Nashville: Pre-Race Notes And Quotes
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Jun 04, 2008
scottwimmer.com
Stand-Alone Season Brings “Regular” Opportunities
June not only signals the start of summer but also the beginning of “stand-alone” season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
There are a total of nine races on the 2008 schedule that do not include companion events with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Three of those have taken place, but six of the next nine races will be of the stand-alone variety.
The second race of the year at Nashville Superspeedway marks the traditional launch of stand-alone events and opportunity for series-only regulars since most double-duty drivers will stick to their NASCAR Sprint Cup schedules.
Scott Wimmer (No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet) took full advantage of those chances in March when he won Nashville’s spring event, breaking the three-race winning streak reigning series champion Carl Edwards (No. 60 World Financial Group Ford) had at the track.
So did Steve Wallace (No. 66 Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet), who is the defending pole winner of this race.
A series-only regular has won at Nashville in nine of the previous 14 races at the track. Former winners in this week’s field, in addition to Wimmer and Edwards, include 2002 series champion Greg Biffle (No. 16 CitiFinancial Fordinaugural race in 2001); Jason Leffler (No. 32 Great Clips Toyota —2004); and standings leader Clint Bowyer (No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet—2005).
The wins for Biffle, Bowyer and Leffler were the first of their series career.
Busch Looks To Make NASCAR National Series History
No driver has ever attempted to compete in three different races at three different tracks on the same race weekend in NASCAR national series history.
Enter Kyle Busch (No. 32 Dollar General Stores Toyota), who will attempt to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night, at Nashville on Saturday night and at Pocono Raceway in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition on Sunday afternoon.
Busch, who is tied with Tony Stewart for the NASCAR Nationwide Series lead with four wins and is second in the standings, will attempt the triple after a fourth event, Stewart’s “Old Spice Prelude to the Dream” charity race Wednesday at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Willie Allen, who drives for fellow Nashville native Bobby Hamilton Jr.’s (No. 25 Smithfield Foods Ford) Sadler-Hamilton Racing team, will serve as the substitute driver for Busch at Nashville.
Busch leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings and has a series-best four wins. He will run for Billy Ballew Motorsports at Texas; he also leads that series in victories (two).
Logano Eyes Atwood’s Record
Despite a sixth-place finish at Dover International Speedway in his series debut, 18-year-old Joey Logano (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) was disappointed he didn’t win. That’s just fine with Casey Atwood.
Atwood holds the record as the youngest driver to win a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days. Logano turned 18 on May 24.
After Atwood won at The Milwaukee Mile in 1999, he went on to win a second race that year. His success prompted a move to NASCAR Sprint Cup where he competed for two full seasons.
Now 27, Atwood is a valuable asset as a practice/qualifying driver for double-duty teams, and he will serve in that capacity this weekend at his home track; the Nashville native will substitute for Greg Biffle.
Strong Credentials For Substitute Drivers
Along with 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year Willie Allen and Casey Atwood, other substitute drivers this weekend include:
Stephen Leicht for Clint Bowyer. Leicht won his first career series race last year at Kentucky and finished seventh in the final standings.
Jason Hedelsky for Carl Edwards. Hedelsky normally serves as Edwards’ spotter.
Josh Wise for David Reutimann (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota). Wise is a developmental driver for Michael Waltrip Racing and has three series starts for Fitz Motorsports, two this year.
Auggie Vidovich for David Ragan (No. 6 Discount Tire Ford). Vidovich ran in 21 series races in 2006; his second series start came in this race where he started 15th.
Chad Blount for Jason Leffler. Leffler will attempt to qualify at Pocono; his last NASCAR Sprint Cup race was in 2005 at Indianapolis.
Series-Only Regulars Standing Tall
Last month, the first since August 2007, half of the top 10 was made up of series-only regulars.
Brad Keselowski (No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet) leads the group in fifth place. Mike Bliss is sixth while Jason Leffler, Mike Wallace (No. 7 GEICO Toyota) and David Stremme (No. 64 Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet) are eighth through 10th, respectively. Leffler and Wallace were among those ranked in 2007 as well.
In The Loop: Wimmer Aims For Music City Sweep
Scott Wimmer took advantage of the last Nashville stand-alone, becoming the first NASCAR Nationwide Series-only regular to win this season.
In that race, Wimmer notched a Driver Rating of 129.2, an Average Running Position of 4.5, 45 Fastest Laps Run and spent all but five of his Laps in the Top 15.
He could very well pull the Nashville sweep – his stats there are among the best in the series.
Over his last three Nashville races, Wimmer has an average Driver Rating of 122.2, an Average Running Position of 4.5, 117 Fastest Laps Run and has run 99.3% of the Laps in the Top 15. All those statistics rank in the top five in the series.
