Racin' With Russ
By Russell Schmidt

Wimmer Winner at Nashville
Monday, March 24th, 2008

NASCAR driver Scott Wimmer has seemingly been on the back burner. Yes, he and teammate Jeff Burton won the Busch championship (owners) last year, but Wimmer had not been in the winner’s circle for nearly five years.

It was time. He’s been competitive and patient, all ingredients necessary to get a win.

On Saturday afternoon at the 1.3-mile Tennessee Nashville SuperSpeedway, Kyle Busch appeared to finally have a lock on game, set, match, or in NASCAR lingo, the pole, most laps led and the trophy all but won.

But, for the fourth week in a row, something derailed ‘Mr. Personality’ (I’ll get back to that name later) as he spun away his lead overt Clint Bowyer and Wimmer not far from the end.

With Wimmer getting up on the wheel, the ex-Cupper moved on by his teammate Bowyer and went on to capture his first win while driving for Childress Racing.

Rounding out the top five in what was pretty much a ho-hum race were the cars of Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski and Kelly Bires.

Bowyer’s latest finish elevates him atop the points, yet only 11 ahead of current champ Edwards.

In regards to Busch, his falling out of races by his own hand or not, leads him to stomp out of the facility immediately with several reporters in tow. The ‘on-the-run’ interviews and smug attitude answers to reporters questions further illustrates the 22-year-olds immaturity. Some of his on- track swerving will probably lead to a wake up call, ala his brother, Kurt with punched in face episodes...just ask Jimmy Spencer and Tony Stewart who their favorite punching bag is.

Can the young Busch drive a race car? Oh, yeah, I’ll grant you that, he can drive the wheels off most anything, but as far as being the whole big picture as a marketable friendly entity? He’s got a long way to go. I’ve taken polls while announcing at local tracks over the years as to the fans favorite and neither of the Busch boys would have a problem with their fan clubs meeting in a closet size room.

This week, the Craftsman trucks and Sprint Cuppers visit the tough flat half-mile at Martinsville.

Formula One News
After Ferrari suffered only a one point day between two drivers in the opening round last week, they were surely looking for redemption.

They got some...not as much as they would have liked, but had to be pleased with Kimi Raikkonen’s winning performance in the oppressive heat of Malaysia on Sunday.

His teammate Felipe Massa started the weekend off by taking the pole but spun away any chance while out front...end of day.

Robert Kubica nailed down a career best second in front of Heikki Kovalainen.

Points leader Lewis Hamilton wound up fifth but is still out front of the points chase with Kimi second.

From Rumorville
BAM joining forces? Yes, that one-car Cup team consisting of the No. 49 with various drivers behind the wheel may wind up a stronger item by joining forces with the likes of Team Petty or Bill Davis Racing.

Once again the rising cost of racing forces teams to reorganize...read, raise more capital and resources.

Road race ace Boris Said has picked up a couple of races in the Nationwide series. The brillo-haired talented driver will replace Bobby Hamilton Jr for the two left and rights, those being in Canada and Mexico. Personally, I don’t understand why you would take out one of the best Nationwide drivers sitting around the top ten and put in the specialist. Good for the team perhaps in owner points, but pretty much destroys a top ten points run for Hamilton Jr.

Did you know?
What drivers are among the most successful at Martinsville Speedway? Jeff Gordon has won seven times at the Virginia short track, but Richard Petty has a dozen grandfather clocks to show for his efforts. The “King” also represents the driver with the most top 5’s with 30 and the most top 10’s at 37. Throw in eight poles coveted by Darrell Waltrip and you have the dynamic trio of success.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will have the results from NASCAR at Martinsville, round one news from the IRL and more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ