'What part of no brakes don't you understand?'

   During Sunday's Ford 400, Joey Meier, the spotter for driver Brad Keselowski, made a comment over the team radio referencing a quote, "What part of he doesn't have any brakes don't you understand"?

   After clinching his first Sprint Cup Series championship, Keselowski was asked the meaning behind the statement. It turns out, it relates to a story from a race early in Keselowski's career.

   Let him tell you the story:

   “Joey (Meier) is my spotter, and the first time I worked with him was -- it might have -- it was the first couple races I worked.  I'm not going to say it was the first time but really close to the first time, I was at Charlotte in 2007 in the spring race, and my dad was crew chiefing, and we were driving -- I was driving, I should say, this car for this guy out of Kentucky, and it was really underfunded and we made the show.  And keep in mind 2007 was a really tough year to make the Nationwide races with all the double digit cars and so forth, and we made the show and it was great and it was anything I could have dreamed it of, and it was just one of those starting to break in.

   “So Joey is alluding to that because we were together as we were breaking in, or he had already been part of the sport but I was breaking in with him and that's when our relationship really started. And so anyway, this race -- there's two parts to this story.  We changed our right front spring once in practice, and Paul will appreciate this because he's a crew chief and a car guy, but in order to put a right front spring in you've got to lower the suspension down, and these cars have brake lines in them, and it's flexible brake line, but the way the spring went in the brake line was too short and it broke.

   “So we changed the spring and I went out on the track, and about that time, the yellow came out for practice, somebody wrecked, and it was right at the end of practice, and so practice got canceled right there, but I was already out on the line. And for those of you that have been to Charlotte and know how that works, at the end of Nationwide practice, Cup qualifying begins, and so for whatever reason, I don't remember exactly why, instead of doing a lap around the track and returning to the garage, everybody did like this half lap backwards down that quarter-mile track they have at Charlotte.  Well, I didn't realize I didn't have any brakes.  We grabbed like second or third gear, we're going like 65 miles an hour backwards around this racetrack, and I make this right-hander into the quarter mile, and the whole Cup field is there for qualifying, and I mean the whole Cup field, and I'm going like 60 miles an hour, and I go to hit the brakes. Nothing.

   "All I can see is all these people, all these cars, and Jeff Gordon's car is right in front of me.  I've got no brakes, and I'm out of control. So I make this hard left and go through the infield, and I just tear this car all up, and the wrecker driver comes and gets me, and he yells in the window in this very southern voice a couple obscenities, basically saying what were you doing. I'm like, I didn't have any brakes. So as it would happen, we replaced that brake line with another brake line that just happened to be even shorter and broke in the race. So we get in the race and we do this first run in the race, and I'm running pretty good, I'm running like 15th or 20th, which again, for where I was at in my career was great, it was awesome. That was all I could ask for.

   “And there's a green flag pit cycle, and getting ready for the green flag pit cycle and I pushed the brakes, we're halfway through the run and the brake line breaks off this car, and so this car won't stop, won't stop.  So we talk about it for 15, 20 laps, and we're talking about when this green flag pit stop comes we're going to have to get the car stopped because the car is not going to stop, it's got no brakes. And we get on pit road and I go to pull into my pit stall and everybody jumps across the wall, jack in hand, everything, and everyone forgot that I had no brakes, and I just, vroom, right through the pit stall.

   “So I go -- this is in the middle of green flag pit stops, so I am like 20 boxes down, no brakes, so the whole crew runs over and starts to push the car backwards, and I get -- Joey is spotting the whole time, and Joey is over the radio, oh, my God, and Joey is real exaggerated about it.  They're pushing my car backwards really, really fast, and I get five stalls away, and they're pushing me backwards, and they do this like push off motion like a bobsled. So what happens?  I still have no brakes.  So I'm going down pit road at what feels like 35 miles an hour.  I know a human being can only run like 10 or 15, but it felt like this car was going 30 miles an hour backwards under green in the middle of green flag pit stops, no brakes.  And of course so what happens, I go flying through the pit box backwards and almost end up on the racetrack backwards.

   “My dad comes over the radio at that moment and goes, 'What part of no brakes don't you understand?'  And he just goes off on these crew guys. For me and for Joey, that was one of those moments where we bonded together and just have told that story, and Joey has been with me almost ever since. So that's how far Joey and I have come together. But we still tell that story all the time. So now you know the story. That's my racing story.
         
   “I don't think you guys have heard that, either, have you?"

   Not until now.

Danica Patrick sets NASCAR record

   Danica Patrick ended the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series season 10th in the series standings, finishing 22 points ahead of 11th place Joe Nemechek.

   Patrick set the record for the highest-finishing female driver in NASCAR national series history.

   The previous record was held by Sara Christian, who finished 13th in the Sprint Cup series standings in 1949 – 63 years ago.

Brian France on how NASCAR faces sponsorship issues

   NASCAR unveiled some new changes to paint schemes on cars in the Sprint Cup Series beginning next season.

   The most prominent change is drivers' last names will appear on the front windshield of the cars. Sponsor logos will be allowed on the roof for the first time, as well some other smaller changes.

   Asked if the changes were part of a broader effort to provide a greater platform for sponsors in the sport, NASCAR Chairman Brian France talked about the difficulties the sport has faced with a struggling economy and changes to advertising budgets of companies.

    "Well, we have traditional things that you would think we would have at our disposal, making the space available differently and smarter on the car. That's one thing. There's being ever mindful of the cost issue being another. But we're not going to be in a position to change the economy, how just about every company is being much more judicious and careful with their advertising expense, no matter how well they work," France said. "They're not in a position as they were a few years ago to make big bets out over long periods of time at the level that they were. It's understandable.

   "And then you throw in from an economy standpoint that our fans, the best in the world, drive the furthest, they stay the longest, they often as you guys know build their race weekends around family vacations and all kinds of things. Well, the cost to do that and the unemployment, when you don't have a job and the costs are still going up, it isn't hard to understand why we will be in a little bit different position. So we're working on all those things, and we're doing everything we can.  Things will get better on that, and they have gotten better in some areas.

   "We've put a lot of new companies into the sport. We'll always have some attrition, too, so a lot of these companies are starting to get early good results, like 5‑hour Energy drink being one, and there are a number of companies that we have. But we're more reliant, there's no doubt about that, on corporate sponsorship."

 

RPM re-signs Almirola, Ambrose for 2013 Sprint Cup season

   Richard Petty Motorsports confirmed Saturday it had re-signed its current drivers in the Sprint Cup Series, Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola, for the 2013 season. Ambrose will enter his third season driving for the organization. He will again be behind the wheel of the No. 9 Ford. Almirola will begin his second season as the driver of the No. 43 Ford.  

   Ambrose has three top-five and eight top-10 finishes, including two victories at Watkins Glen, N.Y., during his stint with Petty.

 

   "It's good to come back to Richard Petty Motorsports and focus on our future together," said Ambrose. "We had success this year and recently have made plans to get better for 2013 and beyond. It was great to win at Watkins Glen, earn my first two poles and also have the opportunity to make the Chase this year."

 

   Almirola is completing his first full season in the Cup series. He has one top-five and three top-10 finishes and won his first career pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.  

   "We went through some changes this season, but since being paired with Todd (Parrott) and this crew, I've had the most fun I've had in a Cup car," said Almirola. "I think we have a lot of things 'clicking' right now and have a lot of momentum heading into 2013."

2012 NASCAR Truck Series final standings

   Final points standings for 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

   1. James Buescher, 808 points
   2. Timothy Peters, 802
   3. Joey Coulter, 789
   4. Ty Dillon, 784
   5. Parker Kligerman, 778
   6. Matt Crafton, 759
   7. Nelson Piquet Jr., 747
   8. Justin Lofton, 710
   9. Johnny Sauter, 678
   10. Miguel Paludo, 668

   

Hornish, Blaney set to return to Penske in 2013

   Penske Racing owner Roger Penske said Friday former IndyCar champion Sam Hornish Jr. will return to the organization next season and run for the Nationwide Series championship with the No. 12 team.

   Penske said Hornish will also likely run some races in a third Cup car in 2013.

   "We have a commitment for a number of Cup races on a third car, which Sam will be there to run those races," Penske said.

   Penske said he also expected Ryan Blaney to drive for Brad Keselowski’s Truck team next season as well as run a handful of Nationwide races for Penske.

   "It's not a done deal," Penske said of the Blaney rides. "We started with him maybe running two or three this year and I think he'll end up with seven or eight. We think that he's a fine young man, and he's got a lot to learn like they all do, but I think he's certainly coming from a family that's been racing, and he seems to have the talent."

Carl Edwards: From nearly first to worst?

   One year ago, Carl Edwards rolled into the Sprint Cup Series season finale in a neck-and-neck battle with Tony Stewart. While Edwards won just one race last season, he and his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing team had remarkable consistency and contended for wins on a weekly basis.

    So, what's happened?

    Edwards goes to Sunday’s season finale without a win and having failed to qualify for the Chase this season.

    He is ranked 15th in points with just three top fives and 13 top 10s. The 2012 season statistically is Edwards’ worst in his eight years as a full-time series competitor.

    Homestead-Miami Speedway, however, is a good place to kick-start 2013 and end the year on a positive note – for Edwards and RFR. RFR has won seven of 13 Homestead races – including five in a row between 2004 and 2008.

    While a victory would certainly be welcomed in the Edwards camp, it is far from the season they had envisioned.