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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Texas Not Wasting Any Time/Notebook
TMS is using the crash as the centerpiece of its ad campaign...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted March 13, 2010   Charlotte, NC
The new TMS ad campaign features the slogan “Have at it boys, APPROVED” with a picture of Brad Keselowski’s car going airborne at 190 mph at Atlanta. (Image: Texas Motor Speedway)
Leave it to Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage to leave no stone unturned in selling tickets to the upcoming Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Gossage, a protege of former Charlotte Motor Speedway President H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, the greatest promoter in NASCAR history, is wasting no time capitalizing on the Carl Edwards/Brad Keselowski crash to help sell tickets. The track’s new advertising campaign features the slogan “Have at it boys,” with a picture of Keselowski’s car going airborne at 190 miles per hour after being hit by Edwards at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week. There’s also the word “Approved” in big red letters.

“It’s a hot topic and that’s Promotion 101,” Gossage wrote on a local blog in Dallas. “I don’t want to offend either driver, but both of them eagerly pursued reaching the top level of American motorsports and along with it comes scrutiny. It comes with the territory. The spotlight gets hot. Things happen. Welcome to the big leagues, boys!”

Given the furor and controversy surrounding the incident, some fans doubtless will find the ad campaign to be in poor taste. But the fact of the matter is rivalries and battles sell tickets, which is Job No. 1 for a track operator like Gossage.

Some other news and notes in an otherwise quiet NASCAR off-weekend:

• The biggest surprise of the 2010 Sprint Cup season so far? That’s easy: The phenomenal improvement shown by Paul Menard and Scott Speed, who are ninth and 12th in points, an amazing gain from last season, when Menard finished 31st and Speed 35th. Maybe, as some have suggested, the new-generation NASCAR Sprint Cup car really does take a couple of years to figure out how to drive.

A close second might be the performance of 2003 Sprint Cup champion Matt Kenseth, who made a gutsy move after the Daytona 500 when he went to car owner Jack Roush and asked him to replace crew chief Drew Blickensderfer. Roush brought in veteran Todd Parrott to run the No. 17 team and so far it’s worked like a charm.

• Six of last year’s 12 drivers who made the Chase for the Sprint Cup are outside the top 12 in points through the first four races of the season: Brian Vickers (16th), Kasey Kahne (17th), Carl Edwards (20th), Juan Pablo Montoya (21st), Denny Hamlin (22nd) and Ryan Newman (29th).

Guys in the top 12 now who missed the Chase last year are: Kevin Harvick (1st), Matt Kenseth (2nd), Clint Bowyer (5th), Jeff Burton (6th), Menard (9th) and Speed (12th). Yes, it’s still way early to talk points, but historically, about 75 percent of the drivers who leave Bristol Motor Speedway — site of next week’s race — in the top 12 stay there through the end of NASCAR’s regular season.

• Lost in the furor of the Edwards-Keselowski crash is that neither driver can afford any more on-track drama, given their respective points positions. Edwards, considered to be one of the pre-season championship contenders, is 20th in points and needs to start stringing together strong finishes if he wants to move up.

Keselowski is a mere 20 points away from falling out of the top 35 in NASCAR Sprint Cup owner points. If he does fall out, that would mean he’d have to qualify for races on speed, where there’s always the possibility of him missing a race, which team owner Roger Penske surely wouldn’t be happy about.

• And finally, some food for thought for those who believe NASCAR’s point system doesn’t reward winning enough: The top three drivers in the Sprint Cup points — and five of the top six — all drive for either Richard Childress Racing or Roush Fenway Racing. RCR hasn’t won a race since Oct. 2008, and the Roush squad hasn’t won since Daytona last January.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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