IndyCar CEO Bernard discusses Wheldon's death, how series moves forward

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Randy Bernard knows there are people who blame him for Dan Wheldon's death, who say the IndyCar CEO pushed the series over the edge.

In the 24 hours after the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner was killed in a fiery 15-car accident in the season finale, Bernard wondered if perhaps all the hate mail accusing him of sacrificing safety for the show was right.

"The last week was probably the most horrific week of my life," Bernard told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.

It's been open season on Bernard since the accident, and his silence all last week only intensified the scrutiny on his leadership of the open-wheel series.

Now, nine days later, Bernard is able to publicly talk about Wheldon and the day all his work toward building a spectacular finale went terribly wrong minutes into the race. He still becomes emotional about it, taking a deep breath in his office at IndyCar headquarters as he recalls the controversial decision to cancel the race.

Bernard is focused on moving forward and helping IndyCar through this dark period. He says he never once considered resigning but admits IndyCar is now "in crisis, and we have to get answers."

"In tough times, that's when you have to be focused," Bernard said. "You have to lead, and I know this is a time I have to make sure I am going to be very decisive, very articulate and be a leader. In tough times is where you build your character; it's not in good times."

The second-year CEO was hired to revitalize the series despite no auto racing experience, and that's contributing to blaming Bernard for creating the circumstances that led to Wheldon's death.

He allowed a season-high 34 cars on a high-banked oval, where a field of mixed experience levels had enough room to race three-wide at over 220 mph around Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And he offered a jobless Wheldon the chance to earn a $5 million bonus if he could drive from the back of the field to Victory Lane.

All those elements created a buzz around the race, where Dario Franchitti and Will Power would end their championship battle and superstar Danica Patrick would run her final event as a full-time IndyCar driver. It was everything Bernard had been hired to do when IndyCar lured him away after running Professional Bull Riders for 15 years. He was so confident of improving on the poor TV ratings from the year before that he promised to resign if ABC's broadcast drew anything less than a 0.8 rating. That would have meant that fewer than 1 percent of the nation's homes with televisions watched the race.

Bernard insists he did not sensationalize the inherent danger in auto racing.

"I think anytime we are on any track it's always dangerous — we do as much as we can to make it safe — (and) our storylines were never, 'Come watch this dangerous event!'" he said.

"Our storylines going to Las Vegas were first and foremost 'Come watch Will and Dario fight it out for the world championship.' The No. 2 storyline was Dan Wheldon competing for $5 million starting at the back. Our third storyline was Danica Patrick. ... Our fourth storyline was 34 cars in the race.

"I think none of those, looking back on it, had any type of connotation of any danger. If the race was tomorrow, it would still be the same storylines."

Compelling competition, yes, but with a happy ending.

IndyCar now must look at making sweeping changes. And Bernard is prepared, even eager, to do that.

He called a three-hour driver meeting Monday, and Franchitti, a four-time champion, said there was no sense of anger toward Bernard as the drivers all had a chance to speak. Franchitti also said the CEO earned an immeasurable amount of respect by canceling the race after Wheldon's death when grief-stricken drivers were unable to decide if the show — per tradition — should go on.

Bernard, with such limited auto racing experience, wasn't tied to that etiquette. Instead, he went with his gut.

"I felt that I didn't really care about tradition on this," he said, becoming emotional for the only time in the hour-long interview. "I felt like no driver in their right mind could have a clear head knowing that one of their friends had just died, and I felt this is where I needed to make a stand and say 'No.'"

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Tandem racing losing 'love bug' appeal

When it comes to restrictor-plate racing, perhaps the best approach from a fan's standpoint is to shrug your shoulders and say to yourself: "It is what it is."

Restrictor plate-racing is random madness. You may as well have the drivers play rock-paper scissors until a winner is decided. At least a bunch of cars won't get wrecked in the process.

But this is the deal at Talladega and Daytona. The traditional pack of cars has been replaced by the tandem of twos — love bugs going nearly 200 mph.

"What would make the racing better?" Jeff Burton was asked Sunday, after he finished second to RCR teammate Clint Bowyer in what was an exciting finish (rewind the rest of the film to see of you found much of anything else compelling).

"I don't think anybody wants to answer that," Burton said, candidly, before making a pitch on behalf of NASCAR's corporate hierarchy.

"I personally think that there is an advantage to the tandem thing. There's some disadvantages to it. The one thing it does do is it does separate the field a little bit. That's not all bad. I've come here for a long time. Every time I come here, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get in a wreck. That's a little odd way to race.

"To me the tandem thing creates wrecks. But overall I think there's less cars wrecked because of the tandem thing versus not having it. So I think overall it's better. It does spread the pack out a little bit. But it doesn't do it in a way that's boring. The other way to spread the pack out is to make the cars drive bad and the fans aren't going to like that."

Of course, he doesn't speak for everyone in the garage or the growing number of fans who are getting tired of seeing love bugs go round-and-round.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. — a hater from the get-go — said he was "bored" with this style of racing, adding that "it's really not my style of racing. Being pushed and carrying on all day long. Trying to lead a couple of laps that are sort of meaningless really doesn't make a lot of sense either."

Junior's take reflects a growing sentiment among fans. The folks at Daytona International Speedway conducted a post-race survey following the Coke Zero 400 in July. In a survey of 1,000 racing fans, 10 percent said they dissatisfied with the race, up from 3 percent last year.

"The two-by-two racing was a novelty that has worn off," Speedway President Joie Chitwood said recently.

That may true, but unless NASCAR makes significant changes to the cars and the restrictor plates, that style is the only one that works for the drivers. You can't drive solo, unless you want to finish 43rd.

Expect more of the same in Daytona come February of 2012.

Gordon left hanging

The biggest controversy following the Talladega tandem drive was the split between Trevor Bayne and Jeff Gordon.

Gordon was under the impression that Bayne — whom he had worked with well at Daytona in February — would hook up with him after the final green-flag restart. But Bayne left Gordon hanging, presumably under an edict from Ford not to work with any other manufacturers. And since Gordon is a Chevy man, he was the odd man out.

"I'm not happy about what this has become," Bayne wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday. "It's too premeditated. We should be able to go with whoever is around. I would have rather pulled over and finished last than tell [Gordon] I would work with him and then be strong armed into bailing."

Well, maybe not….

"…there were no team orders, from myself or anyone at Roush Fenway, given to any of our drivers as to whom they could or could not choose to run with or assist, nor did I give similar directions or suggestion to any of the other Ford drivers," Jack Roush, owner of Roush Fenway Racing, said In a statement issued Tuesday morning.

"I've spoken with Trevor [Bayne] and understand that he was put in a situation requiring a split-second decision on the track and in his response to questions justifying his actions afterwards, where it was almost certain that not everyone was going to be satisfied. Trevor is extremely talented, but it is still very early in his career. Over time he will grow to understand that in such a high-paced, competitive and hostile environment it is unlikely that all of his decisions will make everyone happy. "

Bayne went on to admit that he did indeed leave Gordon on his own to help fellow Ford driver Matt Kenseth.

"That was my dream opportunity to go race Jeff Gordon for a win since I was 5," Bayne told espn.com writer David Newton. "The whole situation, the way you have to race in tandem races, man, I was hurting after that deal on Sunday. I probably was way too hard on myself because that's what I needed to do and that was the right thing to do, but man, that was really hard to do."

NEEDS SPONSORS: Consider Mark Martin TBA for next season in terms of a ride. "I don't have anything," Martin said at Talladega last weekend, "although I did answer a question last week which got a lot of talk going, and I should have probably not answered the question, it was a fan at a hospitality, that asked would I be driving next year and I said yes, and I have a lot of confidence and the only full schedule that I have been considering is the truck schedule, but Nationwide racing, Cup racing would be more of a limited schedule, like I did in 2007 and 2008, that is where my heart is at, and with the things that are starting to move, there is starting to be a little bit of movement going on, I am confident that I will be racing."

LABONTE WILL BE BACK: Former Sprint Cup champion Bobby Labonte will race again next season for JTG Daugherty Racing next season. Owners Tad and Jodi Geschickter and Brad Daugherty announced their plans for the 2012 season at Talladega Superspeedway. Todd Berrier has been named as crew chief and general manager of the group.

gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego

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Bowyer sprints by Burton for Talladega win

TALLADEGA, Ala. — The random madness of Talladega is enough to make somebody bash their head on a restrictor plate.

Every race, as Carl Edwards noted, is a spiritual event: You pray for safe passage and hope you come out ahead.

Sunday's fortunate son was Clint Bowyer, who passed Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton on the last lap to win the Good Sam Club 500 on Sunday afternoon.

"Clint did a great job," Burton said. "Part of me wants to cry. Part of me wants to cheer."

There was a lot of the crying game going on Sunday as the usual tap dance of restrictor-plate races collected a bunch of cars, including Chase challengers Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick. There were nine cautions involving 20 cars.

The best strategy seems to be find a partner to hook up with for tandem drafting, and then pray nothing bad happens. Forget fuel mileage or pit strategy. Nothing else really seems to matter but the last 10 laps, and which drivers have survived the carnage to have a shot at winning.

"Everybody leaves this race and thinks of a hundred thousand things they could have done different," Edwards said. "It's a tough, tough race. If you finish with your car intact …

"You feel damn lucky," Burton chimed in.

"You feel like you got away with something."

For Edwards, it translates nicely into the lead for the Chase for the Championship. He leads Matt Kenseth by 14 points with four races to go. Brad Keslelowski is third (18 points behind), followed by Tony Stewart (-19) and Kevin Harvick (-26).

Bowyer is out of the championship mix, but he's an intriguing character in the weekly scrum of 43 drivers.

He recently agreed to a deal with Michael Waltrip Racing, ending his relationship with RCR after this season. He definitely becomes part of the Childress NASCAR lore, giving one of the iconic figures of the sport his 100th Cup victory as a team owner.

Childress was going to get to 100 either way on the last laps, as Bowyer and Burton pulled away after a restart with three laps to go. Bowyer ducked inside to take the lead and beat Burton to the finish line by 0.018 seconds.

"All of us hate it for Jeff, but when you're in this business you have to do what you have to do for yourself," Childress said.

That philosophy doesn't apply at Talladega and its restrictor-plate twin at Daytona, where tandem — a k a love bug — racing is the preferred method of travel.

Given the bumpy dynamics of Talladega, some two-car teams like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, chose to hang back until the end, only to find out they couldn't close. They finished 25th and 26th, respectively.

It wasn't much better for Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, who thought he had a drafting partner in Trevor Bayne at the end (after losing Mark Martin in a multicar accident). Bayne agreed to run with Gordon until he was ordered not to by his crew on orders from the Ford teams not to pair up with any competing manufacturers. Gordon races a Chevy.

Left hanging by himself, Gordon finished 27th. Gordon and Bayne had worked well together at Daytona in February but that didn't seem to matter in October.

"If somebody is going to screw you, you'd like them to say it to your face, you know?" Gordon said, "or at least on the radio [laughing]. I would have been fine with that but I'm sorry; I would have been totally fine with that and understood."

Said Bayne of his Twitter feed: "I'm not happy about what this has become … It's too premeditated. We should be able to go with whoever is around."

gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego

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A Passage to the Buddh Circuit in India

NEW DELHI – Since Tuesday I have been on a series of airplanes, taxis, metros, commuter trains and have walked through garbage heaps and dark unknown alleys in parts of the world I never dreamed existed. On the final leg of the trip Thursday morning I took a strange, motorized rickshaw from Noida City Center to the Buddh International Circuit outside New Delhi.

Entering the $400 million circuit, I found myself back in familiar territory in what really looked like home, with all my family present. By family, I mean the journalists, Formula One drivers and other team members that I see every two weeks during the Formula One season. But this sudden entry aboard the three-wheeled contraption was one of the strangest parts of the whole journey.

To say that India is a study in contrasts is a cliche. But going from the downtown New Delhi, with its squalor? in some parts and ramshackle beauty in others, via the chaotic roads and crammed public transportation system into this massive, technological marvel of the the Buddh circuit felt truly like entering a different country.

Why did I take these strange methods and so much time to get to my destination? A motorized rickshaw was not the only method of transportation available. There are shuttles for the media from downtown Delhi, as well as, starting Friday, buses for the public. But I was so busy traveling I did not find out about the media shuttles in time to catch one of the two that leaves the city every morning. Still, I wanted to see the country for what it is, get closer to the locals and avoid the jet-setting people that usually follow the races.

In the press conference Thursday, the drivers were asked about their impressions of India and the circuit. With the exception of Narain Karthikeyan, the first Indian Formula One driver, they all spoke only about the circuit. They had no real impressions of India because they had flown in Wednesday night and been taken directly to the circuit. They had seen nothing of the real India.

To his credit, Michael Schumacher spoke about how impatient he was to see the country and learn about it. “I have not had a chance to see the country,” said Schumacher. “I look forward to the main fact of the track, but more important is how we get received by the people in the country.”

So do I.

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Matt Kenseth holds off Kyle Busch to win at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. — Matt Kenseth is sneaky good.

He's the kind of guy who always gets overlooked in a lineup of guys who drive fast for a living, as if he were a nerd in a photo shoot of Chippendale models.

It's best to pay attention, because Mr. Kenseth is quietly making a lot of noise.

His 21st career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night was the epitome of consistency, which pretty much sums up Kenseth's career.

He stalked Kyle Busch in the closing laps of the Bank of America 500 and passed him with 25 laps to go on a restart, and breezed to the finish . It was a good/bad mix for Busch, who charged to the front despite starting last in the 43-car field after an engine change forced Busch to start last in the 43-car field.

"That (No.) 17 (Kenseth), man, he found something that none of us could find tonight, and made something out of nothing," Busch said. "He just outdrove me."

"It was an awesome win for us," Kenseth said.

That's about how introspective as it gets for Kenseth, a Wisconsin guy who is economical with his words and highly efficient behind a race car. Kenseth has finished sixth, fifth, fourth and first in his last four Chase races to move into third place in the Chase standings.

Kenseth is right in the middle of the battle for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title, which has a feel of a WWE Battle Royal: A bunch of guys mixing it up, but only one man left standing after all the blood and the bruises.

The question remains, who is going to be the last man standing?

Carl Edwards remains the points leader, just five points ahead of Kevin Harvick, and Kenseth only seven points behind.

"He's the only one of the three of us with a championship," Edwards said.? "He's doing really well and tonight that car was really fast and he drove it really well.? I spent a little time behind him and he was wheeling it, so I don't think you can count him out at all."

One guy not likely to emerge from the scrum is five-time defending Jimmie Johnson, who got tangled up with Ryan Newman in the closing laps. Johnson spun and hit the wall, fortunate that a safety barrier and a HANS device cushioned the blow.

It was awful painful in other ways, though. Johnson's 34th-place finish literally wrecked his chances for winning his sixth consecutive title. Johnson isn't mathematically out, but it's going to be a one huge challenge given the competitors who are ahead of him.

"I'm ok," Johnson said in a TV interview. "That one stung for sure."

"…We just got to go racing. That's all there is to it…Definitely not the night we wanted. This is not going to help us win a sixth championship."

The race did spit out another strong contender _ Kenseth _ who began the night fifth in the Chase standings, gave Ford its first victory here since 2002 in a race that was relatively clean expect in the final stretches.

Kenseth doesn't have the 'wow' factor. The NASCAR Nation remembers that the Chase format was put in play after Kenseth's relatively mundane championship in 2003. Insiders called it? "the Matt Kenseth Rule" after he won the last Winston Cup that season despite winning only one race _ the third race of the year in Las Vegas Motor Speedway _ but ending the season with 25 top-ten finishes.

That's fine. Just his style.

"What's important to me is trying to win races, trying to be competitive," Kenseth said. "I don't really care about Wii dance-offs or how much coverage you get for doing certain things. If someone wants to say I'm boring, or whatever. I was hired to try to win races."

Kenseth snagged his third one of the year, and he may not be done yet with five races to go in the season.

Ssshhhh.

" It seems like those Wisconsin guys are awfully quiet most of the time," Busch said.

"It's all the cheese they eat," Edwards said.

Keep making jokes, boys.

When the Chase championship is settled in South Florida in November, they all may find that Cheeseheads rule.

?

gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego

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Talladega is NASCAR's crazy wild card in Chase

Welcome to NASCAR's wild-card weekend.

It's Talladega, baby, where wreckin' and racin' are part of the fable and lore of one of NASCAR's famed super-speedway.

For the handful of guys still in the hunt for a Cup title, it means a conservative approach for much of the race, with the hopes of crawling up to the front to make a charge at the end. The key is to avoid traffic jams and the potential for the "big one."

But another element now comes into play: NASCAR has made some rule changes since the last go-round, changing the restrictor plate in the hopes of discouraging tandem — or "love bug" — racing. Cars won't be able to stay clustered together in pairs of two very long because the second car will overheat in a hurry.

No one truly knows how this will play out, but without question, for guys like Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and other chasing a title, the key is keeping your car in one piece at the finish line.

"It's going to be three- four-wide crazy, intense finish," said Jeff Gordon, who has drifted out of contention with poor finishes in the last two races.

"I think you are still going to see two-by-two, I think you might just see cars swap a little bit more, but we are going to try to do everything we can to not have to swap," Gordon said. "I think the racing is better without the swapping, I think it is safer without the swapping, not exactly sure where we are headed but sometimes they will make changes for this race to evaluate what we need for Daytona in February, which I think is a little bit of what is going on but I think we are still going to see a lot of the same of what we have seen the last couple of restrictor-plate races."

The race will have an odd feel, regardless. The tandem racing concept is all about the friends and family program. You need to hook up with somebody to go faster. Some guys will pit concurrently to make sure they stay together.

But at the end, it's a competitive scrum for first place, and the second guy is always going to be the first loser. That's what happened last April, when the Hendrick Motorsports tag-team of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 1-2. Johnson rewarded Junior's sacrifice with a pallet of Schlitz beer, per Junior's request.

"It's something that we have to do," Kenseth said. "I guess you could argue that all restrictor-plate racing isn't the same as what we do all the time, so you always have less control over your own destiny and you can't really do anything by yourself.

"It's different. I wish there was a way to do it different, and I'm sure they're probably gonna figure that out eventually with the rules, but it's just the way you have to do it right now. It's kind of weird doing a team race because you can't do it by yourself. If you win or finish second, you know the other guy was just as responsible for your finish as you were in a way, so it's definitely different."

Drive for Diversity

NASCAR has been trying for a long time to change the complexion in the garage. For all those efforts, you don't see a lot of black or brown faces in the pits or behind the wheel.

But you have to credit the organization for its continued push to change those dynamics: Witness NASCAR's Drive for Diversity combine at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., on Wednesday and Thursday.

The combine will include 24 drivers from ages 16 to 24, vying for a spot with Revolution Racing in 2012. That will be the third season that Revolution Racing has participated in the program, with strong results.

Darrell Wallace Jr. became the first black winner in K&N Pro Series East history and its rookie of the year in 2010. Wallace and fellow Drive for Diversity competitor Sergio Pena each won three races last season.

Wallace Jr. will make his debut in NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2012 for Joe Gibbs Racing.

The current group of drivers, both male and female, represents 10 U.S. states, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Sponsorship struggles: A number of teams and drivers are struggling with sponsorship issues for next season. First and foremost on the list is Matt Kenseth, who could win the Sprint Cup title this year without a sponsor going into next season. Crown Royal announced earlier this year that it was dropping its affiliation with Kenseth and his Roush Fenway Racing team.

"I'm not gonna get stressed out about it, especially right now in the Chase and with all the things we've got going on," Kenseth said after winning the Bank of America 500 Saturday night. "I don't know really what else we can be doing, except for trying to be competitive and run good.

"Those guys in the marketing and sales department need to figure that out and need to figure out how to get that done. [Crew chief] Jimmy [Fennig] and I will keep working on the jobs that we were hired for and I'm sure it's all gonna work out. "

No more oval for Indy Cars: There will be many conversations about what can be done moving forward to prevent tragedies like the one we saw last Sunday, when IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon was killed after a massive pileup in Last Vegas. Here is one man's take: NASCAR Cup champion Jimmy Johnson said that IndyCar cars should race on street circuits and road courses, but not on ovals because the cars are not built to withstand the constant bumping.

"I wouldn't run them on ovals. There's just no need to," Johnson said Monday during a test session at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "Those cars are fantastic for street circuits, for road courses. I hate, hate, hate that this tragedy took place. But hopefully they can learn from it and make those cars safer on ovals somehow. I don't know how they can really do it. Myself, I have a lot of friends that race in that series, and I'd just rather see them on street circuits and road courses. No more ovals."

gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego

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Video From the Track in India

October 21, 2011, 6:33 pm

By BRAD SPURGEON

We have heard so little coming out of India about the state of the new Formula One track, where the Indian Grand Prix will take place next week, that we had to see it for ourselves.

Compared with all the doom-saying that led up to the inaugural Korean Grand Prix last year, the Indian event just outside New Delhi is being kept very low-key. The Red Bull team on Friday released video of one of its drivers, Neel Jani, taking a spin on the track, the first such drive for a Formula One car.

It ended any doubt that there is a track. But it will be interesting to see the state of the track a week from now. I, personally, have never seen such a dusty surface — I imagine they will clean it off — and the asphalt track looked very bumpy. The grandstand and other facilities look fabulous, however, and the layout of the track looks wonderful as well, with massive elevation changes (for a new circuit).

Check out the video on the Red Bull content pool site.

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Vettel Takes 10th Victory, Red Bull Takes Title, but Hamilton Provides the Story

Vincent Thian/Associated PressSebastian Vettel of Germany, right, celebrated his victory in the Korean Grand Prix on Sunday in Yeongam, South Korea, as Lewis Hamilton of Britain, left, and Christian Horner, center, looked on.

YEONGAM, South Korea — Sebastian Vettel may have won the Korean Grand Prix on Sunday in his usual dominating manner, taking his 10th victory of the season and the 20th of his career. And his team, Red Bull, may have won the 2011 constructors’ title thanks to that result. But all of the excitement both on track and off throughout the weekend came from another man: Lewis Hamilton.

The British driver started from the pole position and finished second, providing a stunning show of tight racing and creating for himself the kind of redemption he has been seeking for months after a fall from grace this season for the 2008 champion.

‘‘It is a good weekend for me compared to what I have had in the past, so I’m happy,’’ said Hamilton after the race, trying to remain low-key. ‘‘I was able to keep the car on the track and not have any penalties, so that is a positive.’’

Hamilton, who drives for the McLaren Mercedes team, had been involved in one controversial move, accident or penalty after another all season, including at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka last weekend, when the saga reached its peak. He had not finished on the podium since he won the German Grand Prix on 24 July, while since then his teammate, Jenson Button, won two of the five races and finished second and third in the others.

The weekend in Korea had begun with a press conference on Thursday in which Hamilton was questioned more than Vettel, who had just won his second world title in a row four days earlier, in Japan. Then things began to change: On Saturday, Hamilton grabbed the pole position for the first time since June last year, and more significantly, he was the first non-Red Bull team driver this season to do that, as Vettel and his teammate Mark Webber had scored all previous 15.

Hamilton lost the lead at the start of the race to Vettel, who sped off in the distance and never let go. But the second half of the 55-lap race revolved around the wheel-to-wheel battle between Hamilton and Webber for second place.

Hamilton and Webber, along with Button and Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari, who finished fourth and fifth, are all fighting for second in the drivers’ series.

Although Hamilton’s second place looked like a victory to some in the media, the 26-year-old downplayed suggestions that he was fighting back from a period of self-doubt.

‘‘I have never questioned myself,’’ Hamilton said. ‘‘I’ve got the trust and confidence from the team, so it is really just about staying out of trouble, staying out of the stewards’ office, putting my head down and doing as best as I can.’’

Still, several small smiles and references to escaping penalties in Sunday’s race were a reminder of past events, which began with a penalty at the second race of the season, in Malaysia, for illegal defense of his position. At the Monaco Grand Prix in May he was penalized twice, and he complained that the race stewards had perhaps been punishing him repeatedly because he was black. He later apologized to the International Automobile Federation, the sport’s governing body, that provides the stewards.

Although he has been involved in controversial incidents in at least seven races this year, his problems had been worsening in recent races. A feud had erupted between him and Felipe Massa, of Ferrari, with whom Hamilton had collided on several occasions.

The battle had heated up over the previous two races, after Hamilton and Massa had almost come to blows in Singapore over a collision on the track.

Massa accused him of ‘‘not using his mind again.’’ He and Massa again collided at the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend, two weeks after Singapore.

‘‘The only thing I have to say is that I can’t see anything out of my mirrors and they vibrate down the straight so much that I had no idea he was there,’’ Hamilton said.

But Massa was beyond consolation.

‘‘I don’t care, to be honest, about what he said,’’ said Massa. ‘‘The only thing I care about is what he did.’’

Hamilton came into the race weekend in South Korea with an apologetic approach as he was bombarded with questions from the media.

‘‘The situation has not been great for some time now,’’ he said on Thursday, before again referring to Massa: ‘‘But regardless, I’ve tried to show respect, particularly in the last race, I’m very, very sorry for that. I really didn’t see him.’’

After scoring pole position on Saturday, Hamilton did not even smile, and looked distant.

‘‘I don’t feel I deserve it,’’ he said in explanation. ‘‘I’ve had some tough races in the second half of the season, but tomorrow and the rest of the races are what count, avoiding penalties and all those different things.’’

The speculation about what was going on was rampant in the paddock: He had dropped his father, Anthony, as a manager in order to work with an entertainment management agency that some pundits said did not understand the needs of a racing driver; another rumor was that he was having problems with his American girlfriend, Nicole Scherzinger, a member of the pop band the Pussycat Dolls; and others wondered if he was over-driving to compensate for being out-driven by his teammate, Jenson Button, who has won three races this season.

Little discussed is the fact that when he entered the series in 2007 after winning at every level of racing before that from carting up to Formula One, Hamilton’s gutsy driving style was praised as a refreshing change from what the series was lacking. He then applied the same kind of racing to his Formula One career, and again impressed the fans and media.

This year, it was as if that same driving had gone just one step too far, past the luck and precision that were on his side in the past, as he met with failure at each turn in 2011.

On Sunday, it looked as if that mixture of precision, courage and skill had returned, as he held off Webber in the faster car.

His result on Sunday may have ended his problems, and it shows that the advice that Rubens Barrichello, who drives for the Williams team, gave to Hamilton was perhaps the correct one: Simply ignore the criticism and continue racing the way he believes he should.

Still, big smiles were again absent after the race.

‘‘I came here in a decent mood, but I didn’t win, I went backwards,’’ said Hamilton. ‘‘But I was able to keep the car on the track and not have any penalties so that is a positive.’’

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Death of Dan Wheldon in IndyCar Race

SEOUL – The world of Formula One was in mourning after the death of Dan Wheldon, a British driver in the IndyCar series, who won the Indianapolis 500 twice, was killed in a racing accident in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Wheldon, 33, was involved in a multi-car accident in the IndyCar series finale at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 13 laps into the race. Several other drivers suffered minor injuries, but Wheldon’s car, suffered serious damage to the top side, including the roll hoop as it flew into a wall.

Wheldon won the IndyCar series in 2005, the same year he won his first Indianapolis 500. In May, he won the Indianapolis 500 for a second time but was not a regular driver in the series and was involved in a $5 million challenge for non-regular series drivers to win the final event. There were 34 cars in the race, which was halted after the accident.

Wheldon was of the same generation as British drivers in Formula One, and in the lower series, he had a rivalry with Jenson Button, the driver for the McLaren Mercedes team who won the Japanese Grand Prix a week ago. He also raced against Anthony Davidson, who raced on and off in Formula One in recent years, and who works as a Formula One commentator on British radio.

Lewis Hamilton, the British Formula One world champion who finished Korean Grand Prix in second place, paid tribute to Wheldon.

“This is an extremely sad day,” Hamilton said. “Dan was a racer I’d followed throughout my career, as I often followed in his footsteps as we climbed the motorsport ladder in the U.K.

“He was an extremely talented driver,” he added. “As a British guy, who not only went over to the States but who twice won the Indy 500, he was an inspirational guy, and someone that every racing driver looked up to with respect and admiration.”

Wheldon went to the United States to develop his career after it became too expensive to do so in Britain. In the United States, he raced in the lower series leading to IndyCar, such as the F2000 Championship Series, the Toyota Atlantic series and Indy Lights. He moved to IndyCar in 2002, and joined the Andretti Green Racing team in 2003. His victory in the Indianapolis 500 was the first by an Englishman since Graham Hill in 1966.

As the news of his death arrived, Formula One had just finished racing its 16th race of the season in Mokpo. Team people, friends, media who knew him, all spoke of Wheldon as they prepared to leave the Korean city.

The IndyCar series is similar to Formula One in its use of open wheel, single-seat cars, a kind of car most of the drivers raced from go-karts onwards. One difference between the two series is that Formula One races on no oval tracks, as do the IndyCars, and that in Formula One, each team designs and builds its own car according to a set of regulations, whereas the IndyCar teams buy chassis provided by chassis-building companies.

The last death in a Formula One car was that of Ayrton Senna, the triple world champion, at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola in 1994. Another driver, Roland Ratzenberger, had died at the same event the previous day. Since then, Formula One has substantially improved safety in both car and track design. In the same period of time, the top level of U.S.-open -wheel racing has had several deaths and serious injuries, however, including Alex Zanardi’s amputation of both legs after an accident at a race in 2001, and the death of drivers like Jeff Krosnoff and Scott Brayton in 1996, Greg Moore in 1999 Tony Renna in testing in 2003, and Paul Dana in 2006.

At the Singapore Grand Prix last month, Jean Alesi, a former Formula One driver, announced that he would take part in the IndyCar series’ feature event, the Indianapolis 500 next year at the age of 47. When queried about the safety, he said it had improved vastly in the series, before he then added, “But whenever you are racing a car at more than 300 kilometers an hour it is dangerous.”

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Hamilton Takes First Step Toward Silencing Critics – and Dethrones Red Bull

Lee Jin-man/Associated PressLewis Hamilton covers his ears as his engine revs at the Korean Grand Prix on Saturday.? Hamilton scored pole position during the qualifying session.

YEONGAM, South Korea – Lewis Hamilton scored pole position for the Korean Grand Prix during an exciting qualifying session on Saturday. He broke up the streaks of Red Bull team drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, who had secured all 15 pole positions this year.

It was also the McLaren Mercedes driver’s first pole position in more than a year. Hamilton has faced criticism for careless driving after being involved in crashes in several races this year.

“I’m happy to be here and happy about what the team has been able to achieve over the past few races,” said Hamilton, whose teammate, Jenson Button, won the previous race in Japan last Sunday.

“To be back on pole is a great feeling, but tomorrow is the most important day and I have had some difficult races, and I hope to redeem myself tomorrow,” said Hamilton.

Button was third fastest, and Sebastian Vettel, the world champion who has scored 12 pole positions this year, qualified second.

“It’s a long race and a lot of things can happen,” said Red Bull’s Vettell.

It was an exciting qualifying session with a showdown in the last three minutes as all the top drivers returned to the track to duel for pole position, where in many recent races some of the top drivers have been so far ahead that they have not fought out the qualifying to the end.

With three minutes left, Hamilton led, Vettel was second and Mark Webber in the other Red Bull was third. Button was fourth, and Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were fifth and sixth. Three minutes later, Hamilton reduced his lap time and for a moment Button was second, but Vettel managed to pull himself back into second. Massa leapt over Alonso to move into fifth, while Alonso dropped to sixth.

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Sweet and Sour Suzuka Qualifying Session

Toru Takahashi/Associated PressSebastian Vettel and Jenson Button, center and right, celebrate first and second spots after qualifying, while Lewis Hamilton appears to ponder a lost opportunity, after “bad luck” saw him finish third fastest.

SUZUKA, Japan – We finally we had an interesting qualifying session for the front-runners. Never mind that Sebastian Vettel took the pole position again, his 12th in the 15 possible this season. The last laps of the session were worth the wait to watch the suspense as the leading drivers crossed the line probably the thickness of a sheet of paper apart: Jenson Button, who was fastest in every one of the three practice sessions this weekend, lost the pole position to Vettel by a few thousandths of a second.

The top three finishers were the last three world champions: Vettel, Button and Lewis Hamilton. But Hamilton just missed his final lap and was not able to challenge for pole, which he might have been able to take.

“It’s the second row, so it’s good enough,” said Hamilton, still looking a little dejected. “It was a shame we were not able to get our first pole position,” he added.

The problem was that Hamilton said he was cut off by Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber while he went out on his preparation lap, and that cost him the qualifying lap.

“I was coming into the chicane, I looked in the mirror and saw Mark diving up the inside of me,” said Hamilton. “I didn’t even see Michael but as I gave Mark room, Michael nearly crashed into me to the left, so it was quite dangerous.”

Still, while it was interesting at the front, several drivers did not go out in the final part of the session, trying to preserve their tires for the race, which robs spectators of track action during qualifying.

When asked how he felt about those latter drivers not running, Button said, “When you are fighting for pole and it is that close, I think it is a massive spectacle.”

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Carl Edwards 'in the moment' chasing Cup title

CONCORD, N.C.—

Carl Edwards no longer has a little piece of paper dragging him down.

Perhaps he never did.

For much of this Sprint Cup season, he put himself in the crosshairs of a conflicted relationship. Should he stay with Roush Fenway Racing, or was he better off finding a new dance partner to chase speed?

There was much chatter-chatter for months that Edwards would bolt to Joe Gibbs Racing, as Edwards continued to be non-committal. Everybody weighed in with their spin on things, including rival Jeff Gordon, who said Edwards was toast if he left Roush Racing.

We'll never know. Edwards re-signed in early August and the contract speculation vanished. It's been replaced by another theme running strong in the NASCAR Nation:

Carl Edwards has a great shot to unseat NASCAR's one-man dynasty, Jimmie Johnson, this season.

He enters tonight's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as the current points leader with six races remaining. Edwards has a one-point lead over Kevin Harvick and is four points ahead of Johnson.

Edwards will start Saturday night's race on the outside pole, qualifying third (191.870 mph) and trailing only Tony Stewart (191.959 mph) and Matt Kenseth (191.918 mph).

So much for all that contract chatter.

"You can have all kinds of distractions around you," Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle said, "but when you get in that car, your adrenaline, your mind-set and your focus becomes making that car as fast as you can.

"You're in the moment….you're not thinking about 'I have to mow my grass when I get home', or 'am I going to get that raise I'm looking for?', 'is my financing going to get approved.' The distractions all of a sudden become washed out when the job at hand is at hand."

The job at hand is obviously taking precedent. Edwards focus has been consistently solid. His finishes in the four Chase races are fourth, eighth, third and fifth. That's the type of consistency that wins a championship. It's almost impossible to sputter in any way and have a bad finish. Just ask Mr. Gordon.

"I want to have the biggest lead I can get," Edwards said. "Right now, it's one point, but I'd like to leave here with a bigger lead and then have a little bit of insurance for that bad day that's inevitably gonna happen.

"You go to Talladega, Martinsville, the new Phoenix surface, I mean, nobody knows what's gonna happen and you need as many points as you can have so that you can absorb that bad day. We led the points for a bunch during the regular season, but we had some bad days that used up a ton of points."

A real bad day came shortly after signing his contract, when Edwards' Ford had engine issues and he finished 36th at Michigan, dropping him to third in the standings.

A minor blip, that is all.

Since the hiccup at Michigan, Edwards has yet to finish outside the top 10. He is also the only driver in the Chase with a top-10 finish in each of the first four races.

But even with his consistency and strong qualifying run, Edwards knows the perils of this place. He hasn't finished better than 12th in his last four points races here.

"We really need to take advantage of this track if we've got a good car because it's been one we've struggled at.

"We've come here and been lost – just terrible – and I feel like we have a lot better shot now."

gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego

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Vettel Wins Title, but Button Wins Race

SUZUKA, Japan — In winning the drivers’ title at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday with four races left, Sebastian Vettel has extinguished any doubts about just how good a driver he is. With nine victories and 12 pole positions this season, he is the youngest double world champion ever.

He rose quickly, had such precociously good results in Formula One since he began racing in 2007, that there has not been enough time to consider how much was his talent and how much was his car.

One thing became certain this year, however, and that is his extraordinary maturity. It was only after the race in Suzuka that Vettel suddenly looked a little like the lost student at the front of the class.

‘‘There are so many things you want to say in this moment but it is hard to remember all of them,’’ he said after winning the title. ‘‘It’s as confusing as the first one, I should say, so it is hard to find the right words.’’

But the maturity in racing, was certainly one of his strongest points.

‘‘He is the most mature 24-year-old that I have ever seen in motor sport,’’ said Jackie Stewart, a three-time world champion from the 1960s and 1970s. ‘‘He has a maturity about him, in his driving, whether it be in the wet or the dry. He seldom ever overdrives.’’

He added that Vettel also has control of his emotions that allows him to avoid silly mistakes. But that was almost compromised at both the beginning and the end of Sunday’s race.

He entered the race needing one point to win the title, or hope that his last rival, Jenson Button, of McLaren Mercedes, did not win another race. At the start Button attacked, and Vettel defended so harshly that he sent the British driver into the grass at the side of the track. As the race neared an end, with Button leading, Vettel attacked aggressively to try to take second position from Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari, occasionally looking like he might crash out.

Button went on to win the race, his third of the season, and Vettel finished third, taking the driving title with his second worst finish the year. He finished first or second in every race except his home race in Germany in July, when he was fourth.

It is an epoch when records for youth are being broken with every new champion, from Alonso, the previous youngest double world champion in 2006, to Lewis Hamilton, the next youngest champion in 2008, to Vettel. But the manner in which Vettel has won his titles has impressed even his fellow drivers.

‘‘At the moment he is the benchmark,’’ Heikki Kovalainen, a driver at Team Lotus, said. ‘‘This year Vettel has been the best out there. After that, you can speculate who has the best car.’’

Having had the support during his career of the Red Bull energy drink maker that owns the team for which he races, Vettel was used to growing up pampered — from go-karting to the highest level of racing. Early on, there were times when he appeared impatient, if things did not go his way, such as when he caused a collision between him and his teammate, Mark Webber, at the Turkish Grand Prix last year that knocked both of them off the track, and cost Webber the victory.

There were times it appeared that he had to have all the strong cards in the deck. But not for his first victory, at the inferior Toro Rosso team in 2008 when he won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in the rain, giving that team its first and only victory. And this season, Vettel won races in just about every situation.

‘‘I think he’s done a fantastic job for the second year in a row now,’’ said Sam Michael, the former technical director at the Williams team. ‘‘It’s not the races when Red Bull are dominant, it’s the ones when they are not that show that he’s really something special. He’s won races when perhaps maybe they shouldn’t have won.’’

The main keys to measuring his results are those of any driver: How he has performed by comparison to his teammate with the same cars. And Webber, who was in contention for the title last year until the last race of the season, has not won a single race.

This season, Vettel has been almost invincible, whether it rained, was dry and hot or humid, whether he started from pole position or further back.

‘‘We had a very, very good car but the team was stronger,’’ Vettel said. ‘‘This year many times we had a car that was less dominant than the car last year. A championship is not one race, but many races pulled together.’’

Vettel, like all the best drivers, is also deeply involved in the technical process.

‘‘He thinks a lot about what he does,’’ said Adrian Newey, the designer of the Red Bull car, who worked with several world champions, including Mika Hakkinen, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. ‘‘He takes a lot of time to try and understand the car, understand his own performance. Like most good drivers he has a good feeling for the car. He is very strong in some areas. He has a very good feeling for the tires.’’

Although some people see Vettel as a clone of his older German countryman, Michael Schumacher, and the two have known each other since Vettel was a child, their personalities are distinctly different.

Vettel is more at ease during interviews, and provides long, detailed, passionate responses to questions — almost always with a smile.

But while there are no longer any doubts about the level and nature of his talent, only time will tell if Vettel has what it takes to continue winning for anything like the same period of time that Schumacher did.

When asked how it felt to be supplanted by Vettel as the youngest double world champion, Alonso said:

‘‘Now we will see who is the youngest three-time world champion.’’

To which Vettel quipped of Schumacher, the only driver to win seven titles: ‘‘Did you notice that Michael is the youngest seven-time world champion?’’

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Notes From the Paddock in Korea

October 13, 2011, 12:54 pm

By BRAD SPURGEON

YEOGNAM, South Korea – It’s a long but agreeable train ride from Seoul down to Mokpo, where the Korean Grand Prix takes place at the Yeognam track just outside town. But once at the circuit, you feel a little bit out in the middle of nowhere.

Last year’s race was one of the craziest and most exciting of the season, thanks mostly to torrential rainfall. So, what has changed this time?

That was a question on most people’s minds on this first day at the track. The circuit had been prepared just in time for the race last year. The first thing I looked at as I entered the paddock was to see whether lights had been installed for the walk to the shuttles, or even for the walk to the parking lot. Not that I could see, no.

And what about the track? Few changes there.

“I think generally there hasn’t been a lot going on since we left,” said Sebastian Vettel, the new, and reigning, world champion. “But they obviously made some changes. For instance, at the last corner they moved the wall so it’s a little bit better to see, a bit easier for us.”

Personally, I enjoyed the Toro Rosso team’s race preview, which came in the form – as it usually does – of a comic strip featuring the team’s drivers, Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi. This time it borders on the absurd, like last year’s race:

Toro Rosso F1 TeamThe Toro Rosso team’s race preview for the Korean Grand Prix makes fun of last year’s rain-soaked race.

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'Rejuvenated' Jeff Gordon now sputtering in chase for 5 t h NASCAR title

CONCORD, N.C. Jeff Gordon began the Chase as a contender. He has now devolved into a commentator.

Questions about winning his fifth NASCAR championship are no longer relevant. One of the first queries during a meet-and-greet with the media at Gordon's hauler Thursday afternoon came from a reporter who asked Gordon to give him his "educated opinion" on how the Chase may work out for the top contenders.

It most certainly hasn't worked out for Gordon, who was running well in Kansas last week when an engine failure with two laps to go literally blew up any realistic chance to win the title. After finishing 34th, Gordon is now 47 points behind points leader Carl Edwards.

Those are a lot of points to make up in the next six races, starting here Saturday night during the Bank of America 500. That disparity amounts to one race, and Gordon is going to have to leapfrog nine of the best guys in the business.

It's a long way to go, especially since Gordon — a 5-time pole setter here — qualified 23^rd Thursday night. Tony Stewart won the pole position, followed by Matt Kenseth and Edwards.

Oh well. The story lines now take on a different theme: Can Jimmie Johnson win his sixth consecutive championship, or will Carl Edwards or Kevin Harvick have enough giddy-up to bump him off?

Not that there's anything wrong with that, to quote Seinfeld.

But much like the show, Johnson's dominance is the same yada-yada.

Gordon, 40, had a shot at a youthful resurgence, challenging the younger pop-tarts in the chase for speed.

"Nothing changes right now," Gordon said when asked if he needed to refocus his goals. "Nothing changes for us. We go to the race track to win. That's what we've done every weekend. Obviously, the Chase has not gone the way we hoped and we realize in order to win the championship we have to win a bunch of races.

"If we are mathematically out of it, then we'll change our approach. But until then it's business as usual."

Such are the bumps and bruises of the 10-race Chase format. The system crushes anybody who has a bad weekend, and last week had the feel of last call for Gordon. He was running in the top five for most of the day when the engine gave out (scuffed a piston in one of the cylinders).

"To win a championship, you have to not have bad days," Edwards said. "…You need as many points as you can to absorb those bad days."

The disheartening pat of all of this is that Gordon was definitely rejuvenated this season, and was giving the Hendrick Motorsports empire a solid wing man to Johnson in the Chase for the championship.

He won three races heading into the Chase, seeking his first Cup title in a decade.

Gordon headed into the Chase seeded third, three points behind Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. And he definitely had Mr. Mo riding shotgun, with those three victories and 14 Top 10 finishes in 26 races.

"This has been a great year no matter what happens," Gordon said. "I was extremely excited coming into the Chase, with the momentum that we had as a team. The wins that we had and the great things that are happening to this team, even at Kansas prior to the problem on the restart and the engine trouble, it was a lot of fun. To fall back this far in the points is very disappointing."

Certainly there is no cheering in the press box, but a Gordon championship would have been a neat thing to see. It didn't quite have the feel of a Rocky-esque moment, but it would have punched up the way the final chapter has evolved for NASCAR during Johnson's dominant run.

Oh well. As Gordon well knows, things can blow up in a hurry when you race cars for a living.

gdiaz@tribune.com. Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego

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Kurt Busch wins Round 3 race in the Chase at Dover International Speedway

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Kurt Busch left a rocky start to the Chase and his fiercest rival behind him.

Busch stormed into contention for a second Cup championship, holding off fellow Chase drivers Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards to win Sunday at Dover International Speedway, tightening the leaderboard in a playoff where no driver has emerged as a clear-cut favorite.

Busch, though, is in the mix.

His No. 22 Dodge seemed only to get stronger over the 400-mile race and he beat Johnson, his long-time antagonist, on the final restart to take the checkered flag for the second time this season. The win pushed Busch from ninth to fourth in the points standings, only nine points out of first.

Only 15 points separate the top eight drivers with seven races left.

Edwards and Kevin Harvick share the points lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings entering round 4 of the Chase at Kansas Speedway. Harvick is seeded first because of a tiebreaker.

Busch, the 2004 champion, won his 24th career race and for the first time at Dover.

"To win a Sprint Cup race in the Chase, this is what it's all about," Busch said.

Johnson leads active drivers with six career victories at Dover and traditionally dominated Chase races. Sure enough, after a tough start to the Chase, the defending five-time champion led the majority of laps and proved the No. 48 is far from finished.

"Are we out of this?" said Johnson, rubbing his chin with a smile.

Not yet. Not by a long shot.

Johnson got beat off the last two restarts, spinning his tires on the first one and he mistimed when Busch would accelerate on the second.

"I hate leaving points on the table, and we have these first three," Johnson said.

Losing to Busch had to sting.

Busch made his move off the final restart with 43 laps, leaving Johnson and the rest of the field in the mirror.

Johnson's reign was considered by some to be on the ropes after he finished 10th and 18th in the first two Chase races. But his strong result on one of his favorite tracks moved him only 13 points behind the leaders and feeling confident. He has five straight top 10s, including one win, at Kansas.

"Giving up a win by not getting a good restart, I'll think about it tonight," Johnson said. "But big-picture wise, we'll take it."

The winning move against Johnson made the victory more meaningful for Busch. Two of the sport's top drivers have developed a long-simmering rivalry — trading paint and barbs — over the years. It reached a boiling part at Richmond when Busch called Johnson a "five-time chump."

"To beat your arch nemesis, that's just icing on the cake. That's pretty sweet," Busch said.

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Clint Bowyer headed to Michael Waltrip Racing

KANSAS CITY, Kansas—

In 2008, Clint Bowyer called Michael Waltrip the "worst driver in NASCAR period." Next season, Bowyer will call Waltrip boss. On Friday the two put weeks of speculation to bed, making the official announcement at the Kansas Speedway, that Bowyer will be moving to Michael Waltrip Racing.

"You know you never know when you are going to have to eat those words, and I'd say today's the day," Bowyer joked at Friday's announcement. "But he promised me he would be the best owner ever."

The Emporia native has signed a three year deal with MWR beginning with the 2012 season. 5-Hour Energy will sponsor Bowyer for 24 races next season and the team is still looking for sponsorship for the remaining 12.

"When we decided to make the move up from Nationwide we looked long and hard because this is a huge investment for us," said Scott Henderson, president of 5-Hour Energy. "And we looked around and talked to drivers and we settled on Clint because he supports our brand and he's a got a pretty good personality too."

Bowyer, Waltrip and his new sponsor all believe that their partnership will result an appearance in the 2012 Chase for the Championship.

"I see a young aggressive team, a great backing with Toyota behind them in down market," said Bowyer. "I see a young energetic sponsor, in the same boat. Both of them are pushing forward they are spending and I see this as an opportunity to catch up."

"This dude sitting to my right (Bowyer) can go out there and win the championship," said Waltrip. "To get him on board, to add a third team, to get a new sponsor in 5-Hour, this is just a great day for Michael Waltrip Racing."

Bowyer has spent his entire NASCAR career driving for Richard Childress Racing. His contract with that company expires at the end of the season. And despite having found a sponsor? in 5-Hour, the two still could seem to make a deal work.

"That's ultimately what lead to leaving RCR," said Bowyer. "It just didn't work out. It's a shame, I owe a great deal to Richard. Just a few miles down the road I was standing in a body shop when that man called me. I'll never forget that day and I owe a lot to him for that."

No crew chief has been hired for Bowyer, whose number 15 will be the third car in the Michael Waltrip Racing stable. Currently MWR driver Matrin Truex, Jr is 20th in the points and David Reuitmann is 28th. Bowyer is the top driver not in NASCAR's Chase for the Championship, sitting in 13th place.

"Everybody knows we've got room to improve and I look forward to trying to make that happen," said Bowyer.

"There are a few times in a young company's history when you can look back on it and say there were days that changed it, and we believe today's announcement is one of those moments," said Ty Norris, Executive Vice-President and General Manager of MWR.

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Possible Answer to the Button Question in Suzuka

SUZUKA, Japan – As I predicted in this space on Wednesday, everyone in the paddock wants to know what the new “multi-year contract” for Jenson Button at McLaren Mercedes means. During an? official press conference with several drivers on Thursday, Button refused to give any more information when the interviewer asked for more details about the terms of the contract.

Button very professionally, diplomatically, and according to what he has agreed with his team, no doubt, did not reveal the exact number of years the contract was good for. But judging from what he said, it sounds like a firm two-year deal.

“You always want more,” said Button in response the question. “I can’t. All I can say is I am very happy.”

Then he said, perhaps after his defenses dropped a little, “This is a great opportunity over the next couple of years to work closely with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.” For me, a “couple of years” means two.

Button went on to say that his team was getting close to Red Bull, that it was a great fight, etc. He added: “It is important to have the continuity over the next couple of years.”

So, if that does not sound like a two-year deal….

Thursday was a beautiful, warm and sunny day in Suzuka, and it is looking like the weekend will continue that way. So we are not likely to have a crazy mad wet race here. Sebastian Vettel continues to pretend he does not have the title in his pocket, but that’s normal. After all, he needs only one point.

“If someone can push Jenson down the stairs later on, that would help,” he said with a smile, but in a not so diplomatic manner….

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Button Signs Multiple-Year Contract at McLaren Mercedes

NAGOYA, Japan – As the Formula One circus travels to Japan for the Japanese Grand Prix this coming weekend, the McLaren Mercedes team has announced that Jenson Button has signed a new multi-year contract with the team.

Button is the last driver still capable of winning the drivers’ title this year. Of course, he won’t, but that’s beside the point. Since Button has to win all five remaining races and hope that Sebastian Vettel does not score a single point, the contract extension for the British driver obviously is not designed to make him put in an extra effort to win a title he will not win.

In fact, Button has had a much better season than his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, and he is clearly at the top of his racing game, even if he won the title two years ago when driving with Brawn. He has reached a maturity as a driver and a person after first starting in the series more than a decade ago as a great British hope that for many years looked like it would not work out.

?”I’ve never felt more at home at a team than I do at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,” Button said in a team statement, “I’ve won four of the greatest races of my life here, I’m currently lying second in the drivers’ world championship, and I feel that I’m driving better than ever.?

“You can only achieve that with the right level of support,” he added. “And I truly believe that the passion and determination to win are stronger here at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes than anywhere else. As a Grand Prix driver, those are incredibly powerful feelings to share and be part of, and they’ve only reinforced my desire to commit my long-term future to this team.”

For some reason the team has decided not to disclose whether a multi-year contract means two years or 10. But I am certain the question will be raised several times in the paddock in Japan starting on Thursday. Button has won four races with the team since he joined last year.

The only Formula One person I saw in the airport in Tokyo when I arrived Wednesday, as it turned out, was Button’s dad, John, who, it seems, has attended just about every race Button has entered in Formula One. Had I known this announcement was about to be made, I might have tried to squeeze the extra detail out of him!

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Jimmie Johnson set to blow up speculation of Chase vulnerability

There are two ways this thing can go for Jimmie Johnson:

He will either be celebrating his sixth consecutive NASCAR title, a run of dominance that equates to the mastery of the Road Runner and the misery of Wile E. Coyote.

Kaboom. Another NASCAR title goes up in smoke for the rest of the pack.

The other option is obvious after some bouncy finishes of late — perhaps there is a flicker of self-doubt in the usually resilient and reliable Lowe's No. 48.

Johnson is fifth in the points standings — only 13 points behind leader Kevin Harvick — and hasn't won since the restrictor-plate race in Talladega in April. He's in some in-between world right now, not dominating but not out of it.

So where do we go from here?

It would be mighty foolish to count him out. Johnson may not be running away from the field, but he has been awfully consistent. And with the new points system, it's all about consistency. Finishing in the top 5 or top 10 every week will get any driver to Homestead in late November with a great chance to win the Sprint Cup title.

Winning is important, but equally important is not finishing in the rear of the pack.

Reports of Johnson's demise were greatly exaggerated after his 18th-place finish in New Hampshire. Johnson came back strong at Dover, finishing second to Kurt Busch. Johnson posted his 14th top-10 finish in 20 races at Dover International Speedway, and most importantly, completed his 19th top-10 finish in 2011.

"Are we out of this?" Johnson said, smiling and rubbing his chin after the finish at Dover.

Johnson is smart enough (usually, anyway) not to get caught up in the petty vendettas we see on a weekly basis in NASCAR, where a little bumping and grinding payback may be a good cathartic release but does nothing for your competitive chances.

Certainly Johnson isn't bullet-proof. He could be the points leader today if he hadn't run out of fuel on the last lap of the Chase opener in Chicago, had some bump-and-grind issues with Kyle Busch at New Hampshire, and struggled with the final two restarts at Dover.

"We left points on the table,'' Johnson said. "This Chase, [it] is so tough to know what it's going to take ... look at [Tony Stewart] and what he did the first two races and then the struggles he had. I think it speaks to how tough these 10 races are going to be and how you think somebody is on fire and the fire can go out.''

Still, it would be silly and foolish to count Johnson out of anything.

As veteran NASCAR writer Reid Spencer recently noted: "I wouldn't bet against Jimmie Johnson if he was the bottom seed in a sack race."

My Monopoly money is on Johnson to be there at the end, gunning for another title.

Remember one thing: The Road Runner usually gets his way.

Looking like Bowyer is jumping ship

Clint Bowyer seems to have finally decided whether he will stay with Richard Childress racing or move over to Michael Waltrip's team.

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Vettel's Little Accident in Practice

October 7, 2011, 5:12 am

By BRAD SPURGEON

SUZUKA, Japan – There was an interesting symmetry in the two first practice sessions Friday in preparation for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka: Jenson Button, the only driver who is still capable of winning the drivers’ championship other than the series’ leader, finished fastest of the day in both the first and second sessions, while Sebastian Vettel, the man who needs only one more point to clinch the title, crashed in the first session.

I think the thought ran through everyone’s mind: If Vettel injured himself in a crash like that, then Button’s chances of winning the title would go up. Still, as Button himself pointed out in a? press conference on Thursday, he doesn’t have much of a chance, as he has to win all five remaining races.

Still, Lee McKenzie, the BBC reporter, posted a message on Twitter that Vettel had told her that his crash was a reminder not to get ahead of himself and that the title was not yet won. So it did go through his mind too. Sounds like he is walking on eggshells. But the crash really was not that serious. Vettel drove off the track and slid into the tire barrier, and the car was not badly damaged.

Meanwhile, with all the talk among the teams of the tsunami in Japan this year, I’ve just learned from an associate of Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One promoter, that Ecclestone has bought 3,000 tickets to the race for the tsunami victims.

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Ecclestone Talks of Cheating, Back in the Days

September 29, 2011, 5:04 pm

By BRAD SPURGEON

An interview appeared Thursday on the official Formula One Web site in which both Bernie Ecclestone, the series’ promoter and owner of the Web site, and Christian Horner, the director of the Red Bull team, discuss common themes.

Ecclestone is as outspoken as usual, and he talks freely about cheating when he was the team director and owner of the Brabham team in the 1970s and ’80s.

“But back then, at the times of Brabham, I had a significant advantage,” Ecclestone said. “We were the masters of cheating and never got caught. That’s not possible nowadays!”

“Today it is all about who’s interpreting the rules best,” he added. “That means staying within the rules but thinking outside of the box because the control mechanisms are too tight to take a risk.”

He also questions the value of the Formule One Teams Association, which helps negotiate commercial rights with Ecclestone, who ran the group’s predecessor, the Formula One Constructors’ Association, in the 1970s.

“It is an unnecessary association of people who should put their sole emphasis on getting competitive cars on the grid,” Ecclestone said. “It’s just more of what they don’t have to think of. I look after that, so there are enough financial resources.”

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