Last Week in Retrospect: Richard Childress Racing - Indianapolis

Arriving on Thursday night in Indy the Richard Childress Racing Team expected big things from their drivers but after first practice on Friday the only RCR driver to post a speed in the top ten was Jeff Burton. Second practice on Friday afternoon found Kevin Harvick 5^th fast and Jeff Burton 9^th quickest. The third practice session on Saturday morning, and the final practice before qualifications ended without any Richard Childress Chevy drivers on the top ten list.

Qualifications came and went without any of the RCR teams cracking the front five rows. The highest starter among the four teams would be Jeff Burton, who would start 13^th on Sunday. Paul Menard would roll off the starting grid in 15^th position, Kevin Harvick would start 19^th, and Clint Bowyer would begin on the outside of the 13^th row for the 18^th running of the Brickyard 400.

The Brickyard 400

The opening laps of the Brickyard 400 found the RCR drivers settling in for a long day. Jeff Burton gained six positions in the opening 20 laps and was shown in 9^th place as lap 20 was in books. Paul Menard and Kevin Harvick teamed up to find 14^th and 15^th place, respectively on lap 25 when the first round of green flag pits stops began. Once the pit stops had cycled through, lap 20 found Harvick running 12^th and Menard in 13^th position. Bowyer was in 16^th place and Burton, back in traffic was shown in the 33^rd spot.

The first caution of the day flew on lap 35 for debris; Harvick dropped to 23^rd on the restart after choosing to take two tires during his previous pit stop. By lap 41 Kevin was still mired back in 23^rd place. In front of Harvick, Menard was shown in 18^th place, Bowyer in 17^th running position, and Burton in 15^th place. By lap 42 the RCR drivers had grouped together to form a chain starting with Bowyer in 16^th, followed by Bowyer in 17^th, Menard in 18^th, and Harvick in the 19^th position on the track.

Each RCR driver had improved one spot when the yellow waved on lap 50 for David Reutimann's run in with the wall. After a slow stop for Paul under yellow Menard would restart in 30^th position. Bowyer restarted in 17^th place, Harvick in 19^th position, and Burton 21^st on the grid. By lap 63, 10 laps after the restart Bowyer had improved to 13^th on the track, Harvick was shown 15^th, Burton in 17^th position, and Menard was running 27^th.

Green flag pit stops were again underway as the race reached the halfway mark. Burton, Bowyer, and Harvick all headed to the pits on lap 80 but Menard opted to remain on the track where he inherited the lead on lap 84 before coming to the pits on the next lap. Once all stops were made Bowyer was shown in 12^th position, Harvick was running 15^th, Burton was in 19^th place, and Menard in the 28^th position.

When the yellow came out on lap 94 Menard again took over the lead when he stayed on the track as many other headed in for service. Lap 99 showed Menard as leader, Harvick running 14^th, Bowyer in 18^th position, and Burton in 19^th. Menard held onto the lead until a bump from the 17 of Matt Kenseth on lap 16 caused him shuffle back to the 4^th position. With 50 to go Menard was 4^th, Harvick was 12^th, Bowyer was 13^th, and Burton was 31^st.

Kyle Busch brought out the next caution on lap 112 as he kissed the wall in turn two; this time around Burton opted to stay out when others went for fuel and tires. Menard took four tires and fuel, whereas Bowyer and Harvick took the gamble with two tires on their stops. The restart on lap 117 would see Burton in the 2^nd position, Harvick 8^th, Bowyer 10^th, and Menard in 12^th place. Bowyer got in a hurry as the green flag dropped and made his way to 6^th position by lap 119. A scary moment on lap 120 when Landon Cassill spun saw the 27 car of Paul Menard dive low to avoid the crash; all RCR drivers made it through safely.

The closing laps of the 2011 Brickyard 400 came down to fuel conservation. With 10 laps to go, Menard was leading and crew chief Slugger Labbe was on the radio instructing his driver to save fuel. Menard let then second place driver Jamie McMurray pass him and ducked behind McMurray in hopes of saving a bit of fuel from the draft. By the time the call from the pits came with four to go that it was go time for Menard and he no longer needed to conserve fuel, Paul was ready.

With Jeff Gordon coming up strong from behind, Menard passed McMurray

Menard moved up five positions in the Chase to 12^th place in the standings; Paul's win also puts into contention for one of the two wild card spots in the Chase. Kevin Harvick improved one spot with his 11^th place finish at the Brickyard and now shows in the 3^rd position for the Championship race. Clint Bowyer held steady in the Chase standings in 10^th position after finishing 13^th in Sunday's race. Jeff Burton's standing also remains unchanged as he will still show 25^th in points totals after a finish of 35^th due to a late race engine failure with just seven laps to go.

Looking Ahead to Pocono...

Paul Menard has a good chance of putting two good weeks together as we look forward to Pocono. Menard started from the 2^nd position in Pocono's earlier race this season and finished his day in the 14^th position. Menard will be looking for a top ten finish and hoping for a continuation of his Chase standing improvement next week. With a fifth place finish in the 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono in the spring Kevin Harvick is going into next weekend with confidence for his chances at Pocono; Harvick is another RCR driver who wants to keep rising to the top of the Points leader board.

Jeff Burton had 8^th and 7^th place finishes at least year's Pocono races but was able to only finish 20^th at the 2011 spring race in Pennsylvania. Burton is still looking for his first top ten finish in the 2011 season; Pocono provides a good possibility for a breakthrough race for Jeff with his experience and past history at the track. Clint Bowyer needs a solid performance at Pocono to keep himself in the top ten for the Chase. With just five races left before the Chase cut off, Bowyer cannot afford any mistakes that could take his team out of contention.

Richard Childress Racing and the other NASCAR teams will roll into Long Pond Pennsylvania for first practice on Friday at noon; second and final practice will take place later that afternoon at 4pm. Qualifications will begin Saturday morning at 10:40am. Cup drivers will roll off the starting grid on Sunday for the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 just after 1pm. Tune in to watch the Richard Childress drivers fight their way around the Tricky Triangle and see if RCR can come out on top for a second week in a row.

Amy McHargue has followed various forms of auto racing since she was a child. She was born and raised in southern Indiana, where she still resides with her teen son, cat, and Doberman-Jack Russell Terrier mix. Amy makes attempts to get to the track as often as possible, currently works for a self-publishing organization, and recently graduated college with a Bachelor Degree in Organizational Security. Amy can be reached by email at amy.mack.74@gmail.com or at www.twitter.com/amymack74

35 Hours at The Brickyard: Wheaties Fuel Endurance Contest

715am Friday, July 23rd I arrived outside IMS wearing a http://www.findthetornado.com/ T-shirt. I met up with contest leaders Julie & Jeremy from Breaking Limits Marketing outside the track in the parking lot of a liquor store. I was about to start a contest in which I was to keep my hand on Clint Bowyer's Wheaties Fuel car for 33 hours. It was myself and seven others competing for a prize package worth $4,000. $500 cash, a $500 Kroger gift card, Suite Tickets for the Brickyard 400, a hot lap on Sunday morning, ride along in the Clint Bowyer's truck after driver intros, a pit tour and garage tour. It was, as I called it, the Mother lode of all NASCAR fan Prize Packages.

830am Game on. We placed one hand on the car in our chosen positions - I took the front right corner of the car. I'm short. It was comfortable there. We all looked at one another as the reality of what we were embarking on sank in. One of the contestants said "We're gonna be here a while". I'm pretty sure that everyone was looking at everyone else wondering who would drop first, when that would happen, and who would be the last person standing. There were five men and three women when we started.

1100am Driver Q&A Sessions started on the Chevy Stage with Riki Rachtman. Jamie McMurray kicked off the first Q&A followed by Clint Bowyer. Clint finished his session just as we were going on our first 10 minute break. He came over to meet us all, got a group picture with us, and signed our Wheaties Fuel Contest T-shirts. Bowyer couldn't  have been nicer, even when I went up to him and boldly said "Sign me, Baby". His reply was that he only had a black sharpie and our shirts were black. I looked down and noticed the silver windshield on the car on the shirt and pointed, saying "You can sign right here." I looked up and realized I had just made Clint Bowyer blush - the windshield in question fell right between my breasts. I held the shirt out while Clint signed the windshield so he didn't have to rest his hand on the right side of my chest - he grinned the whole time, though. Next up on the Chevy Stage were Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon, with Tony Stewart wrapping up the day's sessions. That took us through about 1pm. All eight of us were still hanging onto the car.

130pm Our second break. We got a 10 minute break to visit the bathroom and rest every three hours and a 15 minute break every nine hours. Our first visit to the bathrooms brought us all a nice surprise. The bathrooms in question were in a traveling trailer owned by Team Chevy. The workers at the Team Chevy Display were nice enough to provide the contest leaders a key so we could have access. We were all thinking sarcastically, "Oh yay, port-o-potties"...then we opened the door. We found an air conditioned area with cherry doors on individual stalls, hardwood floors, granite counter tops and brass fixtures. Those Chevy people know how to travel with the comforts of home.

The afternoon went on. As it turns out I somehow became the unofficial spokesperson for the group. We had a fence around us to keep non-contestant from being able to touch us but we could talk to anyone who wandered up. Many of the contestants were focusing completely on keeping the hand on the car. I was pretty much in auto-pilot mode by noon and could chat it up with anyone who wanted to talk or ask questions. Our judges figured out pretty quickly that I am not shy and could rattle off the basic rules of the contest, the prize package, and answer questions from the crowd more effectively and quickly than they could. By mid-afternoon when a spectator would come to ask a judge a question, the judge would just point and say "Ask Amy". I talked to a lot of people. The most asked questions through the two days were "Do you get bathroom breaks?", "What do you win?", and "Do you win the car?" Asking if we won the car was crazy. We were hanging onto a RCR Show car....ya really think they are going to let us take it home??

530pm Track activity was over and people were beginning to clear out. We all went on out 10 minute break. When we came back everyone was shocked to find out that two of the men had dropped out. As it turns out, one of them had tickets for Friday night's Camping World Trucks race at O'Reilly Raceway Park. Both had come to the conclusion that the rest of us were more serious about this contest than they were and decided to walk away. We were down to six.

The evening went slowly. The crowd cleared out, the Team Chevy display shut down and turn off the music. It got quiet fast. We knew that overnight we were going to have issues. As the night went on, our judges rotated, it got darker, and quieter. We watched a lightning show in the sky to our north until about 10pm and got word that Hornaday had won the truck race down the road at ORP. Then it got rough. From 1130pm to 230am we all struggled. It was quiet, there was nothing to distract us. At our 230am break we talked about how we were halfway through the night and it would get better once the sun came up. Amazingly, to all of us, we did not lose anyone overnight. The sky became incrementally lighter beginning at 530am and the six of us were still there. Then, things got weird.

The Official Track Merchandise tent next to us, opposite the Chevy stage lit up when workers arrived around 6am. The lights reflected off of a Skoal display hauler and made it look 3D, like a cave you could reach your hand into. One Contestant thought she saw a woman in a white dress walking about 50 yards away - it was a flag. I mistook a blue trash can for a blue bear for a second. We all saw some pretty strange things that weren't there. The sun came up, and the Team Chevy ladies showed up. Those sweet ladies brought us a carton of Starbucks coffee and a stack of cups. Between then and the next break was the only time I struggled with having to go pee, ha ha. I drank the coffee a little early, but I made it our 830am break without mishap.

Riki Rachtman showed back up around 9am and stopped by to check on us. He spend quite a bit of time with us throughout the two days. That is one of the nicest, laid back, down to earth real guys I have had the pleasure of meeting. We all appreciated his support. The crowd started rolling in, and I once again was able to occupy myself with answering questions and chatting up the crowd. It was like once we passed the time at which I would have been up and going for the day my body said "oh, we're just skipping sleep this time, okay then. " I got my sixteenth wind and was good to go.

Somewhere mid-morning Laura Steele from Q95 showed up at our display with a camera man. We were interviewed for the IMS Jumbotron. She asked short questions of three or four of the contestants but I talked the most, as the unofficial spokesperson for the group. Of course, we couldn't see a Jumbotron from where we were so I have no idea if I came across well or like an idiot. And then I met Big Kahuna. Suddenly there is this guy in front of me with a small video camera. Very animated and outgoing, he made a comment on my Media for Hire Shirt that I was wearing. He asked if I won it online and I told him no, I offered to wear t-shirts for my business-minded Twitter friends for free advertising during the contest if they would send me one. At one point during the interview Big Kahuna asked which contestant's ass I could kick. I informed him I'm 5'1" and weigh 97 pounds....the video is posted under "BgKahuna1" on YouTube. It's really hilarious.

1230pm we finally lost another contestant. He appeared to have a cramp in his thumb and it lifted. The judge called it over for him. That gave us all a burst of energy and we all were more focused than ever. We were at five contestants left and fully expected all five of us to make it to the end. My 'buddy' throughout the contest had been Jordan who was next to me, on the front of the car. The guy was awesome. A 20-year-old college student who grew up in Plainfield, he was the only one of us who slept. Yep, he slept with his hand on the car. He laid on the ground in front of the car with his hand on the splitter behind the braces. We kept waiting for him to move and drop off each of the three times he slept but it didn't happen. Just before our 230pm break, Jordan had moved to the left side of the car and I was at the front. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him jerk. I looked over and asked "What was that?" He said he had almost passed out. I reminded him to not lock his knees and that we had a break in just a few more minutes. In a perfect world I would have had it me and Jordan standing at the end.

230pm We went to break, one of our judges and I split a BBQ sandwich from the track concessions and I let myself drink a little more water than I had been, knowing that we were in the homestretch. The next hour was uneventful. Jordan was back on the front of the car, I was back on the front right side. As soon as Jordan sat down on the ground I knew he was in trouble. He leaned his head against the hood of the car with one hand on either side. Since we had lost the guy earlier for one thumb coming up all of us had mostly kept both hands on the car as a safety net. After a few minutes, Jordan's head began to bob. It went down and came back up four or five times then stayed down....one hand slipped off, then his thumb and first finger on his other hand, and he was out. Judge Julie woke him gently and apologized that he was out. I cried for him. Hated to see him go out with just an hour and 47 minutes left in the contest. And then, there were four.

530pm The remaining four - one man and all three original women - had made it to the end of our 33 hours. Onto a 30 question written multiple choice stock car trivia test. On the Chevy stage. In front of approximately 500 people. With Riki Rachtman talking the whole time. At the end of the ten minute test myself and a contestant named Harry were tied. Final tiebreaker question: take the number of Dale Earnhardt Sr's championships multiplied by his career Cup Series wins multiplied by the number of his career Cup Series top tens. I did the math in the margin...when I transferred my answer from the margin I left a number off. I finished second. Had I not made that mistake I would have won. At that point I had been awake for 37 hours, sleep deprivation causes you to make stupid mistakes. I left with a $500 gift card to Kroger for second place.

I had an hour and a half drive home after the contest, grabbed a shower, and had a friend pick me up a sandwich to eat. I think I was asleep about three minutes after my head hit the pillow. Saturday 11pm I finally went to bed. I had been up for 42.5 hours. I slept for nine hours and awoke feeling better than I expected. Judge Julie had asked me late Saturday if I would consider doing something like this again and I told her no. On Sunday I thought about it again and decided that yeah, I probably would do something else in the future like this, if the prize package was worth it. So bring it on, what crazy contest can I be a part of next?