Inside Track
THE Questions
& Attitude
Some compelling questions...
and maybe a few actual answers
FROM THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
HOT
TOPICS
3 ISSUES GENERATING
A BUZZ IN THE GARAGE AP Photo/ED RODE
As long as there are groups looking for a party singer, Kid
Rock will always have a job. Darn shame.
No Love For Grubb Catching The Brain Any chance Friday night’s
Breaking up is hard to Stewart’s decision to bum rush
Grubb has Chevrolet scrambling. banquet will be Must See TV?
do. Unless you are Tony
Stewart, who does what Why? Because Grubb was Please. Give the Answer Man a moment to
he wants when he wants in hatched and nurtured at gather himself.
order to advance his racing technical-savvy Hendrick
agenda. No hard feelings, Motorsports, then sent to Stewart- Well . . .
because it’s all about the Haas Racing, a Hendrick satellite Listen, everyone understands there needs to be
racing. team, so he could become a crew a banquet in order to properly and formally thank
Examples? How much time chief. all the corporations that sink a lot of money into
do you have? Hendrick Motorsports won five the sport and allow their upper management to
At the start of the Chase, straight Cup crowns before write off a trip to Vegas . . . oops, sorry about that.
he won the opening round at Stewart beat the mega-team with Correction: There needs to be a banquet in order to
Chicagoland, then credited its own equipment, which means properly and formally recognize this year’s
the stirring victory to Hendrick has figured into six achievements. There, better. But Must See TV? The
dumping some “dead weight.” straight titles. next time will be the first.
Those extra pounds didn’t Now a free agent, Grubb is
come off his belly. Stewart, a carrying more than a decade’s
worth of secret and expensive No faith in Kid Rock
committed bachelor, was
referring to ending a research and development in his to put on a good show?
relationship with a woman he giant brain. Obviously, he’s a hot In his own way, Kid Rock has become this
had been seeing for a while. commodity. generation’s Sammy Davis Jr. — he vaguely
A few weeks later, he gave Rick Hendrick has downplayed appeals to a wide range of audiences, yet wows
crew chief Darian Grubb Grubb’s expertise, but of course, none of them, and you trot him out in an effort to
notice that 2011 would be offered him a lucrative position. make your event look cool and hip. Whatever, when
Grubb’s last at Stewart-Haas it’s all over, what you’ll likely remember is a bunch
Racing. Huh? The Last Word of drivers thanking a bunch of sponsors. Nothing
Dump a girlfriend, win a Stewart joins an elite group of wrong with that, except some folks get their hopes
race. Dump a crew chief, win NASCAR drivers who have won up every year that it’ll be more than that.
a championship. Can you see three championships. The roster
a pattern here? shows Hall of Famers Lee Petty, Will Tony Stewart survive a week in
Even Grubb, who helped David Pearson, Cale Yarborough
mold Stewart-Haas Racing Vegas and make his parade?
and Darrell Waltrip.
into a champion, was baffled “I somewhat honestly feel out By Saturday morning, let’s assume Tony will be
by his dismissal. of place being on that list,” worn out to the point that he’s looking forward to
To make things even more Stewart said. “At the same time, I getting home to Columbus, Ind., and serving as his
confounding, Stewart named feel honored to be in it with them. hometown’s guest of honor in the annual Festival of
Steve Addington, most I feel like it’s an episode of Lights Parade. We can only hope that Tony’s float
recently paired with “Cursing” ‘Sesame Street’ when you read doesn’t find itself getting blocked by a float in front.
Kurt Busch, as his new crew that list: Which guy doesn’t Things could get ugly.
chief Monday, the start of belong and which is not like the
NASCAR Champions Week. others?” How’s life for
Darian Grubb right now?
Getty Images for NASCAR/Chris Graythen Not too shabby. It’s odd to be a champion crew
It might be heavy, but that’s not exactly “dead weight” Tony Stewart (left) was chief and free agent at the same time. It sure beats
lugging around after the Homestead race. being a free-agent driver these days. At least a
crew chief doesn’t have to depend on appealing to
a sponsor. He just has to find the gray areas of that
rule book and hope his driver keeps it between the
walls. It’s a strange day when it’s better
to be a wrencher than a racer, but
these are strange days.
Godwin Kelly is The
Cup Champ: Carl Edwards Daytona 500 winner: Dale Earnhardt Ken Willis has been
Godwin’s Rest of the top 5 in points: Kevin Jr.
Daytona Beach News-
Journal’s motorsports editor
covering NASCAR for The
2012 Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Don’t be surprised if: At least one and has covered NASCAR
Daytona Beach News-Journal
for 27 years. Reach him at
Kahne, Greg Biffle crew chief is tossed out of Speed
Picks Rookie of the Year: Danica Patrick Weeks for a gross violation of rules.
for 30 years. Reach him at
godwin.kelly@news-jrnl.com
ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
Key DIS dates
SPEED FREAKS: 3 QUESTIONS WE JUST HAD TO ASK — OURSELVES
A quick look at some upcoming events at Daytona
International Speedway:
Steve Addington was named as Tony Stewart’s 2012 ◆ Jan. 12-14 — Preseason Thunder: Cup teams take
crew chief before the awards banquet. Say what? to the 2.5-mile tri-oval in fuel-injected cars as they
prepare for the 54th Daytona 500.
GODSPEAK: For outgoing crew chief Darian Grubb, it must feel like somebody pouring
hot motor oil on his burned ego. ◆ Jan. 28-29 — 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At
KEN’S CALL: Will make for awkward dynamics between Tony and Darian Grubb at the Daytona: Road racers compete for 24 hours on
banquet. Tony better find a date if he’s interested in dinner conversation. Daytona’s 3.56-mile road course.
◆ Feb. 18 — Budweiser Shootout: Top Sprint Cup
Can Kyle or Kurt Busch find a way to be fined over the winter? drivers battle in a non-points, made-for-TV 75-lap
GODSPEAK: Something tells me “Crashing” Kyle and “Cursing” Kurt will lay low during dash.
the short offseason.
KEN’S CALL: Keep the faith. If anyone can make offseason news, it’s those two. ◆ Feb. 23 — Gatorade Duel: A pair of 150-mile
qualifying races set the field for the the 54th annual
What surprised you most about the 2011 season? Daytona 500.
GODSPEAK: Go back to Square 1 — Trevor Bayne winning the Daytona 500. All the ◆ Feb. 26 — Daytona 500: Cup drivers compete in
AP Photo/JIM COLE planets, plus Pluto, aligned for that to happen. the 54th annual Daytona 500, NASCAR’s most
If Junior looks through the drawers of that tool box, he might find KEN’S CALL: That Junior, with all of Hendrick’s resources, couldn’t even accidentally prestigious and richest event.
those keys to victory he misplaced several years ago. win a race.
KEN’S 2012 PRESEASON DRIVER RANKINGS
CARL EDWARDS JIMMIE KEVIN HARVICK MATT KENSETH JEFF GORDON TONY STEWART DENNY HAMLIN KYLE BUSCH BRAD KASEY KAHNE
Quick learner: JOHNSON Tick . . . tick . . . Mr. Steady Still capable, but Just get him to Will get over the Capable of KESELOWSKI Will be Mr.
Knows he needs Might miss being tick . . . tick . . . can he last all September and slump of 2011 anything, Had nice 2011 Trendy’s favorite
to win more races center of attention season? he’s fine good and bad rally, but will it pick for 2012
carry over?