Michael Waltrip's Dropping The 56

Over a month after attempting to fix the finish of a race to clinch one of his car's Chase spot, then sponsor NAPA leaving over the controversy, and following weeks of blaming Twitter, Michael Waltrip has announced his team will be dropping the 56 car driven by Martin Truex, Jr. Despite being the only car not directly involved in the subterfuge, the 56 has suffered most of the punishment.
MWR was hit with double bad news on Monday, as Brian Vickers announced he will be sidelined once again with blood clots.
Read more at MRN Radio.

ESPN and Turner Will Not Be Allowed To Go Home Early

After initial talks of ESPN and Turner handing over their final 2014 NASCAR season rights to NBC and Fox in August, the two tried again last week to dump off their unwanted coverage early. Which NASCAR again said no to.

“While we were humbled by the desire of NBC and FOX to start 12 months early, we now consider this matter closed and look forward to finishing our current agreement in 2014 with our great partners at FOX, Turner and ESPN.”

So, no, you will have to stay till the end of business like everyone else in the office.
Read more at Sports Business Daily.

Napa Know-How? More Like Napa No-More!

Well, if Michael Waltrip thought time would make the race-fixing scandal from Richmond go away, he got a rude awakening on Thursday. NAPA Auto Parts announced they would end their sponsorship at season's end, citing the incident at Richmond:

After thorough consideration, NAPA has made the difficult decision to end its sponsorship arrangement with Michael Waltrip Racing effective Dec. 31, 2013. NAPA believes in fair play and does not condone actions such as those that led to the penalties assessed by NASCAR. We remain supportive of the millions of NASCAR fans and will evaluate our future position in motor sports.

NAPA, along with 5 Hour Energy, both told the press they were reviewing their sponsorships last week, as Fox Sports reaffirmed they would keep Waltrip on staff. But with his longest relationship now ending, it'll be interesting to see if NAPA has set the bar for 5 Hour and Aaron's.
Read more at Motor Racing Network.

Montoya Headed Back To Open Wheels

Juan Pablo Montoya, the Colombian phenom whose NASCAR career hasn't turned out as spectacular as hoped, will return to IndyCars with Roger Penske next season. Despite winning the championship in his first Champ Car season, the Indy 500 in his first start, and seven Grands Prix, Montoya has only won two Cup races. Montoya's move to NASCAR also inspired numerous open-wheel veterans to hop over to stock cars, with only Sam Hornish continuing in Nationwide.
Read more at Motorsports Talk.

Did Michael Waltrip Racing Fix A Race?

Saturday night was the last race before the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason. With ten laps to go, Ryan Newman was leading and holding on to the final Wild Card spot, Jeff Gordon was in the 10th and final regular spot, and MWR driver Martin Truex, Jr., was outside looking in. On that lap, Truex's teammate Clint Bowyer was told "39's [Newman] going to win the race," "Well, that sucks" the next lap, then "Is your arm starting to hurt? I bet it’s hot. Itch it." The next time in Turn 4, Bowyer spun and the caution came out. The field came to pit road for tires, and Newman was shuffled back to fifth. Then the third MWR car, Brian Vickers, was called to pit road surprisingly at the restart, with the crew telling him "You've got to pit this time. We need that 1 point." With Bowyer pitting a third unexplained time, the two teammates finished well behind in the field. That allowed Joey Logano to finish far enough ahead of Gordon to clinch the 10th spot. Had Gordon finished in the 10th spot, Logano would've clinched the second Wild Card and Truex would've been out; but with Logano ahead and Gordon inelligible, Truex was able to clinch the final spot. Both Gordon and Newman are out of the Chase.
The oddity of the spin, the radio communications, and a NASCAR.com reporter overhearing Michael Waltrip tell Truex "You've got awesome teammates" has fans and media asking if MWR fixed the results. NASCAR announced Sunday they are looking into evidence of tampering with the results. MWR has had issues in NASCAR before: in 2006, they were accused of stealing another team's sway bar, and in 2007 they were penalized for illegal fuel additives in Daytona 500 qualifying.
Read more at the Associated Press.

On pit road after the race: @mw55: "You've got awesome teammates" Truex: "yes, I know" #nascar
— Alan Cavanna (@CopaCavanna) September 8, 2013

Are Millennials The Reason NASCAR's Struggling?

A report from NPR reveals 9% of millennials don't feel a need to drive, and 6% actually have no interest. Consider there are 80 million millennials, and you can surmise why ESPN and TNT felt NASCAR's fan base were aging.
Hear the full story at NPR.

ESPN Would Like Out Of The NASCAR Business - Like, Right Now

Last month, ESPN and Turner Sports told NASCAR they didn't want to renew their contracts, which end after the 2014 season, citing stale ratings and aging demographics. NBC bought up most of their Cup races, and they split the Nationwide races with Fox. Now Sports Business Journal reports ESPN and Turner have told NASCAR they don't want to wait until 2015: they want to get out at the end of this year. If the legal wrangling required goes through, it would be an unprecedented move by a network to leave a contract early, especially with five separate groups of sports broadcasters competing for content.
Looks like finishing 20th or worse in 20 out of 24 races killed off Danicamania pretty quick.
Read more at Sports Business Journal.
Image courtesy ESPNW.

Humpy Wheeler: Corporations Ruined NASCAR

H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler was one of NASCAR's pioneering promoters. Whether it was boxing matches, a shark in a tank eating whole chickens while being driven around the track, or full-fledged military battle reenactments, Humpy's pre-race promotions were landmarks in the racing world. Now retired, Humpy took to YouTube to address NASCAR's recent struggles.

"We're not getting all the best drivers, I hate to say that. But because they don't talk right, they don't look right, they don't dress right - they may not be corporately-inclined. And I hate that word. Corporations, to a certain extent, have put us into this and that is big controversy - me saying that. People will say 'They are the people that fed you. They are the people that sponsored Lowes Motor Speedway. All these companies made racing what it is today' - well it is to a certain extent. But what happened is they got some fancy people working for them that did not know what racing was all about. They tried to change it."

Besides the lack of a "working man's driver," Humpy pointed to the emphasis on points over wins, suggesting bigger bonuses for leaders and race winners. Humpy's comments come during declining ratings and attendance, including only 80,000 for a 240,000-capacity Brickyard 400 and both TNT and ESPN declining to renew their television deals.
Read more at WBTV.

AP: Juan Pablo Montoya Not Returning To Ganassi Next Season

The Associated Press is reporting Juan Pablo Montoya will not return to Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR Cup team in 2014. It would end an eight-year run which saw two wins and one postseason appearance, a disappointment for a driver who won the 1999 Champ Car championship in his first year, the 2000 Indy 500 in his first start, and the 2001 Italian Grand Prix in his first F1 season. He would win six more Grands Prix, including Monaco, before leaving for NASCAR in 2006.
Read more at Motorsports Talk.

Tony Stewart Injured In Sprint Car Crash

3-Time Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart was hospitalized Monday night after a crash in a sprint car race at Southern Iowa Speedway. Stewart, who was leading the 30-lap feature race, required surgery on his broken right tibia and fibula. Stewart-Hass Racing was forced to cancel a test at Atlanta Motor Speedway Tuesday, and no replacement has been named for this weekend's race at Watkins Glen. Stewart's injury comes a week after flipping in a Sprint Car at Ohsweken Speedway in Canada, which Stewart told the media was blown out of proportion.
Read more at Motorsports Talk.

Is NASCAR's New TV Deal A Bad Sign?

Last week, NASCAR announced a new 10-year, $4.4B TV deal with NBC, taking over for ESPN and ending a 26-year relationship with Turner Sports. While it sounds like NASCAR ditched the other two, Sports Business Journal's John Ourand reports it's the other way around. Turner told NASCAR they wouldn't renew after suffering their worst ratings in three decades, and ESPN did the same citing sour ratings and an aging demographic. SBJ's report comes of a poorly attended Brickyard 400, which Autoweek reports was anywhere from 70,000 to 80,000 (260,000 attended the race in 2006). It also comes a month after a Sporting News report that 25% of seating has been removed from ISC-owned tracks.
Read more at Sports Business Journal and Autoweek. 

Brian France Almost Got It

NASCAR CEO Brian France recently spoke with the Indianapolis Star, and was asked about NASCAR's relationship with the IRL:

Q: Is IndyCar a friend or foe to NASCAR?
A: We consider it a friend. We can’t win when other people lose. We would prefer to see a healthy IndyCar Series. I know we’ll help them significantly by moving to NBC and the NBC Sports Network. We’ll give a lot of visibility to that network and that in turn will be good for them. Our hope is that they will get stronger because we run at a number of the same venues and if they can contribute to those venues that need all kinds of capital and improvements, (that) would be a win for us.

Excellent point. That's the kind of talk from someone who understands how your league can benefit by building up the sport and...oh, wait...

Q: Are you willing to pair a Sprint Cup or Nationwide Series race with an IndyCar race at the same track on the same weekend?
A: No. Nationwide is significantly ahead of the Indy Racing League in terms of its television ratings and attendance and everything else with the exception, obviously, of the Indy 500. We wouldn’t want to mix that. They have to stand on their own, and we have to stand on our own.

There's a reason nepotism doesn't always work.
Read more at IndyStar.com.

Fox Sports Tape Delays NASCAR Race Without Warning

On Wednesday night, NASCAR ran it's first national tour race on a dirt track since 1970, with the Truck Series Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway. It was a memorable event that a lot of NASCAR fans were hoping to share on social media - until those who logged onto Twitter saw the results of a race they were watching on TV. Fox's Speed Channel, soon to become Fox Sports 1 next month, had chosen to tape delay their coverage without informing fans.
The decision came within a week of NASCAR announcing they would no longer allow aerial cameras such as CamCat, the system Fox was using until one of its cables broke at the World 600, causing damage to cars (including leader Kyle Busch) and injuring 10 fans.

NHRA Driver Courtney Force Makes ESPN Mag's Body Issue

Courtney Force, daughter of legendary 15-time Funny Car champ John Force, posed for ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue, where sports stars pose nude (with strategically place objects, of course). Courtney is in her second season in Funny Cars, with four event wins and last year's Rookie Of The Year title. And yes, John's OK with it (he actually had photos of his scarred body published in 2011).
Of course, Danica Patrick's posed for magazines and Go Daddy commercials for years, but has been criticized for the perception she's a marketing tool while her results aren't so spectacular. Which is a point brought up by SiriusXM and MRN Radio's Pete Pistone:

So Danica Patrick gets bashed for this kind of stuff but Courtney Force gets a pass? Seems hypocritical pic.twitter.com/Ju3ka1E1Zz #NASCAR
— Pete Pistone (@PPistone) July 11, 2013

Which is actually a good question: Is it unfair to criticize Danica for photo-shoots and not Courtney, or does Courtney deserve a pass because of her on-track success?

Story of Stolen NASCAR Hauler Is As Weird As You'd Expect

Jennifer Jo Cobb currently races in NASCAR's Truck series for her own team, but will have trouble making Friday night's race in Charlotte. Cobb reported her truck hauler, carrying approximately $279,000 in equipment, stolen from her team's headquarters. On Wednesday, police arrested Mike Harmon, a fellow driver and owner in both the Truck and Nationwide series, and a former team manager for Cobb. After being released on bond, Harmon tweeted: "I did not take JJC hauler, there is no video of me anywhere near her shop. Today she was the windshield & I was the bug, but when we get in FEDERAL court in a couple wks there's a boulder coming" 

The problem? Cobb is currently in a lawsuit with another former business partner, David Novak, over who owns the equipment she's used the past three years. And according to said lawsuit, Cobb took the trailer from a warehouse that shares the same address as Harmon's shop. And back at Daytona, she reported a team van stolen from a parking lot, but it was repossessed by Novak who provided proof of ownership.

Read more at Sporting News and Yahoo! Sports.

U.S. Senator is Asking Fox To Not Broadcast NRA-Sponsored Race

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) has written to Rupert Murdock asking that his Fox network not broadcast this Saturday night's NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Murphy argued the race will give national attention "to an organization that has been the face of one side of this heated debate."
Fox has not advertised the NRA sponsorship in their promos (Fox has race sponsors provide "paid consideration" for their names to be mentioned on-air), it's been promoted as "NASCAR Racing from Texas" and will probably be mentioned as such on air. Race sponsorships are made by the tracks themselves, but the NRA flap has NASCAR saying they may have more say in the future (a NASCAR-related company owns 12 of the 23 tracks on the circuit, and Texas is not one of those).
Read more at the AP and Sporting News.
Image courtesy TalkingPoints.

Fox Is Doing The Slapsuit Thing Again

Sci-fi blog io9 has learned Fox has been sending "cease-and-desist" orders to people making items based on the cancelled-a-decade-ago series Firefly. Not really surprising, considering the network used to slapsuit websites that referenced The Simpsons. Also not surprising for those who watch NASCAR on Fox, since everyone remembers when Darrell Waltrip slapsuited "Mr. Boogity."
For those who don't, Randy Nicholson was a race memorabilia shop owner who held the trademark on the name "Mr. Boogity" in Canada years before Waltrip. But Waltrip sued Nicholson, using the threat of his deep pockets against Nicholson's rightful claim. Ultimately, the cost of $150k to fight was too much, and he would up having to spend $6k trying to comply with Waltrip's branding of his inane catchphrase.

Which he apparently has a right to, because no one has ever used "boogity"....oh....

 

 

Former "Miss Sprint Cup" Gets Second Chance

Paige Duke used to work as a "Miss Sprint Cup", NASCAR's modern take on the beauty queens that used to stand by the drivers in Victory Lane. That was until two years ago, when an asshole ex-boyfriend decided the best way to get back at her was to publish nude pictures she sent to him years ago. And nude pictures interfere with one's ability to stand in Victory Lane and look pretty.
But Darlington Raceway is giving Duke a second chance: she will become the speedway's "Lady In Black," a role similar to the one she had as "Miss Sprint Cup." So she's getting a second chance, because no one in America deserves their first.
Read more at Sporting News.
Image courtesy Beach Carolina Magazine.

Brian France Admits It Was His Brilliant Idea To Fine Denny Hamlin

NASCAR Chairman Brian France admitted in an ESPN interview it was he who felt Denny Hamlin's comments at Phoenix crossed a line.

France acknowledged it was primarily his decision to penalize Hamlin, and he stood by that decision.
"There's always going to be, when we make decisions that are not black and white per se, we're always going to have people all over the organization that may not have made that call," France said. "But I did. I'm crystal clear with everybody about where the line is, what we can accept, and about how the sport is going today.

So there you go. Yay nepotism!

Opinion: Who Was Surprised Darrell Waltrip's Corporate?

Some time ago, someone described Darrell Waltrip as the Muhammad Ali of NASCAR. There's a small problem with that analogy. Muhammad Ali was a controversial fighter whose converted to Islam, refused to fight in Vietnam, and spoke openly during the Civil Rights movement. If you've ever seen "Soul Power," Muhammad Ali speaks of those who don't speak about important issues because they don't want to risk financial backlash.
Darrell Waltrip is one of those: he's a guy from Kentucky who invented a brand to go alongside his racing, making a name for himself as a trash talker. And trash talking is about as much as Darrell has in common with Ali; if anything, he's got more to do with Deion Sanders and his longtime marketing schemes. And Neon Deion at one time was trying to sell hot dog cookers like George Foreman grills. Anyone who thought Waltrip would step up and use his platform to support Denny Hamlin was mistaken. Waltrip's corporate; he's not going to rock the boat.
When Waltrip created his inane "Boogity Boogity Boogity" it wasn't soon after the t-shirts and merchandise started selling. When Waltrip discovered a Randy Nicholson was using the "Mr. Boogity" name, he sued, knowing full well Nicholson had the trademark in Canada first but couldn't afford the legal battle. From Maclean's:

Waltrip’s lawyer, Scott Miller of MBM Intellectual Property Law, describes the basic premise of Waltrip’s complaint as, “Hey listen, the only reason this guy even started his store in association with ‘boogity’ is because of me.”

Nicholson, known locally as “Mr. Boogity,” was “a little upset” when told it could cost a minimum $150,000 to fight (complying with the letter has already lost him $8,000)...
... Yet the irony of Waltrip, a blue-collar icon, using his deep pockets against a rural store owner isn’t lost on Nicholson. “Without the country folk, NASCAR wouldn’t be where it is today,” he says. “You don’t see the three-piece-suit-and-tie guy at the race. It’s the blue-collar guy.”

The sad part is that his "analysis" completely makes you forget he was a three-time champion, 84-time race winner, and the 1989 Daytona 500 champion. His credentials to get into the Hall of Fame were a sure ticket, the only thing was it's only five years old now. So when Darrell didn't get in on only the second ever ballot, he visibly sulked on TV, and sure enough Harry Carson-ed his way into the Hall the next year.
Waltrip always said he based his style on Terry Bradshaw's advice of "be yourself." But Bradshaw's country humor and self-deprecating style doesn't take away from his football knowledge, and he was willing to go out on a limb and criticize Cam Newton and Ben Rothelisberger. Waltrip's brand nowadays is bragging about his own career and never laughing at himself, and has completely run over his play-by-play guy more times than you can count. His catchphrases have gotten old and stale, and were wearing thin when he was using them a year in.
Waltrip hasn't even been the best analyst in his time. When the Fox season ended, fans were excited when the late Benny Parsons appeared on screen, everybody's uncle who's knowledge went hand-in-hand with a relaxed but enthusiastic style. Since Parsons' death, a rising star in Kyle Petty has emerged, with abrasive humor and an ability to speak up when he feels drivers - and NASCAR - have missed the mark. And Dale Jarrett has taken his father's place in the broadcast booth, no schtick and using his career and life in the sport as his credentials. Even Rusty Wallace - who openly criticized the Fox brand of doing things - is finding his place in the ESPN studio.
Waltrip's someone who's time came and went briefly in broadcasting. His driving career was amazing, but his career in the booth has been more of a t-shirt salesman than a broadcaster. At the end of the day, Kyle Petty has only 8 wins to Darrell's 84, but the respect he's earned from fans are lopsided the opposite way. It might be nice if Mr. Waltrip noticed that if he truly believes he's the voice of the sport.

Image courtesy All Left Turns.