It?s Your 2013 Exit Interview: No. 5 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Welcome to From the Marbles' 2013 driver reviews. Here, we're going to critique, praise and bloviate about the top 30 drivers in the 2013 NASCAR season.

Junior, can we start off by saying that we love your selection of items on eBay? Really fits our tastes. We made sure to give you good feedback for your account.

Your Chase was over as soon as it began, so we never really had an opportunity to assess your championship credentials. Your third blown engine of the season came at the most inopportune time.

After that blown engine, it was a stellar Chase. You finished in the top 10 in eight of the final nine races and your lowest finish of that stretch was a 15th place finish. It was quite the run.

However, you can take consolation in the fact that you can't say that engine cost yourself the Chase. Over those nine races, you averaged just over 39 points a race. Extrapolate that to 10 races and you end up third behind Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth. In essence, it was a two-place penalty.

Wins before the Chase had started would have helped that, but even if you had won as many races as Kenseth did in the first 26 you wouldn't have caught Jimmie Johnson. And while you were ultimately winless in 2013, you have to be excited about the trendline of the season. Instead of fighting to make 12th and 10th place finishes higher in the top ten, you were taking those top 10s and pushing them up a couple places. Keep doing that and avoid an untimely mechanical failure, who knows what will happen.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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Previous Reviews: No. 6 Jeff Gordon, No. 7 Clint Bowyer, No. 8, Joey Logano, No. 9 Greg Biffle, No. 10 Kurt Busch, No. 11 Ryan Newman, No. 12 Kasey Kahne, No. 13 Carl Edwards, No. 14, Brad Keselowski, No. 15 Jamie McMurray, No. 16 Martin Truex Jr., No. 17 Paul Menard, No. 18 Aric Almirola, No. 19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 20, Jeff Burton, No. 21 Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 22 Marcos Ambrose, No. 23 Denny Hamlin, No. 24 Casey Mears, No. 25 Mark Martin, No. 26 David Gilliland, No. 27 Danica Patrick, No. 28 David Ragan, No. 29 Tony Stewart, No. 30 Dave Blaney

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/2013-exit-interview-no-5-dale-earnhardt-jr-143151571--nascar.html

Jean Behra Derek Bell Stefan Bellof Paul Belmondo

Cool, canny Alonso seems to have all the answers

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/07/cool_canny_alonso_looks_diffic.html

Johnny Claes David Clapham Jim Clark† Kevin Cogan

Martini to join Williams?

The word is that Williams may soon announce a sponsorship deal with Martini, a brand that is owned by Bacardi Ltd, a privately-held spirits company which is headquartered in Bermuda. The company sells around 200 millions of drink each year with sales around $5 billion a year. The Martini & Rossi brand can be traced […]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/martini-to-join-williams/

Jimmy Daywalt JeanDenis Deletraz Patrick Depailler Pedro Diniz

Vijay Mallya: ?The tiger has become a panther!?

Vijay Mallya says he’s excited ahead of a new season that sees Force India running a new driver line-up as well as a fresh livery. The VJM07 is the first 2014 car unveiled to the public thus far, albeit with … Continue reading →

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2014/01/22/vijay-mallya-the-tiger-has-become-a-panther/

Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick Chris Amon

Spy Shots: 2015 Audi A7 Begins Winter Testing

Looking Back At 2013 - Rating The Rest: Espargaro And Iannone

After rating the top ten finishers in the championship, it is time to turn our gaze to those outside the top ten worthy of note. Below is a look at the seasons of Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone, in the news in 2013 for very different reasons.

Aleix Espargaro	Power Electronics Aspar
Championship position	11th
Score	8/10

Aleix Espargaro became the poster boy for the CRT class in 2012, beating out his teammate Randy De Puniet. The two Aspar riders showed that even with less than a year of development, a slightly modified Superbike could compete with the slower of the satellite prototypes. 2013 saw the Aprilia ART take another step forward, but it was a step only Espargaro could follow, De Puniet complaining of a lack of feeling all year, his performance plummeting.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/AbxxQ5XRIbM/looking_back_at_2013_rating_the_rest_esp.html

Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi Gino Bianco

Into the Crystal Ball? 500 Miles To Go Edition

A 500 mile race in indycar racing, and especially the Indy 500, is an endurance test packaged as a sprint race. There is literally no time to think during this race, only time to allow ones instincts to make the … Continue reading →

Source: http://anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/1408/

JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen Johnny Boyd

Austin Dillon officially unveiled as the driver of the No. 3 in the Sprint Cup Series in 2014

One of the worst kept secrets in NASCAR is finally offical. The No. 3 is back in the Sprint Cup Series.

Austin Dillon will drive a full-season for Richard Childress Racing in the No. 3 car in 2014. The No. 3 replaces the No. 29 car that Kevin Harvick drove since Dale Earnhardt's death at the 2001 Daytona 500. That was the final race that the No. 3 had been used in the Cup Series.

Here's a closer look at the paint schemes. pic.twitter.com/mwCOuiNkGw

? RCR 3 NNS Team (@RCR3ADillon) December 11, 2013

At the announcement, Childress said that he had discussed with Earnhardt during his career the idea of the No. 3 continuing on after Earnhardt's career was over and said knew that Earnhardt was smiling about Dillon in the car.

Dillon, Childress' grandson, has driven the No. 3 in the Camping World Truck Series and the Nationwide Series and has won championships in both. He won the 2011 Truck Series title and the 2013 Nationwide Series title over Sam Hornish Jr. despite not winning a single race all season.

RCR also announced that Dow Chemicals would serve as the sponsor of the No. 3 for 16 races along with Cheerios, the other primary sponsor. Dillon's crew chief will be Gil Martin, who was the crew chief for Harvick last season. Harvick left RCR at the end of the year to move to Stewart-Haas Racing.

Plus the announcement allows us to use this picture again. It's the best ever.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/austin-dillon-officially-unveiled-driver-no-3-sprint-174126571--nascar.html

Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen Johnny Boyd David Brabham

Pole Day Recap

Source: http://www.16thandgeorgetown.com/2013/05/pole-day-recap.html

Yannick Dalmas Derek Daly Christian Danner Jorge Daponte

It?s Your 2013 Exit Interview: No. 8 Joey Logano

Welcome to From the Marbles' 2013 driver reviews. Here, we're going to critique, praise and bloviate about the top 30 drivers in the 2013 NASCAR season.

Did you find that you were well trained for the rarefied air of the Chase levels, Joey?

Congratulations on the promotion to the NASCAR playoffs. I know it may not have seemed like such a big deal because there have been CEO-level expectations since you first started full-time. Hell, they existed when you started part-time. Sweeping floors, we imagine. Though you haven't worked at Hendrick (yet), so maybe it's different in other departments.

That promotion also came a year after a transfer, which we can say fairly comfortably was a catalyst for your success. We're going to also go ahead and view it like one of those trades that benefits both teams. No regrets, right?

You excelled at intermediate tracks this year, which is a good building block given the dominance of 1-2 mile tracks on the Cup schedule. That win at Michigan proved to be handy, and you could have had the win at Fontana too, but we all know what happened there.

It looked like you were going to continue that theme in the Chase too. But no, your car went boom.

Your new surroundings brought some more feistiness, and that feistiness had some bite because of your success. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if your rivalries with an old teammate and the man you effectively replaced in your old department. Spice is good. And it can go well with sliced bread.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @NickBromberg

Previous Reviews: No. 10 Kurt Busch, No. 11 Ryan Newman, No. 12 Kasey Kahne, No. 13 Carl Edwards, No. 14, Brad Keselowski, No. 15 Jamie McMurray, No. 16 Martin Truex Jr., No. 17 Paul Menard, No. 18 Aric Almirola, No. 19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 20, Jeff Burton, No. 21 Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 22 Marcos Ambrose, No. 23 Denny Hamlin, No. 24 Casey Mears, No. 25 Mark Martin, No. 26 David Gilliland, No. 27 Danica Patrick, No. 28 David Ragan, No. 29 Tony Stewart, No. 30 Dave Blaney

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/2013-exit-interview-no-8-joey-logano-195429078--nascar.html

Mauro Baldi Bobby Ball Marcel Balsa Lorenzo Bandini

Iowa Rain Out Causes Pit Crew Problems

On a normal NASCAR weekend when the Truck Series and/or Nationwide Series run companion to the Cup cars, there are a lot of pit crew members who double or triple dip. Crew members make some extra cash and get more reps, and the teams get top talent pitting their cars. But this last weekend presented [...]

TheNASCARInsiders.com

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/R3FUmt0CNcQ/

JeanDenis Deletraz Patrick Depailler Pedro Diniz Duke Dinsmore

It?s Your 2013 Exit Interview: No. 13 Carl Edwards

Welcome to From the Marbles' 2013 driver reviews. Here, we're going to critique, praise and bloviate about the top 30 drivers in the 2013 NASCAR season. Chase Carl!

We'll always remember that you made the Chase, Carl. We'll always have that danged Jeff Gordon and Brian France-sized asterisk to remind us.

This year started off well enough, right? A win in the second race of the season is a nice three-Chase-points to have in your pocket, especially because you couldn't buy an incident-free moment at Daytona. Following that, well, you might have had one of the quietest "always in the top three in the points standings" seasons in recent memory.

The consistency that you showed last year -- we appreciate that, by the way. We always knew what to expect -- jumped up a notch and that was the reason you hung near the top of the standings so much. Between that Phoenix race and Bristol in August, your lowest finish was 29th and you finished below 20th just twice.

But Bristol was a harbinger of things to come in the Chase, unfortunately. After losing an engine there, it was forgotten two weeks later with a Richmond win. However, hindsight being 20/20 and all, we were blinded by that shiny thing.

A 35th place finish at Dover dropped you to 11th in the standings and you never got back to being in the top 10 again. You were consistent again, but it wasn't the same type of consistency. Your highest finish the final six races of the year was a 10th and you blew another engine at Texas. That cemented your status as the ugly 13th.

We're interested to see how fruitful the Roush and Penske partnership is next season. No one doubts that you're still a championship level driver. It just feels that you were missing justthatmuch consistent speed. Because we're inclined to think that the majority of the season was more indicative than the final 10 races.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg

Previous Reviews: No. 14, Brad Keselowski, No. 15 Jamie McMurray, No. 16 Martin Truex Jr., No. 17 Paul Menard, No. 18 Aric Almirola, No. 19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 20, Jeff Burton, No. 21 Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 22 Marcos Ambrose, No. 23 Denny Hamlin, No. 24 Casey Mears, No. 25 Mark Martin, No. 26 David Gilliland, No. 27 Danica Patrick, No. 28 David Ragan, No. 29 Tony Stewart, No. 30 Dave Blaney

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/2013-exit-interview-no-13-carl-edwards-193415752--nascar.html

Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich Philippe Adams Walt Ader

An entry list appears?

The FIA has chosen a Friday night to put out its official entry list for 2014 – odd timing – and there are some odd things included on the list, not least the company name of McLaren which is listed as being Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Ltd, when in reality the team is called McLaren Racing […]

Source: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/an-entry-list-appears/

Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella Mбrio de Araъjo Cabral Frank Armi

PHOTOS: Rahal, Briscoe Run Successful IMS Test

Source: http://www.16thandgeorgetown.com/2013/09/photos-rahal-briscoe-run-successful-ims.html

Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick Chris Amon

F1 Numbers Game...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/YSxSeP3dIwE/f1-numbers-game.html

Yannick Dalmas Derek Daly Christian Danner Jorge Daponte

Looking Back At 2013 - Rating The Riders: 10th, Bradley Smith, 8/10

In the final chapter of our series running down the top ten finishers of the 2013 MotoGP season, we come to Bradley Smith. Here's a look at how his first year in the premier class went. To read the rest of our reviews of last year, you can read part 1, Marc Marquez; part 2, Jorge Lorenzo; part 3, Dani Pedrosa; part 4, Valentino Rossi; part 5, Cal Crutchlow; part 6, Alvaro Bautista; part 7, Stefan Bradl; part 8, Andrea Dovizioso; and part 9, Nicky Hayden.

Bradley Smith	Monster Tech 3 Yamaha
Championship position:	10th
Score:	8/10

Pity poor Bradley Smith. The young Englishman came in to MotoGP as a rookie, and did exactly what he was supposed to do: learn slowly, not crash too much, see his times and results improve gradually throughout the season. In any other year, Smith would have received quiet praise for the steady job he did.

But this was not any other year. This was the year that Marc Marquez moved up to MotoGP, destroying records and utterly redefining what is expected of a rookie. While Smith was steadily improving to go from finishing in the top ten to ending in the top six, Marquez was amassing podiums, wins, and well on his way to taking the title at the first attempt. Smith found himself being compared to the phenomenon that was Marquez, rather than the more realistic comparison with the rookie seasons of other MotoGP riders.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/qeKpy963Kbg/looking_back_at_2013_rating_the_riders_1.html

Adriбn Campos John Cannon Eitel Cantoni Bill Cantrell

Cup Start-And-Parks Dwindling

The practice of starting-and-parking has been a much discussed topic over the last couple of years. If you aren’t aware, starting-and-parking refers to a system in which teams enter a race and pull into the garage after only a few laps with a perfectly good race car in order to collect prize money. Teams can [...]

TheNASCARInsiders.com

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/7quHncspnAg/

Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais

Formula 1 to offer double points for the final race of the season

Formula 1's final race of 2014 will be worth twice as much as the race before it.

The sanctioning body announced that the finale next year at Abu Dhabi would be worth 50 points to the winner instead of 25.

From our friends at Eurosport:

The FIA said double points would "maximise focus on the championship until the end of the campaign" and had been unanimously approved at a meeting in Paris of teams in the F1 Strategy Group and Formula One Commission.

Sebastian Vettel won the final nine races of the 19 race season last year and won the title by 155 points. So with double points last year, the gap between he and Fernando Alonso would actually have been 175. Yes, the F1 points system is heavily skewed towards winning. Not a horrible thought, right?

In this writer's opinion, the standard F1 system would be a viable option if NASCAR wanted to look at the points system again. Points are only given through 10th place and there is a seven point gap between winning and finishing second. It puts strong emphasis on winning and running well, plus a certain thing at Richmond would have had no impact whatsoever on the points standings.

It'll be fascinating to see how the reaction to this move plays out, given that many NASCAR fans felt the move to the Chase was gimmicky. Heck, a lot of those fans still feel that way.

Given recent F1 history, there's a decent chance that the points change will matter next season. In 2012, Alonso would have been champion with the double points and in 2008, Felipe Massa would have won instead of Lewis Hamilton.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/formula-1-offer-double-points-final-race-season-224127914--nascar.html

Olivier Beretta Allen Berg Georges Berger Gerhard Berger

Steve Addington to crew chief for Phoenix Racing?s No. 51

Steve Addington, who served as crew chief for Tony Stewart the past two seasons, will be the competition director and crew chief for Phoenix Racing's No. 51 in 2014.

The move was made official on Thursday after Addington left Stewart-Haas when Chad Johnston was named the crew chief of the No. 14 car.

Harry Scott Jr. bought the team from James Finch in September, and the team has not officially announced a driver for next season, but Justin Allgaier has been mentioned as the leading candidate for the ride.

Before coming to Stewart-Haas Racing, Addington was crew chief for both Kyle and Kurt Busch. Addington was with Kyle Busch before he moved to Penske Racing for two years. He replaced Darian Grubb atop Stewart's pit box after Stewart won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/steve-addington-crew-chief-phoenix-racing-no-51-160813945--nascar.html

Gerry Ashmore Bill Aston Richard Attwood Manny Ayulo

Dale Earnhardt Jr. closes off strong 2013 with hope for the future

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - There was a time not so long ago when a top-20 finish for Dale Earnhardt Jr. was cause for celebration. In 2009 and 2010, he was eliminated from Chase contention by Memorial Day, looking lost and adrift.

On Sunday, Earnhardt did even more to bury those ugly days in the back yard. He finished third in the Ford EcoBoost 400, leading 28 laps. Homestead concluded a Chase in which Earnhardt finished eighth or better eight times, and he finished the season as a whole in fifth, a single point behind Kyle Busch in fourth.

"Really happy to run as well as we have this season," Earnhardt said. "This has been one of the best years I've had, certainly the best year I've had working with Hendrick."

For several years now, Earnhardt has run up front. Not in front, as that would entail winning, and wins are still hard for Earnhardt to come by these days. In fact, he finished second on five different occasions this year, a monument to determination more than futility. In all, he notched 10 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s, a level of performance that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

"He's run so well," team owner Rick Hendrick said. "Now he's consistently in the top 5, top 3, leading laps. His confidence is at an all-time high ... You can see it in his step."

Earnhardt has raced at a good-but-not-great level for so long that the whole "he's not his daddy" comparisons are pretty much dead and gone. Of course he's not his daddy; neither is anyone else. But Earnhardt can go into the all-too-brief offseason knowing that his career continues on its upward trajectory.

"He told me tonight he can't wait to go to Daytona," Hendrick said. "I think he's got wins [ahead]. I think he's going to be a threat for the championship next year."

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/dale-earnhardt-jr-closes-off-strong-2013-hope-014707665--nascar.html

Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto Jean Alesi