Jeff Gordon: "We need wins."

   Jeff Gordon clearly had a car on Sunday that could contend for the win at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and you could hear the disappointment in his voice when he described afterwards how another chance at a victory slipped away.

   Gordon spoke to members of the media immediately after the race:

   Gordon: The fastest car doesn’t always win the race. And we’re sitting here in 13^th or whatever; it’s silly.

   Q: AS BAD AS YOUR MISFORTUNE WAS, IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS GOING TO WORK OUT AND YOU WOULD BENEFIT FROM IT.

   Gordon: Until that debris caution? Yeah, I can’t wait to see that debris on TV. I’d like to see it because I certainly never saw it. I’m not going to make any comments until I see what they’re reasoning for it was. I don’t know who you blame if there really wasn’t much out there because all the media has been talking about all week long is oh, there’s no cautions, there’s no cautions. It used to be debris cautions. So, who do you blame that on?

   Q: IS IT FRUSTRATING BECAUSE YOU WERE IN THE LEAD AND THEN YOU HAD THE TIRE PROBLEM AND YOU WERE MAKING YOUR WAY BACK?

   Gordon: Ultimately, we put ourselves in this position to get his finish. So, that’s very frustrating. We’ve had things out of our control this year. And I’m not really sure what happened. But obviously something happened. And then I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. But we definitely had a loose left rear. It didn’t go on right to begin with and the left-rear tire-changer knew that. And so when I started to complain about it, we knew that there might be an issue there and there was. So, in some ways we got fortunate today. I could have stayed out there and wrecked because it wasn’t really vibrating. It was getting real loose.

   Q: WERE RESTARTS AS CRITICAL AS THEY LOOKED?

   Gordon: You know, it was the greasiest restarts that I’ve ever felt here. There was just zero-grip for the first three, four, or five laps. So you really couldn’t even race one another on a restart because you were so out of control. And there’s a lot of rubber laid down on the race track and then the way the rubber on the tires matched up to it after you got going there was horrendous. Other than that, the tire was awesome. I really liked it. We ran great with it and the restarts were definitely hairy.

   Q: YOU’VE HAD SO MANY FRUSTRATING MOMENTS THIS SEASON. DOES THIS ONE TAKE THE CAKE? OR HAVE YOU JUST HAD SO MUCH CAKE THAT IT’S ALL THE SAME?

   Gordon: It’s always more frustrating when you’ve got a car that can win; and you show it by going up there and taking the lead. We don’t care about finishing top 15 or top 10 right now. That does nothing for us. We need wins.

Anger issues resurface for Kurt Busch

DOVER, Del. -- Kurt Busch, who's already in trouble with NASCAR, was at it again Saturday at Dover.

Busch, who was put on probation by NASCAR after he did a post-race burnout in Ryan Newman's pit stall at Darlington in May, was asked by Sporting News reporter Bob Pockrass if the probation had an effect on how he raced Justin Allgaeir in Saturday's 5-Hour Energy 200 at Dover International Speedway.

"(Probation) refrains me from not beating the --- out of you right now, because you ask me stupid questions," Busch said in an interview that was also filmed by Speed. "But since I'm on probation, I suppose that's improper to say as well. If you could talk about racing things, we could talk about racing things, Bob."

Pockrass replied that the question was about racing.

"It's not racing," Busch said. "You're in this just to start stuff. That's all you're out here for."

It's not the first time Busch has had a run-in with the media. He had two confrontations with reporters at last season's Richmond race and was also seen on video verbally abusing ESPN reporter Dr. Jerry Punch. -- David Scott

Global Rallycross course at Charlotte gets a fix

   The frontstretch jump planned to be used as part of the Global Rallycross race set to debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway was removed from qualifying runs Friday night out of fears cars bottoming out upon landing could damage the track surface.

    Several officials involved in the competition confirmed to The Observer on Saturday participants were notified the jump would be reconfigured for Saturday night's competition to avoid any potential damage to the track..

   Charlotte Motor Speedway is hosting the first race of the 2012 series schedule.

    The race is still expected to begin on schedule later Saturday night after the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

    Global Rallycross, a mix of motorsports and action sports featuring action sports stars such as Brian Deegan, Ken Block, Travis Pastrana and Tanner Foust, competes on a custom-built, three-quarter-mile course constructed along the frontstretch and pit road of the 1.5-mile speedway.

    The course features hairpin turns, crossover jumps and chicanes and water features all designed to test drivers’ focus and control.

   Photo of original jump configuration, courtesy of Ford Racing:

  

Is your name on the Brickyard 400?

   Country music stars, The Band Perry, visited Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend to announce the finalists for Crown Royal's Your Hero's Name Here" contest, which will name the July 29 race.

   The five finalists are : Dale Beatty, veteran and co-founder of the nonprofit organization Purple Heart Homes from Statesville, N.C.; Lindsey Marquez, ICU nurse from Sun Prairie, Wis.; Curtiss Shaver, Fire Lieutenant and EMT from Troy, Ala.; John Thomas, Deputy Sheriff from Sarasota, Fla.; and Brandon Veatch, veteran and Purple Heart recipient from Bloomfield, Ind.  

   In addition to having their name on all race signage, TV broadcasts and apparel, the winner will experience a true VIP experience – from waving the green flag to start the race to delivering the trophy in Victory Lane.

    Adult consumers can log on to Facebook.com/CrownRoyal and click the “Crown Your Hero” tab to vote for the hero they think is most deserving of naming rights to the race. Voting runs through June 28. The grand prize winner will be announced in early July.

NASCAR pleased with All-Star Race

   Jimmie Johnson certainly was pleased with the format of this year's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race since he claimed his third victory in the event and its $1 million top prize.

   NASCAR liked how the night played out as well.

   "I thought it was probably one of the more competitive All-Star Races I've seen throughout the night," said NASCAR's vice president of competition, Robin Pemberton. "If there is something to look at it's what some of the competitors did by winning and laying back.

   "But that was part of the format and sometimes the format gets tweaked. When you look at those 20-lap segments, I thought the racing in them was better than I've seen in a long time for an All-Star Race."

   Pemberton said NASCAR liked the format because it produces something similar to four heat races.

   "I thought it was good to give something for somebody to go win," Pemberton said. "Now, whether you disagree with the placement of the drivers when they come down pit road, all-in-all, I think there was good, competitive racing."

   Pemberton said series officials will meet before the end of the year, review the race and the format and consider changes.

Want to see a NASCAR driver this week at Speed Street?

   Food Lion Speed Street is delivering the drivers who know speed best. From 2011 Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart to Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth and more, the three-day festival will play host to autograph and question-and-answer sessions May 24 - 26 in uptown Charlotte.

   Scheduled driver appearances

The lineup of attendees is below (subject to change):


Thursday, May 24
Driver/Guest, Time and Location of Appearance
Donny Schatz - World of Outlaws - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
1 – 3 p.m.

Kyle Petty - SPEED and TNT analyst - Motorola Display - Autographs
1 – 3 p.m.

Mackenna Bell - NASCAR Whelen Late Model Series - Revolution Racing Display – Autographs
2 - 3 p.m. and 5 – 6 p.m.

Trey Gibson - NASCAR Whelen All-American Series - Revolution Racing Display – Autographs
2 - 3 p.m. and 5 - 6 p.m.

Cale Gale - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
4 - 6 p.m.

Johanna Long - NASCAR Nationwide Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
4 - 6 p.m.

Jeremy Clements - NASCAR Nationwide Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
4 – 6 p.m.

General Mills Characters - Food Lion Kids’ Zone presented by General Mills – Appearance
Tony the Tiger & Ernie the Elf, Kellogg’s Display – Appearance
WBTV News Anchors - WBTV Display – Autographs



Friday, May 25

Driver/Guest, Time and Location of Appearance
Amber and Angela Cope - NASCAR Nationwide Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Matt Kenseth - No. 17 Best Buy Ford - Kellogg’s Display – Autographs*
Noon – 1:25 p.m.

Kyle Busch - No. 18 M&M’s Toyota - Food Lion Cooking Stage – Appearance
Noon – 1 p.m.

Ross Chastain - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
1 – 3 p.m.

Jennifer Jo Cobb - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
1 – 3 p.m.

Max Gresham - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
1 – 3 p.m.

John King - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
1 – 3 p.m.

Timothy Peters - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
1 – 3 p.m.

Dakoda Armstrong - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Creative Loafing Display – Autographs
1 – 3 p.m.

Kyle Busch - No. 18 M&M’s Toyota - M&M's Display – Autographs**
1 – 2 p.m.

Aric Almirola - No. 43 Smithfield Ford - M&M’s Display - Autographs
1 – 2 p.m.

Matt Kenseth - No. 17 Best Buy Ford - Food Lion Cooking Stage – Appearance
1:30 – 1:55 p.m.

Aric Almirola - No. 43 Smithfield Ford - Food Lion Cooking Stage – Appearance
2 – 3 p.m.

Kyle Petty - SPEED and TNT analyst - Motorola Display - Appearance
2 – 3 p.m.

Bryan Ortiz - NASCAR K&N Pro Series - Revolution Racing Display - Autographs
2 – 3 p.m. and 5 – 6 p.m.

Jorge Arteaga - NASCAR K&N Pro Series - Revolution Racing Display - Autographs
2 – 3 p.m. and 5 – 6 p.m.

Doug Herbert - Top Fuel Dragster - N.C. Highway Patrol Display - Appearance
2:30 - 3:30 p.m.

Kyle Busch - No. 18 M&M’s Toyota - N.C. Highway Patrol Display - Appearance
2:30 - 3:30 p.m.

Cole Whitt - No. 88 Taxslayer.com Chevrolet - Food Lion Cooking Stage - Appearance
3:15 p.m.

Drew Blickensderfer - No. 31 Wheaties Crew Chief - Cheerios Stage
3:30 - 5:30 p.m.

No. 31 Wheaties Racing Pit Crew - Cheerios Stage
3:30 - 5:30 p.m.

Ryan Newman - No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet - Food Lion Cooking Stage – Appearance
5 – 5:30 p.m.

Jeff Burton - No. 31 Wheaties Racing Chevrolet - Cheerios Stage – Autographs***
5 – 7 p.m.

Ryan Newman - No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet - Kraft Display – Autographs****
5:30 – 7 p.m.

Ryan Newman - No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet - Coca-Cola Stage - Appearance
7:30 – 8:15 p.m.

Bobby Labonte - No. 47 Bush’s Baked Beans Toyota - Coca-Cola Stage - Appearance
7:30 – 8:15 p.m.

Brad Keselowski - No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge - Miller Lite Stage – Appearance & Autographs
7:45 - 8:15 p.m.

Todd Peck - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Stopain Display - Autographs
TBD

General Mills Characters - Food Lion Kids’ Zone presented by General Mills - Appearance
Tony the Tiger & Ernie the Elf, Kellogg’s Display – Appearance, WBTV News Anchors, WBTV Display - Autographs



Saturday, May 26

Driver/Guest, Time and Location of Appearance
Ryan Gifford - NASCAR K&N Pro Series - Revolution Racing Display - Autographs
2 – 3 p.m. and 5 – 6 p.m.

Kyle Larson - NASCAR K&N Pro Series - Revolution Racing Display - Autographs
2 – 3 p.m. and 5 – 6 p.m.

Elliott Sadler - No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet - Coca-Cola Stage - Appearance
7 – 7:45 p.m.

Tony Stewart - No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet - Coca-Cola Stage - Appearance
7 – 7:45 p.m.

Todd Peck - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Stopain Display - Autographs
TBD

Tony Stewart - No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet - N.C. Highway Patrol Display - Appearance
TBD

Kyle Busch - No. 18 M&M’s Toyota - N.C. Highway Patrol Display - Appearance
TBD

General Mills Characters - Food Lion Kids’ Zone presented by General Mills – Appearance

Gecko, Geico Display – Appearance, Tony the Tiger & Ernie the Elf, Kellogg’s Display – Appearance

WBTV News Anchors, WBTV Display - Autographs,

Akinori Ogata, NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, Creative Loafing Display - Autographs TBD

Michael Leavine - ARCA Racing Series - Creative Loafing Display - Autographs  TBD

Scott Speed - NASCAR Driver - Creative Loafing Display - Autographs  TBD

Kerry Earnhardt - Creative Loafing Display - Autographs   TBD

Steve Park - NASCAR Driver -Creative Loafing Display - Autographs TBD
_________________________________________

*Matt Kenseth: Limited Number of wristbands will be distributed.

**Kyle Busch: Autograph session wristbands will be distributed at the M&M's tent beginning at 11 a.m.

***Jeff Burton: Wristbands guarantee an autograph for the first 200 fans in line at the Cheerios Stage beginning at 4 p.m.

****Ryan Newman: There are a limited number of wristbands to be distributed at the Kraft Display starting at noon on Friday, May 25.


Admission to Food Lion Speed Street is free. The festival opens each day at noon. For a schedule of events, visit www.600festival.com.

A Q&A with NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson

   Pioneer Dodge car owner Cotton Owens is one of 25 candidates being considered for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame this week. In 1966, the Spartanburg, S.C., native teamed with David Pearson to win what is now known as the Sprint Cup Series title. He claimed 38 Cup victories, 31 of which came with Dodge.

   Q: HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER AND START DRIVING FOR COTTON OWENS?
   Pearson: Well, I’ve known Cotton for a long time. In fact, I always pulled for him before I ever started racing; he’s always been my hero. I’d go by his shop. I always liked him because he’s in my hometown right here. He doesn’t live far from me and, in fact, I go see him quite often now.

   Q:  WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE BACK THEN? WAS IT PARTS?
   Pearson: The Dodge people were the best people I’ve ever worked for, if you want to know the truth. Anything we needed, we got it. We’d tell ‘em we need this or need that and they would get it for us. They furnished us cars, whatever we needed and whatever we wanted. It seemed like they’d bend over backwards to help us and give us everything we needed.

   Q: HOW GOOD WAS COTTON OWENS AND DID YOU EVER RACE AGAINST HIM? 
   Pearson: Well I run against him one time at Richmond. We were running what is now the Sprint Cup cars back then; we called ‘em Grand National. Anyway, I was leading the race and when it was time to pit, they told me to pit. I looked and here come Cotton in, so I had to sit and wait until they got through with Cotton’s stop before they could change my tires. When he went back out, he was in front of me and he ended up winning the dadgum race. He’s always kidded me about that – he’d tell everybody that he went up there on dirt and showed me how to drive (laughs). We’ve always had a good time.

   Q: WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU WHEN YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO DRIVE FOR COTTON OWENS? WHAT WAS THAT LIKE FOR YOU AND YOUR CAREER? 
   Pearson: He ask if I wanted to run all the races and I said well sure, I’d like to run more races. So we run quite a few races that first year (1965) trying to get ready to run the next year, which we did. We run quite a few races and tested a lot while we were running. We changed the car a lot, just experimenting with different things while we were running. It paid off ‘cause the next year, when we run all the races, we won the championship.

   Q: WHAT WAS IT LIKE DRIVING FOR OWENS?
   Pearson: He was good. During the week I’d go over there and help work on the cars too. When they were building new ones, I did a lot of welding on the things. We got along well, we really did. I enjoyed working with him and driving for him. He never did do like some of the drivers say the owners do and try to tell ‘em how to drive and all that. He never said a word to me about what to do or how to drive. I drove it just the way I thought I could drive it and he was satisfied with it. Like I say, we got along good. At motels at night, we would wrestle. We’d do all kind of stuff. He wasn’t like a boss man or nothing like that. He was just like a friend and we enjoyed doing what we were doing together.

   Q: HOW BIG WAS IT WHEN YOU WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP? HOW BIG OF AN ACCOMPLISHMENT WAS THAT?
   Pearson:  We set out to win the championship and we did it. That was a big accomplishment for us to do something like that, especially the first year that we really tried. It meant a lot to me, it really did.

   Q: WHAT WERE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THAT SEASON?
   Pearson: I can’t really remember what all I did win there or how many I won that year (NOTE: he won 15 races). A lot of it was short tracks back then which we’d run good, extra good as far as that goes. Cotton was a good mechanic, too. He built the engines and everything. Every once in a while, he would stick something in there that I didn’t think had enough horsepower. “I remember running Greenville-Pickens one time. It was a dirt track and I told him ‘Cotton, this thing won’t run,’ And what happened, we broke the motor or something and he put a stock motor in the thing and I ended up winning the race with a stock motor. That was fun. Of course the track was muddy and we didn’t need much horsepower. It was really helping us more than it was hurting us because the car wouldn’t spin as much.

   Q: YOU MADE 42 STARTS THE YEAR YOU AND COTTON OWENS WON THE TITLE. WHAT WERE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES TO MAKE SURE YOU HAD A GREAT CAR EVERY WEEK? 
   Pearson: A lot of times we’d run three races in one week. When we made the Northern Tour, we just run the same car and we would make any changes at the motel after each race. We’d go on to the next town that we were going to race in and we’d work on the car there at the motel. We’d change springs and things like that, whatever we thought was right. We run well about everywhere we went. “Cotton did all the work. He’d build motors, he’d build cars. He won the championship in the modifieds too I reckon. He did real well in everything he did. A lot of people don’t know he drove, took the cars to the racetrack, he built it, he’s done it all. He won a bunch of modified races and he won races as a car owner. He did a lot of stuff himself getting the car ready, things a lot of people hadn’t done. Anybody that deserves going into the Hall of Fame, he definitely needs to. I thought he might have gone in last year. I’d like to see him go in. I’d like to see him go in the Hall of Fame before anything happens to him. He needs to get in there right now. I think if he knew he was going in, something like that would help him a lot.

   Q: WHAT CAUSED YOU TO GO YOUR SEPARATE WAYS? 
   Pearson: We’re just as close friends now and we didn’t get mad at each other. We were getting ready to go to Columbia (S.C.), to the race down there. He had the truck pulled outside (of the garage) and went home to take a shower. All of us were out there ready to go. We were running a little bit late so we just decided, me and the crew, we got in the car and took off to get some ice for the cooler so we wouldn’t have to when he come out. So when we went to get the ice, Cotton came out and he thought we run off and left him. He kind of got a little ill about that and he just pulled the race car and truck and everything back in the garage. So when we got back we thought he’d left us and we’d have to hurry up and go catch him. So we took off to Columbia and when we got there, there was no Cotton. He got mad and pulled his truck and stuff into the garage and we thought he had already gone. When we got back, we didn’t see no car or truck or nothing. He had pulled it back into the shop. We thought he run off and left us and he thought we had run off and left him. It all ended up on account of that bag of ice we went to pick up. “But the next morning I went up there and the boys were standing on the outside. I said ‘What are ya’ll doing standing out here?’ They said ‘He just fired us. He got mad, said we run off and left him last night.’ I couldn’t believe it and I went back in there and I said ‘What are you doing Cotton, getting mad at these boys and running them off. We thought that you run off and left us. We went to get ice.’ He said if you don’t like it you can go too. I said, well, I don’t like it so I just turned around and walked out. I told the boys when I went outside ‘Well, I’m gone too’ so that’s what we broke up about. Neither one of us was mad. He said that and when he said that, I didn’t like it. I lost a bunch of points. I didn’t race. Anyway, it worked out all right. “I wasn’t mad. I understood why he got mad ‘cause he thought we run off ad left him and later on, he felt the same way that I was. He wasn’t mad at me; he just didn’t understand what happened. We’re real close friends. In fact, I went to see him before the Darlington race. Before he got sick, I used to go by and pick him up every Sunday and take him to lunch after church. He’s a nice fella, he really is.

   Q: IT SEEMS LIKE YOU GUYS HAD A SMALL TEAM BACK THEN. HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO COMPETE? 
   Pearson: We were a small organization, but you don’t need all those people like Hendrick and others have. They’ve got two or three hundred people working at the shop. I think we had probably six or eight people. That’s all we had at the shop. If you get any more than that, you probably get in each other’s way. Everybody knew what they had to do and they did it, whatever they had to do. We didn’t make a lot of money, as far as that goes, but it was enough to keep you going. Dodge paid him as well as I guess anybody else was getting as far as that goes. Cotton has always been fair; at least he has to me. We had a good bunch of boys, too. All of us were from around here and we enjoyed each other. We were always carrying on with a bunch of stuff. I always had something going on. “I remember one time we were up in Maryland running on a short track and I was leading the race and had a pretty good lead. And I looked and they (the crew) were over on the backstretch watching the race. They weren’t far from the pits. So I started cutting the switch off and on like it was skipping and they took off running to the pits. They knew I was coming in and I laughed when I went by because there wasn’t anything wrong with the car. We were always doing something like that. 
  
   Q:  WHAT WAS HIS TEMPERMENT LIKE AS AN OWNER? HOW DID THAT MESH WITH YOUR PERSONALITY? 
   Pearson: He was more hyper, like a little ol’ banty rooster jumping around. He was always in a hurry to get something done. It was a lot of fun just working with him. He’s always been my hero, all the way back when he ran the modifieds. I’d go around looking to see what all they would do to the cars. There were a bunch of shops here in Spartanburg; Bud Moore was here and Jack Smith. At one time there were nine teams here in Spartanburg, so I’d go around to different teams and see what they were doing, trying to learn things for my own car. They were a lot of people that helped me, tell me about different things. I’d ask questions, especially when I was running my car and before I ever started with Cotton. I’d ask things about what made this work or what made that work. They were good to me and they would explain things to me.

   Q: WHAT WAS THE STRENGTH OF THE COTTON OWENS TEAM?
   Pearson: It was everything. We always run pretty good and always handled pretty good. We all just worked together. If I wanted to try something, I’d tell him and we’d try it. And if it didn’t work, we’d go back and do something else. We just worked well together.s