Tuesday
Schumacher Looking To ?Savour? Last Grand Prix
Paris Motor Show 2012: Ferrari Produced Letters By 2013
Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/345-paris-motor-show-2012-ferrari-produced-letters-by-2013.html
Here?s the math: How the three NASCAR championships can be won at Homestead
Want to know how all three points leaders in NASCAR's top three series have to fare to guarantee themselves a title at Homestead this weekend? You've come to the right spot.
In the Sprint Cup Series, leader Brad Keselowski has a 20-point advantage over Jimmie Johnson, which means that even if Johnson wins, a finish of 15th for Keselowski guarantees him the title. If Keselowski leads a lap, it's a 16th-place finish, and if he leads the most laps, it's a 17th-place finish.
If Johnson was to finish second (and didn't lead a lap), Keselowski would need to finish in 23rd place to win the championship, provided he doesn't lead a lap either, as a tie in the points standings would go to Johnson. Since each driver currently has five wins, the tiebreaker goes to second-place finishes, where Johnson has five to Keselowski's three.
Just like the Cup Series, the Nationwide Series points standings separated the top two from each other at Phoenix. That means Ricky Stenhouse's clinch scenario is very similar to Keselowski's, as he holds a 20-point lead over Elliott Sadler. For Stenhouse, 16th with no laps led gets him the title, while 17th with a lap led and 18th with the most laps led are also the thresholds. (Stenhouse has six wins to Sadler's four.)
The Camping World Truck Series has the closest championship battle of the three series and it also has more than two drivers mathematically alive for the title.
James Buescher has an 11-point lead over Timothy Peters and a 12-point lead over Ty Dillon. Joey Coulter is 29 points back and Parker Kligerman is 37 behind, but they're going to need a lot of help (i.e., a very early incident involving Buescher plus other craziness) to grab the title.
Buescher has the edge on both Peters and Dillon in the wins column four to two, so he can clinch with an eighth-place finish and no laps led, or a ninth with a lap led and 10th with the most laps led. If he's ahead of Peters on the track and Dillon is in the lead, he can afford to slide back a position. If Buescher's behind both drivers and below those benchmarks? Well, it becomes an almost-heads up between Peters (two wins) and Dillon (one win).
Got all that? Now you're ready for the final NASCAR weekend of the year. Is it Friday yet?
Power Rankings: Gearing up for the big finish
The eighth race of the Chase is over, and that means it's time for Power Rankings! But we're doing things a little differently now that we're in the postseason. It's all-Chasers, all the time. Good job, good effort for those of you that didn't make it, but we've got bigger fish to focus on. We'll be judging who's running well, considering not just finishing position but quality of run, expected potential, and general gut feelings. As always, we hate your guy and are biased against him. Now, enjoy.
1. Jimmie Johnson. Relentless. You want a statement? Winning two straight races is it. This is a thoroughly impressive Chase from Johnson, who's got the inside line on his sixth championship. Indeed, in almost any other year, it'd be a cakewalk. Except ... Last week: 1.
2. Brad Keselowski. Seven points down after two Johnson victories? That's got to count as success for @Kes. The most important race of his life is coming up this weekend in Phoenix; if he can stay close to Johnson, and perhaps even shave a couple points off the lead, Homestead becomes a fascinating showdown. Last week: 2.
3. Clint Bowyer. Although all the returns aren't yet in, we're calling it: Clint Bowyer and everyone after him has lost the Chase. With that in mind, we'll take these next three weeks to give thumbnail summaries of the Chase drivers' runs. For Bowyer, this Chase has been nothing short of exceptional. He won a race, stayed in the mix until the last couple weeks, and showed he's the elite driver Waltrip hired him to be. Last week: 3.
4. Kasey Kahne. Kahne entered the Chase after a strong summer run, and managed to stay closer to the front than most. He snagged a couple poles and a couple of third-place finishes, but that wasn't quite enough to stay with the lead dogs. Last week: 5.
5. Matt Kenseth. This guy was the reason for the creation of the Chase, and he might be the reason for the reworking of it. He's won twice and yet remains buried in the field. Fair? Depends on if you're a Kenseth fan or not. Last week: 8.
6. Denny Hamlin. Like a driver trying, and failing, to stretch at Michigan, Hamlin has run out of gas. This year isn't as devastating as 2010, but he's one more bad Chase away from getting that full-sized monkey on his back. Last week: 4.
7. Jeff Gordon. He may have used up the last of his mojo trying to get into the Chase, because his awful finish in the first week basically killed any chance he had of winning this. Still, Gordon is still relevant and competitive, and should be back again next year. Last week: 7.
8. Martin Truex Jr. With Bowyer, he's helped lift Michael Waltrip Racing to a position of prominence in NASCAR, and he's with the team for the long haul. This was a critical turning-point year for Truex, and even if he faded from the Chase, he should be a fixture. Last week: 6.
9. Tony Stewart. The 2011 champion was never a factor in the 2012 Chase, and remained uncharacteristically quiet for most of it. His wreck at Talladega may alter the entire sport itself, if concussion concerns take root. Last week: 10.
10. Greg Biffle. The curse of the regular-season leader continues. Biffle complained that he didn't get respect as a championship challenger. We'll be genteel and not point out that, well, champions are made in the Chase. Last week: 9.
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. His concussion obviously put an end to any hopes he might have had of a championship, but this is a watershed season for Earnhardt: the year he re-established himself as one of NASCAR's preeminent drivers. Last week: 11.
12. Kevin Harvick. Is it 2013 yet? Harvick has to be ready to be done with this misfire of a season, but at least he's got the Chase berth to hold onto. Last week: 12.
Non-Chaser(s) of the Week: The Busch bros. Both finished in the top 10, and that's no small achievement. Kyle is showing that he could have actually done some damage had he figured out how to make the Chase, while Kurt is showing that he can drive the wheels off a car when he doesn't, you know, drive the wheels off the car.
All right, you're up. Who goes where? Have your say.
Related NASCAR news from Yahoo! Sports:
Monday
BMW Press Release: Davies And Melandri Test At Aragon
BMW issued the following press release after completing testing at Aragon:
BMW Motorrad - WSBK - Winter Testing - Motorland Aragón
Alcañiz, 15th November 2012. After the rain-hit test last week at the Spanish Jerez circuit, BMW Motorrad scheduled two more days of testing this week at “Motorland Aragón” near Alcañiz (ESP). There the factory riders Marco Melandri (ITA) and Chaz Davies (GBR) continued the preparation for the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship yesterday and today. Again the team was not too lucky with the weather conditions. Yesterday, Wednesday, and last night it rained again. This morning the track was still damp, but then it dried up. Therefore, at least this afternoon, the team found good conditions to continue its comprehensive testing programme. The highest air and track temperatures reached 17 degrees Celsius.
BMW Motorrad had taken numerous newly developed components for several areas of the BMW S 1000 RR to Alcañiz, which were evaluated by Marco and the team. His new team mate, Chaz, used the time to further familiarise himself with his RR. In total, Marco and Chaz completed 114 laps or 607 kilometres of testing on their RRs.
Allmendinger?s NASCAR Career Is Effectively Over
TheNASCARInsiders.com
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/CyT8Wbpc7T0/
Paris Motor Show 2012: Ferrari Produced Letters By 2013
Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/345-paris-motor-show-2012-ferrari-produced-letters-by-2013.html
New All-Star Format Fell Short
TheNASCARInsiders.com
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Bridgestone Press Release: Valencia Test Wrap Up
A press release from Bridgestone discussing the Valencia MotoGP test:
Sunday
Bull amongst the cowboys
Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/bull-amongst-the-cowboys/
Chase Watch: Jimmie Johnson keeps pace with Brad Keselowski despite crash
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- After leading 44 laps in the early stages of Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, Jimmie Johnson found himself back in 20th place after getting caught by a caution flag immediately after making a pit stop under green from the lead. But that didn't look like too much of a mountain to climb. He had more than half of the race to make up the track position. And then he crashed.
On lap 136, Johnson's car snapped sideways on him exiting turn four. He backed into the wall, crumpling the left rear quarterpanel and rear fender of his Lowe's Chevrolet. For a moment, it looked like deja vu from last year's Charlotte race, where Johnson's crash effectively took him out of title contention.
"And everything else today -- this weekend -- was really good except for one corner and truthfully I was just trying to get inside of (Martin Truex, Jr.), he was loose in front of me, I could see his car moving around and I was trying to put some pressure on him and his car bobbled, when his car bobbled I jumped in the gas, hopeful to get an opportunity and mine took off," Johnson said.
But this was far from Charlotte, where the damage was crippling. The damage on Sunday was significant. However, it wasn't fatal, but rather a flesh wound. Johnson drove the car to his pit stall, and his pit crew immediately went to work on the car with all of the hammering and Bare Bond adhesive strips that they could muster.
"When you sit back and look at it, the vital parts were still intact where we needed them, the spoiler was still where it needed to be, the roof was dented a little bit and the rear window was buckled up a little bit, but all in all, everything was there," crew chief Chad Knaus said. "So when Ron and the guys got out there and everything secured pretty well, I felt very confident that he was going to be able to drive it."
The team made four consecutive pit stops to fix the damage, and then were given another immediate opportunity to do some more work on the car under caution when Bobby Labonte crashed just after the green flag waved. The car wasn't pretty by any means -- the left quarter panel was bowed out, and a bumper bar was sticking out of the car's sheetmetal on the rear bumper, but the quick fixes -- ones that car owner Rick Hendrick called "unbelievable" -- were effective enough to give Johnson a competitive car for the rest of the race to end up with a 9th place finish.
"1. I'm impressed that they fixed it as they did and got the spoiler and decklid back in place," Johnson said, "And then 2. and then surprised that the car was as fast as it is. It drove fine through the turn, I could tell on the straightaway that I didn't have the efficiency and I can see why with this left rear quarterpanel. It's blown out and a big parachute sticking in the wind."
At one point, thanks to the differing pit strategies in the 14 caution flag filled race, Johnson restarted fifth. While he had enough speed to stay near the front, he lost the track position when he was forced to top off for fuel a second time under caution. But because the damage wasn't incredibly detrimental, Johnson was able to drive back into the top 10, one spot behind Brad Keselowski, the man the No. 48 team is chasing.
"I thought (the 48 crew) did a hell of a job fixing that car is what I was thinking. They were coming."
And they drew even on the day, thanks to those laps Johnson led. With four races to go, the interval between the first and second place drivers is the same as it was with five races to go: seven points.
"It's huge. I really hate missing an opportunity to get points on Brad on a mile and a half. It's their strong suit and they're just good on it. Today we had a fast enough car where I thought we could get some points on them. So I'm disappointed in that, but at the same time, with all we went through, to finish, and have it be even still, is pretty rad. So we'll take it, and we'll go to Martinsville, and, hopefully for the 48, things go as we hope they will."
Who's up? Both Clint Bowyer (6th) and Kasey Kahne (4th) gained points on Keselowski. Now Bowyer is 25 points back, and Kahne is 30 points back.
Who's down? Denny Hamlin had a fast car, but like Johnson, he too pitted under green right before a caution flag while running in the top five. However, the caution flag that hurt Hamlin flew on lap 215, and he didn't have nearly enough time to get back to the front. Hamlin drove back from outside the top 20 to finish 13th, an impressive salvage, but he still lost five points to Keselowski and Johnson.
Who's out? No one put themselves in the out column this week (probably because there's already so many here), and while Truex and Tony Stewart were able to gain points, they are still more than 40 points behind with four races to go.
Stefan Bradl To Be Factory-Supported Rider With LCR Through 2014
Honda have announced that they have extended their contract with Stefan Bradl, and decided to increase their level of support. The German had an impressive rookie season in the LCR Honda team, which persuaded HRC to increase their support for the coming two seasons, extending his contract for a year and upgrading his status to "factory supported" meaning that in effect, Bradl will be on factory-spec equipment for 2013 and 2014.
Below is the press release from HRC and LCR announcing the contract:
HRC AND LCR TEAM WITH STEFAN BRADL IN 2014
LCR Honda Team is pleased to announce that Stefan Bradl has signed an agreement with Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) to line up as a Honda “factory supported” rider competing for the LCR Team in the 2014 MotoGP World Championship.
For the next two years the LCR Team and the German rider, with direct support from HRC, will continue the productive collaboration, which began this year and saw Bradl taking the “Rookie of the Year” Award.
Shuhei Nakamoto (HRC Vice President): “Stefan, in his first season in the premier class, has demonstrated high skills, motivation and professionalism exceeding our initial expectations. We are happy to have fixed this deal to work with LCR and Stefan through to 2014”.
Indianapolis 2005 ? ?Tyre-Gate?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/gzxEBcP_9PY/indianapolis-2005-tyre-gate
Saturday
Valencia MotoGP Test Preview: Rossi, Marquez, Ducati, And The Future
The sense of expectation in the air at Valencia is wound so tight it hums. Tomorrow morning, some time after 10am, some of that expectation will start to dissipate as we get the first glimpses of answers that have preoccupied MotoGP fans for the past few months.
Two things we hope to see: a glimpse of the past and a glimpse of the future. After two long, hard years, the army of Valentino Rossi fans will be hoping to see something they haven't since 2010, or maybe even 2009: a flowing, comfortable, aggressive Valentino Rossi at one with the machine underneath. That was something he never showed while riding the Ducati, the figure in the Rossi replica helmet sitting on the Ducati always looking more like a club racer had sneaked into the back of the Ducati garage to take the bike out for a spin, terrifying himself in the process. Rossi looked stiff, awkward, uncomfortable, his back arched like a cat negotiating a dog-infested yard.
Alain de Changy Colin Chapman Dave Charlton Pedro Matos Chaves
United States Grand Prix: FIVE Predictions