Quick Hits: New Hampshire Motor Speedway

As NASCAR opens the 2008 Chase to the Sprint Cup, the Sprint Cup Series travels to Loudon, New Hampshire, to visit my home track.

I’ve gone to the races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway since I was a child, from CART events to AMA races to NASCAR’s regional touring series to the Cup Series, and I haven’t missed a Cup race at Loudon since September 2000. It’s been a long, strange trip, from the restrictor plate race in 2000, to the Thanksgiving race in November 2001, to this year’s July race that saw an unexpected top three of Kurt Busch, Michael Waltrip, and the since-fired J.J. Yeley.

To put it lightly, the one thing that makes Loudon interesting is that one must expect the unexpected. Think about it—Jeff Burton once led all 300 laps of a race at this track. In 1999, Joe Nemechek won his first career race after leading the final 71 laps, in 2002, Ward Burton won his last after leading the final 10. Patrick Carpentier won his first career pole in July, beating out drivers like Scott Riggs and Dario Franchitti (in his final career Sprint Cup start to date).

That penchant for the unexpected, however, has also ended in tragedy. It was in Loudon in May 2000 that NASCAR lost its first fourth-generation driver, Adam Petty, to a massive accident in a Busch Series practice session.

It was one of two losses for the Petty family that year, as patriarch Lee would pass away as well but Adam’s loss sent even more shockwaves through the sport.

Adam was a 19-year-old future superstar, the key to the restoration of Petty Enterprises to the sport’s elite. Adam was going to be one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers, contending with guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth for titles for years to come.

That all changed with a stuck accelerator and a devastating impact. A devastating impact indeed, not only for the car and driver themselves, but for the team especially; is it at all surprising that Petty cars have not won a race since Adam died? That Bobby Labonte’s 18th in points last year is the team’s best overall finish since? That Kyle Petty has never been the same behind the wheel, often electing to hand over the car to other drivers, especially when the series comes north? (For the record, Petty development driver Chad McCumbee will be in the No. 45 car this weekend.)

Not only that, it deprived the fans of another driver destined for greatness. Imagine what NASCAR could’ve done with a Petty-Earnhardt chase battle. Imagine seeing that No. 45 visit Victory Lane—with sponsorship from Sprint itself, no less!—and seeing three generations of Petty pose together, Richard with his hat and sunglasses, Kyle with his ponytail, Adam in his Sprint firesuit, all smiling as they would have celebrated the return of the family operation to the top of the Cup series.

Imagine Adam breaking ground on the Victory Junction Gang Camp himself, instead of having the ground broken in his honor.

Imagine Adam bringing an eighth Cup championship to the team shop in Randleman, NC. Maybe a ninth, a tenth, an eleventh… all brought to a screeching halt by one stuck accelerator.

As we remember one driver whose life and career ended much too soon, here are this week’s five Quick Hits:

5. With Patrick Carpentier searching for a ride for the 2009 season, rumors abound that he will become the next driver of the famed No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers. “I haven’t talked to anyone and I don’t plan on talking to anyone until I get my cars working better, but I do like Patrick,” said Eddie Wood.

The Woods have missed eight races thus far this season, including the season-opening Daytona 500. Kurt Busch required the champion’s provisional to race, bumping Bill Elliott from the field. Elliott will retire after this season, and Jon Wood has not run a full schedule in any of NASCAR’s top three series since 2006.

4. Tensions between Chip Ganassi Racing and the departing Reed Sorenson are high, with the driver reportedly considering leaving the team early this season. Potential replacements for the balance of the schedule, if the young driver bolts, include Sterling Marlin, Jeremy Mayfield, or development driver Bryan Clauson.

3. Team Red Bull will test former Formula 1 driver Scott Speed in the No. 82 Toyota at Lowe’s Motor Speedwaythis weekend, in preparation for a Cup series debut in the near future. Word is that Red Bull is high on Speed, and wants him to drive for the company full-time next season, but is not too keen on funding three cars. With A.J. Allmendinger’s contract up after this season, TRB’s future is somewhat up in the air at this point.

2. With qualifying rained out at Richmond last week, Joey Logano was unable to make his Sprint Cup debut for Joe Gibbs Racing. Instead, that will come this week at Loudon, in the No. 02 Home Depot Toyota he was scheduled to drive last week. Logano was previously scheduled to drive for Hall of Fame Racing this week, but JGR wanted Logano in a Home Depot car for his first career Cup series start. Ken Schrader will instead wheel HOF’s No. 96 Toyota.

1. Gillett Evernham Motorsports has sued Robby Gordon for a breach of contract related to the two parties’ potential merger, claiming that Gordon violated an exclusivity clause in discussing merger options with other teams. This accusation comes as Gordon gets acquainted with a new crew chief, Kirk Almquist, who comes to the team from…oddly enough, Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners: Ron Hornaday in the Craftsman Trucks at Gateway, Carl Edwards in the Nationwide Series, and Jimmie Johnson in Sprint Cup at Richmond.