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Watching NASCAR: The Sprint Cup Heads to Michigan

August 17, 2012 by

Remember earlier this season there were complaints about dull races and that NASCAR should make some rule changes to bring excitement back? Seems like a long time ago, and was pushed further from memory with the tremendous race and finish last week at Watkins Glen.

Three abreast on a road track? I guess anything can happen and it did so on the last lap as Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose and Brad Keselowski fought almost down to the wire in the race. Busch hit some oil on the track, of which after race reports said there was a great deal of, and then bumped from behind by Keselowski.

That allowed for a two way fight that Ambrose won, with Keselowski, also having an oil on the track issue at just the wrong time, coming in second. The top five was filled out by Jimmie Johnson coming in third, followed by Clint Boyer and Sam Hornish Jr.

This Week: Pure Michigan 400
The race for the chase wildcard spots will be a key factor in the upcoming Pure Michigan 400 race at the 2 mile, D-shaped oval track at Michigan International Speedway. This should lead to some great bursts of speed that many fans might have missed last week.

Broadcast: August 19, 12 pm ET ESPN

NASCAR Twitter
Last weeks road race also led to a shakeup in the standings as Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped from 1st to fourth while Jimmie Johnson took over the overall points leadership, moving up three spots. Earnhardt’s late spin, pushing him to 28th in the race, cost him dearly in the standings.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Jimmie Johnson
2) Greg Biffle -1
3) Matt Kenseth -2
4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -17
5) Brad Keselowski -44
6) Martin Truex Jr. -49
7) Clint Boyer -58
8 ) Tony Stewart -61
9) Kevin Harvick -67
10) Denny Hamlin -84

Nationwide Series
It seems that it was a weekend of seconds for Brad Keslowski as he managed it two days in a row, falling to Carl Edwards who beat him off a restart in a two lap sprint to the checkered flag. Edwards was racng in his first Nationwide race of the season, not a bad start!

It looked like Keselowski would pull this one out after he managed to pull even with Edwards but after a bit of banging Edwards broke away for the win. The top five was filled out with Sam Hornish Jr. in third, then Rickey Stenhouse Jr. and Ron Fellows.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve



This Week: NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge
Once again the Nationwide drivers will be at a different track than their Sprint Cup brethren, heading north of the border to Montréal for the NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. This will be the second week in a row on a road course, so the drivers will be use to the constant turns involved. The 2.71 mile course has 14 turns, so last week’s experience at Watkins Glen will be appreciated.

Broadcast: August 18, 2 pm ET ESPN

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -13
3) Sam Hornish Jr. -24
4) Austin Dillon -29
5) Justin Allgaier -74

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Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series Tagged With: , ,

Olympic Medals Lead to Growing Twitter Followings for Athletes

August 15, 2012 by

The recently concluded Summer Olympics in London have been a boon for athletes in all manner of ways, from individual glory and sudden fame, which can account for marketing and advertising deals that further benefit them down the road.

The impact of the games can be seen in a quick look at Twitter numbers, both for the games overall as well as for individuals who were the most talked about and who gained new followers as a result.

Twitter has posted some interesting numbers from the 16 days of events. It said that it had 150 million tweets over that span and that the top three were Usain Bolt winning the gold in the 200m sprints at 80,000+ tweets per minute (TPM). He managed 74,000TPM winning the 100m sprint.

Local favorite Andy Murray racked up 57,000 TPM on his way to gold in men’s single tennis, while the Jamaican 4×100 relay team’s gold recorded a 41,000. It is somewhat difficult to compare the results to previous world events because Twitter often posts the amount of tweets per second, but does not give a time frame over which that number averaged. However you can look here to see some of the top events of 2011 in terms of tweets.

The height of tweeting always took place duri

ng an event, rather than at the awards ceremony, particularly when it was a spectacular individual play. The top ten athletes that garnered a minimum of 1 million tweets each were:
1) Usain Bolt
2) Michael Phelps
3) Tom Daley
4) Ryan Lochte
5) Gabby Douglas
6) Andy Murray
7) Kobe Bryant
8 ) Yohan Blake
9) Lee Chong Wei
10) LeBron James

In many ways this was to be expected but now athletes are seeing that their followings growing, and now that the Olympic ban on talking about sponsors has ended, this can only benefit the athletes.

According to market intelligence firm Fresh Egg, which tracked athletes from Great Britain some of the athletes witnessed huge growth in their followings. Tom Daley saw a net increase of 821,000 followers, a 265% increase. Jessica Ennis saw a 235% increase with the addition of 408,000 new followers. It should be noted that the increase levels off after about the top 17. Overall the Team GB went from having roughly 3 million followers’ pre-Olympics to 5.7 million post Olympics, an 88% increase.

I can only imagine the numbers in four years when the games head down to Rio. The question here is will the IOC continue its ban on athletes mentioning sponsors in their tweets and other social media uses? If not athletes will be able to point out the growth of their followings after medal wins and other notable events when they negotiate with potential sponsors and so see additional fruits from their labors.

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Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, Olympics, Twitter Tagged With: ,

Watching NASCAR: The Curves at Watkins Glen Beckon

August 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Watkins Glen

Last week at the Pocono Raceway’s Pennsylvania 400 was shrouded in tragedy as tragedy struck fans as a thunderstorm came through and a lighting strike caused the death of one fan and injured nine more. The storm also led to a shortened race, but of course that is of lesser importance. The storm and its aftermath has NASCAR examining its severe weather policy.

The race was won by Jeff Gordon, who crossed the finish line first for the first time this year. Is this the latest he has won a race since he joined NASCAR? I may have to look later to see. Anyway he benefited from the bad luck of others at the track.

The race was shortened to 98 laps due to the storm. But equally as important was the actions of his teammate Jimmie Johnson, who helped him in an unexpected manner by causing a pileup that included Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and several other cars. This opened the hole that enabled Gordon to grab the lead.

The win provided a big boost for Gordon’s chances to participate in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, although it is still too early to say if he will make it. The rest of the top five was filled in by Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart.

This week: Fingers Lake 355 at the Glen
It is back to the road courses this week, something that probably cheers Jeff Gordon as he has been traditionally strong at this type of race and still needs help getting into the chase. Held at Watkins Glen International the 2.45 mile course features seven turns over its route.

In other news it looks like a week after gaining approval for next year’s models, one of the major car companies, Dodge, has opted out of the NASCAR season in 2013. In some ways it is not a surprise, although I feel that it is a pity, since its one customer, Penske Racing, had said it was moving to Ford next season.

All the Twitter feeds you will need.

Broadcast
12 pm ET ESPN

Sprint Cup Top 10
1) Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2) Matt Kenseth -5
3) Greg Biffle -6
4) Jimmie Johnson -8
5) Martin Truex Jr. -50
6) Tony Stewart -53
7) Brad Keselowski -54
8 ) Denny Hamlin -61
9) Kevin Harvick -63
10) Clint Boyer -65

Nationwide

Elliot Sadler is back on top, in more ways than one. He captured the victory flag at the US Cellular 250 last week and that win pushed him back into a stronger lead points position in the Nationwide Series. He appeared to have a dominating car from the little I saw of the race and he led for 60 laps but had to regain the lead numerous times to get the win.

Over the course of the race he was strongly challenged by Justin Allgaier, who finished in second, Allgaier’s best finish of the season, and a result that helped him stay a strong contender in the Nationwide Series. The top five was filled out with Sam Hornish Jr. in 3rd followed by Michael Annett and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Zippo 200 at the Glen

This Week: Zippo 200 at the Glen
This week the Nationwide drivers will also be tackling the road course at Watkins Glen in the Zippo 200 at the Glen. When Sprint challenged the road course in Sonoma earlier in the season Nationwide went elsewhere but this time fans of the sport can go to one site to watch both races.

Broadcast
Aug 11, 2pm ET ABC

Nationwide Cup Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillon -18
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -21
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -34
5) Justin Allgaier -78

Filed Under: ABC, Athlete to Follow, Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart, Watkins Glen International Tagged With:

SF Giants Catcher Buster Posey Launches Own Mobile Game

August 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Buster Bash

The Giants’ catcher Buster Posey has just entered the company of a rarified few, an athlete still in their prime who gets a video game with his name plastered all across the cover, as he has with the Buster Bash app available at Apple’s App store.

Now the game does not have the elegance or complexity of EA’s Madden 13, but then a game that is designed to play on Apple’s iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad cannot really support that type of subtle game playing. Instead think of the more mainstream, easy to play and hopefully addictive games that populate the top 10 lists or games in the iOS market, or even in the Android space as well.

The game also does not have sophisticated animation but rather a very cartoon approach, but it is also simple and fun to play. Its basic premise is to follow Buster’s rise from a kid playing in his backyard in Leesburg, Ga. to his current position with the Giants in MLB.

As you play you can earn sunflower seeds that can be used to buy equipment and power-ups as you move from his early wiffle ball and tennis ball hitting days to where he faces major league pitching. In all there are five levels of play and participants swipe the screen as they attempt to hit the ball out of the park.

An interesting aspect of the game is that it will be primarily promoted via social media, according to a piece in Mashable. Info on the app has already been posted on Posey’s Facebook page, which has 325,000 followers and on Twitter, where he is followed by 50,000. Then the apps have their own Twitter and Facebook pages as well and will alert fans to upgrades and rewards that can be earned playing the game.

The free app seems to be hitting it off with his fans, which have already given it a 4 ½ star rating on iTunes, where it has only been available since Monday. I expect this is just the start of a trend in this area as popular athletes in baseball and elsewhere will likely see this as an extension of promoting themselves, and I can see a few of the attempts as being rather funny. How about a T.O. app?

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Baseball, Buster Posey, Contests, iOS, iPhone, Major League Baseball, San Francisco Giants Tagged With: , ,

Watching NASCAR: The Pocono’s Tricky Triangle Awaits

August 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Some changes at the top of the Sprint Cup last week as it roared into the Brickyard, and Jimmy Johnson once again showed his love for the track by dominating the race and winning there for the fourth time in his career. He and Jeff Gordon are now tied with four wins apiece at the Brickyaed, a race that has only been running for less than two decades.

Pocono's Tricky Triangle

Despite a very strong showing all race JJ found himself looking at the back of Greg Biffle’s ride after a caution as Biffle beat him out of the pits to take the lead. Biffle took two tires to JJ’s four. That only lasted a lap or so and even with a second caution he pretty much had clear sailing the rest of the race.

Points leader Matt Kenseth fell from the top spot after being taken out of the race in a late by Joey Logano, dropping him to 35th in the race as Dale Earnhardt Jr. secured the top spot for himself after a very steady first half of the season, driving wise. The top five was filled out with Kyle Busch in second, followed by Biffle, Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon.

Next Week-Pennsylvania 400
The teams will be out at Long Pond at the Pocono Raceway for the Pennsylvania 400. Run on the 2.5 mile tri-oval it should make for some fun, wide opening racing.

Broadcast
Aug. 5, 12 noon ET ESPN

Car News
It sounds like there will be a new look for the cars next year as NASCAR has approved the designs for next generation Chevrolet SS, Dodge Charger, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry models that will be seen on the track next year.

While the issue of meeting aerodynamic standards was very important, the most interesting fact is that NASCAR, and the auto companies, are taking a step back to their roots. The next generation cars will look very much like the street models that are available to the general public, something that has been a thing of the past for some time. Looking forward to Daytona next year to see them.

Twitter– Instead of pointing to a number of Twitter addresses as we have in the past it seems to make much more sense just to send you to a site that appears to have consolidated a who’s who of racing twitter addresses instead. So head over here for a list.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Dale Earnhardt Jr
2) Matt Kenseth -14
3) Greg Biffle -22
4) Jimmy Johnson -27
5) Denny Hamlin -64
6) Kevin Harvick -78
7) Martin Truex Jr. -78
8 ) Tony Stewart -79
9) Brad Keselowski -82
10) Clint Bowyer -88

Nationwide
There were several controversial issues at the Indy 250 last weekend, all having to do with something that on the face of it seems pretty innocuous, spinning your tires. At the start of the race it looked as if Kyle Busch jumped the start over pole winner Kasey Kahne to take the immediate lead but NASCAR ruled that Kahne was spinning his tires.

This was repeated late in the race when Brad Keslowski, the leader at that point, appeared to spin his tires on a restart and Elliott Sadler shot past him for the lead. However on this ruling NASCAR said that while there was some spinning, it was not the cause of Elliott’s lead on the restart. This resulted in Sadler getting black flagged and finishing out of the top 10. He was notably upset after the race over the ruling and his Nationwide points lead was significantly whittled down as well.

Hornish finished second, Ty Dillon was third, Denny Hamlin was fourth and Austin Dillon fifth. Sadler continues to lead the series standings by one point over Austin Dillon.

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillon -1
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -13
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -28
5) Justin Allgaier -75


It is starting to seem that Danica Patrick’s most familiar move on the track is hitting a wall, literally not figuratively. She accomplished this feat once again at the Indy 250 last weekend. Unlike a number of people I know I do not actively root against her, but it seems that this is an increasingly common result in her race, with wrecks at Daytona and elsewhere this season.

What makes this particular crash so interesting is that she has said that she is considering returning to the Indy 500 next season. This along with her expected promotion to the Sprint Cup Series and possibly running select Nationwide races as well. I have to wonder how well she will be accepted in the Sprint Cup Series if she continues to her crashing ways?

This Week-US Cellular 250
The Nationwide teams head to the Corn Belt in Iowa for the U.S. Cellular 250 presented by the Enlist Weed Control System at the Iowa Speedway. While also on a tri-oval like the Sprint race the following day, but several states away, this track is much smaller, coming in at .876 miles.

Broadcast
Aug.4, 7:30 pm ET ESPN2

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, ESPN, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Pocono Raceway, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series Tagged With: , ,

Watching NASCAR: Back to the Brickyard

July 27, 2012 by 1 Comment

This week: Crown Royal presents the Curtiss Shaver 400

The Sprint Cup Series took a holiday weekend last week so the teams should be rested and repaired for this week. This week’s race, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the Crown Royal presents the Curtiss Shaver 400 at the Brickyard.

No introduction is needed for a track that is so regularly used, and one that so regularly provides a great deal of driving entertainment. There has been some tweaking to the teams however as JTG Daugherty Racing reported that Bobby Hutchens is the new general manager for its one-car team and Bobby Labonte its driver. Gone is Todd Berrier, who left for Furniture Row Racing to replace Pete Rondeau.

It is starting to look like the suspension of AJ Allmendinger may be a long term one if reports that are surfacing are true. ESPN is reporting, via Bleacher Report, that he also failed his “B” test and is in violation of the sport’s substance abuse policy. No idea if Sam Hornish Jr. will keep the wheel of the 22 car.

Broadcast
July 29 at 12 pm ET ESPN

An interesting side bar on this week’s race is that actor and film director Ron Howard will be driving the pace car to open the race. While he has not directed a film about NASCAR he has just completed filming a movie entitled “Rush” about F1 drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda with a very memorable crash scene.

Twitter– Instead of pointing to a number of Twitter addresses as we have in the past it seems to make much more sense just to send you to a site that appears to have consolidated a who’s who of racing twitter addresses instead. So head over here for a list.

Sprint Cup Series Standings
1) Matt Kenseth
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -16
3) Greg Biffle -40
4) Jimmie Johnson -51
5) Denny Hamlin -79
6) Kevin Harvick -85
7) Tony Stewart -89
8 Martin Truex Jr. -90
9) Clint Bowyer -93
10) Brad Keselowski -94

The Nationwide Series did not take a week off last week and points leader Elliott Sadler is happy about that. In a nail biting finish he held off the #3 in points Ricky Stenhouse on a green-white-checker finish to gain victory row at Chicagoland.

Towards the end of the race it certainly looked as if Stenhouse had enough car to catch and pass Sadler but the restart at the end and a push from Justin Allgaier was all that Sadler needed to clinch the win. The top five was filled out by Allgaier in third followed by Kenny Wallance and Michael Annett. Wallace’s car failed a post race inspection and penalties are expected.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillon -11
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -19
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -42
5) Justin Allgaier -78

This Week Indy 250

Broadcast
July 28, 4 pm ET ESPN

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Greg Biffle, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Sam Hornish Jr., Twitter Tagged With:
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