freescale Semiconductor and Quicken Loans.
What may be happening is that race teams have finally come to an understanding of what building a true marketing partnership means. You take $25 million from a sponsor, build a new building, buy a jet and enjoy life … uh, no. That money has to work for the marketer, plain and simple. The gravy train is done and gone. Stretching dollars is what makes business last in these recessional days.
So too have both the marketers and the race teams learn that business-to-business dealings using the motorsports platform for a variety of programs, may be just as important as the obvious visual advertising. A new dawn in motorsports marketing may be here.
Of course the value and cost of running a NASCAR Sprint Cup team has dropped due in part to the recession. And making investment dollars stretch is key now. But surely the new interest in NASCAR by sponsors is a glimpse into what the new values are and what they bring to brands. This is certainly good marketing news in what otherwise is still a tough economy.
Sources – NASCAR, Yahoo! Sports, Penske Racing
Related articles:
Deal Deposits Danica into Daytona 500
MillerCoors to Continue Sponsorship with Penske and NASCAR
Danica Patrick Says No to Indy 500
Surprise!? James Hinchcliffe Gets GoDaddy Ride at Andretti
Daryle has been involved in motorsports most of his life and has three decades of experience inside racemarketing, plus blogged about every type of racing for several years.
Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.
Article source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=ycn-10916765
Danica at Daytona an issue for NASCAR
You prove yourself through hard work, courage, success. There is glory in making the climb to the top, not through cutting in line.
Danica’s best
There’s no one like Danica, both on and off the track. Check out some of our favorite photos of her in action.
Danica Patrick, with the help of her team owner, Tony Stewart, bought her way into the Daytona 500. Simple as that.
She is going to the Super Bowl of racing not because she drives a car well but because she looks great on top of one in a bikini. This turns Patrick into a gimmick. She now is a GoDaddy babe who happens to be driving, instead of the other way around. I always thought of her as a driver first.
It’s hard to find the right balance when you’re combining sex and sport. Credibility is questioned, probably unfairly. But Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon and was No. 1 before she hit magazines in a bikini. That’s the right direction, anyway.
Patrick has landed at the top. She has never raced at the top level of NASCAR, only done OK at the next level down — the Nationwide Series. Her average finish is farther back than her average starting position.
She did not earn her way into the Daytona 500 and will run qualifying only to determine her starting position. Someone else earned enough points to get in, but Patrick’s team, Stewart-Haas Racing, bought that someone’s points, painted another car with that someone’s number and called Patrick a success.
In other news, the Chicago Bears have purchased the New York Giants’ playoff wins and will face New England in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
GET READY
The start of the 2012 season is almost here. Don’t miss a minute of the action from Speedweeks at Daytona. BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT RACE WEEK SCHEDULE | DAYTONA 500 RACE WEEK SCHEDULE.
Patrick is doing this with the blessing of NASCAR rules. Crummy rules. Nearly every year, something similar happens, though this one has its own special twists.
In fact, last year’s Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne, got into the race when his team bought someone else’s points. But no one will accuse him of getting in for his Q rating. Instead, Richard Petty Motorsports decided to reduce the number of cars it ran, so it sold some of its points. The plan was that Bayne, in one car, would use his points to get into Daytona and then race a partial season. By doing so, Bayne’s team didn’t accumulate enough points to stay in the top 35 to automatically qualify for races.
But in Patrick’s case, they are taking this ridiculous points thing a little farther. Her plan is to use the points to get into the big race in car No. 10, then drop back to the Nationwide Series for a while, then pop back up at different times for nine more Sprint Cup events.
While she’s in Nationwide, the team that Stewart bought the points from, Tommy Baldwin Racing, will field the No. 10 car. But it will be another machine with another crew and another driver, David Reutimann. He’ll be in 26 races. And when Patrick returns, she will have the benefit of the points Reutimann has earned. That way, she’ll probably never have to run qualifying to get locked into the field of any race.
The top level of sport is supposed to be for champions, without exception for favoritism, personality or looks.
The Daytona 500 should be bigger than this. It should be for the fastest 43 cars. Instead, there is always some form of points swapping to help get the biggest names in.
REVVING UP
The 2012 NASCAR Media Tour offered a glimpse into drivers, crew chiefs and owners as they prepare for the season. PHOTOS.
Patrick’s name is huge. I understand the marketing value of sex. Organizers of a great event can hope that the most marketable people do well. But you can’t invent rules to make it happen. This just makes the race, and Patrick, look terrible.
It’s just business. That’s what NASCAR people say. But, no, the business of a race like this is to put the fastest cars with the best drivers and the best crews and the best teams on the track. You can sell out everything around a sport, everything around the fringes. That’s business. But you cannot sell out the core of the competition.
Meanwhile, Patrick might go on to be a legendary driver. In fact, here’s to hoping she does. But she’s not there now. And while you can’t blame her for taking everything she can get, it also puts her in a spot, adds pressure, sets her up to look like a failure. It’s not always good for someone to be given too much.
The truth is, in a lot of ways, nearly everyone involved with the Patrick deal benefits. What happened is this: The top 35 finishers in owner points from last year are locked into this year’s Daytona 500. Eight more can get in through qualifying.
Well, the Tommy Baldwin Racing Team, with driver Dave Blaney, got into the top 35. Under NASCAR rules, the points Blaney earned can be sold, roughly, as long as the Baldwin team remains at least a part-owner with the team that bought the points. So Stewart-Haas formed a partnership with Baldwin.
If these swaps are done all the time, the difference in this situation is Patrick. It’s done for marketing purposes, not for racing. And perception means plenty: Non-racing fans will see it as Patrick getting preferential treatment.
Meanwhile, not long ago, Baldwin was such a little guy in the business that it was doing the start-and-park thing, meaning it would start a race and then just pull over and claim some other problem. It couldn’t afford to run a full race.
Now, Baldwin is growing, evidenced by Blaney’s success. But by selling its points — and we don’t know how much the sale was for — Baldwin gets financial help. Blaney surely feels ripped off, but this move helps his team, which, theoretically, helps him. He can still qualify to get in.
The Big Race gets the Big Draw. Patrick gets into the race, as her team needs her to do.
GoDaddy gets a nice bump. It’s win, win, win, right?
I don’t know. Patrick the driver/sex symbol seemed much more interesting, much more fun to cheer for than Patrick the total gimmick.
Article source: http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/Danica-Patrick-Daytona-500-ride-comes-at-steep-price-for-NASCAR-020312
NASCAR: Unusual alliance locks Danica Patrick into the Daytona 500
0 Comments
Danica Patrick Daytona Preseason Thunder – (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images North America)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL. (Missouri Sports Magazine Contributor Network) – Danica Patrick will be guaranteed a shot at proving she has a good chance to win the Daytona 500.
Stewart-Haas Racing has formed a collaborative partnership with Tommy Baldwin Racing that will ensure Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet will make the first five Sprint Cup races of the 2012 season. NASCAR sets its fields by saving a spot for the top 35 cars in owners’ points, and the final top 35 from the previous season is used to determine the starting grid for the first five races each year.
Because SHR didn’t field a third car last year, it didn’t have a guaranteed spot for Patrick’s Chevy when she joined the team as a part-time teammate to Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman in 10 races this season.
MORE: Patrick thinks she can win Daytona 500
In the deal, Tommy Baldwin Racing’s No. 36, which ranked 33rd in points last season, becomes the No. 10, and Patrick will drive the car at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 26 and nine more races, with Darlington Raceway (May 12), Charlotte Motor Speedway (May 27), Bristol Motor Speedway (Aug. 25), Atlanta Motor Speedway (Sept. 2), Chicaogland Speedway (Sept. 16), Dover International Speedway (Sept. 30), Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 4) and Phoenix International Raceway (Nov. 11) announced so far.
Veteran David Reutimann will drive the No. 10 in the other 26 races for TBR, giving the car a strong shot at staying in the top 35 for the full season, which would help secure Patrick a spot in every race she attempts as a Cup rookie.
The arrangement is unlike past points “swaps” in which teams have merged with another team with guaranteed points. Stewart-Haas and Baldwin Racing will remain independent entities with separate engine suppliers.
Baldwin will be listed as the owner of the car in all 36 races, but the car will be prepared by SHR with Hendrick Motorsports engines, in the races driven by Patrick. The crew chief for Patrick at Daytona will be Greg Zipadelli, SHR’s director of competition.
“Tommy Baldwin Racing has proven to be a very strong organization and it’s a good fit with Stewart-Haas Racing,” Matt Borland, SHR vice president of competition, said in a statement. “It’s a Chevrolet team led by a racer who knows every inch of a racecar. That kind of technical expertise, along with a company mindset that is similar to ours, provides the ideal environment for Danica to learn and succeed.”
During NASCAR’s annual preseason media tour last week, Patrick said she could win her debut in NASCAR’s premier series. She finished sixth in her stock-car debut at Daytona, an ARCA race in February 2010.
“I think at Daytona (our) cars are very fast, so I feel good about that race, if luck falls our way, to perhaps win,” Patrick said. “I think that’s a real chance. I mean a (rookie) like Trevor Bayne last year showed that.”
NASCAR: Unusual alliance locks Danica Patrick into the Daytona 500 is a post from: PhatzRadio.com
Be sure to check out other great articles at PhatzRadio – A New Voice In Sports Talk Radio With Rock, Jazz, Soul, R.
Article published under Missouri Sports Magazine’s Contributor Network License. If you have news you would like published, please email our office staff at: officeteam@missourisportsmag.com. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Stephanie Miller at stephm@missourisportsmag.com.
Missouri Sports Magazine reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its website or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.
All team and league logos are properties of their respective leagues, teams, ownership groups and/or organizations.
Article powered in part by:
Article source: http://missourisportsmag.com/?p=49478
Recently Written
- CUP: Head To Head – Which Of These Drivers Will Do Better?
- Dillon happy to be called ‘Austin’s little brother’
- Giants NASCAR package ready for no-huddle
- Delaware takes hiatus from NASCAR series
- NASCAR Night on SportsZone at Skyline Chili
- NASCAR: Kansas Speedway rolling the dice with new casino
- Danica scores big in Super Bowl ads
- Marketers Are Coming Back to NASCAR? Fan’s Analysis
- Danica at Daytona an issue for NASCAR
- NASCAR: Unusual alliance locks Danica Patrick into the Daytona 500
- NASCAR auction to benefit family of slain deputy
- Big Daytona payout includes bonus for leader at halfway
- 3M contest offers NASCAR tickets, experiences – Search
- Happy Hour: Two views of Danica Patrick
- Mother of NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth dies at age 63 after battling Alzheimer’s …
- Don’t lag: Mid-race leader will earn $200k at Daytona 500
