THE BULLETIN • Saturday, August 7, 2010 D5
Swing
AUTO RACING: NASCAR SPRINT CUP
With five races left, everyone is gunning to make the chase By John Kekis The Associated Press
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Clint Bowyer is a marked man, and he is up for the challenge as NASCAR goes road racing again. “This is a big race for us,” Bowyer said Friday before struggling in the first Sprint Cup practice session over the 11-turn, 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International layout. “I have to get up on the wheel and make things happen. If I can get out of here with a top-10 finish, that’s going to set us up good for these last four races. It’s going to put me where I need to be. I’m looking forward to it. I think we can do that.” As the driver sitting in the most precarious position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup garage, Bowyer sits 12th in the points standings with five races remaining before the Chase for the championship. His challenge is to hold on to that final transfer spot into the 10-race postseason as he prepares for Sunday’s often-treacherous road race. Bowyer leads 13th-place Mark Martin by only 34 points. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is next, 95 points behind Martin but only 54 points ahead of 18th-place David Reutimann as seven drivers remain in the mix. “We’ve got to be able to get every position possible,” said Bowyer, who has four top-10 finishes in nine starts on road courses. Ditto for Ryan Newman, who made the Chase a year ago along with his boss, Tony Stewart, in the first season for Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart is a solid eighth in the standings, but although Newman won at Phoenix he has failed to finish four races and is 138 points behind Bowyer. If the pressure is mounting, it’s subtle at best right now. “Obviously, we would both rather be in real nice and comfortable and secure, but there’s nothing we can do but do the same things we’ve been doing every week,” Stewart said. “If you try to do something different and you try to do something extra, you normally force yourself into an unwanted mistake. “He (Newman) has had some miserable luck this year, and that’s hurt us,” Stewart said. “We’re doing everything we can
Change of swing
Russ Hamilton Sr. / The Associated Press
Greg Biffle (16) drives through the esses during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen auto race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., on Friday. Biffle, at 11th place in the series standings, is one of the 12 drivers that would be in the postseason if it started today. to help him, but you’re careful to not try to reinvent the wheel all of a sudden in four weeks and get yourself in worse position.” Though he’s still smarting a little from his error in the closing laps of the road race at Sonoma in June that cost him his first Cup victory, Marcos Ambrose picked up where he left off. He topped the speed charts for a while during Friday’s final practice and again loomed as a real threat for that breakthrough victory. “I think we are all focused on the job at hand,” said Ambrose, who stalled his No. 47 while leading under a late caution at Sonoma, was unable to keep pace, and had to restart seventh when he couldn’t get it refired. “We can’t go back and remember what happened at Sonoma. We’ve just got to move forward with it and not let it impact our weekend.” The Cup series races twice each year on road courses, and the Sonoma race in June turned into a crashfest with Jeff Gordon, who has a NASCAR-record nine road course wins, angering Martin Truex Jr. and Elliott Sadler with some aggressive driving late in the race. Though the tracks are different, tempers often flare at both.
Sonoma has several slow corners where the cars regularly make contact, while Watkins Glen is a high-speed circuit that has featured its share of dustups — Stewart and Gordon in 2000 perhaps the most memorable after a collision two laps into the race — and a pair of devastating crashes the past two years. NASCAR and WGI officials are hopeful the safety improvements made in the offseason will shortcircuit the violent crashes. SAFER barriers have been installed, grass runoff areas have been paved to cut down on the number of cautions, and guard rails have been moved back. When NASCAR instituted double-file restarts last year before the first race at Pocono, most expected them to create a lot of action at Watkins Glen, especially in the wide 90-degree first turn at the end of the front straightaway. So far, that action has been somewhat subdued at The Glen. “This track does have more room than Sonoma and is more forgiving,” Matt Kenseth said. “Double file restarts at road courses aren’t a lot of fun for the drivers, but they are fun to watch for everyone else. In turn one there is a lot of room to get through there, but ...”
Sprint Cup driver standings Here are the current point standings in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series heading into this weekend’s race. The top 12 drivers in the standings at the end of the regular season make the Chase for the championship: 1. Kevin Harvick, 3,080 2. Jeff Gordon, 2,891 3. Denny Hamlin, 2,820 4. Jimmie Johnson, 2,803 5. Jeff Burton, 2,757 6. Kyle Busch, 2,724 7. Kurt Busch, 2,722 8. Tony Stewart, 2,719 9. Matt Kenseth, 2,682 10. Carl Edwards, 2,666 11. Greg Biffle, 2,652 12. Clint Bowyer, 2,564 13. Mark Martin, 2,530 14. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2,435 15. Ryan Newman, 2,426 16. Kasey Kahne, 2,396 17. Jamie McMurray, 2,392 18. David Reutimann, 2,381 19. Joey Logano, 2,329 20. Martin Truex Jr., 2,283.
Gay upsets Bolt in 100 meters in Stockholm By Keith Moore The Associated Press
STOCKHOLM — It turns out Usain Bolt can be beaten. From Beijing to Berlin, it seemed that Bolt and his long, turbocharged strides were more than a match for anyone over 100 meters. But Tyson Gay upset the defending world and Olympic champion Friday in a race between the two fastest runners in history. Gay beat the Jamaican at the DN Galan meet in 9.84 seconds at the same stadium where Bolt last lost a race two years ago. The American seemed in complete control against the world record-holder. The pair raced side by side in lanes four and five. Gay, looking comfortable, drew away while Bolt strained to keep up and finished second in 9.97. “I’m really happy with the win, even though Usain Bolt isn’t in the best shape,” Gay said. “It was very important to beat someone like that for the fans and the sport.” Bolt has run faster this year, finishing in 9.82 a month ago in
Continued from D1 Ryan Moore, the 2009 Wyndham Championship winner, and Bubba Watson, the PGA Tour leader in driving distance from 2006-08 whose breakthrough victory came in June at the Travelers Championship, never have sought help with their swings. Rookie sensation Rickie Fowler has earned more than $2 million this year without consulting a coach or a video camera. Young Irish star Rory McIlroy has been lauded for his natural swing, rhythm and imagination, developed with very little tinkering from Michael Bannon, his coach since he was a child. Jim Furyk never has had anyone other than his father, Mike, looking over his shoulder. Last month at the AT&T National, Vijay Singh said he was in between instructors.
Michael Probst / The Associated Press
U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay, left, beats Jamaican Usain Bolt in the 100-meter race during a meet in Stockholm on Friday. Lausanne, Switzerland. A sellout crowd in the 1912 Olympic Stadium turned silent before the showdown. And the tension heightened even further after two false starts. “I think it showed that I wasn’t
in the best of shape,” Bolt said. “I’m not unbeatable. I can be beaten and it showed today.” “This is my easy season,” he added. “If you don’t beat me this season it’s not going to happen next season because next year is
a championship year.” The sprinters both looked like they left plenty in reserve when they cruised through the heats, and so it was for Gay when it came to the final. Richard Thompson of Trinidad finished third in 10.10. The race would have had even more star power had Asafa Powell of Jamaica not pulled out Wednesday because of a back injury. That denied fans the chance to see the first race featuring the world’s three fastest men. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt mesmerized all of track and field in winning the 100 and 200 — becoming the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to sweep both Olympic sprints. He then stormed to another world record of 9.58 last August at the world championships in Berlin. In other events, American Bershawn Jackson set a stadium record of 47.65 in the 400 hurdles. Allyson Felix won the women’s 200 in 22.41 in an American sweep. Shalonda Solomon was second in 22.51, with Bianca Knight third with 22.59.
Justin Rose, who won the Memorial and AT&T, sounded almost envious of players such as McIlroy and Fowler. Rose, 19th in the world rankings, is a former pupil of David Leadbetter and has changed his swing quite a few times. He has seemed to blossom under the year-long tutelage of Sean Foley. “So many of us young guys out on tour, we play golf swing, we don’t play golf,” Rose said at Aronimink Golf Club before the AT&T. “That really doesn’t serve you well. I think sometimes ignorance is bliss. “Rickie Fowler hits the ball really well and has maybe a slightly quirky swing. He probably doesn’t want to have a coach or to have any way of looking at it. As long as his feel remains good and he stays fearless and he doesn’t tinker around with it too much and keeps trusting it, you don’t need a swing coach.” Fowler, a 20-year-old Californian, said he always has been a feel player and sees no reason to seek help. A two-time AllAmerican at Oklahoma State who made the cut at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines as an amateur, he played his way onto the PGA Tour in 2009’s qualifying school. “I had the same guy from when I was 7 through high school: Barry McDonald,” Fowler said at the AT&T. “I worked with him once a week, just go hit balls. Never used a video camera. Once I (got to) college, I basically did everything on my own; I’d go see him once a year. The last time I saw him, I hit balls with him for 15 minutes over Thanksgiving.” Moore, a four-time college All-American who has earned more than $7 million on the PGA Tour, learned the game from his father as soon as he could walk. While he admitted he has “kind of hired” his best friend from UNLV’s golf team to keep him on track and bounce ideas off of, Moore boasts proudly, “I’ve never had a swing coach, ever.” “My golf swing is my golf swing and honestly I never really saw a lot of benefit to go tinker with it,” Moore said at the AT&T. “I’ve done OK. Some people . . . that’s what they’re comfortable with, that’s what they know. Me, I’m the opposite. I just went and played golf. I never worked on that much stuff. I played golf and learned how to get the ball in the hole. “I think there’s more young
Continued from D1 “We’re going to be a very proactive in doing what we can to strike an appropriate balance. We do have a contact sport. At the same time, what can we do to protect the players’ safety?” The reworded rules prohibit a player from launching himself off the ground and using his helmet to strike a player in a defenseless posture in the head or neck. The old rule only applied to receivers getting hit, but now it will apply to everyone. Anderson, one of 17 officiating crew chiefs, said referees will still closely watch receivers this season, and err toward caution when the players are caught in
vulnerable positions. In years past, Anderson said, defensive players were allowed to hit receivers in the head once the receiver touched both feet on the ground. Now, officials will give a receiver an extra split-second to “basically get into a position where he can defend himself,” Anderson said. Also new this season, when a player loses his helmet, the play is immediately whistled dead. And now, during field-goal and extra-point attempts, the defense cannot position any player on the line directly across from the snapper, who’s considered to be in a defenseless position. The NFL has already taken measures beyond the rule book to protect players from concus-
sions and their effects. The league has implemented more stringent return-to-play guidelines for players who suffer them, and each team must consult with an independent neurologist whenever there is a head injury. Anderson said medical experts laid out the effects of concussions to referees at a rules meeting earlier this year. “It is such a big point of emphasis, and it’s not a point of emphasis just to make it one,” Anderson said. “There is some really serious concern about the damage that’s done on impact and what happens to the brain.” Anderson said the league will monitor the effect of the new rules at season’s end, then evaluate if they were effective enough
in limiting injuries. “I think it’s being appropriately addressed,” Anderson said. “We’re always looking to get the formula just right. The game changes over time, and we have to be prepared for the rules to change to keep pace, not only from a competitive standpoint, but also from a safety standpoint.” Anderson expects more rule changes related to concussions will come in future years. Some day, he envisions referees wearing protective helmets. “The prevalence of concussions and head injuries is on the rise,” he said. “These types of rule changes related to trying to avoid contact to the head area are going to be rules that are going to be expanded, certainly not retracted.”
A good example Australian Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, is a great admirer of Watson. Bubba, that is. “There is a great lesson in studying Bubba,” Ogilvy told Golf Digest for an August 2009 story. “He looks like he enjoys hitting golf shots, and everything is secondary to that. Most of the tour is in this bad place where players think that if they aren’t always thinking about their swing, it will get messed up. Bubba is the opposite — all he thinks about is the shot.” Some on the tour have taken breaks from coaches, only to hire another. Singh is in one of those periods. “It’s nice to have one if you’re not playing well. If you’re playing well, you don’t really need one,” Singh said at Aronimink. “If you’re in trouble on the golf course, your swing coach is not going to help you. In that aspect, it’s better not to have one.” Australia’s Robert Allenby, who has risen to 14th in the world rankings this year, said he took a year or two off to regroup after parting with his swing coach of 18 years. “It was kinda good. Then I needed someone to maybe yell at me further,” Allenby said at AT&T. “It’s important to have another set of eyes looking at what’s going on. There’s not many players out here without them and if there is, they won’t be for long.” But Allenby believes there can be a point where a pro is receiving too much instruction. “It’s a matter of just balancing it all out,” Allenby said. “It might be that you just see someone at home and you go out on tour without anyone.” That’s the strategy Furyk has always followed. “I tend to want to work with my father at home; I want to bring my game to an event,” Furyk said. “I don’t want to try to come find it at the course. “There’s times when I think the importance of a teacher is severely overblown and there’s time when I think it’s severely underblown.” Ricky Barnes, who has risen to 59th in the world, played in the 2003 Masters Tournament as the ’02 Amateur champion. He didn’t hire a coach until two years ago, when his top25 finish on the Nationwide Tour vaulted him into the PGA ranks. “You just don’t know any better,” Barnes said of his days going it alone. “In the end it is really good to have someone looking after you because you can’t pick out everything yourself.” Before the British Open, Woods said he might not take this approach forever. “(I’m) never, ever going to rule out ever using a coach,” Woods said. But if Woods decides this is the best way for him, Fowler is in his corner. “I think it’s a smart choice on his part,” Fowler said. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s gotten to where he is for a reason. Being on his own, he knows how to figure it out.”
UPCOMING GAMES
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NFL
guys who get out here who are that way than the other way.” Even with his father growing up in Washington state, Moore said they never got into anything technical. “I’ve never worked on a technique or a position, ‘Get the club to this spot,’ ” Moore said. “I’m a feel person 100 percent.”
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