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FedEx, Autism Speaks join forces for June race at Dover International Speedway

DOVER, Del. — For the third straight year, FedEx Corp., Autism Speaks and Dover International Speedway will team up, as FedEx will serve as the title sponsor for the “FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, June 2, 2013.

The announcement of the renewed partnership is coupled with the news that for the second straight year, the Autism Speaks Day at the Races event will be part of the June 2 race. Last year, this was the first-ever opportunity for those on the autism spectrum and their families to attend a NASCAR race, with a special ticket package set in a sensory friendly area within the air-conditioned grandstands at the Monster Mile.

The seating area offers a great view of the race along the backstretch of the track, with pre-race features including appearances from NASCAR drivers and personalities; brief presentations by educational speakers in the morning; food and drink; and much more.

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On top of that, the area provides a dedicated quiet zone, with muted lighting in a calmer environment for parents to help their children escape the crowd if necessary. The room will also have comfortable seating, games and video screens to help fans keep up with the action on the track as well as display family friendly movies.

Tickets for the Autism Speaks Day at the Races cost $88 for adults and $20 for children ages 14 and younger. The $88 price point is symbolic — as recent studies have shown that an estimated one in 88 children in the U.S. is on the autism spectrum, a 78 percent increase in six years that is only partly explained by improved diagnosis. A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit Autism Speaks.

To purchase tickets to Autism Speaks Day at the Races, call 800-441-RACE or visit DoverSpeedway.com.

The NASCAR Unites Track Walk, benefiting Autism Speaks and The NASCAR Foundation, will follow the Saturday, June 1 “5-hour ENERGY 200” NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Fans will have the opportunity to walk a lap around the one-mile, concrete oval where the top drivers in the sport do battle all weekend long. More information, including special guests and instructions on how to register, will be shared next week.

The Autism Speaks Day at the Races and NASCAR Unites Track Walk events are just another part of an ever-growing partnership between FedEx and Autism Speaks. This marks the seventh straight year the Monster Mile is partnering with Autism Speaks, the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization, to help raise funds and awareness for the cause throughout the weekend.

“There is no event that is more accessible for individuals and families with autism than our event at Dover,” said Artie Kempner, Autism Speaks board member, co-founder of Autism Delaware, and coordinating director and executive producer of NASCAR on Fox. “We’ve seen this partnership grow into something truly amazing, with an unbelievable amount of awareness being raised throughout each Dover spring race weekend.”

With its return as title sponsor of the “FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks,” FedEx continues to maintain a strong presence in NASCAR, most notably as the primary sponsor on Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing, a relationship that dates back to the beginning of the 2005 season. The past two years, Hamlin has run a specialized Autism Speaks/FedEx paint scheme for the Dover spring events.

Another returning aspect to help raise awareness for Autism Speaks throughout the weekend will be the Autism Speaks puzzle piece decals for drivers in all three national touring series to display on their cars throughout the weekend. In 2012, 47 drivers participated in this aspect of the weekend.

NASCAR returns to Dover International Speedway May 31-June 2, 2013 for the June 2 “FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the June 1 “5-hour ENERGY 200” NASCAR Nationwide Series race and the May 31 “Lucas Oil 200” NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.

For tickets or more information, call 800-441-RACE or visit DoverSpeedway.com. You can also keep up with the Monster Mile at Facebook.com/DoverInternationalSpeedway or on Twitter at @MonsterMile.

Joe Gibbs at last year’s Autism Speaks event.


Jimmie Johnson visited with kids last year at Dover.

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Posted on by Holly Cain

X Games medalist, Daytona 500 winner both in top 12 in Nationwide Series standings

For every “Hey, dude” greeting that Travis Pastrana smilingly acknowledged from autograph seekers, there was a well-intended marriage proposal his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Trevor Bayne politely and demurely declined.

After posing with Pastrana for a photo, one little boy held out his arms and started to cry, “No Mommy, I want him to come with us.’’

Meanwhile, Bayne accepted a long string of “atta-boys” on his 2011 Daytona 500 win.

Such was the typical and recurring scene during two days of autograph signings and fan appearances recently at California’s Auto Club Speedway — the standard reception for Roush’s Nationwide Series dynamic duo, action sports icon Pastrana and the Daytona 500 winner Bayne.

“Travis has a lot of loyal fans that aren’t your typical NASCAR fans, people rocking their flat bill hats and it’s cool because it brings a different demographic to the sport that they’ve been looking for,’’ Bayne said following one afternoon autograph session in California.

“I love it,’’ he continued, flashing a big grin.

“In NASCAR you connect with a lot of different people. I feel like we have a really solid fan base, too, everyone walks up and wants to talk about the Daytona 500. When they walk up to him they talk about all the crazy stunts he’s pulled off, so it is totally different conversations we have.’’

In between signing “Nitro Circus” memorabilia and replica Supercross jerseys for fans who followed the pair back to the garage, Pastrana interjected his take.

“Hey, Trevor’s an action sports guy, too,’’ Pastrana insisted. “We’re both pretty goofy and generally excited to be here. We have more outgoing personalities and will talk to anybody and make a fool of ourselves, do whatever. We just want to be out there racing and having fun."

Nodding over to his teammate, Bayne added with a smile, “Some guys look like they’re going to the electric chair (at the race track); we try not to do that. We try to have fun with it all."

Despite their vastly different backgrounds — Pastrana, 29, an X Games legend who has skydived without a parachute and back-flipped his bike into the Grand Canyon, and Bayne, 22, the “boy-next-door” Cinderella winner of NASCAR’s biggest race — actually have a lot more in common than you might think.

Not only do they easily attract the largest crowd in the Nationwide Series garage area, but they are both “all-in” in their NASCAR career paths — appropriately straight-lined by Bayne and a bit circuitous by Pastrana.

“You see this goofy guy that’s always smiling and light-hearted,’’ Bayne explained. “But the thing he does that kind of caught me off guard, is he’ll be joking around but then you ask him a question and start talking about information, he just zones in. He shuts off the bouncing around and is just focused.

“The first time that happened, I felt like I needed to say something really interesting because I had all of his attention, you know.

"I was like ‘Yea, that’s my guy.’"

— Travis Pastrana on watching Trevor Bayne win the Daytona 500

“But obviously, he’s got that focus because he’s been successful at everything’s he done.’’

From the beginning, the pairing of Pastrana and Bayne is a lesson in mutual respect — and awe.

They met on Dec. 31, 2009. Bayne was on hand to watch Pastrana successfully attempt a world record jump in a rally car as part of a Red Bull New Year promotion. A year later, Bayne became the youngest Daytona 500 winner in history. Neither feat lost on the other.

“I was  like ‘Yeah, that’s my guy,’ " Pastrana said.

Their paths crossed again early on. Both drove briefly for Michael Waltrip Racing before becoming teammates this year at Roush Fenway — Pastrana sponsoring his own No. 60 Ford Mustang and Bayne piloting the two-time defending series champion No. 6 Cargill Mustang.

“I’ve always had guidance through Trevor, he’s been the guy I looked up to — I know he’s younger but he has a lot more experience," Pastrana said. “What’s neat for me is, what you see is what you get with Trevor, more than most people.

“A lot of people you can’t read, but he’s so open even with testing. There’s like no one I’d rather be at a test with. He gets out of car and says, ‘Hey, how’d it go for you, what do you need?’ And it’s so cool to have someone on my team that not only do I look up to but also is so willing to help me."

Listening to Pastrana say that, Bayne seemed genuinely affected and humbled — immediately offering a thank-you and a back slap.

Despite their limited time in the Nationwide Series — this is Pastrana’s first full year and the first full-time season for Bayne since 2010 — they are both respectively ranked among the top 12 in points.

Bayne has three top-10 finishes in the past four races, including a pair of fourth-place efforts in Phoenix and Las Vegas, and is sixth in championship points entering the off-week in the schedule.

Pastrana goes into next week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway ranked 12th with top-10 finishes at Daytona and Bristol.

Clearly, the unlikely pairing is making a solid run for the legendary team. 

And the more they hang together the more they rub off on one another, each bringing a unique offering to the table, behind a commitment to success.

Bayne laughs telling how his fiancée Ashton “always wanted to be a professional skateboarder” as is Pastrana’s now-pregnant wife Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins.

“Mostly she just rides the longboard around the motorhome lot,’’ Bayne smilingly said of Ashton.

That may be as close as it gets — for now.

“Travis tried to get me to go skydiving with him at Daytona, but it was too windy so I used that as my excuse,’’ Bayne said shaking his head.

“The funniest thing since we’ve become teammates was probably at our photo shoot at Daytona when I was trying to do this fake punch thing and I could not do it.

“I looked like a goofball. It was supposed to look like I was punching him, but I hadn’t really punched anyone lately. So in the picture, he’s intense and I’m like smiling as I’m punching him."

Pastrana laughed recalling the day.

“The demeanor of the Roush Fenway team is very serious, so it’s kinda nice to have someone else on the team that I can kinda relate to and be like, ‘Hey, we’re still here having a great time, but it’s still more fun to win so let’s work hard and figure out how to do that.’

“The second Trevor gets out of the car, he does a good job of putting that game face behind him and be like, ‘Alright, I still get to drive a car for a living. This is awesome.’

“It’s cool to be on a team like that."

Hearing that, Bayne chimed in, “I think everyone in the U.S. is familiar with this guy. All my friends think it’s the coolest thing in the world I get to be teammates with Travis Pastrana."

“And," Pastrana said, “vice versa."

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Announced via the JRM360 video series, Earnhardt will drive for his uncle for the first time

Looking for a driver for the upcoming Nationwide Series event at Richmond International Raceway, JR Motorsports decided to keep it in the family.

The organization co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. will put Jeffrey Earnhardt in its No. 5 car for the April 26 race at RIR, the team revealed Thursday in a video posted on its website. The event will mark the first time Earnhardt Jr.’s nephew has driven for the family race team.

“So excited for (Jeffrey) to drive for JRM in Richmond!” team general manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller wrote on Twitter. Miller co-owns the race team along with Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity,” Jeffrey responded. “I can’t thank (you) and (Dale Jr.) enough.”

 

Jeffrey Earnhardt, 23, is the son of Earnhardt Jr.’s half-brother Kerry. He has started four Nationwide events this season in a car owned by Archie St. Hilaire, with a best finish of 20th at Phoenix. His best finish at NASCAR’s national level is seventh, in the 2011 Camping World Truck Series opener at Daytona. Earnhardt has also recently competed in the K&N Pro Series East, as well as the GRAND-AM Road Racing circuit.

Kasey Kahne and Brad Sweet are the primary drivers of JR Motorsports’ No. 5 car, splitting 27 races between them. Jimmie Johnson wheeled the vehicle earlier this season at Phoenix. Regan Smith is the full-time driver of the organization’s other Nationwide Series entry, the No. 7.

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The two drivers have differing views on what went down at Auto Club Speedway

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — As far as Denny Hamlin is concerned, it was no accident. It was intentional.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is expected to miss five more weeks with a compression fracture in a lumbar vertebra suffered March 24 at Auto Club Speedway, where he and Joey Logano crashed battling for the lead on the final lap. The incident continued a run of hostility between the two drivers that included contact the week before at Bristol, and in Southern California resulted in Hamlin’s car slamming head-on into an inside wall.

Hamlin doesn’t blame Logano for his injury, which he believes might have been prevented had the wall been protected by the SAFER barrier. But as for what was behind the contact on the track, he has little doubt.

“How is it not intentional, is my thing. It’s not like he got loose because I took air off him or anything like that. I saw him getting closer, I moved up the track. He kept getting closer, I moved up the track. He just was going to keep going until he ran into us,” Hamlin said Wednesday at the JGR shop.

"…as long as things stay the way they are, he’ll have a tough time passing us from here on out."

— Denny Hamlin on Joey Logano

“Whatever happened after that, I’m sure he didn’t mean for me to wreck and get hurt. But he meant to run into us, there’s no doubt. He didn’t get loose with the back, he drove into us with the front. That’s a guy seeing I was going to get the better of him that week, and he wasn’t going to let it happen, and he hit the gas until he hit something. That’s my opinion of what happened, because I was there and I was in the incident.”

Bad blood continues to flow between the former Gibbs teammates, who traded barbs via social media earlier in the season and shots on the race track at Bristol, where Hamlin intentionally bumped Logano in retaliation for earlier contact. Logano spun and backed into the wall at the short track, something Hamlin insists he didn’t mean to cause. Logano accosted Hamlin after that race before crewmen pulled him away.

After the accident at Auto Club Speedway, Hamlin said he received a text message from Logano wishing him a speedy recovery. As far as he was concerned, it didn’t go far enough.

“We really didn’t talk about wreck or anything of that nature,” Hamlin said. “From him it was, ‘Hope you get back in the car soon,’ not … ‘Sorry we got together, I made a mistake.’ … It wasn’t that. It was just, ‘Hope you feel better.’ My response is, ‘Why didn’t we just let things go? At Bristol you paid me back, you ruined my day. I finished 23rd, you finished 16th. Your day wasn’t ruined at Bristol by me. You came back, got back to the front, and then got in an incident with someone else, and that’s what ruined your day, but you’re still mad and got in my face.’

“He got the better end of Bristol. He obviously got the better end of California, finishing third. I finished 25th. So you tell me were the scales are tipped? Nothing’s ever fair, but I can assure you that as long as things stay the way they are, he’ll have a tough time passing us from here on out.”

Hamlin said it’s unlikely at this point that the two will talk, and the situation will just have to play itself out on the track. Although Logano said “that’s what he gets” immediately after the California crash and before he knew Hamlin was inured, the Penske Racing driver has insisted the contact was incidental.

“Did I remember who I was racing against? Yes,” Logano told ESPN. “Obviously I know who I’m racing against and what happened a week before, but going into Turn 3 on the last lap, I remember, ‘I’m going to win the race.’ My number one goal is to go win a race. So did I intentionally wreck him? No, I did not intentionally do that. If I was going to do that, I would have hit him in the left-rear tire. I hit him in the door. It’s hard racing at that point. I hate that he got hurt. I feel like the comments after the race that I made were taken way out of context. My mind wasn’t straight, and I didn’t know Denny was hurt. There was no way for me to know. And it got taken way out of context.”

Although Hamlin did not blame Logano for his injury, he said his rival acted “very careless” by taking him out on a fast 2-mile track, “not really caring about any repercussions, taking for granted how safe our cars have been the last few years.” Logano also angered Tony Stewart with what the three-time champion perceived as blocking, sparking a scuffle between the two on pit road after the race while Hamlin was being airlifted to a hospital.

“I think in my opinion he had the fastest car two weeks in a row, and instead of winning the races he got into incidents with drivers,” Hamlin said of Logano. “Because he’s just not patient enough. You’ve got to win with the cars you’ve got capable of winning. He hasn’t driven up at the front, in the top five, very often in his career. He did two weeks in a row, and he got in incidents both times. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a different culture up there (at Penske) that he’s not used to or what. But it’s not just me. I watched California, watched him cut off numerous guys throughout that race. This has all been about Joey standing up for himself. Well, it’s not that. It’s the drivers that he’s cutting off standing up for themselves. You’ve got to either change your driving style, or continue to get into incidents week after week.”

NASCAR did not penalize Logano for the incident at Auto Club Speedway, determining the contact that caused the crash to be a racing incident. Hamlin doesn’t disagree — but said Logano will ultimately be judged by his peers on the race track.

“My 100 percent opinion is, he shouldn’t be penalized,” Hamlin said. “This is a self-policing sport, so from this point on he has to deal with all the repercussions of the way he’s raced guys over these last few weeks. That all comes back around. It always does. I remember my rookie season, this veteran driver was just irking my nerves at Martinsville. He eventually ran into the side of me and cut my tire down. I remember badmouthing him after the race. His name was Mark Martin.”

The same Martin who will substitute for Hamlin in the No. 11 car this weekend at Martinsville.

“At that point I was like, maybe I should just change the way I drive, because he knows a bit more than I do,” Hamlin added. “These guys can make your life hell if they want to. So trust me, the repercussions come from within the garage and on the race track. It doesn’t need to come from NASCAR. … When drivers take it upon themselves to take someone out, they know from that point on, they’ve got a huge bull’s-eye. He probably needs to switch sponsors with Juan Pablo (Montoya) for at least two months.”

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Driver feels ’80 percent’ better; eyes return at Richmond race

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Denny Hamlin walked into the room looking like his usual self, wearing a black polo adorned with sponsor logos and a pair of blue jeans. When he sat down, though, he did so gingerly, bracing himself on the arm of the chair as he lowered himself into the seat. And then there was the brace wrapped around his midsection, the bulk of which was visible beneath his shirt.

At times during a conversation Wednesday with reporters he had to catch his breath, the result of the pressure of the brace and medication he’s taking for a fractured lumbar vertebra suffered March 24 in a crash at Auto Club Speedway. But those were the only outward signs of the injury, which doctors have said could keep Hamlin out of his No. 11 car for an estimated five more weeks.

No wonder the driver is hoping for an accelerated recovery timetable. “My goal, if somehow magically my body is strong and tough, personally I’d like to come back at Richmond,” he said, referring to the April 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at his hometown race track.

"They thought that six weeks was an aggressive comeback. But I think I’m going to be ready to go before that."

— Denny Hamlin

Hamlin won’t be allowed back in the race car until he’s cleared by a team of physicians that includes Indianapolis orthopedist Dr. Terry Trammell and Charlotte-area neurologist and spinal specialist Dr. Jerry Petty. His targeted return date is May 11 at Darlington Raceway, so a Richmond comeback would be two weeks ahead of schedule.

“I haven’t even discussed it with them, because I don’t want to freak out the doctors, trying to rush them, because I know they’ve got my best interests in mind,” Hamlin said at the Joe Gibbs Racing shop. “But ultimately, every doctor I’ve spoken to has left it as a possibility that you could heal quicker than six weeks. It’s possible. It’s absolutely possible. They thought that six weeks was an aggressive comeback. But I think I’m going to be ready to go before that.”

The fact that Hamlin is already walking around without a great deal of discomfort is impressive given where he was two weeks ago, after final-lap contact with Joey Logano on the 2-mile track sent him slamming into an inside wall not protected with the SAFER barrier. Hamlin was strapped to a backboard and airlifted to Southern California’s Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was in “so much pain,” he said. “I thought it was never-ending pain and it would never go away. I thought that maybe I’m done forever.”

When he heard the eventual diagnosis — a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra — he knew he’d be out of the car for a while, even before Petty confirmed it at an office visit days later. For a driver with championship aspirations, it was a devastating moment, though one that also left Hamlin grateful the injury wasn’t worse.

“I’m thankful that my spine fractured where it did, and not up here,” he said, motioning to his neck area. “That could obviously be very bad. The bone of my spine, if it wouldn’t have sliced right though it, if it would have shifted and hit my spinal cord, you’ve got paralysis. And that’s real.”

Hamlin doesn’t remember much about the impact — he said he closed his eyes when he hit, and believes his injury occurred not when he struck the wall, but in a vicious recoil that lifted all four of the vehicle’s tires off the ground. Drivers pull down on their belts as a race goes on because they shrink down in the seat, and Hamlin said he can’t remember tightening his belts near the end of the race. Even so, he wondered if his injuries would have occurred had the wall been protected with the SAFER barrier.

“You really don’t appreciate the SAFER barriers as much until you don’t hit one,” he said. “I remember thinking as I was heading toward it — I’m going to hit it. It’s not going to be life-changing or anything, because I didn’t think I was going that fast. But I didn’t recognize that it was a non-SAFER barrier (wall) until watching it on TV, and then you realize, wow, now I know why it hurt so bad. So yeah, it’s definitely a must at every race track. … It would have probably changed my outcome had it been a SAFER barrier there.”

NASCAR consultants are expected to review the wall in the aftermath of the accident and potentially recommend changes. In the meantime, Hamlin is on medications that he said at times leave him a little woozy, and wearing the brace to ensure his spine stays aligned when he twists and turns going about daily activities. He’s going to rehabilitation three times a week, taking walks through the park and waiting on his next scan — scheduled in a few weeks’ time — which may give doctors an idea of how quickly he’s healing and the driver a firmer idea of when he might be able to return.

Physically, Hamlin said he feels “80 percent better” now than in the days immediately after the accident. “I feel like I can win Martinsville right now,” he added, referring to this weekend’s event, the first one he’ll miss because of the injury. He said he’ll likely wear a different kind of brace more conducive to driving when he does return to the vehicle. But he can’t get in the car now because of the danger of his back withstanding another hit.

“The way I understand it is, the reason you can’t get in is, if you take another hit, your spine is already unstable because it’s fractured,” he said. “So if for some reason you take a hit and pieces start flying, then it gets in your spinal cord and you’ve got a big, big problem. That’s the reason ultimately why. I’m going to feel fine these next five weeks or four weeks. But I guess you have to look at the bigger picture. It’s tough for me to look at that, but we have to make sure I’m able to sustain another hit.”

Hamlin said he’ll likely attend Sunday’s event at Martinsville and watch from the pit box as Mark Martin wheels his No. 11 car. After that, Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brian Vickers will pilot the vehicle until Hamlin returns. The hope now is Richmond, given that the track also hosts Hamlin’s annual Short Track Showdown charity race.

“If you ask him if he could get in a car tomorrow with just a little bit of pain relief, then he’d get there and suffer through the pain and get in it,” crew chief Darian Grubb said. “But it’s all going to be the doctors’ orders. Of course Richmond is going to be where he wants to get back in …. Especially with his charity event going on at Richmond, he wants to be there at full strength and be a big part of that, too. That’s something he works all year for.”

Everyone involved understands that target is an ambitious one. And Hamlin — who also has a hereditary heart murmur, doctors discovered after the accident — seems content to remain patient, despite his hopes of a hometown comeback. Should he return at Darlington, he’d likely need to average top-10s the rest of the way to have a chance of extending his perfect record of qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. But any expectations of getting back into the championship hunt are on hold until his return.

“I think it all depends on when I come back,” Hamlin said. “If it’s within the time that we hope, sure there is mathematics that make it possible. It’s not going to be easy. I’d like to cross that bridge when I get there as far as that’s concerned. I don’t want the chance at a championship to decide when I get back in the car. I want to do it when it’s most safe. I want to do it when NASCAR, doctors, everyone is comfortable with me getting back in the car. Not just, OK, if we don’t get in this week, your season is done, and then you rush into something you shouldn’t. But I can be certain to tell you that if it is at all possible when I get back in, I will be on a mission to make it.”

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Earnhardt Jr. recalls past struggles; Danica, Stenhouse Jr. face same issues

If it was there, he hit it. Other race cars. Walls. Pace vehicles. Even an ambulance on an access road.

“The ambulance wouldn’t move,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. remembered, “so I had to give him a bit of the bumper.”

A blown tire, three spins, a car pieced together with duct tape after hitting just about everything in the vicinity — that afternoon in the fall of 2000 proved a rough orientation to Martinsville Speedway for one rookie driver on NASCAR’s top circuit. It got so bad that car owner Dale Earnhardt ordered the No. 8 team to pack it up early, a fact his son learned on the helicopter ride home.

“It’s a funny story, thinking back on it now,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “But yeah, those first few trips were a real eye-opener. The racing there is nothing what you imagine, even coming up through those style of race tracks. It’s just really tough and hard racing, and you’ve got to pick your battles. But it’s a long race, and you can really just take yourself out of it early if you’re not careful.” 

"The racing there is nothing what you imagine. … It’s just really tough and hard racing."

— Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The speeds may be relatively low and the setting may be downright quaint, but beneath that charming exterior sits a short track capable of devouring drivers not familiar with it. Earnhardt had one (albeit arduous) previous start there and even came up on late model short tracks not unlike the flat half-mile oval, and was still chewed up and spit out. It all stands as a cautionary tale for the handful of drivers who this weekend are heading to the facility for the first time.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have never turned a lap at Martinsville in a national-series event. Neither have Camping World Truck Series drivers Darrell Wallace Jr., Jonathan Davenport, Grant Galloway, Devin Jones, Chase Elliott and Erik Jones — the latter four of whom are teenagers. If history is any indication, all of them could be in for a rude introduction to a raw-knuckled short track that demands patience, but doesn’t do much to promote it.

Earnhardt knows that firsthand. Like many drivers who came up racing late models on short tracks, he thought skills sharpened at places like Myrtle Beach Speedway would translate to Martinsville. And today, they do — statistically, it’s one of his best tracks, even if he has yet to win there. But back in his rookie season, the place seemed more like an alien landscape, and acted equally as inhospitable.

“I remember the first several races I ran there, I ran into everything. I ran into other race cars, walls, pace cars. Just about everything that could be ran into, I found it,” Earnhardt said. “And you know, it was real frustrating, because I had thought of myself as a short-track driver, and I thought that I had honed these skills on these short tracks in the Southeast, and this should be where I excel the most.

“But short-track racing can really allow you to get carried away with yourself, and you forget ‑‑ even now, even last year, we would run 100 laps and I’d have the car torn all to hell down both sides and have to remind myself, this is a longer event than you realize, and you’ve really got to preach patience to yourself and really rein in your emotions and your excitement, because you just really want to get in there and gouge every corner. But there’s just not enough race car to do that for 500 miles.”

In time, Earnhardt discovered that the get-to-the-front tactics that worked in shorter late model events didn’t necessarily carry over, even if the venues shared many of the same characteristics. Martinsville also demands a level of car management — staying off the brakes, keeping fenders clean — that isn’t necessarily a priority at lower levels.

“We’ve all grown up racing short tracks, half mile or less, and I don’t think that that’s so much the challenge as it is just managing your brakes, your car and putting yourself in position for the end of the race,” said Ryan Newman, who won last year’s spring race at Martinsville, and placed 41st there in his 2002 debut. “This I think is the toughest part. The toughest part for me was mostly adapting to using that middle pedal the least.”

Rookies today, Newman said, may have a slight benefit in that the Generation-6 Sprint Cup car cools more effectively than its predecessors. But a driver like Patrick — who will become the first woman to start a premier-series race at the facility — may still be in for a wake-up call, particularly given that Martinsville hasn’t hosted the Nationwide Series since 2006.

Patrick is optimistic after a recent test on the short track at Rockingham Speedway. “I thought we actually made some really big gains that day,” she said. “It was fun.” Patrick is even open to trying one of Martinsville’s famous hot dogs — a half of one, at least. But her crew chief knows that once the race begins, she’ll be in for a totally different experience.

“It’s a tough place,” Tony Gibson said. “It’s a tough place for any veteran to go, let alone a rookie. It’s going to be a big challenge for her. It’s worse than Bristol, because you’re constantly in traffic and guys are constantly bumping into you and into the side of you. Martinsville will be her biggest challenge, for sure, and the focus will be just on finishing clean and learning as much as she can so we can prepare for the second time she goes to Martinsville in the fall. If she can do that, she’ll be in good shape.”

Martinsville has seen double-digit caution flags in 25 of its last 26 Sprint Cup events. Three-time series champion Tony Stewart, who owns Patrick’s car, said he’s never finished a race there without making contact with another car at some point. He wants to tell his driver everything he knows about the place — but also realizes she’s going to have to discover it all for herself.

“I’m sure there will be some things happen in the race that she’s not ready for,” said Stewart, who won the pole for his first Martinsville race before finishing 20th. “Ninety percent of the time it’s accidental and doesn’t lead to a wreck, but you get bumped, and that’s something that she’s not really used to yet. … Just like anybody else’s first trip to Martinsville, it’s definitely a learning experience, and you can definitely leave (there) with a headache trying to figure out what you needed to do differently.”

It’s a timeless struggle, and one befitting the oldest facility on NASCAR’s top circuit. Driving in, “nothing has changed,” Earnhardt said. “You park your car in the driveway of the first house on the corner. That house has been there for I don’t know how many years.” The track’s entrance, he added, brings him back to the 1970s. Without the souvenir rigs and the cars in the parking lots, you’d be hard-pressed to tell what decade it was.

“I love race tracks like that,” he said. He even found something to love about that rotten Martinsville race he suffered through during his rookie season. At one point he restarted on the inside a lap down, and roared off to a straightaway-length advantage over the leaders. It was a sign of things to come at a track where Earnhardt now owns more top-five finishes and more laps led than anywhere else. And 13 years ago, it was a small bright spot in what would become a 36th-place finish.

“I was so proud of myself, and that’s the only thing I took away from the race, and I kept trying to talk about that on the way home,” Earnhardt said. “But all Dad wanted to talk about was how much I ran over, and how I needed to really learn how to run better on the short tracks.”

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Reigning champion looks forward to getting back on the track and resuming the Truck season

In the five weeks since NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series season opener in Daytona, James Buescher has celebrated his grandfather’s 90th birthday, gone to work with his wife Kris at their newly opened Texas gym — Buescher Bootcamp — pressure-washed his driveway, scored his all-time high on Ms. Pac Man and, best of all, received final approval for the couple to adopt a baby.

He tested his Turner Scott Motorsports Chevy Silverado once but only occasionally during the past month and a half break in the Truck Series schedule did Buescher, the reigning series champion, even allow himself to watch racing on television.

Like a lot of drivers, he finds that watching everyone else race is a bit tortuous.

“I’m a pretty patient guy and (I’m) able to find ways to keep busy and keep my mind off things,’’ Buescher said, taking a break from a March afternoon tackling the “Honey-do” list.

“I try not to watch too much of the racing because it makes you want to get out there even more.’’

Finally, this week, he gets that opportunity as the truck series resumes its 2013 schedule at the always action-packed Martinsville, Va., short track.

"I’m ready to go."

— James Buescher

For Buescher, it feels like a season reset.

“It’s been hard not racing, but at the same time, I’ve found plenty of ways to keep busy and have a lot of things going on with the adoption so the break (is) not at a terrible time with everything that’s going on in my life,’’ Buescher explained. “It’s been kinda nice not to have to travel every week right now.’’

“But, I am looking forward to getting back to Martinsville and get the season kicked off.’’

After all, Buescher’s got history to make.

The 23-year-old Texan is trying to become the first driver in history to win back-to-back Camping World Truck Series titles.

He drove his No. 31 Rheem Chevrolet to a 13th-place finish — and picked up a bonus point for leading one lap — in a typically wild-and-wooly Feb. 22 opener on the Daytona high banks. And now he’s ready to get back to business.

Because of the nature of superspeedway pack racing, Buescher has learned not to get overly excited or massively worried based on the outcome of that one particular race.

“It’s hard to build momentum off just Daytona,’’ Buescher allowed. “It’s such a different animal from all the other races besides Talladega that to really say your season started … that’s just hard to say.

“It’s just a different style of race. If the five-week break has to be anywhere in the schedule, I think it’s in the right spot because of that reason. Once we get to Martinsville, then we really get the season started.

“Yes, 13th (place) was less than satisfactory for our team, but it’s better than we finished last year at Daytona. I don’t remember the position we finished (17th), but I know we were the highlight reel on SPEED every week when they showed commercials for the Daytona race and Joey Coulter landing on top of me.’’

It’s a different brand of highlight reel he’d like for this season. And as far as he’s concerned, he’s already a leg up in the pursuit.

Buescher’s record at the next three stops is both encouraging and impressive. At Martinsville, he has six finishes of 12th or better in seven starts, including third- and sixth-place finishes in two races there in 2012.

He answered his third-place showing last year at Martinsville with a second place at the next venue, Rockingham, and then his first of four season victories at Kansas.

“I’m ready to go,’’ he said.

And at last, he can.

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