The Final Lap with Kerry Murphey

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PHOTO CREDIT: NASCAR MEDIA

Logano Captures Second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown Victory
Runner-up Pena, 16, impresses in debut
By Jason Cunningham
January 31, 2010 – 1:55am

IRWINDALE, Calif. – Joey Logano got his second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown trophy and Sergio Pena nearly made a historic debut on the national stage.

Logano, 19, held off the 16-year-old Pena and two-time race winner Matt Kobyluck for the victory in the 225-lap race Saturday before a sold-out crowd at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

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It was Pena’s first career race in NASCAR’s top developmental series and it came in the non-points, postseason event, which has earned the moniker the “Daytona 500 of short-track racing.”

Logano made his mark by winning as a 17-year-old rookie in the 2007 edition; Pena, who only has one year of Late Model racing on his resume, nearly out-did that.

Logano and Pena waged a race-long battle for the lead from drop of the green. For most of the race it was the Pena in heated pursuit of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Pena was able to grab the lead on several occasions. Logano, however, got the best of two late-race restarts to pull away for the victory.

Kobyluck got by Pena briefly on Lap 218, and by the time Pena got back to second four laps later he didn’t have enough time to track Logano back down.

Logano wound up leading a race-high 171 laps. Pena led the other 54 and they swapped the lead five times. Following Logano, Pena and Kobyluck across the line was Matt DiBenedetto and Andrew Myers. Eric Holmes, David Mayhew, Eddie MacDonald, Paulie Harraka and Steve Park rounded out the top 10.

Reigning NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Champion Jason Bowles finished 11th while K&N Pro Series East 2009 titlist Ryan Truex was relegated to 26th after a late-race accident.

It’s been a whirlwind weekend for Pena, a Winchester, Va., native.

Pena, driving for Revolution Racing and Drive For Diversity, beat out three teammates Thursday in a race-off for a chance to qualify for the Showdown. He easily did that, earning the pole in Friday’s qualifying.

The win was a vindication, of sorts, for Logano, who crossed the line first in last year’s NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, but was penalized to last place for aggressive driving on the last lap.

This was the second year the postseason event was held in January. The first five – 2003-2007 – were held in the Fall.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

While simultaneously reading Vanity Fair’s interview with Tiger Woods and watching Brett Favre’s Vikings fall to the New Orleans Saints on January 24, something caught my attention.

FOX broadcaster Joe Buck was talking about the finest athletes in sports gathering together for a high-profile contest the week before a big event. I looked up from my magazine and said, “Hey, Joe Buck is talking about NASCAR right in the middle of this football game. Cool!”

I was wrong, of course. Although there were numerous promos for the 2010 NASCAR season, and especially for the Daytona 500, during the game, the star-studded event Buck was referring to is the NFL’s annual Pro Bowl game, which has been moved this year to the weekend before the Super Bowl.

And naturally, the ‘big event’ Buck was talking about is Super Bowl XLIV, which is either how you say the number 44 in Roman or some type of new flu vaccination. (Before you start squawking at me, yes, I know the Romans spoke Latin. It seems they had numbers but no words. Weird.)

Anyway, just to lay it out in the most simplistic terms, the NFL now has established a two-week period — their most visible period of the season — with an all-star game on one weekend followed by the biggest game of the year on the following weekend.

Is it just me, or does this sound awfully familiar? Let’s see … For over two decades, NASCAR’s top drivers have competed in the Budweiser Shootout on the first weekend in February, a tremendously popular lead-in to NASCAR’s ‘big event.’

Currently, there are 28 drivers who qualify for the 2010 Shootout, including 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contenders, the 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year, former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions and Shootout winners, and active drivers who have won either the Daytona 500 or the Coke Zero 400. In other words, all of the sport’s biggest stars will be represented.

The following weekend marks the return of the Great American Race, the legendary Daytona 500. So that’s two weeks of excitement leading up to one major sporting spectacle. What a concept.

You’re a little late to the party, NFL, but good call.

After I processed this, I had one of my deja vu moments, which I like to call FedEx flashes. It’s hard to believe, but it’s been six years since NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France announced the creation of what is now called the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, an innovative new system for crowning the Cup Series champion.

You know the drill. After the first 26 races, the 12 highest-ranked drivers are seeded based on their total number of wins and compete in the last 10 races for the series title.

We’re accustomed to the Chase format now, but when the announcement was first made, it created quite an uproar. Internet message boards exploded. It was unfair, people said. It was confusing. It was unnecessary. Almost nothing about it was going to work.

What a difference a few years makes. Nowadays, most fans agree the creation of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is one of the most successful changes made to the sport in its entire history, the greatest thing since sliced bread (with apologies to Joey Logano).

2007 marked the first year of the PGA’s FedEx Cup, a playoff system where golfers accumulate points for each event they play. The field is gradually winnowed down to the top performers, the points are reset, and the 30 best-scoring golfers compete for the title.

Great idea, PGA. You scored a real hole in one with that one.

NASCAR does take its hits and criticisms from time to time, and for the most part, absorbs them with grace and humor. If both the most “refined” sport and the most popular sport are copying pages out of NASCAR’s book, more power to them. We all know the proverb that describes imitation as the sincerest form of flattery, and we wish them well.

Still, it’s important to remember these additional words of wisdom when borrowing ideas from NASCAR: Often imitated; never duplicated.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 28, 2010) – Of the 100 most powerful and marketable sports athletes as determined by Bloomberg BusinessWeek Magazine, two call JR Motorsports home.

JR Motorsports co-owner and driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ranked 45th on Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s Power 100 list. A veteran of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Earnhardt Jr. started JR Motorsports in 2001 and has since nurtured it into a wide-ranging, multi-service company that includes racing, management, production, real estate, and a bar-and-restaurant franchise. Danica Patrick, the five-year IndyCar racer who will compete in a limited NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports in 2010-11, was ranked 88th. (See full list of Power 100.)

Bloomberg BusinessWeek determined its 100 most powerful athletes by teaming with sports entertainment company CSE and Rick Horrow of Horrow Sports Ventures. Determining factors included on-field metrics such as performance and popularity and off-field metrics such as endorsement income, public awareness, trustworthiness, appeal, and influence.

“Having Dale Jr. and Danica both on BusinessWeek’s Power 100 is a testament to their connections with the fans and the American consumer,” said Joe Mattes, JR Motorsports Vice President of Licensing and Marketing. “Even when the economic climate isn’t booming, these two give us business opportunities solely off their influence and star power, and they present unique advantages for corporate partners that you don’t see every day.”

Both Earnhardt Jr. and Patrick appear regularly on lists that recognize influence and marketability. Both have appeared on Forbes’ esteemed Celebrity Power 100 (Earnhardt Jr. in 2008 and Patrick in 2009). Earnhardt Jr. has been a fixture on Harris Interactive’s Top-10 Favorite Athletes in America polling, appearing annually with names like LeBron James, Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan and Peyton Manning. He ranked eighth in 2009 to mark his sixth consecutive year on the list.

In a similar survey by Harris Interactive, America voted Patrick as one of its top-10 favorite female sports stars for the fourth consecutive year, voting her No. 3 in 2009. She was ranked No. 1 in 2008, the year she became the first woman to win an IndyCar race.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Max Angelelli prevailed in a back-and-forth battle in qualifying Thursday at Daytona International Speedway to capture the pole for the 48th Rolex 24 At Daytona. Angelelli secured the top position for the opening round of the 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series with a lap of 1:40.827 seconds (127.108 mph) in the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara.

Ozz Negri will start from the outside of row one after running 1:41.100 (126.765 mph), in the No. 60 Crown Royal Ford Riley, edging out Michael Shank Racing teammate Michael Valiante, 1:41.110 (126.755 mph) in the No. 6 Ford Riley.
“The car is great,” Angelelli said. “It’s really easy to drive. It’s fast. We have everything in place, and we’re really looking forward to the race to get a good result. Now it’s up to us as drivers to make it happen. The SunTrust car is just fast – unbelievable.”

The opening practice session was marked by three single-car incidents that damaged contending cars driven by four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, Lucas Luhr and Martin Ragginger. All three cars are expected to be ready to race following extensive repairs.

The defending Rolex Series Daytona Prototype champion GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing team initially made plans to fly in a spare car – driven by Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty to the 2007 championship – after Johnson crashed in the infield when a slower car moved in front of him. However, the team decided to rebuild the damaged car with parts being flown in from Riley Technologies in Concord, N.C.
“I put myself in a position with a GT car that I shouldn’t and paid the price,” said Johnson, who was unhurt in the incident. “I hate it that I tore up equipment and put the guys in this spot. It looks like we will get this fixed and hopefully everything will be good for tomorrow.”

Jeff Segal won the GT pole in the final lap of qualifying with a track record lap of 1:49.282 (117.275 mph) in the No. 69 SpeedSource FXDD Mazda RX-8.
The Rolex 24 takes the green flag at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on SPEED.