NASCAR Martinsville Speedway 2015/03/29

Weather threatening all day it looked like qualifying was going to be washed out, but it cleared and gave Joey Logano just enough time to take the pole. 

Series leader and looking for his 9th consecutive top 5 finish Kevin Harvick could only manage 17th position. Last years winner Kurt Busch could only manage 26th.You know these guys are so good and Harvick has been so impressive this year that you don't expect to see them this far down.

Danica Patrick showing off the colors of her new sponsor Tax Act managed a good qualifying position with a solid 16th only having one team mate out qualify her with Tony Stewart qualifying in a very impressive 6th place. 

NASCAR at Martinsville is sure to give us a great event again this year. 

Last years Pole winner was Kyle Busch (99.674 mph) and he eventually finished 14th. Second week in a row the pole time was slower than the 2014 time.


 The Qualifying positions are listed below 

Start Pos		Driver		Quali Speed	Quali Time
1		Joey Logano		98.461	19.232
2		Ryan Newman		98.328	19.258
3		Martin Truex Jr.		98.048	19.313
4		Jeff Gordon		97.613	19.399
5		Jimmie Johnson		97.583	19.405
6		Tony Stewart		97.468	19.428
7		Kyle Larson		97.463	19.429
8		Matt Kenseth		97.392	19.443
9		Kasey Kahne		97.282	19.465
10		AJ Allmendinger		97.262	19.469
11		Carl Edwards		97.177	19.486
12		Brad Keselowski		97.038	19.514
13		Paul Menard		97.387	19.444
14		Dale Earnhardt Jr.		97.302	19.461
15		Denny Hamlin		97.267	19.468
16		Danica Patrick		97.267	19.468
17		Kevin Harvick		97.257	19.470
18		Aric Almirola		97.237	19.474
19		Jamie McMurray		97.222	19.477
20		David Ragan		96.800	19.562
21		Justin Allgaier		96.790	19.564
22		Austin Dillon		96.760	19.570
23		Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		96.558	19.611
24		Casey Mears		97.312	19.459
25		Greg Biffle		96.983	19.525
26		Kurt Busch		96.944	19.533
27		Chase Elliott		96.919	19.538
28		Michael Annett		96.899	19.542
29		David Gilliland		96.666	19.589
30		Clint Bowyer		96.617	19.599
31		Josh Wise		96.607	19.601
32		Jeb Burton		96.494	19.624
33		Brett Moffitt		96.357	19.652
34		Landon Cassill		96.298	19.664
35		Chris Buescher		96.259	19.672
36		Trevor Bayne		96.254	19.673
37		Cole Whitt		96.058	19.713
38		Sam Hornish Jr.		96.024	19.720
39		Alex Bowman		95.908	19.744
40		Mike Bliss		95.694	19.788
41		Alex Kennedy		95.295	19.871
42		JJ Yeley		95.204	19.890
43		Matt DiBenedetto		94.562	20.025
DNQ		Brendan Gaughan		95.632	19.801
DNQ		Ron Hornaday Jr.		95.395	19.850

A needle through my tire?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote on this blog about tires and I asked a basic question and that was if all tires are created equal. If you missed it just click on the highlighted area and read it. 

This week tires are in the spotlight again with the news that NASCAR have collected all of the race tires from a few teams.

After the race in Phoenix, NASCAR confiscated tires from Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano after the race at Phoenix and they were send for audit but both drivers tires were declared legal a few days later. Last week at Fontana NASCAR took tires from Harvick, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman. Again these tires have been send to be inspected. No word as yet on their legality.

So what is needling a tire? 

 
Goodyear gives recommended tire pressure for each race to teams. What ever pressure you decide to run, within the Goodyear recommendations, one thing you cannot do is change those pressures during the race.  Most teams will choose a lower pressure because as the tire gets hot the air pressure inside them will rise. This will negatively affect the handling of the car. Needling a tire, is when very small holes are made in a tire, normally in the tire surface. Acting almost like a slow puncture as the tire pressure rises when the tire gets hot, the pressure is relieved in the tire through the tiny holes. This technique makes the car easier to drive because the handling of the car remains the same through out the race.  Obviously this is not an exact science and would be pretty difficult to perfect this so that you could gain a benefit from it. 

The other problem for NASCAR would be how do you prove it? Once the tire has been run for the number of laps its designed to in the race, those "Needling marks" would not be visible and it would be difficult to say with absolute certainty that the tire has in fact been tampered with. There are tire valves "bleeder valves" available that can do the exact same thing, but they are currently not allowed by NASCAR. 

How ever the teams are doing this, it is obviously a closely guarded secret on exactly how its being done. One thing is for sure is that NASCAR knows that it is in fact happening. As far back as the race in Phoenix last year, NASCAR addressed the issue with all the teams flat out telling them to stop doing this. 

Jeff Gordon's crew chief  believes that this is currently happening in NASCAR if you listen to talk in the paddock and that it is probably out of hand. NASCAR would want to stop this, not only because they would be wanting to keep the playing field level but also on grounds of safety. The reality is that an under inflated tire becomes very dangerous if there had to be a sudden track temperature drop or a track where it takes a while to get tires to their optimum performance temperature. 

One thing is for sure, teams will find ways to get their cars to go faster and you have to ask the question, if all the teams are doing this or lets say 80% of them, then probably 30 drivers would effectively be on a status quo anyway. Perhaps its time for those bleeder valves at least then NASCAR can properly police the effect. 

This Weekend 27-03-2015

Hi there everyone

This weekend is a bumper weekend for Motorsport fans.

NHRA Four wide nationals, NASCAR Truck and Cup series racing From Martinsville. V8Supercars from Tasmania, Formula One from Malaysia, Indycars from St Petersburg and Moto GP from Qatar.

It’s a busy schedule. 

Check out our Webpage www.danicapack.com

Friday 27-03-2015

NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Concord March 27 to 29

Saturday 28-03-2015

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Martinsville Speedway

V8 SUPERCARS Tasmania Super Sprint  Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston Tasmania

Sunday 29-03-2015

FORMULA ONE Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang Circuit

INDYCAR United States Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg

MOTO GP Qatar Grand Prix Qatar

NASCAR Sprint Cup Martinsville Speedway

Remember to keep watching our motorsport calendar to keep up to date with all the motorsport events. 

Happy Birthday Danica

Its our girls birthday.

So go out and tweet her, give her your wishes on Social media.

Here is to wishing Danica a very happy birthday

Have a look at our Birthday Video. Please share and Like.

NASCAR Auto Club Speedway 2015/03/22

NASCAR Auto Club Speedway  2015/03/22

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Pole went to Kurt Busch with a lap of 185.142 Mph, completing the lap in 38.889 seconds. The second quickest person was surprise surprise Kevin Harvick with a lap of 185.047 Mph completing the lap in 38.909 seconds. Stewart Haas Racing must be very proud. Their 4 cars taking the first two places on the grid, with Tony Stewart (182.445 Mph) in 20th and Danica Patrick (182.140 Mph) in 22nd. 

Being in the news Cherry Boy Alex Bowman (181.443 Mph) gets an honorary mention in 28th position. 

The pole last year in March was taken by Matt Kenseth with a lap of 187.315 Mph. What is interesting to note that unlike the last two rounds, the pole time was slower that the year before. So in this case the lower down force and the power drop regulated in the 2015 rules has had the desired affect, by slowing that cars down, not by a lot but still it is slower. As a reference point the fastest ever pole here is held by The other younger Busch ...... Kyle Busch with a lap of 188.285 Mph set in 2005. The correct thing to say would probably be that NASCAR is just doing the best they can to keep the cars speed in line with the previous year. 

It should be a very good race.

Have a great weekend. 

Qualifying times are listed below

Start	Car	Driver		Quali Speed	Quali Time
1	41	Kurt Busch		185.142	38.889
2	4	Kevin Harvick		185.047	38.909
3	20	Matt Kenseth		184.966	38.926
4	18	David Ragan		184.886	38.943
5	42	Kyle Larson		184.337	39.059
6	11	Denny Hamlin		184.233	39.081
7	24	Jeff Gordon		184.087	39.112
8	2	Brad Keselowski		184.063	39.117
9	31	Ryan Newman		183.725	39.189
10	15	Clint Bowyer		183.407	39.257
11	27	Paul Menard		183.383	39.262
12	78	Martin Truex Jr.		183.299	39.280
13	22	Joey Logano		183.323	39.275
14	48	Jimmie Johnson		183.257	39.289
15	19	Carl Edwards		182.978	39.349
16	9	Sam Hornish Jr.		182.904	39.365
17	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.		182.848	39.377
18	47	AJ Allmendinger		182.764	39.395
19	5	Kasey Kahne		182.746	39.399
20	14	Tony Stewart		182.445	39.464
21	3	Austin Dillon		182.343	39.486
22	10	Danica Patrick		182.140	39.530
23	43	Aric Almirola		181.800	39.604
24	46	Michael Annett		180.397	39.912
25	33	Brian Scott		181.768	39.611
26	1	Jamie McMurray		181.626	39.642
27	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		181.557	39.657
28	7	Alex Bowman		181.433	39.684
29	16	Greg Biffle		181.392	39.693
30	55	Brett Moffitt		181.219	39.731
31	51	Justin Allgaier		180.995	39.780
32	35	Cole Whitt		180.560	39.876
33	34	Chris Buescher		180.505	39.888
34	26	Jeb Burton		180.023	39.995
35	98	Josh Wise		179.775	40.050
36	6	Trevor Bayne		179.314	40.153
37	13	Casey Mears		179.051	40.212
38	62	Brendan Gaughan		178.607	40.312
39	32	Mike Bliss		178.328	40.375
40	40	Landon Cassill		177.773	40.501
41	23	JJ Yeley		176.479	40.798
42	83	Matt DiBenedetto		176.099	40.886
43	38	David Gilliland		175.434	41.041
DNQ	44	Travis Kvapil		178.081	40.431
DNQ	29	Reed Sorenson		176.878	40.706

This Weekend 21032015

Well its a great weekend if you are a motorsport fan. 


Check out our Motorsport Calendar for all the motorsport dates. 




Saturday 21th of March 2015

• NASCAR XFinity Series Auto Club Speedway.

Sunday 22th of March 2015

• World SuperBikes Thailand Chang International 
• NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club Speedway. 

The World Super Bike races should be very entertaining as this is a new circuit only completed and opened last year. The super bike racing rules have had a huge change this year. In previous years it was possible for teams to change the internals of the motor cycle engine. Including, pistons, con rods and crank shaft. This meant that exotic metals could be used by teams, which increased power delivery and reliability, but fuels costs. 

This year however, those have been banned. Its possible to modify the internals as mentioned above, but the production parts have to be used. The result has been that there has been a huge drop in costs, but also made the racing much closer and way more exciting. 

The last race we saw 4 manufacturers fighting for the lead and both races being won by less than half a second. 

Watch out for it, it should be very good.


Have a great weekend.



Check out our webpage www.danicapack.com 

NASCAR Phoenix International Raceway 2015/03/15

We are at Phoenix for the first time this year with the NASCAR circus. 

A pretty uneventful qualifying session this week. Kevin Harvick took the pole with another awesome lap. You have to say that Kevin is really in a zone at the moment. It was Harvicks first pole at Phoenix in 25 starts at the circuit and his 15th pole in sprint cup. Harvick has won the last 3 races at Phoenix and if he wins on Sunday he will be the first driver to win 4 in a row at the circuit. 

Once again we see that with less down force and less power the qualifying time was faster than last years time. Our Girl Danica will be starting in the 23rd position. 


Just to recap the Pole last year in March was won by Brad Keselowski, with a lap of 139.384mph. He eventually finished 3rd in the race.

Best of luck to all the drivers.

Go no 10!

The Qualifying times are listed below.

Start Pos	Car	Driver		Quali Speed	Quali Time
1	4	Kevin Harvick		140.751	25.577
2	22	Joey Logano		140.543	25.615
3	1	Jamie McMurray		140.422	25.637
4	20	Matt Kenseth		140.072	25.701
5	31	Ryan Newman		139.833	25.745
6	2	Brad Keselowski		139.817	25.748
7	19	Carl Edwards		139.779	25.755
8	41	Kurt Busch		139.665	25.776
9	5	Kasey Kahne		139.643	25.780
10	24	Jeff Gordon		139.535	25.800
11	3	Austin Dillon		138.969	25.905
12	42	Kyle Larson		138.755	25.945
13	18	David Ragan		139.157	25.870
14	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		139.141	25.873
15	78	Martin Truex Jr.		138.884	25.921
16	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.		138.814	25.934
17	14	Tony Stewart		138.718	25.952
18	55	Brian Vickers		138.654	25.964
19	16	Greg Biffle		138.515	25.990
20	48	Jimmie Johnson		138.483	25.996
21	27	Paul Menard		138.478	25.997
22	47	A.J. Allmendinger		138.430	26.006
23	10	Danica Patrick		138.297	26.031
24	13	Casey Mears		137.862	26.113
25	11	Denny Hamlin		137.562	26.170
26	7	Alex Bowman		137.363	26.208
27	9	Sam Hornish Jr.		137.211	26.237
28	51	Justin Allgaier		136.674	26.340
29	38	David Gilliland		136.586	26.357
30	15	Clint Bowyer		136.550	26.364
31	46	Michael Annett		136.467	26.380
32	43	Aric Almirola		136.405	26.392
33	40	Landon Cassill		136.266	26.419
34	98	Josh Wise		136.245	26.423
35	83	Matt Dibenedetto		135.834	26.503
36	6	Trevor Bayne		135.675	26.534
37	32	Mike Bliss		135.110	26.645
38	34	Brett Moffitt		135.029	26.661
39	35	Cole Whitt		134.948	26.677
40	23	J.J. Yeley		134.625	26.741
41	26	Jeb Burton		134.409	26.784
42	62	Brendan Gaughan		133.417	26.983
43	33	Alex Kennedy		132.319	27.207
DNQ	44	Travis Kvapil		132.533	27.163
DNQ	66	Tanner Berryhill		132.086	27.255