Rev' Jim's Q&A with Rev' Jim

After all the discussion about the tires and NASCAR producing such a sad show last Sunday, we feel somewhat uninspired this week. We have had our say about the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard event that was more of a test session than a race, and we hope that NASCAR has learned its lesson.

We have spent at least fourteen hours this week looking for something good to write about, and have come up with nothing. So, for something a little different, we will borrow a tool from Tony Stewart.com and Joe Gibbs Racing.com in which we run a Q & A session where we write our own questions to ourselves and answer them.

Why are you always wrong?

Hey! I'm not always wrong!

This is an opinion blog, and to opinion there is no right or wrong. See, I'm wrong again. I was wrong about Tony Stewart staying with JGR until 2010, but I genuinely thought that would be the case based on what was said and written by JGR and Stewart prior to the announcement of Stewart-Haas Racing.

Sometimes I hope I'm wrong. For instance, I have been somewhat cynical about Smoke's chances of quickly building a winning team out of Haas-CNC, but the enthusiasm and determination Smoke has, and the effect of having a driver of Tony Stewart's stature on moral in the organization, may prove me wrong. I certainly hope so.

Otherwise, 94% of what you see on this blog is opinion and satire, and there really is no right or wrong in opinion.

Are you looking forward to ESPN's Sprint Cup broadcasts?

No. ESPN has spent a lot of money to bring us a broadcast that covers much more than what is going on in the race. From their perspective, they are bringing us a new cutting edge in race coverage, and their producers feed the booth bunnies story lines, cut to technical explanations, rerun segments of the prerace show, and provide the viewer with everything they may want to know about Sprint Cup racing.

In my opinion, they often broadcast too much more than what is going on in the race, and we, and ESPN, lose track of the race itself. Even as I write this, during Sprint Cup qualifying, the ESPN producers have skipped the qualifying runs of several cars in order to bring us entertainment. We can expect more of this type of broadcasting Sunday, while Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are racing each other hard for the lead, and ESPN decides to go to a techsplanation of how the cars get tire donuts on the side panels.

Who do you want to win Sunday?

Tony Stewart. We think he might have a chance. He has the third highest rating of all current drivers at Pocono, and he seems very excited and happy about his prospects of winning.

If not Stewart, I would like to see Dale Jr or Kyle Busch win. Neither has a good record at Pocono, but Jr has been improving each race there, and for Kyle, it's just something he hasn't done yet this year, so he might as well get it over with.

Okay, who do you think will win Sunday?

The 24 and 48 teams have been coming along strong these last few races. We have thought since early in the season that those two teams would overcome the difficulties they were having, and that, when they did, it would be as hard to catch them as it was last year.

Jeff Gordon seems to be very happy with his car. He is a four time winner at the "roaval" and he has a lot of confidence in his knowledge of the track. He should be the winner Sunday, but his team mate, Jimmie Johnson is on a hot streak, and when that team is on a roll it is very difficult to stop.

It should be an interesting race between those two.

What changes, if any, would you like to see at Pocono?

I actually like Pocono. It presents a different challenge to the drivers than any other track, and to the crew chiefs and pit crews as well. You have to give something to get something, and figure out in which one of the three unique turns you have to be perfect. You can't be perfect in all three turns, so it is going to take hard work on the driver's part to get around the track competitively.

One change I would like to see, however is that the promoter make it a shorter race. 400 or 500 miles just seems too long, and encourages too much tire and fuel strategy. A 300 or 350 mile race would be interesting, and it would be different. It wouldn't be so much about fuel mileage then, and we would see more pure racing on a track that was actually meant for pure racing.

Do you often talk to yourself?

Yes.

Do you have any more questions for yourself?

No. Thank you.