Tag Archive | Stewart Haas Racing

Write A Letter To Your 16-Year Old Self

Dale Earnhardt  Jr

Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88

What Would You Say?

All week I’ve heard about this article that Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote to his 16 year old self. A CBS News project that aired September 12, 2012.

As reported by the media, other Nascar fans and friends, it’s a very moving insight from one of racing’s premier drivers. It reflects on relationships, worries, his career and it even has some humor tossed in for good measure.

It is indeed a very moving reflection from a man who is not comfortable with being in the limelight each and every time he steps through the door. And it made me wonder, if you wrote a letter to your 16 year old self, what would you say?

One of the most poignant lines in his letter that hit home for me was: “You’re there, worried about me here.”

It caused me to think about how much time we waste worrying about things that may never happen, scared to take the chance on that first step on our way to finding out what we can accomplish. One of my favorite things to tell people in my practices is: “We can’t go back and change the past, but we can change the way we allow the past to affect our present and our future.” That starts by living life in the now, to the fullest and without worrying about the failures that “might” cross your path. You will never grab the brass ring, if you don’t take the chance to reach for it in the first place.

Letter Transcript:
Here is a transcript of Jr’s letter to himself:
Continue reading

Do You Believe In Allmendinger?

Allmendinger Tests Positive for Prescription Drug

AJ Allmendinger
Nascar Driver

In an exclusive ESPN interview with Marty Smith, AJ Allmendinger says the drug he tested positive for was a legal substance, prescription Adderall…well it was sort of legal.

You see AJ doesn’t have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which is what Adderall is prescribed for. So not only does he not have a need for the medication, he doesn’t have a prescription for the medication either. 

Then what’s it doing in his system? AJ tells Smith: ” he had been out in Louisville, Ky., the Wednesday before the Quaker State 400 race at Kentucky Speedway and was tired.  A friend, Allmendinger said, handed him a pill and stated it was a workout supplement that would give him energy. Allmendinger ingested the pill.”

Say what? You took a pill based on what “a friend” says when you know the potential dangers to your career if it turns out to be something it’s not? I guess if the “friend” was really a friend they’d be honest about what it was. They’d know the potential issues with a Nascar Driver being randomly tested. Or better yet, they’d suggest going home and going to be instead of being out partying and giving them a substance they aren’t prescribed. What kind of friend was this anyway?  Not much of one that’s for sure. Continue reading

A.J.’s “B” Sample Tests Positive

Nascar Driver A.J. Allmendinger Indefinitely Suspended

AJ-Allmendinger

A.J. Allmendinger

On Tuesday July 24th, Aegis Analytical Laboratories in Nashville completed it’s evaluation of A.J. Allmendinger’s ‘B’ sample provided by the driver several weeks ago at the Nascar event in Kentucky.

As with the first sample, this one too came back positive for what Allmendinger’s business manager, Tara Ragan, said was an unspecified stimulant, adding that the results “were within nanograms of accepted standards.”

Nascar defines stimulants as:
Illegal substances: stimulants (such as methamphetamine, Ecstasy), narcotics (oxycodone, heroin, codeine), ephedrines (pseudoephedrine), benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium), barbiturates, muscle relaxers, sleep aids (Ambien) and beta blockers. Drivers and over-the-wall crewmen also are tested for performance-enhancing drugs such as hGH. Continue reading

Tony Stewart Wins His 3rd ESPY

2012 Best Driver ESPY

2012 Best Driver ESPY Winner
Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart is a 3-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. His run for the Cup title in 2011 was epic as he took the lead in 5 of the final 10 races during the Nascar Chase and won. An unprecedented feat that brought the point standings to a tie with rival driver Carl Edwards. Tony’s 5 wins for the year (all of which were gained in the Chase) broke the tie and gave the 2011 Cup Title to Stewart.

Last night in Los Angeles, California he was honored for that stellar effort with the 2012 ESPY for “Best Driver” at the 20th annual ESPY Awards on ESPN. Other drivers in the category were four-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti, F1 champion Sebastian Vettel and NHRA champion Del Worsham. All great drivers and champions in their own series events.

Tony was not present at the awards in Los Angelese, but he did release a statement. “I am thrilled to win the ‘Best Driver’ award after what turned out to be a great NASCAR season last year. I was fortunate enough to be able to take the checkered flag when it mattered most,” said Stewart. “There were some great drivers and great champions in this category, so I cannot thank the NASCAR fans and everyone who voted enough for their unbelievable support.”

Winners for the ESPYs are determined by fan vote and who they want to win in each category. This is the 3rd time our Anthony has won the “Best Driver” honors from the ESPYs. He also won in 2003 and 2006. Continue reading

When Sports Idols Fall From Grace

How To Talk To Your Children

AJ Allmendinger
Nascar Driver

On Saturday July 7, 2012 Nascar announced the temporary suspension of A.J. Allmendinger driver of the #22 Dodge for Penske Racing. ‘Dinger as he’s known, failed one of the racing series random drug tests that it administers to Officials, Drivers, Crews and anyone who works on a car driven in any level of Nascar.

In Kentucky officials approached the well liked driver, who immediately complied in the in-field care center. Nascar collects a sample which is immediately divided into two containers, sealed and initialed by the testee. These become the ‘A’ and ‘B’ samples. On Saturday Penske Racing was notified that Dinger’s ‘A’ sample failed.

Nascar has a long list of banned substances, from the mundane to the extreme. Neither Nascar, Penske nor Dinger released the substance that was initially found in the sample. Dinger has until Tuesday to request testing of the second ‘B’ sample.  (Story updates at the bottom of this article.) Continue reading

The White House Honors 2011 NASCAR Champion

2011 Chase Drivers Honored

The White House Welcomes the NASCAR Champion, Tuesday April 17, 2012. The tributes to sports teams are a long-stranding presidential tradition. It’s an opportunity for the President to celebrate excellence and achievement by American sportsmen and women.

Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing

The 30th President of the United States is credited with starting the practice. In October of 1924, Calvin Coolidge welcomed the Washington Senators after winning the American League championship. “The Washington team won because it deserved to win,” said Pres. Coolidge. And the same could be said about our own 2011 Nascar Champion Tony Stewart and the entire #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 team!

Say what you will about Pres. Obama, he’s still the sitting President of the United States and it’s an honor for any sports champions to be recognized by the White House.

Every Nascar fan agrees that last year was a unique and special Championship series. The level of intensity expressed by Stewart-Haas Racing and in particular the #14 team and our 3-Time Champion Tony Stewart especially, was a story for the ages. It was spectacular. It was heroic. It was an excellent achievement to raise the bar in the last 10 races of the season. And it deserves the same recognition that any NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB champions have received no matter who is in the Oval Office. It’s about the history of recognition and accomplishment by a country who is grateful to have heroes to cheer for on Sundays. Continue reading

Why Nascar Fans Don’t Like Danica

Earned..or..Entitled?
By Springwolf

Nascar is a family, for drivers and teams and for fans. Get to a track at 7am for tailgating and behind the back of every truck, suv or car will have some form of ‘homestead’ ready to party and have a good time with their neighboring tailgaters. People share specially cooked goodies, treats, recipes and cheers or chides for their neighbors favorite driver compared to their own. With such a family and fun loving comradery, why is it that some drivers aren’t welcomed into the fold equally or as openly as others?

Fans have their favorite drivers, favorite teams and favorite owners in each of the Nascar series. They also have those they don’t like and they’d love to see hit the wall and knock themselves out of the race. I could say there are drivers fans love to hate, but no matter how much fans don’t like a driver, they don’t want to see them hurt when they do hit the wall. So you can’t say real fans hate any of the drivers in the series. As long as they don’t hit the wall and then turn down into our favorite driver or one of his team mates.

So with all that family emotion going on in the stands and outside the track, as well as in the infield; why has it been so hard for Danica Patrick to find acceptance in Nascar? Well that’s easy, she hasn’t earned it. And that’s the only real reason.  Continue reading

We’re Simple Nascar Fans

Our Nascar Fan Stories

Yes we are huge fans in the Evil household.

Dale Earndhardt Jr.

Evil was born and raised in Charlotte, home of Nascar. You can’t grow up in that town without being exposed to racing. But his interest was a gradual thing. It began in the 1980s when he hung out with his closest friend, who happens to be his cousin, Kevin. Kevin was a big Dale Earnhardt Sr. fan. So it wasn’t unusual to find both boys relaxing on a hot Charlotte Sunday in the summers watching a race on TV.  EW is all about family and of course he supported the guy who was his cousins favorite driver. But that support slowly became his own and soon EW was not only a fan of Nascar but a die-hard fan of Dale Sr and that black #3.

Like everyone else, Evil was stunned when Dale Sr. was killed at Daytona. And like a lot of fans, his commitment to racing didn’t end, but rather shifted to The Intimidator’s son; Dale Jr. And he’s proud to be part of Jr. Nation!


Spring has been a fan since Darrell Waltrip’s rookie year in 1972. Being a fellow Tennessean, from Franklin Tennessee that little link made him her guy. As seasons came and went she picked up a second favorite, Davey Allison. Continue reading

2010 Nascar Chase Is On!

 The 2010 Nascar Chase has begun after last night’s Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway. The race itself was less than exciting, in general. But the last 10 laps did get interesting as our native Richmonder Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag over team mate Kyle Busch. Coach Joe Gibbs had a great night in that his entries finished 1st, 2nd and 4th as Joey Logano came in just behind Jimmie Johnson.

Our boys didn’t fare real well however. Tony Stewart had improved his position to the top 5, but began dropping back like a rock after the 1st caution adjustment. Seems the team just couldn’t get those changes corrected and he finished the race in 16th.

Ryan Newman’s chance to get into the chase were dashed as Bowyer had a great race and finished in the top 10. But it was great seeing Ryan fight for all they had and finish the overall race in 11th.

And what happened to Dale Jr? He qualified well, starting in the top 10. But that was all he wrote. He dropped back during the entire race like a rock and finished 34th. All in all it was dismal year for Jr. But Sir Evil remain a true fan.

So our boys end the season like this:

Regular Season Stats
Driver Wins Top 5s Top 10s 11-20 21-30 31->
Tony 1 7 6 4 7 1
Dale Jr   2 4 10 6 3
Ryan 1 2 7 10 3 4
Joey   3 6 6 5 4

The Chase for the Cup begins Sept. 19th in New Hampshire. The points have been reset and the standings going into the race are:

RK DRIVER PTS BACK WINS TOP5 TOP10 DNF EARNINGS
1 Denny Hamlin 5060 6 10 11 2 $4,292,228
2 Jimmie Johnson 5050 -10 5 10 14 4 $5,338,436
3 Kevin Harvick 5030 -30 3 11 17 1 $5,164,351
4 Kyle Busch 5030 -30 3 8 14 1 $4,861,478
5 Kurt Busch 5020 -40 2 8 15 2 $5,464,010
6 Tony Stewart 5010 -50 1 7 14 1 $4,269,900
7 Greg Biffle 5010 -50 1 5 14 2 $3,734,487
8 Jeff Gordon 5000 -60 0 10 13 2 $4,379,398
9 Carl Edwards 5000 -60 0 6 14 2 $4,096,479
10 Jeff Burton 5000 -60 0 5 13 0 $3,943,397
11 Matt Kenseth 5000 -60 0 5 10 0 $4,091,273
12 Clint Bowyer 5000 -60 0 4 14 2 $3,402,729

At last years Chase race in Richmond, the Little Prince decided he liked Carl Edwards. Perhaps because he was able to sit in Carl’s Nationwide Scotts car, which might have been a good luck charm for Carl. He won the Nationwide race that night. Or because the Prince really likes “The Duck” from Aflac. What ever his reasons, we’ll be following Carl from now on as his #2 guy.

So here’s hoping Tony and Carl smoke ’em all in the Chase! Good Luck Guys! And if not one of our guys, ANYONE BUT JIMMIE!!!!!!

2009 NASCAR Rock-n-Roll 400 Weekend

This weekend Nascar held the Rock-n-Roll 400 at Richmond. And of course we were there. We had several memorable events over the 2 days.

Starting with Friday and the NNS Virginia 529 250.
We began our tailgating and promptly went shopping. On the way into the Fanway, we found the Scotts Bird Seed display. Complete with one of Carl Edwards back up cars. As we were taking pictures of the Prince in front of the car he asked if he could sit in it. The very kind gentleman monitoring the car snuck the kid into the seat and I quickly snapped a picture. It was very nice of the guy to let the Prince sit in the car, especially since he could have gotten in trouble for doing so. The kid of course was very excited and now wanted Carl to win the race.

True to his “voodoo child” form, Carl did win the race that night. In the same paint scheme as the one the Prince was allowed to sit in. His magical streak continues.

We also took a visit of the Sprint Corner, which came with a 3-D Nascar Driving Simulator Experience. Of course we had to try our hand at racing around Daytona. As the race started SirEvil in his #88 National Guard Chevy was winning. I was some where back in the pack in my #14 Office Depot Chevy. But I had a secret weapon. The Princely “voodoo child” who didn’t want to drive his own car, was standing behind ME. On lap 4 (5 laps total) someone bumped the #88 from behind and SirEvil lost control of the car. He hit the wall and spun out through the grass.

Although he got his car under control and finished the last lap, I came in 3rd, behind a phenomenal competitor in 1st and the computer in 2nd. SirEvil finished in 8th. Much like Jr.’s night on Saturday. Sadly.

The race was great, and though it would have been nice seeing Denny win the night; it wasn’t to be. Carl made a pass in the pits over Kevin Harvick and came out first after a late race caution. He held that lead and won the Nationwide Race at Richmond!  Woohoo.

We made it home in record time, getting in the door around 11:30pm. But we were back up at 7am and headed back to the track. We still got a great spot for Saturday’s tailgating. After Friday’s events we were content to put our feet up, grill and chill. We met some of our tailgating neighbors, laughed and shared stories and food. Later in the day we watched some of our neighbors play Ladder Ball.

But off in the distance, up the hill in the parking lot a group of 20somethings were also partying. Now these kids stand out because the guys, who were standing in the bed of the truck that was jacked up about 6ft off the ground were ..um.. HOT. One in particular very well built shirtless lad caught the attention of one of our neighbors playing Ladder Ball. And she was continually distracted when it was her turn.

At some point I made a comment she should get her camera. To which she responded “Yeah, go get my camera” to one of her friends. Oh now I just couldn’t let this opportunity go. I walked up the hill and petitioned the young man.

“There’s an elementary teacher down here who can’t take her eyes off of you. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to come on down and embarrass the hell out of her by having your picture taken with her?”

“Yes Ma’am” he replied and off the back of the truck he jumped. I discovered his name was Matt and he was from Virginia. As we walked back down the short distance to our tailgating homestead, sure enough our new little friend blushed every shade of red known to mankind. I introduced Matt to (today I can’t remember her name, we’ll call her Amy), and he promptly put his arm around her and posed for a picture. He was extremely gracious and a wonderfully good sport about the whole thing. Plus our little adventure boasted his “standing” with his friends, no doubt! After a few minutes his friends began calling him back. He gave me a hug, I said thanks and he wandered off up the hill.

We discovered later that Amy is going through a bad breakup/divorce and she has been under a lot of stress and depression as a result. Her friends came up to thank us, letting us know she needed that. I’ve learned now that I’m pushing 50, life is short and opportunities to have fun don’t always come around every day. Seize the day and have some fun!

So off we went to the race. After a bright sunny day, the race is delayed by a short shower. But thankfully it was short and we still had the race. Mark Martin had the pole, but he didn’t keep the lead for long. The night belonged to Virginia’s own Denny Hamlin. We’re so glad he won. He deserved it!  It would have been nice had Tony not gotten overly aggressive at the beginning of the race and gone 3 wide around turn 3. He ended up spinning and going a lap down from the get go, causing the 1st caution. Thankfully he came back and had a decent finish, ending the race in 17th.

The next big thing for us to watch was where Ryan Newman finished. He had to finish 16th or better to ensure a spot in the Chase. He constantly went down and up in the standings as his position changed on the track. I was worried for the little Prince, he would be so disappointed if his guy didn’t make it into the Chase. Thankfully, Ryan and crew pulled out a great finish, ending the race in 10th. Woohoo!

The last thing for us to watch was Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch. A few years ago we were bashing Vickers for being such a poor racer. He was continually hitting the wall or other cars, causing cautions and taking out our guys because he a wreck waiting to happen. Now here we are, years later, pulling for Vickers to make the Chase ahead of whiney Kyle. The points changed as quickly as their positions on the track changed. Kyle was in on one lap, and Brian was in on the next lap. They went back and forth the entire night. Until the last caution when Brian’s crew got him out in front of Kyle. Brian is in the Chase, Kyle is not. Karma will get you every time; I hope Kyle has learned that lesson now.

So our boys over all are split; 2 in and 2 out. Their standings from the “regular season”

Our Guy Points
Position
Total
Points
Points
Back
Tony 1st 3806
Ryan 9th 3272 -534
Joey 14th 2705 -1101
Dale Jr. 21st 2628 -1178

And now we move into the Chase with the point reset.

Rank Driver Points Behind
1 Mark Martin 5040 Leader
2 Tony Stewart 5030 -10
3 Jimmie Johnson 5030 -10
4 Denny Hamlin 5020 -20
5 Kasey Kahne 5020 -20
6 Jeff Gordon 5010 -30
7 Kurt Busch 5010 -30
8 Brian Vickers 5010 -30
9 Carl Edwards 5000 -40
10 Ryan Newman 5000 -40
11 Juan Montoya 5000 -40
12 Greg Biffle 5000 -40

I’m pulling for my Tony to be the next Owner/Driver to win a Championship. He can do it, he has the skills, talent and great team behind him to do it. So let’s go Tony!