Waltrip’s idea would change qualifying
Michael Waltrip has failed to qualify for seven of the eight NASCAR Nextel Cup races this season, and he believes the system now being used to select the fields is somewhat flawed.
The two-time Daytona 500 winner, now also owner of a three-car, first-year team, says he has a better idea.
“They ought to draw for qualifying, like they do now,” Waltrip said. “Then, the top 35 go out one through 35. Then you’ve got this drama built. Then you let the scrubs go out. Let’s see who has got what. Seven of these guys are going to make it. It would be more fair if we were right there together.”
As it stands now, the top 35 drivers in the car owner points are guaranteed a starting spot in the 43-car field, actually leaving eight spots to fill. Those positions are filled by qualifying speed, with one spot reserved for any former series champion who fails to make it on the other criteria.
Under the current rules, everyone entered gets his qualifying position in the blind draw.
“David Hyder, one of two Michael Waltrip Racing employees suspended by NASCAR in a cheating scandal at Daytona in February, parted ways with the team. Hyder and team director Bobby Kennedy were both put on indefinite suspension and Hyder was fined $100,000 by NASCAR after an illegal substance was found in the intake manifold of Waltrip’s No. 55 Toyota during an inspection prior to the season-opening Daytona 500. Kennedy remains on the team payroll but is still suspended.
Busch Series
Nineteen-year-old Brad Coleman gave Joe Gibbs Racing its fifth consecutive Busch Series pole at a restrictor-plate track, this time at Talladega, Ala.
Coleman turned a lap of 184.299 mph to beat out veterans Dave Blaney (184.062) and Jason Leffler (183.935) for the top spot in today’s the Aaron’s 312
Indy Racing League
Sure, Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher are glad that the IndyCar Series is about to make motorsports history.
Their reasons have little to do with Milka Duno, though.
“It doesn’t change my program,” Patrick said two days before Duno makes her open-wheel debut at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. “It doesn’t change my mind-set. It’s not something I really think about.”
Duno will make the IndyCar Series the first major circuit ever to start a race with three women in the field.
“I don’t race for that as a motivation,” Fisher said. “I didn’t get the others into racing. But I think it’s neat, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
For Fisher, though, being part of the three-woman Indy contingent is as much her own accomplishment as Duno’s.
Fisher, who broke into the league at 19 and was the first woman to win a pole in a major open wheel circuit, spent last year racing stock cars on the West Coast but is back in the IndyCar Series after landing a ride with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
“For me, it’s about getting solid top 10s in and running up front,” she said. “The pressure isn’t on me to win races. I’m just trying to finish every lap.”
Patrick is just glad to see another driver in the IndyCar series, which would like to have 25 to 30 cars in its starting grids. Duno’s car makes 21 entries for Sunday’s race.
At the same time, Patrick acknowledged that the more interest there is in a new driver boosts the league’s fortunes across the board.
“If the car count goes up and people are paying attention to the Indy Racing League,” she said, “then in turn there’s lots of stuff that follows that that’s good.”