Where are they now? Catching up with Darrell Waltrip

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Jerry Bonkowski

Since retiring nearly two years ago, Darrell Waltrip remains as popular as ever — but he’s also developed somewhat of an identity crisis.

“You should see my desk, I get more mail today than I’ve ever gotten in my life,” Waltrip cheerily told NASCAR.com recently.

Then he quickly adds with a woeful lament, “but here’s the thing: a lot of people don’t know I ever drove.”

That’s right, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history is known by many of today’s especially younger fans more for how he wielded a microphone than how he wheeled a race car.

“It’s amazing to me the number of people that think all I’ve ever done is TV, and I’m only famous for saying ‘Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Let’s Go Racin’ Boys,’ ” Waltrip said.

For nearly 20 years, Waltrip was the most popular and recognizable member of the NASCAR on FOX broadcast team. His excitement, knowledge of and passion for NASCAR racing shined through over 300 Cup telecasts.

But he’s turned that relative anonymity as a racer to many fans into a teaching moment of sorts.

“(For every fan letter he responds to) I send a postcard with the results from when I drove,” Waltrip said. “When I was in that movie ‘Cars,’ I was Darrell Cartrip. A lot of young kids think I’m just some guy that was in a movie.

“So it’s kind of an opportunity for me to share a little bit, enlighten a little bit and brag a little bit. I get a chance today to do things that maybe I never got a chance to do before. But I enjoy it.

“There was a time when it would have annoyed me that someone would not know about my driving career. But in actuality, I think it’s a great opportunity for me to share what I’ve done in my career as a driver, my career as a broadcaster and TV, I’ve written books, I’ve traveled with and known presidents and governors, and our car business is going great, we sell more cars than we ever have. I’ve just done a lot of things.”

Indeed, the self-proclaimed “Old DW” has done so many things and worn so many hats — and helmets — in his illustrious career that he’s run out of things to still achieve in his life.

Ask him what’s on his bucket list and he chuckles, “There’s not any awards out there that I’m aware of that I haven’t won or at least participated in. So no, I don’t have a bucket list. My bucket’s empty.”

******************

Waltrip was 72 when he hung up his microphone for the final time in 2019. After nearly 50 years of racing and broadcasting, he retired to spend more time with his family.

But retirement isn’t all Waltrip thought it would be. He readily admits he misses the action that racing and being at race tracks brings.

“I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed being retired,” said Waltrip, who turned 74 last month. “But by the same token, when I look back and COVID-19 hit and the way they had to do TV last year — they did all the races from a studio in Charlotte — I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed that because I’m a see it, feel it, touch it, hear it, smell it kind of guy. I like to be at the track.

“So I guess the good Lord was looking out for me and the timing was probably better than I thought. I did go to a couple of races last year. I went to the Daytona 500 with President Trump and that was a fun day. And the only other race I went to was the All-Star Race in Bristol and I went with Governor (Bill) Lee, our governor of Tennessee. Other than that, I haven’t been to any tracks or any races, I watch them all on TV.”

But one thing is very clear when talking to Waltrip: you can take “old DW” out of the booth, but you can’t take the booth out of “old DW.” In a way, he’s still calling races today, only now it’s talking back to his TV rather than a camera.

“I do it all the time,” Waltrip said with a big laugh. “I’m constantly saying, ‘Tell ’em this, tell ’em that.’ Why? I’m a race fan at heart and if there’s a flat tire or a wreck, I’ll say, ‘Why do you want to sugarcoat it? Tell it like it is. Guy had a flat tire, he spun out. Guy ran into him, spun the other guy. Look at his nose, look at his rear quarter panel.’ I’m real guilty about that.

“I’m opinionated, always have been. I guess in a lot of ways, I’m a perfectionist. And so when you’re a perfectionist, you’re a miserable person all the time because nobody does it the way you would do it, or nobody says what you would say. But I guess that’s part of being a fan. I know so much. I was in the booth for almost 20 years and drove for 30 years before that and I’ve been around racing my whole life. And so I see things and I know things.”

Waltrip misses his old buddies, Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon, in the FOX booth. But he’s also enjoying Clint Bowyer’s first season as his heir apparent, even seeing some of himself in Bowyer.

“He’s kind of lit up the studio a little bit,” Waltrip said. “I enjoy listening to him and his antics.

“They needed him. I mean, Mike Joy is a pro, been doing this his whole life. He was always our leader. And Jeff (Gordon) needed somebody to kind of lean on and bring out some of the fun qualities he has. So I think Bowyer has done a great job of getting those guys excited.

“When I watch Bowyer, I kind of hold my breath because it always reminds me when somebody once told me you can say anything you want to on TV — once. I’m always waiting kind of for that one moment, but I think (Bowyer) actually was a lot like me: his career kind of stalled out and he wasn’t having any fun. And now he’s part of a team that you can go and enjoy yourself and have a good time without all the headaches and all the heartburn driving a race car brings. So I think overall, he’s done a really nice job. I’ve enjoyed seeing him in the booth.”

******************

The Owensboro, Kentucky, native had the kind of racing career most drivers only dream about with three NASCAR Cup Series championships, 84 wins (tied with Bobby Allison for fourth-most in Cup history), was elected into the third class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2012, and drove for some of the sport’s most legendary names including Junior Johnson, Bud Moore, Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt.

RELATED: Darrell Waltrip career stats

Either from behind the wheel of a race car or in front of a TV camera, Waltrip saw the sport evolve over nearly six decades, starting in 1972 when he made his first start in a Cup car.

But it was in the FOX booth that he saw the sport in a totally different light. He began preparing for a post-racing career in TV in his waning years in Cup, but nothing could have prepared Waltrip for the most bittersweet day of his life, one both joyous and tragic: February 18, 2001.

It was his first day in the FOX broadcast booth for a Cup race.

Driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc., Waltrip’s younger brother, Michael, earned his first career Cup win on the sport’s biggest stage, the Daytona 500. Darrell was beside himself in the booth, excitedly screaming and with tears of joy in his eyes as his sibling crossed the same start-finish line where Darrell had captured his only win in The Great American Race nearly 12 years earlier (Feb. 19, 1989).

But those joyful tears quickly turned to tears of profound sadness when, at about the very moment Michael took the checkered flag, several hundred feet away, Earnhardt, one of Waltrip’s closest friends and toughest rivals, was killed at the age of 49 in a crash.

“Where it started off, I mean, does it start off any better or worse? I don’t know which way you want to look at it,” Waltrip said. “Our first race (with FOX) was the Daytona 500. We started with our Super Bowl, so you don’t have any practice. You don’t really get a chance to warm up. You just had baptism by fire.

“(It was a) great race, exciting race to do, Larry (McReynolds), Mike (Joy) and I were hitting on all eight cylinders. We were covering it like we’d been doing it our whole life. And then the way it ended, my brother, who had never won a race, he wins in Dale’s car, Dale loses his life and away we go.

“That’s been 20 years ago, and it’s like it was just yesterday.”

******************

When the COVID-19 pandemic began last March, no one could have predicted how NASCAR would fare. But unlike other professional sports leagues that managed only partial schedules — if any at all, that is — NASCAR ran a full 36-race campaign. Sure, it took a number of changes that the sport, its leaders, teams, tracks, TV networks and fans all had to adapt to, but Waltrip gives high praise for what resulted.

“I thought the leadership did a nice job,” Waltrip said. “But you have to give credit to the teams, too. It doesn’t matter what the rules are. It doesn’t matter what kind of changes NASCAR makes. The teams have to make it happen.

“What I saw was a bunch of guys that are passionate about racing, just like I am. They were eager to get back to the track and get back to some sort of normalcy.

“And even though we haven’t had a lot of fans able to go to the race track, we’ve been able to pretty much maintain some sort of a normal show on Sunday for television, which is important.

“So I give NASCAR leadership an ‘A’ for getting it done like they did, but I give the teams an ‘A-plus’ for buying into what NASCAR wanted, the protocols, restrictions and mask mandates they had to go through to show up and be able to compete.

“Overall, we couldn’t ask for much more out of the situation that we were in last year. Pretty amazing that we were able to do what we did.”

Equally impressive, Waltrip added, was how the pandemic also prompted the sport to try new things that it otherwise might never have done.

“There were a lot of things we learned because of the pandemic,” Waltrip said. “We learned we don’t have to have practice. And I haven’t noticed any effect on the races or in the quality of the races because we don’t have practice. The races are actually better, in my opinion, without practice.”

“We were spending way too much time at-track, showing up on Thursday and being there Friday, Saturday, Sunday, go home and then right back to the track again the next week. So we learned how to condense the schedule without all the practice.”

Waltrip also likes how the schedule has evolved.

“I’ve always said that the thing that needed the most attention was the schedule, and again, because of the pandemic, NASCAR took a hard look at it,” he said.

“I think we’re going to learn a lot about who we are, and how we do business. And it was because we were forced into it. Had we not been forced into doing some of the things we’re doing, I’m not sure we’d ever have done them. But because we have been forced into it. I think we’re learning a lot and I think it’ll really help us down the road. So I’m anxious to see where we go in the years to come.”

The Darrell Waltrip file:
https://www.racing-reference.info/driver/Darrell_Waltrip

* Age: 74

* Hometown: Owensboro, Ky. Has lived in suburban Nashville for more than three decades.

* NASCAR Cup career: 809 starts, 84 wins (tied for fourth on the all-time Cup wins list), 390 top-10 finishes (nearly half of his overall starts), three Cup championships (1981, 1982 and 1985)

* NASCAR Xfinity career: 95 starts, 13 wins, 53 top-10 finishes (more than half of his overall starts)

* Best NASCAR season: 1981 (31 starts, 12 wins, 21 top-five, 25 top-10 finishes, earned his first of three Cup championships)

Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is writing a number of Where Are They Now? stories this year for NASCAR.com. Check out stories he’s already done on Mark Martin, Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo Montoya. Also, follow Jerry on Twitter @JerryBonkowski, his @TheRacingBeat podcasts and his email newsletter, TheRacingBeat.substack.com.

Posted on March 31, 2021March 31, 2021 by Zack Albert

NASCAR competition officials said they plan to hold a test session Thursday at Martinsville Speedway to assess the feasibility of using rain tires on the circuit’s shorter ovals.

Plans for the test were announced Wednesday, with Kyle Larson scheduled to drive the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Chris Buescher set to drive the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford on a dampened track. NASCAR officials are currently at the .526-mile Virginia venue for testing of the Next Gen car for the 2022 Cup Series, with Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota all putting their manufacturer-specific models on the track for the first time.

NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell said the test’s intent is to explore a wet-weather tire’s short-track potential, with the goal of returning to racing sooner in inclement conditions. Martinsville is the shortest paved track on the Cup Series schedule; O’Donnell indicated that if the test yields encouraging results that competition officials could explore using the tire in damp conditions at flatter tracks up to approximately 1 mile in length, such as Phoenix and New Hampshire.

“I think the overall goal is anything we can do to speed up the drying process, regardless of the technology, to allow us to get back to racing more quickly is a benefit to the fans,” O’Donnell said. “We’re always trying to innovate, and you saw that with what we’ve done around the track-drying system and that’s worked out well. We’ve always looked at what’s the next iteration. If you’ve looked at what the teams have been able to do with more road racing coming into the fold, the idea of short tracks and could we work with Goodyear to find a tire that would allow us to get back to racing sooner under wet-weather conditions.”

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Rain tires made their national-series competition debut in 2008 during an Xfinity Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. The NASCAR Cup Series’ first use of rain tires during race conditions came just last season, during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval event in October.

Both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series were affected by rain that weekend, but the performance of Goodyear’s wet-weather tires on the oval portions of the Roval course prompted a conversation between O’Donnell and NASCAR CEO Jim France, “just thinking about the what-ifs and how do we get back to racing, and Martinsville became that focus for us,” O’Donnell recalls. “We had a conversation with Goodyear and they’re on board as well, so I think that’s why the timing just lined up for us of let’s try to innovate, let’s try this and see what we can learn.”

After an initial shakedown of the two cars Thursday, test organizers plan to wet the track to gauge traction levels, using feedback from Buescher and Larson to evaluate the performance of the tire, which has different characteristics than the current rain tire for road courses. In a twist of scheduling fate, Wednesday’s weather forecast calls for significant rainfall at Martinsville with clearing on Thursday’s test date. Rather than test during a Wednesday downpour, however, competition officials opted to stick with Thursday to test the tires under controlled conditions.

“I think at this point, we’re not talking about if it’s actually raining,” O’Donnell said. “It’s more so, can we get back more quickly than the track being completely dry, which is what we require now. That’s part of the test, looking at where’s the limit, where we would feel comfortable for the drivers. We want this to be safe, so that will be part of this test — talking to the drivers, what are they comfortable with — then obviously talking to Goodyear and (director of racing) Greg Stucker and his team about how they feel and how the tire performs, what if any tweaks we could make to that tire coming out of Martinsville, so there’s a lot that we’re hoping to learn here in terms of grip levels. Each track is unique, so this is something we’ll have to look at for multiple venues.”

The 2021 NASCAR schedule is idle this weekend for the Easter holiday, then resumes next weekend at Martinsville with the Whelen Modified Tour, Xfinity Series and Cup Series in action April 8-10. Depending on the outcome of the test, Thursday’s trial run prompts the question of how soon an oval-track rain tire could be made available for racing — at Martinsville or elsewhere.

“Too early to tell, but I would say if this worked and we felt comfortable with it — and that would be both Goodyear and reaction from the drivers and teams — this is something we would look to implement as quickly as we could,” O’Donnell said. “We all know that if we can deliver a race on time or shorten those delays, that’s a benefit to the entire industry.”

It’s worth acknowledging that the date of the test coincides with the first day of April, when pranks and hoaxes tend to raise skepticism levels. O’Donnell has some reassurance that the idea behind the test isn’t an elaborate April Fools’ ruse.

“It just happens to fall on April Fools’ Day. You can’t make that up,” O’Donnell says with a laugh. “But no, this is a real thing and a real test, and we’ll be happy to report back April 2nd on how it went.”

NASCAR officials have tested wet-weather tires before at Martinsville, with Terry Labonte making a handful of laps in another Hendrick No. 5 in September 1995. That short session came just one month after race officials first put rain tires to the test on the road course at Watkins Glen International, with fellow Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin taking turns with a set of treaded Goodyears.

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Staff Report

NASCAR restored the membership of Josh Reaume and Mike Wallace on Wednesday, saying that each driver had “successfully completed the terms and conditions mandated for reinstatement.”

Wallace was issued an indefinite suspension Sept. 10, and Reaume was suspended Nov. 10. Both drivers were penalized for social-media posts that violated member conduct guidelines in the NASCAR Rule Book (Sections 12.1, 12.8 and 12.8.1.e).

The guidelines of Section 12.8.1.e specifically cover “public statement and/or communication that criticizes, ridicules, or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, or handicapping condition.”

Wallace’s behavioral penalty was upheld after two appeals — the first with the National Motorsports Appeal Panel on Sept. 23 and the final with the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer on Oct. 7. The 62-year-old driver has more than 100 starts in each of the three NASCAR national tours, the most recent of which came last season in the Xfinity Series.

Reaume made 12 Camping World Truck Series starts and two Xfinity Series appearances last season. His Reaume Brothers Racing team has entered two trucks — the Nos. 33 and 34 Chevrolets — for various drivers in each of the series’ five races this year.

Posted on March 31, 2021March 31, 2021 by Paul Lambert

Modified racing at Martinsville is filled with memorable moments. Leading up to the Modified return to the track, here are selected some of the biggest and most important races in Martinsville history.

1948: The Birth of a Jewel

In a field including NASCAR founder Bill France, Buck Baker and Tim Flock, it was Fonty Flock who won the first race at the dirt half-mile oval. While Modifieds wouldn’t race at Martinsville for 18 more years

1966: A Return to Glory

After a nearly two-decade absence, the Modifieds returned to Martinsville on April 23, 1966. Ray Hendrick took the checkered flag, the first of nine Modified victories he picked up at the track. He also earned his first grandfather clock, which the track began awarding to the race winners just two years prior.

Hendrick would go on to be the winningest driver in track history with 20 victories, and was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007.

1970: Hendrick Sweeps

Hendrick continued his dominance at Martinsville, becoming the first driver to sweep both the Late Model feature and the Modified feature when he won both races at the Cardinal 500 on Nov. 8, 1970.

It was a banner year for the Richmond, Virginia, driver at the half-mile. He drover his Modified to a win in the Dogwood 500 on April 12, beating runner-up Fred Desarro by six laps. Just two weeks later, he picked up a 100-lap win over Jerry Cook in a NASAR Modified event.

For the November doubleheader, he won the Late Model Sportsman race from the pole in his 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle, then drove his Chevrolet Camaro to a win over runner-up Cook in the Modified race.

1981: Evans Catches Fence and Checkers

Hendrick’s final win at Martinsville came in 1975, the year after Rome, New York, legend Richie Evans earned his first win there.

Evans would win nine times at the “paperclip” but probably none more famous than on March 15, 1981.

In arguably the greatest finish in the history of both Martinsville and Modified racing, Richie Evans rode the frontstretch catchfence to the win over Geoff Bodine.

“I got him sideways off of 4,” Geoff Bodine says. “I should’ve kept spinning him out, but I let him go. That was my mistake. I was too nice a guy. I didn’t want to wreck him, I just wanted to beat him.”

1985: A Poignant Season Finale

Just four years later, Martinsville and Evans were intrinsically linked again, but for another reason.

In the first year of the NASCAR Winston Modified Tour, Evans won 12 of the first 28 races to clinch his ninth NASCAR modifified title heading into the final race of the season at Martinsville on Oct. 27, 1985.

Three days before the race, Evans crashed in practice, dying when a stuck throttle sent him into the turn-three wall.

The Tour raced on that weekend, with Johnny Bryant collecting his only career Tour win. Bryant was driving for North Carolina car owner David Riggs, and they are the last southern car owner and driver combination to win a Modified race at Martinsville.

“I still remember that win,” Bryant told the Martinsville Bulletin in 2014. “We had a good car that day and I got some breaks and was able to win a race here. He prepared a good car for me.”

Although his car is a bit the worse for wear, NASCAR Modified driver Richie Evans raises another trophy after an obviously hard-fought victory over Geoff Bodine in the most spectacular bump-and-grind finish at the track. (ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)

Posted on March 31, 2021March 31, 2021 by Chase Wilhelm

F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has an intimidating extra incentive to earn a podium finish in his first season with McLaren.

McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown gifted Ricciardo a die-cast of Dale Earnhardt’s iconic 1984 No. 3 Wrangler car, but he upped the ante by betting a drive with the actual car. Brown currently owns the real-life version of Earnhardt’s No. 3 in his personal heritage collection. If Ricciardo is able to finish third or better during his first season with the team, he’ll get to test out the car.

Growing up, Ricciardo was a massive Earnhardt fan. He also drives the No. 3 car in F1 partly because of his fanhood to “The Intimidator.” Ricciardo couldn’t contain his excitement to receive the replica.

https://twitter.com/mclarenf1/status/1377206708708196352?s=10

Dale Earnhardt Sr's 1984 Wrangler Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Get us that podium and the drive is all yours, @DanielRicciardo. 😉🔑 @DaleJr @NASCAR pic.twitter.com/wyplavg8G3

— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) March 31, 2021

Dale Earnhardt Jr. even chimed in about the bet.

This is awesome https://t.co/5Z3CpSTRz2

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) March 31, 2021

Ricciardo has earned 31 podiums over the course of his F1 career, which began in 2011. The 31-year-old from Perth, Australia, recorded two of those podiums last year with Renault F1 Team, which has been rebranded as Alpine.

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Marcus DiNitto

Kyle Larson was collected by a spinning Christopher Bell on Lap 51, ending both drivers’ chances of winning Monday’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Martin Truex Jr. cut a tire in overtime.

These incidents worked out just fine for the sportsbooks.

At BetMGM, Larson accounted for about 65% of the money bet on drivers to win the race, including a $30,000 wager at odds of +250 (the bettor would have profited $75,000 had Larson won), one of two five-figure bets on the No. 5 Chevy written at the book. Larson was the easy betting favorite before Monday’s affair.

Truex’s dominating performance earlier in the day in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race prompted heavy betting action on the No. 19 Toyota. He drew the second-most action at BetMGM, around 12-14% of handle in the outright market, said Seamus Magee, a Sports Trader at the betting shop.

After Truex’s win in the Pinty’s Truck Race, “we saw a flood of money come in on him to win the Cup race,” Magee said. “The money just kept coming in on him.”

Upon that action, Truex’s odds were shortened to +850 (bet $100 to win $850) by the time the green flag dropped, after opening at +2500.

While Bell was the second favorite and took significant money, Larson and Truex were “the only two big losers for the books,” Magee said.

While Larson was effectively done early, the liability on Truex must have caused some heartburn at BetMGM, as the Gibbs driver was strong until his late-race misfortune, leading a race-high 126 laps and winning the first stage. His in-race odds were as skinny as -190 (bet $190 to win $100) at some books.

Race winner Joey Logano closed at 20-1 odds at BetMGM and trailed Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney in handle, in addition to Larson, Truex and Bell.

Logano’s victory was also a win for DraftKings Sportsbook, where the No. 22 Ford drew only about 3% of the handle in the outright market, outside of the top 10, and closed at 18-1 odds, according to Johnny Avello, Director of Race and Sportsbook Operations.

Specifically at DraftKings’ Tennessee book, Larson drew the most handle, followed by Bell, Busch, Austin Dillon and Elliott. Truex was the seventh most wagered on driver, Avello said.

Did handle follow the hype?

No matter the sport, numerous factors impact betting handle. The magnitude of the event, where it sits on the sports calendar, the time of day it is scheduled for and the competition it faces are among them.

Plenty of hype surrounded the Food City Dirt Race, the first Cup event on dirt since 1970. But rain forced a postponement until Monday, when the race served as sort of a lead-in to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight.

Magee said Bristol handle was slightly better than for an average NASCAR race, which he said is similar to a nationally televised regular-season college basketball game. In addition to the excitement about a race on the dirt, the extra day to wager provided a small boost.

“I think it definitely helped,” Magee said of the race being postponed. “An extra day for it, and it was kind of a precursor to the Elite Eight. For some guys who like betting, it was something to put on before the (basketball games), and you had the Truck race before, which I also think helped the handle.”

Some bettors were hesitant to put too much money on the race, however, because it was so difficult to predict.

“The uniqueness of the dirt is one thing, betting on it is another,” Avello said. “Who has a good handle on dirt? It’s probably a fun race to watch and bet some. I don’t know if it was a race where you could hone in on handicapping like you would another type of race where you have some history on how guys run on certain tracks. This one was a little more difficult to handicap. Let’s face it, the track itself was a little funky, right?”

Turns out, that funkiness was fun to watch, and bettors were inclined to get involved during the race.

“This was one of the better ones in terms of (live) handle,” Magee said. “I think a lot of that was from the buzz on social media that was like, ‘Are you seeing this dirt race? There are wrecks every other lap.’ This looks like one of our better live books.”

NASCAR announced during the race it’s running it back on the Bristol dirt next year, and Magee anticipates even better handle in 2022.

“I am excited to hear they’re going to do it again next year,” he said. “A dirt race at night will sell really well for NASCAR, people will get into it. And as more people are betting on the sport, more people are watching, obviously the handle will go up next year.”

Marcus DiNitto is a writer and editor living in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been covering sports for nearly two-and-a-half decades and sports betting for more than 10 years. His first NASCAR betting experience was in 1995 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, where he went 0-for-3 on his matchup picks. Read his articles and follow him on Twitter; do not bet his picks.

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Zack Albert

What was old was new again Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway, a track celebrating its 60th anniversary that showed it still has some new tricks in its bag. That newfangled form of nostalgia came in the form of dirt — tons of it — and the resurrection of a surface that hadn’t hosted NASCAR’s big leagues in its modern era.

The Cup Series’ first dirt-track race since 1970 — the first of several big swings made on the 2021 racing schedule — delivered on the drama that the hype had promised, but not without a hitch. To be certain, there were hitches.

“I think the industry had everything thrown at it,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s top competition official after the Food City Dirt Race.

None of it came easy, from the logistical hoops to the track transformation to the continual adaptation that was needed throughout the weekend to make two national-series races happen on a not-so-familiar surface. And oh the weather, which ranged from floods, hail, downpours and bright sun. Torrential rain gave the half-mile a thorough soaking, turning the creek that encircles the speedway grounds into a trackside moat by Sunday. The flooding finally subsided but gave the track crew a tall task to prepare for a doubleheader on Monday’s rain date.

By early evening Monday, the organizing parties figured the fun factor outweighed the hurdles and decided let’s do it all over again next year. Tickets for a 2022 dirt redux went on sale with 50 laps to go.

“All in all, I’d give it a thumbs-up with some things to learn, “O’Donnell said, giving nods to track owner Speedway Motorsports Inc. and its staff. “The fans had asked us for years to look at innovation around the schedule. In fact, we’ve been taken to task for not making some moves. We were bold and aggressive this year. I’m proud of the team for doing that, proud of the industry for taking a chance here.”

It’s still on the soon side to tally all of the reviews, but the wide smiles from the drivers dicing it up in Friday’s clear-sky practice day told the early tale, turning once-wary veterans into converts at first blush (see: Kevin Harvick). The uncertainty that loomed over the entire weekend kept churning on race-day Monday, humbling hotshots with extensive dirt backgrounds and making mud-slinging stars out of the surface’s relative newbies.

Race officials mimicked the drivers with their own version of chasing a changing race track, keeping the lines of communication open with the dirt-savvy specialists in the field for their input. Officials added competition cautions to address tire wear, then switched to single-file restarts and groomed the track mid-race to combat visibility issues. As racers are wont to do, they filed it away in their memory banks for 2022, when the Cup Series plans to bring the Next Gen racer to the schedule’s first major zigzag.

“I think the track crew learned a lot with these heavy race cars, what they need to do to be better,” said Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Monday’s runner-up behind race winner Joey Logano. “They adapted well, like I said, with the rain. Those are things that are always changing with dirt-race tracks. They did a good job. Next year is going to be just as much of a toss-up with a different race car.”

An equally sizable toss-up may well be next season’s schedule, which will have work to do to one-up the 2021 edition. Dirt-track racing at Bristol is already confirmed to come back, the glut of road courses on this year’s schedule would be a welcome return, and last week’s reveal of a NASCAR-endorsed Chicago street course on the iRacing simulation at least hints that a temporary road-racing circuit in an urban setting may not be so far-fetched. Variables remain, but the announcement of a Bristol dirt re-up for next year at least allows one of this season’s most buzz-worthy events a chance to grow.

Cup Series drivers and teams flexed their versatility in Bristol’s inaugural dirt-track weekend, and they may be called upon to do more of the same in 2022. Monday’s learning curve was an accelerated one, and even dirt newcomers proved to be quick studies.

“It goes to show,” Logano said, “that the talent in this NASCAR Cup level is something else.”

That goes for the industry, too, in managing the multitude of obstacles to make the first dirt-track race in more than a generation a reality, wrapped in newfangled nostalgia.

Posted on March 30, 2021March 30, 2021 by Paul Lambert

Brett Bodine remembers the first time he watched a race at Martinsville Speedway.

The Chemung, New York, driver had flown down in a single-engine plane to watch older brother Geoff compete.

His first impression when he walked into the property?

“I was amazed. I had never seen such a pristine piece of property at a race track,” Brett Bodine says. “Everything about that track was perfect. It was painted perfectly. The shape of the track, it was a perfect layout of a half-mile race track.

“I said, ‘This is heaven. This is a racetrack heaven.’ ”

Not only was the track beautiful to look at, it raced well, too. It was ideally suited for the Modifieds. Almost as it if had been tailor-made for the division. It’s fitting then, that the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s return to the half-mile flat Virginia oval on Thursday, April 8, for the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 200 will represent far more than the start of the season.

It’s a return to a tradition that dates back to the founding days of NASCAR.

A list of legends

The Modifieds ran the first race held at Martinsville, back on Independence Day of 1948, won by Fonty Flock on dirt.

The list of winners at Martinsville is a who’s-who of Modified legends.

Ray Hendrick and Bugsy Stevens dominated when the Modifieds returned in 1966. Hendrick won nine times from 1966 to 1975, while Stevens won six times from 1967 to 1977. Soon, however, came the era of Richie Evans, who won nine times at the track during his illustrious career.

The 90s saw more parity. Mike Stefanik, Jeff Fuller and Reggie Ruggiero each won three times that decade.

Current Cup Series driver and 2013 Tour champion Ryan Preece got his first victory at the track in 2009. The last driver to win a Modified race at Martinsville was Bobby Santos during his 2010 championship season.

Martinsville is a place where short-track heroes are made. The legend of Martinsville, however, has become mythical.

After winning their respective races in the Cardinal 500 Classic at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 27, 1974, Ron Bouchard (L) and Ray Hendrick (R) pose with one of the grandfather clocks that are awarded to the victors. Bouchard won the NASCAR Modified portion of the event, while Hendrick took home the win in the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman race. (ISC Images Archives via Getty Images)

‘This is a race track heaven’

Brett Bodine’s first impressions were validated when he got behind the wheel in a Modified.

For Brett Bodine, success at Martinsville requires all three of the elements that make racing a challenge: a lot of horsepower, brake management and two different sets of corners.

Bodine eventually went on to win at North Carolina’s North Wilkesboro Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series, but he still holds his grandfather clocks from Martinsville as the ultimate prizes.

“That’s the ultimate trophy in NASCAR racing,” Bodine says. “You talk to anybody from Cup to Xfinity to Trucks to Modifieds, having one of those in your possession means everything. When you grew up as a kid in the Modified series, to win at the top level of it, that is huge.”

Almost 75 years later, the Modifieds still deliver on the action as they did in the 1960s and 1970s. It’s the same flat half-mile paperclip. Cars race largely the same way around Martinsville now as they did 30 or 40 years ago. It’s more of a surprise when a race doesn’t end in fireworks.

Jeff Fuller, the 1992 Tour champion and a four-time Martinsville winner, saw that same challenge.

“Be mindful of your tires,” Fuller says. “Say you’re starting 10th. Why do you want to be in first on lap 30? It’s all about what you’re going to have coming to the checkered flag.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Martinsville Modifieds: The Early Years

The meaning of Modifieds at Martinsville

Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell grew up watching Modifieds slug it out at Martinsville. Ever since he was a boy, Campbell has always cherished ground-pounder action.

“They are real race cars,” he says. “The big tires, the sound and everything like that. A lot of those guys were heroes of mine because they were here twice a year.”

Through the 1980s, Martinsville was far and away the premier stop for Modified racing. Five times it has served as the season finale for the Whelen Modified Tour.

“You went down there, and for that week, a bunch of part-time racers gathered down at that facility, and you felt like a professional,” Brett Bodine says. “You were treated like a professional.”

“It was their Daytona 500,” said Campbell.

Stars from outside the racing world showed up, too.

In 1978, Elizabeth Taylor went with then-husband John Warner to the track for the Cardinal 500. Warner was campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia at the time. While Warner was supposed to stay for only part of the race, Taylor wanted to watch it all. Geoff Bodine won, and Taylor was sent to Victory Lane to present him with the winner’s trophy.

During the presentation, Taylor gave Geoff Bodine a kiss.

“She kissed me,” he says. “My wife says Elizabeth kissed a lot of guys. But I’m one of them guys.”

Actress Elizabeth Taylor joins Geoff Bodine in victory lane after Bodine won the NASCAR Modified portion of the Cardinal 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)

The greatest finish ever?

A history of Modifieds at Martinsville isn’t complete without discussing arguably the greatest finish in Modified history: the 1981 Dogwood 500.

The race came down between two of the best: Richie Evans and Geoff Bodine.

Geoff Bodine was trying to make history as the first driver to win both the 250-lap Late Model feature and the 250-lap Modified feature in the same day. He had dominated the race, but in the closing laps, Evans was within striking distance. He bumped Bodine out of the way and took the lead at the white flag. Bodine, however, wasn’t finished.

Evans’ car jumped in the air and rode the catchfence to the checkered flag. The last lap was the only lap Evans led all day.

“Richie and I both handled it good,” Geoff Bodine says. “We looked at each other. Everyone thought we were gonna run over and fight each other, but we didn’t fight. We just looked. Even though it happened, we respected each other. It was racing. Good hard racing. I bumped him, and he ended up winning.”

Campbell calls it the greatest finish in the history of the track.

“All the emergency personnel went up to him when everything came to a halt, and [Evans] asked ‘Did I win it?’

“They looked at his tach and he never came off the throttle,” Campbell says. “We’ve got a picture of the flagman. He was waving the checkered flag the whole time, but he had his arm up in front of his head like he was trying to block something from coming across.”

On the final official results chart for the modified division Dogwood 500, the first two finishers were ironically listed as “wrecked.” Richie Evans (No. 61) wrecked ahead of rival Geoff Bodine, and was credited with the victory. (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)

The resurrection of a tradition

After an 11-year absence, the Modifieds will return to Martinsville a week from Thursday.

“I tell people time and time again, there’s two questions I’d always receive,” Campbell says. “One was ‘when are you going to put up lights?’ Well, we’ve done that, so I don’t get that question now. The second question: ‘When are you bringing the Modifieds back?’ Check the box on that one.

“If I have anything to do with it, they’re here to stay.”

With racing being such a family sport, Brett Bodine plans on attending this year with his family.

“I plan on taking my kids up there to watch it,” Brett Bodine said. “Only on YouTube videos can they watch me race in Modifieds.

“This is one I want to be in-person to watch, because it means so much to me and my family.”

NASCAR Hall of Famer Mike Stefanik won the NASCAR Whelen Modified/Whelen Southern Modified race at Martinsville Speedway in 2009. He holds the trophy with the late Phil Kurze (left) of Whelen Engineering and Martinsville Speedway’s Clay Campbell (right). (Tom Whitmore/NASCAR via Getty Images)

Posted on March 29, 2021March 30, 2021 by Zack Albert

Even while leading late Monday afternoon, Daniel Suarez joked he didn’t know what he was doing during a mid-race interview as he navigated the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The stat sheet and official rundown said otherwise after the Food City Dirt Race, as Suarez guided Trackhouse Racing Team to its first top-five finish in the NASCAR Cup Series. The 29-year-old Monterrey, Mexico, native made the most of his 150th Cup start, leading a career-best 58 laps and placing fourth, holding the top spot until eventual winner Joey Logano swept by.

“Overall I felt that we’re very close. That always brings a smile to my face,” Suarez said post-race after netting his first top-five result since November 2019 at Texas Motor Speedway. “But it wasn’t close enough, so we have to keep working. Now I’m excited actually that we’re going to come back next year with another shot to race and compete for the win in Bristol on dirt.”

Suarez had soaked in his first-ever dirt experience just six days ago at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tennessee. Midway through the main event, however, he had the look of an old pro. Suarez — who said it took 50-100 laps to find his comfort level — doled out a classic Bristol bump-and-run on early dominator Martin Truex Jr. to put his No. 99 Chevrolet in command.

Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

Though Logano permanently took control in the 193rd of 253 laps, Suarez held his spot among the top five through ever-changing track conditions and a fateful two-lap overtime dash.

“The last 50 laps for some reason I lost that grip,” Suarez said. “I just couldn’t do much about it. From being a first- or second-place car, I became a fifth- to fourth-place car. That’s exactly where we ended. It’s a learning curve. Like I said, I’m still learning about all this dirt racing. My first time was actually just five days ago. I wasn’t expecting the race track to change that much, but it did. That’s something I have to keep in mind for next year.”

Monday’s result marked a breakout performance for the Trackhouse group, which made a splashing entry into the Cup Series this season with co-owners Justin Marks and Pitbull, plus a technical association with Richard Childress Racing. The organization promised to shake up the status quo in joining the sport, and its early on-track impressions have begun to make incremental inroads toward competing with NASCAR’s more established powerhouse teams.

MORE: Inside the creation of Trackhouse

Suarez and Trackhouse impressed for the second consecutive weekend. Last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the No. 99 forged into the top 10 before a late-race speeding penalty unraveled a potentially higher finish. That run combined with Monday’s top five, Suarez said, gives one of NASCAR’s newest teams a building block for more.

“It’s the second week in a row that we’ve been running strong,” Suarez said. “I don’t see this as, OK, we run good because we’re on dirt. I feel like everyone at Trackhouse Racing has done an incredible job to work hard on these cars, get them better. Really a lot of support from RCR, engines and chassis and everything. I feel like we still a long ways to go from where we want to be, but we’re heading the right direction.

“Hopefully we can compete in the top 10, top five like we’ve been doing the last couple weeks on a weekly basis. Eventually we’re going to get a trophy.”

Posted on March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 by Reid Spencer

Joey Logano made history Monday afternoon.

Leading the final 61 laps in the face of a determined charge by Denny Hamlin, Logano won the rain-delayed Food City Dirt Race in overtime at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first dirt-track race for the NASCAR Cup Series since 1970.

But there won’t be that long a gap in the future, given BMS executive and general manager Jerry Caldwell announced during the race that NASCAR will return to the Bristol dirt in 2022.

Logano grabbed the lead from Daniel Suarez on Lap 193 of a scheduled 250 and held it the rest of the way through a caution for the second stage break and a late yellow that sent the race three laps beyond the prescribed distance.

On the final restart on Lap 252, Logano pulled away, as Hamlin tried and failed to find grip in the outside lane and fell to third behind runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Logano’s winning margin over Stenhouse was .554 seconds.

Logano is the seventh consecutive different winner in seven races this season.

“Man, it’s incredible,” said Logano, who won the second straight race for Team Penske and the 27th of his career, extending his streak of at least one victory per year to 10 years. “How about Bristol on dirt? This is an incredible, unbelievable race track — great job by everyone that prepped the track. Obviously, a lot of work over here the last few days (because of rain that forced postponement from Sunday). We did a lot of work in the dirt department here the last few week. …

“Great car, obviously, to be able to execute the race that we did and get a win. I was getting nervous. There were so many first-time winners and different winners than there has typically been. I said, ‘We’ve got to get a win to make sure we get in the playoffs,’ so it’s amazing to get this Shell/Pennzoil Mustang into Victory Lane at Bristol. There’s nothing like winning at Bristol, but putting dirt on it and being the first to do it is really special.”

Despite late brushes with the outside wall as he chased Logano, Hamlin now has three third-place finishes and six top fives this season.

“I really couldn’t see a whole lot,” Hamlin said, referring to the dusty conditions late in the race. “I was kind of guessing. I thought I could, on that last restart, run the top in hard, but they didn’t prep it in between cautions the way they did before. It was just marbles up there.

“Man, I thought I had a shot there. I cut the 22 (Logano) too many breaks there when he was cutting us off. They had a little better car, it looked like, there in the long run. Proud of this whole team — we’re third best again.”

Suarez held fourth place, followed by Ryan Newman. William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones and reigning series champion Chase Elliott in the top 10.

Two of the experienced dirt drivers expected to battle for the victory were eliminated from contention in one dramatic wreck two laps after the restart that followed the first competition caution.

Running second on Lap 53, Christopher Bell spun in the top lane in Turn 2. Kyle Larson, running the top lane behind Bell, plowed into his chief dirt-track rival in a wreck that also involved Kevin Harvick and Ross Chastain.

MORE: Bell, Larson tangle early

“Way to go, Bell — way to go,” Larson said sarcastically on his team radio after the wreck.

Larson, at least, was able to continue but lost two laps during repairs. Bell and Chastain fell out of the race in 34th and 35th place, respectively. Larson finished 29th, five laps down.

“I was just trying to run the water in under yellow,” Bell said after a visit to the infield care center. “I knew it was a little bit slick, but I felt like I could go up there and make some time, and I kind of entered shallow underneath of it and tried to pick it up on exit, and it was just really greasy up there.

“That was a lot of fun, being able to be out there for that first run was really cool and hate it that I can’t be out there longer.”

An earlier wreck had given Martin Truex Jr. a fright during his quest to win both a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and NASCAR Cup Series event on the same day. (Truex had won the Truck race that started at noon.) Aric Almirola spun on Lap 41 as part of a five-car incident that unfolded in front of Truex, who was leading at the time. Truex barely managed to dodge the crash.

“Holy crap — that was close!” a relieved Truex said on his team radio. But Truex’s luck didn’t hold. After winning the first stage leading a race-high 126 laps, he cut a tire while running third on the final lap of overtime and finished 19th.

The NASCAR Cup Series will be idle next weekend for the Easter holiday, returning to action April 10 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Cup Series garage revealed no issues, validating Logano’s win.