Sunday, August 12, 2012

What do NASCAR fans want to see Tony Stewart drive?

   Last year, Tony Stewart's sponsor, Mobil 1, helped Stewart helped arrange an opportunity for Stewart to drive a Formula One car. This year, Mobil 1 to give Stewart the chance to drive something else, but it would like race fans' help.

   Until Aug. 27, fans have the chance to vote in three separate rounds to choose Stewart's ride. The winning vehicle, as decided by fans, will be announced during the “Mobil 1 Choose Tony’s Ride” exhibition at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Aug. 28 where Stewart will unveil the winning vehicle by driving it at the track.

   In the Round One, fans are voting between a Chevrolet Astro Van and a M36 GMC Jackson Tank!

   To vote, visit the Mobil 1 Facebook page here.

Jeff Gordon clearly wanted a caution

   Jeff Gordon wasn't about to mince words when it came to his opinion on how the final laps of Sunday's Finger Lakes 355 at Watkins Glen International went down.

   Gordon wasn't in contention for the win, but he was set for a Top-10 finish when he spun in oil on the last lap of the race. Several drivers complained of oil on the track, but it was not readily visible. NASCAR said its officials did not report seeing any oil on the track, only black smoke trailing from Bobby Labonte's No. 47 Toyota.

   Gordon was asked about his incident immediately after the race.

   "Oil all over the race track, it’s pretty ridiculous they don’t want to end a race under caution and put that many cars in jeopardy. I had no idea that there was oil out there. I knew there was all kinds of havoc happening all around, but it was a great effort by our Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet. I’m pretty bummed out right now because we didn’t have the day that I thought we were going to have," Gordon said. "I thought our car was a lot better than that. We started pretty good, but I knew something wasn’t right. Then we tried to make an adjustment it didn’t go the right way, went backwards. Yet Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and the guys made some adjustments there on that last stop and we weren’t good on the restart, but man did it come on. 

   "We were just passing cars left and right. I was having a blast. To work that hard all day long, come all the way from way back all the way up into the top 10 and have it taken away because they don’t want to throw a caution it’s pretty disappointing. I jumped out there to the outside of (Matt) Kenseth and I think he could see the oil because he just gave it to me. I went out there and there was just no grip just completely came around. I went to the outside and hit it (oil on the track) and just spun right out. I’m just really disappointed because we fought hard today to come back to get what was going to be a pretty nice finish.

   "The thing is, I’m just disappointed at how hard we had to fight for the position. The points are going to be what the points are going to be. We can’t control what other people do. We can only control what we do. And today, we took back control when we got off, and we were coming. It’s just unfortunate that that gets taken away from you because NASCAR doesn’t want to end the race under yellow (caution). I understand. You want to keep it entertaining and give the winner a shot at it but there are a lot of other things going on our there too. I think they completely disregarded that and hey, it’s over now. We’ll move on."