Vegas crucial stop if Mears is to make a run in 2008

This wasn't the way Casey Mears wanted to start his 2008 season. Running third in the closing laps of the Daytona 500, he tried to block Tony Stewart and crashed hard into the outside wall, finishing 35th. And at Fontana, Mears lost control of his car after running over water on the track, and wound up having to climb out of his overturned vehicle, saddled with a 42nd-place finish (watch video).
After two races, Mears has accumulated 95 points and is mired in 42nd place in the Sprint Cup standings. So what are his chances of rebounding to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup some 24 races from now?
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Taking into consideration the current championship structure, of the 120 drivers who would have qualified for the Chase in the past 10 seasons, just 26 were outside of the top 20 after the first two races of the year. And only five had fewer than 130 points -- and none had less than 118.
For the most point, drivers who had a miserable Daytona 500 were able to bounce back in the season's second race -- or vice versa. Tony Stewart's done it three times, including 2007, when he finished last at Daytona but eighth at Fontana. Jeff Burton, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth have done it two times each.
It's rarer to see a Chase contender start out with two consecutive finishes outside of the top 20 -- and even rarer still for a driver with an average finish of 30th or worse rebound to make the Chase.
However, it has been done. In fact, at least one driver in two of the past three seasons has had less than 130 points after two races and still gone on to make the Chase. A third rallied to a top-12 position in points by Richmond, but 2006 marked the last year only 10 drivers were eligible for the Chase. In each case, however, that driver used Las Vegas as a springboard to jump-start his season.
In 2005, Kenseth finished 42nd at Daytona and 26th at Fontana, then came to Vegas and wound up eighth. In 2006, Greg Biffle started slowly -- 31st at Daytona and 42nd at Fontana -- and used an eighth-place finish at Las Vegas to regain his momentum. And last season, Martin Truex Jr. had just 118 points after poor finishes in his first two seasons, but was 12th at Las Vegas and eighth at Atlanta.
In 2003, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had 124 points after consecutive top-30 finishes to start the season. He promptly tore off finishes of second, third and sixth on his way to an eventual third-place finish in the points. Had there been a Chase that season, he would have been second in the standings behind Kenseth after 26 races.
And then there's the special case of Kevin Harvick's 2001 season. Taking over at Rockingham after Dale Earnhardt was killed in the season-opener, Harvick finished 14th. He would go on to finish eighth at Las Vegas and then beat Jeff Gordon in a thrilling finish at Atlanta, giving him enough momentum to overcome missing one race. After the race at Richmond, Harvick was eighth in the standings.
So Mears will be facing uncharted territory if he is able to turn his season around to that extent. However, there are some factors that do play in his favor.
Those two crashes were the first time Mears had suffered consecutive DNFs since his rookie season with Chip Ganassi in 2003. In four full seasons since, he was running at the finish in all but 11 races. In addition, Mears began to show the ability last season to string together good finishes.
After his surprising victory in the Coca-Cola 600, Mears finished 13th at Dover and then scored back-to-back fourth-place finishes at Pocono and Michigan. Later in the season, he went on a streak of 10 consecutive finishes of 22nd or better, culminating in four top-10 finishes in a row from New Hampshire to Talladega.
So there's still time, but Las Vegas looms as a major turning point in his season if Mears has any hopes of getting back into championship contention in 2008

Book explains science of NASCAR in, out of garage

About halfway into The Physics of NASCAR: How to Make Steel + Gas + Rubber = Speed, Larry McReynolds describes a race car as "a science experiment."
The former crew chief nailed what's most compelling about physicist Dr. Diandra Leslie-Pelecky's scientific deep-dive into NASCAR. During a race weekend, teams must capture data on, make sense of, and ultimately correctly adjust thousands of complex variables on a car. The author ultimately succeeds in the unenviable task of making this unfolding science experiment interesting to the reader.
Each NASCAR team's battles in the ongoing war against continuing critical balances -- in tire pressure, myriad chassis adjustments, aerodynamics, even how much a driver can safely perspire -- comes through most vividly as Leslie-Pelecky observes Elliott Sadler's No. 19 team from the pits at several races last season.
I won't give away the ending. Let's just say the driver from Virginia exhibits grace and charm amid significant challenges.
Leslie-Pelecky, a physics professor at the University of Texas, is an inquisitive scientist packing a novelist's eye -- and nose. Walking into a race shop for the first time, she notes a "characteristic aroma." She later learns it's a mixture of brake cleaner and gear oil.
Common fan experiences, like the traditional pre-race flyover, become a data-rich science lesson: "The planes are never where you expect them to be when you look up because light waves travel about a million times faster than sound waves."
An explanation of car paint schemes (which today are mostly decal wraps) gloriously detours into cow farts (the smell of a unique chemical in automotive paints), and why the Wood Brothers employ a removable decal wrap on the Little Debbie car (sponsor executives, who are Seventh Day Adventists, don't conduct business on Saturdays, which includes NASCAR practice).
Teams use lighter oil during qualifying. Right side tires are bigger than left side tires. NASCAR windshields are made from the same plastic as you iPod screen. Lug nuts are painted florescent pink because that's the most jarring color to the human eye.
Do we really need to know all this? Well, if you are a NASCAR fan, yes -- you do!
More substantively, Leslie-Pelecky brings readers inside many off-limits places: the fabrication department at Hendrick Motorsports; the No. 19 hauler at Atlanta Motor Speedway; the shop floor at Roush Fenway Racing; a crash test in Lincoln, Neb.; and the NASCAR Research & Development Center.
Dr. Diandra Leslie-Pelecky's scientific deep-dive into NASCAR is profiled in this week's TIME magazine.
Leslie-Pelecky likes explaining things. Some are endemic to NASCAR, like how engines, brakes, shocks and springs work, and why torque is as important as horsepower in producing speed.
Her tangential points are the most fun. In explaining the sport's safety advances, she detours into the story of a spider silk handkerchief stopping a bullet in a gunfight. The author's cheery tone keeps her liberally sprinkled esoteric references away from intellectual show off-ism. The drivers start their engines, and the wide-eyed physicist inserts her ear plugs. She can't help but note that chickens and sharks can grow back the hair cells that loud noises damage, but humans cannot.
In simple language, with sometimes funny descriptions, Leslie-Pelecky explains track and sway bars, wedge, and tire camber, how a "toed-in" car looks and handles.
It may seem downright bizarre to explain oil viscosity by comparing engine oil flow to Dale Earnhardt Jr. dodging media in a crowded garage, but she makes it work.
The Physics of NASCAR is an "idiot's guide" for those of us who have watched too many races to be dummies.
Consider this book required curriculum in our sport for anyone who wants to work in NASCAR, announce a race, or simply be the smartest NASCAR fan in the room.

By the Numbers: Las Vegas

One grew up 337 miles from the site of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the other grew up on a three-eighths-mile tract of land adjacent to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
One is 32, the other is 22.
One traveled 2,391 miles to join Hendrick Motorsports, the other traveled 2,233 miles to work for Hendrick before packing up after four years and moving to Joe Gibbs Racing.
There are miles of differences between Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, but their roads have brought them to Busch's hometown this weekend -- one seeking to extend a streak, the other seeking to break one.
Johnson has won three consecutive races at Las Vegas heading into Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX) and aims to make it four in a row (listen to more). But it's been 33 races since Busch celebrated the first victory in the new car (Bristol, March 25, 2007). Johnson is the defending champion; Busch is the current points leader.
Although not a sure bet, seeing either of them in Victory Lane Sunday night isn't a high-stakes gamble -- the numbers line up.
4Consecutive victories by Jimmie Johnson at Lowe's Motor Speedway between 2004-2005, the last time a Cup driver won at the same track four consecutive times.
4Consecutive victories by Jeff Gordon in the fall event at Darlington Raceway between 1995-1998, the last time a Cup driver won the same event four consecutive times.
4Consecutive victories by Jimmie Johnson in 2007 between Oct. 21-Nov. 11, the last time a Cup driver won four consecutive races on the schedule.
4Finishing position of Kyle Busch in the season's first two races. Busch has three consecutive top-10 finishes at his home track of Las Vegas (second, third

N'wide race moved again, will run Monday at Fontana

History was almost made Sunday night at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., but Mother Nature had other ideas. Now it moves to Monday.
Extensive rain delays forced NASCAR to reschedule a doubleheader on Monday. The Stater Bros. 300 Nationwide Series race will be run immediately following the postponed Auto Club 500 Sprint Cup race, set for a 1 p.m. start.
Jeff Burton will start on the pole as the grid was set per the NASCAR rulebook after qualifying was rained out.
The doubleheader had first been scheduled for Sunday. After rain washed out the Nationwide race on Saturday night, NASCAR officials rescheduled the race for Sunday immediately following the Sprint Cup race, scheduled to start at 4 p.m. ET. It would have been the first time in NASCAR history a race was run at the same track after a Cup race on the same day.
But that didn't work.
The start of the Cup race was delayed, then endured multiple red flags and weather delays. It forced officials to move the Nationwide Series race to Monday. Hours after that, the Cup race was also rescheduled.
The weather is supposed to be much better on Monday, with sunny skies and highs in the mid-60s.

Much more than race day lost when rain pours down

As the rain pounded down over Auto Club Speedway of Southern California this past weekend, it might as well have been pennies hitting the ground rather than water.
The postponement from Sunday afternoon to early Monday was costly to ACS officials in terms of lost revenues for concessions, souvenirs and the like, but what really rang the cash register was paying for all the hourly employees to come back for another day's work.

"Anybody that is working your race is an hourly employee," said one former track official. "If you want them to come back and direct traffic, park cars or whatever it is they do for you, you have to pay that hourly rate."
Security guards, concession-stand staffers, ushers, program sellers, waste management personnel, you name it and there's a time clock attached. Say there's 1,000 people working the rainout, at about $8 an hour -- that's $8,000 an hour times 10 hours or $80,000. It's likely more than that, much more since it's California we're talking about, and that's just the hourly staffing requirement.
That's in addition to another day's worth of insurance for the entire track -- most tracks are covered 24/7, 365, but the rates go up a bit for a race weekend, and the coverage changes.
Lest you think that ACS went broke this past weekend, there is the fact that ticket monies were not refunded because of rain. "Fans with a ticket stub for either Saturday's NASCAR doubleheader or Sunday's Auto Club 500 will be entitled to free general admission grandstand seating for both of [Monday's] rescheduled races," was the way it was put on Auto Club Speedway's Web site.
Vendors lose money too, because if it's raining, there aren't many lines at the souvenir trailers. If it's raining like it was at California, there's a good chance that many people never left the hotel.
The cost to race fans is fairly steep, too. Another hotel room at $250 per, another meal out at $75, more gas for the car, lost hours at work ... the list goes on.
NASCAR itself has costs associated with a rainout. The same costs that fans incur -- lodging, travel, rental cars, rebooked flights -- apply to the NASCAR officials on the road, and there's another day's pay involved as well.
In short, rainouts profit no one except hotels, airlines, car rental companies and other service outlets.
Think of the drivers, who lose a day of precious "free time" with family, and crew members who have one less day to turn around the next racecar as well as one less day at home.
Reporters, TV personnel, media center staffers, radio personalities, all are forced to stay another day as well.
It's a cost of doing business when you hold events that are subject to the fickleness of Mother Nature.

Of course, there are those in the sport who attempt to make a bad situation just a little more palatable. Take Las Vegas Motor Speedway, for instance.
LVMS, owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc, is offering a special promotion for Nationwide Series fans this week. Race fans who bring a ticket stub from the rain-delayed Stater Bros. 300 can buy tickets to the Sam's Town 300 on Saturday for just $25.
"We're making this gesture to do our part to help the series grow," LVMS president Chris Powell said. "While we have sold more than 100,000 tickets to the Sam's Town 300 this Saturday, we have plenty of room to accommodate those loyal race fans who have endured the poor weather in Southern California."
Nothing like a little gamesmanship in the midst of torrents of rainwater, is there?
Ticket insurance, an idea that caught on last year, is available for races at Auto Club Speedway, but rain is not among the covered reasons for a claim, which are:
• "Illness or serious Injury; • Traffic accidents -- which could prevent you from getting to an event; • Mechanical Breakdown -- if your car breaks down within 48 hours of the event ; • Airline delay -- if your plane or other Common Carrier is delayed (includes bad weather) while going to the event; • Home or Business Issues -- if your home or business is uninhabitable due to fire, flood, vandalism, burglary or natural disasters; Care for a family member -- serious injury to a family member, requiring you to provide care; • Felonious Assault -- if you are a victim of a felonious assault within 3 days prior to an event; • Employer Termination -- providing protection against a lay-off; • Jury Duty -- if you are required to serve on jury duty after having purchased an event ticket; • Required to Work -- if your employer requires you to work during the event; • Work Relocation -- if you are relocated by your company over 100 miles from your home; • Military Duty -- if you are required to miss an event as a result of military orders."
Nowhere in the document on the site or in the policy itself is rain mentioned as a reason for an insurance claim.
So now you know at least one reason why NASCAR does its best to complete its events on the day advertised. It's a whole lot cheaper for everyone involved!

For Las Vegas, California may offer a cautionary tale

They are two facilities bound by geography and the NASCAR schedule, separated only by the width of the Mojave Desert and 237 miles of Interstate 15. Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway of Southern California both opened in the late 1990s. They both feature snow-capped mountains in the distance. They're both intermediate tracks with sparkling infield facilities, and the occasional celebrity seen wandering through the garage area.
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There's another similarity, as well. Las Vegas wants a second annual Sprint Cup date. And California is an example of what can happen if you get one.
For years now Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith has been lobbying for a second NASCAR weekend for his 1.5-mile track in the desert, a refrain that increased in significance the instant he acquired New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the two dates that came with it. And who can blame him? Las Vegas is a complete, unqualified hit, a 142,000-seat facility that's sold out six years in a row. It's provided a needed pro sports presence to a city that otherwise hangs its hat on a golf tournament and the occasional fight. And it's received overwhelming support from local leaders in return. When Smith wanted to build a drag strip in Las Vegas, he didn't have to threaten to move the racetrack to Pahrump.
They've expanded the grandstand, they've increased the banking, they've repaved the surface, they've revamped the garage. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway that the Sprint Cup tour visits on Sunday is an absolute temple of speed, an unparalleled facility in the most visited city in America. A second date would be a sure thing, right?
Maybe. The last time something in NASCAR seemed like a sure thing, it was the awarding of a second date to another racetrack far west with a long line of sellout crowds behind it. The facility then known as California Speedway had drawn a full house for every Cup event it had ever hosted when parent company International Speedway Corp. and NASCAR took a date from North Carolina Speedway and a schedule spot from Darlington Raceway so the 2-mile facility in Fontana could have a second race weekend. With a metro area of 16 million to draw from, a car-crazy Southern California culture, and a speedway that had lived seven years without seeing an empty seat, the move seemed as sure as a Kobe Bryant dunk.
Except it wasn't. In the five years since California was awarded that second date, the speedway hasn't sold out. In some cases, it hasn't come close. ISC officials seemed to overestimate the demand. NASCAR saddled the track with a rainy spring date and a 100-degree summer one. Track officials have the thankless and unenviable job of trying to sell tickets in a fractured and fickle market with plenty of people, but also plenty of other sports teams, plenty of diversions, and plenty of other things to do.
Fast facts
What
UAW-Dodge 400
When
4:30 p.m. ET Sunday
TV
FOX, 3:30 p.m. ET
Radio
PRN, 4:30 p.m. ET
Track Page Tickets Travel
The result is the 92,000-seat gorilla in the NASCAR universe, an under-performing facility that draws more critics by the hour. In their defense, speedway officials have tried nearly everything -- bridging the 50-mile gap between Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, using Juan Montoya to market to the Hispanic population, cross-promoting with other area pro teams. And certain things are beyond their control, as this past weekend's rain-delayed Auto Club 500 will attest. Native Southern Californians will tell you that late February often brings not the blue skies and sunshine the region is known for, but wet, cold weather. In that regard, California and Rockingham have something in common.
Rain is rarely an issue across the desert and over the state line in Las Vegas, where NASCAR has been a bigger hit than Celine Dion. As the big casinos on the Strip would indicate, visitors to Sin City like large, fancy facilities with plenty of bells and whistles, and they certainly have one in a racetrack with a spa and a double-decked garage. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a gleaming facility with plenty of amenities and tremendous ticket demand. In fact, it's a lot like the California Speedway of five years ago, albeit with 62,000 more seats.
So what happens if Bruton Smith one day gets his second Sprint Cup date for his 1.5-mile desert oasis? Does it take off like Bristol or New Hampshire, and pack in another 142,000? Or do the crowds tail off as officials realize their demand was plenty enough for one annual race, but not enough for two? Yes, Las Vegas draws a staggering 39 million visitors annually. As Smith will gladly point out, it has more hotel rooms than any other city on earth. It's a beguiling place where you can drink on the sidewalk and win money and pack a month's worth of living into one long weekend.
SMI has put a lot of capital improvement dollars into the Las Vegas track, and you don't recoup that cash while a facility is sitting idle. But could general manager Chris Powell and his capable staff fill the place twice a year? The population of metro Las Vegas is 1.7 million, but California hasn't been able to do it despite a population of 4 million in the San Bernardino area, and 12 million more in greater L.A., and 50,000 fewer seats. The housing slump has taken a bite out of southern Nevada's otherwise robust economy, and all those service industry jobs don't make for the highest of median household incomes.
But what about those 39 million annual visitors, roughly a quarter of which come from Southern California? Las Vegas Motor Speedway is no different from the rest of the city -- tourist dollars make it go. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau, more than 114,000 of the 142,000 spectators attending last season's event were from outside southern Nevada. Ultimately, the success of a second race at Las Vegas would hinge on whether those people would be willing to come back. No question, Las Vegas Boulevard is a more attractive return destination than the old steel mill that is Fontana. But in a region of the country that's becoming almost as saturated with Sprint Cup races as the Southeast was 10 years ago, that's still no guarantee.
Yet if anyplace can make it work, surely it's Las Vegas, that dizzying neon empire where risk is all part of the allure. Bruton Smith has the city, has the speedway, has the fan base -- has everything, it seems, but that elusive second date. Yet all the motorsports mogul needs to do is look west, beyond the McCullough Range and the Devil's Playground and all those tall mountains and dry canyons, to find a very real cautionary tale.
The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.

Adidas increasing its brand presence within NASCAR

Adidas is negotiating with Hendrick Motorsports and a handful of speedways to broaden its rights in NASCAR beyond its deal with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Mark Clinard, Adidas' business director of motorsports, said in Daytona that he'd like to acquire rights at select tracks to develop a fan experience that would expose consumers to its ClimaCool wear. He has had some initial discussions with Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Adidas launched its first line of Earnhardt signature wear on Feb. 15, the Friday before the Daytona 500, at The Sports Authority with GMR Marketing, Charlotte, handling the debut. Those jackets, T-shirts, jerseys and hats are available at The Sports Authority, Adidas' own retail stores and online. NASCAR gear has been extremely limited and often nonexistent in the major sporting goods retailers.
AutostockDale Earnhardt Jr. showed up for a test session last year wearing an Adidas firesuit.
"We're asking Dale Jr. fans to shop in a different place," Clinard said. "This is apparel that will be exclusive to the sporting goods channel, not department stores or lower-level retailers."
Clinard did not discount the possibility of selling the apparel trackside at some point.
The beauty of its entrée to the sport is that Adidas encounters virtually no competition in its category. Nike, which used a sponsorship at Joe Gibbs Racing to introduce its Starter brand to NASCAR, has since vacated the sport, in part because it could not secure rights to Earnhardt.
Clinard's talks with Hendrick have centered on researching in-car conditions and ways in which its ClimaCool technology could possibly be used for the seat material. Adidas already is working with Earnhardt on a ClimaCool firesuit, which is expected to debut later this season.
A deal with Hendrick also might give Adidas rights to put the Amp and National Guard marks from the car on its sports wear. Adidas' initial line of product features mostly the black and orange of Earnhardt's JR Motorsports and the fan club marks, JR Nation, as well as Junior's signature.
Adidas also has interest in putting its marks on Earnhardt's No. 88 Chevy. Adidas marks are currently on Earnhardt's firesuit and his crew's uniforms, as well. Whether Adidas comes back with any ad spots this year remains to be seen.
"I'd rather have the exposure we get through athlete wear than anything we might buy with a bunch of media," Clinard said. If Adidas does an ad, it likely will debut in August for the back-to-school sales season, he said.
Clinard also shared a story about working with Earnhardt that he has found to be a bonus.
When Earnhardt signed with Adidas, the equipment manager at the University of Nebraska, an Adidas school, sent him a bag of assorted Cornhusker apparel and a helmet because Earnhardt collects helmets. The equipment manager was surprised when the phone rang soon thereafter and it was Earnhardt on the other end, calling to say thanks.
"With Dale Jr., there's always this sense that he's going above and beyond," Clinard said.