|| *Comments on the 2012 Sargento 200:* View the most recent comment <#78> | Post a comment <#post> 1. potatosalad48 posted: 06.23.2012 - 7:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Turner Motorsports wins at Road America for the 2nd year in a row. 1st win for Nelson Piquet and the 1st for a Brazilian in the Nationwide series 2. NadeauFan91 posted: 06.23.2012 - 7:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jacques Villenuve turns into a Billy Corgan lookalike and dumps Danica out of a surprisingly deserving top five finish. Nice job asshole! Great job for Piquet. He's definitely going to be a name we'll be seeing in Cup very soon. 3. Darrell posted: 06.23.2012 - 7:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Perhaps Danica has road courses figured out, but let's also remember who else has finished in the top-ten at a road course once: Mike Dillon Shawna Robinson Steve Wallace Shane Hall amongst others. 4. Anonymous posted: 06.23.2012 - 7:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nelson piquet will be a cup star soon. 5. Ryan posted: 06.23.2012 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Amazing that Danica would have been the highest finishing NNS regular if not for Jacques Villenueve 6. Mark posted: 06.23.2012 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) That makes up for las vegas last year that she didn't deserve. 7. Anonymous posted: 06.23.2012 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A surprisingly tame final section of the race and Piquet runs away with it 8. 10andJoe posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What happened to Paludo? #2 sponsor: Charter Communications #23 sponsor: Lynch Superstore #44 sponsor: TriStar Motorsports 9. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Race title should be Sargento 200. I watched Nelsinho in GP2; great win for him! 10. 10andJoe posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenny Habul is Australian. 11. 10andJoe posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt Busch went to the back due to a transmission change. 12. Disgruntled Racing Fan posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was hoping that they would show more of Nelson but they focused on Danica for the whole broadcast or at least it felt like it. Nelson did a great job today and he has a TON of potential in the future. The whole Danica fiasco was somewhat of a racing accident but JV drove in way too deep. Oh well, I'm not too upset about it but I can understand why people would be. 13. Anonymous posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "That makes up for las vegas last year that she didn't deserve." So anyone who's ever got a good finish through strategy or fuel mileage deserves to be intentionally wrecked out of a finish they earned, just to balance things out? You are what's wrong with sports fans today. Please stop watching racing and do something productive for once in your miserable life. 14. Brad24 posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Villeneuve strikes again. 15. Anonymous posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nelson is the fifth different driver to win for Turner, and the first time that a Turner car led more than just the final lap when scoring the win. 16. Rusty posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Danica handled herself well in her post-race interview. I was expecting her to throw a fit, and she had a right too honestly. VILLAINeuve is a jackhole who screws people every year when he runs these races. 17. Joe T. posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Return of Eric McClure after a 6 week recovery from a concussion 18. the Great Dave posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors #5 AER Manufacturing/ Canadian Tire #31 Brandt / Florida Gulf Safe #32 Stemco / Duroline #33 Menards / Rheem / Goodyear #75 SunEnergy1 / Bosch Solar #88 VooDoo Ride / Autozone 19. cjs3872 posted: 06.23.2012 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, it looks like offspring from more racing champions are starting to get into the consciousness of racing fans. Of course, we know about Marco Andretti, son of Michael and grandson of Mario, and Graham Rahal, son of Bobby, but now there are numrous others, led by Nelson Piquet, Jr., the son of three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet, Sr., probably the most forgotten about great racing champion over the last 25 years. (Nelson, Jr. may be on the verge of making everyone remember what a great champion Nelson, Sr. really was.) Then there are current K&N Pro Series drivers Chase Elliott, son of Bill, Ryan Blaney, son of USAC and World of Outlaws champion Dave, and Corey LaJoie, son of two-time Nationwide Series champion Randy. And about five to seven years down the road, we may be hearing a lot more about Ross Kenseth, son of 2003 NASCAR champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner Matt, and even Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of Emerson Fittipaldi, the only man ever to win the F1 championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each. He's recently started driving stock cars in the last year. Names we heard grab the spotlight back in the 1980s and early 90s (Kenseth is much more recent than that) may be on the verge of being back in the headlines again. 20. Paul posted: 06.23.2012 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't think Villeneuve getting into the back of Danica was so much him overdriving the corner as it was his tires just unable to gain traction upon entering the corner. For some reason Max Papis turned left into Villeneuve coming out of turn 4, resulting in his left side tires getting into the grass and dirt (he mentioned it in his post-race interview, but seemingly upon deaf ears). He hit his braking point correctly, but just as he, Danica, and Papis were turning into turn 5, his car seemed to break traction and get into the back of Danica. It wouldn't make sense for him to suddenly accelerate in the middle of that sharp turn. Sure, he could've slowed down and give up track position in the process just to be safe, but this is racing and all bets are off on the last lap. That's my two cents on the subject. 21. TheTruthâ?¢ posted: 06.23.2012 - 10:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Perhaps Danica has road courses figured out, but let's also remember who else has finished in the top-ten at a road course once: Mike Dillon Shawna Robinson Steve Wallace Shane Hall" What a douchey statement. First off, Steve Wallace has consistently been top 5/top 10 capable at the road course races he's run in the Nationwide series. In fact, his first top 10 came at Montreal. He's a pretty good road racer and a fast driver, which means he's got some talent there. Also, Danica's entire background has been on road courses leading up to IndyCar, where she ran a good bit of road course races there. She ran pretty damn good today, and I'm very much a critic. 22. Paul posted: 06.23.2012 - 10:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some other things I noticed from the race: - Like his Turner teammate James Buescher, Nelson Piquet, Jr. wins his first Nationwide race before winning his first Truck race; both times in the No. 30 car. - Last year, McDowell had the best car, but screwed up in the final two laps and cost himself the win. This year, McDowell was virtually flawless (but not nearly as dominant) en route to a 2nd place finish. - Ron Fellows finishes 3rd, his worst finish at Road America in the Nationwide Series (his other two finishes both being 2nd place). - Max Papis finishes 4th in his first Nationwide race in one year, overcoming an early pit road penalty in the process. - Sam Hornish, Jr. is the top finishing Nationwide regular in 5th place. The 3 drivers ranked higher than him in the standings all finished outside the top 10. - Jacques Villeneuve recovers from an early spin to finish 6th. - Brian Scott gains three positions in the standings, moving inside the top 10 for the first time all season. He is currently on a streak of 3 straight top 10 finishes. - Kurt Busch finished 8th. He is the only driver pulling double-duty in both Nationwide and Sprint Cup this weekend. - Cole Whitt finishes 9th in his first trip to a road course in NASCAR. - Justin Allgaier rebounds having a water bottle stuck underneath his pedals and getting stuck in the sand trap to finish 10th. - Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. finishes higher than Elliott Sadler for the first time since his win at Iowa four races ago, when they finished 1-2. - Danica had her best run of the season today, only to lose it in turn 5 on the final lap. She had one prior road course start entering this race (24th at Montreal, 2011) - Mike Bliss was the highest finishing driver not given a post-race interview (13th). He has finished in the top 18 in the 12 races he's finished this season. Not bad for a driver w/o sponsorship every race. - Jason Bowles had a top 10 run going before going off course in the Carousel late in the race. - Elliott Sadler recovered from a late spin and went from 27th to 15th w/o the aid of a caution. - Kenny Habul finished 16th in his Nationwide Series debut. - Victor Gonzalez, Jr. finished 17th in his first Nationwide race since 2010. - Austin Dillon lost 3rd gear around lap 12 and finished 18th. His streak of lead lap finishes extends to 14. - Mike Wallace earned his 3rd top 20 finish of the season, and his 8th straight top 20 at a road course, going back to Montreal 2009. - Brad Sweet finished 20th in his road course debut. Also, this was just the 2nd race that Brad didn't bring out a caution (6 starts). - Eric McClure finished 21st after missing the previous 5 races due to a concussion. It's his best finish of the season and his best career road course finish. - Timmy Hill finished 22nd after running the Rolex Sports Car Series race at Road America earlier today. - Erik Darnell finished 23rd in his first road course race since Montreal 2009. - Tony Raines earned his 1st lead lap finish since Homestead 2010. The No. 70 car now has 2 lead lap finishes this season, both in the last two races. - Despite earning a top 10 at Dover, this is Jeremy Clements' 1st lead lap finish of the season. It was his first lead lap finish at a road course in 4 starts. - Michael Annett appeared to have run out of fuel on the last lap. He was shown off the track in turn 5 as Danica got turned. This was Annett's worst non-restrictor plate finish of the season and his first non-RP finish outside the top 14. - Bill Prietzel finished 27th in his Nationwide Series debut. - John Young was running 15th when he ran out of fuel with 2 laps to go in his Nationwide Series debut. Luckily he ran out in a between turns 4 and 5, so his car coasted downhill and didn't bring out a caution. - Miguel Paludo led some laps early in the race, but had some problems late in the race and wound up finishing 29th in his Nationwide Series debut. I noticed he came down pit road just as Elliott Sadler passed him for 15th place. - Malsam, Richards, and Roderick earned their worst non-DNF finishes of the season. Roderick had a problem very early as he was laps down within the 1st few laps. - I turned away from the tv and didn't catch what happened to Alex Kennedy. It was his 1st Nationwide race since Montreal last year and the 1st race Joe Nemechek missed since Chicago last September, resulting in Nemechek falling out of the top 10 in the standings. - Matt Bell and Ryan Ellis made their Nationwide Series debuts. - Kyle Kelley returned to driving his own equipment after driving for NEMCO last season. - Morgan Shepherd and Matt Frahm retired from the event. They weren't start & parks, but they probably weren't planning on running the full distance either. - Matt DiBenedetto and Tim Schendel start & parked in place of Scott Speed and Josh Wise, who were at Sonoma. Chase Miller also S&P'd. - Jeff Green returned to the No. 10 car and start & parked his 1st race since Talladega. He had finished 17th in his last two starts in the No. 14 car. - The No. 15 and No. 74 cars withdrew from the event. Blake Koch was originally listed as the driver of the No. 15 car. 23. TheTruthâ?¢ posted: 06.23.2012 - 10:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Let me correct myself. I meant to say Steve's first top 10 came at Mexico City, not Montreal. 24. ch posted: 06.23.2012 - 10:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Sponsor Changes: 14 - Reynolds Wrap / Hefty (Reynolds Wrap has the predominant hood placement) 23 - Lynch Superstore 32 - Duroline / Stemco 33 - Rheem / Menards (Rheem had the predominant hood placement) 44 - TriStar Motorsports (Same as his teammate, the #10) 47 - TheMotorsportsGroup.com 25. Anonymous posted: 06.23.2012 - 11:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Papis shoved Villeneuve off the road just before the braking point, causing Villeneuve to have to brake way too late. The resulting extra brake pressure caused his car to start wheel-hopping, and when he let off the brakes to correct this, Danica was in his way. 26. Anonymous posted: 06.23.2012 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 10andJoe, According to Paludo's twitter feed, he broke a sway bar on the final restart. It's amazing to see a guy like Piquet Jr reinvent himself and his career. I can't imagine how low he felt after the Formula 1 Renault scandal he was involved in. Now he's got a K&N East & Nationwide Series win under his belt, and hopefully he can get back into contention for the Truck Series title this season too. He's got alot going for him. I'm probably in the minority here, but I hope Michael McDowell can get a win soon. Come on Pizza Ranch, step up and sponsor the guy for a full season! 27. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 06.23.2012 - 11:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm happy for Nelson Piquet. Glad to see him get a win in stock cars, I think soon we could see him get a win on an oval as well. I'm not a Michael McDowell fan and I think he still has a tendency to make too many mistakes on the track, but it's pretty bad that even he has managed to show me more in Gibbs cars than Brian Scott. Hopefully this race will be Jacques' last with Penske in any stock car series. Since last year alone, he has caused way too many crashes that wouldn't even have come close to happening had Brad or Parker Kligerman been behind the wheel. I regret defending JV at first in last year's comments page for this race. Danica by far ran the best race of her Nationwide career before being dumped by the #22. I wouldn't mind seeing Sadler win the championship this year since he at least has multiple wins this year as opposed to none last year. If Sam Hornish keeps up his top 5 season and continues to impress in this Series, we could possibly see him in the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Cup ride in 2013 if Allmendinger doesn't work out there. Almost halfway through the season AJ only has one top 10 and that was his runner-up finish at Martinsville so it's not looking good for him right now. 28. Dave#38Fan posted: 06.23.2012 - 11:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) penske doesn't have much choice but to let jacques run the #22 at montreal, brad doesn't want to make the trip and parker will be in the truck race at michigan that's being run the same day (which is why piquet isn't going to run montreal either). 29. Spen posted: 06.23.2012 - 11:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There's got to be other options for road ringers. John Young maybe? At least he drives for the right manufacturer, and managed to not bring out a caution. "Mike Bliss was the highest finishing driver not given a post-race interview" Kurt Busch wasn't interviewed, either. (Though I can't blame them for that!) 30. cjs3872 posted: 06.23.2012 - 11:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RCRandPenskeGuy, I think there's a better likelyhood that when and if Hornish returns to the Cup series, that he'll be in the #12 car, not the #22. I still say that if Allmendinger's replaced at season's end (I think it almost certain that he'll last the season), I think that either David Ragan or Trevor Bayne would be the likeliest choice to replace Allmendinger. After all, Penske wanted to hire one of those two before hiring Allmendiner after Richard Petty recommended to Penske that he hire Allmendinger, possibly to get rid of him. And let's not forget that Petty and Allmendinger had more than one heated exchange last year (at least one was caught on camera), and one thing that you don't ever do is to confront the King, especially when you're under contract with him, as Allmendinger was last year. I think Richard remembered that at season's end and wanted Allmendinger out, but he also wanted him in a good ride for 2012, hence his reccomendation to Penske. 31. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.23.2012 - 11:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I will give credit where credit is due. Danica drove a great race and got screwed out of a desrving Top 5 finish. After the way her Indy Car career went, who would have guessed she'd struggle on ovals and be a front runner on the road. 32. Anonymous posted: 06.24.2012 - 12:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Penske decides he's seen enough of JV, Andrew Ranger would be a no brainer choice for the #22 @ Montreal. Alex Tagliani as well. 33. cjs3872 posted: 06.24.2012 - 12:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anonymous (#32), Alex Tagliani is out of the picture, as he drives for the same team that he drove for in the IndyCar series last year, driving the #98 that carried Dan Wheldon to his second Indy triumph last year (Tagliani drove the #77 for that team at Indy). However, Andrew Ranger wouldn't be a bad choice replace Villeneuve, if he's available. 34. Spen posted: 06.24.2012 - 12:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ranger in the #22? That. Would. Be. Awesome! I totally forgot about him when I went over my mental list of road ringers, though. I guess it's true what they say: if you're not on track, you might as well not exist. 35. Dave#38Fan posted: 06.24.2012 - 1:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) andrew ranger is already scheduled to be in the #27 at montreal 36. irony posted: 06.24.2012 - 1:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The biggest moment in JV's career - Jerez 1997, F1 season finale. He went into a corner way too hot trying to overtake title rival Michael Schumacher. Schumacher turned into him trying to take him out which instead allowed him to make the turn and become World Champion. This cool story brought to you by me. 37. cjs3872 posted: 06.24.2012 - 2:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't know that, Dave#38Fan, and there's no way that Villeneuve is not going to be in that race, considering it's at the track that's named after his late father Gilles. It would have been interesting if Villeneuve had gotten up to Nelson Piquet, Jr., because there was a brief time that their fathers battled on the race track F1 before Gilles' untimely death. And is it me, or has the apple not flown far from the tree in the case of Nelson Piquet, Jr.'s brief NASCAR career. I say that because it seems that Nelson, Jr. (I know it doesn't ring the same as Dale, Jr.) has adopted his father's methodical "pound out the laps" style. Like Terry Labonte in NASCAR, Nelson Piquet, Sr. had to be infuriating to have to race for a championship, because he seldom ever made a mistake. I checked his F1 career, and he spun out or crashed out of just 27 races in 12 years, which is astonishing in an open wheel series of that caliber, and he was racing against the likes of Prost, Mansell, and Senna, and was equally as good as them, but not as spectacular, as he would third, fourth, and fifth place his competition to death, as he won three World Championships, but his 23 wins are the lowest total for any driver with at least three World Championships except Juan Manuel Fangio (who won 22 races, but five World Championships), and he would have won many more if they had run more races in his era. Well, I think his son is starting to get that same reputation in NASCAR as someone that finishes races. In his first Craftsman Truck Series start at Daytona, he used that methodical style to finish sixth. Since then, he has come close to winning numerous times, but hasn't yet gotten over the hump, but his time is coming. When and if that day comes, it remains to be seen if he'll start winning then in bunches, or if he'll still use that methodical style that worked so well for his father. After all, some of his best runs have come at some of the toughest tracks, with his best run in the Truck Series coming at Rockingham earlier this year, and only mistakes have kept him out of victory lane in the Truck series. It seems that after a brief and checkered F1 career (and that's putting it mildly), Nelon Piquet, Jr. has found a home in NASCAR, and his win in this race, combined with a win earlier this year in the K&N Pro Series race at Bristol (speaking of tough tracks) has made him a more confident driver, and quite possibly, with apologies to Juan Montoya and Marcos Ambrose, the younger Piquet could become the first international superstar in NASCAR, and could make him a transcendent figure in the next decade, should he stay the course in NASCAR and not get caught up in anything else, such as the incident that ended his once-promising F1 career a few years ago. 38. cjs3872 posted: 06.24.2012 - 2:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Irony, I slightly disagree with you on what was the biggest moment in Jacques Villeneuve's racing career. Wnning the World Championship was big, no doubt, but the biggest moment in his racing career occurred when he made up two laps in the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and benefitted when Scott Goodyear jumped the final restart to win the Indianapolis 500 on his way to the CART series championship. That win opened the door to a top F1 team for him, and within two years, he was World Champion, though he strangely never won another race after his F1 title in 1997. That World Championship made him just the fifth (amd most recent) driver to win both the Indianapolis 500 and a F1 World Championship. He joined Graham Hill, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, the only man to win both the Indianapolis 50 and the F1 World Championship twice, and Jim Clark, who amazingly won both Indy and the World Championship in the same year (1965). 39. Mark posted: 06.24.2012 - 6:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why are you 13.Anonymous can tell your name. Yes fuel mileage finishes are luck not good driving. She wasn't wrecked intentionally he was knocked in the grass and couldn't stop. Danica is ok but she is not going to win a lot of races. She race indy for seven years and won one time. "Fuel mileage" And I really believe every racecar driver dreams about winning fuel mileage races no need to be good. Fuel mileage and rain outs SUCK. Most of the time drivers that suck win fuel mileage races. 40. irony posted: 06.24.2012 - 7:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Danica was legitimately going to finish 7th-10th at Vegas without the fuel mileage. She finished 12th yesterday, so no not evened out. 41. Anonymous posted: 06.24.2012 - 8:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great to see Eric McClure get a lead lap finish in his return back. 42. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.24.2012 - 8:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) cjs, I have been watching Nelsinho for 8 years; you have no idea how gratifying it is to see him in victory lane after flat out domination after he got no real chance in F1 despite managing Rapax (his father is owner in name only now) all those years. He is an extremely talented driver, and I can see him becoming the greatest open-wheel transfer after Tony Stewart if he is given the chance. Nelsinho is an extremely talented driver who gets the best possible finish without making mistakes. As you said, he has a Terry Labonte perfection, but he has the speed of ability to drive flat out like Dale Earnhardt. Am I the only one who could see this kid winning 5-10 OVAL races at the Cup level? I am a big purist who would love to see Southerners only in the sport with a few others dabbled in, but this kid deserves it. 43. Peter posted: 06.24.2012 - 9:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Congrats to Nelson Piquet AKA "the next big thing" Also a great day for Michael McDowell, when is Gibbs going to wake up and put him in the car full-time And people need to cut JV some slack; did Danica deserve a great finish: absolutly, should JV have braked a little early to aviod hitting her: yes, but from reading other people comments they like to overlook the fact that this was the last lap, and in NASCAR everyone goes for broke on the last lap. Plus he had grass and dirt on his tires from Mad Max shoving him off the track 44. palo_s posted: 06.24.2012 - 10:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #43: No, Villeneuve every race wrecks some drivers.. Last year he wrecked Papis and Scott.. In Montreal he made another bonehead move - he nearly wrecked Ambrose.. 45. jensenators posted: 06.24.2012 - 10:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm surprised no one made a "damn the truck series drivers taking wins away from the nationwide guys" comment. 46. Dave#38Fan posted: 06.24.2012 - 11:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) when it was first announced that piquet would be running trucks full-time in 2011, i figured he would be another dario franchitti or patrick carpentier that would never catch on, he had a couple good finishes in trucks back in 2010 but the depth of the field in the truck races isn't what it used to be, narain kartheykian (i probably spelled that wrong) even had a couple top 15s back in 2010. although he made more than a few rookie mistakes, like spinning out on the last lap in the june texas race and the august michigan race while running in the top 5 both times, he showed obvious talent, and has showed tremendous improvement this year. though 25 races last year he recorded 10 top ten finishes and 6 top fives, though 7 races this year, he has 5 top tens and 3 top fives, i really do see this guy going to cup someday, along with teammate james buescher. his other teammate allgaier is still a maybe, i can easily see him becoming the next jason keller or jeff green (no offense to them). 47. cjs3872 posted: 06.24.2012 - 12:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, NicoRosbergFan, as I mentioned, Nelson Piquet, Jr. races like his father did on his way to three World Championships. He always seems to finish races like his father did. Like I mentioned in that post, Nelson, Sr. only spun out or crashed out of 27 races in 12 years in what probably was the most competitve era in the history of F1, especially where elite drivers were concerned (though the 1960s, with stars like Clark, Stewart, Hill, Brabham, and Surtees would give that a great run). After all, he won his championships in the era of Senna, Prost, and Mansell (among others) and was competitve enough to be a winner at the end of his F1 career. And I think if he hadn't been injured in a crash at Indy in 1992 (how ironic was that for a driver that was known for not crashing?), he could have won the Indianapolis 500 someday, and maybe even drove on the IndyCar circuit for a few years alongside fellow Brazilian racing legend Emerson Fittipaldi if he so desired. And if he has a successful NASCAR career, the one thing Nelson, Jr. may do more than anything else is to open the eyes to what a great career his father had, which has been forgotten in the passage of tme probably more than any great champion has in the last few decades. But if he's what you say he is, he may win more than you think, but he'll definately infuriate his competitors if he's in a championship race if he's anything like his father was. 48. Talk4Tar posted: 06.24.2012 - 2:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gotta love Jacques Villeneuve. Only he can turn opinion on this site PRO-Danica. I love JV, my all-time favorite F1 Driver, and a guy who isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Between him, Parker Kligerman and BK, I love the line up in that 22 car! 49. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.24.2012 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Its not Danica we dislike, it is the hype behind her and her celebrity and the way everything has to cater to her regardless of how she does. It is frustrating hearing constant updates on her when she is racing with WAY underfunded drivers like Joe Nemechek, Taylor Malsam, and Mike Bliss. 50. 10andJoe posted: 06.24.2012 - 7:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Update for To The Back section: Kurt Busch (#54) transmission change 51. Scott posted: 06.24.2012 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jacques Villeneuve is a Jackass. Short on talent and long on bravado. 52. Talk4Tar posted: 06.25.2012 - 2:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Jacques Villeneuve is a Jackass. Short on talent and long on bravado." Formula One World Champion. 11 Formula One Wins. 1995 Indianapolis 500 Winner. 100% win rate at Road America in CART. 1995 CART Champion. Five CART wins in two years. Clearly, he has no talent. 53. Hates start and parks posted: 06.25.2012 - 7:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) But at least Jacques too Manica out. Good job Jacques!! 54. palo_s posted: 06.25.2012 - 7:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #53: After 1997 Villeneuve never won race.. In 2001 his driving killed track marshall.. He had troubles in CART and Formula One because he ignored yellow flags.. In Formula One he was nearly parked for his ignorance.. 55. cjs3872 posted: 06.25.2012 - 10:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Palo_s (#54) and Talk4Tar (#52), I mention Jacques Villeneuve's accomplishments, as well as the fact that he strangely never won another F1 race after his 1997 World Championship in post #38. Frankly, has anyone's fortunes in racing gone from such heights to such depths in such a quick amount of time? I don't think so. He was an Indianapolis 500, IndyCar, and F1 champion by the age of 27, and just that quickly, his talents seem to have eroded, as if a light switch had been turned off. 56. TheTruthâ?¢ posted: 06.25.2012 - 11:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Danica was legitimately going to finish 7th-10th at Vegas without the fuel mileage." 11th actually, but close enough. So there she finished 4th instead of 11th, and here she finished 12th instead of 4th had she actually been able to hold off Max & Jacques. Sometimes racing gives you the short end of the stick a lot, but usually things tend to balance out. "Also a great day for Michael McDowell, when is Gibbs going to wake up and put him in the car full-time" I think I'd take Ryan Truex full time in that car over McDowell, plus about 10 other drivers I could name off the top of my head. McDowell doesn't drive with a whole lot of respect, and his potential isn't great on ovals, but he has a considerable amount of road course experience which is why he's the easy choice for Road America. 57. NicoRosbergFan posted: 06.25.2012 - 1:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No, McDowell, please. He was so bad MWR fired him. He belongs in road racing. He led this one, and dominated last year, but can't as much as Ryan without the road courses. He should go sports car or open-wheel; he is still young enough to switch. 58. palo_s posted: 06.25.2012 - 1:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #56 Las Vegas - she was 6th, bud she made bad restart.. #55: In 1996 and 1997 Williams was dominant team.. He won championship, but Michael Schumacher nearly beats him with average Ferrari car.. Many F1 fans think he was average driver, who was lucky - he had dominant car.. Same is with his other wins.. For example Indy500 he won because Scott Goodyear was penalized (6 or 7 laps to end).. 59. 18fan posted: 06.25.2012 - 3:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #58: And if Schumacher realized how fast Jacques was going into that corner and doesn't run into him, Schumacher would've won the 1997 championship instead of Villeneuve. 60. Talon64 posted: 06.25.2012 - 5:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nelson Piquet Jr. picked up his 1st career Nationwide Series win, the 2nd first time winner of 2012. The other was James Buescher, making it two full time Turner Motorsports Truck Series drivers who've gotten their first career NNS win in the #30 before getting their first Truck win. He's just the 2nd driver this season to win from pole, with Joey Logano at Fontana being the other. He's the 1st Brazilian to win in NASCAR's top 3 divisions, and the 5th non-American driver to win in Nationwide. The tally for winners in Nationwide this season now stands at 7 Cup drivers, 5 NNS drivers and 2 Truck drivers. With it's 2nd win of the season, the #30's moved up to 5th in the owners points. The #6 Roush team's dropped to 6th. Michael McDowell finishes a career-best 2nd, his 3rd top 5 in 80 starts but all 3 coming in 8 starts with JGR since 2011 (7 top 10's, 6.6 avg fin). Sam Hornish gets his first top 5 and top 10 finish on any road course in NASCAR, 6 starts in Cup and 3 in Nationwide. It's the first time he's had back-to-back top 10 finishes since Phoenix and Las Vegas back in March, but it's his 7th top 10 of the season and his 13th straight finish of 13th or better. Brian Scott picked up his 3rd straight top 10 finish, a new career-high in the series, and his first top 10 in 7 road course starts (16.4 avg fin). Kurt Busch made his first start at Road America, picking up his 8th top 10 in 9 starts this season (8.3 avg fin). Cole Whitt was the highest finishing ROTY contender in 9th, getting a top 10 in his first road course start in Nationwide. It's his 2nd straight top and 5th in the last 7 races. Justin Allgair got his first top 10 in 3 Road America starts, and 4th top 10 in the last 5 races. 61. Daniel posted: 06.25.2012 - 6:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kentucky Entry List: -Tim Andrews in the #08 -Danny Efland in the #4 -#15 returns with Blake Koch -Tanner Berryhill in the #17 -Denny Hamlin in the #18 -Joey Logano in the #20 -Brad Keselowski in the #22 -Jamie Dick in the #23 -Benny Gordon listed in the #24, will probably change. -James Buescher in the #30 -Kevin Harvick in the #33 -Ryan Blaney in the #36 -Brad Sweet in the #38 -#52 TBA -Kurt Busch in the #54 -Johanna Long in the #70 -John Jackson in the #72 -#74 returns with Mike Harmon -Ware's #75 with Scott Riggs -Joe Nemechek back in his #87 -Reed Sorenson in the #98 -Kenny Wallace in the #99 62. Talon64 posted: 06.25.2012 - 6:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "No, McDowell, please. He was so bad MWR fired him. He belongs in road racing. He led this one, and dominated last year, but can't as much as Ryan without the road courses. He should go sports car or open-wheel; he is still young enough to switch." MWR made the mistake of taking him straight from ARCA and throwing him into a Cup car when he was faaaaaaaaaar from being ready. Another example of just how awful MWR used to be and how far they've come as far as management goes. And he wasn't exactly driving premier equipment in Nationwide until the past couple years with JGR. "I think I'd take Ryan Truex full time in that car over McDowell, plus about 10 other drivers I could name off the top of my head. McDowell doesn't drive with a whole lot of respect, and his potential isn't great on ovals, but he has a considerable amount of road course experience which is why he's the easy choice for Road America." I should point out that he has yet to finish outside of the top 10 in 5 oval starts with JGR. 1 top 5, 7.2 average finish. And I should point out that Danica Patrick has one more win than Jacques Villeneuve over the last 15 years. zing 63. DaleSrFanForever posted: 06.25.2012 - 10:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "-Denny Hamlin in the #18 -Joey Logano in the #20 -Brad Keselowski in the #22" Ugh. Will you 3 please give it a rest already. Denny you went from all but being crowned the Cup champ in the late stages of Phoenix, to one of the great collapses ever, to one of the most drastic hangover seasons ever, to somebody we don't know what to make of this year. Focus on Cup. Joey, this is two years in a row that JGR and Home Depot are rather openly courting somebody to take your spot. You got lucky last year when Ford jumped in at the last moment and ponied up a huge wad of money to keep Carl in their camp, the "great guy with a nice genuine personality" who is currently giving Denny a run for his money for worse hangover year in the past two years. Will they be willing to do the same to keep Matt Kenseth out of your seat, a guy that has permanently landed the "boring" label, an "emotionless robot"? (the irony is each label is dead wrong) Probably not. Focus on Cup. And Brad, yeah you have the two wins, but you seem to be back sliding lately, not running well at the tracks you came to life at last year setting up the Summer of Brad, and have quite frankly pulled some Top 15 finishes out of your ass. You have the crew chief, the organization, and the driving ability to be Cup champion. Focus on Cup. "-Kevin Harvick in the #33" You finished 3rd in points in '10 with 3 wins and 3rd again in '11 with 4 wins, then went and had your whole team fired cause you didn't think they could get over the hump. Ever hear of a thing called patience? Did JJ and Chad break up after coming close, but not getting over the hump with two soul crushing defeats in '04 and '05? Well, almost, but they stuck it out. Hell, look at your own damn organization. After '84 when Dale and Richard showed the consistency but not the speed necessary to win the Winston Cup, then in '85 showed the speed but not the consistency to win the Winston Cup, Richard told Dale to find somewhere else to drive cause his own organization was holding him back. Dale said no, they had a good team chemistry building with Kirk and The Junkyard Dogs and they would get there eventually. Over the next 10 seasons they won six Winston Cups, had one soul crushing runner up ('89), one distant runner up ('95, don't let the final margain fool you, they were 300+ points out with just 4 races left), a third (behind legends Bill and Rusty), and a "what the hell was that?" in '92. They dominated NASCAR's most competitive era. But you had your team replaced. You have shown nowhere near the same strength you did the last two years. With no dominant force emerging so far this year, that experience together sure would be nice right about now, huh? What I'm saying is you HAVE to make this work with the new team. Focus on Cup. 64. TheTruthâ?¢ posted: 06.25.2012 - 11:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "#56 Las Vegas - she was 6th, bud she made bad restart.." We were talking about 2011 Vegas when she finished 4th on fuel mileage, not this year's race. If you want to talk about this year's race, she was 6th on the restart because her pit crew gained her three spots on pit road! She wasn't fast enough to run 6th on the racetrack and she faded as expected. That pit stop was with 53 to go, Palo. In 53 laps, you can make up for a bad restart. She just continued to fade. She finished 12th and it was about where she deserved to finish. You don't need to try to defend her in EVERY SINGLE POST. 65. Rusty posted: 06.27.2012 - 5:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the first win for Turner Motorsports in the Nationwide series in which their winning driver led more than 1 lap. Their other 4 wins prior: -Mark Martin in the #32 at Las Vegas in 2011, led one lap -Justin Allgaier in the #31 at Chicagoland in 2011, led one lap -Reed Sorenson in the #32 at Road America in 2011, led one lap -James Buescher in the #30 at Daytona in 2012 To DSFF's post, I get what you are saying but sponsorship is what is driving those guys to running Nationwide races. SportsClips is helping fill out the sponsorship for the #18 team and they appear only willing to sponsor Denny Hamlin. GameStop appears only willing to sponsor Joey Logano as well. The #20 team didn't attempt this race because they had no sponsor with Logano not wanting to make the trip from California to Wisconsin. Brad also has a deal with Discount Tire. We all complain about Cup drivers in Nationwide, but their presence does draw sponsors in a bad economy. I think this season has been a breath of fresh air minus Logano winning so much. Less Cup drivers than ever are running and young guys are making a name for themselves. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will be the best Cup rookie in a long time next season. Also on the #54 KBM team, this weekend's race at Kentucky will be the last one for Kurt Busch for a month or so. Kyle is scheduled to be back in the car at Daytona (though I'm sure Kurt will run Phoenix Racing's #1 again). Kyle will also be in the car at Loudon, will run the Chicagoland race during the Cup offweekend as well as the first ever Nationwide race at Indianapolis. Kurt will return for the second Iowa race, but then Kyle is back in at Watkins Glen, Montreal, Bristol and Atlanta. All in all, Kyle is scheduled to be in the #54 for eight of the next nine races. Things even off though as Kurt is scheduled to run the car in eight of the last nine races of the season with Kyle's lone appearence will come at Texas. I wonder how many of those races Kurt will attempt in Finch's #1. I'd be shocked if they weren't at Daytona. Watkins Glen is a pretty strong possibility too, Kurt's track record there in a Nationwide car is impressive and he probably wants to race. Maybe Indy as well since that is a big deal being the first Nationwide race there. I was told before the season that Phoenix Racing planned 3-5 Nationwide races with Kurt. 66. 10andJoe posted: 08.19.2012 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #75 sponsor: SunEnergy 1 / Bosch Solar Energy 67. 10andJoe posted: 08.21.2012 - 4:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #23 sponsor: Lynch Superstore/Quality Auto Repair #24 sponsor: West Virginia Miners/Linda K. Epling #52 sponsor: Cobblestone Inn & Suites/SuperLite Cars #59 sponsor: Jamison Engineering Contractors #89 sponsor; Racing With Jesus/Schneider Electric #99 sponsor: Delta Comercial, S.A./IMCA 68. 10andJoe posted: 08.22.2012 - 6:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The #99's sponsor should be 'Delta Comercial, S.A./IMCA' - one M, as it's the Spanish spelling. 69. startandparkfan posted: 12.27.2012 - 11:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) McDowell will win one soon enough. 70. NASCARLover22 posted: 09.07.2015 - 10:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew #74 Mike Harmon Sponsor: Kowa Relaxation Drink Owner: Mike Harmon Manufacturer: Chevrolet #15 No driver Sponsor: Rick Ware Racing Owner: Rick Ware Manufacturer: Ford http://www.jayski.com/news/nationwide/2012/story/_/page/2012nns-14roadamerica 71. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 03.13.2016 - 1:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew: WD|Mike Harmon|74|Kowa Unwind Relaxation Drink|Mike Harmon|Chevrolet WD|?|15|Rick Ware Racing|Rick Ware|Ford 72. 34McDowellFan posted: 01.12.2020 - 5:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 4 drivers from 4 different countries made up the Top 4. Have there been any other instances of anything like that happening? 73. Sector posted: 01.12.2020 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) #72 Don't watch Formula E, do you? 74. Danish_Pie posted: 01.12.2020 - 6:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm sure they meant in regards to NASCAR 75. BOBO83329521 posted: 01.12.2020 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @72 In Cup there were 3 instances where 3 different nationalities were represented in the top 5: 2008 and 2010 Watkins Glen, 2011 Vegas. In 2010 Watkins Glen the top 3 finishers were from 3 different countries. 76. Luke posted: 02.18.2020 - 11:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Victor Gonzalez Jr. scored 27 points instead of 0 77. Bodyblower posted: 04.20.2020 - 3:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Colin Braun practiced the 54. 78. Rich posted: 08.04.2020 - 10:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Allen Bestwick, Andy Petree and Rusty Wallace. The pit road reporters were Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Jamie Little and Vince Welch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: